^1^5"--,'*?.>/U'" '.
 
 V,
 
 HOWELL'S LETTERS 
 
 IN TWO VOLUMES 
 VOLUME I
 
 A(>////.)////'rf u> fA/' <^i/<// /^//f efu^'^f^/r
 
 JAMES HOWELL 
 
 IN A FRONTISPIECE GROUP OF TEN SYMBOLICAL 
 
 DRAWINGS MADE BY F. H. VAN HOVE FOR THE 1678 
 
 EDITION OF THE "FAMILIAR LETTERS"
 
 EPISTOL.^ HO-ELIAN^ OR 
 THE FAMILIAR LETTERS OF 
 
 JAMES HOWELL 
 
 WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY AGNES REPPLIER 
 
 VOLUME I 
 
 BOSTON AND NEW YORK 
 
 HOUGHTON MIFFLIN AND COMPANY 
 
 I 908
 
 COPYRIGHT 1907 BY HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY 
 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 
 
 r 
 
 SECOND IMPRESSION REPRINTED JANUARY, I908 
 
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 INTRODUCTION 
 
 IF the unresponsive gods, so often invoked, so 
 seldom complaisant, would grant me one sweet 
 boon, I should ask of them that I might join that 
 little band of authors, who, unknown to the wide 
 careless world, remain from generation to generation 
 the friends of a few fortunate readers. Such authors 
 have no conspicuous foothold among those opu- 
 lent, symmetrical volumes that stand on drill in rich 
 men's libraries, as well uniformed and as untried 
 as a smart militia regiment. They have been sel- 
 dom seen in the lists of the hundred best books. 
 The committees who select reading matter for their 
 native towns are often unacquainted with their 
 titles. The great department stores of our great 
 cities never offer them to the great public in twenty- 
 five cent editions. Yet they live for centuries a 
 tranquil life of dignified seclusion. When they are 
 lifted down from their remote corners on the book- 
 shelves, it is with a friendly touch. The hands 
 that hold them, caress them. The eyes that glance 
 over them, smile at the familiar pages. Their read- 
 ers feel for them a personal sentiment, approach- 
 ing them with mental ease, and with a sweet and 
 certain intimacy of companionship. These authors 
 grow very shabby as the years roll by, and some- 
 times — though rarely — a sympathetic publisher
 
 vi INTRODUCTION 
 
 turns his attention from the whirling vortex of new 
 books, and gives them a fresh outfit; presents them 
 — if he has a generous soul — with the clearest of 
 type, the finest of paper, the richest and most appro- 
 priate of bindings. So embellished, they enjoy little 
 dignified triumphs of their own, and become the 
 cherished property of that ever diminishing minor- 
 ity who, by some happy turn of fate, are fitted to 
 enjoy the pleasure which literary art can give. 
 
 Such a writer — half forgotten, yet wholly be- 
 loved — is James Howell, "Clerk of the Council 
 in Extraordinary," under Charles I, "Historio- 
 grapher Royal," under Charles II, author of three- 
 score works now laid to rest, and of the " Famil- 
 iar Letters " which can never be laid to rest until 
 accurate observation, a lively narrative, and a 
 genius for seizing the one right word have lost 
 their power to please. A student of the world was 
 James Howell, a man of wide experience and of 
 fluctuating fortunes. The descendant of an old and 
 honourable Welsh family, with titled relatives of 
 whom he felt reasonably proud, he was yet poor 
 in estate, as befitted one of a country clergyman's 
 fifteen children ; so that while his elder brother 
 was the august Bishop of Bristol, his younger ones 
 were apprenticed to trade, like lads of ignoble 
 birth. Being, happily, but the second son, his own 
 tuition was of the best. Sent to a "choice metho- 
 dical school " at Hereford, he was early beaten into 
 a love of learning; and at Oxford he acquired — 
 or so at least he says — " the patrimony of a liberal
 
 INTRODUCTION vii 
 
 education." Thus equipped, it behooved him to 
 carve his own career, and the congenial fashion in 
 which he set about accomplishing this difficult task 
 was by travelling for three years as the agent of a 
 London glass factory, the owners of which sought 
 to obtain workmen, materials, and inspiration from 
 the great artistic centres of Europe. 
 
 Never was a happier chance thrown in a young 
 man's way. Never was there a more cheerful and 
 observant voyager. Byron's sensible axiom, " Com- 
 fort must not be expected by folks that go a-plea- 
 suring," expressed to perfection young Howell's 
 point of view. " Rocked and shaken " at sea, beset 
 by countless difficulties on land, he ever stoutly 
 maintained " that though these frequent removes 
 and tumblings under climes of differing temper 
 were not without some danger, yet the delight 
 which accompany'd them was far greater; and it is 
 impossible for any man to conceive the true plea- 
 sure of peregrination, but he who actually enjoys, 
 and puts it into practice." Before quitting Eng- 
 land, he obtained a warrant from the Council, 
 authorizing him to remain for three years on the 
 Continent, and to visit any spot he chose, with the 
 exception of Rome, and St Omer, where stood the 
 great Jesuit college. Such was the parental care 
 which Protestant England in King James' day took 
 of her children's faith, — an astute precaution for 
 the most part, but needless in this particular case. 
 Howell possessed all his life that tolerance, almost 
 amounting to sympathy, for other people's creeds
 
 viii INTRODUCTION • 
 
 which can be trusted to leave a man serenely root- 
 ed in his own. He never offered friction enough 
 to light a fresh fire. His admiration for the fa- 
 mous shrine at Monserrat was as untroubled by pious 
 scruples as was his admiration for the Arsenal of 
 Venice, or the wine of Valentia. When he found 
 himself without funds in Turin, he philosophically 
 joined a band of pilgrims, and "with gentle pace 
 and easyjourneys " proceeded on foot to Lyons. It 
 is true that in a letter written years later to Sir 
 Edward Knight, a letter in which he confesses am- 
 ple tolerance for Turk and infidel, as bearing " the 
 same stamp that I do, though the inscription dif- 
 fer," he adds somewhat unexpectedly that he " could 
 be content to see an Anabaptist go to Hell on a 
 Brownist's back ; " but this was the expression of 
 a civic rather than of a religious animosity. Turks 
 stayed in Turkey, out of sight and hearing ; and 
 infidels went their regrettable way in silence. But 
 for " those schismatics that puzzle the sweet peace 
 of the church," as well as for all who were " pen- 
 dulous and brangling in religion," he had a strong 
 instinctive dislike. The passion for controversy 
 which flamed high in his day left him wholly and 
 happily unconcerned. 
 
 This mental calm permitted Howell to enjoy 
 the ripe fruits of that great Latin civilization which 
 was then ebbing slowly from its marvellous heights 
 of fulfilment. The beauty and the glory of Italy 
 held him spellbound. What generous epithets he 
 lavishes upon those superb cities whose very names
 
 INTRODUCTION ix 
 
 set the world's heart a-beating. " Venice the rich, 
 Padua the learned, Bologna the fat, Rome the 
 holy, Naples the gentle, Genoa the proud, Flor- 
 ence the fair, and Milan the great." The first 
 beautiful woman, he tells us, was made of Venice 
 glass, lovely, and brittle withal ; and " Eve spake 
 Italian when Adam was seduced," for in what 
 other tongue could she have been so irresistible ? 
 Notwithstanding the injunction of the Council, 
 he made his way to Rome, and, with a swift and 
 sure intuition, — rare in the island-born, — pro- 
 nounces it " Communis Patria." " For every one 
 that is within the compass of the Latin Church 
 finds himself here, as it were, at home, and in his 
 mother's house, in regard of interest in religion, 
 which is the cause that for one native, there be 
 five strangers that sojourn in this city." 
 
 For Spain, too, Howell has his meed of praise, 
 extolling alike the manners of the great, who 
 never gave an alms save with courtesy, and the self- 
 respect of the poor, whom he found to be sturdy 
 and rational, with none of the servility of the down- 
 trodden French peasant. He warms into eloquence 
 over the free Biscayan shore, virgin of Moors for 
 seven hundred years, and tells us that the King 
 of Spain always pulled off one shoe before tread- 
 ing on that honoured soil, which he is proud to 
 compare to unconquered Wales. His characteristic 
 closeness of observation is everywhere apparent, 
 whether it be in a brief and careless statement, as 
 " 'T is no new thing for the French to be always
 
 X INTRODUCTION 
 
 a-doing ; they have a stirring genius;" or, in the 
 epitomized history of the Netherlands which he 
 " huddled up " a few years later at Antwerp, and 
 which is concise, graphic, tolerant, entertaining, 
 everything, — save perhaps accurate, — that his- 
 tory ought to be. 
 
 On his return to England, Howell was engaged 
 as a travelling tutor for the two young sons of 
 Lord Savage ; but unable or unwilling to fill so 
 responsible a post for Roman Catholic pupils, he 
 reluctantly abandoned this " dainty race of chil- 
 dren," and accepted a somewhat similar position 
 with Richard Altham, son of Baron Altham, and 
 " one of the hopefullest young men of this king- 
 dom." In 1622 he had the rare good fortune to 
 be appointed a royal agent, and sent to Spain in 
 the interests of the Turkey Company, which 
 claimed compensation from the Spanish Govern- 
 ment for the seizure of one of its ships by the 
 Viceroy of Sardinia. Full of hope, and proud of 
 the importance of his mission, Howell flung him- 
 self with ardour into a business which might have 
 reasonably discouraged an older man. He read 
 all the papers pertaining to the suit, " and I find 
 they are higher than I in bulk, tho' closely 
 press'd together;" he pushed his claim whenever 
 and wherever he could find a hearing ; he made 
 perceptible progress, and was confident of success, 
 when suddenly on the evening of March 7, 
 there appeared in Madrid two English travellers, 
 Mr John Smith, and Mr Thomas Smith, who
 
 INTRODUCTION xi 
 
 within a few hours were discovered to be Charles, 
 Prince of Wales, and the Marquis of Buckingham. 
 A more disastrous episode for Howell, or a 
 more fortunate one for his readers, it would be 
 hard to imagine. Nothing can be livelier than his 
 account of this strange adventure which set the 
 world agape. How Mr Thomas Smith (Buck- 
 ingham), "with a portmantle under his arm," 
 knocked at Lord Bristol's gates, while Mr John 
 Smith (the Prince) waited in the dark on the other 
 side of the street. How Lord Bristol, "in a kind 
 of astonishment," conducted his strange visitors 
 into his bed-chamber, and sent off a post that 
 night to England, to acquaint the King of their 
 arrival. How the Spanish Court was thrown into 
 confusion, and the Infanta — for whose sake the 
 Prince had hazarded this voyage — began, like fair 
 Katharine of France, the ardent study of English. 
 How the Prince leaped the wall of the Casa de 
 Campo to have speech with his lady, and she 
 fled shriekinor from so bold a wooer. How the 
 common people of Spain were mightily pleased 
 with the Englishman's gallantry, and swore that 
 he and their Infanta should have been wedded 
 the night he reached Madrid. How Lord Bristol, 
 in anticipation of the marriage ceremony, caused 
 thirty new liveries of watchet velvet and silver lace 
 to be made for his household, " the best sort 
 whereof were valued at eighty pounds a livery ; " 
 — and we prate now about the ruinous expenses 
 which our ambassadors are forced to meet ! How,
 
 xii INTRODUCTION 
 
 after months of excitement, the bubble collapsed, 
 the great match came to naught, and the affronted 
 Spaniards were left in no mood to conciliate Eng- 
 land, or reimburse the Turkey Company; — all 
 these things are described in the " Familiar Let- 
 ters " with a wealth of picturesque detail which 
 only an eye-witness can supply. 
 
 The failure of his negotiations left young How- 
 ell rich in nothing but experience, and we find him 
 next acting as secretary to Lord Scroop, " a stable 
 home employment," with which he was marvel- 
 lously well content. By this time King James was 
 dead, the Scottish doctors had ceased muttering 
 dark doubts concerning the plaister which the 
 Countess of Buckingham had applied to His Maj- 
 esty's stomach, and Charles the First had begun, 
 under melancholy auspices, — which the letters do 
 not fail to note, — his unhappy anddisastrous reign. 
 In 1628 Howell was sent to Parliament, as member 
 for Richmond ; and in 1632 the Earl of Leicester, 
 then quitting England as Ambassador Extraor- 
 dinary to the Court of Denmark, offered him the 
 post of secretary, an offer immediately accepted. 
 The purpose of the embassy was to condole with 
 the Danish King on the death of the Queen Dow- 
 ager, grandmother of Charles the First, — a lady 
 of great thrift and enterprise, who was reputed to 
 have been the richest queen in Christendom. A 
 merry condolence it was, as befitted the mourning 
 of an heir. To Howell, as orator, was consigned 
 the congenial task of making three long Latin ora-
 
 INTRODUCTION xiii 
 
 dons; — one to the King of Denmark, one to his 
 eldest son, Prince Christian, and a third to Prince 
 Frederick, Archbishop of Bremen. After these 
 preHminaries were over, the real business of mourn- 
 ing began, and Howell betrays a justifiable pride 
 at the ability of an English nobleman to cope 
 with the mighty drinkers of the North. 
 
 " The King feasted my Lord once, and it lasted 
 from eleven of the clock till towards the evening, 
 during which time the King began thirty-five 
 healths; — the first to the Emperor, the second 
 to his nephew of England, and so went over all 
 the Kings and Queens of Christendom ; but he 
 never remembered the Prince Palsgrave's health, 
 nor his niece's all the while. The King was taken 
 away at last in his chair, but my Lord of Leices- 
 ter bore up stoutly all the while ; so that when 
 there came two of the King's Guard to take him 
 by the arms, as he was going down the stairs, my 
 Lord shook them off, and went alone. 
 
 " The next morning I went to Court for some 
 despatches, but the King was gone a-hunting at 
 break of day ; but going to some other of his 
 officers, their servants told me without any ap- 
 pearance of shame that their masters were drunk 
 overnight, and so it would be late before they 
 would rise." 
 
 It was after his return from this diplomatic mis- 
 sion that Howell, disappointed in his hopes of of- 
 fice, settled in London, and "commenced author" 
 with the publication of " Dodona's Grove, or the
 
 xiv INTRODUCTION 
 
 Vocall Concert," and of a poem, "The Vote," ded- 
 icated as a New Year's gift to the King. There is 
 little doubt that he was at this time a royalist "in- 
 telligencer," and that his ingrained habit of collect- 
 ing news made him a useful servant of the crown. 
 It was a difficult and somewhat dangerous game 
 to play, — rewards and penalties following in quick 
 succession. In August, 1642, he was appointed 
 Clerk of the Council in Extraordinary, and four 
 months later he was arrested by order of the Long 
 Parliament, and summarily committed to the Fleet, 
 then used as a prison for political offenders as well 
 as for less fortunate debtors. 
 
 In the Fleet Howell remained (I will not say 
 languished, for he was not the type of captive to 
 languish) for eight long years. He always stoutly 
 maintained that he was imprisoned for loyalty to 
 his king; but Anthony a Wood asserts with some 
 churlishness that he was arrested for debt, "being 
 prodigally inclined." The truth seems to be that 
 his debts afforded a reasonable excuse for his im- 
 prisonment; and that Parliament had no mind to 
 set him free while there was still a field for his 
 activities. Perhaps the Fleet saved him from 
 greater perils. It certainly afforded him both an 
 opportunity and an incentive to write. We owe 
 a great deal in letters to those long leisurely cap- 
 tivities which gave the prisoner solitude, quiet, 
 time for meditation, an opening for philosophy, 
 and — if he were nobly disposed — a chance to 
 purge his soul, to refine it in the fires of affliction.
 
 INTRODUCTION xV 
 
 "Stone walls do not a prison make. 
 Nor iron bars a cage ; 
 Minds innocent and quiet take 
 These for a hermitage." 
 
 Howell, it is true, petitioned resolutely for his 
 release, — how could a man do less? — but he 
 wrote many more profitable things than petitions 
 during the eight years that he remained in the 
 Fleet. Among a score of books and pamphlets 
 dating from this period are his " Perfect Descrip- 
 tion of the People and Country of Scotland," — a 
 work which Scotchmen were never known to love; 
 and " Instructions for Forreine Travel" (the earli- 
 est forerunner of Murray), with a dedication in 
 verse to the young Prince of Wales, in which that 
 promising youth is likened — on the score of 
 swarthiness, there being no other points of resem- 
 blance — to the Black Prince. In 1645 appeared 
 the first volume of letters under the comprehensive 
 title, " Epistolae Ho-Elianae : Familiar Letters, 
 Domestic and Foreign, divided into Sundry Sec- 
 tions, partly Historical, Political and Philosoph- 
 ical," — a title which conscientiously told all it 
 had to tell. The book was dedicated to the King 
 in a few simple and sensible words, its author 
 venturing to remind His Majesty that many of 
 its pages recalled his own royal deeds. "And 'tis 
 well known that letters can treasure up and trans- 
 mit matters of State to posterity with as much 
 faith, and be as authentic registers, and safe repos- 
 itories of truth as any story whatsoever."
 
 xvi INTRODUCTION 
 
 The success of the venture induced Howell, 
 who sorely needed money, to publish a second 
 volume of letters while he was still in the Fleet, 
 and a third and fourth after his release in 1651. 
 By this date, England, for the first time in all her 
 glorious history, had no longer a king to accept 
 panegyrics; and Howell, nothing daunted, turned 
 his attention to the Lord Protector, to whom, in 
 1655, he dedicated a pamphlet entitled "Some 
 Sober Inspections made into the Carriage and 
 Consults of the late Long Parliament." Exulting, 
 not unnaturally, in the overthrow of his old ene- 
 mies, he compared Cromwell's drastic measures 
 with those of that somewhat arbitrary ruler, Charles 
 Martel, which commendation, though much cen- 
 sured by royalists, seems to have been tolerably 
 sincere. Howell loved and revered the monar- 
 chy. It was his reasonable hope that Charles II 
 would at some distant day succeed to his father's 
 throne ; but in the mean time Cromwell was a 
 strong man, armed, keeping his court, and those 
 things were in peace which he possessed. Like 
 Carlyle, Howell had a natural taste for " one man 
 power," and profoundly distrusted that "waver- 
 ing, windy thing," that "humoursome and cross- 
 grained animal," the common Englishman, or, 
 indeed, the common citizen of any land. The 
 tolerant King understood, and probably sympa- 
 thized with this mental attitude, for, a year after 
 the Restoration, he granted the author two hun- 
 dred pounds from his privy purse ; and subse-
 
 INTRODUCTION xvil 
 
 quently appointed him to the office of Histori- 
 ographer General, with a salary of one hundred 
 pounds a year, which — Hke most salaries of the 
 period — was seldom or never paid. 
 
 To the end of his life Howell wrote with the 
 unabated industry of a needy man. That he felt 
 himself ill-used is proved by his sarcastic "Cordial 
 for Cavaliers," in which he essays to console his 
 fellow sufferers for the supposed neglect of their 
 monarch by proffering them a wealth of bitter and 
 unsustaining philosophy. A fusillade of broad- 
 sheets followed its publication ; for Howell had 
 his enemies, and some of them were of the opinion 
 that the man who had so enthusiastically com- 
 pared Cromwell to Charles Martel should have 
 been more modest in demanding rewards from 
 Charles Stuart, who, indeed, would have needed 
 a world as wide as Alexander's to have satisfied all 
 petitioners. It is pleasant to know, however, that 
 when Howell died at the ripe age of seventy-one, 
 he was able to leave a number of small legacies, 
 among them two to his sisters, Gwin and Roberta- 
 ap-Rice, — names that thrill the ordinary reader 
 with delight. He was buried, by his own desire, 
 in the Temple Church, and his monument, for 
 which he bequeathed the sum of thirty pounds, 
 is still in excellent preservation, though few there 
 are who pause to read its modest Latin inscription. 
 
 It is useless at this late date to ask captious 
 questions anent the integrity of the "Familiar 
 Letters." Of the threescore works, ranging from
 
 xvHi INTRODUCTION 
 
 broadsheets to folios, which Howell left behind 
 him, they alone have survived the wear and tear 
 of centuries. They have been read for nearly 
 three hundred years, and are likely to be read 
 with unshaken delight for at least three hundred 
 more. That he wrote them all is certain. That 
 some of them are the original texts, we have every 
 reason to believe. People who received letters in 
 those appreciative days treasured them sacredly, 
 and our best friend, the waste-paper basket, seems 
 to have been then unknown. Howell would have 
 had no great difficulty in securing the return of 
 part of his correspondence. Moreover, it is likely 
 that so prudent and methodical a gentleman kept 
 copies or rough draughts of his more important 
 letters, — a reprehensible custom which it is not 
 for us, who in this instance profit by it, to criticize. 
 We know, too, that it was his habit, especially 
 while abroad, to jot down the " notablest occur- 
 rences " of each day In a " fair alphabetique paper 
 book ; " and it was from such a valuable reserve 
 that he drew his epistolary supplies. To pro- 
 nounce the letters mere fabrications on the traduc- 
 ing evidence of Anthony a Wood would be to fly 
 far of the mark. They are too full of intimate 
 detail, of local colour, of little tell-tale accuracies 
 for any such undermining theory. But if some 
 of them were, indeed, fresh minted in the Fleet, 
 composed In that dim solitude, when memories 
 of the wide sunlit world he had traversed so mer- 
 rily thronged through the prisoner's mind, we, at
 
 INTRODUCTION xix 
 
 least, have no reason to complain. It would have 
 been hard to turn captivity to better purpose. 
 
 In the " Familiar Letters," as in many another 
 old and seldom acknowledged book, we find a 
 store of curious anecdotes which have been retold 
 ever since, to the enrichment of more modern 
 authors. Howell listened with equal interest — and 
 equal credulity — to the gossip of foreign courts, 
 to the " severe jests " which passed from mouth 
 to mouth, and to the marvellous stories of the 
 common people. He tells us the tale of the Pied 
 Piper of Hamelin, prefacing it with the grave 
 assurance that he would not relate it, "were there 
 not some ground of truth in it." He tells us of 
 the bird with a white breast which presaged the 
 death of all the Oxenham family ; and the pleas- 
 ant story of the Duke of Ossuna and the galley 
 slaves ; and about that devout Earl of Hapsburg 
 who, by a single act of piety, laid the foundation 
 of his family's greatness. He tells us the pitiful 
 tale of the Sire de Coucy, who, dying in battle 
 with the Turk, bade his servant carry back his 
 heart to the Dame de Fayel, whom he had long 
 and ardently loved. This gift the lady's husband 
 intercepted, and had it made into a "well-relished 
 dish," which he compelled his wife to eat, assur- 
 ing her it was a cordial for her weakness. When 
 she had eaten it all, he revealed to her the truth ; 
 whereupon, "in a sudden exaltation of joy, she 
 with a far-fetch'd sigh said, * This is a precious 
 cordial indeed ; ' and so lick'd the dish, saying.
 
 XX INTRODUCTION 
 
 * It is so precious that 'tis pity to put ever any 
 meat upon 't.' So she went to bed, and in the 
 morning she was found stone-dead." 
 
 Howell's style is eminently well adapted for 
 the news-letter, for a form of composition which 
 requires vividness and lucidity rather than grace 
 and distinction. He writes in sentences of easy 
 length and simple construction, discarding for the 
 most part those sonorous and labyrinthine 
 masses of words in which the scholarly writers 
 of his day wrapped up their serious thoughts. 
 A letter, he tells us, should be " short-coated and 
 closely couch'd," and he has scant patience with 
 those who " preach when they should epistolize." 
 No one has ever surpassed him in the narrator's 
 art of snatching the right word, of remembering 
 and recording those precise details which can be 
 trusted to give value and vraisemblance, of tell- 
 ing a lively and unembarrassed tale. His account 
 of the Duke of Buckingham's murder, of the 
 visit of the Prince of Wales to Madrid, of the 
 hideous execution of Ravaillac, are so vigorous 
 and sympathetic, so full of intimate and signifi- 
 cant touches, that it is hard to realize he was not 
 always an eye-witness of the events so graphically 
 described. He gathered his information from 
 every available source, and often with astonishing 
 speed. The postmaster of Stilton came to his 
 bedside to tell him that the Duke of Buckingham 
 had been killed; and the Earl of Rutland, riding 
 in all haste to London, alighted from his horse to
 
 INTRODUCTION xxi 
 
 confirm the news, and to add picturesque partic- 
 ulars, which Howell in his turn sent off without 
 an hour's delay to the Countess of Sunderland. 
 It sounds like the inspired methods of the re- 
 porter. 
 
 None of the impersonality of the modern news- 
 vender, however, can be charged to Howell's ac- 
 count. His motto, 
 
 ** As keys do open chests. 
 So letters open breasts," 
 
 but faintly indicates the exhaustive nature of his 
 unreserve. At every period of his career we see 
 him with extraordinary distinctness. A man full 
 of the zest of life, of sanguine temperament, of cath- 
 olic tastes, of restless and indomitable energy. A 
 man who met misfortunes bravely, and who was 
 touched to finer issues by the austere hand of ad- 
 versity. An outspoken man withal, after the fash- 
 ion of his day, whose occasional grossness of tongue 
 — or of pen — seems due, less to the love of pru- 
 rient things, than to the absence of that guiding 
 principle of taste, which in every age can be trusted 
 to keep finely-bred natures uncontaminate. "The 
 priggish Httle clerk of King Charles' Council," 
 Thackeray calls Howell, — perhaps because he 
 enjoyed making Latin orations, and quotes the 
 classics oftener than seems imperative. But of 
 the essence of priggishness, which is measuring big 
 things by small standards, the author of the " Fa- 
 miliar Letters " is nowhere guilty. A devout
 
 xxii INTRODUCTION 
 
 churchman who reverenced other men's creeds ; 
 a loyal English subject who loved other lands than 
 his ; a cheerfal traveller who forgave France her 
 Frenchmen, and Spain her Spaniards ; a philo- 
 sopher whose philosophy stood the strain of mis- 
 fortune ; — Howell exhibits some finer qualities 
 than the soul of a prig can sustain. A hundred 
 years before the publication of the " Letters," 
 that revered scholar, Roger Ascham, wrote with 
 pious self-content : " I was once in Italy myself; 
 but I thank God my abode there was but nine 
 days." A hundred years after Howell had been 
 laid to rest, a respected English gentleman, Mr 
 Edgeworth, prefaced his work on education with 
 this complacency : 
 
 "To pretend to teach courage to Britons would 
 be as ridiculous as it is unnecessary ; and, except 
 among those who are exposed to the contagion of 
 foreign manners, we may boast of the superior de- 
 licacy of our fair countrywomen; a delicacy acquired 
 from domestic example, and confirmed by public 
 approbation." 
 
 Between these triumphant insularities let us read 
 what the "little clerk of King Charles' Council " 
 has to say. He is writing from Naples to one 
 " Christopher Jones of Gray's Inn." 
 
 " Believe it. Sir, that a year well employed abroad 
 by one of mature judgment (which you know I 
 want very much) advantageth more in point of use- 
 ful and solid knowledge than three in any of our 
 universities. You know * running waters are the
 
 INTRODUCTION xxlii 
 
 purest,' so they that traverse the world up and 
 down have the clearest understanding ; being faith- 
 ful eye-witnesses of those things which others re- 
 ceive but in trust, whereunto they must yield an 
 intuitive consent, and a kind of implicit faith." 
 
 It is certainly not Howell's page that mirrors 
 forth the prig. 
 
 The " Familiar Letters " stand in little need of 
 erudite notes. The incidents they relate, the people 
 they describe, are for the most part well known, 
 or, at least, easy to know. The fantastic stories 
 had best be taken as they stand. The dim quota- 
 tions fade from our memories. The characteristic 
 quality of the letters is their readability, and to 
 the reader — as apart from the student — Howell 
 is sufficient for himself. Many of his pages are 
 dated from the Fleet, when the high hopes of 
 youth lie dead, when the keenness of the observant 
 traveller is dimmed, and his grossness purged by 
 fire. He measures levelly his loss and gain, and 
 accepts both with a half whimsical philosophy which 
 is not too lofty to be loved. It is after three years 
 of captivity that he writes thus to Philip Warwick: 
 
 " I have been so habituate to this prison, and 
 accustomed to the walls thereof so long, that I might 
 well be brought to think that there is no other 
 world behind them. And in my extravagant im- 
 aginations, I often compare this Fleet to Noah's 
 Ark, surrounded with a vast sea, and huge deluge 
 of calamities which hath overwhelm'd this poor 
 island. Nor, altho' I have been so long aboard
 
 xxiv INTRODUCTION 
 
 here, was I yet under hatches, for I have a cabin 
 upon the upper deck, whence I breathe the best air 
 the place affords ; add hereunto that the society 
 of Master Hopkins the Warden is an advantage to 
 me, who is one of the knowingest and most civil 
 gentlemen that I have conversed withal. Moreover, 
 there are here some choice gentlemen who are my 
 co-martyrs ; for a prisoner and a martyr are the 
 same thing, save that the one is buried before his 
 death, and the other after." 
 
 Perhaps a sweet reasonableness of character is 
 the quality which, above all others, holds our hearts 
 in keeping ; and so the " Familiar Letters " are 
 sure of their remote corner on the book-shelf, and 
 the gods — not always unresponsive — have given 
 to James Howell the coveted boon of being from 
 generation to generation his reader's friend. 
 
 AGNES REPPLIER.
 
 THE VOTE, OR A POEM-ROYAL 
 
 PRESENTED TO 
 HIS MAJESTY FOR A NEW YEAr's GIFT, BY WAY 
 
 OF discourse betwixt the poet 
 
 AND HIS MUSE 
 Calendis Januarii i6^l 
 
 POEMA 
 
 THE world's bright eye, Time's measurer, begun 
 Through watery Capricorn his course to run, 
 Old Janus hastened on, his temples bound 
 With Ivy, his grey hairs with holly crowned ; 
 When in a serious quest my thoughts did muse 
 What gift, as best becoming, I should choose 
 To Britain's monarch (my dread sovereign) bring. 
 Which might supply a New Year's offering. 
 I rummaged all my stores, and searched my cells 
 Where nought appeared, God wot, but bagatelles; 
 No far-fetched Indian gem cut out of rock, 
 Or fished in shells, were trusted under lock. 
 No piece which Angelo's strong fancy hit. 
 Or Titian's pencil, or rare Hillyard's wit. 
 No ermines, or black sables, no such skins 
 As the grim Tartar hunts or takes in gins ; 
 No medals, or rich stuff of Tyrlan dye. 
 No costly bowls of frosted argentry.
 
 xxvi THE VOTE, OR A POEM-ROYAL 
 
 No curious landscape, or some marble piece 
 Digged up in Delphos, or elsewhere in Greece ; 
 No Roman perfumes, buffs, or cordovans 
 Made drunk with amber by Moreno's hands. 
 No arras or rich carpets freighted o'er 
 The surging seas from Asia's doubtful shore. 
 No lion's cub or beast of strange aspect, 
 Which in Numidia's fiery womb had slept. 
 No old Toledo blades, or Damaslcins, 
 No pistols, or some rare-spring carabines. 
 No Spanish ginet or choice stallion sent 
 From Naples or hot Afric's continent. 
 
 In fine, I nothing found I could descry 
 Worthy the hands of Caesar or his eye. 
 
 My wits were at a stand, when lo ! my muse 
 (None of the choir, but such as they do use 
 For laundresses or handmaids of mean rank 
 I knew sometimes on Po and Isis' bank) 
 Did softly buz. 
 
 Muse 
 Then let me something bring. 
 
 May handsel the New Year to Charles, my king. 
 May usher in bifronted Janus 
 
 Poet 
 
 Thou fond, foolhardy Muse, thou silly thing. 
 Which 'mongst the shrubs and reeds dost use to sing, 
 Dar'st thou perk up, and the tall cedar climb. 
 And venture on a king with jingling rhyme ? 
 Though all thy words were pearls, thy letters gold. 
 And cut in rubies, or cast in a mould 
 Of diamonds, yet still thy lines would be 
 Too mean a gift for such a majesty.
 
 THE VOTE, OR A POEM-ROYAL xxvii 
 
 Muse 
 I 'U tr}'^, and hope to pass without disdain, 
 In New Year's gifts the mind stands for the main. 
 The Sophy, finding 't was well meant, did deign 
 Few drops of running water from a swain, 
 Then sure 't will please my liege if I him bring 
 Some gentle drops from the Castalian spring ; 
 Though rareties I want of such account. 
 Yet have I something on the forked mount, 
 'T is not the first or third access I made 
 To Caesar's feet, and thence departed glad. 
 For as the sun with his male heat doth render 
 Nile's muddy slime fruitful, and apt t' engender. 
 And daily to produce new kind of creatures 
 Of various shapes and thousand differing features. 
 So is my fancy quickened by the glance 
 Of his benign aspect and countenance. 
 It makes me pregnant, and to superfete 
 Such is the vigour of his beams and heat. 
 Once in a vocal forest I did sing, 
 And made the oak to stand for Charles my King : 
 The best of trees, whereof (it is no vaunt) 
 The greatest schools of Europe sing and chant : 
 There you shall also find Dame Arhetine,' 
 Great Henry's daughter, and Great Britain's queen. 
 Her name engraven in a laurel tree. 
 And so transmitted to eternity. 
 For now I hear that Grove speaks besides mine. 
 The language of the Loire, the Po, and Rhine 
 (And to my Prince (my sweet Black Prince) of late, 
 I did a youthful subject dedicate). 
 Nor do I doubt but that in time my trees 
 Will yield me fruit to pay Apollo's fees 
 To offer up whole hecatombs of praise
 
 xxviii THE VOTE, OR A POEM-ROYAL 
 
 To Caesar, if on them he cast his rays, 
 And if my lamp have oil, I may compile 
 The modern annals of great Albion's isle, 
 To vindicate the truth of Charles his reign. 
 From scribbling pamphleteers who story stain 
 With loose imperfect passages, and thrust 
 Lame things upon the world, ta'en up in trust. 
 
 I have had audience (in another strain) 
 Of Europe's greatest kings, when German main 
 And the Cantabrian waves I crossed, I drank 
 Of Tagus, Seine, and sat at Tiber's bank. 
 Through Scylla and Charybdis I have steered. 
 Where restless Etna's belching flames appeared, 
 By Greece, once Pallas' garden, then I pass'd. 
 Now all o'er-spread with ignorance and waste. 
 Nor hath fair Europe her vast bounds throughout. 
 An academy of note I found not out. 
 
 But now I hope in a successful prore. 
 The Fates have fixed me on sweet England's shore, 
 And by these various wanderings true I found. 
 Earth is our common Mother, every ground 
 May be one's country, for by birth each man 
 Is in this world a cosmopolitan, 
 A free-born burgess, and receives thereby 
 His denization from nativity. 
 Nor is this lower world but a huge inn. 
 And men the rambling passengers, wherein 
 Some do warm lodgings find, and that as soon 
 As out of nature's closets they see noon. 
 And find the table ready laid ; but some 
 Must for their commons trot and trudge for room. 
 With easy pace some climb Promotion's Hill, 
 Some in the dale, do what they can, stick still ; 
 Some through false glasses Fortune smiling spy.
 
 THE VOTE, OR A POEM-ROYAL xxix 
 
 Who still keeps off, though she appears hard by : 
 
 Some like the ostrich with her wings do flutter, 
 
 But cannot fly or soar above the gutter. 
 
 Some quickly fetch, and double Good Hope's Cape, 
 
 Some ne'er can do 't though the same course they shape. 
 
 So that poor mortals are so many balls 
 
 Tossed some o'er line, some under fortune's walls. 
 
 And it is heaven's high pleasure man should lie 
 Obnoxious to his partiality. 
 That by industrious ways he should contend 
 Nature's short pittance to improve and mend ; 
 Now, industry never failed, at last to advance 
 Her patient sons above the reach of chance. 
 
 Poet 
 But whither rov'st thou thus ? 
 
 Well ; since I see thou art so strongly bent, 
 And of a gracious look so confident, 
 Go, and throw down thyself at Caesar's feet. 
 And in thy best attire thy sovereign greet. 
 Go, an auspicious and most blessful year 
 Wish him, as e'er shined o'er this hemisphere. 
 Good may the entrance, better the middle be, 
 And the conclusion best of all the three ; 
 Of joy ungrudged may each day be a debtor, 
 And every morn still usher in a better. 
 May the soft gliding Nones and every Ide, 
 With all the Calends still some good betide. 
 May Cynthia with kind looks, and Phoebus' rays. 
 One clear his nights, the other gild his days. 
 Free limbs, unphysicked health, due appetite. 
 Which no sauce else but hunger may excite, 
 Sound sleeps, green dreams be his, which represent 
 Symptoms of health, and the next day's content j
 
 XXX THE VOTE, OR A POEM-ROYAL 
 
 Cheerful and vacant thoughts, not always bound 
 To counsel, or in deep ideas drowned 
 (Though such late traverses, and tumults might 
 Turn to a lump of care, the airiest wight) : 
 And since while fragile flesh doth us array, 
 The humours still are combating for sway 
 (Which were they free from this reluctancy 
 And counterpoised, man would immortal be), 
 May sanguine o'er the rest predominate 
 In him, and their malignant flux abate. 
 
 May his great queen, in whose imperious eye 
 Reigns such a world of winning majesty. 
 Like the rich olive or Falernian vine 
 Swell with more gems of Scions masculine ; 
 And as her fruit sprung from the rose and luce 
 (The best of stems earth yet did e'er produce) 
 Is tied already by a sanguine lace 
 To all the kings of Europe's high-born race, 
 So may they shoot their youthful branches o'er 
 The surging seas ; and grafF with every shore. 
 
 May home commerce and trade increase from far. 
 Till both the Indies meet within his bar, 
 And bring in mounts of coin his mints to feed, 
 And bankers (traffic's chief supporters) breed, 
 Which may enrich his kingdoms, court and town. 
 And ballast still the coffers of the crown. 
 For kingdoms are as ships, the prince his chests 
 The ballast, which if empty, when distress't 
 With storms, their holds are lightly trimmed the keel 
 Can run no steady course, but toss and reel ; 
 May his imperial Chamber always ply 
 To his desires her wealth to multiply. 
 That she may praise his royal favour more 
 Than all the wares fetched from the great Mogor,
 
 THE VOTE, OR A POEM-ROYAL xxxl 
 
 May the Grand Senate/ with the subject's right, 
 
 Put in the counter-scale the regal might, 
 
 The flowers o' the crown, that they may prop each other. 
 
 And like the Grecian's twin, live, love together. 
 
 For the chief glory of a people is. 
 
 The power of their king, as their's is his ; 
 
 May he be still within himself at home. 
 
 That no just passion make the reason roam. 
 
 Yet passions have their turns to rouse the soul. 
 
 And stir her slumbering spirits, not control ; 
 
 For as the ocean besides ebb and flood 
 
 (^Which Nature's greatest clerk 3 ne'er understood) 
 
 Is not for sail, if an impregning wind 
 
 Fill not the flagging canvas, so a mind 
 
 Too calm is not for action, if desire 
 
 Heats not itself at passion's quickening fire. 
 
 For Nature is allowed sometimes to muster 
 
 Her passions, so they only blow, not bluster. 
 
 May Justice still in her true scales appear, 
 And honour fixed in no unworthy sphere, 
 Unto whose palace all access should have 
 Through virtue's temple, not through Pluto's cave. 
 
 May his true subjects' hearts be his chief fort. 
 Their purse his treasure and their love his port, 
 Their prayers as sweet incense, to draw down 
 Myriads of blessings on his queen and crown. 
 
 And now that his glad presence did assuage 
 That fearful tempest in the north did rage. 
 May those frog vapours in the Irish sky 
 Be scattered by the beams of majesty. 
 That the Hibernian lyre give such a sound. 
 May on our coasts with joyful echoes bound. 
 
 And when this fatal planet leaves to lower 
 Which too, too long on monarchies doth pour
 
 xxxii THE VOTE, OR A POEM-ROYAL 
 
 His direful influence, may peace once more 
 
 Descend from heaven on our tottering shore, 
 
 And ride in triumph both on land and main. 
 
 And with her milk-white steeds draw Charles his wain. 
 
 That so, for those Saturnian times of old. 
 
 An age of pearl may come in lieu of gold. 
 
 Virtue still guide his course, and if there be 
 A thing, as fortune, him accompany. 
 May no ill genius haunt him, but by 's side, 
 The best protecting angel ever bide. 
 
 May he go on to vindicate the right 
 Of holy things, and make the temple bright. 
 To keep that faith, that sacred truth entire. 
 Which he received from Solomon ■♦ his sire. 
 
 And since we all must hence, by th' iron decree 
 Stamped in the black records of destiny. 
 Late may his life, his glory ne'er wear out. 
 Till the great year of Plato wheel about. 
 So prayeth 
 The worst of poets 
 
 to 
 The best of princes, 
 
 yet 
 The most loyal of 
 
 his 
 Votaries and vassals, 
 
 James Howell. 
 
 Comment. 
 
 ' Arhentine, id est virtuous. Anagram of Henrietta. 
 
 * The Parliament. ' Hippocrates. 
 
 * King James.
 
 TO THE KNOWING READER 
 
 TOUCHING 
 
 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 LOVE is the life of friendship, letters are 
 The h'fe of love, the loadstones that by rare 
 Attraction make souls meet, and melt and mix. 
 As when by fire exalted gold we fix. 
 They are those winged postillions that can fly 
 From the Antarctic to the Arctic sky. 
 The heralds and swift harbingers that move 
 From east to west on embassies of love; 
 They can the tropics cut and cross the line, 
 And swim from Ganges to the Rhone or Rhine, 
 From Thames to Tagus, thence to Tiber run, 
 And terminate their journey with the sun : 
 
 They can the cabinets of kings unscrew, 
 And hardest intricacies of State unclew ; 
 They can the Tartar tell what the Mogor, 
 Or the Great Turk doth on the Asian shore. 
 The Knez of them may know what Prester John 
 Doth with his camels in the torrid zone: 
 Which made the Indian Inca think they were 
 Spirits who in white sheets the air did tear. 
 
 The lucky goose saved Jove's beleaguered hill. 
 Once by her noise, but oftener by her quill. 
 It twice prevented Rome was not o'errun 
 By the tough Vandal and the rough-hewn Hun. 
 
 Letters can plots though mouldered under ground
 
 xxxiv TO THE READER 
 
 Disclose, and their fell complices confound ; 
 Witness that fiery pile which would have blown 
 Up to the clouds, prince, people, peers, and town. 
 Tribunals, church, and chapel, and had dried 
 The Thames, though swelling in her highest pride. 
 And parboiled the poor fish, which from her sands 
 Had been tossed up to the adjoining lands. 
 Lawyers as vultures had soared up and down, 
 Prelates like magpies in the air had flown, 
 Had not the eagle's letter brought to light 
 That subterranean horrid work of night. 
 
 Credential letters, states, and kingdoms tie, 
 And monarchs knit in league of amity ; 
 They are those golden links that do enchain 
 Whole nations though discinded by the main ; 
 They are the soul of trade, they make commerce 
 Expand itself throughout the universe. 
 
 Letters may more than history enclose 
 The choicest learning both in verse and prose; 
 They knowledge can unto our souls display, 
 By a more gentle and familiar way. 
 The highest points of state and policy, 
 The most severe parts of philosophy 
 May be their subject, and their themes enrich, 
 As well as private businesses, in which 
 Friends use to correspond and kindred greet. 
 Merchants negotiate, the whole world meet. 
 
 In Seneca's rich letters is enshrined 
 Whate'er the ancient sages left behind. 
 Tully makes his the secret symptoms tell 
 Of those distempers which proud Rome befelU 
 When in her highest flourish she would make 
 Her Tiber from the Ocean homage take.
 
 TO THE READER xxxv 
 
 Great Antonine the emperor did gain 
 More glory by his letters than his reign. 
 His pen outlasts his pike, each golden line 
 In his epistles doth his name enshrine. 
 Aurelius by his letters did the same, 
 And they in chief immortalise his fame. 
 
 Words vanish soon, and vapour into air, 
 While letters on record stand fresh and fair. 
 And tell our nephews who to us were dear. 
 Who our choice friends, who our familiars were. 
 The bashful lover when his stammermg lips 
 Falter, and fear some unadvised slips. 
 May boldly court his mistress with the quill. 
 And his hot passions to her breast enstil; 
 The pen can furrow a fond female's heart. 
 And pierce it more than Cupid's feigned dart. 
 Letters a kind of magic virtue have. 
 And like strong philtres human souls enslave. 
 
 Speech is the index, letters ideas are 
 Of the informing soul ; they can declare, 
 And show the inward man, as we behold 
 A face reflecting in a crystal mould : 
 They serve the dead and living, they become 
 Attorneys and administers in some. 
 
 Letters like Gordian knots do nations tie, 
 
 Else all commerce and love 'twixt men would diCc 
 
 J. H.
 
 TO HIS MAJESTY 
 
 THESE letters, addressed (most of them) to 
 your best degrees of subjects, do, as so many- 
 lines drawn from the circumference to the centre, 
 all meet in your Majesty, who, as the law styles 
 you the fountain of honour and grace, so you 
 should be the centre of our happiness. If your 
 Majesty vouchsafe them a gracious aspect, they 
 may all prove letters of credit, if not credential let- 
 ters, which sovereign princes use only to author- 
 ise. They venture to go abroad into the vast ocean 
 of the world, as letters of mart, to try their for- 
 tunes ; and your Majesty being the greatest lord 
 of sea under heaven, is fittest to protect them, and 
 then they will not fear any human power. More- 
 over, as this royal protection secures them from all 
 danger, so it will infinitely conduce to the pros- 
 perity of their voyage, and bring them to safe port 
 with rich returns. 
 
 Nor would these letters be so familiar as to 
 presume upon so high a patronage, were not many 
 of them records of your own royal actions ; and 
 it is well known that letters can treasure up and 
 transmit matters of State to posterity, with as much 
 faith, and be as authentic registers and safe reposi- 
 tories of truth, as any story whatsoever. 
 
 This brings them to lie all prostrate at your feet 
 with their author, who is, sir, your Majesty's most 
 loyal subject and servant, HOWELL.
 
 EPISTOLiE HO-ELIAN^ 
 SECTION I
 
 BOOK I 
 
 SECTION I 
 
 I 
 
 To Sir y. S., at Leeds Castle 
 
 IT was a quaint difference the ancients did put 
 betwixt a letter and an oration, that the one 
 should be attired like a woman, the other like a 
 man. The latter of the two is allowed large side 
 robes, as long periods, parentheses, similes, ex- 
 amples, and other parts of rhetorical flourishes : 
 but a letter or epistle should be short-coated, and 
 closely couched ; a hungerlin becomes a letter more 
 handsomely than a gown. Indeed we should write 
 as we speak, and that 's a true familiar letter which 
 expresseth one's mind, as if he were discoursing 
 with the party to whom he writes in succinct and 
 short terms. The tongue and the pen are both of 
 them interpreters of the mind, but I hold the pen 
 to be the more faithful of the two. The tongue in 
 udo posita^ being seated in a moist slippery place, 
 may fail and falter in her sudden extemporal ex- 
 pressions ; but the pen, having a greater advantage 
 of premeditation, is not so subject to error, and 
 leaves things behind it upon firm and authentic 
 record. Now, letters, though they be capable of
 
 4 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 any subject, yet commonly they are either narra- 
 tory, objurgatory, consolatory, monitory, or con- 
 gratulatory. The first consists of relations, the 
 second of reprehensions, the third of comfort, the 
 last two of counsel and joy; there are some who 
 in lieu of letters write homilies, they preach when 
 they should epistolise ; there are others that turn 
 them to tedious tractates ; this is to make letters 
 degenerate from their true nature. Some modern 
 authors there are who have exposed their letters to 
 the world, but most of them, I mean among your 
 Latin epistolisers,go freighted with mere Bartholo- 
 mew ware, with trite and trivial phrases only, listed 
 with pedantic shreds of schoolboy verses. Others 
 there are among our next transmarine neighbours 
 eastward, who write in their own language, but their 
 style is so soft and easy that their letters may be 
 said to be like bodies of loose flesh without sinews, 
 they have neither joints of art nor arteries in them ; 
 they have a kind of simpering and lank hectic 
 expressions made up of a bombast of words and 
 finical affected compliments only. I cannot well 
 away with such sleazy stuff", with such cobweb com- 
 positions, where there is no strength of matter, 
 nothing for the reader to carry away with him, that 
 may enlarge the notions of his soul. One shall 
 hardly find an apothegm, example, simile, or any- 
 thing of philosophy, history, or solid knowledge, 
 or as much as one new created phrase, in a hun- 
 dred of them ; and to draw any observations out 
 of them were as if one went about to distil cream
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL .5 
 
 out of froth ; insomuch that it may be said of them, 
 what was said of the echo, " That she is a mere 
 sound, and nothing else." 
 
 I return you your Balzac by this bearer, and | 
 
 when I found those letters, wherein he is so famil- 
 iar with his king, so flat, and those to Richelieu, so 
 puffed with profane hyperboles, and larded up and 
 down with such gross flatteries, with others be- 
 sides which he sends as urinals up and down the 
 world to look into his water for the discovery of 
 the crazy condition of his body, I forebore him 
 further. — So I am your most affectionate servitor, 
 
 J.H. 
 
 Westminster, 25 July 1625. 
 
 II 
 
 To my Father upon yny first going beyond Sea 
 
 I SHOULD be much wanting to myself, and 
 to that obligation of duty, the law of God, and 
 His handmaid Nature hath imposed upon me, if 
 I should not acquaint you with the course and 
 quality of my affairs and fortunes, specially at this 
 time, that I am upon point of crossing the seas to 
 eat my bread abroad. Nor is it the common rela- 
 tion of a son that only induced me hereunto, but 
 that most indulgent and costly care you have been 
 pleased (in so extraordinary a manner) to have had 
 of my breeding (though but one child of fifteen) 
 by placing me in a choice methodical school (so
 
 6 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 far distant from your dwelling) under a learned 
 (though lashing) master ; and by transplanting me 
 thence to Oxford, to be graduated; and so holding 
 me still up by the chin until I could swim without 
 bladders. This patrimony of liberal education you 
 have been pleased to endow me withal, I now 
 carry along with me abroad, as a sure inseparable 
 treasure ; nor do I feel it any burden or encum- 
 brance unto me at all. And what danger soever 
 my person or other things I have about me, do 
 incur, yet I do not fear the losing of this, either 
 by shipwreck or pirates at sea, nor by robbers, or 
 fire, or any other casualty ashore ; and at my re- 
 turn to England, I hope at leastwise I shall do my 
 endeavour that you may find this patrimony im- 
 proved somewhat to your comfort. 
 
 The main of my employment is from that gal- 
 lant knight. Sir Robert Mansell, who, with my 
 Lord of Pembroke, and divers other of the prime 
 Lords of the Court, have got the sole patent of 
 making all sorts of glass with pit-coal, only to 
 save those huge proportions of wood which were 
 consumed formerly in the glass furnaces ; and this 
 business being of that nature, that the workmen 
 are to be had from Italy, and the chief materials 
 from Spain, France and other foreign countries, 
 there is need of an agent abroad for this use (and 
 better than I have offered their service in this 
 kind), so that I believe I shall have employment 
 in all these countries before I return. 
 
 Had I continued still steward of the glass-house
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 7 
 
 in Broad Street, where Captain Francis Bacon hath 
 succeeded me, I should in a short time have melted 
 away to nothing amongst those hot Venetians, find- 
 ing myself too green for such a charge ; therefore 
 it hath pleased God to dispose of me now to a condi- 
 tion more suitable to my years, and that will, I hope, 
 prove more advantageous to my future fortunes. 
 
 In this my peregrination, if I happen, by some 
 accident, to be disappointed of that allowance I 
 am to subsist by, I must make my address to you, 
 for I have no other rendezvous to flee unto ; but 
 it shall not be, unless in case of great indigence. 
 
 Touching the news of the time. Sir George 
 Villiers, the new favourite, tapers up apace, and 
 grows strong at Court. His predecessor, the Earl 
 of Somerset, hath got a lease of ninety years for 
 his life, and so hath his articulate lady, called so 
 for articling against the frigidity and impotence of 
 her former lord. She was afraid that Coke, the Lord 
 Chief Justice (who had used such extraordinary 
 art and industry in discovering all the circum- 
 stances of the poisoning of Overbury) would 
 have made white broth of them, but that the pre- 
 rogative kept them from the pot; yet the sub- 
 servient instruments, the lesser flies could not 
 break through, but lav entangled in the cobweb. 
 Amongst others. Mistress Turner, the first inven- 
 tress of yellow starch, was executed in a cobweb 
 lawn ruff of that colour at Tyburn, and with her 
 I believe that yellow starch, which so much dis- 
 figured our nation and rendered them so ridicu-
 
 8 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 lous and fantastic, will receive its funeral. Sir 
 Gervas Elwaies, Lieutenant of the Tower, was 
 made a notable example of justice and terror to 
 all officers of trust, for being accessory, and that 
 in a passive way only to the murder, yet he was 
 hanged on Tower Hill, and the caveat is very i 
 remarkable which he gave upon the gallows, that 
 people should be very cautious how they make 
 vows to heaven, for the breach of them seldom , 
 passes without a judgment, whereof he was a most 
 ruthful example ; for, being in the Low Coun- 
 tries, and much given to gaming, he once made a 
 solemn vow (which he broke afterwards) that if 
 he played above such a sum, he might be hanged. 
 My Lord (William) of Pembroke did a most 
 noble act like himself; for the king, having given 
 him all Sir Gervas Elwaies' estate, which came to 
 above ^^looo per annum, he freely bestowed it 
 on the widow and her children. 
 
 The latter end of this week I am to go a ship- 
 board, and first for the Low Countries. I humbly 
 pray your blessing may accompany me in these 
 my travels by land and sea, with a continuance 
 of your prayers, which will be as so many good 
 gales to blow me to safe port ; for I have been 
 taught that the parents' benedictions contribute 
 very much, and have a kind of prophetic virtue 
 to make the child prosperous. — In this opinion 
 I shall ever rest, your dutiful son, J. H. 
 
 Broad Street in London, ibis 
 I of March 1618.
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 9 
 
 III 
 
 To Dr Francis Manse//, since Principa/ of 
 "Jesus Co//ege in Oxford 
 
 BEING to take leave of England, and to 
 launch out into the world abroad, to breathe 
 foreign air a while, I thought it very handsome, 
 and an act well becoming me, to take my leave 
 also of you and of my dearly honoured mother 
 Oxford. Otherwise both of you might have just 
 grounds to exhibit a bill of complaint, or rather 
 a protest against me, and cry me up ; you for a 
 forgetful friend ; she, for an ungrateful son, if not 
 some spurious issue. To prevent this, I salute 
 you both together: you with the best of my 
 most candid affections ; her, with my most duti- 
 ful observance, and thankfulness for the milk she 
 pleased to give me in that exuberance, had I 
 taken it in that measure she offered it me while 
 I slept in her lap ; yet that little I have sucked, 
 I carry with me now abroad, and hope that this 
 course of life will help to concoct it to a greater 
 advantage, having opportunity, by the nature of 
 my employment, to study men as well as books. 
 The small time I supervised the glass-house I 
 got amongst those Venetians some smatterings 
 of the Italian tongue, which, besides the little I 
 have, you know, of school languages, is all the 
 preparatives I have made for travel. I am to go
 
 lo FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 this week down to Gravesend, and so embark for 
 Holland. I have got a warrant from the Lords 
 of the Council to travel for three years any- 
 where, Rome and St Omer excepted. I pray let 
 me retain some room, though never so little, in 
 your thoughts, during the time of this our separa- 
 tion, and let our souls meet sometimes by inter- 
 course of letters. I promise you that yours shall 
 receive the best entertainment I can make them, 
 for I love you dearly, dearly well, and value your 
 friendship at a very high rate. — So with appre- 
 ciation of as much happiness to you at home as 
 I shall desire to accompany me abroad, I rest ever 
 your friend to serve you, 
 
 J. H. 
 London, this 20 of March 1618. 
 
 IV 
 
 To Sir "James Crofts ^ Knight, at St Osith 
 
 I COULD not shake hands with England with- 
 out kissing your hands also; and because, 
 in regard of your distance now from London, I 
 cannot do it in person, I send this paper for my 
 deputy. 
 
 The news that keeps greatest noise here now is 
 the return of Sir Walter Raleigh from his mine 
 of gold in Guiana, the South parts of America, 
 which at first was like to be such a hopeful boon 
 voyage, but it seems that that golden mine is
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL ii 
 
 proved a mere chimera, an imaginary airy mine ; 
 and, indeed. His Majesty had never any other 
 conceit of it. But what will not one in captivity, 
 as Sir Walter was, promise, to regain his freedom? 
 Who would not promise not only mines, but moun- 
 tains of gold, for liberty? And 'tis pity such a 
 knowing, well-weighed knight had not had a better 
 fortune ; for the Destiny ( I mean that brave ship 
 which he built himself of that name, that carried 
 him thither ) is like to prove a fatal destiny to him, 
 and to some of the rest of those gallant adventu- 
 rers who contributed for the setting forth of thir- 
 teen ships more, who were most of them his kins- 
 men and younger brothers, being led into the said 
 expedition by a general conceit the world had of 
 the wisdom of Sir Walter Raleigh ; and many of 
 these are like to make shipwreck of their estates 
 by this voyage. Sir Walter landed at Plymouth, 
 whence he thought to make an escape ; and some 
 say he hath tampered with his body by physic, to 
 make him look sickly, that he may be the more 
 pitied, and permitted to lie in his own house. Count 
 Gondamar, the Spanish Ambassador, speaks high 
 language, and, sending lately to desire audience of 
 His Majesty, he said he had but one word to tell 
 him. His Majesty wondering what might be de- 
 livered in one word ; when he came before him, he 
 said only, "Pirates, Pirates, Pirates," and so de- 
 parted. 
 
 'T is true that he protested against this voyage 
 before, and that it could not be but for some pre-
 
 12 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 datory design ; and that if it be as I hear, I fear it 
 will go very ill with Sir Walter, and that Gonda- 
 mar will never give him over till he hath his head 
 off his shoulders, which may quickly be done, 
 without any new arraignment, by virtue of the 
 old sentence that lies still dormant against him, 
 which he could never get off by pardon, notwith- 
 standing that he mainly laboured in it before he 
 went; but His Majesty could never be brought 
 to it, for he said he would keep this as a curb to 
 hold him within the bounds of his commission, 
 and the good behaviour. 
 
 Gondamar cries out that he hath broke the 
 sacred peace betwixt the two kingdoms, that he 
 hath fired and plundered Santo Thoma, a colony 
 the Spaniards had planted with so much blood, 
 near under the line, which made it prove such 
 hot service unto him, and where, besides others, 
 he lost his eldest son in the action ; and could 
 they have preserved the magazine of tobacco only, 
 besides other things in that town, something might 
 have been had to countervail the charge of the 
 voyage. Gondamar allegeth further that, the en- 
 terprise of the mine failing, he propounded to the 
 rest of his fleet to go and intercept some of the 
 Plate-galleons, with other designs which would 
 have drawn after them apparent acts of hostility, 
 and so demands justice; besides other disasters 
 which fell out upon the dashing of the first design. 
 Captain Remish, who was the main instrument for 
 discovery of the mine, pistolled himself in a des-
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 13 
 
 peiate mood of discontent In his cabin, in the Con- 
 vertine. 
 
 This return of Sir Walter Raleigh from Guiana 
 puts me in mind of a facetious tale I read lately 
 in Italian (for I have a little of that language 
 already), how Alfonso, King of Naples, sent a 
 Moor, who had been his captive a long time, to 
 Barbary, with a considerable sum of money to buv 
 horses, and to return by such a time. Now there 
 was about the king a kind of buffoon or jester who 
 had a table-book or journal, wherein he was used 
 to register any absurdity, or impertinence, or merry 
 passage that happened upon the Court. That day 
 the Moor was dispatched for Barbary, the said 
 jester waiting upon the king at supper, the king 
 called for his journal, and asked what he had ob- 
 served that day ; thereupon, the jester produced 
 his table-book, and, amongst other things, he read 
 how Alfonso, King of Naples, had sent Beltram 
 the Moor, who had been a long time his prisoner, 
 to Morocco (his own country) with so many thou- 
 sand crowns to buy horses. The king asked him 
 why he inserted that. " Because," said he, " I 
 think he will never come back to be a prisoner 
 again, and so you have lost both man and money. 
 But, if he do come, then your jest is marred." 
 Quoth the king, " No, sir ; for If he return I will 
 blot out your name, and put him in for a fool." 
 
 The application is easy and obvious ; but the 
 world wonders extremely that so great a wise man 
 as Sir Walter Raleigh would return to cast him-
 
 14 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 self upon so inevitable a rock, as I fear he will ; 
 and much more, that such choice men and so great 
 a power of ships should all come home and do 
 nothing. 
 
 The letter you sent to my father I conveyed 
 safely the last week to Wales. I am this week, 
 by God's help, for the Netherlands, and then, I 
 think, for France. If in this, my foreign employ- 
 ment, I may be any way serviceable unto you, you 
 know what power you have to dispose of me, for 
 I honour you in a very high degree, and will live 
 and die, your humble and ready servant, 
 
 J. H. 
 
 London, 28 of March 161 8 [9]. 
 
 V 
 
 To my Brother^ after Dr Howe II , and now Bishop 
 of Bristol ; from Amsterdam 
 
 Brother, 
 
 I AM newly landed at Amsterdam, and it is the 
 first foreign earth I ever set foot upon. I was 
 pitifully sick all the voyage, for the weather was 
 rough and the wind untoward, and at the mouth 
 of the Texel we were surprised by a furious tem- 
 pest, so that the ship was like to split upon some 
 of those old stumps of trees wherewith that river is 
 full ; for in ages past, as the skipper told me, there 
 grew a fair forest in that channel where the Texel 
 makes now her bed. Having been so rocked and
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 15 
 
 shaken at sea, when I came ashore, I began to in- 
 cline to Copernicus his opinion, which has got such 
 a sway lately in the world, viz., that the earth, as 
 well as the rest of her fellow-elements, is in per- 
 petual motion, for she seemed so to me a good 
 while after I had landed. He that observes the 
 site and position of this country will never here- 
 after doubt the truth of that philosophical problem 
 which keeps so great a noise in the schools, viz., 
 that the sea is higher than the earth ; because, 
 as I sailed along these coasts, I visibly found 
 it true ; for the ground here, which is all 'twixt 
 marsh and moorish, lies not only level, but to the 
 apparent sight of the eye, far lower than the sea ; 
 which made the Duke of Alva say that the inhabit- 
 ants of this country were the nearest neighbours to 
 hell (the great abyss) of any people upon earth, 
 because they dwell lowest. Most of that ground 
 they tread is plucked, as it were, out of the very 
 jaws of Neptune, who is afterwards pent out by 
 high dykes, which are preserved with incredible 
 charge, insomuch, that the chief Dyke-grave here 
 is one of the greatest officers of trust in all the 
 province, it being in his power to turn the whole 
 country into a salt loch when he list, and so to put 
 Hans to swim for his life, which makes it to be 
 one of the chiefest parts of his litany. From the 
 sea, the Spaniard, and the devil, the Lord deliver 
 me. I need not tell you who preserves him from 
 the last, but from the Spaniard his best friend is the 
 sea itself, notwithstanding that he fears him as an
 
 i6 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 enemy another way : for the sea, stretching him- 
 self here into divers arms, and meeting with some 
 of those fresh rivers that descend from Germany 
 to disgorge themselves into him through these 
 provinces, most of their towns are thereby incom- 
 passed with water, which by sluices they can con- 
 tract or dilate as they list. This makes their towns 
 inaccessible and out of the reach of cannon ; so 
 that water may be said to be one of their best 
 fences, otherwise I believe they had not been able 
 to have borne up so long against the gigantic power 
 of Spain. 
 
 This city of Amsterdam, though she be a great 
 staple of news, yet I can impart none unto you at 
 this time, I will defer that till I come to the Hague. 
 
 I am lodged here at one Monsieur De la Cluze, 
 not far from the Exchange, to make an introduc- 
 tion into the French ; because I believe I shall 
 steer my course hence next to the country where 
 that language is spoken ; but I think I shall so- 
 journ here about two months longer, therefore I 
 pray direct your letters accordingly, or any other 
 you have for me. One of the prime comforts of a 
 traveller is to receive letters from his friends ; they 
 beget new spirits in him, and present joyful objects 
 to his fancy when his mind is clouded sometimes 
 with fogs of melancholy ; thereof I pray make me 
 happy as often as your conveniency will serve with 
 yours. You may send or deliver them to Caj5tain 
 Bacon at the Glass House, who will see them 
 safely sent.
 
 I 
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 17 
 
 So, my dear brother, I pray God bless us both, 
 and send us after this large distance a joyful meet- 
 ing. — Your loving brother, 
 
 J. H. 
 
 Amsterdam, April i, i6i7[9]. 
 
 VI 
 To Dan. Caldwell , Esq. ; fro?fi Amsterdam 
 
 My dear Dan,, 
 
 HAVE made your friendship so necessary 
 unto me for the contentment of my life, that 
 j happiness itself would be but a kind of infelicity 
 without it. It is as needful to me as fire and 
 water, as the very air I take in and breathe out ; 
 it is to me not only necessitudo but necessitas : 
 therefore I pray let me enjoy it in that fair pro- 
 portion that I desire to return unto you by way of 
 correspondence and retaliation. Our first league 
 of love, you know, was contracted among the 
 muses in Oxford ; for no sooner was I matricu- 
 lated to her, but I was adopted to you ; I became 
 her son and your friend at one time. You know 
 I followed you then to London, where our love 
 received confirmation in the Temple and else- 
 where. We are now far asunder, for no less than 
 a sea severs us, and that no narrow one, but the 
 German Ocean : Distance sometimes endears 
 friendship, and absence sweeteneth it, it much 
 enhanceth the value of it, and makes it more pre-
 
 i8 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 cious. Let this be verified in us, let that love 
 which formerly used to be nourished by personal 
 communication and the lips be now fed by let- 
 ters ; let the pen supply the office of the tongue; 
 letters have a strong operation, they have a kind 
 of art-like embraces to mingle souls, and make 
 them meet though millions of paces asunder ; by 
 them we may converse and know how it fares 
 with each other as it were by intercourse of spirits. 
 Therefore amongst your civil speculations I pray 
 let your thought sometimes reflect on me (your 
 absent self) and wrap those thoughts in paper, and 
 so send them me over ; I promise you they shall 
 be very welcome, I shall embrace and hug them 
 with my best affections. 
 
 Commend me to Tom Bowyer, and enjoin him 
 the like. I pray be no niggard in distributing my 
 love plentifully amongst our friends at the Inns 
 of Court. Let Jack Toldervy have my kind com- 
 mends with this caveat, "That the pot which goes 
 often to the water comes home cracked at last ; " 
 therefore I hope he will be careful how he makes 
 the Fleece in Cornhill his thoroughfare too often. 
 So may my dear Daniel live happy, and love his 
 
 J. H. 
 
 From Amsterdam, April the lo, 1619.
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 19 
 
 VII 
 
 To my Father ; fro?n Amsterdam 
 
 I AM lately arrived in Holland in a good plight 
 of health, and continue yet in this town of 
 Amsterdam, a town I believe that there are few 
 of her fellows, being from a mean fishing dorp, come 
 in a short revolution of time, by a monstrous in- 
 crease of commerce and navigation, to be one of 
 the greatest marts of Europe. It is admirable to 
 see what various sorts of buildings and new fabrics 
 are now here erecting everywhere ; not in houses 
 only, but in whole streets and suburbs ; so that it 
 is thought she will in a short time double her 
 proportion in business. 
 
 I am lodged in a Frenchman's house, who is 
 one of the deacons of our English Brownists' 
 Church here; it is not far from the synagogue of 
 Jews, who have free and open exercise of their 
 religion here. I believe in this street where I 
 lodge there be well near as many religions as 
 there be houses ; for one neighbour knows not 
 nor cares not much what religion the other is of, 
 so that the number of conventicles exceeds the 
 number of churches here. And let this country 
 call itself as long as it will the United Provinces 
 one way, I am persuaded in this point there 's no 
 place so disunited. 
 
 The Dog and Rag Market is hard by, where
 
 20 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 every Sunday morning there is a kind of public 
 mart for tliose commodities, notwithstanding their 
 precise observance of the Sabbath. 
 
 Upon Saturday last I happened to be in a gen- 
 tleman's company, who showed me as I walked 
 along in the streets a long-bearded old Jew of the 
 tribe of Aaron ; when the other Jews met him 
 they fell down and kissed his foot. This was that 
 Rabbi with whom our countryman Broughton had 
 such a dispute. 
 
 This city, notwithstanding her huge trade, is far 
 inferior to London for populousness ; and this I 
 infer out of their weekly bills of mortality, which 
 come not at most but to fifty or thereabout ; 
 whereas in London the ordinary number is 'twixt 
 two and three hundred, one week with another. 
 Nor are there such wealthy men in this town as 
 in London ; for by reason of the generality of 
 commerce, the banks, adventures, the common 
 shares and stocks which most have in the Indian 
 and other companies, the wealth doth diffuse itself 
 here in a strange kind of equality, not one of the 
 burghers being exceeding rich, or exceeding poor. 
 Insomuch, that I believe our four and twenty 
 aldermen may buy a hundred of the richest men 
 in Amsterdam. It is a rare thing to meet with a 
 beggar here, as rare as to see a horse, they say, 
 upon the streets of Venice, and this is held to be 
 one of their best pieces of Government ; for be- 
 sides the strictness of their laws against mendi- 
 cants, they have hospitals of all sorts for young
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 21 
 
 and old, both for the relief of the one and the 
 employment of the other, so that there is no 
 object here to exercise any act of charity upon. 
 They are here very neat, though not so magnifi- 
 cent in their buildings, especially in their frontis- 
 pieces and first rooms ; and for cleanliness they 
 may serve for a pattern to all people. They will 
 presently dress half a dozen dishes of meat with- 
 out any noise or show at all; for if one goes to 
 the kitchen, there will be scarce appearance of 
 anything but a few covered pots upon a turf fire, 
 which is their prime fuel. After dinner they fall 
 a-scouring of those pots, so that the outside will 
 be as bright as the inside, and the kitchen sud- 
 denly so clean as if no meat had been dressed 
 there a month before. They have neither well 
 nor fountain or any spring of fresh water in or 
 about all this city, but their fresh water is brought 
 unto them by boats. Besides, they have cisterns 
 to receive the rain water which they much use, so 
 that my laundress, bringing my linen to me one 
 day, and I commending the whiteness of them, 
 she answered: That they must needs be white 
 and fair, for they were washed in aqua coelestis^ 
 meaning sky water. 
 
 'T were cheap living here were it not for the 
 monstrous excises which are imposed upon all sorts 
 of commodities, both for belly and back; for the 
 retailer pays the States almost the one moiety as 
 much as he paid for the commodity at first, nor 
 doth any murmur at it, because it goes not to any
 
 22 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 favourite or private purse, but to preserve them 
 from the Spaniard, their common enemy, as they 
 term him ; so that the saying is truly verified here, 
 "Defend me and spend me." With this excise 
 principally, they maintain all their armies by sea 
 and land, with their garrisons at home and abroad, 
 both here and in the Indies, and defray all other 
 public charges besides. 
 
 I shall hence shortly for France, and in my way 
 take most of the prime towns of Holland and Zea- 
 land, especially Leyden (the University), where 
 1 shall sojourn some days. — So humbly craving 
 a continuance of your blessing and prayers, I rest 
 your dutiful son, J. H. 
 
 May the i, 1619. 
 
 VIII 
 
 To Dr Tho. Prichard at "Jesus College in 
 Oxford ; from Leyden 
 
 IT is the royal prerogative of love not to be 
 confined to that small local compass which cir- 
 cumscribes the body, but to make his sallies and 
 progresses abroad to find out and enjoy his desired 
 object under what region soever. Nor is it the 
 vast gulf of Neptune, or any distance of place, or 
 difference of clime can bar him of this privilege. I 
 never found the experiment hereof so sensibly nor 
 felt the comfort of it so much as since I shook
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 23 
 
 hands with England. For, though you be in Ox- 
 ford and I at Leyden, albeit you be upon an island 
 and I now upon the continent (though the lowest 
 part of Europe), yet those swift postillions, my 
 thoughts, find you out daily, and bring you unto 
 me. I behold you often in my chamber and in 
 my bed ; you eat, you drink, you sit down, and 
 walk with me, and my fantasy enjoys you often in 
 my sleep when all my senses are locked up and my 
 soul wanders up and down the world, sometimes 
 through pleasant fields and gardens, sometimes 
 through odd uncouth places, over mountains and 
 broken confused buildings. As my love to you 
 doth thus exercise his power, so I desire yours to 
 me may not be idle, but roused up sometimes to 
 find me out and summon me to attend you in 
 Jesus College. 
 
 I am now here in Leyden, the only academy 
 besides Franiker of all the United Provinces. 
 Here are nations of all sorts, but the Germans 
 swarm more than any. To compare their univer- 
 sity to vours were to cast New Inn in counterscale 
 with Christ Church College, or the alms houses on 
 Tower Hill to Sutton's Hospital. Here are no 
 colleges at all, God-wot (but one for the Dutch), 
 nor scarce the face of an university, only there are 
 general schools where the sciences are read by sev- 
 eral professors, but all the students are oppidanes. 
 A small time and less learning will suffice to make 
 one a graduate ; nor are those formalities of habits 
 and other decencies here as with vou, much less
 
 24 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 those exhibitions and support for scholars, with 
 other encouragements ; insomuch, that the Oxon- 
 ians and Cantabrigians bona si sua norint^ were 
 
 they sensible of their own felicity, are the happiest 
 academians on earth ; yet Apollo hath a strong 
 influence here ; and as Cicero said of them of 
 Athens : Athenis pingue caelum^ tenuia ingenia (the 
 Athenians had a thick air and thin wits) ; so 1 may 
 say of these Lagdunensians,they have a gross air, 
 but thin subtle wits (some of them). Witness also 
 Heinsius, Grotius, Arminius,and Baudius. Of the 
 two last I was told a tale, that Arminius meeting 
 Baudius one day disguised with drink (wherewith 
 he would be often) he told him " Tu Baudi dede- 
 coras nostram Academiam, et tu Armeni nostram 
 Religionem " (Thou Baudius disgracest our Uni- 
 versity ; and thou Arminius our religion). The 
 heaven here hath always some cloud in his coun- 
 tenance ; and from this grossness and spissitude of 
 air proceeds the slow nature of the inhabitants, yet 
 this slowness is recompensed with another benefit ; 
 it makes them patient and constant, as in all other 
 actions, so in their studies and speculations, though 
 they use 
 
 Crassos transire Dies, lucemque palustrem. 
 
 I pray impart my love liberally amongst my 
 friends in Oxford, and when you can make truce 
 with your more serious meditations bestow a 
 thought, drawn into a few lines, upon your J. H. 
 
 Leyden, May the 30, 161 9.
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 25 
 
 IX 
 
 To Mr Richard Altham^ at his Chamber in 
 
 Grays Inn 
 
 THOL^GH vou be now a good way out of 
 my reach, yet you are not out of my remem- 
 brance ; you are still within the horizon of mv love. 
 Now the horizon of love is large and spacious ; it 
 is as boundless as that of the imagination, and where 
 the imagination rangeth, the memory is still busy 
 to usher in and present the desired object it fixeth 
 upon. It is love that sets them both on work, and 
 may be said to be the highest sphere whence they 
 receive their motion. Thus you appear unto me 
 often in these foreign travels, and that you may 
 believe me the better, I send you these lines as my 
 ambassadors (and ambassadors must not lie) to in- 
 form you accordingly, and to salute you. 
 
 I desire to know how you like Ployden ; I 
 heard it often said that there is no study requires 
 patience and constancy more than the common 
 law, for it is a good while before one comes to any 
 known perfection in it, and consequently to any 
 gainful practice. This, I think, made Jack Chaun- 
 dler throw away his Littleton, like him that when 
 he could not catch the hare, said : A pox upon her, 
 she is but dry tough meat, let her go. It is not so 
 with you, for I know you are of that disposition, 
 that when you mind a thing, nothing can frighten
 
 26 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 you in making constant pursuit after it till you 
 have obtained it ; for if the mathematics with 
 their crabbedness and intricacy could not deter 
 you, but that you waded through the very midst 
 of them and arrived to so excellent a perfection, 
 I believe it is not in the power of Ployden to das- 
 tardize or cow your spirits until you have over- 
 come him, at leastwise have so much of him as 
 will serve your turn. I know you were always a 
 quick and pressing disputant in logic and philo- 
 sophy, which makes me think your genius is fit 
 for law (as the Baron, your excellent father was), 
 for a good logician makes always a good lawyer ; 
 and hereby one may give a strong conjecture of 
 the aptness or inaptitude of one's capacity to that 
 study and profession ; and you know as well as I 
 that logicians who went under the name of soph- 
 isters, were the first lawyers that ever were. 
 
 I shall be upon uncertain removes hence, until 
 I come to Rouen in France, and there I mean to 
 cast anchor a good while. I shall expect your let- 
 ters there with impatience. I pray present my ser- 
 vice to Sir James Altham and to my good lady, 
 your mother, with the rest to whom it is due in 
 Bishopsgate Street and elsewhere. — So I am, 
 yours in the best degree of friendship, 
 
 J.H. 
 
 Hague, 30 of May 161 9.
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 27 
 
 X 
 
 To Sir ya?nes Crofts; frojn the Hague 
 
 THE same observance that a father may chal- 
 lenge of his child, the like you may claim of 
 me in regard of the extraordinary care you have 
 been pleased to have always, since I had the hap- 
 piness to knov/ you, of the course of my fortunes. 
 I am now newly come to the Hague, the Court 
 of the six (and almost seven) confederated pro- 
 vinces. The Council of State with the Prince of 
 Orange makes his firm residence here, unless he 
 be upon a march, and in motion for some design 
 abroad. This prince (Maurice) was cast in a 
 mould suitable to the temper of this people. He 
 is slow and full of wariment, and not without a 
 mixture of fear ; I do not mean a pusillanimous 
 but politic fear. He is the most constant in the 
 quotidian course and carriage of his life of any 
 that I have ever heard or read of; for whosoever 
 knows the customs of the Prince of Orange may 
 >j11 what he is doing here every hour of the day, 
 though he be in Constantinople. In the morn- 
 ing he awaketh about six in summer and seven in 
 winter. The first thing he doth, he sends one of 
 his grooms or pages to see how the wind sits, and 
 he wears or leaves off his waistcoat accordingly, 
 then he is about an hour dressing himself, and 
 about a quarter of an hour in his closet, then comes
 
 28 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 in the secretary, and if he hath any private or 
 pubHc letters to write, or any other dispatches to 
 make, he doth it before he stirs from his cham- 
 ber ; then comes he abroad, and goes to his sta- 
 bles, if it be no sermon-day, to see some of 
 his gentlemen or pages (of whose breeding he is 
 very careful) ride the great horse. He is very 
 accessible to any that hath business with him, and 
 showeth a winning kind of familiarity, for he will 
 shake hands with the meanest boor of the coun- 
 try, and he seldom hears any commander or gen- 
 tleman with his hat on. He dines punctually 
 about twelve, and his table is free for all comers, 
 but none under the degree of a captain useth to 
 sit down at it ; after dinner he stays in the room a 
 good while, and then anyone may accost him, and 
 tell his tale ; then he retires to his chamber, where 
 he answers all petitions that were delivered him in 
 the morning, and towards the evening, if he goes 
 not to council, which is seldom, he goes either to 
 make some visits, or to take the air abroad, and ac- 
 cording to this constant method he passeth his life. 
 There are great stirs like to arise betwixt the 
 Bohemians and the elected king, the emperor, and 
 they are come already to that height, that they 
 consult of deposing him, and to choose some Pro- 
 testant prince to be their king, some talk of the 
 Duke of Saxony, others of the Palsgrave. I be- 
 lieve the States here would rather be for the latter, 
 in regard of conformity of religion, the other being 
 a Lutheran.
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 29 
 
 I could not find in Amsterdam a large Ortelius 
 in French to send you, but from Antwerp I will 
 not fail to serve you. 
 
 So wishing you all happiness and health, and 
 that the sun may make many progresses more 
 through the Zodiac before those comely gray hairs 
 of yours go to the grave, I rest your very humble 
 servant, J. H. 
 
 June the 3, 16 19. 
 
 XI 
 
 T^o Captain Francis Bacon, at the Glass House 
 in Broad Street 
 
 MY last to you was from Amsterdam, since 
 which time I have traversed the prime 
 parts of the United Provinces, and I am now in 
 Zealand, being newly come to this town of Mid- 
 dleborough, which is much crestfallen since the 
 staple of English cloth was removed hence, as is 
 Flishing also, her next neighbour, since the de- 
 parture of the English garrison. A good intelli- 
 gent gentleman told me the manner how Flish- 
 ing and the Brill, our two cautionary towns here, 
 were redeemed, which was thus : The nine hun- 
 dred and odd soldiers at Flishing and the Ram- 
 makins hard by, being many weeks without their 
 pay, they borrowed divers sums of money of the 
 states of this town, who finding no hopes of sup- 
 ply from England, advice was sent to the States-
 
 30 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 General at the Hague, they consulting with Sir 
 Ralph Winwood, our ambassador (who was a 
 favourable instrument unto them in this business, 
 as also in the match with the Palsgrave) sent in- 
 structions to the Lord Caroon, to acquaint the 
 Earl of Suffolk, then Lord Treasurer, herewith ; 
 and in case they could find no satisfaction there, 
 to make his address to the king himself, which 
 Caroon did. His Majesty being much incensed 
 that his subjects and soldiers should starve for 
 want of their pay in a foreign country, sent for 
 the Lord Treasurer, who, drawing His Majesty 
 aside, and telling how empty his exchequer was. 
 His Majesty told the ambassador that if his mas- 
 ters, the States, would pay the money they owed 
 him upon those towns, he would deliver them 
 up ; the ambassador returning the next day to 
 know whether His Majesty persisted in the same 
 resolution, in regard that at his former audience, 
 he perceived him to be a little transported. His 
 Majesty answered. That he knew the states of 
 Holland to be his good friends and confederates, 
 both in point of religion and policy ; therefore 
 he apprehended not the least fear of any differ- 
 ence that should fall out between them, in con- 
 templation whereof, if they desired to have their 
 towns again, he would willingly surrender them. 
 Hereupon the States made up the sum presently, 
 which came in convenient time, for it served to 
 defray the expenseful progress he made to Scot- 
 land the summer following. When that money
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 31 
 
 was lent by Queen Elizabeth, it was articled that 
 interest should be paid upon interest ; and be- 
 sides, that for every gentleman who should lose 
 his life in the States' service they should make 
 good five pounds to the Crown of England. All 
 this His Majesty remitted, and only took the 
 principal ; and this was done in requital of that 
 princely entertainment, and great presents which 
 my Lady Elizabeth had received in divers of their 
 towns as she passed to Heidelberg. 
 
 The bearer hereof is Signor Antonio Miotti, 
 who was master of a crystal glass furnace here a 
 long time, and as I have it by good intelligence, he 
 is one of the ablest and most knowing men for the 
 guidance of a glass-work in Christendom. There- 
 fore according to my instructions I send him over, 
 and hope to have done Sir Robert good service 
 thereby. So with my kind respects unto you, and 
 my most humble service, where you know it is 
 due, I rest, your affectionate servant, 
 
 J. H. 
 
 June the 6, 1619. 
 
 XII 
 
 To Sir James Crofts; Antwerp 
 
 I PRESUME that my last to you from the 
 Hague came safe to hand. I am now come to 
 a more cheerful country, and amongst a people 
 somewhat more vigorous and mettled, being not
 
 32 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 so heavy as the Hollander, or homely as they of 
 Zealand. This goodly ancient city methinks looks 
 like a disconsolate widow, or rather some superan- 
 nuated virgin, that hath lost her lover, being almost 
 quite bereft of that flourishing commerce, where- 
 with before the falling off the rest of the Provinces 
 from Spain she abounded, to the envy of all other 
 cities and marts of Europe, There are few places 
 this side the Alps, better built, and so well streeted 
 as this, and none at all so well girt with bastions 
 and ramparts, which in some places are so spacious 
 that they usually take the air in coaches upon the 
 very walls, which are beautified with divers rows of 
 trees and pleasant walks. The citadel here, though 
 it be an addition to the stateliness and strength of 
 the town, yet it serves as a shrewd curb unto her, 
 which makes her champ upon the bit, and foam 
 sometimes with anger, but she cannot help it. The 
 tumults in Bohemia now grow hotter and hotter ; 
 they write how the great council at Prague fell to 
 such a hurliburly that some of those senators who 
 adhered to the Emperor were thrown out at the 
 windows, where some were maimed, some broke 
 their necks. I am shortly to bid a farewell to the 
 Netherland, and to bend my course for France, 
 where I shall be most ready to entertain any com- 
 mands of yours. So may all health and happi- 
 ness attend you, according to the wishes of your 
 obliged servant, 
 
 J. H. 
 July J, 1619.
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL ^3 
 
 XIII 
 
 To Dr Tho??ias Prichard, at Oxford; front Roue7i 
 
 I HAVE now taken firm footing In France, and 
 though France be one of the chiefest climates 
 of compliment, yet I can use none towards you, 
 but tell you in plain downright language that in 
 the list of those friends I left behind me in Eng- 
 land, you are one of the prime rank, one whose 
 name I have marked with the whitest stone. If 
 you have gained such a place amongst the choicest 
 friends of mine, I hope you will put me some- 
 where amongst yours, though I but fetch up the 
 rear, being contented to be the infima species^ the 
 lowest in the predicament of your friends. 
 
 I shall sojourn a good while in this city of 
 Rouen, therefore I pray make me happy with the 
 comfort of your letters, which I shall expect with 
 a longing impatience. I pray send me ample ad- 
 vertisement of your welfare, and of the rest of 
 our friends, as well upon the banks of Isis as 
 amongst the British mountains. I am but a fresh 
 man vet In France, therefore I can send you no 
 news, but that all is here quiet, and It is no ordi- 
 nary news that the French should be quiet. But 
 some think this calm will not last long, for the 
 Queen Mother (late Regent) Is discontented being 
 restrained from coming to the Court, or to the 
 city of Paris, and the tragical death of her favour-
 
 34 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 ite (and foster-brother), the late Marquis of Ancre, 
 lieth yet in her stomach undigested. She hath the 
 Duke of Espernon, and divers other potent 
 princes, that would be strongly at her devotion 
 (as it is thought), if she would stir. I pray pre- 
 sent my service to Sir Eubule Thelwall, and send 
 me word with what pace Jesus College new walls 
 go up. I will borrow my conclusion to you at 
 this time of my countryman Owen — 
 
 Uno non possum quantum te diligo versu 
 Dicere, si satis est distichon, ecce duos. 
 
 I cannot in one verse my love declare. 
 
 If two will serve the turn, lo! here they are. 
 
 Whereunto I will add this surname Anagram. — 
 Yours whole, J. Howel. 
 
 Aug. 6, 1 6 19. 
 
 XIV 
 To Dan. Caldwell^ Esq.; from Rouen 
 
 My dear Dan., 
 
 WHEN I came first to this town, amongst 
 other objects of contentment which I 
 found here, whereof there are variety, a letter of 
 yours was brought me, and 't was a she-letter, for 
 two more were enwombed in her body; she had 
 an easy and quick deliverance of that twin ; but 
 besides them, she was big and pregnant of divers
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL ^S 
 
 sweet pledges, and lively evidences of your own 
 love towards me, whereof I am as fond as any 
 mother can be of her child. I shall endeavour to 
 cherish and foster this dear love of yours with all 
 the tenderness that can be, and warm it at the fuel 
 of my best affections to make it grow every day 
 stronger and stronger, until it comes to the state 
 of perfection, because I know it is a true and real, 
 it is no spurious or adulterated love. If I intend 
 to be so indulgent and careful of yours I hope you 
 will not suffer mine to starve with you ; my love 
 to you needs not much tending, for it is a lusty 
 strong love, and will not easily miscarry. 
 
 I pray, when you write next, to send me a dozen 
 pair of the best white kidskin gloves the Royal 
 Exchange can afford ; as also two pair of the pur- 
 est white worsted stockings you can get of women 
 size, together with half a dozen pairs of knives. 
 I pray, send your man with them to Vacandary, 
 the French post upon Tower Hill, who will bring 
 them me safely. When I go to Paris I shall send 
 you some curiosities, equivalent to these. I have 
 here enclosed returned an answer to those two 
 that came in yours ; I pray, see them safely deliv- 
 ered. My kind respects to your brother sergeant 
 at Court, to all at Battersea, or anywhere else where 
 you think my commendations may be well placed. 
 
 No more at this time, but that I recommend you 
 to the never-failing providence of God, desiring 
 you to go on in nourishing still between us that 
 love which, for my part —
 
 ^6 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 No traverses of chance, of time, or fate. 
 
 Shall ere extinguish till our lives' last date. 
 
 But as the vine her lovely elm doth wire. 
 
 Grasp both our hearts, and flame with fresh desire. 
 
 Yours, J. H. 
 
 Rouen, y^ug. 13, 1619. 
 
 XV 
 
 To my Father ; fro?n Rouen 
 
 'VT'OURS of the third of August came to safe 
 X hand in an enclosed from my brother; you 
 may make easy conjecture how welcome it was unto 
 me, and to what a height of comfort it raised my 
 spirits, in regard it was the first I received from you 
 since I crossed the seas ; I humbly thank you for 
 the blessing you sent along with it. 
 
 I am now upon the fair continent of France, one 
 of nature's choicest masterpieces, one of Ceres* 
 chiefest barns for corn, one of Bacchus' prime wine 
 cellars and of Neptune's best salt pits ; a complete 
 self-sufficient country, where there is rather a super- 
 fluity than defect of anything, either for necessity 
 or pleasure ; did the policy of the country corre- 
 spond with the bounty of nature in the equal dis- 
 tribution of the wealth amongst the inhabitants, for 
 I think there is not upon the earth a richer coun- 
 try and poorer people. 'Tis true, England hath a 
 good repute abroad for her fertility, yet, be our har- 
 vest never so kindly and our crops never so plenti-
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 37 
 
 fulj we have every year commonly some grain from 
 thence or from Danzic and other places imported 
 by the merchant ; besides, there be many more 
 heaths, commons, bleak-barren hills, and waste 
 grounds in England by many degrees than I find 
 here ; and I am sorry our country of Wales should 
 give more instances hereof than any other part. 
 
 This province of Normandv, once an appendix 
 of the Crown of England, though it want wine, yet 
 it yields the king as much demesnes as any one of 
 the rest. The lower Norman hath cider for his 
 common drink ; and I visibly observed that they 
 are more plump and replete in their bodies, and of 
 a clearer complexion than those that drink alto- 
 gether wine. In this great city of Rouen there be 
 many monuments of the English nation yet extant. 
 On the outside of the highest steeple of the great 
 church there is the word of God engraven in huge 
 golden characters, every one almost as long as my- 
 self to make them the more visible. In this steeple 
 hangs also the greatest bell of Christendom, called 
 d' Amboise^ for it weighs near upon forty thousand 
 pounds weight. There is also here Saint Ouen, the 
 greatest sanctuary in the city, founded by one of 
 our compatriots, as the name imports. This pro- 
 vince is also subject to wardships, and no other part 
 of France besides ; but whether the Conqueror 
 transported that law to England from hence, or 
 whether he sent it over from England hither, I 
 cannot resolve you. There is a marvellous quick 
 trade beaten in this town, because of the great 
 
 .31)41)80
 
 38 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 navigable river Sequena (the Seine) that runs hence 
 to Paris, whereon there stands a strange bridge 
 that ebbs and flows, that rises and falls with the 
 river, it being made of boats, whereon coach and 
 carts may pass over as well as men ; besides, this 
 is the nearest mercantile city that stands 'twixt 
 Paris and the sea. 
 
 My last unto you was from the Low Countries, 
 where I was in motion to and fro above four 
 months ; but I fear it miscarried in regard you 
 make no mention of it in yours. 
 
 I begin more and more to have a sense of the 
 sweetness and advantage of foreign travel. I pray, 
 when you come to London to find a time to visit 
 Sir Robert, and acknowledge his great favours 
 to me, and desire a continuance thereof, accord- 
 ing as I shall endeavour to deserve them. — So, 
 with my due and daily prayers for your health, 
 and a speedy successful issue of all your law busi- 
 ness, I humbly crave your blessing, and rest, 
 your dutiful son, J. H. 
 
 September the 7, 1619. 
 
 XVI 
 
 To Captain Francis Bacon ; frofn Paris 
 
 I RECEIVED two of yours in Rouen with 
 the bills of exchange there inclosed, and accord- 
 ing to your directions I sent you those things 
 which you wrote for. 
 
 i
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 39 
 
 r 
 
 I am now newly come to Paris, this huge mag- ' 
 azine of men, the epitome of this large populous 
 kingdom and rendezvous of all foreigners. The 
 structures here are indifferently fair, though the 
 streets generally foul, all the four seasons of the 
 year, which I impute first, to the position of the 
 city being built upon an isle (the Isle of France, 
 made so by the branching and serpentine course 
 of the river of Seine), and having some of her sub- 
 urbs seated high, the filth runs down the channel 
 and settles in many places within the body of the 
 citv, which lieth upon a flat ; as also for a world 
 of coaches, carts, and horses of all sorts that go to 
 and fro perpetuallv, so that sometimes one shall 
 meet with a stop half a mile long of those coaches, 
 carts, and horses that can move neither forward 
 nor backward by reason of some sudden encounter 
 of others coming a cross-way, so that often times 
 it will be an hour or two before they can disen- 
 tangle. In such a stop the great Henry was so 
 fatally slain by Ravillac. Hence comes it to pass 
 that this town (for Paris is a town, a city, and a 
 University) is always dirty, and it is such a dirt, 
 that by perpetual motion is beaten into such a 
 thick black unctuous oil that where it sticks no art 
 can wash it off of some colours. Insomuch that it 
 mav be no improper comparison to say, that an 
 ill name is like the crot (the dirt) of Paris, which is 
 indelible ; besides the stain this dirt leaves, it gives 
 also so strong a scent that it may be smelt many 
 miles off if the wind be in one's face as he comes
 
 40 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 from the fresh air of the country. This may be one 
 cause why the plague is always in some corner or 
 other of this vast city, which may be called, as 
 once Scythia was, Vagina populorum, or (as man- 
 kind was called by a great philosopher) a great 
 molehill of ants. Yet I believe this city is not so 
 populous as she seems to be, for her form being 
 round (as the whole kingdom is) the passengers 
 wheel about and meet oftener than they use to do 
 in the long continued streets of London, which 
 makes London appear less populous than she is 
 indeed, so that London for length (though not 
 for latitude), including Westminster, exceeds 
 Paris, and hath in Michaelmas term more souls 
 moving within her in all places. It is under one 
 hundred years that Paris is become so sumptuous 
 and strong in buildings ; for her houses were mean 
 until a mine of white stone was discovered hard 
 by, which runs in a continued vein of earth and 
 is digged out with ease, being soft, and is between 
 a white clay and chalk at first, but being pullied 
 up, with the open air it receives a crusty kind of 
 hardness and so becomes perfect freestone ; and 
 before it is sent up from the pit they can reduce 
 it to anv form. Of this stone the Louvre, the 
 king's palace, is built, which is a vast fabric, for 
 the gallery wants not much of an Italian mile in 
 length, and will easily lodge 3000 men, which 
 some told me was the end for which the last king 
 made it so big, that lying at the fag-end of this 
 great mutinous city, if she perchance should rise,
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 41 
 
 the king might pour out of the Louvre so many 
 thousand men unawares into the heart of her. 
 
 I am lodged here hard by the Bastile, because it 
 is furthest off from those places where the English 
 resort, for I would go on to get a little language as 
 soon as 1 could. In my next I shall impart unto 
 you what State news France affords. — In the in- 
 terim, and always, I am, your humble servant, 
 
 J. H. 
 
 Paris, the 30 of March 1620. 
 
 XVII 
 
 T^o Richard Altha77iy Esquire ; from Paris 
 
 LOVE is the marrow of friendship and letters 
 are the elixir of love. They are the best fuel 
 of affection, and cast a sweeter odour than any 
 frankincense can do. Such an odour, such an 
 aromatic perfume your late letter brought with it, 
 proceeding from the fragrancy of those dainty 
 flowers of eloquence, which I found blossoming as 
 it were in every line ; I mean those sweet expres- 
 sions of love and wit, which in every period were 
 intermingled with so much art that they seemed to 
 contend for mastery which was the strongest. I 
 must confess, that you put me to hard shifts to 
 correspond with you in such exquisite strains and 
 raptures of love, which were so lively that I must 
 needs judge them to proceed from the motions, 
 from the diastole and systole of a heart truly
 
 42 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 affected. Certainly your heart did dictate every 
 syllable you wrote, and guided your hand all 
 along. Sir, give me leave to tell you, that not a 
 dram, nor a dose, nor a scruple of this precious 
 love of yours is lost, but is safely treasured up in 
 my breast, and answered in like proportion to the 
 full ; mine to you is as cordial, it is passionate and 
 perfect, as love can be. 
 
 I thank you for the desire you have to know 
 how it fares with me abroad. I thank God I am 
 perfectly well, and well contented with this wan- 
 dering course of life awhile. I never enjoyed my 
 health better, but I was like to endanger it two 
 nights ago ; for being in some jovial company 
 abroad, and coming late to our lodging, we were 
 suddenly surprised by a crew o{ jilous or night 
 rogues, who drew upon us, and as we had ex- 
 changed some blows, it pleased God the Cheva- 
 lieur 'de Guet, an officer who goes up and down 
 the streets all night on horseback to prevent dis- 
 orders, passed by, and so rescued us ; but Jack 
 White was hurt, and I had two thrusts in my 
 cloak. There is never a night passeth but some 
 robbing or murder is committed in this town, so 
 that it is not safe to go late anywhere, specially 
 about the Pont-Neuf, the New Bridge, though 
 Henry the Great himself lies sentinel there in 
 arms, upon a huge Florentine horse, and sits 
 bare to every one that passeth, an improper pos- 
 ture methinks to a king on horseback. Not long 
 since, one of the secretaries of State (whereof
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 43 
 
 there are always four) having been invited to 
 the suburbs of Saint Germains to supper, left or- 
 der with one of his lackeys to brino- him his horse 
 about nine. It so happened, that a mischance be- 
 fell the horse, which lamed him as he went a water- 
 ing to the Seine, insomuch that the secretary was 
 put to beat the hoof himself, and foot it home ; 
 but as he was passing the Pont-Neuf with his 
 lackey carrying a torch before him, he might over- 
 hear a noise of clashing of swords and fighting, 
 and looking under the torch and perceiving they 
 were but two, he bade his lackey go on ; "they had 
 not made many paces, but two armed men, with 
 their pistols cocked and swords drawn, made puff- 
 ing towards them, whereof one had a paper in his 
 hand, which he said he had casually took up in 
 the streets, and the difference between them was 
 about that paper; therefore they desired the sec- 
 retary to read it, with a great deal of compliment. 
 The secretary took out his spectacles and fell a 
 reading of the said paper, whereof the substance 
 was: "That it should be known to all men, that 
 whosoever did pass over that bridge after nine 
 o'clock at night in winter, and ten in summer, 
 was to leave his cloak behind him, and in case of 
 no cloak his hat." The secretary starting at this, 
 one of the comrades told him that he thought 
 that paper concerned him ; so they unmantled 
 him of a new plush cloak, and my secretary was 
 content to go home quietly, and en cuerpo. This 
 makes me think often of the excellent nocturnal
 
 44 FAMILIAR LETTERS - 
 
 government of our city of London, where one 1 
 may pass and repass securely all hours of the 
 night, if he give good words to the watch. 
 There is a gentle calm of peace now throughout 
 all France, and the king intends to make a pro- J 
 gress to all the frontier towns of the kingdom, to 
 see how they are fortified. The favourite, Luines, 
 strengtheneth himself more and more in his min- 
 ionship, but he is much murmured at in regard 
 the access of suitors to him is so difficult, which 
 made a lord of this land say, " That three of the 
 hardest things in the world were, to quadrat a 
 circle, to find out the philosopher's stone, and to 
 speak with the Duke of Luines." 
 
 I have sent you by Vacandary the post, the 
 French bever and tweeses you wrote for. Bever 
 hats are grown dearer of late, because the Jesuits 
 have got the monopoly of them from the king. 
 
 Farewell dear child of virtue and minion of the 
 muses, and continue to love your, J. H. 
 
 Paris, I of May 1620. 
 
 XVIII 
 
 To Sir ya?nes Crofts ; from Paris 
 
 I AM to set forward this week for Spain, and if 
 I can find no commodity of embarkation at 
 Saint Malos, I must be forced to journey it all the 
 way by land, and clamber up the huge Pyreney 
 hills ; but I could not bid Paris adieu till I had 
 
 I 
 
 u
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 45 
 
 conveyed my true and constant respects to you by 
 this letter. I was yesterday to wait upon Sir Her- 
 bert Crofts at Saint Germains, where I met with a 
 French gentleman, who, amongst other curiosities, 
 which he pleased to show me up and down Paris, 
 brought me to that place where the late king was 
 slain, and to that where the Marquis of Ancre was 
 shot, and so made me a punctual relation of all 
 the circumstances of those two acts, which in re- 
 gard they were rare, and I believe two of the 
 notablest accidents that ever happened in France, 
 I thought it worth the labour to make you par- 
 taker of some part of his discourse. 
 
 France, as all Christendom besides (for there 
 was then a truce betwixt Spain and the Hollander) 
 was in a profound peace, and had continued so 
 twenty years together, when Henry the Fourth 
 fell upon some great martial design, the bottom 
 whereof is not known to this day ; and being rich 
 (for he had heaped up in the Bastile a mount of 
 gold that was as high as a lance) he levied a huge 
 army of 40,000 men, whence came the song, " The 
 King of France with forty thousand men; " and 
 upon a sudden he put this army in perfect equi- 
 page, and some say he invited our Prince Henry to 
 come unto him to be a sharer in his exploits. But 
 going one afternoon to the Bastile to see his trea- 
 sure and ammunition, his coach stopped suddenly, 
 by reason of some colliers and other carts that 
 were in that narrow street ; whereupon one Ravil- 
 lac, a lay-Jesuit (who had a whole twelve-month
 
 46 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 watched an opportunity to do the act), put his 
 foot boldly upon one of the wheels of the coach, 
 and with a long knife stretched himself over their 
 shoulders who were in the boot of the coach, and 
 reached the king at the end, and stabbed him right 
 in the left side to the heart, and pulling out the 
 fatal steel, he doubled his thrust ; the king with a 
 ruthful voice cried out, " Je suis blesse " (I am 
 hurt), and suddenly the blood issued at his mouth. 
 The regicide villain was apprehended, and com- 
 mand given that no violence should be offered 
 him, that he might be reserved for the law, and 
 some exquisite torture. The queen grew half-dis- 
 tracted hereupon, who had been crowned Queen of 
 France the day before in great triumph ; but a few 
 days after she had something to countervail, if not 
 to overmatch her sorrow ; for according to Saint 
 Lewis law, she was made Queen Regent of France 
 during the king's minority, who was then but 
 about ten years of age. Many consultations were 
 held how to punish Ravillac, and there were some 
 Italian physicians that undertook to prescribe a 
 torment, that should last a constant torment for 
 three days, but he escaped only with this : his 
 body was pulled between four horses, that one 
 might hear his bones crack, and after the disloca- 
 tion they were set again, and so he was carried in 
 a cart standing half naked, with a torch in that 
 hand which had committed the murder ; and in 
 the place where the act was done, it was cut off, 
 and a gauntlet of hot oil was clapped upon the
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 47 
 
 stump, to staunch the blood, whereat he gave a 
 doleful shriek ; then was he brought upon a stage, 
 where a new pair of boots was provided for him, 
 half-filled with boiling oil; then his body was pin- 
 cered, and hot oil poured into the holes. In all 
 the extremity of this torture, he scarce showed any 
 sense of pain but when the gauntlet was clapped 
 upon his arms to staunch the flux, at that time of 
 reeking blood, he gave a shriek only. He bore up 
 against all these torments about three hours before 
 he died. All the confession that could be drawn 
 from him was " that he thought to have done God 
 good service, to take away that king, which would 
 have embroiled all Christendom in an endless 
 
 war." 
 
 A fatal thing it was that France should have 
 three of her kings come to such violent deaths in 
 so short a revolution of time. Henry the Second, 
 running a tilt with Monsieur Montgomery, was 
 killed by a splinter of a lance that pierced his 
 eye ; Henry the Third, not long after, was killed 
 by a young friar, who, in lieu of a letter which 
 he pretended to have for him, pulled out of his 
 long sleeve a knife, and thrust him into the bot- 
 tom of the belly as he was coming from his close- 
 stool, and so despatched him ; but that regicide 
 was hacked to pieces in the place by the nobles. 
 The same destiny attended this king by Ravillac, 
 which is become now a common name of re- 
 proach and infamy in France. 
 
 Never was king so much lamented as this.
 
 48 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 There are a world not only of his pictures, but 
 statues, up and down France, and there is scarce 
 a market-town but hath him erected in the mar- 
 ket-place, or over some gate, not upon sign-posts, 
 as our Henry the Eighth, and by a public Act 
 of Parliament, which was confirmed in the con- 
 sistory at Rome, he was entitled Henry the Great, 
 and so placed in the Temple of Immortality. A 
 notable prince he was, and of an admirable tem- 
 per of body and mind ; he had a graceful facetious 
 way to gain both love and awe ; he would be 
 never transported beyond himself with choler, 
 but he would pass by anything with some repartee, 
 some witty strain, wherein he was excellent. I will 
 instance in a few which were told me from a good 
 hand. One day he was charged by the Duke of 
 Bouillon to have changed his religion, he an- 
 swered, "No, cousin, I have changed no religion, 
 but an opinion;" and the Cardinal of Perron 
 being by, he enjoined him to write a treatise for 
 his vindication. The cardinal was long about the 
 work, and when the king asked from time to time 
 where his book was, he would still answer him 
 " that he expected some manuscripts from Rome 
 before he could finish it." It happened that one 
 day the king took the cardinal along with him to 
 look on his workmen and new buildings at the 
 Louvre ; and passing by one corner which had 
 been a long time begun, but left unfinished, the 
 king asked the chief mason why that corner was 
 not all this while perfected. " Sir, it is because I
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 49 
 
 want some choice stones." " No, no," said the 
 king, looking upon the cardinal, " it is because 
 thou wantest manuscripts from Rome." Another 
 time, the old Duke of Main, who was used to 
 play the droll with him, coming softly into his 
 bed-chamber, and thrusting in his bald head and 
 long neck in a posture to make the king merry, 
 it happened the king was coming from doing his 
 ease, and spying him, he took the round cover of 
 the close-stool and clapped it on his bald-sconce, 
 saying, " Ah, cousin, you thought once to have 
 taken the crown off of my head, and wear it on 
 your own ; but this off my tail shall now serve 
 your turn." Another time, when at the siege of 
 Amiens, he having sent for the Count of Soissons 
 (who had 100,000 franks a year pension from the 
 Crown) to assist him in those wars, and that the 
 count excused himself by reason of his years and 
 poverty, having exhausted himself in the former 
 wars, and all that he could do now was to pray for 
 His Majesty, which he would do heartily. This 
 answer being brought to the king, he replied : 
 " Will my cousin, the Count of Soissons, do no- 
 thing else but pray for me ; tell him that prayer 
 without fasting is not available ; therefore I will 
 make my cousin fast also from his pension of 
 100,000 per annum." 
 
 He was once troubled with a fit of the gout, 
 and the Spanish ambassador coming then to visit 
 him, and saying he was sorry to see His Majesty 
 so lame, he answered : " As lame as I am, if there
 
 50 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 were occasion, your master the King of Spain 
 should no sooner have his foot in the stirrup, but 
 he should find me on horseback." 
 
 By these few you may guess at the genius of 
 this spiritful prince. I could make many more 
 instances, but then I should exceed the bounds 
 of a letter. When I am in Spain you shall hear 
 further from me, and if you can think on any- 
 thing wherein I may serve you, believe it, sir, 
 that any employment from you shall be welcome 
 to your much obliged servant, J. H. 
 
 Paris, 12 of May 1620. 
 
 XIX 
 
 To my Brother, Dr. Howell 
 
 Brother, 
 
 BEING to-morrow to part with Paris and begin 
 my journey for Spain, I thought it not amiss 
 to send you this, in regard I know not when I 
 shall have opportunity to write unto you again. 
 
 This kingdom, since the young king hath taken 
 the sceptre into his own hands, doth flourish very 
 much with quietness and commerce; nor is there 
 any motion or the least tintamar of trouble in any 
 part of the country, which is rare in France. 'Tis 
 true, the queen mother is discontented since she 
 left her regency, being confined, and I know not 
 what it may come unto in time, for she hath a
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 51 
 
 strong party, and the murdering of her Marquis of 
 Ancre will yet bleed as some fear. 
 
 I was lately in society of a gentleman, who was a 
 spectator of that tragedy, and he pleased to relate 
 unto me the particulars of it, which was thus : 
 When Henry the Fourth was slain, the queen dow- 
 ager took the reins of the government into her 
 hands during the young king's minority; and 
 amongst others whom she advanced, Signior Con- 
 chino, a Florentine, and her foster-brother was one. 
 Her countenance came to shine so strongly upon 
 him that he became her only confidant and favourite, 
 insomuch that she made him Marquis of Ancre, 
 one of the twelve Marshals of France, Governor of 
 Normandy, and conferred divers other honours 
 and offices of trust upon him, and who but he. The 
 princes of France could not endure this domineer- 
 ing of a stranger, therefore they leagued together 
 to suppress him by arms. The queen regent hav- 
 ing intelligence thereof, surprised the Prince of 
 Conde and clapped him up in the Bastile. The 
 Duke of Main fled hereupon to Peronne in 
 Pycardie, and other great men put themselves in an 
 armed posture to stand upon their guard. The 
 young king being told that the Marquis of Ancre 
 was the ground of this discontentment, commanded 
 Monsieur de Vitry, Captain of his Guard, to arrest 
 him, and in case of resistance to kill him. This 
 business was carried very closely till the next morn- 
 ing, that the said marquis was coming to the Louvre 
 with a ruffling train of gallants after him, and pass-
 
 52 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 ing over the drawbridge at the court gate, Vitry 
 stood there with the king's guard about him, and 
 as the marquis entered he told him that he had a 
 commission from the king to apprehend him; there- 
 fore, he demanded his sword. The marquis here- 
 upon put his hand upon his sword, some thought 
 to yield it up, others to make opposition; in the 
 meantime Vitry discharged a pistol at him, and so 
 despatched him. The king, being above in his 
 gallery, asked what noise that was below? One 
 smilingly answered, "Nothing, sir; but that the 
 Marshal of Ancre is slain," "Who slew him?" 
 "The Captain of your guard." "Why?" "Because 
 he would have drawn his sword at your Majesty's 
 Royal Commission." Then the king replied, "Vitry 
 hath done well, and I will maintain the act." Pres- 
 ently the queen mother had all her guard taken from 
 her, except six men and sixteen women, and so she 
 was banished Paris and commanded to retire 
 to Blois. Ancre's body was buried that night in 
 a church hard by the court, but the next morn- 
 ing, the lackeys and pages (who are more unhappy 
 here than the apprentices in London) broke up his 
 grave, tore his coffin to pieces, ripped the winding- 
 sheet, and tied his body to an ass's tail, and so 
 dragged him up and down the gutters of Paris, 
 which are none of the sweetest; they then flicked 
 off his ears and nailed them upon the gates of the 
 city, they cut off his genitories (and they say he was 
 hung like an ass), and sent them for a present to the 
 Duke of Main, the rest of his body they carried to
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL S3 
 
 the new bridge, and hung him his heels upwards, and 
 head dow^nwards, upon a new gibbet that had been 
 set up a little before to punish them who should 
 speak ill of the present Government, and it was 
 his chance to have the maidenhead of it himself. 
 His wife was hereupon apprehended, imprisoned, 
 and beheaded for a witch some few days after upon 
 a surmise that she had enchanted the queen to 
 dote so upon her husband; and they say the young 
 king's picture was found in her closet in virgin wax, 
 with one leg melted away. A little after a process 
 was formed against the marquis (her husband) and 
 so he was condemned after death. This was a 
 right act of a French popular fury, which like an 
 angrv torrent is irresistible, nor can any banks, 
 boundaries, or dykes stop the impetuous rage of it. 
 How the young king will prosper after so high and 
 unexampled an act of violence, by beginning his 
 reign, and embruing the walls of his own court 
 with blood in that manner, there are diverse cen- 
 sures. 
 
 When I am settled in Spain you shall hear from 
 me. In the interim I pray let your prayers accom- 
 pany me in this long journey, and when you write 
 to Wales I pray acquaint our friends with my wel- 
 fare. So I pray God bless us both, and send us a 
 happy interview. — Your loving brother, 
 
 J. H. 
 
 Paris, 8 September 1620.
 
 54 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 XX 
 
 To my Cousin, W. Vaiighan, Esq. ; from 
 Saint Malo 
 
 Cousin, 
 
 I AM now in French Brittany. I went back 
 from Paris to Rouen, and so through all Low 
 Normandy to a little port called Granville, where 
 I embarked for this town of Saint Malo, but I did 
 purge so violently at sea that it put me into a 
 burning fever for some few days, whereof (I thank 
 God) I am newly recovered, and finding no 
 opportunity of shipping here I must be forced to 
 turn my intended sea voyage to a long land 
 journey. 
 
 Since I came to this province I was curious to 
 converse with some of the lower Bretons who speak 
 no other language but our Welsh, for their radical 
 words are no other, but 'tis no wonder, for they 
 were a colony of Welsh at first, as the name of this 
 province doth imply, as also the Latin name 
 Armorica, which though it pass for Latin, yet it is 
 but pure Welsh, and signifies a country bordering 
 upon the sea, as that arch heretic was called Pela- 
 gius, a Pelago, his name being Morgan. I was a little 
 curious to peruse the annals of this province, and 
 during the time that it was a kingdom there were 
 four kings of the name Hoell, whereof one was 
 called Hoell the Great.
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 55 
 
 This town of Saint Malo hath one rarity in it, 
 for there is here a perpetual garrison of English, 
 but they are of English dogs, which are let out in 
 the night to guard the ships, and eat the carrion 
 up and down the streets, and so they are shut up 
 again in the morning. 
 
 It will be now a good while before I shall have 
 convenience to send to you or receive from you. 
 Howsoever, let me retain still some little room in 
 your memory, and some time in your meditations, 
 while I carry you about me perpetually, not only 
 in my head, but in heart, and make you travel all 
 along with me thus from town to country, from 
 hill to dale, from sea to land, up and down the 
 world. And you must be contented to be subject 
 to these uncertain removes and perambulations, 
 until it shall please God to fix me again in Eng- 
 land. Nor need you, while you are thus my con- 
 comitant through new places every day, to fear 
 any ill-usage as long as I fare well. — Yours 
 )(pT]creL KOL KTijcreL, J. H. 
 
 St. Malo, 25 of September 1620. 
 
 ••J 
 
 XXI 
 
 T^o Sir yolm North, Knight; from Rochelle 
 
 I AM newly come to Rochelle, nor am I sorry 
 that I went somewhat out of my way to see 
 this town, not (to tell you true) out of any extra- 
 ordinary love I bear to the people ; for I do not
 
 56 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 find them so gentle and debonair to strangers, nor 
 so hospitable as the rest of France, but I excuse 
 them for it, in regard it is commonly so with all 
 republic and Hans towns, whereof this smells very 
 rank; nor indeed hath any Englishman much 
 cause to love this town, in regard in ages past she 
 played the most treacherous part with England of 
 any other place in France. For the story tells us 
 that this town, having by a perfidious stratagem 
 (by forging a counterfeit commission from Eng- 
 land) induced the English governor to make a 
 general muster of all his forces out of the town, 
 this being one day done, they shut their gates 
 against him, and made him go shake his ears, and 
 to shift for his lodging, and so rendered themselves 
 to the French king, who sent them a blank to 
 write their own conditions. I think they have the 
 strongest ramparts by sea of any place of Christen- 
 dom, nor have I seen the like in any town of 
 Holland, whose safety depends upon water. I am 
 bound to-morrow for Bordeaux, then through 
 Gascony to Toulouse, so through Languidoc over 
 the hills to Spain. I go in the best season of the 
 year, for I make an autumnal journey of it. I 
 pray let your prayers accompany me all along. 
 They are the best officers of love and fruits of 
 friendship. So God prosper you at home, as me 
 abroad, and send us in good time a joyful conjunc- 
 ture. — Yours, J. H. 
 Rochelle, 8 of October 1620.
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 57 
 
 XXII 
 
 To Mr Tho. Porter^ after Capt. Porter ; 
 frotn Barcelona 
 
 My dear Tom, 
 
 I HAD no sooner set foot upon this soil and 
 breathed Spanish air but my thoughts presently 
 reflected upon you. Of all my friends in England, 
 you were the first I met here ; you were the prime 
 object of my speculation. Methought the very 
 winds in gentle whispers did breathe out your 
 name and blow it on me. You seemed to rever- 
 berate upon me with the beams of the sun, which 
 you know hath such a powerful influence, and, in- 
 deed, too great a stroke in this country. And all 
 this you must ascribe to the operations of love, 
 which hath such a strong virtual force that when 
 it fasteneth upon a pleasing subject, it sets the im- 
 agination in a strange fit of working; it employs 
 all the faculties of the soul, so that not one cell in 
 the brain is idle ; it busieth the whole inward man, 
 it affects the heart, amuseth the understanding, it 
 quickeneth the fancy, and leads the will as it were 
 by a silken thread to co-operate with them all. I 
 have felt these motions often in me, especially at 
 this time, that my memory fixed upon you. But 
 the reason that I fell first upon you in Spain was 
 that I remembered I had heard you often discours- 
 ing how you have received part of your education 
 here, which brought you to speak the language so
 
 58 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 exactly well : I think often of the relations I have 
 heard you make of this country and the good in- 
 structions you pleased to give me. 
 
 I am now in Barcelona, but the next week I 
 intend to go on through your town of Valencia 
 to Alicante, and thence you shall be sure to hear 
 from me further, for I make account to winter 
 there. The Duke of Ossuna passed by here lately, 
 and having got leave of grace to release some 
 slaves, he went aboard the Cape Gallic^ and pass- 
 ing through the churma of slaves, he asked divers 
 of them what their offences were. Everyone ex- 
 cused himself, one saying that he was put in out 
 of malice, another by bribery of the judge, but all 
 of them unjustly. Amongst the rest there was one 
 sturdy little black man, and the duke asking him 
 what he was in for, " Sir," said he, "I cannot deny 
 but I am justly put in here, for I wanted money, 
 and so took a purse hard by Tarragona to keep 
 me from starving." The duke with a little staff 
 he had in his hand gave him two or three blows 
 upon the shoulders, saying, " You rogue, what do 
 you do amongst so many honest, innocent men? 
 Get you gone out of their company." So he was 
 freed, and the rest remained still in statu quo primus 
 to tug at the oar. 
 
 I pray commend me to Signior Camillo and 
 Mazalao, with the rest of the Venetians with you, 
 and when you go aboard the ship behind the ex- 
 change, think upon yours, J. H. 
 
 Barcelona, lo of November 1620.
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 59 
 
 XXIII 
 
 To Sir ya??ies Crofts 
 
 I AM now a good way within the body of Spain 
 at Barcelona, a proud wealthy city, situated 
 upon the Mediterranean, and is the metropolis of 
 the Kingdom of Catalonia, called of old Hispania 
 Tarraconensis. I had much ado to reach hither, 
 for besides the monstrous abruptness of the way, 
 these parts of the Pyrenese that border upon the 
 Mediterranean are never without thieves by land 
 (called bandeleros) and pirates on the seaside, 
 which lie skulking in the hollows of the rocks, and 
 often surprise passengers unawares and carry them 
 slaves to Barbary on the other side. The safest way 
 to pass is to take a Bordon in the habit of a pilgrim, 
 whereof there are an abundance that perform their 
 vows this way to the Lady of Monserrat, one of the 
 prime places of pilgrimage in Christendom. It is 
 a stupendous monastery, built on the top of a huge 
 land rock, whither it is impossible to go up or come 
 down by a direct way, but a path is cut out full 
 of windings and turnings ; and on the crown of 
 this craggy hill there is a flat, upon which the 
 monastery and pilgrimage place is founded, where 
 there is a picture of the Virgin Mary, sunburnt 
 and tanned, it seems, when she went to Egypt; 
 and to this picture a marvellous confluence of 
 people from all parts of Europe resort.
 
 6o FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 As I passed between some of the Pyrenese hills 
 I observed the poor Labradors. Some of the 
 country people live no better than brute animals 
 in point of food, for their ordinary commons is 
 grass and water, only they have always within 
 their houses a bottle of vinegar and another of 
 oil, and when dinner or supper time comes, they 
 go abroad and gather their herbs and so cast 
 vinegar and oil upon them, and will pass thus 
 two or three days without bread or wine, yet are 
 they strong, lusty men, and will stand stiffly under 
 a musket. 
 
 There is a tradition that there were divers mines 
 of gold in ages past amongst those mountains. And 
 the shepherds that kept goats then, having made a 
 small fire of rosemary stubs, with other combustible 
 stuff to warm themselves, this fire grazed along, 
 and grew so outrageous, that it consumed the very 
 entrails of the earth and melted those mines, which 
 growing fluid by liquefaction ran down into the 
 small rivulets that were in the vallevs, and so 
 carried all into the sea, that monstrous gulf which 
 swalloweth all, but seldom disgorges anything; 
 and in these brooks to this day some small grains 
 of gold are found. 
 
 The viceroy of this country hath taken much 
 pains to clear these hills of robbers, and there hath 
 been a notable havoc made of them this year ; for 
 in divers woods as I passed I might spy some trees 
 laden with dead carcases, a better fruit far than 
 Diogenes' tree bore, whereon a woman had hanged
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 6i 
 
 herself, which the cynic cried out to be the best 
 bearing tree that ever he saw. 
 
 In this place there lives neither English mer- 
 chant or factor, which I wonder at, considering 
 that it is a maritime town, and one of the greatest 
 in Spain ; her chiefest arsenal for galleys, and the 
 scale by which she conveys her monies to Italy; 
 but I believe the reason is that there is no com- 
 modious port here for ships of any burthen but a 
 large bay. I will enlarge myself no further at this 
 time, but leave you to the guard and guidance of 
 God, whose sweet hand of protection hath brought 
 me through so many uncouth places and difficul- 
 ties to this city. — So hoping to meet your letters 
 in Alicante, where I shall anchor a good while, I 
 rest yours to dispose of, 
 
 J. H. 
 
 Barcelona, 24 November 1620. 
 
 XXIV 
 
 To Dr Fr. Manse// ; from Va/encia 
 
 THOUGH it be the same glorious sun that 
 shines upon you in England, which illu- 
 minates also this part of the hemisphere, though 
 it be the sun that ripeneth your pippins and 
 our pomegranates ; your hops and our vineyards 
 here, yet he dispenseth his heat in different de- 
 grees of strength ; those rays that do but warm 
 you in England, do half roast us here; those
 
 62 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 beams that irradiate only and gild your honey- 
 suckled fields, do scorch and parch this chinky 
 gaping soil, and so put too many wrinkles upon 
 the face of our common Mother the Earth. O 
 blessed clime, O happy England, where there is 
 such a rare temperature of heat and cold, and all 
 the rest of elementary qualities, that one may pass 
 (and suffer little) all the year long without either 
 shade in summer or fire m winter. 
 
 I am now in Valencia, one of the noblest cities 
 of all Spain, situate in a large vegue or valley, 
 above three score miles compass. Here are the 
 strongest silks, the sweetest wines, the excellentest 
 almonds, the best oils, and beautifulest females of 
 all Spain, for the prime courtesans in Madrid and 
 elsewhere are had hence. The very brute animals 
 make themselves beds of rosemary and other fra- 
 grant flowers hereabouts ; and when one is at sea, 
 if the wind blow from the shore, he may smell this 
 soil before he come in sight of it many leagues 
 off, by the strong odoriferous scent it casts. As it 
 is the most pleasant, so it is also the temperatest 
 clime of all Spain, and they commonly call it the 
 second Italy, which made the Moors, whereof 
 many thousands were disterred and banished hence 
 to Barbary, to think that paradise was in that 
 part of the heavens which hung over this City. 
 Some twelve miles off is old Sagunto, called 
 now Morviedre, through which I passed, and saw 
 many monuments of Roman antiquities there : 
 amongst others there is the temple dedicated to
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 63 
 
 Venus, where the snake came about her neck, a 
 little before Hannibal came thither. No more 
 now, but that I heartily wish you were here with 
 me, and I believe you would not desire to be a 
 good while in England. — So I am, your 
 
 J. H. 
 Valencia, i of March 1620. 
 
 XXV 
 
 To Christopher 'Jones, Esq., at Grafs Inn 
 
 I AM now (thanks be to God) come to Alicante, 
 the chief rendevouz I aimed at in Spain ; for I 
 am to send hence a commodity called barillia to Sir 
 Robert Mansell for making of crystal glass, and 
 I have treated with Signor Andriotti, a Genoa 
 merchant, for a good round parcel of it, to the value 
 of ;^2000, by letters of credit from Master Richant, 
 and upon his credit, I might have taken many 
 thousand pounds more, he is so well known in the 
 kingdom of Valencia. This barillia is a strange 
 kind of vegetable, and it grows nowhere upon the 
 surface of the earth in that perfection as here. 
 The Venetians have it hence, and it is a commod- 
 ity whereby this maritime town doth partly sub- 
 sist, for it is an ingredient that goes to the making 
 of the best Castile soap. It grows thus : It is a 
 round thick earthy shrub that bears berries like 
 barberries, but 'twixt blue and green. It lies close 
 to the ground, and when it is ripe they dig it up
 
 64 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 by the roots, and put it together in cocks, where 
 they leave it to dry many days like hay, then they 
 make a pit of a fathom deep in the earth, and with 
 an instrument like one of our prongs they take 
 the tufts and put fire to them, and when the flame 
 comes to the berries they melt, and dissolve into 
 an azure liquor, and fall down into the pit till it 
 be full ; then they dam it up, and some days after 
 they open it, and find this barillia juice turned to 
 a blue stone, so hard that it is scarce malleable. 
 It is sold at one hundred crowns a ton, but I had 
 it for less. There is also a spurious flower called 
 gazull that grows here, but the glass that is made 
 of that is not so resplendent and clear. I have been 
 here now these three months, and most of my 
 food has been grapes and bread, with other roots, 
 which have made me so fat that I think if you saw 
 me you would hardly know me, such nourriture 
 this deep Sanguin Alicante grape gives. I have 
 not received a syllable from you since I was in 
 Antwerp, which transforms me to wonder, and en- 
 genders odd thoughts of jealousy in me, that as my 
 body grows fatter your love grows lanker towards 
 me. I pray take off these scruples, and let me hear 
 from you, else it will make a schism in friendship, 
 which I hold to be a very holy league, and no less 
 than a piacle to infringe it ; in which opinion I 
 rest, your constant friend, 
 
 J. H. 
 Alicante, March ay, 1621.
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 65 
 
 XXVI 
 
 To Sir 'John North, Knight 
 
 HAVING endured the brunt of a whole sum- 
 mer in Spain, and tried the temper of all the 
 other three seasons of the year up and down the 
 kingdoms of Catalonia, Valencia, and Mercia, with 
 some parts of Aragon, I am now to direct my 
 course for Italy. I hoped to have embarked at 
 Carthagena, the best port upon the Mediterranean, 
 for what ships and galleys get in thither are shut 
 up, as it were, in a box from the violence and in- 
 jury of all weathers, which made Andrea Doria, 
 being asked by Philip the Second which were his 
 best harbours, he answered, "June, July, and 
 Carthagena," meaning that any port is good in 
 those two months, but Carthagena was good any 
 time of the year. There was a most ruthful acci- 
 dent had happened there a little before I came, for 
 whereas five ships had gone thence laden with 
 soldiers for Naples, amongst whom there was the 
 flower of the gentry of the kingdom of Mercia, 
 those ships had hardly sailed three leagues but 
 they met with sixteen sails of Algiers, men-of- 
 war, who had lain skulking in the creeks there- 
 about, and they had the winds and all things else 
 so favourable, that of those five ships they took 
 one, sunk another, and burnt a third, and two fled 
 back to safe harbour. The report hereof being
 
 66 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 bruited up and down the country, the gentle- 
 women came from the country to have tidings, 
 some of their children, others of their brothers 
 and kindred, and went tearing their hair and 
 howling up and down the streets in a most pite- 
 ous manner. The admiral of those five ships, 
 as I heard afterwards, was sent for to Madrid, 
 and hanged at the court gate because he did not 
 fight. Had I come time enough to have taken 
 the opportunity, I might have been made either 
 food for haddocks or turned to cinders, or have 
 been by this time a slave in the bannier at Algiers, 
 or tugging at an oar ; but I hope God hath re- 
 served me for a better destiny. So I came back to 
 Alicante, where 1 lighted upon a lusty Dutchman, 
 who hath carried me safe hither, but we were near 
 upon forty days in voyage. We passed by Majorca 
 and Minorca, the Baleares Insulae, by some ports of 
 Barbary, by Sardinia, Corsica, and all the islands 
 of the Mediterranean Sea. We were at the mouth 
 of Tiber, and thence fetched our course for Sicily. 
 We passed by those sulphurous, fiery islands, 
 Mongibel and Strombolo, and about the dawn of 
 the day we shot through Scylla and Carybdis, and 
 so into the phare of Messina : thence we touched 
 upon some of the Greek islands, and so came to 
 our first intended course, into the Venetian Gulf, 
 and are now here at Malamocca, where we remain 
 yet aboard, and must be content to be so, to make 
 up the month before we have " pratic," that is, 
 before any be permitted to go ashore and negotiate.
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 67 
 
 in regard we touched at some infected places ; for 
 there are no people upon earth so fearful of 
 the plague as the Italians, especially the Venetians, 
 though their neighbours the Greeks hard by, and 
 the Turks, have little or no apprehension at all of 
 the danger of it, for they will visit and commerce 
 with the sick without any scruple, and will fix 
 their longest finger in the midst of their forehead 
 and say their destiny and manner of death is 
 pointed there. When we have gained yonder 
 maiden city which lleth before us you shall hear 
 farther from me ; so leaving you to His holy pro- 
 tection who hath thus graciously vouchsafed to 
 preserve this ship and me in so long and danger- 
 ous a voyage, 1 rest, yours, 
 
 J. H. 
 
 Malamocca, jlpril the 30, 1621. 
 
 XXVII 
 
 To my Brother, Dr Howell ; from a Shipboard 
 
 before Venice 
 
 Brother, 
 
 IF this letter fail either in point of orthography 
 or style, you must impute the first to the 
 tumbling posture my body was in at the writing 
 hereof, being a shipboard, the second the muddi- 
 ness of my brain, which like lees in a narrow ves- 
 sel, hath been shaken at sea in divers tempests
 
 68 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 near upon forty days, I mean natural days, which 
 include the nights also, and are composed of four 
 and twenty hours, by which number the Italian 
 computes his time, and tells his clock, for at the 
 writing hereof, I heard one from Malamocca strike 
 one and twenty hours. When I shall have saluted 
 yonder virgin city that stands before me, and hath 
 tantalised me now this sennight, I hope to cheer 
 my spirits, and settle my pericranium again. 
 
 In this voyage we passed through, at least 
 touched, all those seas, which Horace and other 
 poets sing of so often, as the Ionian, the vEgean, 
 the Icarian, the Tyrrhene, with others, and now 
 we are in the Adrian Sea, in the mouth whereof 
 Venice stands like a gold ring in a bear's muzzle. 
 We passed also by i^tna, by the infames Scopulos^ 
 Acroceraunia, and through Scylla and Charybdis, 
 about which the ancient poets, both Greek and 
 Latin, keep such a coil, but they are nothing so 
 horrid or dangerous, as they make them to be : 
 they are two white keen-pointed rocks, that lie 
 under water diametrically opposed, and like two 
 dragons defying one another, and there are pilots, 
 that in small shallops, are ready to steer all ships 
 that pass. This amongst divers other, may serve 
 for an instance that the old poets used to heighten 
 and hoist up things by their airy fancies above the 
 reality of truth. iEtna was very furious when we 
 passed by as she useth to be sometimes more than 
 other, specially when the wind is southward, for 
 then she is more subject to belching out flakes of
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 69 
 
 fire (as stutterers use to stammer more when the 
 wind is in that hole) ; some of the sparkles fell 
 aboard of us, but they would make us believe in 
 Syracuse, now Messina, that T^tna in times passed 
 hath eructated such huge gobbets of fire, that the 
 sparks of them have burnt houses in Malta, above 
 fifty miles off, transported thither by a direct 
 strong wind. We passed hard by Corinth, now 
 Ragusa, but I was not so happy as to touch there, 
 for vou know 
 
 Non cuivis homini contingit adire Corinthum. 
 
 I conversed with many Greeks but found none 
 that could understand, much less practically speak 
 any of the old dialects of the pristine Greek, it is so 
 adulterated by the vulgar, as a bed of flowers by 
 weeds, nor is there any people, either in the 
 islands or on the Continent, that speaks it con- 
 versably, yet there are in the Morea seven parishes 
 called Zacones, where the original Greek is not 
 much degenerated, but they confound divers let- 
 ters of the alphabet with one sound, for in point 
 of pronunciation there is no difference 'twixt Up- 
 silon, lota, and Eta. 
 
 The last I received from you was in Latin, 
 whereof I sent you an answer from Spain in the 
 same language, though in a coarser dialect. I shall 
 be a guest to Venice a good while, therefore I de- 
 sire a frequency of correspondence between us by 
 letters, for there will be conveniency every week 
 of receiving and sending ; when you write to
 
 70 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 Wales, I pray send advice, that I am come safe to 
 Italy, though not landed there yet. So my dear 
 brother, I pray God bless us both, and all our 
 friends, and reserve me to see you again with com- 
 fort, and you me, who am your loving brother, 
 
 J. H. 
 May the 5, 1621. 
 
 XXVIII 
 
 To the Honourable Sir Robert Mansell, Vice- 
 Admiral of England ; from Venice 
 
 AS soon as I came to Venice, I applied myself 
 to dispatch your business according to in- 
 structions, and Mr Seymor was ready to contrib- 
 ute his best furtherance. These two Italians who 
 are the bearers hereof, by report here, are the best 
 gentlemen-workmen that ever blew crystal, one is 
 allied to Antonio Miotti, the other is cousin to 
 Mazalao ; for other things they shall be sent in 
 the ship Lion^ which rides here at Malamocca, as 
 I shall send you account by conveyance of Mr 
 Symns. Herewith I have sent a letter to you from 
 Sir Henry Wotton, the Lord Ambassador here, of 
 whom I have received some favours. He wished 
 me to write, that you have now a double interest 
 in him ; for whereas before he was only your ser- 
 vant, he is now your kinsman by your late mar- 
 riage. 
 
 I was lately to see the arsenal of Venice, one of
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 71 
 
 the worthiest things of Christendom ; they say- 
 there are as many galleys, and galeasses of all sorts, 
 belonging to Saint Mark, either in course, at an- 
 chor, in dock, or upon the carine, as there be days 
 in the year ; here they can build a complete galley 
 in half a day, and put her afloat in perfect equip- 
 age, having all the ingredients fitted before-hand, 
 as they did in three hours, when Henry the Third 
 passed this way to France from Poland, who 
 wished, that besides Paris and his parliament 
 towns, he had this arsenal in exchange for three 
 of his chiefest cities. There are three hundred 
 people perpetually here at work, and it one comes 
 young and grows old in Saint Mark's service, he 
 hath a pension from the State during life. Being 
 brought to see one of the Clarissimos that governs 
 this arsenal, this huge sea store-house, amongst 
 other matters reflecting upon England, he was 
 saying: "That if Cavalier Don Roberto Mansell 
 were now here, he thought verily the republic 
 would make a profiler to him to be admiral of that 
 fleet of gallevs and galleons, which are now going 
 against the Duke of Ossuna and the forces of 
 Naples," you are so well known here. 
 
 I was, since I came hither, in Murano, a little 
 island about the distance of Lambeth from Lon- 
 don, where crystal glass is made, and it is a rare 
 sight to see a whole street, where on the one side 
 there are twenty furnaces together at work. They 
 say here that although one should transplant a 
 glass-furnace from Murano to Venice herself, or
 
 72 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 to any of the little assembly of islands about her, 
 or to any other part of the earth besides, and use 
 the same materials, the same workmen, the same 
 fuel, the self-same ingredients every way, yet they 
 cannot make crystal glass in that perfection, for 
 beauty and lustre, as in Murano. Some impute it 
 to the quality of the circumambient air that hangs 
 over the place, which is purified and attenuated 
 by the concurrence of so many fires that are in 
 those furnaces night and day perpetually, for they 
 are like the vestal fire which never goes out. And 
 it is well known that some airs make more quali- 
 fying impressions than others, as a Greek told me 
 in Sicily of the air of Egypt, where there be huge 
 common furnaces to hatch eggs by the thousands 
 in camel's dung; for, during the time of hatching 
 if the air happen to come to be overcast and grow 
 cloudy, it spoils all ; if the sky continue still, 
 serene, and clear, not one egg in a hundred will 
 miscarry. 
 
 I met with Camillo, your Consaorman^ here 
 lately, and could he be sure of entertainment, he 
 would return to serve you again, and, I believe, 
 for less salary. 
 
 I shall attend your commands herein by the 
 next, and touching other particulars, whereof I 
 have written to Captain Bacon. So I rest, your 
 most humble and ready servant, 
 
 Venice, May the 30, 1621, 
 
 J. H.
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 73 
 
 XXIX 
 
 To my Brother; frof?i Venice 
 
 Brother, 
 
 I FOUND a letter of yours that had lain dor- 
 mant here a good while in Mr Symns' hands, 
 to welcome me to Venice, and I thank you for the 
 variety of news wherewith she went freighted ; for 
 she was to me as a ship richly laden from London 
 used to be to our merchants here, and I esteem her 
 cargozan at no less a value, for she enriched me 
 with the knowledge of my father's health and 
 your own, with the rest of my brothers and sisters 
 in the country, with divers other passages of con- 
 tentment ; besides, she went also ballasted with 
 your good instructions, which, as merchants used 
 to do of their commodities, I will turn to the best 
 advantage, and Italy is no ill market to improve 
 anything. The only proceed (that I may use the 
 mercantile term) you can expect is thanks, and 
 this way I shall not be wanting to make you rich 
 returns. 
 
 Since I came to this town I dispatched sundry 
 businesses of good value for Sir Robert Mansel, 
 which I hope will give content. The art of glass- 
 making here is very highly valued ; for, whosoever 
 be of that profession are gentlemen ipso facto, and 
 it is not without reason ; it being a rare kind of 
 knowledge and chemistry to transmute dust and
 
 74 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 sand (for they are the only main ingredients) to 
 such a diaphanous pellucid dainty body as you see 
 a crystal glass is, which hath this property above 
 gold or silver or any other mineral, to admit no 
 poison ; as also that it never wastes or loses a whit 
 of its first weight, though you use it never so 
 long. When I saw so many sorts of curious 
 glasses made here I thought upon the compliment 
 which a gentleman put upon a lady in England, 
 who having five or six comely daughters, said 
 he never saw in his life such a dainty cupboard 
 of crystal glasses ; the compliment proceeds, it 
 seems, from a saying they have here, "That 
 the first handsome woman that ever was made, 
 was made of Venice glass," which implies beauty, 
 but brittleness withal (and Venice is not un- 
 furnished with some of that mould, for no place 
 abounds more with lasses and glasses). But 
 when I pried into the materials, and observed 
 the furnaces and the calcinations, the transub- 
 stantiations, the liquefactions that are incident to 
 this art, my thoughts were raised to a higher 
 speculation : that if this small furnace-fire hath 
 virtue to convert such a small lump of dark dust 
 and sand into such a precious clear body as crys- 
 tal, surely that grand universal fire which shall hap- 
 pen at the day of judgment, may by its violent 
 ardour vitrify and turn to one lump of crystal the 
 whole body of the earth, nor am I the first that fell 
 upon this conceit. 
 
 I will enlarge myself no further to you at this
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 75 
 
 time, but conclude with this tetrastic which my 
 brain ran upon in my bed this morning. 
 
 Vitrea sunt nostrae commissa negotia curae 
 Hoc oculis speculum mittimus ergo tuis : 
 
 Quod speculum ? est instar speculi mea litera, per quod 
 Vivida fraterni cordis imago nitet. 
 
 Adieu, my dear brother, Hve happily and love 
 vour brother, J. H. 
 
 Venice, the i of June 1621. 
 
 XXX 
 
 To Mr Richard Alt ham at Gray' s Inn ; from 
 
 Venice 
 
 Gentle Sir, 
 
 O dulcior illo 
 
 Mille quod in ceris Attica ponit apis. 
 
 O thou who dost in sweetness far excel. 
 That juice the Attic bee stores in her cell. 
 
 My dear Dick, 
 
 I HAVE now a good while since taken foot- 
 ing in Venice, this admired maiden city, so 
 called because she was never deflowered by any 
 enemy since she had a being, not since her Rialto 
 was first erected, which is now above twelve ages 
 ago. 
 
 I protest unto you at my first landing I was for 
 some days ravished with the high beauty of this 
 maid, with her lovely countenance. I admired her 
 magnificent buildings, her marvellous situation, her
 
 76 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 dainty smooth neat streets, whereon you may walk 
 most days in the year in a silk stocking and satin 
 slippers, without soiling them, nor can the streets 
 of Paris be so foul, as these are fair. This beaute- 
 ous maid hath been often attempted to be vitiated ; 
 some have courted her, some bribed her, some 
 would have forced her, vet she hath still preserved 
 her chastity entire ; and though she hath lived so 
 many ages, and passed so many shrewd brunts, 
 yet she continueth fresh to this very day, without 
 the least wrinkle of old age or any symptoms of 
 decay, whereunto political bodies, as well as natural, 
 use to be liable. Besides she hath wrestled with 
 the greatest potentates upon earth. The Emperor, 
 the King of France, and most of the other princes 
 of Christendom, in that famous league of Cambray, 
 would have sunk her ; but she bore up still within 
 her lakes, and broke that league to pieces by her 
 wit. The Grand Turk hath been often at her, 
 and though he could not have his will of her, yet 
 he took away the richest jewel she wore in her 
 coronet and put it in his turban — I mean the king- 
 dom of Cyprus, the only royal gem she had ; 
 he hath sat upon her skirts often since, and though 
 she closed with him sometimes, yet she came off 
 still with her maidenhead, though some that envy 
 her happiness, would brand her to be of late times 
 a kind of concubine to him, and that she gives him 
 ready money once a year to lie with her, which 
 she minceth by name of present, though it be 
 indeed rather a tribute.
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 77 
 
 I would I had you here with a wish, and you 
 would not desire in haste to be at Gray's Inn, 
 though I hold your walks to be the pleasantest 
 place about London ; and that you have there the 
 choicest society. I pray present my kind commen- 
 dations to all there, and service at Bishopsgate 
 Street, and let me hear from you by the next post. 
 — So I am, entirely yours, J. H. 
 
 Venice, 5 June 1621. 
 
 XXXI 
 
 To Dr Frank Mansell ; from Venice 
 
 G 
 
 IVE me leave to salute you first in these 
 Sapphics. 
 
 Insulam tendens iter ad Britannam 
 Charta, de paucis volo, siste gressum. 
 Verba Mansello, bene noscis ilium, 
 
 Talia perfer, 
 
 Finibus longe patriis Hoellus 
 Dimorans, quantis Venetum superba 
 Civitas leucis Dorobemiensi 
 
 Distat ab urbe ; 
 
 Plurimam mentis tibi vult salutem, 
 Plurium cordis tibi vult vigorem, 
 Plurimum sortis tibi vult favorem 
 Regis et Aulae. 
 
 These wishes come to you from Venice, a place
 
 78 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 where there is nothing wanting that heart can wish; 
 renowned Venice, the admiredst city in the world, 
 a city that all Europe is bound unto, for she is her 
 greatest rampart against that huge eastern tyrant 
 the Turk by sea, else I believe he had overrun all 
 Christendom by this time. Against him this city 
 hath performed notable exploits, and not only 
 against him, but divers other. She hath restored 
 emperors to their thrones, and popes to their chairs, 
 and with her galleys often preserved Saint Peter's 
 barque from sinking : for which, by way of reward, 
 one of his successors espoused her to the sea, which 
 marriage is solemnly renewed every year in solemn 
 procession by the Doge and all the Clarissimos, 
 and a gold ring cast into the sea out of the great 
 galleasse, called the Bucentoro, wherein the first 
 ceremony was performed by the Pope himself, 
 above three hundred years since, and they say it is 
 the self-same vessel still, though often put upon 
 the careen and trimmed. This made me think on 
 that famous ship at Athens ; nay, I fell upon an 
 abstracted notion in philosophy, and a speculation 
 touching the body of man, which being in perpet- 
 ual flux, and a kind of succession of decays, and 
 consequently requiring ever and anon a restoration 
 of what it loseth of the virtue of the former ailment, 
 and what was converted after the third concoction 
 into blood and fleshly substance, which, as in all 
 other sublunary bodies that have internal princi- 
 ples of heat, uses to transpire, breathe out, and waste 
 away through invisible pores by exercise, motion.
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 79 
 
 and sleep to make room still for a supply of new 
 nourriture. I fell, I say, to consider whether our 
 bodies may be said to be of like condition with this 
 BucentorOj which, though it be reputed still the 
 same vessel, yet I believe there 's not a foot of that 
 timber remaining which it had upon the first dock, 
 having been, as they tell me, so often planked and 
 ribbed, caulked and pieced. In like manner our 
 bodies may be said to be daily repaired by new 
 sustenance, which begets new blood, and conse- 
 quently new spirits, new humours, and I may say 
 new flesh, the old by continual deperdition and 
 insensible transpirations evaporating still out of us, 
 and giving way to fresh ; so that I make a ques- 
 tion, whether by reason of these perpetual prepara- 
 tions and accretions the body of man may be said 
 to be the same numerical body in his old age that 
 he had in his manhood, or the same in his manhood 
 that he had in his youth, the same in his youth that 
 he carried about him in his childhood, or the same 
 in his childhood which he wore first in the womb. 
 I make a doubt whether I had the same identical 
 individually numerical body when I carried a calf- 
 leather satchel to school in Hereford, as when I 
 wore a lambskin hood in Oxford, or whether I 
 have the same mass of blood in my veins, and the 
 same flesh now in Venice which I carried about me 
 three years since up and down London streets, 
 having in lieu of beer and ale drunk wine all this 
 while, and fed upon diff^erent viands ; now the 
 stomach is like a crucible, for it hath a chemical
 
 8o FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 kind of virtue to transmute one body into an- 
 other, to transubstantiate fish and fruits into flesh 
 within, and about us ; but though it be questionable 
 whether I wear the same flesh which is fluxible, I 
 am sure my hair is not the same, for you may 
 remember I went flaxen-haired out of England, but 
 vou shall find me returned with a very dark brown, 
 which I impute not only to the heat and air of 
 those hot countries I have eat my bread in, but to 
 the quality and difi^erence of food; but you will 
 say that hair is but an excrementitious thing, and 
 makes not to this purpose; moreover, methinks I 
 hear you say that this may be true, only in the 
 blood and spirits, or such fluid parts, not in the 
 solid and heterogeneal parts ; but I will press no 
 further at this time this philosophical notion which 
 the fight o{ Bucentoro infused into me, for it hath 
 already made me exceed the bounds of a letter, 
 and I fear me to trespass too much upon your 
 patience. I leave the further disquisition of this 
 point to your own contemplations, who are a far 
 riper philosopher than I, and have waded deeper 
 into, and drunk more of Aristotle's Well; but to 
 conclude, though it be doubtful whether I carry 
 about me the same body or no, in all points that I 
 had in England, I am well assured I bear still the 
 same mind, and therein I verify the old verse — 
 
 Coelum non animam mutant qui trans mare currunt. 
 The air but not the mind they change. 
 Who in outlandish countries range. 
 
 For what alterations soever happen in this micro-
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 8i 
 
 cosm, in this little world, this small bulk and body 
 of mine, you may be confident that nothing shall 
 alter my affections, specially towards you, but that 
 I will persevere still the same, the very same, 
 
 J. H. 
 
 Venice, 25 June 1621. 
 
 XXXII 
 
 To Richard Althatn^ Esquire 
 
 1WAS plunged in a deep fit of melancholy, Sa- 
 turn had cast his black influence over all my 
 intellectuals. Methought I felt my heart as a 
 lump of dough, and heavy as lead within my 
 breast; when a letter of yours of the 3rd of this 
 month was brought me, which presently begot 
 new spirits within me, and made such strong im- 
 pressions upon my intellectuals, that it turned and 
 transformed me into another man. I have read of 
 a Duke of Milan and others, who were poisoned 
 by reading of a letter, but yours produced con- 
 trary effects in me ; it became an antidote, or 
 rather a most sovereign cordial, to me, more op- 
 erative than bezoar, of more virtue than potable 
 gold or the elixir of amber, for it wrought a sud- 
 den cure upon me. That fluent and rare mixture 
 of love and wit, which I found up and down 
 therein, were the ingredients of this cordial ; they 
 were as so many choice flowers, strewed here and 
 there, which did cast such an odoriferous scent,
 
 82 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 that they revived all my senses, and dispelled 
 those dull fumes which had formerly overclouded 
 my brain. Such was the operation of your most 
 ingenious and affectionate letter, and so sweet an 
 entertainment it gave me. If your letter had that 
 virtue, what would your person have done ? And 
 did you know all, you would wish your person 
 here a while — did you know the rare beauty of 
 this Virgin City, you would quickly make love to 
 her, and change your Royal Exchange for the 
 Rialto, and your Gray's Inn Walks for Saint 
 Mark's Place for a time. Farewell, dear child of 
 Virtue, and minion of the Muses, and love still 
 your J. H. 
 
 Venice, i July 1621. 
 
 XXXIII 
 
 To my much honoured friend^ Sir "John North, 
 Knight ; from Venice 
 
 Noble Sir, 
 
 THE first office of gratitude is to receive a 
 good turn civilly, then to retain it in mem- 
 ory and acknowledge it ; thirdly, to endeavour a 
 requital. For this last office, it is in vain for me to 
 attempt it, specially towards you, who have laden 
 me with such a variety of courtesies and weighty 
 favours, that my poor stock comes far short of 
 any retaliation ; but for the other two, reception, 
 and retention, as I am not conscious to have
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 83 
 
 been wanting in the first act, so I shall never fail 
 in the second, because both these are within the 
 compass of my power ; for if you could pry into 
 my memory, you should discover there a huge 
 magazine of your favours (you have been pleased 
 to do me present and absent) safely stored up 
 and coacervated, to preserve them from moulder- 
 ing away in oblivion ; for courtesies should be no 
 perishable commodity. Should I attempt any 
 other requital, I should extenuate your favours 
 and derogate from the worth of them ; yet if to 
 this of the memory I can contribute any other act 
 of body or mind, to enlarge my acknowledgments 
 towards you, you may be well assured that I shall 
 be ever ready to court any occasion whereby the 
 world may know how much I am your thankful 
 servitor, J. H. 
 
 Venice, 13 July 1621. 
 
 XXXIV 
 To Dan. Caldwell^ Esq. ; from Venice 
 
 My dear D., 
 
 COULD letters fly with the same wings as love 
 useth to do, and cut the air with the like 
 swiftness of motion, this letter of mine should 
 work a miracle, and be with you in an instant ; nor 
 should she fear interception or any other casualty 
 in the way, or cost you one penny the post, for 
 she should pass invisibly ; but 'tis not fitting that
 
 84 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 paper, which is made but of old rags, wherewith 
 letters are swaddled, should have the same privi- 
 lege as love, which is a spiritual thing, having 
 something of divinity in it, and partakes in celerity 
 with the imagination, than which there is not any- 
 thing more swift, you know — no, not the motion 
 of the upper sphere, the primum mobile^ which 
 snatcheth all the other nine after, and indeed the 
 whole macrocosm all the world besides, except 
 our earth (the centre), which upper sphere the as- 
 tronomers would have to move so many degrees, 
 so many thousand miles in a moment. Since, then, 
 letters are denied such a velocity, I allow this of 
 mine twenty days, which is the ordinary time al- 
 lowed betwixt Venice and London, to come unto 
 you, and thank you a thousand times over for your 
 last of the tenth of June, and the rich venison feast 
 vou made, as I understand, not long since, to the 
 remembrance of me, at the Ship Tavern. Believe 
 it, sir, you shall find that this love of yours is not 
 ill employed, for I esteem it at the highest degree. 
 I value it more than the Treasury of Saint Mark, 
 which I lately saw, where among other things 
 there is a huge iron chest, as tall as myself, that 
 hath no lock, but a crevice through which they 
 cast in the gold that is bequeathed to Saint Mark 
 in legacies, whereon there is engraven this proud 
 motto — 
 
 Quando questo scrinio S'apria 
 Tutto '1 mundo tremera. 
 
 When this chest shall open, the whole world
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 85 
 
 shall tremble. The Duke of Ossuna, late Viceroy 
 of Naples, did what he could to force them to 
 open it, for he brought Saint Mark to waste much 
 of this treasure in the late wars, which he made 
 purposely to that end, which made them have 
 recourse to us and the Hollander for ships, not 
 long since. 
 
 Amongst the rest of Italy this is called the 
 Maiden City (notwithstanding her great number 
 of courtesans), and there is a prophecy, "That 
 she shall continue a maid until her husband forsake 
 her," meaning the sea, to whom the Pope married 
 her long since, and the sea is observed not to love 
 her so deeply as he did, for he begins to shrink 
 and grow shallower in some places about her ; nor 
 doth the Pope also, who was the father that gave 
 her to the sea, affect her so much as he formerly 
 did, especially since the extermination of the 
 Jesuits: so that both husband and father begin to 
 abandon her. 
 
 I am to be a guest to this hospitable maid a 
 good while vet, and if you want any commodity 
 that she can afford (and what cannot she afford for 
 human pleasure or delight ?) do but write, and it 
 shall be sent you. 
 
 Farewell, gentle soul, and correspond still in 
 pure love with your 
 
 J. H. 
 
 Venice, 29 of July 1621.
 
 86 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 XXXV 
 
 To Sir 'James Crofts^ Knight; from Venice 
 
 I RECEIVED one of yours the last week, that 
 came in my Lord Ambassador Wotton's 
 packet, and being now upon point of parting with 
 Venice, I could not do it without acquainting you 
 (as far as the extent of a letter will permit) with 
 her power, her policy, her wealth, and pedigree. 
 She was built of the ruins of Aquileia and Padua, 
 for when those swarms of tough northern people 
 overran Italy under the conduct of that scourge of 
 heaven Attila, with others, and that this soft vo- 
 luptuous nation, after so long a desuetude from 
 arms, could not repel their fury, many of the 
 ancient nobility and gentry fled into these lakes 
 and little islands, amongst the fishermen for their 
 security, and finding the air good and commodious 
 for habitation, they began to build upon those 
 small islands, whereof there are in all threescore ; 
 and in tract of time, they conjoined and leagued 
 them together by bridges, whereof there are now 
 above eight hundred, and this makes up the city of 
 Venice, who is now above twelve ages old, and was 
 contemporary with the monarchy of France; but 
 the signiory glorieth in one thing above the mon- 
 archy, that she was born a Christian, but the 
 monarchy not. Though this city be thus hemmed 
 in with the sea, yet she spreads her wings far and wide
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 87 
 
 upon the shore ; she hath in Lombardy six con- 
 siderable towns, Padua, Verona, Vicenza, Brescia, 
 Crema and Bergamo; she hath in the Marquisat, 
 Bassan and Castelfranco ; she hath all Friuli and 
 Istria; she commands the shores of Dalmatia and 
 Slavonia ; she keeps under the power of Saint 
 Mark, the islands of Corfu (anciently Corcyria), 
 Cephalonia, Zant, Cerigo, Lucerigo, and Candy 
 (Jove's Cradle) ; she had a long time the kingdom 
 of Cyprus, but it was quite rent from her by the 
 Turk, which made that high spirited Bassa, being 
 taken prisoner at the battle of Lepanto, where the 
 grand signior lost above 200 galleys, to say, 
 " That that defeat to his great master was but like 
 the shaving of his beard or the paring of his nails; 
 but the taking of Cyprus was like the cutting off 
 of a limb, which will never grow again." This 
 mighty potentate being so near a neighbour to her 
 she is forced to comply with him and give him an 
 annual present in gold: she hath about thirty gal- 
 leys most part of the year in course to scour and 
 secure the gulf; she entertains by land in Lom- 
 bardy and other parts 25,000 foot, besides some 
 of the cantons of Suisses whom she gives pay 
 unto ; she hath also in constant pay 600 men 
 of arms, and every of these must keep two 
 horses a-piece, for which they are allowed 120 
 ducats a year, and they are for the most part gen- 
 tlemen of Lombardy. When they have any great 
 expedition to make, they have always a stranger 
 for their general, but he is supervised by two
 
 88 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 proveditors, without whom he cannot attempt any- 
 thing. 
 
 Her great Council consists of above looo gen- 
 tlemen, and some of them meet every Sunday and 
 holiday to choose officers and magistrates, and 
 every gentleman being past twenty-five years of 
 age is capable to sit in this Council. The Doge or 
 Duke (their sovereign magistrate) is chosen by 
 lots, which would be too tedious here to demon- 
 strate, and commonly he Is an aged man who is 
 created, like that course they hold in the popedom. 
 When he is dead there be inquisitors that examine 
 his actions, and his misdemeanours are punishable 
 in his heirs. There is a superintendent council of 
 ten, and six of them may dispatch business with- 
 out the doge, but the doge never without some of 
 them, not as much as open a letter from any for- 
 eign state, though addressed to himself, which 
 makes him to be called by other princes, 'Testa di 
 legno^ a head of wood. 
 
 The wealth of this republic hath been at a stand, 
 or rather declining, since the Portugal found a 
 road to the East Indies by the Cape of Good 
 Hope ; for this city was used to fetch all those 
 spices and other Indian commodities from the 
 grand Cairo down the Nile, being formerly 
 carried to Cairo from the Red Sea upon camels' 
 and dromedaries' backs, threescore days' journey ; 
 and so Venice used to dispense those commodities 
 through all Christendom, which not only the Port- 
 ugal, but the English and Hollander, now trans-
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 89 
 
 port, and are masters of the trade. Yet there is no 
 outward appearance at all of poverty, or any decay 
 in this city, but she is still gay, flourishing, and 
 fresh, and flowing with all kind of bravery and 
 delight, which may be had at cheap rates. Much 
 more might be written of this ancient wise Repub- 
 lic, which cannot be comprehended within the nar- 
 row enclosure of a letter. So with my due and daily 
 prayers for a continuance of your health, and in- 
 crease of honour, I rest, your most humble and 
 ready servitor, J. H. 
 
 Venice, i of August 1621. 
 
 XXXVI 
 
 T^o Robert Browriy Esquire^ at the Middle 
 Temple ; from Venice 
 
 Robin, 
 
 I HAVE now enough of the maiden city, and 
 this week I am to go further into Italy ; for 
 though I have been a good while in Venice, yet I 
 cannot say I have been hitherto upon the conti- 
 nent of Italy : for this city is nought else but a 
 knot of islands in the Adriatic Sea, joined in one 
 body by bridges, and a good way distant from the 
 firm land. I have lighted upon very choice com- 
 pany, your cousin Brown and Master Wed, and 
 we all take the road of Lombardy, but we made 
 an order amongst ourselves that our discourse be 
 always in the language of the country, under pen-
 
 90 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 alty of a forfeiture, which is to be indispensably 
 paid. Randal Symns made us a curious feast lately, 
 where in a cup of the richest Greek we had your 
 health, and I could not tell whether the wine or 
 the remembrance of you was sweeter; for it was 
 naturally a kind of aromatic wine, which left a fra- 
 grant perfuming kind of farewell behind it. I have 
 sent you a runlet of it in the ship Lion, and if it 
 come safe, and unpricked, I pray bestow some bot- 
 tles upon the lady (you know) with my humble 
 service. When you write next to Master Simns, 
 I pray acknowledge the good hospitality and ex- 
 traordinary civilities I received from him. Before 
 I conclude I will acquaint you with a common say- 
 ing that is used of this dainty city of Venice: 
 
 Venecia, Venetia, chi non te vede non te pregia. 
 Ma chi t' ha troppo veduto te dispreggia. 
 
 Englished and rhymed thus (though I know you 
 need no translation, you understand so much of 
 Italian): 
 
 Venice, Venice, none thee unseen can prize. 
 Who hath seen too much will thee despise. 
 
 I will conclude with that famous hexastic which 
 Sannazaro made of this rare city, which pleaseth 
 me much better : 
 
 Viderat Hadriacis Venetam Neptunus in undis 
 Stare urbem, et toti ponere jura Mari ; 
 
 Nunc mihi Tarpeias quantum vis, Jupiter, Arces 
 Objice, et ilia tui moenia Martis ait. 
 
 Sic Pelage Tibrim praefers, urbem aspice utramque, 
 Illam homines dices, hanc posuisse Deos.
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 91 
 
 When Neptune saw in Adrian surges stand 
 Venice, and gave the sea laws of command : 
 Now Jove, said he, object thy Capitol, 
 And Mars' proud walls : this were for to extol 
 Tyber beyond the main ; both towns behold ; 
 Rome, men thou 'It say, Venice the Gods did mould. 
 
 Sannazaro had given him by Saint Mark a hun- 
 dred zecchins for every one of these verses, which 
 amounts to about 300 pounds. It would be long 
 before the city of London would do the like. 
 Witness that cold reward, or rather those cold 
 drops of water which were cast upon my country- 
 man. Sir Hugh Middleton, for bringing Ware 
 River through her streets, the most serviceable 
 and wholesomest benefit that ever she received. 
 
 The parcel of Italian books that you write for 
 you shall receive from Master Leat, if it please 
 God to send the ship to safe port ; and I take it 
 as a favour that you employ me in anything that 
 may conduce to your contentment. — Because, I 
 am your serious servitor, J. H. 
 
 Venice, 12 August 1621. 
 
 XXXVII 
 
 To Capt. Tho772as Porter ; from Venice 
 
 My dear Captain, 
 
 AS I was going a shipboard in Alicante, a let- 
 ter of yours in Spanish came to hand. I dis- 
 covered two things in it, first, what a master you
 
 92 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 are of that language, then how mindful you are 
 of your friend. For the first I dare not correspond 
 with you yet ; for the second, I shall never come 
 short of you, for I am as mindful of you, as possi- 
 bly you can be of me, and some hours my pulse 
 doth not beat more often than my memory runs 
 on you, which is often enough in conscience ; for 
 the physicians hold that in every well-disposed 
 body there be above 4000 pulsations every hour, 
 and some pulses have been known to beat above 
 30,000 times an hour in acute fevers. 
 
 I understand you are bound with a gallant fleet 
 for the Mediterranean ; if you come to Alicante, 
 I pray commend me to Francesco Marco, my land- 
 lord ; he is a merry droll and good company. 
 One night when I was there he sent his boy with 
 a borracha of leather under his cloak for wine, 
 the boy coming back about ten o'clock and pass- 
 ing by the guard, one asked him whether he car- 
 ried any weapons about him (for none must wear 
 any weapons there after ten at night). " No," 
 quoth the boy, being pleasant, " I have but a little 
 dagger." The watch came and searched him, and 
 finding the borracha full of good wine, drank it 
 all up, saying, " Sirrah, you know no man must 
 carry any weapons so late; but, because we know 
 whose servant you are, there 's the scabbard of 
 your dagger again," and so threw him the empty 
 borracho. But another passage pleased me better 
 of Don Beltram de Rosa, who being to marry a 
 rich Labrador's (a Yeoman's) daughter hard by.
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 93 
 
 which was much importuned by her parents to 
 the match, because their family should be thereby 
 ennobled, he being a Cavalier of Saint Jago. The 
 young maid having understood that Don Beltram 
 had been in Naples, and had that disease about 
 him, answered wittily, " En verdad por adobar me 
 la sangre, no quiero dannarmi la carne " (truly, 
 sir, to better my blood, I will not hurt my flesh). 
 I doubt I shall not be in England before you set 
 out to sea ; if not, I take my leave of you in this 
 paper, and wish you a prosperous voyage and an 
 honourable return ; it is the hearty prayers of 
 yours, J. H. 
 
 Venice, 21 August 1621. 
 
 XXXVIII 
 
 To Sir Williani Sahit 'Jolm^ Kjiight; from Rome 
 
 HAVING seen Antenor's tomb in Padua, and 
 the amphitheatre of Flaminius in Verona, 
 with other brave towns in Lombardy, I am now come 
 to Rome, and Rome they say is every man's coun- 
 try ; she is called Communis Patria^ for every one 
 that is within the compass of the Latin Church finds 
 himself here, as it were, at home and in his mother's 
 house. In regard of interest in religion, which is 
 the cause that for one native there be five strangers 
 that sojourn in this city, and without any distinction 
 or mark of strangeness, they come to preferments 
 and ofSces both in Church and State, according to
 
 94 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 merit, which is more valued and sought after here 
 than anywhere. 
 
 But whereas I expected to have found Rome 
 elevated upon seven hills, I met her rather spread- 
 ing upon a flat, having humbled herself since she 
 was made a Christian and descended from those 
 hills to Campus Martius. With Trastevere and 
 the suburbs of Saint Peter she hath yet in compass 
 about fourteen miles, which is far short of that vast 
 circuit she had in Claudius' time ; for Vopiscus 
 writes she was then of fifty miles circumference, 
 and she had five hundred thousand free citizens in 
 a famous census that was made, which, allowing but 
 six to every family in women, children, and ser- 
 vants, came to three millions of souls ; but she is 
 now a wilderness in comparison of that number. 
 The Pope is grown to be a great temporal prince 
 of late years, for the state of the Church extends 
 above 300 miles in length and 200 miles in 
 breadth ; it contains Ferrara, Bologna, Romagna, 
 the Marquisat of Ancona, Umbria, Sabina, Peru- 
 gia, with a part of Tuscany, the Patrimony, Rome 
 herself, and Latium. In these there are above fifty 
 bishopricks, the Pope hath also the Duchy of 
 Spoleto, and the exarchat of Ravena, he hath the 
 town of Benevento in the kingdom of Naples, and 
 the country of Venice, called Avignon in France; 
 he hath title also good enough to Naples itself; 
 but, rather than offend his champion the King of 
 Spain, he is contented with a white mule and purse 
 of pistoles about the neck, which he receives every
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 95 
 
 year for a heriot or homage, or what you will call 
 it. He pretends also to be Lord Paramount of 
 Sicily, Urbin, Parma, and Masseran, of Norway, 
 Ireland, and England, since King John did pros- 
 trate our Crown at Pandulfo, his legate's feet. 
 
 The State of the Apostolic See here in Italy 
 lieth betwixt two seas, the Adriatic and the Tyr- 
 rhene, and it runs through the midst of Italy, 
 which makes the Pope powerful to do good or 
 harm, and more capable than any other to be an 
 umpire or an enemy. His authority being mixed 
 'twixt temporal and spiritual, disperseth itself into 
 so many members, that a young man may grow 
 old here before he can well understand the form 
 of government. 
 
 The consistory of Cardinals meet but once a 
 week, and once a week they solemnly wait all 
 upon the Pope. I am told there are now in Chris- 
 tendom but sixty-eight cardinals, whereof there 
 are six cardinal bishops, fifty-one cardinal priests, 
 and eleven cardinal deacons. The cardinal bish- 
 ops attend and sit near the Pope when he cele- 
 brates any festival, the cardinal priests assist him 
 at mass, and the cardinal deacons attire him, A 
 cardinal is made by a short brief or writ from the 
 Pope in these words " Creamus te Socium Regi- 
 bus, superiorem Ducibus, et fratrem nostrum " 
 (We create thee a companion to kings, superior 
 to dukes, and our brother). If a cardinal bishop 
 should be questioned for any offence, there must 
 be twenty-four witnesses produced against him.
 
 96 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 The Bishop of Ostia hath most privilege of 
 any other, for he consecrates and instals the Pope, 
 and goes always next to him. All these cardinals 
 have the repute of princes, and besides other in- 
 comes they have the annats of benefices to sup- 
 port their greatness. 
 
 For point of power the Pope is able to put 
 50,000 men in the field in case of necessity, be- 
 sides his naval strength in galleys. We read how 
 Paul the Third sent Charles the Fifth 12,000 foot 
 and 500 horse. Pius the Fifth sent a greater aid 
 to Charles the Ninth. And for riches, besides the 
 temporal dominions, he hath in all the countries 
 before named the datary or dispatching of Bulls. 
 The triennial subsidies, annats, and other ecclesias- 
 tic rights mount to an unknown sum ; and it is a 
 common saying here that as long as the Pope can 
 finger a pen he can want no pence. Pius the 
 Fifth, notwithstanding his expenses in build- 
 ings, left four millions in the castle of Saint 
 Angelo, in less than five years, more I believe 
 than this Gregory the Fifteenth will, for he hath 
 many nephews ; and better it is to be the Pope's 
 nephew than to be favourite to any prince in 
 Christendom. 
 
 Touching the temporal government of Rome, 
 and Oppidan affairs, there is a pretor, and some 
 choice citizens which sit in the capitol. Amongst 
 other pieces of policy there is a synagogue of 
 Jews permitted here (as in other places of Italy) 
 under the Pope's nose, but they go with a mark
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 97 
 
 of distinction in their hats ; they are tolerated for 
 advantage of commerce, wherein the Jews are 
 wonderful dexterous, though most of them be 
 only brokers and Lombardeers, and thev are held 
 to be here, as the cynic held women to be, malum 
 necessarium. There be few of the Romans that 
 use to pray heartily for the Pope's long life, in 
 regard the oftener the change is, the more advan- 
 tageous it is for the city, because commonly it 
 brings strangers, and a recruit of new people. 
 This air of Rome is not so wholesome as of old, 
 and amongst other reasons one is, because of the 
 burning of stubble to fatten their fields. For her 
 antiquities it would take up a whole volume to 
 write them. Those which I hold the chiefest are 
 Vespasian's amphitheatre, where fourscore thou- 
 sand people might sit ; the Stoves of Anthony ; 
 divers rare statues at Belvedere and Saint Peter's, 
 specially that of Laocoon; the Obelisk; for the 
 genius of the Roman hath always been much 
 taken with imagery, limning, and sculptures, inso- 
 much that as in former times, so now, I believe, 
 the statues and pictures in Rome exceed the 
 number of living people. One antiquity among 
 others is very remarkable because of the chana;e 
 of language,- which is an ancient column erected 
 as a trophy for Duillius the Consul, after a famous 
 naval victory obtained against the Carthaginians 
 in the second Punic war, where these words are 
 engraven and remain legible to this day : " Exe- 
 met leco-ines Macistrates Castreis exfocient pug-
 
 98 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 nandod cepet enque navebos marid Consul," etc. 
 And half a dozen lines after it is called Columna 
 rostrata, having the beaks and prows of ships en- 
 graven up and down, whereby it appears that the 
 Latin then spoken was much differing from that 
 which was used in Cicero's time 150 years after. 
 Since the dismembering of the empire Rome hath 
 run through many vicissitudes and turns of for- 
 tune, and had it not been for the residence of the 
 Pope I believe she had become a heap of stones, 
 a mount of rubbish bv this time. And howsoever 
 that she bears up indifferent well, yet one may 
 say — 
 
 Qui miseranda videt veteris vestigia Romae, 
 Ille potest merito dicere Roma fuit. 
 
 They who the ruins of first Rome behold. 
 May say, Rome is not now, but was of old. 
 
 Present Rome may be said to be but the monu- 
 ment of Rome passed when she was in that flour- 
 ish that Saint Austin desired to see her in. She 
 who tamed the world tamed herself at last, and 
 falling under her own weight fell to be a prey to 
 time, yet there is a providence seems to have a 
 care of her still ; for though her air be not so good, 
 nor her circumjacent soil so kindly as it was, yet 
 she hath wherewith to keep life and soul together 
 still by her ecclesiastic courts, which is the sole 
 cause of her peopling now. So that it may be said 
 when the Pope came to be her head she was re- 
 duced to her first principles ; for as a shepherd was
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 99 
 
 founder, so a shepherd is still her governor and 
 preserver. But whereas the French have an old 
 saying, that 
 
 Jamais cheval ny homme, 
 S'amenda pour aller a Rome. 
 
 Ne'er horse or man did mend 
 That unto Rome did wend. 
 
 Truly I must confess that I find myself much 
 bettered by it ; for the sight of some of these ruins 
 did fill me with symptoms of mortification, and 
 made me more sensible of the frailty of all sublu- 
 nary things, how all bodies, as well inanimate as 
 animate, are subject to dissolution and change, and 
 everything else under the moon, except the love 
 of your faithful servitor, 
 
 J. H. 
 
 Rome, September 13, 1621. 
 
 XXXIX • 
 
 To Sir T. H., Knight ; froi7i Naples 
 
 I AM now in the gentle city of Naples, a city 
 swelling with all delight, gallantry and wealth ; 
 and truly, in my opinion, the King of Spain's 
 greatness appears here more eminently than in 
 Spain itself. This is a delicate luxurious city, 
 fuller of true-bred cavaliers than any place I saw 
 yet. The clime is hot, and the constitutions of 
 the inhabitants more hot.
 
 loo FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 The Neapolitan is accounted the best courtier 
 of ladies, and the greatest embracer of pleasure of 
 any other people. They say there is no less here 
 than twenty thousand courtesans registered in the 
 office of Savelli. This kingdom with Calabria may 
 be said to be the one moiety of Italy. It extends 
 itself 450 miles and spreads in breadth 112; it 
 contains 2700 towns, it hath 20 archbishops, 127 
 bishops, 13 princes, 24 dukes, 25 marquises, and 
 800 barons. There are three presidial castles in 
 this city, and though the kingdom abounds in rich 
 staple commodities as silks, cottons, and wine, and 
 that there is a mighty revenue comes to the crown, 
 yet the King of Spain when he casts up his ac- 
 count at the year's end makes but little benefit 
 thereof, for it is eaten up betwixt governors, gar- 
 risons and officers. He is forced to maintain 4000 
 Spanish foot, called the Tercia of Naples, in the 
 castles he hath, 1600 in the perpetual garrison. 
 He hath 1000 m^i of arms, 450 light horse ; be- 
 sides there are five footmen enrolled for every 
 hundred fire. And he had need to do all this to 
 keep this voluptuous people in awe, for the story 
 musters up seven and twenty thousand famous 
 rebellions of the Neapolitans in less than 300 
 years ; but now they pay soundly for it, for one 
 shall hear them groan up and down under the 
 Spanish yoke. And commonly the King of Spain 
 sends some of his grandees hither to repair their 
 decayed fortunes, whence the saying sprung : That 
 the Viceroy of Sicily gnaws, the Governor of
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL loi 
 
 Milan eats, but the Viceroy of Naples devours. 
 Our English merchants here bear a considerable 
 trade, and their factors live in better equipage and 
 in a more splendid manner, as in all Italy besides, 
 than their masters and principals in London. 
 They ruffle in silks and satins, and wear good 
 Spanish leather shoes ; while their masters' shoes 
 upon our Exchange in London shine with black- 
 ing. At Puzzoli, not far off amongst the Grottes, 
 there are so many strange stupendous things that 
 nature herself seemed to have studied of purpose 
 how to make herself there admired. I reserve the 
 discoursing of them with the nature of the Taran- 
 tola and Manna, which is gathered here and no- 
 where else, with other things, till I see you, for 
 they are fitter for discourses than a letter. I will 
 conclude with a proverb they have in Italy of this 
 people : 
 
 Napolitano 
 
 Largo di bocca, stretto di mano. 
 
 The Neapolitans 
 
 Have wide mouths, but narrow hands. 
 
 They make strong, masculine promises, but fe- 
 male performances (for deeds are men, but words 
 are women), and if in a whole flood of compli- 
 ments one find a drop of reality, it is well. The 
 first acceptance of a courtesy is accounted the 
 greatest incivility that can be amongst them and 
 a ground for a quarrel, as I heard of a German 
 gentlem.an that was baffled for accepting only one 
 invitation to a dinner. — So desiring to be preserved
 
 I02 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 still in your good opinion and in the rank of 
 your servants, I rest always most ready at your 
 disposing, 
 
 J. H. 
 Naples, October the i, 1621. 
 
 XL 
 
 To Christopher Jo?2es^ Esquire^ at Grays Inn ; 
 
 from Naples 
 
 Honoured Father, 
 
 I MUST still style you so, since I was adopted 
 your son by so good a mother as Oxford. My 
 mind lately prompted me that I should commit a 
 great solecism, if amongst the rest of my friends 
 in England, I should leave you unsaluted, whom 
 I love so dearly well, especially having such a fair 
 and pregnant opportunity as the hand of this 
 worthy gentleman, your cousin Morgan, who is 
 now posting hence for England. He will tell you 
 how it fares with me ; how any time these thirty 
 odd months I have been tossed from shore to 
 shore, and passed under various meridians, and 
 am now in this voluptuous and luxuriant city of 
 Naples. And though those frequent removes and 
 tumblings under climes of different temperature 
 were not without some danger, yet the delight 
 which accompanied them was far greater ; and it 
 is impossible for any man to conceive the true 
 pleasure of peregrination but he who actually en-
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 103 
 
 joys and puts it in practice. Believe it, sir, that 
 one year well employed abroad by one of mature 
 judgment (which you know I want very much) 
 advantageth more in point of useful and solid 
 knowledge than three in any of our Universities. 
 You know running waters are the purest, so they 
 that traverse the world up and down have the 
 clearest understanding, being faithful eye-wit- 
 nesses of those things which others receive but in 
 trust, whereunto they must yield an intuitive con- 
 sent and a kind of implicit faith. When I passed 
 through some parts of Lombardy, amongst other 
 things I observed the physiognomies and com- 
 plexions of the people, men and women, and I 
 thought I was in Wales, for divers of them have 
 a cast of countenance and a nearer resemblance 
 with our nation than any I ever saw yet. And 
 the reason is obvious, for the Romans having 
 been near upon three hundred years amongst us, 
 where they had four legions (before the English 
 nation or language had any being), by so long a 
 coalition and tract of time the two nations must 
 needs copulate and mix, insomuch that I believe 
 there is yet remaining in Wales many of the 
 Roman race, and divers in Italy of the British. 
 Amongst other resemblances, one was in their 
 prosody and vein of versifying or rhyming, which 
 is like our bards, who hold agnominations and 
 enforcing of consonant words or syllables, one 
 upon the other, to be the greatest elegance, as for 
 example, in Welsh, " Tewgris todyrris ty'r derrin,
 
 I04 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 gwillt," etc. So have I seen divers old rhymes in 
 Italian running so: "Donne, O danno, che Felo 
 affronto affronta : In selva salvo a me; Piu caro 
 cuore," etc. 
 
 Being lately in Rome, amongst other pasquils I 
 met with one that was against the Scot; though it 
 had some gall in it, yet it had a great deal of wit, 
 especially towards the conclusion, so that I think 
 if King James saw it he would but laugh at it. 
 
 As I remember, some years since, there was a 
 very abusive satire in verse brought to our king, 
 and as the passages were a reading before him he 
 often said, that if there were no more men in 
 England the rogue should hang for it, at last 
 being come to the conclusion, which was (after all 
 his railing) : 
 
 Now God preserve the King, the Queen, the peers. 
 And grant the author long may wear his ears. 
 
 This pleased His Majesty so well that he broke 
 into a laughter, and said, " By my soul, so thou 
 shalt for me ; thou art a bitter, but thou art a 
 wittv knave." 
 
 When you write to Monmouthshire, I pray 
 send my respects to my tutor. Master Moor For- 
 tune, and my service to Sir Charles Williams ; and 
 according to that relation which was betwixt us in 
 Oxford, I rest, your constant son to serve you, 
 
 J. H. 
 
 Naples, 8 October 1621.
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 105 
 
 XLI 
 
 To Sir y. C. ; from Florence 
 
 THIS letter comes to kiss your hands from 
 fair Florence, a city so beautiful that the 
 great Emperor (Charles the Fifth) said that she was 
 fitting to be shown and seen only upon holidays. 
 She marvellously flourisheth with buildings, with 
 wealth and artisans ; for it is thought that in 
 serges, which is but one commodity, there are made 
 two millions every year. All degrees of people live 
 here, not only well, but splendidly well, notwith- 
 standing the manifold exactions of the duke upon 
 all things. For none can buy here lands or houses 
 but he must pay eight in the hundred to the duke ; 
 none can hire or build a house but he must pay 
 the tenth penny ; none can marry, or commence 
 suit in law, but there 's a fee to the duke ; none can 
 bring as much as an egg or sallet to the market 
 but the duke hath share therein. Moreover, Leg- 
 horn, which is the key of Tuscany, being a mari- 
 time and a great mercantile town, hath mightily 
 enriched this country by being a frank port to all 
 comers, and a safe rendezvous to pirates as well as 
 to merchants. Add hereunto that the Duke him- 
 self in some respects is a merchant, for he some- 
 times engrosseth all the corn of the country, and 
 retails it at what rate he pleaseth. This enables 
 the Duke to have perpetually 20,000 men en-
 
 io6 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 rolled, trained up, and paid, and none but they can 
 carry arms. He hath 400 light horse in constant 
 pay, and 100 men at arms besides, and all these 
 quartered in so narrow a compass that he can com- 
 mand them all to Florence in twenty-four hours. 
 He hath twelve galleys, two galleons, and six gal- 
 leasses besides, and his galleys are called the black 
 fleet, because they annoy the Turk more in the 
 bottom of the Straits than any other. 
 
 This state is bound to keep good quarter with 
 the Pope more than others, for all Tuscany is 
 fenced by Nature herself, I mean with mountains, 
 except towards the territories of the Apostolic 
 See and the sea itself; therefore it is called a coun- 
 try of iron. 
 
 The Duke's palace is so spacious that it occu- 
 pieth the room of fifty houses at least ; yet, though 
 his court surpasseth the bounds of a duke's, it 
 reacheth not to the magnificence of a king's. The 
 Pope was solicited to make the Grand Duke a king, 
 and he answered that he was content he should be 
 king in Tuscany, not of Tuscany; whereupon one 
 of his counsellors replied that it was a more glori- 
 ous thing to be a grand duke than a petty king. 
 
 Among other cities which I desired to see in 
 Italy, Genoa was one where I lately was, and found 
 her to be the proudest for buildings of any I met 
 withal, yet the people go the plainest of any other, 
 and are also most parsimonious in their diet ; they 
 are the subtlest, I will not say the most subdolous 
 dealers ; they are wonderful wealthy, especially in
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 107 
 
 money. In the year 1600, the King of Spain owed 
 them eighteen millions, and they say it is double 
 as much now. 
 
 From the time they began to finger the Indian 
 gold, and that this town hath been the scale by 
 which he hath conveyed his treasure to Flanders 
 since the wars in the Netherlands, for the support 
 of his armies, and that she had got some privileges 
 for the exportation of wools, and other commodi- 
 ties (prohibited to others) out of Spain, she hath 
 improved extremely in riches, and made Saint 
 George's Mount swell higher than Saint Mark's 
 in Venice. 
 
 She hath been often ill-favouredly shaken by 
 the Venetian, and hath had other enemies which 
 have put her to hard shifts for her own defence, 
 specially in the time of Louis the Eleventh of 
 France, at which time, when she would have given 
 herself up to him for protection. King Louis being 
 told that Genoa was content to be his, he an- 
 swered : " She should not be his long, for he would 
 give her up to the devil and rid his hands of her." 
 
 Indeed, the Genoese have not the fortune to be 
 so well beloved as other people in Italy, which 
 proceeds, I believe, from their cunningness and 
 over-reachings in bargaining, wherein they have 
 something of the Jew. The Duke is there but 
 biennial, being changed every two years. He hath 
 fifty Germans for his guard. There be four cen- 
 turions that have two men apiece, which upon 
 occasions attend the Signiory abroad in velvet
 
 io8 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 coats ; there be eight chief governors and four 
 hundred counsellors, amongst whom there be five 
 sovereign Syndics, who have authority to censure 
 the duke himself, his time being expired, and 
 punish any governor else, though after death, 
 upon the heir. 
 
 Amongst other customs they have in that town, 
 one is, that none must carry a pointed knife about 
 him, which makes the Hollander, who is used to 
 " snik and snee," to leave his horn-sheath and 
 knife a shipboard when he comes ashore. I met 
 not with an Englishman in all the town, nor could 
 I learn of any factor of ours that ever resided there. 
 
 There is a notable little active republic towards 
 the midst of Tuscany called Lucca, which, in re- 
 gard she is under the Emperor's protection, he 
 dares not meddle withal, though she lie as a par- 
 tridge under a falcon's wings, in relation to the 
 Grand Duke ; besides there is another reason 
 of state why he meddles not with her, because 
 she is more beneficial unto him now that she is 
 free, and more industrious to support this freedom, 
 than if she were become his vassal; for then it is 
 probable she would grow more careless and idle, 
 and so could not vent his commodities so soon 
 which she buys for ready money, wherein most 
 of her wealth consists. There is no state that 
 winds the penny more nimbly and makes quicker 
 returns. 
 
 She hath a council called the Discoli, which prys 
 into the profession and life of every one, and once
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 109 
 
 a year they rid the state of all vagabonds. So 
 that this petty pretty republic may not be im- 
 properly paralleled to a hive of bees, which have 
 been always the emblems of industry and order. 
 
 In this splendid city of Florence there be many 
 rarities, which, if I should insert in this letter, it 
 would make her swell too big ; and, indeed, they 
 are fitter for parole communication. Here is the 
 prime dialect of the Italian spoken, though the 
 pronunciation be a little more guttural than that 
 of Siena and that of the Court of Rome, which 
 occasions the proverb : 
 
 Lingua Tuscana in bocca Romana. 
 
 The Tuscan tongue sounds best in a Roman mouth. 
 
 The people here generally seem to be more 
 generous and of a higher comportment than else- 
 where, very cautious and circumspect in their 
 negotiation, whence arises the proverb : 
 
 Chi ha da far con Tosco, 
 Non bisogna che sia Losco. 
 
 Who dealcth with a Florentine, 
 Must have the use of both his e'en. 
 
 I shall bid Italy farewell now very shortly, and 
 make my way over the Alps to France, and so 
 home by God's grace, to take a review of my 
 friends in England, amongst whom the sight of 
 yourself will be as gladsome to me as of any other; 
 for I profess myself, and purpose to be ever, your 
 thrice affectionate servitor, J. H. 
 
 Florence, i November 1621.
 
 no FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 XLII 
 
 To Capt. Francis Bacon ; from Turin 
 
 I AM now upon point of shaking hands with 
 Italy, for I am come to Turin, having already 
 seen Venice the rich, Padua the learned, Bologna 
 the fat, Rome the holy, Naples the gentle, Genoa 
 the proud, Florence the fair, and Milan the great. 
 From this last, I came hither, and in that city also 
 appears the grandeur of Spain's monarchy very 
 much. The governor of Milan is always captain- 
 general of the cavalry to the King of Spain through- 
 out Italy. The Duke of Feria is now governor ; 
 and being brought to kiss his hands, he used me 
 with extraordinary respect, as he doth all of our 
 nation, being by the maternal side a Dormer. The 
 Spaniard entertains there also 3000 foot, 1000 light 
 horse, and 600 men at arms In perpetual pay ; so 
 that t believe the benefit of that duchy also, though 
 seated in the richest soil of Italv, hardly counter- 
 vails the charge. Three things are admired in 
 Milan, the Duomo or great church (built all of 
 white marble within and without), the hospital, and 
 the castle, by which the citadel of Antwerp was 
 traced, and is the best-conditioned fortress of 
 Christendom, though Nova Palma, a late fortress 
 of the Venetians, would go beyond it, which Is 
 built according to the exact rules of the most 
 modern engineering, being of a round form,
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL in 
 
 with nine bastions, and a street level |o every 
 bastion. 
 
 The Duke of Savoy, though he pass for one 
 of the princes of Italy, yet the least part of his 
 territories lie there, being squandered up and down 
 amongst the Alps, but as much as he hath in Italy, 
 which is Piedmont, is a well-peopled and passing 
 good country. 
 
 The Duke of Savoy Emanuel is accounted to 
 be of the ancientest and purest extraction of any 
 prince in Europe, and his knights also of the 
 Annunciate to be one of the ancientest orders. 
 Though this present duke be little in stature, yet 
 is he of a lofty spirit, and one of the best soldiers 
 now living ; and though he be valiant enough, yet 
 he knows how to patch the lion's skin with a fox's 
 tail. And whosoever is Duke of Savoy had need 
 be cunning, and more than any other prince, in 
 regard that lying between two potent neighbours, 
 the French and the Spaniard, he must comply 
 with both. 
 
 Before I wean myself from Italy, a word or two 
 touching the genius of the nation. I find the Ital- 
 ian a degree higher in compliment than the French ; 
 he is longer and more grave in the delivery of it, 
 and more prodigal of words, insomuch that if one 
 were to be worded to death, Italian is the fittest 
 language in regard of the fluency and softness of it; 
 for throughout the whole body of it, you have not a 
 word ends with a consonant, except some few mon- 
 osyllables, conjunctions and prepositions, and this
 
 112 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 renders .the speech more smooth, which made one 
 say, " That when the confusion of tongues hap- 
 pened at the building of the Tower of Babel, if the 
 Italian had been there, Nimrod had made him a plas- 
 terer." Theyare generally indulgentof themselves, 
 and great embracers of pleasure, which may pro- 
 ceed from the luscious rich wines and luxurious food, 
 fruits, and roots, wherewith the country abounds. 
 Insomuch, that in some places Nature may be said 
 to be lena sui, a bawd to herself. The Cardinal de 
 Medicis' rule is of much authority amongst them, 
 "That there is no religion under the navel." And 
 some of them are of the opinion of the Asians, 
 who hold that touching those natural passions, 
 desires, and motions, which run up and down in 
 the blood, God Almighty and His handmaid Na- 
 ture did not intend they should be a torment to us, 
 but to be used with comfort and delight. To con- 
 clude, in Italy there be"Virtutes magnae, nee mi- 
 nora vitia " (great virtues and no less vices). 
 
 So with a tender of my most affectionate respects 
 unto you I rest, your humble servitor, J. H. 
 
 Turin, 30 November. 
 
 XLIII 
 
 To Sir y. H. ; from Lyons 
 
 I AM now got over the Alps and returned to 
 France. I had crossed and clambered up the 
 Pyrenees to Spain before; they are not so high and
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 113 
 
 hideous as the Alps, but for our mountains in 
 Wales, as Eppint and Penwinmaur, which are so 
 much cried up amongst us, they are molehills in 
 comparison of these, they are but pigmies com- 
 pared to giants, but blisters compared to impost- 
 humes, or pimples to warts. Besides our mountains 
 in Wales bear always something useful to man or 
 beast, some grass at least ; but these uncouth huge 
 monstrous excrescences of nature, bear nothing 
 (most of them) but craggy stones. The tops of 
 some of them are blanched over all the year long 
 with snows, and the people who dwell in the 
 valleys drinking for want of other this snow 
 water, are subject to a strange swelling in the 
 throat, called Goitre, which is common amongst 
 them. 
 
 As I scaled the Alps, my thoughts reflected upon 
 Hannibal, who with vinegar and strong waters did 
 eat out a passage through those hills, but of late 
 years they have found a speedier way to do it by 
 gunpowder. 
 
 Being at Turin, I was bv some disaster brought 
 to an extreme low ebb in money, so that I was 
 forced to foot it along with some pilgrims, and with 
 gentle pace and easy journeys, to climb up those 
 hills till I came to this town of Lyons, where a 
 countryman of ours, one Mr Lewis, whom I knew 
 in Alicante, lives factor, so that now I want not 
 anything for my accommodation. 
 
 This is a stately rich town, and a renowned mart 
 for the silks of Italy and other Levantine com-
 
 114 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 modities, and a great bank for money, and indeed 
 the greatest of France. Before this bank was 
 founded, which was by Henry the First, France 
 had but little gold and silver, insomuch that we 
 read how King John, their captive king, could not 
 in four years raise sixty thousand crowns to pay 
 his ransom to our King Edward. And Saint Lewis 
 was in the same case when he was prisoner in 
 Egypt, where he had left the Sacrament for a gage. 
 But after this bank was erected it filled France 
 full of money. They of Luca, Florence, and 
 Genoa, with the Venetian got quickly over the 
 hills, and brought their moneys hither to get 
 twelve in the hundred profit, which was the inter- 
 est at first, though it be now much lower. 
 
 In this great mercantile town there be two deep 
 navigable rivers, the Rhone and the Saone. The 
 one hath a swift rapid course ; the other slow and 
 smooth. And one day as I walked upon their 
 banks and observed so much difference in their 
 course, I fell into a contemplation of the humours 
 of the French and Spaniard, how they might be 
 not improperly compared to these rivers, — the 
 French to the swift, the Spaniard to the slow, 
 river. 
 
 I shall write you no more letters until I present 
 myself unto you for a speaking letter, which I shall 
 do as soon as I may tread London stones. — Your 
 affectionate servitor, 
 
 J. H. 
 
 Lyons, 6 November 1621.
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 115 
 
 XLIV 
 
 Tg Mr Thofnas Bowyer; from Lyons 
 
 BEING so near the Lake of Geneva curiosity 
 would carry any one to see it. The inhabit- 
 ants of that town, methinks, are made of another 
 paste, differing from the affable nature of those 
 people I had conversed withal formally. They have 
 one policy, lest that their petty Republic should 
 be pestered with fugitives. Their law is, that what 
 stranger soever flies thither for sanctuary, he is 
 punishable there, in the same degree, as in the 
 country where he committed the offence. 
 
 Geneva is governed by four syndics, and four 
 hundred senators. She lies like a bone betwixt 
 three mastiffs, the Emperor, the French King, and 
 the Duke of Savoy. They all three look upon the 
 bone, but neither of them dare touch it singly, for 
 fear the other two would fly upon him. But they 
 say the Savoyard hath the justest title, for there 
 are Imperial records extant that although the 
 Bishops of Geneva were Lords Spiritual and Tem- 
 poral, yet they should acknowledge the Duke of 
 Savoy for their superior. This man's ancestors went 
 frequently to the town, and the keys were presently 
 tendered to him. But since Calvin's time, who 
 had been once banished, and then called in again, 
 which made him to apply that speech unto him- 
 self, That the stone which the builders refused is
 
 ii6 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 become the head-stone of the corner — I say, since 
 they were refused by Calvin, they seem to shun 
 and scorn all the world besides, being cast, as it 
 were, into another mould, which hath quite altered 
 their very natural disposition in point of moral 
 society. 
 
 Before I part with this famous city of Lyons I 
 will relate unto you a wonderful strange accident 
 that happened here not many years ago. There is 
 an officer called Le Chevalier du Guet, which is a 
 kind of night guard, here as well as in Paris, and 
 his lieutenant, called Jaquette, having supped one 
 night in a rich merchant's house, as he was pass- 
 ing the round afterwards, he said, I wonder what 
 I have eaten and drunk at the merchant's house, 
 for I find myself so hot that if I met with the 
 devil's dam to-night I should not forbear using 
 of her. Hereupon, a little after, he overtook a 
 young gentlewoman masked, whom he would 
 needs usher to her lodging, but discharged all his 
 watch except two. She brought him, to his think- 
 ing, to a little low lodging hard by the city wall, 
 where there were only two rooms. And after he 
 had enjoyed her, he desired that, according to the 
 custom of French gentlemen, his two comrades 
 might partake also of the same pleasure. So she 
 admitted them one after the other. And when all 
 this was done, as they sat together, she told them 
 if they knew well who she was, none of them 
 would have ventured up6n her. Thereupon she 
 whistled three times and all vanished. The next
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 117 
 
 morning the two soldiers that had gone with 
 Lieutenant Jaquette were found dead under the 
 city wall amongst the ordure and excrements, and 
 Jaquette himself a little way off half dead, who 
 was taken up, and coming to himself again, con- 
 fessed all this, but died presently after. 
 
 The next week I am to go down the Loire 
 towards Paris, and thence as soon as I can for 
 England, where, amongst the rest of my friends, 
 whom I so much long to see after this triennial 
 separation, you are like to be one of my first ob- 
 jects. In the meantime I wish the same happi- 
 ness may attend you at home as I desire to attend 
 me homewards, for I am, truly yours, 
 
 J. H. 
 
 Lyons, 5 December 1621.
 
 I
 
 EPISTOLiE HO-ELIANiE 
 SECTION II
 
 SECTION II 
 
 To f}iy Father 
 
 IT hath pleased God after almost three years' 
 peregrination by land and sea, to bring me 
 back safely to London ; but although I am come 
 safely, I am come sickly; for when I landed in 
 Venice, after so long a sea-voyage from Spain, I 
 was afraid the same defluxion of salt rheum which 
 fell from my temples into my throat in Oxford, 
 and distilling upon the uvulla impeached my 
 utterance a little to this day, had found the same 
 channel again, which caused me to have an issue 
 made in my left arm for the diversion of the hu- 
 mour. I was well ever after till I came to Rouen, 
 and there I fell sick of a pain in the head, which, 
 with the issue, I have carried with me to England. 
 Doctor Harvey, who is my physician, tells me that 
 it may turn to a consumption, therefore he hath 
 stopped the issue, telling me there is no danger 
 at all in it, in regard I have not worn it a full 
 twelvemonth. My Brother, I thank him, hath 
 been very careful of me in this my sickness, and 
 hath come often to visit me. I thank God I have
 
 122 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 passed the brunt of it, and am recovering, and 
 picking up my crumbs apace. There is a flaunt- 
 ing French Ambassador come over lately, and I 
 believe his errand is nought else but compliment, 
 for the King of France being lately at Calais, and 
 so in sight of England, he sent his ambassador, 
 Monsieur Cadenet, expressly to visit our king. He 
 had audience two days since, where he with his 
 train of ruffling long-haired monsieurs carried him- 
 self in such a light garb, that after the audience, 
 the king asked my Lord Keeper Bacon what he 
 thought of the French Ambassador; he answered 
 that he was a tall, proper man ; Aye, his Majesty 
 replied, but what think you of his head-piece ? Is 
 he a proper man for the office of an ambassador. 
 " Sir," said Bacon, " tall men are like high houses 
 of four or five storys, wherein commonly the up- 
 permost room is worst furnished." 
 
 So, desiring my brothers and sisters, with the 
 rest of my cousins and friends in the country, 
 may be acquainted with my safe return to Eng- 
 land, and that you would please to let me hear 
 from you by the next conveniency, I rest, your 
 dutiful son, 
 
 J. H. 
 
 London, i February 1621.
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 123 
 
 II 
 
 To Rich. Althaviy Esq. ; at Nor berry 
 
 ^^ALFE pars animae dimidiata meae. Hail, half 
 w_y my soul, my dear Dick, etc. I was no sooner 
 returned to the sweet bosom of England, and had 
 breathed the smoke of this town, but my memory 
 ran suddenly on you, the idea of you hath almost 
 ever since so filled up and engrossed my imagina- 
 tion, that I can think on nothing else, the love of 
 you swells both in my breast and brain with such 
 a pregnancy that nothing can deliver me of this 
 violent high passion but the sight of you. Let 
 me despair if I lie, there was never female longed 
 more after anything by reason of her growing em- 
 bryon, than I do for your presence. Therefore, I 
 prav you make haste to save my longing, and 
 tantalise me no longer ('tis but three hours' rid- 
 ing), for the sight of you will be more precious 
 to me than any one object I have seen (and I have 
 seen many rare ones) in all my three years' travel; 
 and if you take this for a compliment (because I 
 am newly come from France) you are much mis- 
 taken in your 
 
 J. H. 
 
 London, i February 1621.
 
 124 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 III 
 
 To D. Caldwall, Esq.; at Batter sea 
 
 MY DEAR DAN,— I am come at last to 
 London, but not without some danger, and 
 through divers difficulties, for I fell sick in France, 
 and came so over to Kent. And my journey from 
 the seaside hither was more tedious to me than from 
 Rome to Rouen, where I grew first indisposed ; 
 and in good faith I cannot remember anything to 
 this hour how I came from Gravesend hither, I 
 was so stupefied, and had lost the knowledge of 
 all things. But I am come to mvself indifferently 
 well since, I thank God for it, and you cannot im- 
 agine how much the sight of you, much more your 
 society, would revive me ; your presence would be 
 a cordial unto me more restorative than exalted 
 gold, more precious than the powder of pearl, 
 whereas your absence, if it continue long, will 
 prove unto me like the dust of diamonds, which is 
 incurable poison. I pray be not accessory to my 
 death, but hasten to comfort your so long, weather- 
 beaten friend. — Yours, 
 
 J. H. 
 
 London, February i, 1621.
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 125 
 
 IV 
 
 To Sir James Crofts ; at the L. Darcy's in St 
 
 Osith 
 
 I AM got again safely to this side of the sea, and 
 though I was in a very sickly case when I first 
 arrived, yet thanks be to God I am upon point 
 of perfect recovery, whereunto the sucking in of 
 English air and the sight of some friends conduced 
 not a little. 
 
 There is fearful news come from Germany. You 
 know how the Bohemians shook off the Emperor's 
 yoke, and how the great Council of Prague fell 
 to such a hurly-burly that some of the imperial 
 counsellors were hurled out at the windows. You 
 heard also, I doubt not, how they offered the 
 crown to the Duke of Saxony, and he waiving it, 
 they sent ambassadors to the Palsgrave, whom they 
 thought might prove par negotio^ and to be able to 
 go through-stitch with the work, in regard of his 
 powerful alliance, the King of Great Britain being 
 his father-in-law, the King of Denmark, the Prince 
 of Orange, the Marquis of Brandenburg, the Duke 
 Bouillon, his uncles, the States of Holland his con- 
 federates, the French king his friend, and the Duke 
 of Bavaria his near ally. The Prince Palsgrave 
 made some difficultv at first, and most of his 
 counsellors opposed it ; others incited him to it,
 
 126 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 and amongst other hortatives they told him that 
 if he had the courage to venture upon a King of 
 England's sole daughter he might very well venture 
 upon a sovereign crown when it was tendered him. 
 Add hereunto that the States of Holland did mainly 
 advance the work, and there was good reason in 
 policy for it ; for their twelve years' truce being 
 then upon point of expiring with Spain, and find- 
 ing our king so wedded to peace that nothing 
 could divorce him from it, they alighted upon this 
 design to make him draw his sword, and engage 
 him against the house of Austria for the defence 
 of his sole daughter and his grandchildren. What 
 His Majesty will do hereafter I will not presume 
 to foretell, but hitherto he hath given little coun- 
 tenance to the business, nay, he utterly misliked it 
 first. For whereas Doctor Hall gave the Prince 
 Palsgrave the title of King of Bohemia in his pul- 
 pit prayer, he had a check for his pains, for I heard 
 His Majesty should say that there is an implicit tie 
 amongst kings which obligeth them, though there 
 be no other interest or particular engagement to 
 stick unto, and right one another upon insurrection 
 of subjects. Therefore he had more reason to be 
 against the Bohemians than to adhere to them in 
 the deposition of their sovereign prince. The King 
 of Denmark sings the same note, nor will he also 
 allow him the appellation of king. But the fear- 
 ful news I told you of at the beginning of this 
 letter is that there are fresh tidings brought how 
 the Prince Palsgrave had a well-appointed army
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 127 
 
 of about 25,000 horse and foot near Prague, but 
 the Duke of Bavaria came with scarce half the 
 number, and notwithstanding his long march gave 
 them a sudden battle and utterly routed them, 
 insomuch that the new King of Bohemia, having 
 not worn the crown a whole twelvemonth, was 
 forced to fly with his queen and children, and after 
 many difficulties they write that they are come to 
 the castle of Castrein, the Duke of Brandenburg's 
 country, his uncle. This news affects both court 
 and city here with much heaviness. 
 
 I send you my humble thanks for the noble cor- 
 respondence you pleased to hold with me abroad, 
 and I desire to know by the next when you come 
 to London, that I may have the comfort of the 
 sight of you after so long an absence. — Your true 
 servitor, J. H. 
 
 March the i, 1621. 
 
 V 
 To Dr Fr. Manse II ; at All- Souls in Oxford 
 
 I AM returned safe from my foreign employ- 
 ment, from my three years' travel. I did my 
 best to make what advantage I could of the time, 
 though not so much as I should ; for I find that 
 peregrination (well used) is a very profitable 
 school ; it is a running academy, and nothing 
 conduceth more to the building up and perfect- 
 ing of a man. Your honourable uncle, Sir Robert
 
 128 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 Mansell, who is now in the Mediterranean, hath 
 been very notable to me, and I shall ever 
 acknowledge a good part of my education from 
 him. He hath melted vast sums of money in the 
 glass business, a business indeed more proper for 
 a merchant than a courtier. I heard the king 
 should say that he wondered Robin Mansell, be- 
 ing a seaman, whereby he hath got so much hon- 
 our, should fall from water to tamper with fire, 
 which are two contrary elements. My father fears 
 that this glass employment will be too brittle a 
 foundation for me to build a fortune upon, and 
 Sir Robert being now at my coming back so far 
 at sea, and his return uncertain, my father hath 
 advised me to hearken after some other condi- 
 tion. I attempted to go secretary to Sir John 
 Ayres to Constantinople, but I came too late. 
 You have got yourself a great deal of good 
 repute by the voluntary resignation you made of 
 the principality of Jesus College to Sir Eubule 
 Thelwall in hope that he will be a considerable 
 benefactor to it. I pray God he perform what he 
 promiseth, and that he be not overpartial to 
 North Wales men. Now that I give you the first 
 summons, I pray you make me happy with your 
 correspondence by letters. There is no excuse or 
 impediment at all left now, for you are sure where 
 to find me, whereas I was a landloper, as the 
 Dutchman saith, a wanderer and subject to uncer- 
 tain removes, and short sojourns in divers places 
 before. So with appreciation of all happiness to
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 129 
 
 you here and hereafter, I rest, at your friendly 
 dispose, 
 
 J. H. 
 March 5, 161 8 [21]. 
 
 VI 
 
 To Sir Eubule Thelwall^ Knight , and Principal 
 of yesus College in Oxford 
 
 I SEND you most due and humble thanks, that, 
 notwithstanding I have played the truant and 
 been absent so long from Oxford, you have been 
 pleased lately to make choice of me to be Fel- 
 low of your new Foundation in Jesus College, 
 whereof I was once a member. As the quality of 
 mv fortunes and course of life run now, I cannot 
 make present use of this your great favour, or pro- 
 motion rather, yet I do highly value it and humbly 
 accept of it, and intend, by your permission, to re- 
 serve and lay it by as a good warm garment against 
 rough weather if any fall on me. With this my 
 expression of thankfulness, I do congratulate the 
 great honour you have purchased both by your 
 own beneficence and by your painful endeavour 
 besides, to perfect that National College, which 
 hereafter is like to be a monument of your fame 
 as well as a seminary of learning and will perpetu- 
 ate your memory to all posterity. 
 
 God Almighty prosper and perfect your under- 
 takings, and provide for you in heaven those re-
 
 I30 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 wards which such public works of piety use to be 
 crowned withal ; it is the appreciation of, your truly 
 devoted servitor, J- H. 
 
 London, idibus March 1621. 
 
 VII 
 
 To my Father 
 
 ACCORDING to the advice you sent me in 
 your last, while I sought after a new course 
 of employment, a new employment hath lately 
 sought after mg ; my Lord Savage hath two young 
 gentlemen to his sons, and I am to go travel with 
 them. Sir James Crofts (who so much respects 
 you) was the main agent in this business, and I am 
 to go shortly to Long Melford in Suffolk and 
 thence to Saint Osith in Essex to the Lord Darcy. 
 Queen Anne is lately dead of a dropsy in Den- 
 mark House, which is held to be one of the fatal 
 events that followed the last fearful comet that rose 
 in the tail of the constellation of Virgo, which some 
 ignorant astronomers that write of it, would fix in 
 the heavens, and that as far above the orb of the 
 moon as the moon is from the earth. But this is 
 nothing in comparison of those hideous fires that 
 are kindled in Germany blown first by the Bohe- 
 mians, which is like to be a war without end, for 
 the whole House of Austria is interested in the 
 quarrel, and it is not the custom of that house to 
 sit by any affront or forget it quickly. Queen 

 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 131 
 
 Anne left a world of brave jewels behind ; but one, 
 Piero, an outlandish man who had the keeping of 
 them, embezzled many and is run away. She left 
 all she had to Prince Charles, whom she ever loved 
 best of all her children, nor do I hear of any legacy 
 she left at all to her daughter in Germany ; for that 
 match, some say, lessened something of her affec- 
 tion towards her ever since, so that she would often 
 call her Goody Palsgrave, nor could she abide Sec- 
 retary Win wood ever after, who was one of the chief- 
 est instruments to bring that match about, as also 
 for the rendition of the cautionary towns in the Low 
 Countries, Flushing and Brill, with the Ramma- 
 kins. I was lately with Sir John Walter and others 
 of your counsel about law business, and some of 
 them told me that Master J. Lloyd, your adversary, 
 is one of the shrewdest solicitors in all the thir- 
 teen shires of Wales, being so habituated to law 
 suits and wrangling, that he knows any of the least 
 starting holes in every court. I could wish you had 
 made a fair end with him, for besides the cumber 
 and trouble, specially to those that dwell at such a 
 huge distance from Westminster Hall as you do, 
 Law is a shrewd pickpurse, and the lawyer, as I 
 heard one say wittily not long since, is like a Christ- 
 mas-box which is sure to get whosoever loseth. 
 
 So with the continuance of my due and daily 
 prayers for your health, with my love to my 
 brothers and sisters, 1 rest, your dutiful son, 
 
 J. H. 
 
 March 20, 16 18.
 
 132 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 VIII 
 
 To Dan Caldwall, Esq. ; from the Lord Sav- 
 age's House in Long Me If or d 
 
 My dear D., 
 
 THOUGH considering my former condition 
 of life 1 may now be called a country man, 
 vet you cannot call me a rustic (as you would im- 
 ply in your letter) as long as I live in so civil and 
 noble a family, as long as I lodge in so virtuous 
 and regular a house as any I believe in the land, 
 both for economical government and the choice 
 company, for 1 never saw yet such a dainty race 
 of children in all my life together, I never saw yet 
 such an orderly and punctual attendance of ser- 
 vants, nor a great house so neatly kept ; here one 
 shall see no dog, nor a cat, nor cage to cause any 
 nastiness within the body of the house. The 
 kitchen and gutters and other offices of noise 
 and drudgery are at the fag-end, there 's a back- 
 gate for beggars and the meaner sort of swains to 
 come in at. The stables butt upon the park, which 
 for a cheerful rising ground, for groves and brows- 
 ings for the deer, for rivulets of water, may com- 
 pare with any, for it shines in the whole land; it 
 is opposite to the front of the great house, whence 
 from the gallery one may see much of the game 
 when they are a hunting. Now for the gardening 
 and costly choice flowers, for ponds, for stately
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 133 
 
 large walks, green and gravelly, for orchards and 
 choice fruits of all sorts, there are few the like in 
 England : here you have your Bon Christian pear 
 and Bergamot in perfection, your Muscadel grapes, 
 in such plenty that there are some bottles of wine 
 sent every year to the king ; and one, Mr Daniel, 
 a worthy gentleman hard by, who hath been long 
 abroad, makes good store in his vintage. Truly this 
 house of Long-Melford, though it be not so great, 
 yet it is so well compacted and contrived, with such 
 dainty conveniences every way, that if you saw 
 the landscape of it, you would be mightily taken 
 with it, and it would serve for a choice pattern to 
 build and contrive a house by. If you come this 
 summer to your manor of Sheriff in Essex, you 
 will not be far off hence ; if your occasions will 
 permit, it will be worth your coming hither, 
 though it be only to see him, who would think it 
 a short journey to go from Saint David's Head 
 to Dover Cliffs to see and serve you, were there 
 occasion. — If you would know who the same is, 
 'tis — Yours 
 
 J. H. 
 20 March 16 19.
 
 134 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 IX 
 
 To Robert Brown, Esquire 
 
 THANKS for one curtesie is a good usher 
 to bring on another. Therefore it is my 
 policy at this time to thank you most heartily for 
 your late copious letter to draw on a second. I 
 say I thank you a thousand times over for yours 
 of the third of this present, which abounded with 
 such variety of news, and ample well-couched re- 
 lations, that I made many friends by it ; yet I am 
 sorry for the quality of some of your news, that 
 Sir Robert Mansell, being now in the Mediter- 
 ranean with a considerable naval strength of ours 
 against the Moors, to do the Spaniard a pleasure, 
 Marquis Spinola should, in a hogling way, change 
 his master for the time, and, taking commission 
 from the Emperor, become his servant for invad- 
 ing the Palatinate with the forces of the King of 
 Spain in the Netherlands. I am sorry also the 
 princes of the union should be so stupid as to 
 suffer him to take Oppenheim by a Parthian kind 
 of back stratagem, in appearing before the town 
 and making semblance afterwards to go for 
 Worms, and then perceiving the forces of the 
 United Princes to go for succouring of that, to 
 turn back and take the town he intended first, 
 whereby I fear he will be quickly master of the 
 rest. Surely I believe there may be some treach-
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 135 
 
 ery in it, and that the Marquis of Ansback, the 
 general, was overcome by pistols made of Indian 
 ingots, rather than of steel, else an army of 
 40,000, which he had under his command, might 
 have made its party good against Spinola's, less 
 than 20,000, though never such choice veterans, 
 but what will not gold do? It will make a pigmy 
 too hard for a giant : there 's no fence or fortress 
 against an ass laden with gold. It was the saying 
 you know of his father, whom partial and ig- 
 norant antiquity cries up to have conquered the 
 world, and that he sighed there were no more 
 worlds to conquer, though he had never one of 
 the three old parts of the then known world en- 
 tirely to himself. I desire to know what is be- 
 come of that handful of men His Majestic sent 
 to Germany under Sir Horace Vere, which he was 
 bound to do, as he is one of the Protestant 
 princes of the union, and what 's become of Sir 
 Arthur Chichester, who is gone Ambassador to 
 those parts. 
 
 Dear Sir, I pray make me happy still with your 
 letters ; it is a mighty pleasure for us country 
 folks to hear how matters pass in London and 
 abroad. You know I have not the opportunity to 
 correspond with you in like kind, but may happily 
 hereafter when the tables are turned, when I am 
 in London and you in the west. Whereas you are 
 desirous to hear how it fares with me, I pray know 
 that I live in one of the noblest houses and best 
 air of England. There is a dainty park adjoining,
 
 136 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 where I often wander up and down, and I have 
 my several walks. I make one to represent the 
 Royal Exchange, the other the middle aisle of 
 Paul's, another Westminster Hall; and when I 
 pass through the herd of deer methinks I am in 
 Cheapside. So with a full return of the same 
 measure of love, as you pleased to send me, I 
 rest yours, 
 
 J. H. 
 24 May \6ii. 
 
 X 
 
 To R. A It ham ^ Esquire ; from Saint Osith 
 
 LIFE itself is not so dear unto me as your 
 friendship, nor virtue in her best colours as 
 precious as your love, which was lately so lively 
 pourtrayed unto me in yours of the 5th of this 
 present. Methinks your letter was like a piece of 
 tissue richly embroidered with rare flowers up and 
 down, with curious representations and landscapes. 
 Albeit I have as much stuff as you of this kind 
 (I mean matter of love), yet I want such a loom 
 to work it upon I cannot draw it to such a curious 
 web. Therefore you must be content with homely 
 polldavie ware from me, for you must not expect 
 from us country folk such urbanities and quaint 
 invention that you, who are daily conversant with 
 the wits of the court, and of the Inns of Court, 
 abound withal.
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 137 
 
 Touching your intention to travel beyond the 
 seas the next spring, and the intimation you make 
 how happy you would be in my company, I let 
 vou know that I am glad of the one, and much 
 thank vou for the other, and will think upon it, 
 but I cannot resolve yet upon anything. I am 
 now here at the Earl Rivers, a noble and great 
 knowing lord, who hath seen much of the world 
 abroad. My Lady Savage, his daughter, is also 
 here with divers of her children. I hope this 
 Hilary term to be merry in London, and amongst 
 others to re-enjoy your conversation principally, 
 for I esteem the society of no soul upon earth 
 more than yours. Till then I bid you farewell, 
 and as the season invites me I wish you a merry 
 Christmas, resting yours while 
 
 Jam. Howell. 
 
 December 20, 1621. 
 
 XI 
 
 To Captain Thomas Porter upon his return 
 from Algiers Voyage 
 
 Noble Captain, 
 
 I CONGRATULATE your safe return from 
 the Straits, but am sorry you were so straitened 
 in your commission that you could not attempt 
 what such a brave naval power of twenty men-of- 
 war, such a gallant general and other choice know- 
 ing commanders might have performed if they
 
 138 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 had had line enough. 1 know the lightness and 
 nimbleness of Algiers ships ; when I lived lately in 
 Alicante and other places upon the Mediterranean, 
 we would every week hear some of them chased, 
 but very seldom taken ; for a great ship following 
 one of them may be said to be as a mastiff dog 
 running after a hare. I wonder the Spaniard came 
 short of the promised supply for furtherance of 
 that notable adventurous design you had to fire 
 the ships and galleys in Algiers road. And accord- 
 ing to the relation you pleased to send me it was 
 one of the bravest enterprises and had proved such 
 a glorious exploit that no story could have paral- 
 leled ; but it seems their hoggies, magicians and 
 maribots were tampering with the ill spirit of the 
 air all the while, which brought down such a still 
 cataract of rain waters suddenly upon you to hinder 
 the working of your fireworks. Such a disaster, 
 the story tells us, befell Charles the Emperor, but 
 far worse than yours, for he lost ships and multi- 
 tudes of men, who were made slaves, but you came 
 off with loss of eight men only, and Algiers is 
 anothergets thing now than she was then, being, 
 I believe, a hundred degrees stronger by land and 
 sea, and for the latter strength we may thank our 
 countryman Ward, and Danskey the butterbag 
 Hollander, which may be said to have been two 
 of the fatalest and most infamous men that ever 
 Christendom bred ; for the one taking all English- 
 men, and the other all Dutchmen, and bringing 
 the ships and ordnance to Algiers, they may be
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 139 
 
 said , to have been the chief raisers of those pica- 
 roons to be pirates, which are now come to that 
 height of strength that they daily endamage and 
 affront all Christendom. When I consider all the 
 circumstances and success of this your voyage; 
 when I consider the narrowness of your com- 
 mission, which was as lame as the Clerk that 
 kept it ; when I find that you secured the seas 
 and traffic all the while, for I did not hear of one 
 ship taken while you were abroad; when I hear 
 how you brought back all the fleet without the 
 least disgrace or damage by foe or foul weather 
 to any ship, I conclude, and so do far better judg- 
 ments than mine, that you did what possibly could 
 be done. Let those that repine at the one in the 
 hundred (which was imposed upon all the Le- 
 vant merchants for the support of this fleet) 
 mutter what they will, that you went first to 
 Gravesend, then to the Land's End, and after to 
 no end. 
 
 I have sent you for your welcome home (in 
 part) two barrels of Colchester oysters which were 
 provided for my Lord of Colchester himself, there- 
 fore I presume they are good and all green finned. 
 I shall shortly follow, but not to stay long in 
 England, for I think I must over again speedily 
 to push on my fortunes. So, my dear Tom, I am 
 de todas mis entranaSj from the centre of my heart 
 I am, yours, r rr 
 
 St Osith, December \6ii.
 
 140 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 XII 
 
 To my Father upon my second going to Travel 
 
 I AM lately returned to London, having been 
 all this while in a very noble family in the 
 country where I found far greater respects than I 
 deserved. I was to go with two of my Lord Sav- 
 age's sons to travel, but finding myself too young 
 for such a charge, and our religion differing, I have 
 made choice to go over comrade to a very worthy 
 gentleman. Baron Altham's son, whom I knew in 
 Staines, when my brother was there. Truly I hold 
 him to be one of the hopefulest young men of this 
 kingdom for parts and person ; he is full of ex- 
 cellent solid knowledge, as the mathematics, the 
 law, and other material studies ; besides I should 
 have been tied to have stayed three years abroad 
 in the other employment at least ; but I hope to go 
 back from this by God's grace before a twelve- 
 month be at an end, at which time I hope the hand 
 of Providence will settle me in some stable home- 
 fortune. 
 
 The news is that the Prince Palsgrave, with his 
 lady and children, are come to the Hague in Hol- 
 land, having made a long progress or rather a pil- 
 grimage about Germany from Prague. The old 
 Duke of Bavaria, his uncle, is chosen elector and 
 arch-sewer of the Roman Empire in his place (but 
 as they say in an imperfect diet), and with this
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 141 
 
 proviso, that the transferring of this election upon 
 the Bavarian shall not prejudice the next heir. 
 There is one Count Mansfelt that begins to get a 
 great name in Germany, and he with the Duke of 
 Brunswick, who is a temporal Bishop of Halver- 
 stadt, have a considerable army on foot for the 
 Lady Elizabeth, which in the Low Countries and 
 some parts of Germany is called the Oueen of 
 Bohemia, and for her winning, princely comport- 
 ment, the Queen of Hearts. Sir Arthur Chichester 
 is come back from the Palatinate, much complain- 
 ing of the small army that was sent thither under 
 Sir Horace Vere, which should have been greater, 
 or none at all. 
 
 My Lord of Buckingham, having been long 
 since Master of the Horse at Court, is now made 
 master also of all the wooden horses of the king- 
 dom, which indeed are our best horses, for he is to 
 be High Admiral of England, so he is become 
 dominus equorum et aquarum. The late Lord Trea- 
 surer Cranfield grows also very powerful, but the 
 city hates him for having betrayed their greatest 
 secrets, which he was capable to know more than 
 another, having been formerly a merchant. 
 
 I think I shall have no opportunity to write to 
 you again till I be the other side of the sea ; there- 
 fore I humbly take my leave, and ask your bless- 
 ing, that I may the better prosper in my proceed- 
 ings. So I am, your dutiful son, , rr 
 
 March 19, 1622.
 
 142 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 XIII 
 
 To Sir "John Smith, Knight 
 
 THE first ground I set foot upon after this 
 my second trans-marine voyage was Trevere 
 (the Scots staple) in Zealand, thence we sailed to 
 Holland, in which passage we might see divers 
 steeples and turrets under water, of towns that, as 
 we were told, were swallowed up by a deluge 
 within the memory of man. We went afterwards 
 to the Hague, where there are hard by, though in 
 several places, two wonderful things to be seen — 
 the one of art the other of nature. That of art is 
 a waggon or ship, or a monster mixed of both, 
 like the hippocentaur, who was half man and half 
 horse. This engine hath wheels and sails, that 
 will hold above twenty people, and goes with the 
 wind, being drawn or moved by nothing else, and 
 will run, the wind being good and the sails 
 hoisted up, above fifteen miles an hour upon the 
 even hard sands. They say this invention was 
 found out to entertain Spinola when he came 
 hither to treat of the last truce. That wonder of 
 nature is a church monument, where an earl and 
 a lady are engraven with i^dc^ children about them, 
 which were all delivered at one birth ; they were 
 half male, half female ; the basin hangs in the 
 church which carried them to be christened, and 
 the bishop's name who did it ; and the story of 
 
 \
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 143 
 
 this miracle, with the year and the day of the 
 month mentioned, which is not yet aoo years 
 ago ; and the story is this : That countess walk- 
 ing about her door after dinner, there came a 
 beggar-woman with two children upon her back 
 to beg alms ; the countess asking whether those 
 children were her own, she answered she had 
 them both at one birth, and by one father, who 
 was her husband. The countess would not only 
 not give her any alms, but reviled her bitterly, 
 saying it was impossible for one man to get two 
 children at once. The beggar-woman being thus 
 provoked with ill words, and without alms, fell to 
 imprecations, that it should please God to show 
 His judgment upon her, and that she might bear 
 at one birth as many children as there be days in 
 the year, which she did before the same year's 
 end, having never borne child before. We are now 
 in North Holland, where I never saw so many, 
 among so few, sick of leprosy ; and the reason is, 
 because they commonly eat abundance of fresh 
 fish. A gentleman told me that the women of 
 this country when they are delivered, there comes 
 out of the womb a living creature besides the 
 child, called zucchie, likest a bat of any other 
 creature, which the midwives throw into the fire, 
 holding sheets before the chimney lest it should 
 flv away. Master Altham desires his service be 
 presented to you and your lady, to Sir John 
 Franklin and all at the Hill, the like do I 
 humbly crave at your hands. The Italian and
 
 144 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 French manuscripts you pleased to favour me 
 withal, I left at Mr Scil's the stationer, whence if 
 you have them not already, you may please to 
 send for them. So in all affection I kiss your 
 hands and am your humble servitor. 
 
 J. H. 
 
 Trevere, lo of Aprils 1623. 
 
 XIV 
 
 To the Right Honourable, the Lord Viscount 
 Colchester, after Earl Rivers 
 
 Right Honourable, 
 
 THE commands your lordship pleased to im- 
 pose upon me when I left England, and those 
 high favours wherein I stand bound to your lord- 
 ship, call upon me at this time to send your 
 lordship some small fruits of my foreign travel. 
 Marquis Spinola is returned from the Palatinate, 
 where he was so fortunate, that (like Caesar) he came, 
 saw, and overcame, notwithstanding that huge army 
 of the Princes of the Union, consisting of 40,000 
 men, whereas his was under twenty, but made up 
 of old tough blades and veteran commanders. 
 He hath now changed his coat, and taken up his 
 old commission again from Don Philippo, where- 
 as during that expedition, he called himself Caesar's 
 servant. I hear the Emperor hath transmitted the 
 upper Palatinate to the Duke of Bavaria, as cau-
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 145 
 
 tion for those moneys he hath expended in those 
 wars. And the King of Spain is the Emperor's com- 
 missary for the lower Palatinate. They both pre- 
 tend that they were bound to obey the imperial 
 summons to assist Cresar in these wars ; the one 
 as he was Duke of Burgundy, the other of Ba- 
 varia, both which countries are feudatory to the 
 empire, else they had incurred the imperial ban. 
 It is feared this German war will be as the French- 
 man saith, de longue haleine^ loi^g breathed, for there 
 are great powers on both sides, and they say the 
 King of Denmark is arming. 
 
 Having made a leisurely sojourn in this town, 
 1 had spare hours to couch in writing a survey of 
 these countries which I have now traversed the 
 second time, but in regard it would be a great bulk 
 for a letter, I send it your lordship apart, and when 
 I return to England, I shall be bold to attend your 
 lordship for correction of my faults. In the in- 
 terim I rest, my lord, your thrice humble servitor, 
 
 J. H. 
 
 Antwerp, May i, 1623. 
 
 XV 
 
 A Survey of the Seventeen Provinces 
 
 My Lord, 
 
 O attempt a precise description of each of 
 
 T 
 
 the seventeen provinces, and of its progres- 
 sion, privileges and primitive government, were
 
 146 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 a task of no less confusion than labour. Let it 
 suffice to know that since Flanders and Holland 
 were erected to earldoms, and so left to be an 
 appendix of the Crown of France, some of them 
 have had absolute and supreme governors, some 
 subaltern and subject to a superior power. 
 Amongst the rest the Earls of Flanders and Hol- 
 land were most considerable ; but of them two he 
 of Holland being homageable to none, and hav- 
 ing Friesland and Zealand added, was the more 
 potent. In process of time all the seventeen met 
 in one; some by conquest, others by donation and 
 legacy, but most by alliance. In the House of 
 Burgundy this union received most growth, but 
 in the House of Austria it came to its full per- 
 fection ; for in Charles the Fifth they all met as 
 so many lines drawn from the circumference to 
 the centre, who lording as supreme head not only 
 over the fifteen temporal, but the two spiritual, 
 Liege and Utrecht, had a design to reduce them 
 to a kingdom, which his son Philip the Second 
 attempted after him, but they could not bring 
 their intents home to their aim; the cause is im- 
 puted to that multiplicity and difference of privi- 
 leges which they are so eager to maintain, and 
 whereof some cannot stand with a monarchy with- 
 out incongruity. Philip the Second at his inau- 
 guration was sworn to observe them, and at his 
 departure he obliged himself by an oath, to send 
 still one of his own blood to govern them. 
 Moreover, at the request of the Knights of the
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 147 
 
 Golden . Fleece, he promised that all foreign 
 soldiers should retire, and that he himself would 
 come to visit them once every seventh year, but 
 being once gone, and leaving in lieu of a sword 
 a distaff, an unwieldy woman, to govern, he came 
 not only short of his promise, but procured a dis- 
 pensation from the Pope to be absolved of his 
 oath, and all this by the counsel of the Cardinal 
 Granvill, who, as the States Chronicler writes, was 
 the first firebrand that kindled that lamentable 
 and longsome war wherein the Netherlands have 
 traded above fifty years in blood. For intending 
 to increase the number of bishops, to establish the 
 decrees of the Council of Trent, and to clip the 
 power of the Council of State composed of the 
 natives of the land, by making it appealable to 
 the Council of Spain, and by adding to the former 
 oath of allegiance (all which conduced to settle 
 the Inquisition, and to curb the conscience), the 
 broils began ; to appease which ambassadors were 
 dispatched to Spain, whereof the two first came to 
 violent deaths, the one being beheaded, the other 
 poisoned. But the two last, Egmont and Horn, 
 were nourished still with hopes, until Philip the 
 Second had prepared an army under the conduct 
 of the Duke of Alva to compose the difference 
 by arms. For as soon as he came to the govern- 
 ment he established the Bloet-rad^ as the com- 
 plainants termed it, a council of blood, made 
 up most of Spaniards. Egmont and Horn were 
 apprehended and afterwards beheaded. Citadels
 
 148 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 were erected, and the oath of allegiance with the 
 political government of the country in divers 
 things altered. This poured oil on the fire 
 formerly kindled, and put all in combustion. 
 The Prince of Orange retires, thereupon his eld- 
 est son was surprised and sent as hostage to 
 Spain, and above 5000 families quit the country, 
 many towns revolted but were afterwards reduced 
 to obedience; which made the Duke of Alva say, 
 that the Netherlands appertained to the King of 
 Spain not only by descent but conquest, and for 
 cumble of his victories when he attempted to 
 impose the tenth penny for maintenance of the 
 garrisons in the citadels he had erected at Grave, 
 Utrecht, and Antwerp (where he caused his 
 statue, made of cannon brass, to be erected, 
 trampling the Belgians under his feet), all the 
 towns withstood this imposition, so that at last, 
 matters succeeding ill with him, and having had 
 his cousin, Pacecio, hanged at Flushing Gates, 
 after he had traced out the platform of a citadel 
 in that town also, he received letters of revocation 
 from Spain. Him succeeded Don Luys de Re- 
 quiluis, who came short of his predecessor in ex- 
 ploits, and dying suddenly in the field, the 
 government was invested for the time in the 
 Council of State. The Spanish soldiers, being 
 without a head, gathered together to the number 
 of 1600, and committed such outrages up and 
 down, that they were proclaimed enemies to the 
 state. Hereupon, the pacification of Ghent was
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 149 
 
 transacted, whereof, amongst other articles one 
 was, that all foreign soldiers should quit the 
 country ; this was ratified by the King, and ob- 
 served by Don John of Austria, who succeeded 
 in the government; yet Don John retained the 
 landskneghts at his devotion still for some secret 
 design, and, as some conjectured, for the invasion 
 of England, he kept the Spaniards also still 
 hovering about the frontiers ready upon all occa- 
 sion. Certain letters were intercepted that made 
 a discovery of some projects which made the war 
 to bleed afresh. Don John was proclaimed en- 
 emy to the state ; so the Archduke Matthias was 
 sent for, who, being a man of small importance 
 and improper for the times, was dismissed, but 
 upon honourable terms. Don John, a little after, 
 dies, and, as some gave out, of the pox ; then 
 comes in the Duke of Parma, a man as of a 
 different nation, being an Italian, so of a different 
 temper and more moderate spirit and of greater 
 performance than all the rest, for, whereas all the 
 provinces except Luxemburg and Hainault had 
 revolted, he reduced Ghent, Tourney, Bruges, 
 Malines, Brussels, Antwerp (which three last he 
 beleaguered at one time), and divers other great 
 towns to the Spanish obedience again ; he had 
 60,000 men in pay, and the choicest which Spain 
 and Italy could afford. The French and English 
 ambassadors, interceding for a peace, had a short 
 answer of Philip the Second, who said that he 
 needed not the help of any to reconcile himself
 
 150 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 to his own subjects and reduce them to conform- 
 ity, but the difference that was he would refer to 
 his cousin the Emperor. Hereupon, the business 
 was agitated at Cologne, where the Spaniard stood 
 as high a-tiptoe as ever, and notwithstanding the 
 vast expense of treasure and blood he had been 
 at for so many years, and that matters began to 
 exasperate more and more which were like to 
 prolong the wars in infinitum^ he would abate no- 
 thing in point of ecclesiastical government. Here- 
 upon, the States perceived that King Philip could 
 not be wrought either by the solicitations of other 
 princes or their own supplications so often reit- 
 erated, that they might enjoy the freedom of 
 religion with other enfranchisements, and finding 
 him inexorable, being incited also by that ban 
 which was published against the Prince of 
 Orange, that whosoever killed him should have 
 5000 crowns, they at last absolutely renounced 
 and abjured the King of Spain for their sov- 
 ereign ; they broke his seals, changed the oath of 
 allegiance, and fled to France for shelter. They 
 inaugurated the Duke of Anjou (recommended 
 unto them by the Queen of England, to whom he 
 was a suitor) for their prince, who attempted to 
 render himself absolute and so thought to sur- 
 prise Antwerp, where he received an ill-favoured 
 repulse ; yet nevertheless the United Provinces, 
 for so they termed themselves ever after, fearing 
 to distaste their next great neighbour France, 
 made a second proffer of their protection and
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 151 
 
 sovereignty to that king, who having too many 
 irons in the fire at his own home, the League 
 growing stronger, and stronger, he answered them 
 that his shirt was nearer to him than his doublet. 
 Then had they recourse to Queen Elizabeth, who, 
 partly for her own security, partly for interest in 
 religion, reached them a supporting hand and so 
 sent them men, money, and a governor, the Earl 
 of Leicester, who not symbolising with their 
 humour was quickly revoked, yet without any 
 outward dislike on the Queen's side, for she left 
 her forces still with them, but upon their expense. 
 She lent them afterwards some considerable sums 
 of money and she received Flushing and the Brill 
 for caution. Ever since the English have been the 
 best sinews of their war and achievers of the great- 
 est exploits amongst them. Having thus made sure 
 work with the English, they made young Count 
 Maurice their governor, who for twenty-five years 
 together held task with the Spaniard, and during 
 those traverses of war was very fortunate; an over- 
 ture of peace was then propounded, which the States 
 would not hearken unto singly, with the King of 
 Spain, unless the Provinces that yet remained under 
 him would engage themselves for performance of 
 what was articled ; besides they would not treat 
 either of peace or truce, unless they were declared 
 Free States, all which was granted. So by the in- 
 tervention of the English and French ambassadors, 
 a truce was concluded for twelve years. 
 
 These wars did so drain and discommodate the
 
 152 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 King of Spain by reason of his distance (every 
 soldier that he sent either from Spain or Italy 
 costing him near upon a hundred crowns before 
 he could be rendered in Flanders), that notwith- 
 standing his mines of Mexico and Peru, it 
 plunged him so deeply in debt, that having taken 
 up moneys in all the chief banks of Christendom, 
 he was forced to publish a diploma wherein he 
 dispensed with himself (as the Holland story hath 
 it) from payment alleging that he had employed 
 those moneys for the public peace of Christen- 
 dom. This broke many great bankers, and they 
 say his credit was not current in Seville or Lisbon, 
 his own towns ; and which was worse, while he 
 stood wrestling thus with his own subjects, the 
 Turk took his opportunity to get from him 
 Tunis and the Goletta, the trophies of Charles 
 the Fifth, his father. So eager he was in this 
 quarrel, that he employed the utmost of his 
 strength and industry to reduce this people to his 
 will, in regard he had an intent to make these 
 provinces his main rendezvous and magazine of 
 men-of-war, which his neighbours perceiving, and 
 that he had a kind of aim to be Western mon- 
 arch, being led not so much for love as reasons 
 of state, they stuck close to the revolted pro- 
 vinces, and this was the bone that Secretary 
 Walsingham told Queen Elizabeth he would cast 
 the King of Spain that should last him twenty 
 years, and perhaps make his teeth shake in his head. 
 But to return to my first discourse whence this
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 153 
 
 digression has snatched me. The Netherlands, who 
 had been formerly knit and concentred under one 
 sovereign prince, were thus dismembered ; and as 
 they subsist now, they are a state and a province. 
 The province having ten of the seventeen, at least, 
 is far greater, more populous, better soiled, and 
 more stored with gentry. The state is richer and 
 stronger, the one proceeding from their vast navi- 
 gation and commerce, the other from the quality 
 of their country, being defensible by rivers and 
 sluices, by means whereof they can suddenly over- 
 whelm all the whole country, witness that stupen- 
 dous siege of Ley den and Haarlem, for most of 
 their towns, the marks being taken away, are inac- 
 cessible by reason of shelves of sands. Touching 
 the transaction of these provinces which the King of 
 Spain made as a dowry to the Archduke Albertus, 
 upon marriage with the Infanta (who thereupon left 
 his red hat and Toledo mitre, the chiefest spiritual 
 dignity in Christendom for revenue after the Pap- 
 acy), it was fringed with such cautelous restraints, 
 that he was sure to keep the better end of the staff 
 still to himself, for he was to have the tutelage and 
 ward of his children ; that they were to marry with 
 one of the Austrian family recommended by Spain, 
 and in default of issue, and in case Albertus should 
 survive the Infanta, he should be but governor 
 only. Add hereunto that King Philip reserved still 
 to himself all the citadels and castles, with the Order 
 of the Golden Fleece, whereof he is Master, as he 
 is Duke of Burgundy.
 
 154 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 The Archduke for the time hath a very princely 
 command. All coins bear his stamp, all placards or 
 edicts are published in his name, he hath the elec- 
 tion of all civil officers and magistrates. He nomi- 
 nates also bishops and abbots, for the Pope hath 
 only the confirmation of them here, nor can he ad- 
 journ any out of the country to answer anything, 
 neither are his Bulls of any strength without the 
 Prince's placet, which makes him have always some 
 commissioners to execute his authority. The people 
 here grow hotter and hotter in the Roman cause 
 by reason of the mixture with Spaniards and Ital- 
 ians, as also by the example of the Archduke and 
 the Infanta, who are devout in an intense degree. 
 There are two supreme councils, the Privy Coun- 
 cil and that of the State ; this treats of confederations 
 and intelligence with foreign princes, of peace and 
 war, of entertaining or of dismissing colonels and 
 captains, of fortifications, and they have the super- 
 intendency of the highest affairs that concern the 
 Prince and the policy of the provinces. The pri- 
 mate hath the granting of all patents and bequests, 
 the publishing of all edicts and proclamations, the 
 prizing of coin, the looking to the confines and ex- 
 tent of the provinces, and the enacting of all new 
 ordinances. Of these two councils there is never 
 a Spaniard, but in the actual Council of War their 
 voices are predominant. There is also a Court of 
 Finance or Exchequer, whence all they that have 
 the fingering of the King's money must draw a 
 discharge. Touching matters of justice, their law is
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 155 
 
 mixed between civil and common, with some clauses 
 of canonical. The High Court of Parliament is 
 at Malines, whither all civil causes may be brought 
 by appeal from other towns, except some that have 
 municipal privileges, and are sovereign in their own 
 jurisdictions, as IMons in Hainault, and a few more. 
 The prime province for dignity is Brabant, 
 which, amongst manv other privileges it enjoyeth, 
 hath this for one, not to appear upon any summons 
 out of its own precinct, which is one of the reasons 
 why the Prince makes his residence there : but 
 the prime for extent and fame is Flanders, the 
 chiefest earldom in Christendom, which is three 
 days' journey in length ; Ghent, its metropolis, is 
 reputed the greatest town of Europe, whence arose 
 the proverb, " Les flamene tient un Gan, qui 
 tiendra Paris dedans." But the beautifulest, rich- 
 est, strongest, and most privileged city is Antwerp 
 in Brabant, being the marquisate of the Holy 
 Empire, and drawing near to the nature of a Hans- 
 Town, for she pays the Prince no other tax but 
 the impost. Before the dissociation of the seven- 
 teen provinces, this town was one of the greatest 
 marts of Europe, and greatest bank this side the 
 Alps, most princes having their factors here to 
 take up or let out moneys, and here our Gresham 
 got all his wealth, and built our Royal Exchange 
 by model of that here. The merchandise brought 
 hither from Germany, France, and Italy by land, 
 and from England, Spain, and the Hans-Towns 
 by sea, was estimated at above twenty millions of
 
 156 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 crowns every year ; but as no violent thing is 
 long lasting, and as it is fatal to all kingdoms, states, 
 towns, and languages to have their period, so this 
 renowned mart hath suffered a shrewd eclipse, yet 
 no utter downfall, the exchange of the King of 
 Spain's money and some small land traffic keeping 
 still life in her, though nothing so full of vigour 
 as it was. Therefore, there is no town under the 
 Archduke where the States have more concealed 
 friends than in Antwerp, who would willingly 
 make them her masters in hope to recover her 
 former commerce, which, after the last twelve 
 years' truce, began to revive a little, the States 
 permitting to pass by Lillo's sconce, which com- 
 mands the river of Scheld, and lyeth in the teeth 
 of the town, some small cross-sailed ships to pass 
 hither. There is no place hath been more passive 
 than this, and more often pillaged ; amongst other 
 times she was once plundered most miserably by 
 the Spaniards under the conduct of a priest, im- 
 mediately upon Don John of Austria's death ; she 
 had then her Stadt-House burned, which had cost 
 a few years before above twenty thousand crowns 
 the building, and the spoils that were carried away 
 thence amounted to forty tuns of gold. Thus she 
 was reduced not only to poverty but a kind of cap- 
 tivity, being commanded by a citadel, which she 
 preferred before a garrison ; this made the mer- 
 chants retire and seek a more free rendezvous, some 
 in Zealand, some in Holland, specially in Amster- 
 dam, which rose upon the fall of this town, as Lis-
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 157 
 
 bon did from Venice upon the discovery of the 
 Cape of Good Hope, though Venice be not near 
 so much crestfallen. 
 
 I will now steer my discourse to the United 
 Provinces, as they term themselves, which are six 
 in number, viz., Holland, Zealand, Friesland, 
 Overyssel, Groningen, and Utrecht, three parts 
 of Gelderland, and some frontier towns and places 
 of contribution in Brabant and Flanders. In all 
 these there is no innovation at all introduced, 
 notwithstanding this great change in point of 
 government, except that the College of States 
 represents the duke or earl in times passed ; 
 which college consists of the chiefest gentry of 
 the country, superintendents of towns, and the 
 principal magistrates. Every province and great 
 town chooses yearly certain deputies, to whom 
 they give plenary power to deliberate with the 
 other states of all affairs touching the public 
 welfare of the whole province, and what they vote 
 stands for law. These being assembled, consult of 
 all matters of state, justice and war ; the advocate 
 who is prime in the assembly propounds the 
 business, and after collects the suffrages, first of 
 the provinces, then of the towns, which being put 
 in form, he delivers in pregnant and moving 
 speeches ; and in case there be a dissonance and 
 reluctancy of opinions, he labours to accord and 
 reconcile them; concluding always with the major 
 voices. 
 
 Touching the administration of justice, the
 
 158 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 President, who is monthly changed, with the great 
 council, have the supreme judicature, from whose 
 decrees there 's no appeal, but a revision ; and 
 then some of the choicest lawyers amongst them 
 are appointed. 
 
 For their Oppidan government they have vari- 
 ety of offices, a Scout, Burgomasters, a Bailie, and 
 Vroetschoppens. The Scout is chosen by the 
 States, who with the bailies have the judging of all 
 criminal matters in last resort without appeal, 
 they have also the determining of civil causes, but 
 those are appealable to the Hague. Touching 
 their chiefest governor (or general rather now), 
 having made proof of the Spaniard, German, 
 French, and English, and agreeing with none of 
 them, they lighted at last upon a man of their 
 own mould, Prince Maurice, now their general, 
 in whom concurred divers parts suitable to such 
 a charge, having been trained up in the wars by his 
 father, who, with three of his uncles and divers 
 of his kindred, sacrificed their lives in the States' 
 quarrel ; he hath thriven well since he came to 
 the government ; he cleared Friesland, Overyssel, 
 and Groningen in less than eighteen months. He 
 hath nov/ continued their governor and general 
 by sea and land above thirty-three years ; he hath 
 the election of magistrates, the pardoning of 
 malefactors, and divers other prerogatives, yet 
 they are short of the reach of sovereignty, and of 
 the authority of the ancient Counts of Holland, 
 though I cannot say it is a mercenary employ-
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 159 
 
 ment, yet he hath a Hmited allowance, nor hath 
 he any implicit command when he goes to the 
 field, for either the council of war marcheth with 
 him, or else he receives daily directions from 
 them. Moreover, the States themselves reserve 
 the power of nominating all commanders in the 
 army, which, being of sundry nations, deprive him 
 of those advantages he might have to make him- 
 self absolute. Martial discipline is nowhere so 
 regular as amongst the States ; nowhere are there 
 lesser insolences committed upon the burgher, 
 nor robberies upon the country boors, nor are the 
 officers permitted to insult over the common sol- 
 dier. When the army marcheth, not one dares 
 take so much as an apple off a tree, or a root out 
 of the earth, in their passage ; and the reason is, 
 that they are punctually paid their pay, else I be- 
 lieve they would be insolent enough, and were not 
 the pay so certain, I think few- or none would 
 serve them. They speak of sixty thousand they 
 have in perpetual pay by land and sea, at home 
 and in the Indies. The King of France was used 
 to maintain a regiment, but since Henry the 
 Great's death the payment hath been neglected. 
 The means they have to maintain these forces, to 
 pay their governor, to discharge all other expense, 
 as the preservation of their dikes which comes to 
 a vast expense yearly, is the ancient revenue of 
 the Counts of Holland, the impropriate church- 
 livings, imposts upon all merchandise, which is 
 greater upon exported than imported goods.
 
 i6o FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 excise upon all commodities, as well for necessity 
 as pleasure, taxes upon every acre of ground, 
 which is such that the whole country returns into 
 their hands every three years. Add hereunto the 
 art they use in their bank by the rise and fall of 
 money, the fishing upon our coasts ; whither they 
 send every autumn above 700 hulks or busses, 
 which, in the voyages they make, return above 
 a million in herrings; moreover their fishing for 
 green fish and salmon amounts to so much more ; 
 and for their cheese and butter it is thought they 
 vend as much every year as Lisbon doth spices. 
 This keeps the common treasury always full, that 
 upon any extraordinary service or design there 
 is seldom any new tax upon the people. Traffic is 
 their general profession, being all either mer- 
 chants or mariners, and, having no land to 
 manure, they furrow the sea for their living ; and 
 this universality of trade, and their banks of ad- 
 ventures, distributes the wealth so equally, that 
 few amongst them are exceeding rich or exceed- 
 ing poor. Gentry amongst them are very thin, 
 and, as in all democracies, little respected, and, 
 coming to dwell in towns, they soon mingle with 
 the merchant, and so degenerate. Their soil, 
 being all betwixt marsh and meadow, is so fat in 
 pasturage that one cow will give eight quarts of 
 milk a day, so that, as a boor told me, in four 
 little dorps near Harlem it is thought there is as 
 much milk milked in the year as there is Rhenish 
 wine brought to Dort, which is the sole staple of
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL i6i 
 
 it. Their towns are beautiful and neatly built, and 
 with uniformity, that who sees one sees all. In 
 some places, as in Amsterdam, the foundation 
 costs more than the superstructure, for, the 
 ground being soft, they are constrained to ram in 
 huge stakes of timber (with wool about it to pre- 
 serve it from putrefaction) till they come to a firm 
 basis ; so that, as one said, whosoever could see 
 Amsterdam under ground should see a huge 
 winter forest. 
 
 Amongst all the confederate provinces Holland 
 is most predominant, which, being but six hours' 
 journey in breadth, contains nine-and-forty walled 
 towns, and all these within a day's journey one of 
 another. Amsterdam for the present is one of the 
 greatest mercantile towns in Europe. To her is ap- 
 propriated the East and West Indies trade, whither 
 she sends yearly forty great ships, with another 
 fleet to the Baltic Sea, but thev send not near so 
 many to the Mediterranean as England. Other 
 towns are passably rich and stored with shipping, 
 but not one very poor, which proceeds from the 
 wholesome policy they use, to assign every town 
 some firm staple commodity, as to (their maiden 
 town) Dort the German wines and corn, to Mid- 
 dleburg the French and Spanish wines, to Trevere 
 (the Prince of Orange's town) the Scots trade. 
 Leyden, in recompense of her long siege, was 
 erected to an university, which, with Franiker in 
 Friesland, is all they have ; Harlem for knitting and 
 weaving hath some privilege ; Rotterdam hath the
 
 i62 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 English cloth, and this renders their towns so equal- 
 ly rich and populous. They allow free harbour to 
 all nations with liberty of religion (the Roman only 
 excepted), as far as the Jew who hath two syna- 
 gogues allowed him, but only in Amsterdam, which 
 piece of policy they borrow of the Venetian, with 
 whom they have very intimate intelligence ; only 
 the Jews in Venice, in Rome and other places go 
 with some outward mark of distinction, but here 
 they wear none; and these two republics, that in 
 the east and this in the west, are the two remoras 
 that stick to the great vessel of Spain, that it can- 
 not sail to the Western monarchy. 
 
 I have been long in the survey of these pro- 
 vinces, yet not long enough, for much more might 
 be said which is fitter for a story than a survey. 
 I will conclude with a mot or two of the people, 
 whereof some have been renowned in times past 
 for feats of war. Amongst the States, the Hol- 
 lander or Batavian hath been most known, for some 
 of the Roman emperors have had a selected guard 
 of them about their persons for their fidelity and 
 valour, as now the King of France hath of the 
 Swiss. The Frisians also have been famous for 
 those large privileges wherewith Charlemagne en- 
 dowed them. The Flemings also have been illus- 
 trious for the martial exploits they achieved in the 
 East, where two of the Earls of Flanders were 
 crowned emperors. They have all a genius inclined 
 to commerce, very inventive and witty in manu- 
 factures, witness the art of printing, painting, and
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 163 
 
 colouring in glass ; those curious quadrants, chimes 
 and dials ; those kind of waggons which are used 
 up and down Christendom were first used by them ; 
 and for the mariner's compass, though the matter 
 be disputable betwixt the Neapolitan, the Portugal, 
 and them, yet there is a strong argument on their 
 side in regard they were the first that subdivided 
 the four cardinal winds to two and thirty, others 
 naming them in their language. 
 
 There is no part of Europe so haunted with all 
 sorts of foreigners as the Netherlands, which makes 
 the inhabitants, as well women as men, so well 
 versed in all sorts of languages, so that in Exchange 
 time one may hear seven or eight sorts of tongues 
 spoken upon their bourses. Nor are the men only 
 expert herein, but the women and maids also in 
 their common hostelries, and in Holland the wives 
 are so well versed in bargaining, ciphering and 
 writing, that in the absence of. their husbands in 
 long sea voyages they beat the trade at home, and 
 their words will pass in equal credit. These women 
 are wonderfully sober, though their husbands make 
 commonly their bargains in drink, and then are 
 they most cautelous. This confluence of strangers 
 makes them very populous, which was the cause 
 that Charles the Emperor said that all the Nether- 
 lands seemed to him but as one continued town. 
 He and his grandfather Maximilian, notwithstand- 
 ing the choice of kingdoms they had, kept their 
 courts most frequently in them, which showed how 
 highly they esteemed them, and I believe if Philip
 
 i64 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 the Second had visited them sometimes matters 
 had not gone so ill. 
 
 There is no part of the earth, considering the 
 small circuit of country, which is estimated to be 
 but as big as the fifth part of Italy, where one 
 may find more differing customs, tempers, and 
 humours of people than in the Netherlands. The 
 Walloon is quick and sprightful, accostable and 
 full of compliment, and gaudy in apparel, like 
 his next neighbour the French; the Fleming and 
 Brabanter somewhat more slow and sparing of 
 speech; the Hollander slower than he, more surly 
 and respectless of gentry and strangers, homely 
 in his clothing, of very few words, and heavy in 
 action, which may be well imputed to the quality 
 of the soil, which works so strongly upon the 
 humours that when people of a more vivacious 
 and nimble temper come to mingle with them, 
 their children are observed to partake rather of 
 the soil than the sire. And so it is in all animals 
 besides. 
 
 Thus I have huddled up some observations of 
 the Low Countries, beseeching your lordship 
 would be pleased to pardon the imperfections and 
 correct the errors of them, for I know none so 
 capable to do it as your lordship, to whom I am 
 a most humble and ready servitor, j p^ 
 
 Antwerp, i May 1622 [3].
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 165 
 
 XVI 
 
 To my Brother, Mr Hugh Penry, upon his 
 
 Marriage 
 
 YOU have had a good while the interest of 
 a friend in me, but you have me now in 
 a straighter tie, for I am your brother by your 
 late marriage, which hath turned friendship into 
 an alliance. You have in your arms one of my 
 dearest sisters, who I hope, nay I know, will make 
 a good wife. I heartily congratulate this marriage, 
 and pray that a blessing may descend upon it from 
 that place where all marriages are made, which is 
 from heaven, the fountain of all felicity. To this 
 prayer I think it no profaneness to add the saying 
 of the lyric poet Horace, in whom I know you de- 
 light much, and I send it you as a kind of epitha- 
 lamium, and wish it may be verified in you both: 
 
 Faelices ter et ampHus 
 
 Quos irrupta tenet copula, nee mails 
 Divulsus querimoniis 
 
 Suprema citius solvet amor die. 
 
 Thus Englished : 
 
 That couple 's more than trebly blest 
 Which nuptial bonds do so combine. 
 
 That no distaste can them untwine 
 Till the last day send both to rest. 
 
 So, dear brother, I much rejoice for this alliance,
 
 i66 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 and wish you may increase and multiply to your 
 heart's content. — Your aifectionate brother, 
 
 J. H. 
 May the 20, 1622. 
 
 XVII 
 
 To my Brother^ Dr Howell ; from Brussels 
 
 I HAD yours in Latin at Rotterdam, whence 
 I corresponded with you in the same language. 
 I heard, though not from you, since I came to 
 Brussels, that our sister Anne is lately married to 
 Mr Hugh Penry. I am heartily glad of it, and 
 wish the rest of our sisters were so well bestowed, 
 for I know Mr Penry to be a gentleman of a great 
 deal of solid worth and integrity, and one that 
 will prove a great husband and a good economist. 
 Here is news that Mansfelt hath received a 
 foil lately in Germany, and that the Duke of 
 Brunswick, alias Bishop of Halverstadt, hath lost 
 one of his arms. This makes them vapour here 
 extremely, and the last week I heard of a play the 
 Jesuits of Antwerp made, in derogation, or rather 
 derision, of the proceedings of the Prince Palsgrave, 
 where, amongst divers other passages, they feigned 
 a post to come puffing upon the stage, and being 
 asked what news, he answered how the Palsgrave 
 was like to have shortly a huge formidable army, 
 for the King of Denmark was to send him a hun- 
 dred thousand, the Hollanders a hundred thou-
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 167 
 
 sand, and the King of Great Britain a hundred 
 thousand; but being asked thousands of what ? 
 he replied the first would send a hundred thousand 
 red herrings, the second a hundred thousand 
 cheeses, and the last a hundred thousand ambas- 
 sadors, alluding to Sir Richard Weston and Sir 
 Edward Conway, my Lord Carlisle, Sir Arthur 
 Chichester, and lastly, the Lord Digby, who have 
 been all employed in quality of ambassadors in 
 less than two years — since the beginning of these 
 German broils. Touching the last, having been 
 with the Emperor and the Duke of Bavaria, and 
 carried himself with such high wisdom in his nego- 
 tiations with the one and stoutness with the other, 
 and having preserved Count Mansfelt's troops 
 from disbanding, by pawning his own argentry 
 and jewels, he passed this way, where they say 
 the Archduke did esteem him more than any am- 
 bassador that ever was in this court, and the report 
 is yet very fresh of his high abilities. 
 
 We are to remove hence in coach towards Paris 
 the next week, where we intend to winter, or hard 
 by. When you have opportunity to write to 
 Wales, I pray present my duty to my father, and 
 my love to the rest. I pray remember me also 
 to all at the Hill and the Dale, especially to that 
 most virtuous gentleman. Sir John Franklin. So, 
 my dear brother, I pray God continue and im- 
 prove His blessings to us both, and bring us again 
 together with comfort. — Your brother, J. H. 
 
 June 10, 1622.
 
 i68 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 XVIII 
 
 To Dr Tho. Prichardj at Worcester House 
 
 FRIENDSHIP is the great chain of human 
 society, and intercourse of letters is one of 
 the chiefest Hnks of that chain. You know this as 
 well as I, therefore I pray let our friendship, let 
 our love, that nationality of British love, that vir- 
 tuous tie of academic love, be still strengthened (as 
 heretofore), and receive daily more and more 
 vigour. I am now in Paris, and there is weekly 
 opportunity to receive and send; and if you please 
 to send, you shall be sure to receive, for I make 
 it a kind of religion to be punctual in this kind of 
 payment. I am heartily glad to hear that you are 
 become a domestic member to that most noble 
 family of the Worcesters, and I hold it to be a 
 very good foundation for future preferment ; I 
 wish you may be as happy in them, as I know 
 they will be happy in you. France is now barren 
 of news, only there was a shrewd brush lately be- 
 twixt the young king and his mother, who, having 
 the Duke of Epernon and others for her com- 
 panions, met him in open field about Pont de Ce, 
 but she went away with the worst ; such was the 
 rare dutifulness of the king, that he forgave her 
 upon his knees, and pardoned all her complices. 
 And now there is an universal peace in this coun-
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 169 
 
 try, which it is thought will not last long, for 
 there is a war intended against them of the re- 
 formed religion; for this king, though he be slow 
 in speech, yet is he active in spirit, and loves 
 motion. I am here comrade to a gallant young 
 gentleman, my old acquaintance, who is full of 
 excellent parts, which he hath acquired by a choice 
 breeding, the baron his father gave him both in 
 the University and in the Inns of Court, so that 
 for the time I envy no man's happiness. So, with 
 my hearty commends, and much endeared love 
 unto you, I rest yours whiles. 
 
 Jam. Howell. 
 
 Paris, 3 August 1622. 
 
 XIX 
 
 To the Honourable Sir Tho. Savage [after Lord 
 Savage) y at his house upon Tower Hill 
 
 THOSE many undeserved favours for which 
 I stand obliged to yourself and my noble lady, 
 since the time I had the happiness to come first 
 under your roof, and the command you pleased to 
 lay upon me at my departure thence, call upon me 
 at this time to give you account how matters pass 
 in France. 
 
 That which for the present affords most plenty 
 of news is Rochelle, which the King threateneth 
 to block up this spring with an army by sea.
 
 170 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 under the command of the Duke of Nevers, and 
 by a land army under his own conduct : both sides 
 prepare, he to assault, the Rochellers to defend. 
 The King declares that he proceeds not against 
 them for their religion,'which he is still contented 
 to tolerate, but for holding an assembly against his 
 declarations. They answer, that their assembly is 
 grounded upon His Majesty's royal warrant, given 
 at the dissolution of the last assembly at Lodun, 
 where he solemnly gave his word to permit them 
 to reassemble when they would six months after, 
 if the breaches of their libertvand orrievances which 
 they then propounded were not redressed ; and 
 they say this being unperformed, it stands not with 
 the sacred person of a king to violate his promise, 
 being the first that ever he made them. The King 
 is so incensed against them that their deputies can 
 have neither access to his person nor audience of 
 his council, as they style themselves the deputies 
 of the assembly at Rochelle ; but if they say they 
 come from the whole body of them of the pretended 
 reformed religion he will hear them. The breach 
 between them is grown so wide that the King re- 
 solves upon a siege. This resolution of the King's 
 is much fomented by the Roman clergy, specially 
 by the Celestines, who have 200,000 crowns of 
 gold in the Arsenal of Paris which they would 
 sacrifice all to this service ; besides the Pope sent 
 him a bull to levy what sums he would of the Gal- 
 ilean Church for the advancement of his design. 
 This resolution also is much pushed on by the gen-
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 171 
 
 try, who, besides the particular employments and 
 pay they shall receive hereby, are glad to have their 
 young king trained up in arms to make him a mar- 
 tial man. But for the merchant and poor peasant, 
 they tremble at the name of this war, fearing their 
 teeth should be set on edge with those sour grapes 
 their fathers tasted in the time of the League, for 
 if the King begin with Rocheile it is feared all 
 the four corners of the kingdom will be set on fire. 
 Of all the towns of surety which they of the 
 religion hold, Rocheile is the chiefest ; a place 
 strong by nature but stronger by art. It is a mar- 
 itime town, and landward they can by sluices 
 drown a league's distance ; it is fortified with 
 mighty thick walls, bastions and counterscarps, 
 and those according to the modern rules of en- 
 ginry. This amongst other cautionary towns 
 was granted by Henry the Fourth to them of the 
 religion for a certain term of years, which being 
 expired the King saith they are devolved again to 
 the Crown and so demands them. They of the 
 religion pretend to have divers grievances ; first, 
 they have not been paid these two years the 
 160,000 crowns which the last king gave them 
 annually to maintain their ministers and garri- 
 sons; they complain of the King's carriage lately 
 at Beam (Henry the Great's country), which was 
 merely Protestant, where he hath introduced two 
 years since the public exercise of the mass, which 
 had not been sung there fifty years before. He 
 altered also there the government of the country,
 
 172 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 and in lieu of a viceroy left a governor only ; and 
 whereas Navarrin was formerly a Court of Parlia- 
 ment for the whole kingdom of Navaar (that 's 
 under France), he hath put it down and pub- 
 lished an edict that the Navarrois should come 
 to Toulouse the chief town of Languedoc ; and 
 lastly, he left behind him a garrison in the said 
 town of Navarrin. These and other grievances 
 they of the religion proposed to the King lately, 
 desiring His Majesty would let them enjoy still 
 those privileges his predecessor, Henry the 
 Third, and his father, Henry the Fourth, afforded 
 them by Act of Pacification. But he made them 
 a short answer : That what the one did in this 
 point, he did it out of fear ; what the other did, 
 he did it out of love ; but he would have them 
 know that he neither loved them nor feared 
 them ; so the business is like to bleed sore on 
 both sides ; nor is there yet any appearance of 
 prevention. 
 
 There was a scuffle lately here betwixt the 
 Duke of Nevers and the Cardinal of Guise, who 
 have had a long suit-in-law about an abbey, and, 
 meeting the last week about the palace, from 
 words they fell to blows ; the Cardinal struck the 
 Duke first and so were parted ; but in the after- 
 noon there appeared on both sides no less than 
 3000 horse in a field hard by, which shows the 
 populousness and sudden strength of this huge 
 city ; but the matter was taken up by the King, 
 himself, and the Cardinal clapped up in the
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 173 
 
 Bastile, where the King saith he shall abide to 
 ripen ; for he is but young, and they speak of a 
 bull that is to come from Rome to decardinalize 
 him. I fear to have trespassed too much upon 
 your patience, therefore I will conclude for the 
 present, but will never cease to profess myself 
 your thrice humble and ready servitor, 
 
 J. H. 
 Paris, August 18, 1622. 
 
 XX 
 
 To D. Caldwall^ Esq. ; from Poissy 
 
 My Dear D., 
 
 TO be free from English, and to have the 
 more conveniency to fall close to our busi- 
 ness, Mr Altham and I are lately retired from 
 Paris to this town of Poissy, a pretty genteel 
 place at the foot of the great forest of Saint 
 Germain upon the river Sequana, and within a 
 mile of one of the King's chiefest standing 
 houses, and about fifteen miles from Paris. Here 
 is one of the prime nunneries of all France. 
 Lewis the Ninth, who in the catalogue of the 
 French kings is called St Lewis, which title was 
 confirmed by the Pope, was baptised in this little 
 town, and after his return from Egypt and other 
 places against the Saracens, being asked by what 
 title he would be distinguished from the rest of 
 his predecessors after his death, he answered that
 
 174 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 he desired to be called Lewis of Poissy ; reply 
 being made that there were divers other places 
 and cities of renown, where he had performed 
 brave exploits, and obtained famous victories, 
 therefore it was more fitting that some of those 
 places should denominate him. " No," said he, 
 " I desire to be called Louis of Poissy, because 
 there I got the most glorious victory that ever I 
 had, for there I overcame the devil," meaning 
 that he was christened there. 
 
 I sent you from Antwerp a silver Dutch table- 
 book. I desire to hear of the receipt of it in your 
 next. I must desire you (as I did once at Rouen) 
 to send me a dozen pair of the whitest kidskin 
 gloves for women, and half a dozen pair of 
 knives, by the merchant's post ; and if you want 
 anything that France can afford, I hope you 
 know what power you have to dispose of. 
 Yours, J. H. 
 
 Poissy, September 7, 1622. 
 
 XXI 
 
 To my Father ; from Paris 
 
 I WAS afraid I should never have had ability to 
 write to you again, I had lately such a danger- 
 ous fit of sickness ; but I have now passed the 
 brunt of it. God hath been pleased to reprieve 
 me and reserve me for more days, which I hope 
 to have grace to number better. Mr Altham and
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 175 
 
 I having retired to a small town from Paris for 
 more privacy and sole conversation with the na- 
 tion, I tied myself to a task for the reading of so 
 many books in such a compass of time, and there- 
 upon to make good my word to myself, I used 
 to watch many nights together, though it was in 
 the depth of winter; but returning to this town, 
 I took cold in the head, and so that mass of 
 rheum which had gathered by my former watch- 
 ing, turned to an imposthume in my head, where- 
 of I w^as sick above forty days ; at the end they 
 cauterised and made an issue in my cheek to 
 make vent for the imposthume, and that saved 
 my life. At first they let me blood, and I parted 
 with above fifty ounces in less than a fortnight, 
 for phlebotomy is so much practised here, that if 
 one's little finger ache, they presently open a vein, 
 and so balance the blood on both sides ; they 
 usually let the blood in both arms. And the 
 commonness of the thing seems to take away all 
 fear, insomuch that the very women, when they 
 find themselves indisposed, will open a vein them- 
 selves ; for they hold that the blood which hath a 
 circulation and fetcheth a round every twenty-four 
 hours about the body is quickly repaired again. I 
 was eighteen days and nights that I had no sleep 
 but short imperfect slumbers, and those, too, pro- 
 cured by potions. The tumour at last came so 
 about my throat, that I had scarce vent left for 
 respiration, and my body was brought so low with 
 all sorts of physic, that I appeared like a mere
 
 176 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 skeleton. When I was indifferently well recov- 
 ered, some of the doctors and chirurgeons that 
 tended me gave me a visit, and amongst other 
 things they fell in discourse of wines which was 
 the best, and so by degrees they fell upon other 
 beverages. And one doctor in the company who 
 had been in England, told me that we have a 
 drink in England called ale, which he thought 
 was the wholsomest liquor that could go into 
 one's guts, for whereas the body of man is 
 supported by two columns, viz. the natural heat 
 and radical moisture, he said, there is no drink 
 conduceth more to the preservation of the one 
 and the increase of the other than ale, for while 
 the Englishmen drank only ale, they were strong 
 brawny able men, and could draw an arrow an ell 
 long ; but when they fell to wine and beer, they 
 are found to be much impaired in their strength 
 and age. So the ale bore away the bell among 
 the doctors. 
 
 The next week we advance our course farther 
 into France towards the river of Loire to Orleans, 
 whence I shall continue to convey my duty to you. 
 In the meantime I humbly crave your blessing and 
 your acknowledgment to God Almighty for my 
 recovery. Be pleased further to impart my love 
 amongst my brothers and sisters with all my kins- 
 men and friends in the country, — So I rest your 
 dutiful son, J. H. 
 
 Paris, December 10, 1622.
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 177 
 
 XXII 
 
 To Sir Tho??ias Savage^ Knight and Baronet 
 
 THAT of the fifth of this present which you 
 pleased to send me was received, and I begin 
 to think myself something more than I was, that 
 you value so much the slender endeavours of my 
 pen to do you service. I shall continue to improve 
 your good opinion of me as opportunity shall 
 serve. 
 
 Touching the great threats against Rochelle, 
 whereof I gave you an ample relation in my last, 
 matters are become now more calm and rather 
 inclining to an accommodation, for it is thought 
 a sum of money will make up the breach ; and to 
 this end some think all these bravadoes were made. 
 The Duke of Luynes is at last made Lord High 
 Constable of France, the prime officer of the crown. 
 He hath a peculiar court to himself, a guard of a 
 hundred men in rich liveries, and a hundred thou- 
 sand livres every year pension. The old Duke 
 of Lesdiguieres, one of the ancientest soldiers of 
 France, and a Protestant, is made his lieutenant. 
 But in regard all Christendom rings of this fa- 
 vourite, being the greatest that ever was in France 
 since the Maires of the palace, who came to be 
 kings afterwards, I will send you herein his legend. 
 He was born in Province, and is a gentleman by 
 descent, though of a petty extraction; in the last
 
 lyS FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 king's time he was preferred to be one of his pages, 
 who, finding him industrious and a good waiter, 
 allowed him 300 crowns pension per annum, which 
 he husbanded so well that he maintained himself 
 and his two brothers in passable good fashion there- 
 with. The King observing that, doubled his pen- 
 sion, and taking notice that he was a serviceable 
 instrument and apt to please, he thought him fit 
 to be about his son, in whose service he hath con- 
 tinued above fifteen years, and he has flown so high 
 into his favour by a singular dexterity and art he 
 hath in falconry, and by shooting at birds flying 
 wherein the King took great pleasure, that he hath 
 soared to this pitch of honour. He is a man of a 
 passable good understanding and forecast, of a mild 
 comportment, humble and debonair to all, and of 
 a winning conversation. He hath about him choice 
 and solid heads, who prescribe unto him rules 
 of policy, by whose compass he steers his course, 
 which is likely will make him subsist long. He is 
 now come to that transcendant altitude, that he 
 seems to have mounted above the reach of envy, 
 and made all hopes of supplanting him frustrate, 
 both by the politic guidance of his own actions and 
 the powerful alliances he hath got for himself and his 
 two brothers. He is married to the Duke of Mont- 
 bazon's daughter, one of the prime peers of France. 
 His second brother, Cadenet (who is reputed the 
 wisest of the three), married the heiress of Picardy, 
 with whom he had ^9000 lands a year ; his third 
 brother, Brand, to the great heiress of Luxemburg,
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 179 
 
 of which house there have been five emperors, so 
 that these three brothers and their allies would be 
 able to counterbalance any one faction in France, 
 the eldest and youngest being made dukes and 
 peers of France, the other marshal. There are lately 
 two Ambassadors Extraordinary come hither from 
 Venice about the Valtolin, but their negotiation is 
 at a stand until the return of an Ambassador Ex- 
 traordinary which is gone to Spain. Ambassadors 
 also are come from the Hague for payment of the 
 French regiment there, which hath been neglected 
 these ten years, and to know whether His Majesty 
 will be pleased to continue their pay any longer ; 
 but their answer is yet suspended. They have 
 brought news that the seven ships which were built 
 for His Majesty in the Tessel are ready. To this 
 he answered that he desires to have ten more built, 
 for he intends to finish that design which his father 
 hadafoot a little before his death to establish a 
 royal company of merchants. 
 
 This is all the news that France affords for the 
 present, the relation whereof, if it prove as accept- 
 able as my endeavours to serve you herein are 
 pleasing unto me, I shall esteem myself happy. 
 So wishing you and my noble lady continuance of 
 health and increase of honour, I rest your most 
 humble servitor, J. H. 
 
 Paris, 15 December 1622.
 
 i8o FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 XXIII 
 
 To Sir 'John North, Knight 
 
 I CONFESS you have made a perfect conquest 
 of me by your late favours, and I yield myself 
 your captive. A day may come that will enable 
 me to pay my ransom ; in the interim let a most 
 thankful acknowledgment be my bail and main- 
 prize. 
 
 I am now removed from off the Seine to the 
 Loire to the fair town of Orleans. There was here 
 lately a mixed procession betwixt military and 
 ecclesiastic for the Maid of Orleans, which is per- 
 formed every year very solemnly. Her statue 
 stands upon the bridge, and her clothes are pre- 
 served to this day, which a young man wore in 
 the procession, which makes me think that her 
 story though it sound like a romance is very true, 
 and I read it thus in two or three chronicles. 
 When the English had made such firm invasions 
 in France, that their armies had marched into the 
 heart of the country, besieged Orleans and driven 
 Charles the Seventh to Bourges in Berry, which 
 made him to be called, for the time. King of 
 Berry, there came to his army a shepherdess, 
 one Anne de Arque, who with a confident look 
 and language told the King that she was designed 
 by heaven to beat the English and drive them 
 out of France. Therefore she desired a command
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL i8i 
 
 in the army, which by her extraordinary confi- 
 dence and importunity she obtained, and putting 
 on man's apparel she proved so prosperous that 
 the siege was raised from before Orleans, and the 
 English \vere pursued to Paris and forced to quit 
 that, and driven to Normandy. She used to go 
 on with marvellous courage and resolution, and 
 her word was hara ha. But in Normandy she was 
 taken prisoner, and the English had a fair revenge 
 upon her, for by an arrest of the Parliament of 
 Rouen she was burnt for a witch. There is a great 
 business now afoot in Paris called the Polette, 
 which if it take effect will tend to correct, at least- 
 wise to cover a great error in the French govern- 
 ment. The custom is that all the chief places of 
 justice throughout all the eight courts of Par- 
 liament in France, besides a great number of other 
 offices, arwe set to sale by the King, and they return 
 to him unless the buyer liveth forty days after his 
 resignation to another. It is now propounded 
 that these casual offices shall be absolutely hered- 
 itary, provided that every officer pay a yearly re- 
 venue unto the King, according to the valuation 
 of and perquisites of the office. This business is 
 now in hot agitation, but the issue is yet doubtful. 
 
 The last you sent 1 received by Vacandary in 
 Paris. So highly honouring your excellent parts 
 and merit, I rest, now that I understand French 
 indifferent well, no more your (she) servant, but 
 your most faithful servitor, J. H. 
 
 Orleans, 3 March 1622
 
 i82 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 XXIV 
 
 To Sir James Crofts^ Knight 
 
 WERE I to freight a letter with compH- 
 ments, this country would furnish me with 
 variety, but of news a small store at this present ; 
 and for compliment it is dangerous to use any to 
 you who have such a piercing judgment to dis- 
 cern semblances from realities. 
 
 The queen mother is come at last to Paris, where 
 she hath not been since Ancre's death. The King 
 is also returned post from Bordeaux, having tra- 
 versed most part of his kingdom ; he settled peace 
 everywhere he passed, and quashed divers insurrec- 
 tions, and by his obedience to his mother, and his 
 lenity towards all his partisans at Pont de Ce, where 
 above 400 were slain, and notwithstanding that he 
 was victorious, yet he gave a general pardon ; he 
 hath gained much upon the affections of his people. 
 His Council of State went ambulatory always with 
 him, and as they say here, never did men manage 
 things with more wisdom. There is a war ques- 
 tionless a-fermenting against the Protestants, the 
 Duke of Epernon, in a kind of rodomontado way, 
 desired leave of the King to block up Rochelle, 
 and in six weeks he would undertake to deliver her 
 to his hands, but I believe he reckons without his 
 host. I was told a merry passage of this little Gas- 
 con duke, who is now the oldest soldier of France.
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 183 
 
 Having come lately to Paris he treated with a pan- 
 der to procure him a courtesan, and if she was a 
 damosel (a gentlewoman) he would give so much, 
 and if a citizen he would give so much. The pan- 
 der did his office, but brought him a citizen clad 
 in damosel's apparel, so she and her maquerel were 
 paid accordingly. The next day after, some of his 
 familiars having understood hereof, began to be 
 pleasant with the duke and to jeer him, that he be- 
 ing a vieilroutier^ an old tried soldier, should suffer 
 himself to be so cozened as to pay for a citizen after 
 the rate of a gentlewoman ; the little duke grew 
 half wild hereupon, and commenced an action of 
 fraud against the pander, but what became of it I 
 cannot tell you, but all Paris rung of it. I hope to 
 return now very shortly to England, where amongst 
 the rest of my noble friends I shall much rejoice to 
 see and serve you, whom I honour with no vulgar 
 affection, so I am, your true servitor, J. H. 
 
 Orleans, 5 March 1611. 
 
 XXV 
 
 To my Cousin y Mr Will Martin at Brussels; 
 
 from Paris 
 
 Dear Cousin, 
 
 I FIND you are very punctual in your perform- 
 ances, and a precise observer of the promise 
 you made here to correspond with Mr Altham and
 
 i84 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 me by letters. I thank you for the variety of Ger- 
 man news you imparted unto me, which was so 
 neatly couched and curiously knit together, that 
 your letter might serve for a pattern to the best 
 intelligencer. I am sorry the affairs of the Prince 
 Palsgrave go so untowardly ; the wheel of war may 
 turn, and that spoke which is now up may down 
 again. For French occurrences, there is a war cer- 
 tainly intended against them of the religion here ; 
 and there are visible preparations afoot already. 
 Amongst others that shrink in the shoulders at 
 it, the King's servants are not very well pleased with 
 it, in regard besides Scots and Swissers, there are 
 divers of the King's servants that are Protestants. 
 If a man go to ragion di stato^ to reason of state, 
 the French King hath something to justify this 
 design ; for the Protestants being so numerous, 
 and having near upon fifty presidiary walled towns 
 in their hands for caution, they have power to 
 disturb France when they please, and being abet- 
 ted by a foreign prince to give the King law ; and 
 you know as well as I how they have been made 
 use of to kindle a fire in France. Therefore rather 
 than they should be utterly suppressed, I believe 
 the Spaniard himself would reach them his rag- 
 ged-staff to defend them. 
 
 I send you here inclosed another from Master 
 Altham, who respects you dearly, and we remem- 
 bered you lately at La pomme du pin in the best 
 liquor of the French grape. I shall be shortly for 
 London, where I shall not rejoice a little to meet
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 185 
 
 you ; the English air may confirm what foreign 
 begun, I mean our friendship and affections, and 
 in me (that I may return you in English the Latin 
 verses you sent me) : 
 
 As soon a little, little ant 
 
 Shall bib the ocean dry, 
 
 A snail shall creep about the world. 
 
 Ere these affections die. 
 
 So, my dear cousin, may Virtue be your guide 
 and Fortune your companion. — Yours while 
 
 Jam. Howell. 
 
 Paris, 18 March 1662.
 
 EPISTOLtE HO-ELIAN^ 
 SECTION III
 
 SECTION III 
 
 To my Father 
 
 I AM safely returned now the second time from 
 beyond the seas, but I have yet no employment. 
 God and good friends I hope will shortly provide 
 one for me. 
 
 The Spanish Ambassador, Count Gondamar, 
 doth strongly negotiate a match betwixt our Prince 
 and the Infanta of Spain, but at his first audience 
 there happened an ill-favoured accident (I pray God 
 it prove no ill augury), for my Lord of Arundell 
 being sent to accompany him to Whitehall upon 
 a Sunday in the afternoon, as they were going over 
 the terrasse, it broke under them, but only one was 
 hurt in the arm. Gondamar said that he had not 
 cared to have died in so good company. Hesaith 
 there is no other way to regain the Palatinate but 
 by this match, and to settle an eternal peace in 
 Christendom. 
 
 The Marquis of Buckingham continueth still 
 in fulness of grace and favour. The countess, his 
 mother, sways also much at court. She brought 
 Sir Henry Montague from delivering law on the 
 King's Bench to look to his bags in the Exchequer, 
 for she made him Lord High Treasurer of Eng-
 
 I90 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 land ; but he parted with his white stafFbefore the 
 year's end, though his purse had bled deeply for 
 it (above ^20,000), which made a lord of this land 
 to ask him at his return from court "whether he 
 did not find that wood was extremely dear at New- 
 market," for there he received the white staff. 
 There is now a notable stirring man in the place, 
 my Lord Cranfield, who, from walking about the 
 Exchange, is come to sit Chief Judge in the Ex- 
 chequer Chamber, and to have one of the highest 
 places at the council table. He is married to one 
 of the tribe of Fortune, a kinswoman of the Mar- 
 quis of Buckingham. Thus there is rising and fall- 
 ing at court, and as in our natural pace one foot 
 cannot be up till the other be down, so it is in the 
 affairs of the world commonly — one man riseth 
 at the fall of the other. 
 
 I have no more to write at this time, but that 
 with tender of my duty to you, I desire a continu- 
 ance of your blessing and prayers. Your dutiful 
 son, J. H. 
 
 London, March ii^ 1622. 
 
 II 
 
 To the Honourable Mr John Savage (now 
 Earl Rivers^ at Florence 
 
 MY love is not so short but it can reach as 
 far as Florence to find you out, and further, 
 too, if occasion required, nor are these affections
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 191 
 
 I have to serve you so dull but they can clamber 
 over the Alps and Apennines to wait upon you, 
 as they have adventured to do now in this paper, 
 I am sorry I was not in London to kiss your 
 hands before you set to sea, and much more 
 sorry that I had not the happiness to meet you in 
 Holland or Brabant, for we went the very same 
 road, and lay in Dort and Antwerp in the same 
 lodgings you had lain in a fortnight before. I 
 presume you have by this time tasted of the 
 sweetness of travel, and that you have weaned 
 your affections from England for a good while. 
 You must now think upon home as (one said) 
 good men think upon heaven, aiming still to go 
 thither, but not till they finish their course ; and 
 yours, I understand, will be three years. In the 
 meantime you must not suffer any melting ten- 
 derness of thoughts, or longing desires, to distract 
 or interrupt you in that fair road you are in to 
 virtue, and to beautify within that comely edifice 
 which nature hath built without you. I know 
 your reputation is precious to you, as it should 
 be to every noble mind ; you have exposed it now 
 to the hazard, therefore you must be careful it 
 receive no taint at your return by not answering 
 that expectation which your Prince and noble 
 parents have of you. You are now under the 
 chiefest clime of wisdom, fair Italy, the darling of 
 nature, the nurse of policy, the theatre of virtue. 
 But though Italy give milk to Virtue with one 
 dug, she often suffers Vice to suck at the other ;
 
 192 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 therefore you must take heed you mistake not the 
 dug, for there is an ill-favoured saying that " Inglese 
 Italionato e diavolo incarnato " (an Englishman- 
 Italian is a devil incarnate). I fear no such thing of 
 you, I have had such pregnant proofs of your inge- 
 nuity and noble inclinations to virtue and honour: 
 1 know you have a mind to both, but I must tell 
 you that you will hardly get the goodwill of the 
 latter unless the first speak a good word for you. 
 When you go to Rome you may haply see the 
 ruins of two temples, one dedicated to Virtue, the 
 other to Honour, and there was no way to enter 
 into the last but through the first. Noble sir, 
 I wish your good very seriously, and if you please 
 to call to memory, and examine the circumstance 
 of things, and my carriage towards you since I had 
 the happiness to be known first to your honour- 
 able family, I know you will conclude that I love 
 and honour you in no vulgar way. 
 
 My lord, your grandfather, was complaining 
 lately that he had not heard from you a good 
 while. By the next shipping to Leghorn, amongst 
 other things, he intends- to send you a whole 
 brawn in collars. I pray be pleased to remember 
 my affectionate service to Mr Thomas Savage, 
 and my kind respects to Mr Bold. For English 
 news I know this packet comes freighted to you, 
 therefore I forbear at this time to send any. Fare- 
 well, noble heir of honour, and command always 
 your true servitor, J. H. 
 
 London, March 24, 1622.
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 193 
 
 III 
 
 To Sir James Crofts ^ Knight y at Saint Osith 
 
 in Essex 
 
 I HAD yours upon Tuesday last, and whereas 
 you are desirous to know the proceedings of 
 the Parliament, I am sorry I must write to you 
 that matters begin to grow boisterous. The King 
 retired not long since to Newmarket not very 
 well pleased, and this week there went thither 
 twelve from the House of Commons, to whom 
 Sir Richard Weston was the mouth. The King, 
 not liking the message they brought, called them 
 his ambassadors, and in the large answer which he 
 hath sent to the Speaker, he saith that he must 
 apply unto them a speech of Queen Elizabeth's 
 to an ambassador of Poland, " Legatum expecta- 
 vimus, Heraldum accepimus " (We expected an 
 ambassador, we have received a herald). He takes 
 it not well that they should meddle with the 
 match betwixt his son and the Infanta, alleging 
 an example of one of the kings of France, who 
 would not marry his son without the advice of his 
 Parliament ; but afterwards that king grew so 
 despicable abroad that no foreign state would 
 treat with him about anything without his Parlia- 
 ment. Sundry other high passages there were ; 
 as a caveat he gave them not to touch the honour 
 of the King of Spain, with whom he was so far
 
 194 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 engaged in a matrimonial treaty that he could not 
 go back. He gave them also a check for taking 
 cognizance of those things which had their motion 
 in the ordinary courts of justice, and that Sir 
 Edward Coke (though these words were not 
 inserted in the answer), whom he thought to be 
 the fittest instrument for a tyrant that ever was in 
 England, should be so bold as to call the pre- 
 rogative of the crown a great monster. The Par- 
 liament after this was not long lived, but broke 
 up in discontent, and upon the point of dissolu- 
 tion they made a protest against divers particulars 
 in the aforesaid answer of His Majesty's. My 
 Lord Digby is preparing for Spain in quality of 
 Ambassador Extraordinary, to perfect the match 
 betwixt our Prince and the Lady Infanta, in which 
 business Gondamar hath waded already very deep, 
 and been very active, and ingratiated himself with 
 divers persons of quality, ladies especially, yet he 
 could do no good upon the Lady Hatton, whom he 
 desired lately that in regard he was her next neigh- 
 bour (at Ely-House) he might have the benefit of 
 her back gate to go abroad into the fields ; but 
 she put him off with a compliment, whereupon in 
 a private audience lately with the King amongst 
 other passages of merriment, he told him that my 
 Lady Hatton was a strange lady, for she would not 
 suffer her husband Sir Edward Coke, to come in at 
 her fore door, nor him to go out at her back door, 
 and so related the whole business. He was also 
 dispatching a post lately for Spain, and the post
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 195 
 
 having received his packet and kissed his hands, 
 he called him back and told him he had forgot 
 one thing, which was, that when he came to Spain 
 he should commend him to the sun, for he had 
 not seen him a great while, and in Spain he 
 should be sure to find him. — So with my most 
 humble service to my Lord of Colchester, I rest 
 your most humble servitor, J. H. 
 
 London, March 24, 1622. 
 
 IV 
 
 To my Brother^ Mr Hugh Penry 
 
 THE Welsh nag you sent me was delivered 
 me in a very good plight, and I give you a 
 thousand thanks for him. I had occasion lately 
 to try his mettle and his lungs, and every one tells 
 me he is right, and of no mongrel race, but a 
 true mountaineer ; for besides his toughness and 
 strength of lungs up a hill, he is quickly curried, 
 and content with short commons. 1 believe he 
 hath not been long a highway traveller, for 
 whereas other horses when they pass by an inn or 
 alehouse use to make towards them to give them 
 a friendly visit, this nag roundly goes on, and 
 scorns to cast as much as a glance upon any of 
 them, which I know not whether I shall impute 
 it to his ignorance or height of spirit, but convers- 
 ing with the soft horses of England, I believe he 
 will quickly be brought to be more courteous.
 
 196 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 The greatest news we have now is the return 
 of the Lord Bishop of Landaff, Davenant, Ward, 
 and Belcanquell from the Synod of Dort, where 
 the bishop had precedence given him according 
 to his episcopal dignity. Arminius and Vorstius 
 were sore baited there concerning predestination, 
 election, and reprobation, as also touching Christ's 
 death and man's redemption by it ; then concern- 
 ing man's corruption and conversion ; lastly, con- 
 cerning the perseverance of the saints. I shall have 
 shortly the transaction of the Synod. The Jesuits 
 have put out a jeering libel against it, and these 
 two verses I remember in it. 
 
 Dordrecti Synodus ? nodus ; chorus integer ? aeger ; 
 Conventus ? ventus ; Sessio stramen ? Amen. 
 
 But I will confront this distich with another I 
 read in France of the Jesuits in the town of Dole, 
 towards Lorraine. They had a great house given 
 them called L'Arc [arcum), and upon the river of 
 Loire, Henry the Fourth gave them La Fleche, 
 sagittam in Latin, where they have two stately 
 convents, that is, bow and arrow ; whereupon one 
 made these verses : 
 
 Arcum Dola dedit, dedit illis alma sagittam 
 
 Francia ; quis chordam, q5am meruere, dabit ? 
 
 Fair France the arrow. Dole gave them the bow, 
 Who shall the string which they deserve bestow. 
 
 No more now, but that with my dear love to my 
 sister, I rest your most affectionate brother, 
 
 J. H. 
 
 London, April 16, 1622.
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 197 
 
 V 
 
 To the Lord Viscount Colchester 
 
 My Good Lord, 
 
 I RECEIVED your lordship's of the last week, 
 and according to your command, I send here 
 enclosed the Venetian Gazette. Of foreign avisos, 
 they write that Mansfeldt hath been beaten out of 
 Germany and is come to Sedan, and it is thought 
 that the Duke of Bovillon will set him up again 
 with a new army. Marquis Spinola hath newly sat 
 down before Berghen-op-Zoom. Your lordship 
 knows well what consequence that town is of, 
 therefore it is likely this will be a hot summer 
 in the Netherlands. The French King is in open 
 war against them of the religion ; he hath already 
 cleared the Loire by taking Jerseau and Saumur, 
 where Monsieur du Plessis sent him the keys, 
 which are promised to be delivered him again, but 
 I think ad Graecas Calendas. He hath been also 
 before Saint John d' Angeli, where the young Car- 
 dinal of Guyse died, being struck down by the 
 puff of a cannon bullet, which put him in a burn- 
 ing fever and made an end of him. The last town 
 that was taken was Clerac, which was put to 
 50,000 crowns ransom. Many were put to the 
 sword and divers gentlemen drowned as they 
 thought to escape. This is the fifteenth caution- 
 ary town the King hath taken, and now they say
 
 198 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 he marcheth towards Montauban, and so to 
 Montpellier and Nismes, and then have at 
 Rochelle. My Lord Hays is by this time, it is 
 thought, with the army, for Sir Edward Herbert is 
 returned, having had some clashings and counter- 
 buffs with the favourite Luynes, wherein he com- 
 ported himself gallantly. There is a fresh report 
 blown over that Luynes is lately dead in the army 
 of the plague, some say of the purples, the next 
 cousin german to it, which the Protestants give out 
 to be the just judgment of heaven fallen upon him, 
 because he incited his master to these wars against 
 them. If he be not dead, let him die when he 
 will, he will leave a fame behind him to have been 
 the greatest favourite for the time that ever was in 
 France, having from a simple faulconer come to 
 be High Constable, and made himself and his 
 younger brother Grand Dukes and peers, and his 
 second brother Cadenet, Marshal, and all three 
 married to princely families. 
 
 No more now, but that I most humbly kiss 
 your lordship's hands, and shall be always most 
 ready and cheerful to receive your commandments, 
 because I am your lordship's obliged servitor, 
 
 J. H. 
 
 London, 12 August 1623.
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 199 
 
 VI 
 
 To my Father from London 
 
 I WAS at a dead stand in the course of my 
 fortunes when it pleased God to provide me 
 lately an employment to Spain, whence I hope 
 there may arise both repute and profit. Some of 
 the Cape merchants of the Turkey Company, 
 amongst whom the chiefest were Sir Robert Nap- 
 per, and Captain Leat proposed unto me that 
 they had a great business in the Court of Spain in 
 agitation many years, nor was it now their busi- 
 ness but the King's, in whose name it is followed. 
 They could have gentlemen of good quality that 
 would undertake it. Yet if I would take it upon 
 me they would employ no other, and assured me 
 that the employment should tend both to my 
 benefit and credit. Now the business is this : 
 There was a great Turkey ship called the Vineyard^ 
 sailing through the straits towards Constantinople, 
 but by distress of weather she was forced to put 
 into a little port called Milo, in Sardinia. The 
 searchers came aboard of her, and finding her richly 
 laden, for her cargazon of broad-cloth was worth 
 the first penny near upon ^30,000, they cavilled at 
 some small proportion of lead and tin, which they 
 had only for the use of the ship, which the searchers 
 alleged to be ropa de contrabando^ prohibited goods, 
 for"bv Article of Peace nothing is to be carried to
 
 200 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 Turkey that may arm or victual. The Viceroy of 
 Sardinia hereupon seized upon the whole ship 
 and all her goods, landed the master and men in 
 Spain, who coming to Sir Charles Cornwall's, then 
 ambassador at the court. Sir Charles could do 
 them little good at present, therefore they came to 
 England and complained to the King and Council. 
 His Majesty was so sensible hereof that he sent 
 a particular commission in his own royal name 
 to demand a restitution of the ship and goods, 
 and justice upon the Viceroy of Sardinia, who had 
 so apparently broke the peace and wronged his 
 subjects. Sir Charles (with Sir Paul Pindar a while) 
 laboured in the business, and commenced a suit in 
 law, but he was called home before he could do 
 anything to purpose. After him Sir John Digby 
 (now Lord Digby) went ambassador to Spain, 
 and amongst other things he had that particular 
 commission from His Majesty invested in him to 
 prosecute the suit in his own royal name. There- 
 upon he sent a well qualified gentleman, Mr 
 Walsingham Gresley, to Sardinia, who, unfortun- 
 ately, meeting with some men-of-war in the pass- 
 age, was carried prisoner to Algiers. My Lord 
 Digby being remanded home, left the business in 
 Mr Cottington's hands, then agent, but resumed 
 it at his return; yet it proved such a tedious, in- 
 tricate suit that he returned again without finish- 
 ing the work, in regard of the remoteness of the 
 island of Sardinia, whence the witnesses and other 
 dispatches were to be fetched. The Lord Digby
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 201 
 
 is going now Ambassador Extraordinary to the 
 Court of Spain upon the business of the match, 
 the restitution of the Palatinate, and other high 
 affairs of state, therefore he is desirous to transmit 
 the King's commission touching this particular 
 business to any gentleman that is capable to fol- 
 low it, and promiseth to assist him with the ut- 
 most of his power, and i' faith, he hath good 
 reason to do so, in regard he hath now a good, 
 round share himself in it. About this business I 
 am now preparing to go to Spain, in company of 
 the Ambassador, and I shall kiss the King's hands, 
 as his agent touching this particular commission. 
 I humbly entreat that your blessing and prayers 
 may accompany me in this my new employment, 
 which I have undertaken upon very good terms, 
 touching expenses and reward. So with my dear 
 love to my brothers and sisters, with other kin- 
 dred and friends in the country, I rest your duti- 
 ful son, J. H. 
 London, 8 September 1622. 
 
 VII 
 
 To Sir no. Savage, K?iight and Baronet, at 
 his house in Long-Melford 
 
 I RECEIVED your commands in a letter which 
 you sent me by Sir John North, and I shall 
 not fail to serve you in those particulars. It hath 
 pleased God to dispose of me once more for Spain,
 
 202 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 upon a business which I hope will make me good 
 returns. There have two ambassadors and a royal 
 agent followed it hitherto, and I am the fourth 
 that is employed in it. I defer to trouble you with 
 the particulars of it, in regard I hope to have the 
 happiness to kiss your hand at Tower Hill before 
 my departure, which will not be till my Lord 
 Digby sets forward. He goes in a gallant, splen- 
 did equipage, and one of the King's ships is to take 
 him in at Plymouth ; and transport him to the 
 Corunna or Saint Anderas. 
 
 Since that sad disaster which befel Archbishop 
 Abbott, to kill the man by the glancing of an 
 arrow as he was shooting at a deer (which kind of 
 death befel one of our kings once in New Forest), 
 there had been a commission awarded to debate 
 whether upon this fact, whereby he hath shed 
 human blood, he be not to be deprived of his 
 archbishopric, and pronounced irregular ; some 
 were against him, but Bishop Andrews and Sir 
 Henry Martin stood stiffly for him, that in regard 
 it was no spontaneous act, but a mere contin- 
 gency, and that there is no degree of men but is 
 subject to misfortunes and casualties, they declared 
 positively that he was not to fall from his dignity 
 or function, but should still remain a regular, and 
 in statu quo prius ; during this debate he petitioned 
 the King that he might be permitted to retire to 
 his almshouse at Guildford, where he was born, to 
 pass the remainder of his life; but he is now come 
 to be again rectus in curia, absolutely quitted and
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 203 
 
 restored to all things. But for the wife of him 
 which was killed, it was no misfortune to her, for 
 he hath endowed herself and her children with 
 such an estate, that they say her husband could 
 never have got. — So I humbly kiss your hands, 
 and rest your most obliged servitor, 
 
 J. H. 
 London, 9 November 1622. 
 
 VIII 
 
 To Captain Nich. Leatyfro?n Madrid, at his 
 house in London 
 
 I AM safely come to the Court of Spain, and 
 although by reason of that misfortune which 
 befel Mr Altham and me, of wounding the ser- 
 geants in Lombard Street, we stayed three weeks 
 behind my Lord Ambassador, yet we came hither 
 time enough to attend him to Court at his first 
 audience. 
 
 The English nation is better looked on now in 
 Spain than ordinary, because of the hopes there 
 are of a match, which the merchant and commun- 
 alty much desire, though the nobility and gentry 
 be not so forward for it. So that in this point the 
 pulse of Spain beats quite contrary to that of Eng- 
 land, where the people are averse to this match, 
 and the nobility with most part of the gentry in- 
 clinable.
 
 204 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 I have perused all the papers I could get into 
 my hands touching the business of the ship Vine- 
 yard, and I find that they are higher than I in 
 bulk, though closely prest together; I have cast 
 up what is awarded by all the sentences of view 
 and review, by the Council of State and War, and 
 I find the whole sum, as well principal as interest 
 upon interest, all sorts of damages, and processal 
 charges, come to above two hundred and fifty 
 thousand crowns. The Conde del ReaU quondam 
 Viceroy of Sardinia, who is adjudged to pay most 
 part of the money, is here, and he is major-domo. 
 Lord Steward to the Infante Cardinal. If he hath 
 wherewith, I doubt not but to recover the money, 
 for I hope to have come in a favourable conjunc- 
 ture of time, and my Lord Ambassador, who is so 
 highly esteemed here, doth assure me of his best 
 furtherance. So praying I may prove as success- 
 ful, as I shall be faithful in this great business, 
 I rest yours to dispose of, J. H. 
 
 Madrid, 28 December 1622. 
 
 IX 
 
 To Mr Arthur Hopton, from Madrid 
 
 SINCE I was made happy with your acquaint- 
 ance, I have received sundry strong evidences 
 of your love and good wishes unto me, which 
 have tied me unto you in no common obligation 
 of thanks. I am in despair ever to cancel this
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 205 
 
 bond, nor would I do it, but rather endear the 
 engagement more and more. 
 
 The treaty of the match betwixt our Prince and 
 the Lady Infanta is now strongly afoot. She is a 
 very comely lady, rather of a Flemish complexion 
 than Spanish, fair haired, and carrieth a most pure 
 mixture of red and white in her face; she is full 
 and big lipped, which is held a beautv rather than 
 a blemish or any excess in the Austrian family, it 
 being a thing incident to most of that race. She 
 goes now upon sixteen, and is of a tallness agree- 
 able to those years. The King is also of such a 
 complexion and is under twenty. He hath two 
 brothers, Don Carlos and Don Hernando, who 
 though a youth of twelve, yet he is Cardinal and 
 Archbishop of Toledo, which, in regard it hath 
 the Chancellorship of Castile annexed to it, is the 
 greatest spiritual dignity in Christendom after the 
 Papacy, for it is valued at 300,000 crowns per 
 annum. Don Carlos is of a different complexion 
 from all the rest, for he is black-haired and of a 
 Spanish hue. He hath neither office, command, 
 dignity or title, but is an individual companion 
 to the King, and what clothes soever are provided 
 for the King he hath the very same, and as often, 
 from top to toe. He is the better beloved of the 
 people for his complexion ; for one shall hear the 
 Spaniard sigh and lament, saying, " O, when shall 
 we have a king again of our own colour ! " 
 
 I pray commend me kindly to all at your house, 
 and send me word when the voung gentlemen
 
 ao6 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 return- from Italy. So with my most affectionate 
 respects to yourself, I rest your true friend to 
 serve you, J. H. 
 
 Madrid, 5 January 1622, 
 
 X 
 
 To Captain Nic. Leat,from Madrid 
 
 YOURS of the loth of this present I received 
 by Mr Simon Digby, with the inclosed to 
 your son in Alicant, which is safely sent. Since my 
 last unto you 1 had access to Olivares, the favourite 
 that rules all. I had also audience of the King, 
 to whom I delivered two memorials since, in His 
 Majesty's name of Great Britain, that a particu- 
 lar Junta of some of the Council of State and 
 War might be appointed to determine the busi- 
 ness. The last memorial had so good success 
 that the referees are nominated, whereof the chief- 
 est is the Duke of Infantado. Here it is not the 
 style to claw and compliment with the King or 
 idolize him by Sacred Sovereign and Most Excel- 
 lent Majesty, but the Spaniard when he petitions 
 to his king gives him no other character but " Sir," 
 and so relating his business; at the end he doth 
 ask and demand justice of him. When I have 
 done with the Viceroy here, I shall hasten my 
 dispatches for Sardinia. Since my last I went to 
 liquidate the account more particularly, and I find 
 that of the 250,000 crowns there are above 40,000 
 
 i I
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 207 
 
 due unto you, which might serve for a good al- 
 derman's estate. 
 
 Your son in Alicante writes to me of another 
 mischance that is befallen the ship Amitie about 
 Majorca, whereof you were one of the proprietaries. 
 I am very sorry to hear of it, and touching any 
 dispatches that are to be had hence, I shall en- 
 deavour to procure you them according to instruc- 
 tions. 
 
 Your cousin, Richard Altham, remembers his 
 kind respects unto you, and sends you many 
 thanks for the pains you took in freeing us from 
 that trouble which the scuffle with the sergeants 
 brought upon us. So I rest yours ready to serve 
 you, J. H. 
 
 Madrid, 5 January 1611. 
 
 m 
 
 XI 
 
 To the Lord Viscount Colchester^ from Madrid 
 
 Right Honourable, 
 
 TH E grand business of the match goes so fairly 
 on that a special Junta is appointed to treat 
 of it, the names whereof I send you here inclosed. 
 They have proceeded so far that most of the 
 articles are agreed upon. Mr George Gage is 
 lately come hither from Rome, a polite and pru- 
 dent gentleman, who hath negotiated some things 
 in that Court for the advance of the business with 
 the Cardinals Bandino, Lodovisio, and La Susanna,
 
 2o8 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 who are the main men there to whom the drawing 
 of the dispensation is referred. 
 
 The late taking of Ormus by the Persians from 
 the Crown of Portugal keeps a great noise here, 
 and the rather because the exploit was done by 
 the assistance of the English ships that were then 
 thereabouts. My Lord Digby went to Court and 
 gave a round satisfaction in this point ; for it was 
 no voluntary but a constrained act in the English, 
 who being in the Persian's port were suddenly 
 embarked for the service; and the Persian herein 
 did no more than what is usual amongst Chris- 
 tian princes themselves, and which is oftener put 
 in practice by the King of Spain and his viceroys, 
 than by any other, viz., to make an embargo of 
 any stranger's ship that rides within his ports 
 upon all occasions. It was feared this surprisal of 
 Orm*us, which was the greatest mart in all the 
 Orient for all sorts of jewels, would have bred ill 
 blood, and prejudiced the proceedings of the 
 match, but the Spaniard is a rational man, and 
 will be satisfied with reason. Count Olivares is the 
 main man who sways all, and 'tis thought he is 
 not so much affected to an alliance with England 
 as his predecessor the Duke of Lerma was, who 
 set it first afoot betwixt Prince Henry and this 
 Queen of France. The Duke of Lerma was the 
 greatest privado, the greatest favourite, that ever 
 was in Spain since Don Alvaro de Luna. He 
 brought, himself, tht Duke of Uzeda his son, and 
 the Duke of Cea his grandchild, to be all Grandees
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 209 
 
 of Spain, which is the greatest title that a Spanish 
 subject is capable of; they have a privilege to stand 
 covered before the King, and at their election there 
 is no other ceremony but only these three words 
 bv the King, " Cobrese por Grande" (cover your- 
 self for a Grandee), and that is all. The Cardinal 
 Duke of Lerma lives at Valladolid ; he ofHciates 
 and sings mass, and passeth his old age in devo- 
 tion and exercises of piety. It is a common and, in- 
 deed, a commendable custom amongst the Span- 
 iard when he hath passed \ns grand climacteric^ ■a.nd 
 is grown decrepit, to make a voluntary resignation 
 of offices be they never so great and profitable 
 (though I cannot say Lerma did so), and sequest- 
 ring and weaning themselves, as it were, from all 
 mundane negotiations and incumbrances, to retire 
 to some place of devotion, and spend the residue 
 of their days in meditation and in preparing them- 
 selves for another world. Charles the Emperor 
 shewed them the way, who left the empire to his 
 brother, and all the rest of his dominions to his 
 son Philip the Second, and so, taking with him 
 his two sisters, he retired into a monastery, they 
 into a nunnery. This doth not suit well with the 
 genius of an Englishman, who loves not to pull 
 off his clothes till he goes to bed. I will conclude 
 with some verses I saw under a huge Rodomon- 
 tado picture of the Duke of Lerma, wherein he is 1 
 painted like a giant bearing up the monarchy of ' 
 Spain, that of France, and the Popedom, upon 
 his shoulders, with this stanza —
 
 aio FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 Sobre los ombres d'este Atlante 
 Yazen en aquestos dias 
 Estas tres Monarquias. 
 
 Upon the shoulders of this Atlas lies 
 
 The Popedom and two mighty Monarchies. 
 
 So I most humbly kiss your Lordship's hands, 
 and rest ever most ready at your Lordship's com- 
 mand, J. H. 
 
 Madrid, 3 February 1622. 
 
 XII 
 
 To my Father 
 
 ALL affairs went on fairly here, specially that 
 of the match when Master Endymion 
 Porter brought lately my Lord of Bristol a dis- 
 patch from England of a high nature, wherein the 
 earl is commanded to represent unto this King 
 how much His Majesty of Great Britain since the 
 beginning of these German wars hath laboured to 
 merit well of this crown, and of the whole House 
 of Austria, by a long and lingering patience, 
 grounded still upon assurances hence, that care 
 should be had of his honour, his daughter's join- 
 ture, and grandchildren's patrimony; yet how 
 crossly all things had proceeded in the treaty at 
 Brussels, managed by Sir Richard Weston, as also 
 that in the Palatinate by the Lord Chichester ;
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 211 
 
 how in treating-time the town and castle of Heidel- 
 berg were taken, Manheim besieged, and all acts 
 of hostility used, notwithstanding the fair profes- 
 sions made by this King, the Infanta at Brussels, 
 and other his ministers ; how merely out of re- 
 spect to this King he had neglected all martial 
 means which probably might have preserved the 
 Palatinate ; those thin garrisons which he had 
 sent thither being rather for honour's sake to keep 
 a footing until a general accommodation, than 
 that he relied any way upon their strength ; and 
 since that there are no other fruits of all this but 
 reproach and scorn, and that those good offices 
 which he used towards the Emperor on the behalf 
 of his son-in-law, which he was so much encouraged 
 by letters from hence should take effisct, have not 
 sorted to any other issue, than to a plain affront and 
 a high injuring of both their Majesties, though in 
 a different degree; the earl is to tell him that His 
 Majesty of Great Britain hopes and desires that 
 out of a true apprehension of these wrongs offered 
 unto them both, he will as his dear and loving 
 brother faithfully promise and undertake upon his 
 honour, confirming the same under his hand and 
 seal, either that Heidelberg shall be within seventy 
 days rendered into his hands ; as also that there 
 shall be within the said term of seventy days a sus- 
 pension of arms in the Palatinate, and that a treaty 
 shall recommence upon such terms as he pro- 
 pounded in November last, which this King held 
 then to be reasonable ; and in case that this be not
 
 212 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 yielded unto by the Emperor, that then this King 
 join forces with His Majesty of England, for the 
 recovery of the Palatinate, which upon this trust 
 hath been lost ; or in case his forces at this time 
 be otherwise employed, that they cannot give His 
 Majesty that assistance he desires and deserves, 
 that at least he will permit a free and friendly pass- 
 age through his territories such forces as His Maj- 
 esty of Great Britain shall employ in Germany. 
 Of all which, if the Earl of Bristol hath not from 
 the King of Spain a direct assurance under his 
 hand and seal ten days after his audience, that 
 then he take his leave and return to England to 
 His Majesty's presence, also to proceed in the ne- 
 gotiation of the match according to former instruc- 
 tions. 
 
 This was the main substance of His Majesty's 
 late letter, yet there was a postscript added that in 
 case a rupture happen betwixt the two crowns the 
 earl should not come instantly and abruptly away, 
 but that he should send advice first to England 
 and carry the business so that the world should 
 not presently know of it. 
 
 Notwithstanding all these traverses we are con- 
 fident here that the match will take, otherwise my 
 cake is dough. There was a great difference in one 
 of the capitulations betwixt the two kings how long 
 the children which should issue of this marriage 
 were to continue sub regimine matris^ under the 
 tutelage of the mother. This King demanded four- 
 teen years at first, then twelve, but now he is come
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 213 
 
 to nine, which is newly condescended unto. I re- 
 ceived yours of the ist of September in another 
 from Sir James Crofts, wherein it was no small 
 comfort to me to hear of your health. I am to 
 go hence shortly for Sardinia, a dangerous voyage, 
 by reason of Algier pirates. I humbly desire your 
 prayers may accompany your dutiful son, 
 
 J. H. 
 Madrid, 23 February 1622. 
 
 XIII 
 
 To Sir James Crofts, Knight 
 
 YOURS of the 2nd of October came to safe 
 hand with the enclosed. You write that there 
 came despatches lately from Rome, wherein the 
 Pope seems to endeavour to insinuate himself into 
 a direct treaty with England, and to negotiate im- 
 mediately with our King touching the dispensation, 
 which he not only labours to evade, but utterly 
 disclaims, it being by article the task of this King 
 to procure all despatches thence. I thank you for 
 sending me this news. You shall understand there 
 came lately an express from R^ome also to this 
 court, touching the business of the match, which 
 gave very good content, but the dispatch and new 
 instructions which Mr Endymion Porter brought 
 my Lord of Bristol lately from England, touching 
 the Prince Palatine, filled us with apprehension 
 of fear. Our ambassadors here have had audience
 
 214 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 of this King already about those propositions, and 
 we hope that Master Porter will carry back such 
 things as will satisfy. Touching the two points in 
 the treaty wherein the two kings differed most, 
 viz., about the education of the children, and the 
 exemption of the Infanta's ecclesiastic servants 
 from secular jurisdiction, both these points are 
 cleared, for the Spaniard is come from fourteen 
 years to ten, and for so long time the infant princes 
 shall remain under the mother's government. And 
 for the other point the ecclesiastical superior shall 
 first take notice of the offence that shall be com- 
 mitted by any spiritual person belonging to the 
 Infanta's family, and according to the merit thereof 
 either deliver him by degradation to the secular 
 justice, or banish him the kingdom according to 
 the quality of the delict, and it is the same that is 
 practised in this kingdom and other parts that 
 adhere to Rome. 
 
 The Conde de Monterre goes Viceroy to Na- 
 ples, the Marquis de Montesclaros being put by, 
 the gallanter man of the two. I was told of a witty 
 saying of his when the Duke of Lerma had the 
 vogue in this court ; for going one morning to 
 speak with the duke, and having danced attend- 
 ance a long time, he peeped through a slit in the 
 hanging, and spied Don Rodrigo Calderon, a great 
 man (who was lately beheaded here for poisoning 
 the late Queen Dowager), delivering the duke a 
 paper upon his knees, whereat the marquis smiled 
 and said, " Voto a tal, aquel hombre sube mas a
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 215 
 
 las rodillas, que yo no hago a los pies " (I swear 
 that man climbs higher upon his knees than I can 
 upon my feet). Indeed I have read it to be a true 
 court rule that descendendo ascendendum est in Aula^ 
 descending is the way to ascend at court. There is 
 a kind of humility and compliance that is far from 
 any servile baseness or sordid flatterv, and may be 
 termed discretion rather than adulation. I intend, 
 God willing, to go for Sardinia this spring. I hope 
 to have better luck than Master Walsingham 
 Gresley had, who some few years since in his pass- 
 age thither upon the same business that I have in 
 agitation met with some Turkish men-of-war, and 
 so was carried a slave to Algiers. — So with my 
 true respects to you, I rest your faithful servant, 
 
 J. H. 
 Madrid, 12 March 1622. 
 
 XIV 
 
 To Sir Francis Cottington^ Secretary to His High- 
 ness the Prince of Wales^ at Saint 'Ja?nes 
 
 I BELIEVE it will not be unpleasing unto you 
 to hear of the procedure and success of that 
 business wherein yourself hath been so long versed 
 — I mean the great suit against the quondam 
 Viceroy of Sardinia, the Conde del a Real. Count 
 Gondomar's coming was a great advantage unto 
 me, who hath done me many favours, besides a
 
 2i6 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 confirmation of the two sentences of view and re- 
 view, and of the execution against the Viceroy. I 
 have procured a royal schedule, which I caused to 
 be printed, and whereof I send you here enclosed 
 a copy, by which schedule I have power to arrest 
 his very person ; and my lawyers tell me there was 
 never such a schedule granted before. I have also 
 by virtue of it priority of all other his creditors. 
 He hath made an imperfect overture of a com- 
 position, and showed me some trivial old-fashioned 
 jewels, but nothing equivalent to the debt. And 
 now that I speak of jewels, the late surprisal of 
 Ormus, by the assistance of our ships, sinks deep 
 in their stomachs here, and we were afraid it would 
 have spoiled all proceedings; but my Lord Digby, 
 now Earl of Bristol (for Count Gondomar brought 
 him over his patent), hath calmed all things at his 
 last audience. 
 
 There were luminaries of joy lately here for the 
 victory that Don Gonzalez de Cordova got over 
 Count Mansfelt in the Netherlands with that army 
 which the Duke of Bouillon had levied for him ; 
 but some say they have not much reason to re- 
 joice, for though the infantry suffered, yet Mans- 
 felt got clear with all his horse by a notable retreat, 
 and they say here it was the greatest piece of 
 service and art he ever did, it being a maxim 
 that there is nothing so difficult in the art of war 
 as an honourable retreat. Besides, the report of 
 his coming to Breda caused Marquis Spinola to 
 raise the siege before Berghen, to burn his tents,
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 217 
 
 and to pack away suddenly, for which he is much 
 censured here. 
 
 Captain Leat and others have written to me of 
 the favourable report you pleased to make of my 
 endeavours here, for which I return you humble 
 thanks. And though you have left behind you a 
 multitude of servants in this court, yet if occasion 
 were offered, none should be more forward to 
 go on your errand than your humble and faithful 
 servitor, J- H. 
 
 Madrid, 15 March 1622. 
 
 XV 
 
 To the Honourable Sir Thos. Savage, Knight 
 
 and Baronet 
 
 THE great business of the match was tend- 
 ing to a period, the articles reflecting both 
 upon Church and State being capitulated and in- 
 terchangeably accorded on both sides, and there 
 wanted nothing to consummate all things, when 
 to the wonderment of the world the Prince and 
 the Marquis of Buckingham arrived at this 
 court on Friday last upon the close of the even- 
 ing. They alighted at my Lord of Bristol's house, 
 and the Marquis (Mr Thomas Smith) came in 
 first with a portmanteau under his arm, then 
 (Mr John Smith) the Prince was sent for, who 
 stayed a while the other side of the street in the 
 dark. My Lord of Bristol, in a kind of astonish-
 
 2i8 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 ment, brought him up to his bedchamber, where 
 
 he presently called for pen and ink, and despatched 
 
 a post that night to England to acquaint His 
 
 Majesty how in less than sixteen days he was 
 
 come safely to the court of Spain. That post went 
 
 lightly laden, for he carried but three letters. The 
 
 next day came Sir Francis Cottington and Mr 
 
 Porter, and dark rumours ran in every corner how 
 
 some great man was come from England, and 
 
 some would not stick to say amongst the vulgar 
 
 it was the King. But towards the evening on Sat- 
 es o 
 
 urday the Marquis went in a close coach to court, 
 where he had private audience of this King, who 
 sent Olivares to accompany him back to the Prince, 
 where he kneeled and kissed his hands, and hugged 
 his thighs, and delivered how unmeasurably glad 
 his Catholic Majesty was of his coming, with other 
 high compliments, which Mr Porter did inter- 
 pret. About ten o'clock that night the King him- 
 self came in a close coach with intent to visit the 
 Prince, who, hearing of it, met him halfway, and 
 after salutations and divers embraces which passed 
 in the first interview they parted late. I forgot to 
 tell you that Count Gondomar, being sworn Coun- 
 cillor of State that morning, having been before 
 but one of the Council of War, he came in great 
 haste to visit the Prince, saying he had strange 
 news to tell him, which was that an Englishman 
 was sworn Privy Councillor of Spain, meaning 
 himself, who he said was an Englishman in his 
 heart. On Sunday following, the King in the after-
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 219 
 
 noon came abroad to take the air with the Queen, 
 his two brothers, and the Infanta, who were all 
 in one coach ; but the Infanta sat in the bootikin 
 with a blue riband about her arm, of purpose that 
 the Prince might distinguish her. There were 
 above twenty coaches besides of grandees, noble- 
 men, and ladies that attended them. And now it 
 was publicly known amongst the vulgar that it 
 was the Prince of Wales who had come, and the 
 confluence of people before my Lord of Bristol's 
 house was so great and greedy to see the Prince, 
 that to clear the wav Sir Lewis Dives went out 
 arid took coach, and all the crowd of people went 
 after him. So the Prince himself a little after took 
 coach, wherein there were the Earl of Bristol, Sir 
 Walter Ashton, and Count Gondomar, and so went 
 to the Prado, a place hard by, of purpose to take 
 the air, where they stayed till the King passed 
 by. As soon as the Infanta saw the Prince her 
 colour rose very high, which we hold to be an 
 impression of love and affection, for the face is 
 oftentimes a true index of the heart. Upon Mon- 
 day morning after the King sent some of his prime 
 nobles and other gentlemen to attend the Prince 
 in quality of officers, as one to be his major-domo 
 (his steward), another to be master of the horse, 
 and so too inferior officers, so that there is a com- 
 plete court now at my Lord of Bristol's house. 
 But upon Sunday next the Prince is to remove to 
 the King's palace, where there is one of the chief 
 quarters of the house providing for him. By the
 
 220 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 next opportunity you shall hear more. — In the 
 interim I take my leave and rest your most hum- 
 ble and ready servitor, J. H. 
 
 Madrid, March 27, 1623. 
 
 XVI 
 
 'To Sir Eubule Thelwall, Knight^ at Gray s Inn 
 
 I KNOW the eyes of all England are earnestly 
 fixed now upon Spain, her best jewel being 
 here; but his journey was like to be spoiled in 
 France, for if he had stayed but a little longer at 
 Bayonne, the last town of that kingdom hither- 
 wards, he had been discovered, for Monsieur Gra- 
 mond, the governor, had notice of him not long 
 after he had taken post. The people here do 
 mightily magnify the gallantry of the journey, and 
 cry out that he deserved to have the Infanta thrown 
 into his arms the first night he came. He hath 
 been entertained with all the magnificence that 
 possibly could be devised. On Sunday last, in 
 the morning betimes, he went to Saint Hierom's 
 monastery, whence the Kings of Spain used to be- 
 fetched the day they are crowned ; and thither 
 the King came in person with his two brothers, 
 his eight counsels, and the flower of the nobility. 
 He rode upon the King's right hand through the 
 heart of the town under a great canopy, and was 
 brought so into his lodgings in the King's palace, 
 and the King himself accompanied him to his very
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 221 
 
 bedchamber. It was a very glorious sight to be- 
 hold, for the custom of the Spaniard is, though 
 he go plain in his ordinary habit, yet upon some 
 festival or cause of triumph, there 's none goes 
 beyond him in gaudiness. 
 
 We daily hope for the Pope's breve or dispen- 
 sation to perfect the business, though there be 
 dark whispers abroad that it has come already, but 
 that upon this unexpected coming of the Prince, 
 it was sent back to Rome, and some new clauses 
 thrust in for their further advantage. Till this 
 despatch comes matters are at a kind of stand ; yet 
 His Highness makes account to be back in Eng- 
 land about the latter end of May. God Almighty 
 turn all to the best, and to what shall be most 
 conducible to his glory. — So with my due re- 
 spects unto you, I rest, your much obliged servi- 
 tor, J. H. 
 
 Madrid, April i, 1623. 
 
 XVII 
 
 To Captain Leaf 
 
 HAVING brought up the law to the highest 
 point against the Viceroy of Sardinia, and 
 ihat in an extraordinary manner, as may appear 
 unto you by that printed schedule I sent to you 
 in my last, and finding an apparent disability in 
 him to satisfy the debt, I thought upon a new 
 design, and framed a memorial to the King, and
 
 222 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 wrought good strong means to have it seconded : 
 that in regard that predatory act of seizing upon 
 the ship Vineyard in Sardinia with all her goods, 
 was done by His Majesty's viceroy, his sovereign 
 minister of state, one that immediately represented 
 his own royal person, and that the said viceroy 
 was insolvent, I desired His Majesty would be 
 pleased to grant a warrant for the relief of both 
 parties to load so many thousand sterils or meas- 
 ures of corn out of Sardinia and Sicily custom- 
 free. I had gone far in the business when Sir 
 Francis Cottington sent for me, and required me 
 in the Prince his name to proceed no further herein 
 till he was departed. So His Highness' presence 
 here hath turned rather to my disadvantage than 
 otherwise. Amongst other grandezas which the 
 King of Spain conferred upon our Prince, one was 
 the releasement of prisoners, and that all petitions of 
 grace should come to him for the first month, but 
 he hath been wonderful sparing in receiving any, 
 specially from any English, Irish, or Scot. Your 
 son Nicholas is come hither from Alicante about 
 the ship Amity^ and I shall be ready to second 
 him in getting satisfaction. — So I rest yours ready 
 to serve you, J. H. 
 
 Madrid, June 3, 1623.
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 223 
 
 XVIII 
 
 To Captain Tho. Porter 
 
 Noble Captain, 
 
 MY last unto you was in Spanish, in answer 
 to one of yours in the same language, and 
 amongst that confluence of English gallants, which 
 upon the occasion of His Highness being here, 
 are come to this court, I fed myself with hopes a 
 long while to have seen you, but I find now that 
 those hopes were imped with false feathers. I know 
 your heart is here and your best affections, there- 
 fore I wonder what keeps back your person ; but 
 I conceive the reason to be that you intend to 
 come like yourself, to come commander-in-chief 
 of one of the castles of the crown, one of the ships 
 royal. If you come so to this shore side, I hope 
 you will have time to come to the court. I have 
 at any time a good lodging for you, and my land- 
 lady is none of the meanest, and her husband hath 
 many good parts. I heard her setting him forth 
 one day and giving this character of him: "Mi 
 marido es buen musico, buen esgrimidor, buen es- 
 crivano, excellente arithmetico, salvo que no mul- 
 tiplica " (My husband is a good musician, a good 
 fencer, a good horseman, a good penman, and an 
 excellent arithmetician, only he cannot multiply). 
 For outward usage there is all industry used to 
 give the Prince and his servants all possible con-
 
 224 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 tentment, and some of the King's own servants 
 wait upon them at table in the palace, where I am 
 sorry to hear some of them jeer at the Spanish 
 fare, and use other slighting speeches and demean- 
 our. There are many excellent poems made here 
 since the Prince's arrival, which are too long to 
 couch in a letter, yet I will venture to send you 
 this one stanza of Lope de Vega's : 
 
 Carlos Estuardo Soy 
 
 Que siendo Amor mi guia 
 Al cielo d'Espana voy 
 
 Por ver mi Estrella Maria. 
 
 There are comedians once a week come to the 
 palace, where under a great canopy the Queen and 
 the Infanta sit in the middle, our Prince and Don 
 Carlos on the Queen's right hand, the King and 
 the little cardinal on the Infanta's left hand. I 
 have seen the Prince have his eyes immovably 
 fixed upon the Infanta half-an-hour together in a 
 thoughtful, speculative posture, which sure would 
 needs be tedious, unless affection did sweeten it ; 
 it was no handsome comparison of Olivares, that 
 he watched her as a cat doth a mouse. Not long 
 since the Prince, understanding that the Infanta 
 was used to go some mornings to the Casa de 
 Campo,a summer house the King hath on the other 
 side the river, to gather May dew, he did rise be- 
 times and went thither, taking your brother with 
 him. They were let into the house and into the 
 garden, but the Infanta was in the orchard, and 
 there being a high partition wall between and
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 225 
 
 the door doubly bolted, the Prince got on the top 
 of the wall and sprang down a great height, and 
 so made towards her; but she, spying him first of 
 all the rest, gave a shriek, and ran back. The old 
 marquis that was then her guardian came towards 
 the Prince and fell on his knees, conjuring His 
 Highness to retire, in regard he hazarded his head 
 it he admitted any to her company. So the door 
 was opened, and he came out under that wall over 
 which he had got in. I have seen him watch a 
 long hour together in a close coach in the open 
 street to see her as she went abroad. I cannot sav 
 that the Prince did ever talk with her privately, 
 yet publicly often, my Lord of Bristol being in- 
 terpreter, but the King always sat hard by to over- 
 hear all. Our cousin Archy hath more privilege 
 than any, for he often goes with his fool's coat 
 where the Infanta is with her meninas and ladies 
 of honour, and keeps a-blowing and blustering 
 amongst them, and flurts out what he list. 
 
 One day they were discoursing what a marvel- 
 lous thing it was that the Duke of Bavaria with 
 less than 15,000 men, after a long toilsome march, 
 should dare to encounter the Palsgrave's army 
 consisting of above 25,000, and to give them 
 an utter discomfiture, and take Prague presently 
 after. Whereunto Archy answered that he would 
 tell them a stranger thing than that. Was it not 
 a strange thing, quoth he, that in the year '88 
 there should come a fleet of 140 sail from Spain 
 to invade England, and that ten of these could
 
 226 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 not go back to tell what became of the rest? By 
 the next opportunity I will send you the Cordo- 
 van pockets and gloves you wrote for of Fran- 
 cesco Moreno's perfuming. — So may my dear 
 captain live long and love his J. H. 
 
 Madrid, July lo, 1623. 
 
 XIX 
 
 To my cousin Tho. Guin, Esq., at his house 
 
 Trecastle 
 
 Cousin, 
 
 I RECEIVED lately one of yours, which I can- 
 not compare more properly than to a posy of 
 curious flowers, there was therein such variety of 
 sweet strains and dainty expressions of love. And 
 though it bore an old date, for it was forty days 
 before it came to safe hand, vet the flowers were 
 still fresh, and not a whit faded, but cast as strong 
 and as fragrant a scent as when your hands bound 
 them up first together, only there was one flower 
 that did not savour so well, which was the unde- 
 served character you please to give of my small 
 abilities, which in regard you look upon me through 
 the prospective of afi^ection, appear greater unto 
 you than they are of themselves; yet as small as 
 they are, I would be glad to employ them all to 
 serve you upon any occasion. 
 
 Whereas you desire to know how matters pass 
 here, you shall understand that we are rather in
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 227 
 
 assurance than hopes that the match will take 
 effect, when one despatch more is brought from 
 Rome which we greedily expect. The Spaniards 
 generally desire it. They are much taken with 
 our Prince, with the bravery of his journey, and 
 his discreet comportment since ; and they confess 
 there was never princess courted with more gal- 
 lantry. The wits of the court here have made 
 divers encomiums of him and of his affection to 
 the Lady Infanta. Amongst others I send you 
 a Latin poem of one Marnierius, a Valencian, to 
 which I add this ensuing hexastich, which, in re- 
 gard to the difficulty of the verse, consisting of 
 all ternaries (which is the hardest way of versify- 
 ing), and of the exactness of the translation, I be- 
 lieve will give you content. 
 
 Fax grata est, gratum est vulnus, mihi grata catena est. 
 
 Me quibus astringit, laedit & urit Amor ; 
 
 Sed flammam extingui, sanari vulnera, solvi 
 
 Vincia, etiam ut possem non ego posse velim : 
 
 Mirum equidem genus hoc morbi est, incendia & ictus 
 
 Vinclaque, vinctus adhuc, laesus & ustus, amo. 
 
 Grateful 's to me the fire, the wound, the chain. 
 By which love burns, love binds and giveth pain ; 
 But for to quench this fire, these bonds to loose. 
 These wounds to heal, I would not could I choose : 
 Strange sickness, where the wounds, the bonds, the fire 
 That burns, that bind, that hurt, I must desire. 
 
 In your next I pray send me your opinion of 
 these verses, for I know you are a critic in poetry. 
 iVIr Vaughan of the Golden Grove and I were com-
 
 228 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 rades and bedfellows here many months together. 
 His father, Sir John Vaughan, the Prince, his 
 controller, is lately come to attend his master. 
 My Lord of Carlisle, my Lord of Holland, my 
 Lord of Rochfort, my Lord of Denbigh, and 
 divers others are here, so that we have a verv 
 flourishing court, and I could wish you were here 
 to make one of the number. So, my dear cousin, 
 I wish you all happiness, and our noble Prince a 
 safe and successful return to England. — Your most 
 affectionate cousin, 
 
 J.H. 
 
 Madrid, 13 August 1623. 
 
 XX 
 
 To 77iy Noble Friend Sir John North 
 
 THE long looked for dispensation is come 
 from Rome, but I hear it is clogged with new 
 clauses ; and one is, that the Pope, who allegeth 
 that the only- aim of the Apostolical See in grant- 
 ing this dispensation was the advantage and ease 
 of the Catholics in the King of Great Britain's do- 
 rriinions, therefore he desired a valuable caution for 
 the performance of those articles which were stipu- 
 lated in their favour. This hath much puzzled the 
 business, and Sir Francis Cottington comes now 
 over about it. Besides there is some distaste taken 
 at the Duke of Buckingham here, and I heard this 
 King should say he will treat no more with him
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 229 
 
 but with the ambassadors, who, he salth, have 
 a more plenary commission, and understand the 
 business better. As there is some darkness hap- 
 pened betwixt the two favourites, so matters stand 
 not right betwixt the Duke and the Earl of 
 Bristol ; but God forbid that a business of so high 
 a consequence as this, which is likely to tend so 
 much to the universal good of Christendom, to the 
 restitution of the Palatinate, and the composing 
 those broils in Germany, should be ranversed by 
 differences betwixt a few private subjects, though 
 now public ministers. 
 
 Mr Washington, the Prince's page, is lately dead 
 of a calenture; and I was at his burial under a fig- 
 tree behind my Lord of Bristol's house. A little 
 before his death one Ballard, an EngHsh priest, 
 went to tamper with him, and Sir Edmund Varney, 
 meeting him coming down the stairs out of Wash- 
 ington's chamber, they fell from words to blows; 
 but thev were parted. The business was like to 
 gather very ill blood and come to a great height 
 had not Count Gondomar quashed it, which 1 be- 
 lieve he could not have done unless the times had 
 been favourable ; for such is the reverence they 
 bear to the Church here, and so holy a conceit they 
 have of all ecclesiastics, that the greatest don in 
 Spain will tremble to offer the meanest of them any 
 outrage or affront. Count Gondomar hath also 
 helped to free some English that were in the 
 Inquisition in Toledo and Seville, and I could 
 allege many instances how ready and cheerful he is
 
 ISO FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 to assist any Englishman whatsoever, notwithstand- 
 ing the base affronts he hath often received of the 
 London boys as he calls them. At his last return 
 hither, I heard of a merry saying of his to the 
 Queen, who discoursing with him about the great- 
 ness of London, and whether it was as populous as 
 Madrid : "Yes, madam, and more populous when 
 I came away, though I believe there is scarce a 
 man left there now, but all women and children ; 
 for all the men both in court and city were ready 
 booted and spurred to go away." And I am sorry 
 to hear how other nations do much tax the English 
 of their incivility to public ministers of state, and 
 what ballads and pasquils, and fopperies and plays 
 were made against Gondomar for doing his master's 
 business. My Lord of Bristol coming from Ger- 
 many to Brussels, notwithstanding that at his arrival 
 thither the news was fresh that he had relieved 
 Frankindale as he passed, yet was he not a whit 
 the less welcome, but valued the more both by the 
 archduchess herself and Spinola, with all the rest; 
 as also that they knew well that the said earl had 
 been the sole adviser of keeping Sir Robert 
 Mansell abroad with that fleet upon the coast of 
 Spain till the Palsgrave should be restored. I pray, 
 sir, when you go to London Wall and Tower 
 Hill, be pleased to remember my humble service, 
 where you know it is due. — So I am, your most 
 faithful servitor, J. H. 
 
 Madrid, August 15, 1623.
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 231 
 
 XXI 
 
 To the right honourable the Lord Viscount 
 
 Colchester 
 
 My very good Lord, 
 
 I RECEIVED the letter and commands your 
 lordship pleased to send me by Mr Walsing- 
 ham Gresley, and touching the constitutions and 
 orders of the contratation house of the West 
 Indies in Seville, I cannot procure it for love or 
 money upon any terms, though I have done all 
 possible diligence therein. And some tell me it is 
 dangerous, and no less than treason in him that 
 gives the copy of them to any, in regard it is 
 counted the greatest mystery of all the Spanish 
 government. 
 
 That difficulty which happened in the business 
 of the match of giving caution to the Pope is now 
 overcome; for whereas our King answered that he 
 could give no other caution than his royal word 
 and his son's exemplified under the great seal of 
 England, and confirmed by his Council of State, 
 it being impossible to have it done by Parliament, 
 in regard of the averseness the common people 
 have to the alliance; and whereas this gave no 
 satisfaction to Rome, the King of Spain now offers 
 himself for caution, for putting in execution what 
 is stipulated in behalf of the Roman Catholics 
 throughout His Majesty of Great Britain's domin-
 
 232 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 ions ; but he desires to consult his ghostly fathers 
 to know whether he may do it without wronging 
 his conscience; hereupon there hath been a junta 
 formed of bishops and Jesuits, who have been 
 already a good while about it, and the Bishop of 
 Segovia, who is, as it were, lord treasurer, having 
 written a treatise lately against the match, was 
 ousted of his office, banished the court, and con- 
 fined to his diocese. The Duke of Buckingham 
 hath been ill disposed a good while, and lies sick 
 at court, where the Prince hath no public exercise 
 of devotion, but only bedchamber prayers, and 
 some think that his lodging in the King's house 
 is like to prove a disadvantage to the main busi- 
 ness ; for whereas most sorts of people here hardly 
 hold us to be Christians, if the Prince had had 
 a palace of his own, and been permitted to have 
 used a room for an open chapel to exercise the 
 liturgy of the Church of England, it would have 
 brought them to have a better opinion of us ; and 
 to this end there were some of our best church 
 plate and vestments brought hither but never 
 used. The slow pace of this Junta troubles us a 
 little, and to the divines there are some civilians 
 admitted lately, and the quaere is this, whether 
 the King of Spain may bind himself by oath 
 in the behalf of the King of England, to per- 
 form such and such articles that are agreed on 
 in favour of the Roman Catholics by virtue of 
 this match, whether the King may do this salva 
 conscientia ?
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 233 
 
 There was a great show lately here of baiting 
 of bulls with men for the entertainment of the 
 Prince. It is the chiefest of all Spanish sports; 
 commonly there are men killed at it, therefore 
 there are priests appointed to be there readv to 
 confess them. It hath happened oftentimes that 
 a bull hath taken up two men upon his horns 
 with their guts dangling about them ; the horse- 
 men run with lances and swords, the foot with 
 goads. As I am told the Pope hath sent divers 
 Bulls against this sport of bulling, yet it will not 
 be left, the nation hath taken such an habitual 
 delight in it. There was an ill-favoured accident 
 like to have happened latelv at the King's house, 
 in that part where my Lord of Carlisle and my 
 Lord Denbigh were lodged ; for my Lord Den- 
 bigh, late at night taking a pipe of tobacco in 
 a balcony which hung over the King's garden, he 
 blew down the ashes, which falHng upon some 
 parched combustible matter began to flame and 
 spread, but Master Davis, my Lord of Carlisle's 
 barber, leaped down a great height and quenched 
 it. So with continuance of my most humble 
 service, I rest ever ready, at your lordship's 
 commands, ' J. H. 
 
 Madrid, August 16, 1623.
 
 234 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 XXII 
 
 To Sir 'James Crofts^ fro??j Madrid 
 
 THE Court of Spain affords now little news ; 
 for there is a remora sticks to the business 
 of the match, till the Junta of divines give up 
 their opinion. But from Turkey there came a 
 letter this week wherein there is the strangest and 
 most tragical news, that in my small reading no 
 story can parallel, or show with more pregnancy 
 the instability and tottering estate of human great- 
 ness, and the sandy foundation whereon the vast 
 Ottoman Empire is reared upon, for Sultan Osman, 
 the grand Turk, a man according to the humour 
 of that nation, warlike and fleshed in blood and 
 a violent hater of Christians, was, in the flower of 
 his years, in the heat and height of his courage, 
 knocked in the head by one of his own slaves, 
 and one of the meanest of them, with a battle-axe, 
 and the murderer never after proceeded against or 
 questioned. 
 
 The ground of this tragedy was the late ill-suc- 
 cess he had against the Pole,, wherein he lost about 
 100,000 horse for want of forage, and 80,000 men 
 for want of fighting, which he imputed to the 
 cowardice of his janizaries, who rather than bear 
 the brunt of the battle, were more willing to re- 
 turn home to their wives and merchandising, 
 which they are now permitted to do contrary to
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 235 
 
 their first institution, which makes them more 
 worldly and less venturous. This disgraceful re- 
 turn from Poland stuck in Osman's stomach, and 
 so he studied a way how to be revenged of the 
 janizaries. Therefore, by the advice of his grand 
 vizier (a stout gallant man who had been one of 
 the chief Beglerbegs in the East), he intended to 
 erect a new soldiery in Asia about Damascus, of 
 the Kurds, a frontier people, and consequently 
 hardy and inured to arms. Of these he purposed 
 to entertain 40,000 as a lifeguard for his person, 
 though the main design was to suppress his lazy 
 and lustful janizaries with men of fresh new 
 spirits. 
 
 To disguise this plot he pretended a pilgrimage 
 to Mecca, to visit Mahomet's tomb, and reconcile 
 himself to the prophet, who he thought was angry 
 with him because of his late ill-success in Poland. 
 But this colour was not specious enough in regard 
 he might have performed this pilgrimage with a 
 smaller train and charge. Therefore it was pro- 
 pounded that the Emir of Sidon should be made 
 to rise up in arms, that so he might go with a 
 greater power and treasure. But this plot was held 
 disadvantageous to him in regard his janizaries 
 must then have attended him. So he pretends and 
 prepares only for the pilgrimage, yet he makes 
 ready as much treasure as he could make, and to 
 that end he melts his plate, and furniture of horses, 
 with divers church lamps. This fomented some 
 jealousy in the janizaries, with certain words which
 
 236 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 should drop from him, that he would find soldiers 
 shortly should whip them. Hereupon he hath 
 sent over to Asia's side his pavilions, many of his 
 servants, with his jewels and treasure, resolving 
 upon the voyage, notwithstanding that divers 
 petitions were delivered him from the clergy, the 
 civil magistrate and the soldiery that he should 
 desist from the vovage ; but all would not do. 
 Thereupon, upon the point of his departure, the 
 janizaries and spahies came in a tumultuary manner 
 to the seraglio, and in a high insolent language 
 dissuaded him from the pilgrimage, and demanded 
 of him his ill counsellors. The first he granted, 
 but for the second he said that it stood not with 
 his honour to have his nearest servants torn from 
 him so without anv legal proceeding, but he 
 assured them that they should appear in the divan 
 the next day to answer for themselves ; but this 
 not satisfying they went away in a fury and plun- 
 dered the grand vizier's palace with divers others. 
 Osman hereupon was advised to go from his pri- 
 vate gardens that night to the Asian shore, but 
 his destiny kept him from it. So the next morn- 
 ing they came armed to the Court (but having 
 made a covenant not to violate the imperial throne) 
 and cut in pieces the grand vizier with divers 
 other great officers, and not finding Osman, who 
 had hid himself in a small lodge in one of his 
 gardens, they cried out they must have a Mussul- 
 man Emperor. Therefore they broke into a dun- 
 geon and brought out Mustapha, Osman's uncle,
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL ii,^ 
 
 whom he had clapt there at the beginning of the 
 tumult, and who had been king before, but was 
 deposed tor his simpHcity, being a kind of santon 
 or holy man, that is, betwixt an innocent and an 
 idiot. This Mustapha they did reinthronise and 
 place in the Ottoman Empire. 
 
 The next day they found out Osman, and 
 brought him before Mustapha, who excused him- 
 self with tears in his eyes for his rash attempts, 
 which wrought tenderness in some, but more 
 scorn and furv in others, who fell upon the ca-pi 
 aga^ with other officers, and cut them in pieces 
 before his eyes. Osman thence was carried to 
 prison, and as he was getting on horseback a com- 
 mon soldier took off his turban and clapt his 
 upon Osman's head, who in his passage begged a 
 draught of water at a fountain. The next day the 
 new vizier went with an executioner to strangle 
 him in regard there were two younger brothers 
 more of his to preserve the Ottoman's race, where, 
 after thev had rushed in, he being newly awaked 
 and staring upon them, and thinking to defend 
 himself, a robust boisterous rogue knocked him 
 down, and so the rest fell upon him and strangled 
 him with much ado. 
 
 Thus fell one of the greatest potentates upon 
 earth by the hands of a contemptible slave, for 
 there is not a free-born subject in all that vast 
 empire. Thus fell he that entitles himself most 
 puissant and highest monarch of the Turks, king 
 above all kings, a king that dwelleth upon the
 
 238 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 earthly paradise, son of Mahomet, keeper of the 
 grave of the Christian God, Lord of the Tree of 
 Life and of the river Flisky, prior of the Earthly 
 Paradise, conqueror of the Macedonians, the seed 
 of great Alexander, Prince of the kingdoms of 
 Tartary, Mesopotamia, Media and of the Martial 
 Mammalucks, Anatolia, Bithynia, Asia, Arme- 
 nia, Servia, Thracia, Morea, Valachia, Moldavia, 
 and of all warlike Hungary, Sovereign Lord and 
 Commander of all Greece, Persia, both the Arabias, 
 the most noble kingdom of Egypt, Tremisen and 
 African, Emperor of Trebisond and the most glori- 
 ous Constantinople, lord of all the White and 
 Black Seas, of the holy cities Mecca and Medina, 
 shining with divine glory, commander of all things 
 that are to be commanded, and the strongest and 
 mightiest champion of the wide world, a warrior 
 appointed by heaven in the edge of the sword, 
 a persecutor of his enemies, a most perfect jewel 
 of the blessed tree, the chiefest keeper of the cruci- 
 fied God, etc., with other such bombastical 
 titles. 
 
 This Osman was a man of goodly constitution, 
 an amiable aspect, and of excess of courage, but 
 sordidly covetous, which drove him to violate the 
 church and to melt the lamps thereof, which made 
 the Mufti say that this was a due judgment fallen 
 upon him from heaven for his sacrilege. He used 
 also to make his person too cheap, for he would 
 go ordinarily in the night time with two men after 
 him like a petty constable and peep into the cauph-
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 239 
 
 houses and cabarets and apprehend soldiers there. 
 And these two things it seems was the cause, that 
 when he was so assaulted in the Seraglio, not one 
 of his domestic servants, whereof he had 3000, 
 would lift an arm to help him. 
 
 Some few days before his death he had a strange 
 dream, for he dreamt that he was mounted upon 
 a great camel, who would not go neither by fair nor 
 foul means, and alighting off him and thinking to 
 strike him with his scimitar, the body of the beast 
 vanished, leaving the head and the bridle only in 
 his hands. When the Mufti and the Hoggles 
 could not interpret this dream, Mustapha, his 
 uncle, did it, for he said the camel signified his 
 empire, his mounting of him his excess In govern- 
 ment, his alighting down his deposing. Another 
 kind of prophetic speech dropped from the grand 
 vizier to Sir Thomas Roe, our ambassador there, 
 who having gone a little before this tragedy to 
 visit the said vizier, told him what whisperings 
 and mutterings there were in every corner for this 
 Asiatic voyage, and what 111 consequences might 
 ensue from it, therefore it might well stand with 
 his great wisdom to stay it ; but if it held he de- 
 sired him to leave a charge with the Chimacham, 
 his deputy, that the English nation In the port 
 should be free from outrages, whereunto the grand 
 vizier answered, " Trouble not yourself about that, 
 for I will not remove so far from Constantinople, 
 but I will leave one of my legs behind to serve 
 you," which proved too true, for he was murdered
 
 240 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 afterwards and one of his legs was hung up in the 
 hippodrome. 
 
 This fresh tragedy makes me to give over won- 
 dering at anything that ever I heard or read, to 
 show the lubricity of mundane greatness, as also 
 the fury of the vulgar, which, like an impetuous 
 torrent, gathereth strength by degrees as it meets 
 with divers dams, and being come to the height, 
 cannot stop itself; for when this rage of the soldiers 
 began first there was no design at all to violate or 
 hurt the Emperor, but to take from him his ill 
 counsellors ; but being once afoot, it grew by 
 insensible degrees to the utmost of outrages. 
 
 The bringing out of Mustapha from the dun- 
 geon, where he was prisoner, to be Emperor of the 
 Musulmans, puts me in mind of what I read in 
 Mr Camden of our late Queen Elizabeth, how 
 she was brought from the scaffold to the English 
 throne. 
 
 They who profess to be critics in policy here 
 hope that this murdering of Osman may in time 
 breed good blood, and prove advantageous to 
 Christendom, for though this be the first emperor 
 of the Turks that was dispatched so, he is not like 
 to be the last, now that the soldiers have this pre- 
 cedent. Others think that if that design in Asia 
 had taken, it had been very probable the Con- 
 stantinopolians had hoisted up another king, and 
 so the empire had been dismembered, and by 
 this division had lost strength, as the Roman Em- 
 pire did, when it was broken into east and west.
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 241 
 
 Excuse me that this my letter is become such 
 a monster. I mean that it hath passed the size 
 and ordinary proportions of a letter, for the matter 
 it treats of is monstrous ; besides, it is a rule that 
 historical letters have more liberty to be long than 
 others. In my next you shall hear how matters 
 pass here. And in the meantime and always, I rest 
 your lordship's most devoted servitor, 
 
 J. H. 
 
 Madrid, August 17, 1623. 
 
 XXIII 
 
 To the Right Honourable Sir Tho. Savage, 
 Knight and Baronet 
 
 Honourable Sir, 
 
 THE procedure of things in relation to the 
 grand business of the match was at a kind of 
 stand when the long-winded Junta delivered their 
 opinions and fell at last upon this result, that 
 His Catholic Majesty, for the satisfaction of 
 Saint Peter, might oblige himself in the behalf of 
 England, for the performance of those capitulations 
 which reflected upon the Roman Catholics in that 
 kingdom ; and in case of non-performance, then 
 to right himself by war; since that, the matri- 
 monial articles were solemnly sworn unto by the 
 King of Spain and His Highness, the two favour- 
 ites, our two ambassadors, the Duke of Infantado 
 and other counsellors of state being present ; here-
 
 242 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 upon the eighth of the next September is appointed 
 to be the day of Desposorios, the day of affiance, 
 or the betrothing day. There was much gladness 
 expressed here, and luminaries of joy were in every 
 great street throughout the city. But there is an 
 unlucky accident hath intervened, for the King 
 gave the Prince a solemn visit since, and told him 
 Pope Gregory was dead, who was so great a friend 
 to the match, but in regard the business was not 
 yet come to perfection, he could not proceed 
 further in it till the former dispensation were rati- 
 fied by the new Pope Urban, which to procure he 
 would make it his own task, and that all possible 
 expedition should be used in it, and therefore 
 desired his patience in the interim. The Prince 
 answered, and pressed the necessity of his speedy 
 return with divers reasons. He said there was a 
 general kind of murmuring in England for his so 
 long absence, that the King his father was old and 
 sickly, that the fleet of ships were all ready, he 
 thought, at sea, to fetch him, the winter drew on, 
 and withal that the articles of the match were 
 signed in England, with this proviso, that if he be 
 not come back by such a month, they should be of 
 no validity. The King replied that, since His High- 
 ness was resolved upon so sudden a departure, he 
 would please to leave a proxy behind to finish the 
 marriage, and he would take it for a favour if he 
 would depute him to personate him, and ten days 
 after the ratification shall come from Rome the 
 business shall be done, and afterwards he might
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 243 
 
 send for his wife when he pleased. The Prince 
 rejoined that amongst those multitudes of royal 
 favours which he had received from His Majesty, 
 this transcended all the rest, therefore he would 
 willingly leave a proxy for His Majesty and an- 
 other for Don Carlos to this effect. So they parted 
 for that time without the least umbrage of discon- 
 tent, nor do I hear of any engendered since. The 
 last month, it is true, the Junta of divines dwelt so 
 long upon the business that there were whisperings 
 that the Prince intended to go away disguised as 
 he came, and the question being asked by a person 
 of qualitv, there was a brave answer made, that if 
 love brought him hither, it is not fear shall drive 
 him awav. 
 
 There are preparations already on foot for his 
 return, and the two proxies are drawn and left in 
 my Lord of Bristol's hands. Notwithstanding 
 this ill-favoured stop, yet we are here all confident 
 the business will take effect. In which hopes I 
 rest your most humble and ready servitor, 
 
 J. H. 
 
 Madrid, 18 August 1623. 
 
 XXIV 
 
 To Captain Nich. Leat at his House in London 
 
 THIS letter comes to you by Mr Richard 
 Altham, of whose sudden departure hence 
 I am very sorry, it being the late death of his
 
 244 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 brother Sir James Altham. I have been at a stand 
 in the business a good while, for His Highness 
 coming hither was no advantage to me in the earth. 
 He hath done the Spaniards divers courtesies, but 
 he hath been very sparing in doing the EngHsh 
 any. It may be perhaps because it may be a dim- 
 inution of honour to be beholding to any foreign 
 prince to do his own subjects favours, but my 
 business requires no favour — all I desire is justice, 
 which I have not obtained yet in reality. 
 
 The Prince is preparing for his journey. I shall 
 to it again closely when he is gone, and make 
 a shaft or a bolt of it. The Pope's death hath 
 retarded the proceedings of the match, but we are 
 so far from despairing of it that one may have 
 wagers thirty to one it will take effect still. He 
 that deals with this nation must have a great deal 
 of phlegm, and if this grand business of state, the 
 match, suffer such protractions and puttings off, 
 you need not wonder that private negotiations, as 
 mine is, should be subject to the same inconven- 
 iences. There shall be no means left unattempted 
 that my best industry can find out to put a period 
 to it, and when His Highness is gone I hope to 
 find my Lord of Bristol more at leisure to con- 
 tinue his favour and furtherance, which hath been 
 much already. — So I rest yours ready to serve 
 you, J. H. 
 
 Madrid, August 19, 1623.
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 245 
 
 XXV 
 
 To Sir 'James Crofts 
 
 THE Prince is now upon his journey to the 
 seaside, where mv Lord of Rutland attends 
 tor him with a royal fleet. There are many here 
 shrink in their shoulders, and are very sensible 
 of his departure, and the Lady Infanta resents 
 it more than any. She hath caused a Mass to 
 be sung every day ever since for his good voyage. 
 The Spaniards themselves confess there was never 
 princess so bravely wooed. The King and his two 
 brothers accompanied His Highness to the Escu- 
 rial some twenty miles off, and would have brought 
 him to the seaside, but that the Queen is big and 
 hath not many days to go. When the King and 
 he parted, there passed wonderful great endear- 
 ments and embraces in divers postures between 
 them a long time ; and in that place there is a 
 pillar to be erected as a monument to posterity. 
 There are some grandees, and Count Gondomar, 
 with a great train besides, gone with him to the 
 marine, to the seaside, which will be many days' 
 journey, and must needs put the King of Spain 
 to a mighty expense, besides his seven months' 
 entertainment here. We hear that when he passed 
 through Valladolid, the Duke of Lerma was retired 
 thence for the time by special command from the 
 King, lest he might have discourse with the Prince,
 
 C146 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 whom he extremely desired to see. This sunk 
 deep into the old duke, insomuch that he said, 
 that of all the acts of malice which Olivares had 
 ever done him, he resented this more than any. 
 He bears up yet very well under his cardinal's 
 habit, which hath kept him from many a foul 
 storm that might have fallen upon him else from 
 the temporal power. The Duke of Uzeda, his 
 son, finding himself decline in favour at court, had 
 retired to the country, and died soon after of dis- 
 contentment. During his sickness the cardinal 
 wrote this short weighty letter unto him : " Dizen 
 me, que mareys de necio; por mi, mas temo mis 
 anos que mis enemigos. — Lerma." I shall not 
 need to English it to you, who is so great a master 
 of the language. Since I began this letter, we under- 
 stand the Prince is safely embarked, but not with- 
 out some danger of being cast away, had not Sir 
 Sackville Trevor taken him up. I pray God send 
 him a good voyage, and us no ill news from Eng- 
 land. My most, humble service at Tower Hill. 
 So I am your humble servitor, 
 
 J. H. 
 Madrid, August 21, 1623.
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 247 
 
 XXVI 
 
 To 77iy Brother^ Dr Howell 
 
 My Brother, 
 
 SINCE our Prince's departure hence, the Lady 
 Infanta studieth English apace, and one Mr 
 Wadsworth and Father Boniface, two Englishmen, 
 are appointed her teachers, and have access to her 
 every day. We account her, as it were, our Prin- 
 cess now, and as we give, so she takes that title. 
 Our ambassadors, my Lord of Bristol and Sir 
 Walter Ashton, will not stand now covered before 
 her when they have audience, because they hold 
 her to be their Princess. She is preparing divers 
 suits of rich clothes for His Highness of perfumed 
 amber leather, some embroidered with pearl, some 
 with gold, some with silver! Her family is a-set- 
 tling apace, and most of her ladies and officers are 
 known already. We want nothing now but one 
 dispatch more from Rome, and then the marriage 
 will be solemnised, and all things consummated. 
 Yet there is one Mr Clerk (with the lame arm) 
 that came hither from the seaside, as soon as the 
 Prince was gone; he is one of the Duke of Buck- 
 ingham's creatures, yet he lies at the Earl of Bris- 
 tol's house, which we wonder at, considering the 
 darkness that happened betwixt the duke and the 
 earl. We fear that this Clerk hath brought some- 
 thing that may puzzle the business. Besides
 
 248 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 having occasion to make my address lately to the 
 Venetian ambassador, who is interested in some 
 part of that great business for which I am here, he 
 told me confidently it would be no match, nor did 
 he think it was ever intended; But I want faith 
 to believe him yet, for I know St Mark is no 
 friend to it, nor France, nor any other prince or 
 state, besides the King of Denmark, whose grand- 
 mother was of the house of Austria, being sister 
 to Charles the Emperor. Touching the business 
 of the Palatinate, our ambassadors were lately 
 assured by Olivares and all the counsellors here, 
 and that in this King's name, that he would pro- 
 cure His Majesty of Great Britain entire satis- 
 faction herein; and Olivares, giving them the joy, 
 entreated them to assure their King upon their 
 honour, and upon their lives, of the reality hereof 
 For the Infanta herself (saith he) hath stirred in 
 it, and makes it now her own business; for it 
 was a firm peace and amity (which he confessed 
 could never be without the accommodation of 
 things in Germany) as much as an alliance, 
 which His Catholic Majesty aimed at. But we 
 shall know shortly now what to trust to, we shall 
 walk no more in mists, though some give out 
 yet that our Prince shall embrace a cloud for Juno 
 
 at last. 
 
 I pray present my service to Sir John Franklin 
 and Sir John Smith, with all at the Hill and Dale, 
 and when you send to Wales, I pray convey the 
 enclosed to my father. So, my dear brother, I pray
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 249 
 
 God bless us both, and bring us again joyfully 
 together. — Your very loving brother, J. H. 
 Madrid, August 12, 1623. 
 
 XXVII 
 
 To my noble friend^ Sir yohn Norths Knight 
 
 I RECEIVED lately one of yours, but it was of 
 a very old date. We have our eyes here now 
 all fixed upon Rome, greedily expecting the ratifi- 
 cation, and lately a strong rumour ran it was come. 
 In so much that Mr Clerk, who was sent hither 
 from the Prince, being a shipboard (and now lies 
 sick at my Lord of Bristol's house of a calenture), 
 hearing of it, he desired to speak with him, for he 
 had something to deliver him from the Prince. My 
 Lord Ambassador being come to him, Mr Clerk 
 delivered a letter from the Prince, the contents 
 whereof were : That whereas he had left certain 
 proxies in his hand to be delivered to the King 
 of Spain after the ratification was come, he desired 
 and required him not to do it till he should receive 
 further order from England. My Lord of Bristol 
 hereupon went to Sir Walter Aston, who was in 
 joint commission with him for concluding the 
 match, and showing him the letter, what my Lord 
 Aston said I know not, but my Lord of Bristol 
 told him that they had a commission royal under 
 the broad seal of England to conclude the match. 
 He knew as well as he how earnest the King their
 
 250 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 master hath been any time this ten years to have it 
 done. How there could not be a better pawn for the 
 surrendry of the Palatinate than the Infanta in the 
 Prince his arms, who could never rest till she did 
 the work to merit love of our nation. He told 
 him also how their own particular fortunes de- 
 pended upon it ; besides, if he should delay one 
 moment to deliver the proxy after the ratification 
 was come, according to agreement, the Infanta 
 would hold herself so blemished in her honour 
 that it might overthrow all things. Lastly, he told 
 him that they incurred the hazard of their heads 
 if they should suspend the executing His Majes- 
 ty's commission upon any order but from that 
 power which gave it, who was the King himself. 
 Hereupon both the ambassadors proceeded still 
 in preparing matters for the solemnising of the 
 marriage. The Earl of Bristol had caused above 
 thirty rich liveries to be made of watchet velvet, 
 with silver lace up to the very capes of the cloaks ; 
 the best sorts whereof were valued at ;^8o a livery. 
 My Lord Aston had also provided new liveries, 
 and a fortnight after the said politic report was 
 blown up the ratification came indeed complete 
 and full. So the marriage day was appointed, a 
 terrace covered all over with tapestry was raised 
 from the King's palace to the next church, which 
 might be about the same extent as from Whitehall 
 to Westminster Abbey, and the King intended to 
 make his sister a wife and his daughter (whereof 
 the Queen was delivered a little before) a Christian
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 251 
 
 upon the same day. The grandees and great ladies 
 had been invited to the marriage, and order was 
 sent to all the port towns to discharge their great 
 ordnance, and sundry other things were prepared 
 to honour the solemnity; but when we were thus 
 at the height of our hopes, a day or tvvo before, 
 there came Mr Killegree, Gresly, Wood and 
 Davies, one upon the neck of another with a new 
 commission to my Lord of Bristol immediately 
 from His Majesty, countermanding him to deliver 
 the proxy aforesaid, until a full and absolute satis- 
 faction were had for the surrender of the Palatinate 
 under this King's hand and seal. In regard he 
 desired his son should be married to Spain, and 
 his son-in-law remarried to the Palatinate at one 
 time. Hereupon all was dashed in pieces, and that 
 frame which was rearing so many years was ruined 
 in a moment. This news struck a damp in the 
 hearts of all people here, and they wished that 
 the postillions that brought it had all broke their 
 necks on the way. 
 
 My Lord of Bristol hereupon went to court to 
 acquaint the King with his new commission, and so 
 proposed the restitution of the Palatinate. The 
 King answ^ered it was none of his to give. It is 
 true he had a few towns there, but he held them as 
 commissioner only for the Emperor, and he could 
 not command an Emperor ; yet if His Majesty of 
 Great Britain would put a treaty a foot, he would 
 send his own ambassadors to join. In the interim 
 the earl was commanded not to deliver the afore-
 
 252 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 said proxy of the Prince for the disponsories or 
 espousal until Christmas (and herein it seems His 
 Majesty with you was not well informed, for those 
 powers of proxies expired JDefore). The King here 
 said further that if his uncle the Emperor, or the 
 Duke of Bavaria, would not be conformable to 
 reason he would raise as great an army for the 
 Prince Palsgrave as he did under Spinola when he 
 first invaded the Palatinate ; and to secure this he 
 would engage his contratation house of the West 
 Indies, with his Plate fleet, and give the most bind- 
 ing instrument that could be under his hand and 
 seal. But this gave no satisfaction, therefore my 
 Lord of Bristol, I believe, hath not long to stay 
 here, for he is commanded to deliver no more let- 
 ters to the Infanta nor demand any more audience, 
 and that she should be no more styled Princess 
 of England or Wales. The foresaid caution which 
 this King ofi^ered to my Lord of Bristol made me 
 think of what I read of his grandfather Philip the 
 Second, who having been married to our Queen 
 Mary, and it being thought she was with child 
 of him, and was accordingly prayed for at Paul's 
 Cross, though it proved afterwards but a tympany. 
 King Philip proposed to our Parliament that they 
 would pass an act that he might be regent during 
 his or her minority that should be born, and he 
 would give good caution to surrender the crown, 
 when he or she should come to age ; the motion 
 was hotly canvassed in the House of Peers, and like 
 to pass, when the Lord Paget rose up and said,
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 2S3. 
 
 " Aye, but who shall sue the King's bond," so the 
 business was dashed. I have no more news to send 
 you now, and I am sorry I have so much, unless 
 it were better; for we that have business to nego- 
 tiate here are like to suffer much by this rupture. 
 Welcome be the will of God, to whose benedic- 
 tion I commend you, and rest, your most humble 
 servitor, J. H. 
 
 Madrid, August 25, 1623. 
 
 XXVIII 
 
 To the Right Honourable the Lord Clifford 
 
 My good Lord, 
 
 THOUGH this court cannot afford now such 
 comfortable news in relation to England as 
 I could wish, yet such as it is you shall receive. 
 My Lord of Bristol is preparing for England. I 
 waited upon him lately when he went to take his 
 leave at court, and the King washing his hands took 
 a ring from off his finger and put it upon his, 
 which was the greatest honour that ever he did any 
 ambassador, as they say here; he gave him also 
 a cupboard of plate, valued at 20,000 crowns. 
 There were also large and high promises made him, 
 that in case he feared to fall upon any rock in Eng- 
 land, by reason of the power of those who ma- 
 ligned him, if he would stay in any of his domin- 
 ions, he would give him means and honour equal
 
 254 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 to the highest of his enemies. The earl did not 
 only waive but disdained these propositions made 
 unto him by Olivares, and said he was so confident 
 of the King, his master's justice and high judg- 
 ment, and of his own innocency, that he conceived 
 no power could be able to do him hurt. There hath 
 occurred nothing lately in this court worth the 
 advertisement. They speak much of the strange 
 carriage of that boisterous Bishop of Halverstadt 
 (for so they term him here), that having taken 
 a place where there were two monasteries of nuns 
 and friars, he caused divers feather-beds to be 
 ripped and all the feathers to be thrown in a great 
 hall, whither the nuns and friars were thrust naked 
 with their bodies oiled and pitched, and to tumble 
 among these feathers, which makes them here 
 presage him an ill death. So I most affectionately 
 kiss your hands, and rest, your very humble 
 servitor, J. H. 
 
 Madrid, August 26, 1623. 
 
 XXIX 
 
 To Sir yohn North 
 
 I HAVE many thanks to render you for the favour 
 you lately did to a kinsman of mine, Mr 
 Vaughan, and for divers other which I defer till 
 I return to that court, and that I hope will not be 
 long. Touching the procedure of matters here, 
 you shall understand, that my Lord Aston had
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 255 
 
 special audience lately of the King of Spain, and 
 afterwards presented a memorial wherein there was 
 a high complaint against the miscarriage of the 
 two Spanish ambassadors now in England, the 
 Marquis of Inojosa and Don Carlos Coloma. The 
 substance of it was, that the said ambassadors in a 
 private audience His Majesty of Great Britain had 
 given them, informed him of a pernicious plot 
 against his person and royal authority, which was, 
 that at the beginning of your now parliament, the 
 Duke of Buckingham, with other his accomplices, 
 often met and consulted in a clandestine way how 
 to break the treaty both of match and Palatinate. 
 And in case His Majesty was unwilling thereunto, 
 he should have a country house or two to retire 
 unto for his recreation and health, in regard the 
 Prince is now of years and judgment fit to govern. 
 His Majesty so resented this, that the next day he 
 sent them many thanks for the care they had of 
 him, and desired them to perfect the work, and 
 now that they had detected the treason, to discover 
 also the traitors ; but they were shy in that point. 
 The King senf again, desiring them to send him 
 the names of the conspirators in a paper, sealed up 
 by one of their own confidants, which he would 
 receive with his own hands, and no soul should see 
 it else ; advising them withal, that they should not 
 prefer this discovery before their own honours, to 
 be accounted false accusers. They replied that they 
 had done enough already by instancing in the 
 Duke of Buckingham, and it might easily be guessed
 
 256 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 who were his confidants and creatures. Hereupon 
 His Majesty put those whom he had any grounds 
 to suspect to their oaths ; and afterward sent my 
 Lord Conway and Sir Francis Cottington to tell the 
 ambassadors that he had left no means unassayed 
 to discover the conspiration, that he had found 
 upon oath such a clearness of ingenuity in the 
 Duke of Buckingham that satisfied him of his in- 
 nocency. Therefore he had just cause to conceive 
 that this information of theirs proceeded rather 
 from malice and some political ends than from 
 truth, and in regard they would not produce the 
 authors of so dangerous a treason, they made 
 themselves to be justly thought the authors of it. 
 And therefore though he might by his own royal 
 justice and the law of nations punish this excess 
 and insolence of theirs, and high wrongs they had 
 done to his best servants, yea, to the Prince his son, 
 for through the sides of the duke they wounded 
 him, in regard it was impossible that such a de- 
 sign should be attempted without his privity ; yet 
 he would not be his own judge herein, but would 
 refer them to the King their master, whom he con- 
 ceived to be so just, that he doubted not but he 
 would see him satisfied, and therefore he would 
 send an express unto him hereabouts to demand 
 justice and reparation. This business is now in 
 agitation, but we know not what will become of it. 
 We are all here in a sad disconsolate condition, 
 and the merchants shake their heads up and down 
 out of an apprehension of some fearful war to
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 257 
 
 follow. — So I most affectionately kiss your hands, 
 and rest your very humble and ready servitor, 
 
 J. H. 
 Madrid, August 16, 1623. 
 
 XXX 
 
 To Sir Kenelme Digby, Knight 
 
 YOU have had knowledge (none better) of the 
 progression and growings of the Spanish 
 match from time to time. I must acquaint you now 
 with the rupture and utter dissolution of it, which 
 was not long a-doing, for it was done in one audi- 
 ence that my Lord of Bristol had lately at court, 
 whence it may be inferred that it is far more easy 
 to pull down than rear up, for that structure which 
 was so many years a-rearing was dashed as it were 
 in a trice. Dissolution goeth a faster pace than 
 composition. And it may be said that the civil 
 actions of men, specially great affairs of monarchs 
 (as this was) have much analogy in degrees of pro- 
 gression with the natural production of man. To 
 make man there are many acts must proceed : first 
 a meeting and copulation of the sexes, then con- 
 ception, which requires a well disposed womb to 
 retain the prolifical seed, by the constriction and 
 occlusion of the orifice of the matrix, which seed 
 being first, and afterwards cream, is by a gentle 
 ebullition coagulated, and turned to a cruded lump, 
 which the womb by virtue of its natural heat pre-
 
 258 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 pares to be capable to receive form and to be organ- 
 ised, whereupon Nature falls a-working to delineate 
 all the members, beginning with those that are 
 most noble, as the heart, the brain, the liver, where- 
 of Galen would have the liver, which is the shop 
 and source of the blood, and Aristotle the heart, 
 to be the first framed, in regard it is primum vivens 
 et ultimum moriens. Nature continues in this labour 
 until a perfect shape be introduced, and this is 
 called formation, which is the third act, and is a 
 production of an organical body out of the sperm- 
 atic substance, caused by the plastic virtue of the 
 vital spirits. And sometimes this act is finished 
 thirty days after the conception, sometimes fifty, 
 but most commonly in forty-two or forty-five, 
 and is sooner done in the male. This being done, 
 the embrvon is animated with three souls : the first 
 with that of plants, called the vegetable soul, then 
 with a sensitive, which all brute animals have, and 
 lastly, the rational soul is infused, and these three 
 in man are like trigonus in tetragono. The two first 
 are generated ex traduce^ from the seed of the par- 
 ents, but the last is by immediate infusion from 
 God, and it is controverted betwixt philosophers 
 and divines when this infusion is made. 
 
 This is the fourth act that goeth to make a man, 
 and is called animation ; and as the naturalists allow 
 animation double the time that formation had from 
 the conception, so they allow to the ripening of 
 the embryo in the womb, and to the birth thereof, 
 treble the time that animation had, which happen-
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 259 
 
 eth sometimes in nine, sometimes in ten months. 
 This grand business of the Spanish match may be 
 said to have had such degrees of progression. 
 First there was a meeting and coupling on both 
 sides, for a Junta in Spain and some select coun- 
 sellors of state were appointed in England. After 
 this conjunction the business was conceived, then 
 it received form, then life (though the quickening 
 was slow); but having had near upon ten years 
 in lieu of ten months to be perfected, it was unfor- 
 tunately strangled when it was ripe ready for birth ; 
 and I would they had never been born that did 
 it, for it is like to be out of my way ^3000. And 
 as the embryo in the womb is wrapped in three 
 membranes or tunicles, so this great business, you 
 know better than I, was involved in many diffi- 
 culties, and died so entangled before it could 
 break through them. 
 
 There is a buzz here of a match betwixt Eng- 
 land and France; I pray God send it a speedier 
 formation and animation than this had, and that 
 it may not prove an abortive. 
 
 I send you herewith a letter from the paragon 
 of the Spanish court. Donna Anna Maria Man- 
 rique, the Duke of Marqueda's sister, who respects 
 you in a high degree. She told me this was the 
 first letter she ever wrote to man in her life, except 
 the duke her brother. She was much solicited 
 to write to Mr Thomas Cary, but she would not. 
 I did also your message to the Marquesa Inojosa, 
 who put me to sit a good while with her upon
 
 26o FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 her estrado, which was no simple favour. You are 
 much in both these ladies' books, and much 
 spoken of by divers others in this court. I could 
 not recover your diamond hatband which the pica- 
 roon snatched from you in the coach, though I 
 used all means possible, as far as book, bell and 
 candle in point of excommunication against the 
 party in all the churches of Madrid, by which 
 means you know divers things are recovered. — So 
 I most affectionately kiss your hands, and rest 
 your most faithful servitor, J. H. 
 
 P. S. — Yours of the 2nd of March came to 
 safe hand. 
 
 Madrid. 
 
 XXXI 
 
 To my Cousin, Mr J. Price [now Knight), at 
 the Middle Temple ; from Madrid 
 
 c 
 
 OIJSIN, suffer my letter to salute you first 
 in this distitch: 
 
 A Thamesi Tagus quot leucis flumine distat, 
 Oscula tot manibus porto, pricaee, tuis. 
 
 As many miles Thames lies from Tagus strands, 
 I bring so many kisses to thy hands. 
 
 My dear Jack, 
 
 IN the large register or almanac of my friends in 
 England, you are one of the chiefest red letters, 
 you are one of my festival rubrics, for whensoever
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 261 
 
 you fall upon my mind, or my mind falls upon 
 you, I keep holy-day all the while, and this hap- 
 pens so often, that you leave me but few working 
 days throughout the whole year, fewer far than this 
 country affords, for in their calendar above five 
 months of the twelve are dedicated to some saint 
 or other, and kept festival ; a religion that the 
 London apprentices would like well. 
 
 I thank you for yours of the third current, and 
 the ample relations you give me of London occur- 
 rences, but principally for the po^verful and sweet 
 assurances you give me of your love, both in verse 
 and prose. All businesses here are off the hinges ; 
 for one late audience of my Lord of Bristol pulled 
 down what was so many years a-raising. And as 
 Thomas Aquinas told an artist of a costly curi- 
 ous statue in Rome, that by some accident, while 
 he was a-trimming it, fell down and so broke 
 to pieces, " Opus triginta annorum destruxiti " 
 (Thou hast destroyed the work of thirty years). 
 So it may be said that a work near upon ten years 
 is now suddenly shattered to pieces. I hope by 
 God's grace to be now speedily in England, and 
 to re-enjoy your most dear society. In the mean- 
 time may all happiness attend you. 
 
 Ad literam. 
 Ocius ut grandire gradus oratio possis, 
 Prosa, tibi binos jungimus ecce pedes. 
 
 That in thy journey thou mayest be more fleet. 
 To my dull prose I adde these metric feet.
 
 262 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 Resp. 
 Ad mare cum venio, quid agam ? 
 
 Repl. 
 
 Turn praepete penna 
 
 Te ferat, est lator nam levis ignis. Amor. 
 
 But when I come to sea how shall I shift ? 
 Let love transport thee then, for fire is swift. 
 
 — Your most affectionate cousin, 
 
 J. H. 
 
 March 30, 1624. 
 
 XXXII 
 
 ^0 the Lord Viscount Colchester ; from Madrid 
 
 Right Honourable, 
 
 YOUR lordship's of the third current came to 
 safe hand, and being now upon the point of 
 parting with this court, I thought it worth the 
 labour to send your lordship a short survey of 
 the monarchy of Spain ; a bold undertaking your 
 lordship will say, to comprehend within the narrow 
 bounds of a letter such a huge bulk; but as in 
 the boss of a small diamond ring one may discern 
 the image of a mighty mountain, so I will en- 
 deavour that your lordship may behold the power 
 of this great King in this paper. 
 
 Spain hath been always esteemed a country of 
 ancient renown, and as it is incident to all others, 
 she hath had her vicissitudes and turns of fortune. 
 
 ^\
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 162 
 
 She hath been thrice overcome: by the Romans, 
 by the Goths, and by the Moors. The middle 
 conquest continueth to this day, for this King and 
 most of the nobility profess themselves to have 
 descended of the Goths. The Moors kept here 
 about seven hundred years, and it is a remarkable 
 story how they got in first, which was thus upon 
 good record. There reigned in Spain Don Rod- 
 rigo, who kept his court then at Malaga. He 
 employed the Conde Don Julian, ambassador to 
 Barbary, who had a daughter (a young beautiful 
 lady) that was maid of honour to the Queen. The 
 King spying her one day refreshing herself under 
 an arbour, fell enamoured with her, and never left 
 till he had deflowered her. She resenting much 
 the dishonour wrote a letter to her father in Bar- 
 bary under this allegory : That there was a fair 
 green apple upon the table, and the King's poi- 
 gnard fell upon it and cleft it in two. Don Julian 
 apprehending the meaning, got letters of revoca- 
 tion, and came back to Spain, where he so com- 
 plied with the King, that he became his favourite. 
 Amongst other things he advised the King, that 
 in regard he was now in peace with all the world, 
 he would dismiss his galleys and garrisons that 
 were up and down the sea coasts, because it was 
 a superfluous charge. This being done, and the 
 country left open to any invader, he prevailed 
 with the King to have leave to go with his lady 
 to see their friends in Tarragona, which was 300 
 miles off. Having been there a while, his lady
 
 o64 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 made semblance to be sick, and so sent to petition 
 the King, that her daughter. Donna Cava (whom 
 they had left at court to satiate the King's lust), 
 might come to comfort her a while. Cava came, 
 and the gate through which she went forth is 
 called after her name to this day in Malaga. Don 
 Julian having all his chief kindred there, he sailed 
 over to Barbary, and afterwards brought over the 
 King of Morocco and others with an army, who 
 suddenly invaded Spain, lying armless and open, 
 and so conquered it. Don Rodrigo died gallantly 
 in the field, but what became of Don Julian, who 
 for a particular revenge betrayed his own country, 
 no storv makes mention. A few vears before this 
 happened Rodrigo came to Toledo, where under 
 the great church there was a vault with huge iron 
 doors, and none of his predecessors durst open it, 
 because there was an old prophecy, that when 
 that vault was opened Spain should be conquered. 
 Rodrigo, slighting the prophecy, caused the doors 
 to be broke open, hoping to find there some treas- 
 ure; but when he entered there was nothing found 
 but the pictures of Moors, of such men that a little 
 after fulfilled the prophecy. 
 
 Yet this last conquest of Spain was not perfect, 
 for divers parts north-west kept still under Chris- 
 tian kings, especially Biscay, which was never con- 
 quered, as Wales in Britanny ; and the Biscayners 
 have much analogy with the Welsh in divers 
 things: they retain to this day the original lan- 
 guage of Spain, they are the most mountainous
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 26s 
 
 people, and they are reputed the ancientest gen- 
 try ; so that when any is to take the order of 
 knighthood, there are no inquisitors appointed to 
 find whether he be clear of the blood of the Moors 
 as in other places. The King, when he comes 
 upon the confines, pulls off" one shoe before he 
 can tread upon any Biscay ground : and he hath 
 good reason to esteem that province, in regard of 
 divers advantages he hath by it ; for he hath his 
 best timber to build ships, his best marines, and 
 all his iron thence. 
 
 There were divers bloody battles 'twixt the 
 remnant of Christians and the Moors for seven 
 hundred years together, and the Spaniards getting 
 ground more and more, drove them at last to 
 Granada, and thence also in the time of Ferdinand 
 and Isabella, quite over to Barbary. Their last 
 king was Chico, who when he fled from Granada 
 crying and weeping, the people upbraided him, 
 " That he might well weep like a woman, who 
 could not defend himself and them like a man " 
 (this was that Ferdinand who obtained from Rome 
 the title of Catholic, though some stories say that 
 manv ages before Ricaredus, the first orthodox 
 king of the Goths, was styled Catholicus in a Pro- 
 vincial Synod held at Toledo, which was continued 
 by Alphonsus the First, and then made hereditary 
 by this Ferdinand). This absolute conquest of 
 the Moors happened about Henry the Seventh's 
 time, when the foresaid Ferdinand and Isabella 
 had by alliance joined Castile and Aragon, which
 
 266 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 with the discovery of the West Indies, which 
 happened a little after, was the first foundation of 
 that greatness whereunto Spain is now mounted. 
 Afterwards there was an alliance with Burgundy 
 and Austria. By the first House the seventeen 
 provinces fell to Spain ; by the second Charles 
 the Fifth came to be Emperor : and remarkable it 
 is how the House of Austria came to that height 
 from a mean earl, the Earl of Hapsburg in Ger- 
 many, who having been one day a-hunting, he 
 overtook a priest who had been with the Sacra- 
 ment to visit a poor, sick body; the priest being 
 tired, the earl alighted off his horse, helped up 
 the priest, and so waited upon him afoot all the 
 while, till he brought him to the church: the 
 priest, giving him his benediction at his going 
 away, told him, that for this great act of humility 
 and piety, his race should be one of the greatest 
 that ever the world had ; and ever since, which is 
 some 240 years ago, the Empire hath continued 
 in that House, which afterwards was called the 
 House of Austria. 
 
 In Philip the Second's time the Spanish mon- 
 archy came to its highest pitch, by the conquest 
 of Portugal, whereby the East Indies, sundry 
 islands in the Atlantic Sea, and divers places in 
 Barbary were added to the Crown of Spain. By 
 these steps this crown came to this grandeur ; 
 and truly, give the Spaniard his due, he is a mighty 
 monarch ; he hath dominions in all parts of the 
 world (which none of the four monarchies had).
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 267 
 
 both in Europe, Asia, Africa, and America (which 
 he hath solely to himself), though our Henry 
 the Seventh had the first proffer made him : so 
 the sun shines all the four and twenty hours of 
 the natural day upon some part or other of his 
 countries, for part of the Antipodes are subject to 
 him. He hath eight viceroys in Europe, two in 
 the East Indies, two in the West, two in Africa, 
 and about thirty provincial sovereign commanders 
 more ; yet as I was told lately, in a discourse 
 'twixt him and our Prince at his being here, when 
 the Prince fell to magnifying his spacious domin- 
 ions, the King answered, " Sir, 'tis true it hath 
 pleased God to trust me with divers nations and 
 countries, but of all these there are but two which 
 yield me any clear revenues, viz., Spain and my 
 West Indies, nor all Spain neither, but Castile 
 only, the rest do scarce quit cost, for all is drunk 
 up 'twixt governors and garrisons ; yet my ad- 
 vantage is to have the opportunity to propagate 
 Christian religion, and to employ my subjects." 
 For the last, it must be granted that no prince 
 hath better means to breed brave men, and more 
 variety of commands to heighten their spirits, 
 with no petty but princely employments. 
 
 This King besides hath other means to oblige 
 the gentry unto him by such a huge number of 
 commendams which he hath in his gift to bestow 
 on whom he please of any of the three Orders 
 of Knighthood, which England and France want. 
 Some noblemen in Spain can despend ^50,000.
 
 268 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 some ^40,000, some ^30,000, and divers J^io,- 
 000 pound per annum. The Church here is ex- 
 ceeding rich both in revenues, plate, and buildings ; 
 one cannot go to the meanest country chapel but 
 he will find chalices, lamps and candlesticks of 
 silver. There are some bishopricks of ^30,000 
 per annum, and divers of ;r 10,000, and To- 
 ledo is ^100,000 yearly revenue. As the Church 
 is rich, so it is mightily reverenced here, and very 
 powerful, which made Philip the Second rather 
 depend upon the clergy than the secular power. 
 Therefore I do not see how Spain can be called 
 a poor country considering the revenues afore- 
 said of princes and prelates ; nor is it so thin of 
 people as the world makes it ; and one reason may 
 be that there are sixteen universities in Spain, and 
 in one of these there were 15,000 students at one 
 time when I was there, I mean Salamanca ; and 
 in this village of Madrid (for the King of Spain 
 cannot keep his constant court in any city) there 
 are ordinarily 600,000 souls. 'T is true that the 
 colonising of the Indies and the wars of Flanders 
 have much drained this country of people. Since 
 the expulsion of the Moors it is also grown thin- 
 ner, and not so full of corn ; for those Moors 
 would grub up wheat out of the very tops of the 
 craggy hills ; yet they used another grain for their 
 bread, so that the Spaniard had nought else to do 
 but go with his ass to the market and buy corn of 
 the Moors. 
 
 For the soil of Spain, the fruitfulness of their
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 269 
 
 valleys recompenses the sterility of their hills. 
 Corn is their greatest want, and want of rain is the 
 cause of that, which makes them have need of their 
 neighbours ; yet as much as Spain bears is passing 
 good, and so is everything else for the quality ; 
 nor hath any one a better horse under him, a better 
 cloak on his back, a better sword by his side, better 
 shoes on his feet than the Spaniard, nor doth any 
 drink better wine or eat better fruit than he, nor 
 flesh for the quantity. 
 
 Touching the people, the Spaniard looks as 
 high, though not so big as a German, his excess is 
 in too much gravity, which some who know him 
 not well hold to be pride ; he cares not how little 
 he labours, for poor Gascons and Morisco slaves 
 do most of his work in field and vineyard ; he can 
 endure much in the war, yet he loves not to fight 
 in the dark, but in open day or upon a stage, that 
 all the world might be witness of his valour, so 
 that you shall seldom hear of Spaniards employed 
 in night service, nor shall one hear of a duel here 
 in an age. He hath one good quality, that he 
 is wonderfully obedient to government: for the 
 proudest don of Spain,when he is prancing upon his 
 ginet in the street, if an Alguazil (a sergeant) show 
 him his vare, that is a little white staff he carrieth 
 as a badge of his office, my don will down presently 
 off his horse and yield himself his prisoner. He 
 hath another commendable quality, that when he 
 giveth alms he pulls off his hat and puts it in the 
 beggar's hand with a great deal of humility. His
 
 270 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 gravity is much lessened since the late proclamation 
 came out against ruffs, and the King himself showed 
 the first example. They were come to that height 
 of excess herein that twenty shillings were used to 
 be paid for starching of a ruff; and some, though 
 perhaps he had never a shirt to his back, yet would 
 he have a toting huge swelling ruff about his neck. 
 He is sparing in his ordinary diet, but when he 
 makes a feast he is free and bountiful. As to 
 temporal authority, specially martial, so is he very 
 obedient to the Church, and believes all with an 
 implicit faith. He is a great servant of ladies, nor 
 can he be blamed, for as I said before, he comes 
 of a Goatish race, yet he never brags of nor blazes 
 abroad his doings that way, but is exceedingly 
 careful of the repute of any woman (a civility that 
 we much want in England). He will speak high 
 words of Don Phillippo his king, but will not 
 endure a stranger should do so. I have heard 
 a Biscayner make a rodomontado that he was as 
 good a gentleman as Don Phillippo himself, for 
 Don Phillippo was half a Spaniard, half a Ger- 
 man, half an Italian, half a Frenchman, half I 
 know not what, but he was a pure Biscayner with- 
 out mixture. The Spaniard is not so smooth and 
 oily in his compliments as the Italian, and though 
 he will make strong protestations yet he will not 
 swear out compliments like the French and Eng- 
 lish ; as I heard when my Lord of Carlisle was 
 ambassador in France, there came a great monsieur 
 to see him, and having a long time bandied and
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 271 
 
 sworn compliments one to another who should go 
 first out at a door, at last mv Lord of Carlisle 
 said: "O monseigneur, ayez pitie de mon ame" 
 (O my lord, have pity upon my soul). 
 
 The Spaniard is generally given to gaming, and 
 that in excess; he will say his prayers before, and 
 if he win, he will thank God for his good fortune 
 after. Their common game at cards (for they very 
 seldom plav at dice) is primera, at which the King 
 never shows his game but throws his cards with 
 their faces down on the table. He is merchant 
 of all the cards and dice throughout the kingdom ; 
 he hath them made for a penny a pair, and he retails 
 them for twelve pence, so that it is thought he 
 hath ^^30,000 a year by this trick at cards. The 
 Spaniard is very devout in his way, for I have 
 seen him kneel in the very dirt when the Ave 
 Maria bell rings ; and some if they spy two straws 
 or sticks lie crosswise in the street they will take 
 them up and kiss them, and lay them down again. 
 He walks as if he marched, and seldom looks 
 on the ground, as if he contemned it. I was told 
 of a Spaniard who having got a fall by a stumble 
 and broke his nose, rose up, and in a disdainful 
 manner said, "Voto a tal esto es caminar por la 
 tierra " (This is to walk upon earth). The Labra- 
 dors and country swains here are sturdy and 
 rational men, nothing so simple or servile as the 
 French peasant, who is born in chains. It is true 
 the Spaniard is not so conversable as other nations 
 (unless he hath travelled), else he is like Mars
 
 272 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 among the planets, impatient of conjunction. Nor 
 is he so free in his gifts and rewards : as the last 
 summer it happened that Count Gondomar with 
 Sir Francis Cottington went to see a curious 
 house of the Constable of Castile's, which had 
 been newly built here. The keeper of the house 
 was very officious to show him every room, with 
 the garden, grottos and aqueducts, and presented 
 him with some fruit. Gondomar having been a 
 long time in the house, coming out, put many 
 compliments of thanks upon the man, and so was 
 going away. Sir Francis whispered him in the ear 
 and asked him whether he would give the man 
 anything that took such pains. " Oh," quoth 
 Gondomar, "well remembered, Don Francisco; 
 have you ever a double pistole about you ? If 
 you have, you may give it him, and then you pay 
 him after the English manner. I have paid him 
 already after the Spanish." The Spaniard is much 
 improved in policy since he took footing in Italy, 
 and there is no nation agrees with him better. 
 I will conclude this character with a saying that he 
 hath — 
 
 No ay hombre debaxo d'el sol. 
 Come el Italiano y el Espanol. 
 
 Whereunto a Frenchman answered — 
 
 Dizes la verdad, y tienes razon. 
 El uno es puto, el otro ladron. 
 
 Englished thus — 
 
 Beneath the sun there 's no such man. 
 As is the Spaniard and Italian.
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 273 
 
 The Frenchman answers — 
 
 Thou tell'st the truth, and reason hast. 
 The first 's a thief, a buggerer the last. 
 
 Touching their women, nature hath made a more 
 visible distinction betwixt the two sexes here than 
 elsewhere ; for the men, for the most part, are 
 swarthy and rough, but the women are of a far 
 finer mould. They are commonly little. And 
 whereas there is a saying that makes a complete 
 woman, let her be English to the neck, French to 
 the waist, and Dutch below ; I may add for hands 
 and feet let her be Spanish, for they have the 
 least of any. They have another saying : a French- 
 woman in a dance, a Dutchwoman in the kitchen, 
 an Italian in a window, an Englishwoman at board, 
 and the Spanish a-bed. When they are married 
 they have a privilege to wear high shoes, and to 
 paint, which is generally practised here, and the 
 Queen useth it herself. They are coy enough, but 
 not so froward as our English, for if a lady go 
 along the street (and all women going here veiled 
 and their habit so generally alike, one can hardly 
 distinguish a countess from a cobbler's wife), if 
 one should cast out an odd ill-sounding word, 
 and ask her a favour, she will not take it ill, but 
 put it off and answer you with some witty retort. 
 After thirty they are commonly past child-bearing, 
 and I have seen women in England look as youth- 
 ful at fifty as some here at twenty-five. Money 
 will do miracles here in purchasing the favour 
 of ladies, or anything else; though this be the
 
 274 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 country of money, for it furnisheth well near all 
 the world besides, yea, their very enemies, as the 
 Turk and Hollander; insomuch that one may 
 say the coin of Spain is as Catholic as her king. 
 Yet though he be the greatest king of gold and 
 silver mines in the world (I think), yet the com- 
 mon current coin here is copper, and herein I be- 
 lieve the Hollander hath done him more mischief 
 by counterfeiting his copper coins than by their 
 arms, bringing it in by strange surreptitious ways, 
 as in hollow sows of tin and lead, hollow masts, 
 in pitch buckets under water and other ways. 
 But I fear to be injurious to this great king, to 
 speak of him in so a narrow a compass: a great 
 king indeed, though the French in a slighting way 
 compare his monarchy to a beggar's cloak made 
 up of patches. They are patches indeed, but such 
 as he hath not the like. The East Indies is a 
 patch embroidered with pearl, rubies, and dia- 
 monds. Peru is a patch embroidered with massive 
 gold; Mexico with silver; Naples and Milan are 
 patches of cloth of tissue; and if these patches 
 were in one piece, what would become of his cloak 
 embroidered with flower de luces ? 
 
 So desiring your lordship to pardon this poor 
 imperfect paper, considering the high quality of 
 the subject, I rest, your lordship's most humble 
 servitor, J. H. 
 
 Madrid, i February 1623.
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 275 
 
 XXXIII 
 
 To Mr Walsinghatn Gresly ; from Madrid 
 
 Don Balthasar, 
 
 I THANK you for your letter in my lord's last 
 packet, wherein among other passages you 
 write unto me the circumstances of Marquis Spi- 
 nola's raising his leaguer by flatting and firing his 
 works before Berghen. He is much taxed here to 
 have atempted it, and to have buried so much of 
 the king's treasure before that town in such costly 
 trenches. A gentleman came hither lately, who 
 was at the siege all the while, and he told me one 
 strange passage, how Sir Ferdinand Cary, a huge 
 corpulent knight, was shot through his body, the 
 bullet entering at the navel, and coming out at 
 his back killed his man behind him, yet he lives 
 still, and is like to recover. With this miraculous 
 accident he told me also a merry one, how a cap- 
 tain that had a wooden leg booted over, had it 
 shattered to pieces by a cannon bullet, his soldiers 
 crying out " A surgeon, a surgeon, for the cap- 
 tain." " No, no," said he, " a carpenter, a carpen- 
 ter will serve the turn." To this pleasant tale I '11 
 add another that happened lately in Alcala hard by 
 of a Dominican friar, who in a solemn procession 
 which was held there upon Ascension Day last, 
 had his stones dangling under his habit cut off 
 instead of his pocket by a cut-purse.
 
 276 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 Before you return hither, which I understand 
 will be speedily, I pray bestow a visit on our 
 friends in Bishopsgate Street. So I am your faith- 
 ful servitor, J. H. 
 
 3 February 1623. 
 
 XXXIV 
 
 To Sir Robert Napier, Knight, at his house 
 ifi Bishopsgate Street; from Madrid 
 
 THE late breach of the match hath broke the 
 neck of all businesses here, and mine suffers 
 as much as any. I had access lately to Olivares, 
 once or twice ; I had audience also of the King, 
 to whom I presented a memorial that intimated 
 letters of mart, unless satisfaction were had from 
 his viceroy the Conde del Real. The King gave 
 me a gracious answer, but Olivares a churlish 
 one, viz., that when the Spaniards had justice in 
 England we should have justice here. So that 
 notwithstanding I have brought it to the highest 
 point and pitch of perfection in law that could be, 
 and procured some dispatches, the like whereof 
 were never granted in this court before, yet I am 
 in despair now to do any good. I hope to be 
 shortly in England, by God's grace, to give you 
 and the rest of the proprietaries a punctual account 
 of all things. And you may easily conceive how 
 sorry I am that matters succeeded not according to 
 your expectation and my endeavours; but I hope
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 277 
 
 you are none of those that measure things by the 
 event. The Earl of Bristol, Count Gondomar, 
 and my Lord Ambassador Aston did not only 
 do courtesies, but they did co-operate with me in 
 it, and contributed their utmost endeavours. — So 
 I rest, yours to serve you, J. H. 
 
 Madrid, February 18, 1623. 
 
 XXXV 
 
 T^o Mr A. S., in Alicante 
 
 MUCH endeared sir, fire, you know, is the 
 common emblem of love. But without any 
 disparagement to so noble a passion, methinks it 
 might be also compared to tinder, and letters are 
 the properest matter whereof to make this tinder. 
 Letters again are fittest to kindle and re-accend 
 this tinder. They may serve both for fiint, steel 
 and match. This letter of mine comes therefore 
 of set purpose to strike some sparkles into yours, 
 that it may glow and burn and receive ignition, 
 and not lie dead, as it hath done a great while. I 
 make my pen to serve for an instrument to stir 
 the cinders wherewith your old love to me hath 
 been covered a long time, therefore I pray let no 
 couvre-feu bell have power hereafter to rake up 
 and choke with the ashes of obHvion that clear 
 flame wherewith our affections did use to sparkle 
 so long by correspondence of letters and other 
 offices of love.
 
 278 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 I think I shall sojourn yet in this court these 
 three months, for I will not give over this great 
 business while there is the least breath of hope 
 remaining. 
 
 I know you have choice matters of intelligence 
 sometimes from thence, therefore I pray impart 
 some unto us, and you shall not fail to know how 
 matters pass here weekly. So with my besamanos 
 to Francisco Imperial, I rest yours most affection- 
 ately to serve you, J. H. 
 
 Madrid, 3 March 1623. 
 
 XXXVI 
 
 To the Honourable Sir T. S., at Tower Hill 
 
 I WAS yesterday at the Escurial to see the 
 Monastery of Saint Laurence, the eighth won- 
 der of the world ; and truly considering the site 
 of the place, the state of the thing, and the sym- 
 metry of the structure, with divers other rarities, 
 it may be called so; for what I have seen in Italy, 
 and other places, are but baubles to it. It is built 
 amongst a company of craggy barren hills, which 
 makes the air the hungrier and wholesomer ; it is all 
 built of freestone and marble, and that with such 
 solidity and moderate height that surely Philip 
 the Second's chief design was to make a sacrifice 
 of it to eternity, and to contest with the meteors and 
 time itself. It cost eight millions; it was twenty- 
 four years a-building, and the founder himself saw
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 279 
 
 it furnished, and enjoyed it twelve years after, and 
 carried his bones himself thither to be buried. 
 
 The reason that moved King Philip to waste 
 so much treasure was a vow he had made at the 
 battle of Saint Ouentin, where he was forced to 
 batter a monastery of Saint Laurence friars, and 
 if he had the victory, he would erect such a mon- 
 astery to Saint Laurence that the world had not 
 the like ; therefore the form of it is like a grid- 
 iron, the handle is a huge royal palace, and the 
 body a vast monastery or assembly of quadran- 
 gular cloisters, for there are as many as there be 
 months in the year. There be a hundred monks, 
 and every one hath his man and his mule, and 
 a multitude of officers ; besides, there are three 
 libraries there, full of the choicest books for all 
 sciences. It is beyond expression what grots, 
 gardens, walks, and aqueducts there are there, and 
 what curious fountains in the upper cloisters, for 
 there be two stages of cloisters. In fine, there is 
 nothing that 's vulgar there. To take a view of 
 every room in the house one must make account 
 to go ten miles ; there is a vault called the Pan- 
 theon under the highest altar, which is all paved, 
 walled, and arched with marble ; there be a num- 
 ber of huge silver candlesticks, taller than I am ; 
 lamps three yards compass, and divers chalices 
 and crosses of massive gold ; there is one choir 
 made all of burnished brass ; pictures and statues 
 like giants ; and a world of glorious things that 
 purely ravished me. By this mighty monument,
 
 a8o FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 it may be inferred that Philip the Second, though 
 he was a Httle man, yet had he vast gigantic 
 thoughts in him, to leave such a huge pile for 
 posterity to gaze upon and admire his memory. 
 No more now, but that I rest, your most humble 
 servitor, J. H. 
 
 Madrid, March 9, 1623. 
 
 XXXVII 
 
 To the Lord Viscount Colchester; from Madrid 
 
 My Lord, 
 
 YOU wrote to me not long since to send you 
 an account of the Duke of Ossuna's death, 
 a little man, but of great fame and fortunes, and 
 much cried up, and known up and down the 
 world. He was revoked from being Viceroy of 
 Naples (the best employment the King of Spain 
 hath for a subject) upon some disgust ; and being 
 come to this court where he was brought to give 
 an account of his government, being troubled with 
 the gout, he carried his sword in his hand instead 
 of a staff. The King misliking the manner of his 
 posture, turned his back to him, and so went 
 away. Thereupon he was overheard to mutter, 
 " Esto es par a servir muchachos " (This it is 
 to serve boys). This coming to the King's ear, 
 he was apprehended and committed prisoner to 
 a monastery not far off, where he continued some
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 281 
 
 years until his beard came to his girdle, then grow- 
 ing very ill, he was permitted to come to his house 
 in this town, being carried in a bed upon men's 
 shoulders, and so died some years ago. There 
 were divers accusations against him, amongst the 
 rest, I remember these. That he had kept the 
 Marquis de Campolataro's wife, sending her hus- 
 band out of the way upon employment. That 
 he had got a bastard of a Turkish woman, and 
 suffered the child to be brought up in the Mo- 
 hammedan religion. That being one day at high 
 mass, when the host was elevated he drew out 
 of his pocket a piece of gold, and held it up, 
 intimating that that was his god. That he had in- 
 vited some of the prime courtesans of Naples to 
 a feast, and after dinner made a banquet for them 
 in his garden, where he commanded them to strip 
 themselves stark naked and go up and down, 
 while he shot sugar plums at them out of a trunk, 
 which they were to take up from off their high 
 chapins, and such like extravagances. One 
 (amongst divers others) witty passage was told 
 me of him, which was, that when he was Viceroy 
 of Sicily, there died a great rich duke, who left 
 but one son, whom with his whole estate he be- 
 queathed to the tutule of the Jesuits, and the 
 words of the will were, " When he is past his 
 minority " {darete al mio figliuolo quelque vol vo- 
 lete) " you shall give my son what you will." It 
 seems the Jesuits took to themselves two parts 
 of three of the estate, and gave the rest to the
 
 282 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 heir. The young duke complaining hereof to the 
 Duke of Ossuna (then viceroy), he commanded 
 the Jesuits to appear before him. He asked them 
 how much of the estate they would have, they an- 
 swered two parts of three, which they had almost 
 employed already to build monasteries and an 
 hospital, to erect particular altars and masses, to 
 sing dirges and refrigeriums for the soul of the 
 deceased duke. Hereupon the Duke of Ossuna 
 caused the will to be produced, and found therein 
 the words afore-recited, " When he is passed his 
 minority, you shall give my son of my estate 
 what you will." Then he told the Jesuits, you 
 must by virtue and tenor of these words, give 
 what you will to the son, which by your own con- 
 fession is two parts of three, and so he determined 
 the business. 
 
 Thus have I in part satisfied your lordship's 
 desire, which I shall do more amply when I shall 
 be made happy to attend you in person, which I 
 hope will be ere it be long. In the interim, I take 
 my leave of you from Spain, and rest your lord- 
 ship's most ready and humble servitor, 
 
 J. H. 
 
 Madrid, 13 March 1623.
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 283 
 
 XXXVIII 
 
 To Simon Digby^ Esq. 
 
 I THANK you for the several sorts of cyphers 
 you sent me to write by, which were very 
 choice ones and curious. Cryptology, or Episto- 
 Hsing in a Clandestine Way, is very ancient. I 
 read in A. Gellius that C. Caesar in his letters to 
 Caius Oppius and Balbus Cornelius, who were 
 two of his greatest confidants in managing his 
 private affairs, did write in cyphers by a various 
 transportation of the alphabet ; whereof Proclus 
 Grammaticus, De occulta literarum significatione 
 Epistolarum C. Caesaris, writes a curious com- 
 mentary. But methinks that certain kind of hiero- 
 glyphics, the caelestial signs, the seven planets, 
 and other constellations might make a curious 
 kind of cypher, as I will more particularly demon- 
 strate unto you in a scheme, when I shall be 
 happy with your conversation. — So I rest, your 
 assured servitor, J. H. 
 
 Madrid, March 15, 1623. 
 
 XXXIX 
 
 To Sir "James Crofts; from Bilboa 
 
 B 
 
 EING safely come to the Marine, in convoy 
 of His Majesty's jewels, and being to sojourn
 
 284 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 here some days, the conveniency of this gentleman 
 (who knows, and much honoureth you), he being 
 to ride post through France, invited me to send you 
 this. 
 
 We were but five horsemen in all our seven days' 
 journey from Madrid hither, and the charge Mr 
 Wiches had is valued at four hundred thousand 
 crowns ; but it is such safe travelling in Spain, that 
 one may carry gold in the palm of his hand, the 
 government is so good. When we had gained 
 Biscay ground, we passed one day through a forest, 
 and lighting off our mules to take a little repast 
 under a tree, we took down our alforjas and some 
 bottles of wine (and you know it is ordinary here 
 to ride with one's victuals about him), but as we 
 were eating we spied two huge wolves, who stared 
 upon us a while, but had the good manners to go 
 away. It put me in mind of a pleasant tale I heard 
 Sir Thomas Fairfax relate of a soldier in Ireland, 
 who having got his passport to go for England, as 
 he passed through a wood with his knapsack upon 
 his back, being weary, he sat down under a tree, 
 where he opened his knapsack, and fell to some 
 victuals he had; but upon a sudden he was sur- 
 prised with two or three wolves, who, coming 
 towards him, he threw them scraps of bread and 
 cheese, till all was done, then the wolves making a 
 nearer approach unto him, he knew not what shift 
 to make, but by taking a pair of bagpipes which 
 he had, and as soon as he began to play upon them 
 the wolves ran all away as if they had been scared
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 285 
 
 out of their wits ; whereupon the soldier said, " A 
 pox take you all, if I had known you had loved 
 music so well, you should have had it before din- 
 
 ner. 
 
 If there be a lodging void at the Three Hal- 
 bards Heads, I pray be pleased to cause it to be 
 reserved for me. So I rest, your humble servitor, 
 
 J. H. 
 
 Bilboa, September 6, 1624.
 
 I
 
 EPISTOL^ HO-ELIAN^ 
 SECTION IV
 
 I
 
 SECTION IV 
 
 To ??iy Father; from London 
 
 I AM newly returned from Spain. I came over 
 in convoy of the Prince his jewels, for which 
 one of the ships royal with the Catch were sent 
 under the command of Captain Love. We landed 
 at Plymouth, whence I came by post to Theo- 
 bald's in less than two nights and a day, to 
 bring His Majesty news of their safe arrival. The 
 Prince had newly got a fall off a horse, and kept 
 his chamber. The jewels were valued at above a 
 hundred thousand pounds. Some of them a little 
 before the Prince his departure had been presented 
 to the Infanta, but she waiving to receive them, 
 yet with a civil compliment they were left in the 
 hands of one of the secretaries of state for her use 
 upon the wedding day, and it was no unworthy 
 thing in the Spaniard to deliver them back, not- 
 withstanding that the treaties both of match and 
 Palatinate had been dissolved a pretty while before 
 by act of Parliament, that a war was threatened, 
 and ambassadors revoked. There were jewels also 
 amongst them to be presented to the King and
 
 290 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 Queen of Spain, to most of the ladies of honour, 
 and the grandees. There was a great table dia- 
 mond for Oiivares of i8 carats' weight; but the 
 richest of all was to the Infanta herself, which was 
 a chain of great orient pearls, to the number of 276, 
 weighing nine ounces. The Spaniards, notwith- 
 standing they are the masters of the staple of jewels, 
 stood astonished at the beauty of these, and con- 
 fessed themselves to be put down. 
 
 Touching the employment upon which I went 
 to Spain, I had my charges borne all the while, 
 and that was all. Had it taken effect, I had made 
 a good business of it ; but it is no wonder (nor 
 can it be, I hope, any disrepute unto me) that I 
 could not bring to pass what three ambassadors 
 could not do before me. 
 
 I am now casting about for another fortune, and 
 some hopes I have of employment about the Duke 
 of Buckingham. He sways more than ever, for 
 whereas he was before a favourite to the King, he 
 is now a favourite to Parliament, people and city, 
 for breaking the match with Spain. Touching his 
 own interest, he had reason to do it, for the Span- 
 iards love him not ; but whether the public inter- 
 est of the state will suffer in it or no, I dare not 
 determine. For my part, I hold the Spanish match 
 to be better than their powder, and their wares 
 better than their wars ; and I shall be ever of that 
 mind, that no country is able to do England less 
 hurt and more good than Spain, considering the 
 large traffic and treasure that is to be got thereby.
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 291 
 
 I shall continue to give you account of my 
 courses when opportunity serves, and to dispose 
 of matters so that I may attend you this summer 
 in the country. So desiring still your blessing 
 and prayers, I rest your dutiful son, J. H. 
 
 London, December 10, 1624. 
 
 II 
 
 To R. Brown, Esq. 
 
 THERE is no seed so fruitful as that of love. 
 I do not mean that gross carnal love which 
 propagates the world, but that which preserves it, 
 to wit, seeds of friendship, which hath little com- 
 merce with the body, but is a thing divine and 
 spiritual. There cannot be a more pregnant proof 
 hereof than those seeds of love which I have long 
 since cast into your breast, which have thriven so 
 well, and in that exuberance, that they have been 
 more fruitful unto me than that field in Sicily 
 called k trecente cariche (the field of three hundred 
 loads), so called because it returns the sower three 
 hundred for one yearly, so plentiful hath your 
 love been unto me. But amongst other sweet fruits 
 it hath born, those precious letters which you have 
 sent me from time to time, both at home and 
 abroad, are not of the least value. I did always 
 hug and highly esteem them, and you in them, for 
 they yielded me both profit and pleasure. 
 
 That seed which you have also sown in me hath
 
 191 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 fructified something, but it hath not been able to 
 make you such rich returns, nor afford so plentiful 
 a crop ; yet I daresay, this crop, how thin soever, 
 was pure and free from tares, from cockle or darn- 
 ell, from flattery or falsehood, and what it shall 
 produce hereafter shall be so; nor shall any injury 
 of the heavens, as tempests, or thunder and light- 
 ning (I mean no cross or affliction whatsoever) be 
 able to blast and smut it, or hinder it to grow up 
 and fructify still. 
 
 This is the third time God Almighty hath been 
 pleased to bring me back to the sweet bosom of 
 my dear country from beyond the seas. I have 
 been already comforted with the sight of many of 
 my choice friends, but I miss you extremely, there- 
 fore I pray make haste, for London streets which 
 you and I have trod together so often will prove 
 tedious to me else. Amongst other things, Black- 
 friars will entertain you with a play, "spick and 
 span new," and the Cockpit with another. Nor I 
 believe after so long absence, will it be an un pleas- 
 ing object for you to see, yours, J. H. 
 
 London, January 20, 1624. 
 
 Ill 
 
 To the Lord Viscount Colchester 
 
 M 
 
 Right Honourable, 
 
 Y last to your lordship was in Italian, with 
 the Venetian Gazetta enclosed. Count
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 293 
 
 Mansfelt is upon point of parting, having obtained 
 it seems the sum of his desires. He was lodged 
 all the while in the same quarter of St James, which 
 was appointed for the Infanta. He supped yes- 
 ternight with the council of war, and he hath a 
 grant of 12,000 men, English and Scots, whom he 
 will have ready in the body of an army against the 
 next spring ; and they say that England, France, 
 Venice, and Savov do contribute for the mainten- 
 ance thereof 60,000 pounds a month. There can 
 be no conjecture, much less any judgment made 
 yet of his design; most think it will be for re- 
 lieving Breda, which is straitly begirt by Spinola, 
 who gives out that he hath her already as a bird 
 in a cage, and will have her maugre all the oppo- 
 sition of Christendom. Yet there is fresh news 
 come over that Prince Maurice hath got on the 
 back of him, and hath beleaguered him, as he 
 hath done the town, which I want faith to believe 
 yet, in regard of the huge circuit of Spinola's works, 
 for his circumvallations are cried up to be near 
 upon twenty miles. But while the Spaniard is 
 spending millions here for getting small towns, the 
 Hollander gets kingdoms off him elsewhere. He 
 hath invaded and taken lately from the Portugal 
 part of Brazil, a rich country for sugars, cottons, 
 balsams, dyeing-wood, and divers commodities 
 besides. 
 
 The treaty of marriage betwixt our Prince and 
 the youngest daughter of France goes on apace, 
 and mv Lords of Carlisle and Holland are in Paris
 
 194 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 about it. We shall see now what difference there 
 is betwixt the French and Spanish pace. The two 
 Spanish ambassadors have been gone hence long 
 since : they say that they are both in prison, one 
 in Burgos in Spain, the other in Flanders, for the 
 scandalous information they made here against 
 the Duke of Buckingham, about which, the day 
 before their departure hence, they desired to have 
 one private audience more, but His Majesty 
 denied them. I believe they will not continue long 
 in disgrace, for matters grow daily worse and worse 
 betwixt us and Spain ; for divers letters of marque 
 are granted our merchants, and letters of marque 
 are commonly the forerunners of a war. Yet they 
 say Gondomar will be on his way hither again 
 about the Palatinate, for the King of Denmark 
 appears now in his niece's quarrel, and arms apace. 
 No more now, but that I kiss your lordship's 
 hands, and rest your most humble and ready 
 servitor, J. H. 
 
 London, 5 February 1624. 
 
 IV 
 
 To my Cousifiy Mr Roland Guin 
 
 Cousin, 
 
 I WAS lately sorry, and I was lately glad, that 
 I heard you were ill, that I heard you are well. 
 — Your affectionate cousin, J. H.
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 295 
 
 To Tho77ias 'Jones, Esq. 
 
 Tom, 
 
 IF you are in health,'tis well ; we are here all so, 
 and we should be better had we your company. 
 Therefore, I pray, leave the smutty air of London 
 and come hither to breathe sweeter, where you 
 may pluck a rose and drink a cillibub. — Your 
 faithful friend, 
 
 J. H. 
 
 Kentis, June i, 1625. 
 
 VI 
 
 To D. C, 
 
 THE bearer hereof hath no other errand but 
 to know how you do in the country, and 
 this paper is his credential letter. Therefore, I 
 prav, hasten his dispatch, and if you please send 
 him back like the man in the moon, with a basket 
 of your fruit on his back. — Your true friend, 
 
 J. H. 
 London, this August 10, 1625.
 
 296 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 VII 
 
 To my father ; from London 
 
 I RECEIVED yours of the third of February 
 by the hands of my cousin, Thomas Guin of 
 Trecastle. 
 
 It was my fortune to be on Sunday was fort- 
 night at Theobalds, where his late majesty King 
 James departed this life and went to his last rest 
 upon the day of rest, presently after sermon was 
 done. A little before the break of day he sent 
 for the Prince, who rose out of his bed and came 
 in his nightgown ; the King seemed to have some 
 earnest thing to say unto him, and so endeavoured 
 to raise himself upon his pillow, but his spirits 
 were so spent that he had not strength to make 
 his words audible. He died of a fever which 
 began with an ague, and some Scotch doctors mut- 
 ter at a plaster the Countess of Buckingham ap- 
 plied to the outside of his stomach. It is thought 
 the last breach of the match with Spain, which for 
 many years he had so vehemently desired, took 
 too deep an impression on him, and that he was 
 forced to rush into a war now in his declining age, 
 having lived in a continual uninterrupted peace 
 his whole life, except some collateral aids he had 
 sent his son-in-law. As soon as he expired the 
 Privy Council sat, and in less than a quarter of 
 an hour. King Charles was proclaimed at Theo- 

 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 297 
 
 balds Court Gate by Sir Edward Zouch, Knight 
 Marshal, Master Secretary Conway dictating unto 
 him : "That whereas it hath pleased God to take 
 to His mercy our most gracious sovereign King 
 James of famous memory, we proclaim Prince 
 Charles his rightful and indubitable heir to be 
 King of England, Scotland, France, and Ireland, 
 etc." The Knight Marshal mistook, saying, " His 
 rightful and dubitable heir," but he was rectified 
 by the secretary. This being done, 1 took my horse 
 instantly and came to London first, except one who 
 was come a little before me, insomuch, that I found 
 the gates shut. His now Majesty took coach and 
 the Duke of Buckingham with him, and came to 
 Saint James. In the evening he was proclaimed at 
 Whitehall Gate, in Cheapside, and other places in 
 a sad shower of rain ; and the weather was suitable 
 to the condition wherein he finds the kingdom 
 which is cloudy ; for he is left engaged in a war 
 with a potent prince, the people by long desuetude 
 unapt for arms, the fleet royal in quarter repair, 
 himself without a queen, his sister without a coun- 
 try, the crown pitifully laden with debts, and the 
 purse of the state lightly ballasted, though it never 
 had better opportunity to be rich than it had 
 these last twenty years. But God Almightv I hope 
 will make him emerge and pull this island out 
 of all these plunges, and preserve us from worser 
 times. 
 
 The plague is begun in Whitechapel, and as they 
 say, in the same house, at the same day of the
 
 298 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 month, with the same number that died twenty- 
 two years since when Queen EHzabeth departed. 
 
 There are great preparations for the funeral, and 
 there is a design to buy all the cloth for mourning 
 white and then to put it to the dyers in gross, 
 which is like to save the crown a good deal of 
 money ; the drapers murmur extremely at the Lord 
 Cranfield for it. 
 
 I am not settled yet in any stable condition, but 
 I lie windbound at the Cape of Good Hope, 
 expecting some gentle gale to launch out into an 
 employment. 
 
 So with my love to all my brothers and sisters 
 at the Bryn, and near Brecknock, I humbly crave 
 a continuance of your prayers and blessing to 
 your dutiful son, J. H. 
 
 London, December 11, 1625. 
 
 VIII 
 
 To Dr Prichard 
 
 SINCE I was beholden to you for your many 
 favours in Oxford, I have not heard from 
 you {ne gry quidem). I pray let the wonted corre- 
 spondence be now revived and receive new vigour 
 between us. 
 
 My Lord Chancellor Bacon is lately dead of 
 a long languishing weakness ; he died so poor, 
 that he scarce left money to bury him, which, 
 though he had a great wit, did argue no great wis-
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 299 
 
 dom, it being one of the essential properties of a 
 wise man to provide for the main chance. I have 
 read that it hath been the fortunes of all poets 
 commonly to die beggars ; but for an orator, a 
 lawyer, and philosopher, as he was, to die so, 't is 
 rare. It seems the same fate befell him that at- 
 tended Demosthenes, Seneca, and Cicero (all great 
 men), of whom the two first fell by corruption. 
 The tairest diamond may have a flaw in it, but I 
 believe he died poor out of contempt of the pelf 
 of fortune, as also out of an excess of generosity ; 
 which appeared as in divers other passages, so 
 once when the King had sent him a stag, he sent 
 up for the underkeeper, and having drunk the 
 King's health unto him in a great silver-gilt bowl, 
 he gave it him for his fee. 
 
 He wrote a pitiful letter to King James not 
 long before his death, and concludes. Help me, 
 dear sovereign lord and master, and pity me so 
 tar, that 1 who have been born to a bag be not 
 now in my age forced in effect to bear a wallet; 
 nor 1 that desire to live to study may be driven 
 to study to live. Which words, in my opinion, 
 argueth a little abjection of spirit, as his former 
 letter to the Prince did of profaneness, wherein he 
 hoped that as the Father was his creator the Son 
 will be his redeemer. I write not this to derogate 
 from the noble worth of the Lord Viscount Ver- 
 ulam, who was a rare man, a man reconditae scien- 
 tiaCy et ad salutem literarum natus^ and 1 think the 
 eloquentest that was born in this isle. They say
 
 300 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 he shall be the last Lord Chancellor, as Sir Ed- 
 ward Coke was the last Lord Chief-Justice of Eng- 
 land ; for ever since they have been termed Lord 
 Chief-Justices of the King's Bench, so hereafter 
 they shall be only Keepers of the Great Seal, 
 which for title and office are deposable, but they 
 say the Lord Chancellor's title is indelible. 
 
 I was lately at Gray's Inn with Sir Eubule, and 
 he desired me to remember him unto you, as I do 
 also salute Meum Prichardum ex imis praecordiisy 
 Vale Ke<l>aX'rj fxoi 7rpoo'(f)LX€0'TdTr). — Yours most 
 affectionately, while J. H. 
 
 London, January 6, 1625. 
 
 IX 
 
 To my well-beloved Cousin, Mr T. V. 
 
 Cousin, 
 
 YOU have a great work in hand, for you write 
 unto me that you are upon a treaty of mar- 
 riage. A great work indeed, and a work of such 
 consequence that it may make you or mar you. 
 It may make the whole remainder of your life 
 uncouth or comfortable to you ; for of all civil 
 actions that are incident to man, there is not any 
 that tends more to his infelicity or happiness. 
 Therefore it concerns you not to be over-hasty 
 herein, not to take the ball before the bound. 
 You must be cautious how you thrust your neck
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 301 
 
 into such a yoke, whence you will never have 
 power to withdraw it again, for the tongue useth 
 to tie so hard a knot that the teeth can never 
 untie, no not Alexander's sword can cut asunder 
 among us Christians. If you are resolved to 
 marry, choose where you love, and resolve to 
 love your choice ( let love rather than lucre be 
 your guide in this election), though a concurrence 
 of both be good, yet, for my part, I had rather 
 the latter should be wanting than the first. The 
 one is the pilot, the other but the ballast, of the 
 ship which should carry us to the harbour of 
 a happy life. If you are bent to wed I wish you 
 anothergess wife than Socrates had. And as I 
 wish you may not light upon such a Zantippe (as 
 the wisest men have had ill-luck in this kind, as 
 I could instance in two of our most eminent law- 
 yers, C, B.), so I pray that God may deliver 
 you from a wife of such a generation that Strowd 
 our cook here at Westminster said his wife was 
 of, who, when (out of a mislike of the preacher) 
 he had on a Sunday in the afternoon gone out of 
 the church to a tavern, and returning towards the 
 evening pretty well heated with canary to look to 
 his roast, and his wife falling to read him a loud 
 lesson in so furious a manner as if she would 
 have basted him instead of the mutton, and 
 amongst other revilings, telling him often, that 
 the devil, the devil, would fetch him, at last he 
 broke out of a long silence, and told her, I pri- 
 thee, good wife, hold thyself content, for I know
 
 302 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 the devil will do me no hurt, for I have married 
 his kinswoman. If you light upon such a wife 
 (a wife that hath more bone than flesh) I wish 
 you may have the same measure of patience that 
 Socrates and Strowd had, to suffer the gray mare 
 sometimes to be the better horse. I remember 
 a French proverb — 
 
 La maison est miserable et mechante 
 Ou la poule plus haut que le coq chante. 
 
 That house doth every day more wretched grow 
 Where the hen louder than the cock doth crow. 
 
 Yet we have another English proverb almost 
 counter to this, That it is better to marry a shrew 
 than a sheep; for though silence be the dumb 
 orator of beauty, and the best ornament of a 
 woman, yet a phlegmatic dull wife is fulsome and 
 fastidious. 
 
 Excuse me, cousin, that I jest with you in so 
 serious a business. I know you need no counsel 
 of mine herein. You are discreet enough of your- 
 self, nor, I presume, do you want advice of parents, 
 which by all means must go along with you. So 
 wishing you all conjugal joy, and a happy confar- 
 reation, I rest, your affectionate cousin, 
 
 J. H. 
 
 London, February 5, 1625.
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 303 
 
 X 
 
 To ?ny noble Lordy the Lord Clifford; from 
 
 London 
 
 My Lord, 
 
 THE Duke of Buckingham is lately returned 
 from Holland, having renewed the peace 
 with the States and articled with them for a con- 
 tinuation of some naval forces for an expedition 
 against Spain, as also having taken up some mon- 
 ies upon private jewels (not any of the Crown's), 
 and lastly, having comforted the Lady Elizabeth 
 for the decease of his late Majesty her father and 
 of Prince Frederick, her eldest son, whose disas- 
 trous manner of death, amongst the rest of her sad 
 afflictions, is not the least. For passing over Haar- 
 lem Mere, a huge inland lough, in company of his 
 father, who had been in Amsterdam to look how his 
 bank of money did thrive, and coming (for more 
 frugality) in the common boat, which was overset 
 with merchandise, and other passengers, in a thick 
 fog the vessel turned over and so many per- 
 ished. The Prince Palsgrave saved himself by 
 swimming, but the young prince clinging to the 
 mast, and being entangled amongst the tacklings, 
 was half drowned and half frozen to death — a sad 
 destiny. 
 
 There is an open rupture betwixt us and the 
 Spaniard, though he gives out that he never broke 
 with us to this day. Count Gondomar was on his
 
 304 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 way to Flanders, and thence to England (as they 
 say) with a large commission to treat for a sur- 
 render of the Palatinate, and so to piece matters 
 together again, but he died on the journey, at a 
 place called Bunnol, of pure apprehensions of 
 grief, it is given out. 
 
 The match betwixt His Majesty and the Lady 
 Henrietta Maria, youngest daughter to Henry the 
 Great (the eldest being married to the King of 
 Spain, and the second to the Duke of Savoy) goes 
 roundly on, and is in a manner concluded ; where- 
 at the Count of Soissons is much discontented, 
 who gave himself hopes to have her, but the hand 
 of heaven hath predestined her for a far higher 
 condition. 
 
 The French ambassadors who were sent hither 
 to conclude the business, having private audience 
 of his late Majesty a little before his death, he told 
 them pleasantly that he would make war against 
 the Lady Henrietta because she would not receive 
 the two letters which were sent her, one from him- 
 self and the other from his son, but sent them to 
 her mother ; yet he thought he should easily make 
 peace with her, because he understood she had 
 afterwards put the latter letter in her bosom, and 
 the first in her coshionet, whereby he gathered 
 that she intended to reserve his son for her affec- 
 tion and him for counsel. 
 
 The Bishop of Lu^on, now Cardinal de Riche- 
 lieu, is grown to be the sole favourite of the King 
 of France, being brought in by the queen mother.
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 305 
 
 He hath been very active in advancing the match, 
 but it is thought the wars will break out afresh 
 against them of the religion, notwithstanding the 
 ill fortune the King had before Montauban a few 
 years since, where he lost above 500 of his nobles, 
 whereof the great Duke of Main was one, and 
 having lain in person before the town many 
 months, and received some affronts, as that in- 
 scription upon their gates shows, "Roy sans foy, 
 ville sans peur" (a king without faith, a town with- 
 out fear), yet he was forced to rase his works and 
 raise his siege. 
 
 The letter which Mr Ellis Hicks brought them 
 of Montauban from Rochelle, through so much 
 danger and with so much gallantry, was an in- 
 finite advantage unto them ; for whereas there 
 was a politic report raised in the King's army 
 and blown into Montauban that Rochelle was 
 yielded to the Count of Soissons who lay then 
 before her, this letter did inform the contrary, 
 and that Rochelle was in as good a plight as 
 ever. Whereupon they made a sally the next day 
 upon the King's forces and did him a great deal 
 of spoil. 
 
 There be summons out for a Parliament. Ipray 
 God it may prove more prosperous than the for- 
 mer. 
 
 I have been lately recommended to the Duke 
 of Buckingham by some noble friends of mine 
 that have intimacy with him, about whom, though 
 he hath three secretaries already, I hope to have
 
 3o6 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 some employment, for I am weary of walking up 
 and down so idly upon London streets. 
 
 The plague begins to rage mightily ; God avert 
 His judgments that menace so great a mortality, 
 and turn not away His face from this poor island. 
 So I kiss your lordship's hand, in quality of your 
 lordship's most humble servitor, 
 
 J. H. 
 
 London, 25 February 1625, 
 
 XI 
 
 1^0 Rich. Altham^ Esquire 
 
 THE echo wants but a face and the looking- 
 glass a voice to make them both living crea- 
 tures, and to become the same bodies they repre- 
 sent, the one by repercussion of sound, the other 
 by reflection of sight. Your most ingenious letters 
 to me from time to time do far more lively re- 
 present you than either echo or crystal can do. 
 I mean they represent the better and nobler part 
 of you, to wit, the inward man. They clearly set 
 forth the notions of your mind and the motions 
 of your soul, with the strength of your imagina- 
 tion ; for as I know your exterior person by your 
 lineaments, so I know you as well inwardly by 
 your lines and by those lively expressions you give 
 of yourself, insomuch that I believe if the interior 
 man within you were so visible as the outward 
 (as once Plato wished that virtue might be seen
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 307 
 
 with the corporal eyes) you would draw all the 
 world after you ; or if your well-born thoughts 
 and the words of your letters were echoed in any 
 place where they might rebound and be made aud- 
 ible, they are composed of such sweet and charm- 
 ing strains of ingenuity and eloquence that all the 
 nymphs of the woods and the valleys, the dryads, 
 yea, the graces and muses, would pitch their 
 pavilions there, nay, Apollo himself would dwell 
 longer in that place with his rays and make them 
 reverberate more strongly than either upon Pindus 
 or Parnassus or Rhodes itself, whence he never 
 removes his eye as long as he is above this hemi- 
 sphere. I confess my letters to you, which I send 
 by way of correspondence, come far short of such 
 virtue, yet are they the true ideas of my mind and 
 that real and inbred affection I bear you. One 
 should never teach his letters or his lackey to He. 
 I observe that rule, but besides my letters I could 
 wish there were a crystal casement in my breast, 
 through which you might behold the motions of 
 my heart : Utinamque oculos in pectore posses in- 
 cessere, then should you clearly see, without any 
 deception of sight, how truly I am, and how en- 
 tirely, yours, J. H. 
 
 27 of February 1625. 
 
 And to answer you in the same strain of verse 
 you sent me. 
 
 First, shall the heaven's bright lamp forget to shine. 
 The stars shall from the azured sky decline ;
 
 3o8 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 First, shall the Orient with the west shake hand. 
 
 The centre of the world shall cease to stand ; 
 
 First, wolves shall league with lambs, the dolphins fly, 
 
 The lawyer and physician fees deny. 
 
 The Thames with Tagus shall exchange her bed. 
 
 My mistress' locks with mine, shall first turn red ; 
 
 First, heaven shall lie below, and hell above. 
 
 Ere I inconstant to my Altham prove. 
 
 XII 
 
 To the Right Honourable my Lord of Car ling- 
 ford, after Earl ofCarberry, at Golden Grove, 
 2.%th May 1625 
 
 My Lord, 
 
 WE have gallant news now abroad, for we are 
 sure to have a new queen ere it be long. 
 Both the contract and marriage was lately sol- 
 emnised in France, the one the second of this 
 month in the Louvre, the other the eleventh day 
 following in the great Church of Paris, by the 
 Cardinal of Rochefoucauld. There was some clash- 
 ing betwixt him and the Archbishop of Paris, who 
 alleged it was his duty to officiate in that church, 
 but the dignity of cardinal and the quality of his 
 office, being the King's Great Almoner, which 
 makes him chief curate of the court, gave him the 
 prerogative. I doubt not but your lordship hath 
 heard of the capitulations, but for better assurance 
 I will run them over briefly.
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 309 
 
 The King of France obliged himself to procure 
 the dispensation. The marriage should be cele- 
 brated in the same form as that of Queen Marga- 
 ret and of the Duchess of Bar. Her dowry should 
 be 40,000 crowns, six shillings apiece, the one 
 moiety to be paid the day of the contract, the other 
 twelve months after. The Oueen shall have a 
 chapel in all the King's royal houses and any- 
 where else where she shall reside within the 
 dominions of His Majesty of Great Britain, with 
 free exercise of the Roman religion, for herself, 
 her officers and all her household, for the celebra- 
 tion of the Mass, the predication of the word, ad- 
 ministration of the sacraments, and power to procure 
 indulgences from the Holy Father. That to this 
 end she shall be allowed twenty-eight priests or 
 ecclesiastics in her house and a bishop in quality 
 of Almoner, who shall have jurisdiction over all 
 the rest, and that none of the King's officers shall 
 have power over them, unless in case of treason. 
 Therefore all her ecclesiastics shall take the oath 
 of fidelity to His Majesty of Great Britain. There 
 shall be a cemetery or churchyard close about to 
 bury those of her family, that in consideration of 
 this marriage all English Catholics, as well eccle- 
 siastics as lay, which shall be in any prison merely 
 for religion, since the last edict shall be set at 
 liberty. 
 
 This is the eighth alliance we have had with 
 France since the Conquest, and as it is the best 
 that could be made in Christendom, so I hope it
 
 3IO FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 will prove the happiest. — So I kiss your hands, 
 being your lordship's most humble servitor, 
 
 J. H. 
 London, March i, 1625. 
 
 XIII 
 
 To the Honourable Sir Tho. Sa. 
 
 I CONVERSED lately with a gentleman that 
 came from France, who- amongst other things, 
 discoursed much of the favourite Richelieu, who is 
 like to be an active man, and hath great designs. 
 The two first things he did was to make sure of 
 England and the Hollander; he thinks to have 
 us safe enough by this marriage ; and Holland by 
 a late league, which was bought with a great sum of 
 money; for he hath furnished the States with a 
 million of livres at two shillings a piece in present, 
 and six hundred thousand livres every year of these 
 two that are to come; provided that the States 
 repay these sums two years after they are in peace 
 or truce. The King pressed much for liberty of 
 conscience to Roman Catholics amongst them, and 
 the deputies promised to do all they could with the 
 States General about it ; they articled likewise for 
 the French to be associated with them in the trade 
 to the Indies. 
 
 Monsieur is lately married to Mary of Bourbon, 
 the Duke of Monpensier's daughter. He told her 
 " That he would be a better husband than he had
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 311 
 
 been a suitor to her ; " for he hung off a good 
 while. This marriage was made by the King, and 
 Monsieur hath for his appenage 100,000 livres, 
 annual rent from Chartres and Blois, 100,000 
 livres pension, and 500,000 to be charged yearly 
 upon the general receipts of Orleans, in all about 
 ^70,000. There was much ado before this match 
 could be brought about, for there were many op- 
 posers, and there be dark whispers that there was 
 a deep plot to confine the King to a monastery, 
 and that Monsieur should govern; and divers 
 great ones have suffered for it, and more are like 
 to be discovered. — So I take my leave for the pre- 
 sent, and rest, your humble and ready servitor, 
 
 J. H. 
 London, March 10, 1626. 
 
 XIV 
 
 To the Lady "Jane Savage, Marchioness of 
 
 Winchester 
 
 Excellent Lady, 
 
 I MAY say of your Grace, as it was said once of 
 a rare Italian princess, that you are the greatest 
 tyrant in the world, because you make all those that 
 see you your slaves, much more them that know 
 you, I mean those that are acquainted with your 
 inward disposition, and with the faculties of your 
 soul, as well as the phisnomy of your face ; for
 
 312 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 Virtue took as much pains to adorn the one, as 
 Nature did to perfect the other. I have had the 
 happiness to know both, when your Grace took 
 pleasure to learn Spanish, at which time, when my 
 betters far had offered their service in this kind, 
 I had the honour to be commanded by you often. 
 He that hath as much experience of you as I have 
 had, will confess that the Handmaid of God Al- 
 mighty was never so prodigal of her gifts to any, 
 or laboured more to frame an exact model of fe- 
 male perfection ; nor was dame Nature only busied 
 in this work, but all the Graces did consult and 
 co-operate with her, and they wasted so much of 
 their treasure to enrich this one piece, that it may 
 be a good reason why so many lame and defective 
 fragments of women-kind are daily thrust into the 
 world. 
 
 I return you here enclosed the sonnet your 
 Grace pleased to send me lately, rendered into 
 Spanish, and fitted for the same air it had in 
 English, both for cadence and number of feet. 
 With it I send my most humble thanks, that 
 your Grace would descend to command me in 
 anything that might conduce to your contentment 
 and service ; for there is nothing I desire with a 
 greater ambition (and herein I have all the world 
 my rival) than to be accounted, Madame, your 
 Grace's most humble and ready servitor, 
 
 J. H. 
 
 London, March 15, 1626.
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 313 
 
 XV 
 
 To the Right Honourable the Lord Clifford 
 
 My Lord, 
 
 I PRAY be pleased to dispense with this slow- 
 ness of mine in answering yours of the first of 
 this present. 
 
 Touching the domestic occurrences, the gentle- 
 man who is bearer hereof is more capable to give 
 you account by discourse than I can in paper. 
 
 For foreign tidings your lordship may under- 
 stand that the town of Breda hath been a good 
 while making her last will and testament, but now 
 there is certain news come that she hath yielded up 
 the ghost to Spinola's hands after a tough siege 
 of thirteen months, and a circumvallation of near 
 upon twenty miles' compass. 
 
 My Lord of Southampton and his eldest son 
 sickened at the siege and died at Bergen. The 
 adventurous Earl Henry of Oxford, seeming to tax 
 the Prince of Orange with slackness to fight, was 
 set upon a desperate work, where he melted his 
 grease, and so being carried to the Hague he died 
 also. I doubt not but you have heard of Grave 
 Maurice's death, which happened when the town 
 was past cure, which was his more than the State's, 
 for he was Marquis of Breda, and had near upon 
 thirty thousand dollars annual rent from her ; 
 therefore he seemed in a kind of sympathy to
 
 314 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 sicken with his town, and died before her. He 
 had provided plentifully for all his natural child- 
 ren ; but could not, though much importuned by 
 Doctor Roseus and other divines upon his death- 
 bed, be induced to make them legitimate by marry- 
 ing the mother of them, for the law there is, that 
 if one hath got children of any woman, though 
 unmarried to her, yet if he marry her never so 
 little before his death, he makes her honest and 
 them all legitimate. But it seems the prince post- 
 poned the love he bore to this woman and children 
 to that which he bore to his brother Henry, for 
 had he made the children legitimate, it had pre- 
 judiced the brother in point of command and for- 
 tunes. Yet he had provided very plentifully for 
 them and the mother. 
 
 Grave Henry hath succeeded him in all things, 
 and is a gallant gentleman of a French education 
 and temper. He charged him at his death to marry 
 a young lady, the Count of Solme's daughter, at- 
 tending the Queen of Bohemia, whom he had long 
 courted, which is thought will take speedy effect. 
 
 When the siege before Breda had grown hot, 
 Sir Edward Vere being one day attending Prince 
 Maurice, he pointed at a rising place called Ter- 
 hay, where the enemy had built a fort (which 
 might have been prevented) ; Sir Edward told 
 him he feared that fort would be the cause of the 
 loss of the town. The Grave spattered and shook 
 his head, saying, " It was the greatest error he 
 had committed since he knew what belonged to a
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 315 
 
 soldier, as also in managing the plot for surprising 
 of the citadel of Antwerp, for he repented that he 
 had not employed English and French in lieu of 
 the slow Dutch, who aimed to have the sole hon- 
 our of it, and were not so fit instruments for such 
 a nimble piece of service. As soon as Sir Charles 
 Morgan gave up the town, Spinola caused a new 
 gate to be erected, with this inscription in great 
 golden characters : 
 
 Philippo quarto regnante, 
 Clara Eugenia Isabella gubernante, 
 Ambrosio Spinola obsidente, 
 Quatuor Regibus contra conantibus. 
 Breda Capta fuit Idibus, etc. 
 
 It is thought that Spinola, now that he hath 
 recovered the honour he had lost before Berghen- 
 op-Zoom three years since, will not long stay in 
 Flanders, but retire. 
 
 No more now, but that 1 am resolved to continue 
 ever your lordship's most humble servitor, 
 
 J. H. 
 
 London, March 19, 1626. 
 
 XVI 
 
 To Mr R. Sc, at York 
 
 I SENT you one of third current, but it was not 
 answered. I sent another of the thirteenth like 
 a second arrow to find out the first, but I know 
 not what's become of either. 1 send this to find
 
 3i6 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 out the other two, and If this fail, there shall go no 
 more out of my quiver. If you forget me I have 
 cause to complain ; and more, if you remember 
 me. To forget may proceed from the frailty of 
 memory ; not to answer me when you mind me is 
 pure neglect, and no less than a piacle. — So I rest, 
 yours easily to be recovered, J. H. 
 
 Ira furor brevis, brevis est mea littera, cogor, 
 Ira correptus, corripuisse stylum. 
 
 London, 19 of July ^ the first of 
 the Dog DaySy 1626 
 
 XVII 
 
 To Dr Fields Lord Bishop of Lajidaff 
 
 My Lord, 
 
 I SEND you my humble thanks for those worthy 
 hospitable favours you were pleased to give me 
 at your lodgings in Westminster. I had yours of 
 the fifth of this present by the hand of Mr Jon- 
 athan Field. The news which fills every corner 
 of the town at this time is the sorry and unsuc- 
 cessful return that Wimbledon's fleet hath made 
 from Spain. It was a fleet that deserved to have 
 had a better destiny, considering the strength of 
 it, and the huge charge the Crown was at. For 
 besides a squadron of sixteen Hollanders, whereof 
 Count William, one of Prince Maurice's natural 
 sons, was admiral, there were above four score of
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 317 
 
 ours, the greatest joint naval power (of ships 
 without galleys) that ever spread sail upon salt 
 water, which makes the world abroad to stand 
 astonished how so huge a fleet could be so sud- 
 denly made ready. The sinking of the Long Robin 
 with 170 souls in her, in the Bay of Biscay, ere 
 she had gone half the voyage was no good augury. 
 And the critics of the time say there were many 
 other things that promised no good fortune to this 
 fleet ; besides they would point at divers errors 
 committed in the conduct of the main design ; 
 first the odd choice that was made of the admiral, 
 who was a mere landman, which made the seamen 
 much slight him, it belonging properly to Sir 
 Robert Mansell, Vice- Admiral of England, to have 
 gone in case the high admiral went not. Then 
 they speak of the uncertainty of the enterprise, 
 and that no place was pitched upon to be invaded, 
 till they came to the height of the South Cape, 
 and in sight of shore, where the Lord Wimbledon 
 first called a council of war, wherein some would 
 be for Malaga, others for Saint Mary Port, others 
 for Gibraltar, but most for Calais ; and while they 
 were thus consulting the country had an alarm 
 given them. Add hereunto the blazing abroad of 
 this expedition ere the fleet went out of the Downs, 
 for Mercurius Gallobelgicus had it in print that 
 it was for the Straits mouth. Now it is a rule that 
 great designs of State should be mysteries till they 
 come to the very act of performance, and then 
 they should turn to exploits. Moreover, when the
 
 3i8 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 local attempt was resolved on, there were seven 
 ships (by the advice of one Captain Love) suffered 
 to go up the river which might have been easily 
 taken, and being rich, it is thought they would 
 have defrayed well-near the charge of our fleet, 
 which ships did much infest us afterwards with 
 their ordnance, when we had taken the Fort of 
 Puntall. Moreover, the disorderly carriage and 
 excess of our landmen (whereof there were 10,000) 
 when they were put ashore, who broke into the 
 Fryers Caves and other cellars of sweet wines, 
 where many hundreds of them being surprised 
 and found dead drunk, the Spaniards came and 
 tore off their ears and noses and plucked out their 
 eyes. And I was told of one merry fellow escap- 
 ing that killed an ass for a buck. Lastly, it is laid 
 to the admiral's charge that my Lord de la Ware's 
 ship being infected, he gave order that the sick 
 men should be scattered into divers ships, which 
 dispersed the contagion exceedingly, so that some 
 thousands died before the fleet returned, which 
 was done in a confused manner without any ob- 
 servance of sea orders. Yet I do not hear of any 
 that will be punished for these miscarriages, which 
 will make the dishonour fall more foully upon the 
 State. But the most unfortunate passage of all 
 was, that though we did nothing by land that was 
 considerable, yet if we had stayed but a day or two 
 longer, and spent time at sea, the whole fleet of gal- 
 leons from Nova Hispania had fallen into our own 
 mouths, which came presently in, close along the
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 319 
 
 coasts of Barba^y, and in all likelihood we might 
 have had the opportunity to have taken the richest 
 prize that ever was taken on salt water. Add here- 
 unto, that while we were thus masters of those seas, 
 a fleet of fifty sail of Brazilmen got safe into Lis- 
 bon with four of the richest carracks that ever 
 came from the East Indies. 
 
 I hear my Lord of Saint David's is to be re- 
 moved to Bath and Wells, and it were worth your 
 lordship's coming up to endeavour the succeeding 
 of him. — So I humbly rest your lordship's most 
 ready servitor, J. H. 
 
 London, 20 November 1626. 
 
 XVIII 
 
 To my Lord Duke of Buckingham's Grace at 
 
 Newmarket 
 
 MAY it please your Grace to peruse and par- 
 don these few advertisements which I would 
 not dare to present had I not hopes that the good- 
 ness which is concomitant with your greatness 
 would make them venial. 
 
 My lord, a Parliament is at hand ; the last was 
 boisterous, God grant that this may prove more 
 calm. A rumour runs that there are clouds already 
 engendered which will break out into a storm in 
 the lower region, and most of the drops are like 
 to fall upon your Grace. This, though it be but 
 vulgar astrology, is not altogether to be contemned.
 
 320 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 though I believe that His Majesty's countenance 
 reflecting so strongly upon your Grace, with the 
 brightness of your own innocency, may be able to 
 dispel and scatter them to nothing. 
 
 My lord, you are a great prince, and all eyes are 
 upon your actions; this makes you more subject 
 to envy, which, like the sunbeams, beats always 
 upon rising grounds. I know your Grace hath 
 many sage and solid heads about you ; yet I trust 
 it will prove no offence if, out of the late relation 
 I have to your Grace by the recommendation of 
 such noble personages, I put in also my mite. 
 
 My lord, under favour, it were not amiss if your 
 Grace would be pleased to part with some of those 
 places you hold which have least relation to the 
 court, and it would take away the mutterings that 
 run of multiplicity of offices, and in my shallow 
 apprehension your Grace might stand more firm 
 without an anchor. The office of High Admiral 
 in these times of action requires one whole man to 
 execute it ; your Grace hath another sea of business 
 to wade through, and the voluntary resigning of 
 this office would fill all men, yea, even your ene- 
 mies, with admiration and affection, and make you 
 more a prince than detract from your greatness. 
 If any ill successes happen at sea (as that of the 
 Lord Wimbledon's lately), or if there be any mur- 
 mur for pay, your Grace will be free from all im- 
 putations; besides it will afford your Grace more 
 leisure to look into your own affairs, which lie 
 confused and unsettled. Lastly (which is not the
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 321 
 
 least thing), this act will be so plausible that it may 
 much advantage His Majesty in point of subsidy. 
 
 Secondly, it were expedient (under correction) 
 that your Grace would be pleased to allot some 
 set hours for audience and access of suitors, and it 
 would be less cumber to yourself and your serv- 
 ants, and give more content to the world, which 
 often mutters for difficulty of access. 
 
 Lastly, it were not amiss that your Grace would 
 settle a standing mansion-house and family, that 
 suitors may know whither to repair constantly, and 
 that your servants, every one in his place, might 
 know what belongs to his place, and attend accord- 
 ingly ; for though confusion in a great family carry 
 a kind of state with it, yet order and regularity 
 gains a greater opinion of virtue and wisdom. I 
 know your Grace doth not (nor needs not) affect 
 popularity. It is true that the people's love is 
 the strongest citadel of a sovereign prince, but to 
 a great subject it hath often proved fatal ; for he 
 who pulleth off his hat to the people giveth his 
 head to the prince ; and it is remarkable what was 
 said of a late unfortunate earl, who a little before 
 Queen Elizabeth's death had drawn the axe upon 
 his own neck, "that he was grown so popular that 
 he was too dangerous for the times, and the times 
 for him." 
 
 My lord, now that your Grace is threatened to 
 be heaved at, it should behove every one that 
 oweth you duty and good will to reach out his 
 hand some way or other to serve you. Amongst
 
 322 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 these, I am one that presumes to do it, in this poor 
 impertinent paper; for which I implore pardon, 
 because I am, my lord, your Grace's most humble 
 and faithful servant, J. H. 
 
 London, 13 February 1626. 
 
 XIX 
 
 To Sir y. S.f Knight 
 
 THERE is a saying which carrieth no little 
 weight with it, that "parvus amor loquitur, 
 ingens stupet " (small love speaks, whilst great love 
 stands astonished with silence). The one keeps 
 a-tattling, while the other is struck dumb with 
 amazement; like deep rivers, which to the eye of 
 the beholder seem to stand still, while small shallow 
 rivulets keep a noise ; or like empty casks that 
 make an obstreperous hollow sound, which they 
 would not do were they replenished and full of 
 substance. It is the condition of my love to you, 
 which is so great, and of that profoundness, that it 
 hath been silent all this while, being stupefied with 
 the contemplation of those high favours, and sun- 
 dry sorts of civilities, wherewith I may say you 
 have overwhelmed me. This deep ford of my 
 affection and gratitude to you I intend to cut out 
 hereafter into small currents (I mean into letters), 
 that the course of it may be heard, though it make 
 but a small bubbling noise, as also that the clear- 
 ness of it may appear more visible.
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL ^^ 
 
 I desire my service be presented to my noble 
 lady, whose fair hands I humbly kiss; and if she 
 want anything that London can afford, she need 
 but command her and your most faithful and ready 
 servitor, J. H. 
 
 London, ii February 1626. 
 
 XX 
 
 To the Right Honourable the Earl R. 
 
 My Lord, 
 
 ACCORDING to promise, and that portion of 
 obedience I owe to your commands, I send 
 your lordship these few avisos, some whereof I 
 doubt not but you have received before, and that 
 by abler pens than mine ; yet your lordship mav 
 happily find herein something which was omitted 
 by others, or the former news made clearer by 
 circumstance. 
 
 I hear Count Mansfelt is in Paris, having now 
 received three routings in Germany ; it is thought 
 the French king will piece him up again with new 
 recruits. I was told that, as he was seeing the two 
 queens one day at dinner, the queen-mother said, 
 " They say Count Mansfelt is here amongst this 
 crowd." " I do not believe it," quoth the young 
 queen, " for whensoever he seeth a Spaniard he 
 runs away." 
 
 Matters go untowardly on our side in Germany, 
 but the King of Denmark will be shortly in the
 
 324 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 field in person ; and Bethlem Gabor hath been long 
 expected to do something, but some think he will 
 prove but a bugbear. Sir Charles Morgan Is to 
 go to Germany with 6000 auxiliaries to join with 
 the Danish army. 
 
 The Parliament is adjourned to Oxford, by 
 reason of the sickness which increaseth exceed- 
 ingly ; and before the King went out of town there 
 died 1500 that very week, and two out of White- 
 hall itself. 
 
 There is high clashing again betwixt my lord 
 duke and the Earl of Bristol ; they recriminate 
 one another of divers things. The earl accuseth 
 him, amongst other matters, of certain letters from 
 Rome ; of putting His Majesty upon that hazard- 
 ous journey to Spain, and of some miscarriages 
 at his being in that court. There be articles also 
 against the Lord Conway, which I send your lord- 
 ship here enclosed. 
 
 I am for Oxford the next week, and thence for 
 Wales, to fetch my good old father's blessing : at 
 my return, if it shall please God to reprieve me 
 in these dangerous times of contagion, I shall 
 continue my wonted service to your lordship, if 
 it may be done with safety ; so I rest, your lord- 
 ship's most humble servitor, 
 
 J. H. 
 
 London, 15 of March 1626.
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 31^ 
 
 XXI 
 
 To the Honourable the Lord Viscount C. 
 
 My Lord, 
 
 SIR JOHN NORTH delivered me one lately 
 from your lordship, and I send my humble 
 thanks for the venison you intend me, I ac- 
 quainted your lordship, as opportunity served, 
 with the nimble pace the French match went on 
 by the successful negotiation of the Earls of Car- 
 lisle and Holland (who outwent the monsieurs 
 themselves in courtship), and how in less than 
 nine moons this great business was proposed, 
 pursued, and perfected, whereas the sun had 
 leisure enough to finish his annual progress from 
 one end of the Zodiac to the other so many years 
 before that of Spain could come to any shape of 
 perfection. This may serve to show the difference 
 betwixt the two nations, the leaden-heeled pace of 
 the one and the quicksilvered motions of the other. 
 It shows also how the French is more generous 
 in his proceedings, and not so full of scruples, reser- 
 vations and jealousies as the Spaniard, but deals 
 more frankly, and with a greater confidence and 
 gallantry. 
 
 The Lord Duke of Buckingham is now in Paris, 
 accompanied with the Earl of Montgomery, and 
 he went in a very splendid equipage. The Vene- 
 tian and Hollander, with other States that are no
 
 2ie FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 friends to Spain, did some good offices to advance 
 this alliance, and the new Pope propounded much 
 towards it; but Richelieu, the new favourite of 
 France, was the cardinal instrument in it. 
 
 This Pope Urban grows very active, not only 
 in things present, but ripping up of old matters, 
 for which there is a select committee appointed to 
 examine accounts and errors passed, not only in 
 the time of his immediate predecessor, but others. 
 And one told me of a merry pasquil lately in 
 Rome, that whereas there are two great statues, 
 one of Peter, the other of Paul, opposite one to 
 the other upon a bridge, one had clapt a pair of 
 spurs upon St Peter's heels, and St Paul asking 
 him whither he was bound, he answered, " I ap- 
 prehend some danger to stay now in Rome, be- 
 cause of this new commission, for I fear they will 
 question me for denying my Master." " Truly, 
 brother Peter, I shall not stay long after you, 
 for I have as much cause to doubt that they will 
 question me for persecuting the Christians be- 
 fore I was converted." — So I take my leave, and 
 rest, your lordship's most humble servitor, 
 
 J. H. 
 
 London, 3 May 1626.
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 327 
 
 XXII 
 
 To my Brother y Master Hugh Penry 
 
 I THANK you for your late letter, and the 
 several good tidings sent me from Wales. In 
 requital I can send you gallant news, for we have 
 now a most noble new Queen of England, who in 
 true beauty is beyond the long-wooed Infanta, for 
 she was of a fading flaxen hair, big-lipped, and 
 somewhat heavy eyed ; but this daughter of France, 
 this youngest branch of Bourbon (being but in her 
 cradle when the great Henry her father was put out 
 of the world), is of a more lovely and lasting com- 
 plexion, a dark brown ; she hath eyes that sparkle 
 like stars, and for her physiognomy she may be said 
 to be a mirror of perfection. She had a rough pass- 
 age in her transfretation to Dover Castle, and in 
 Canterbury the King bedded first with her. There 
 were a goodly train of choice ladies attended her 
 coming upon the bowling-green on Barham Downs, 
 upon the way, who divided themselves into two 
 rows, and they appeared like so many constella- 
 tions ; but methought that the country ladies out- 
 shined the courtiers. She brought over with her two 
 hundred thousand crowns in gold and silver as half 
 her portion, and the other moiety is to be paid at 
 the year's end. Her first suite of servants (by ar- 
 ticle) are to be French, and as they die English are 
 to succeed. She is also allowed twenty-eight eccle-
 
 328 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 siastics of any order except Jesuits, a bishop for her 
 almoner, and to have private exercise of her relig- 
 ion for her and her servants. 
 
 I pray convey the enclosed to my father by the 
 next conveniency, and pray present my dear love 
 to my sister. I hope to see you at Dyvinnock 
 about Michaelmas, for I intend to wait upon my 
 father, and will take my mother in the way ; I mean 
 Oxford. In the interim I rest your most affection- 
 ate brother, J. H. 
 
 London, i6 May 1626. 
 
 XXIII 
 
 To my TJncle, Sir Sackville Trevor ; from 
 
 Oxford 
 
 I AM sorry I must write unto you the sad tidings 
 of the dissolution of the Parliament here, which 
 was done suddenly. Sir John Elliot was in the heat 
 ofa high speech against the Duke of Buckingham, 
 when the Usher of the Black-Rod knocked at the 
 door and signified the King's pleasure, which struck 
 a kind of consternation in all the house. My Lord 
 Keeper Williams hath parted with the broad seal, 
 because, as some say, he went about to cut down 
 the scale by which he rose; for some, it seems, did 
 ill offices betwixt the duke and him. Sir Thomas 
 Coventry hath it now. I pray God he be tender of 
 the King's conscience, whereof he is keeper, rather 
 than of the seal.
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 329 
 
 I am bound to-morrow upon a journey towards 
 the mountains to see some friends in Wales, and 
 to bring back my father's blessing. For better 
 assurance of lodging where I pass, in regard of 
 the plague, I have a post warrant as far as Saint 
 David's, which is far enough you '11 say, for the 
 King hath no ground further on this island. If 
 the sickness rage in such extremity at London, 
 the term will be held at Reading. 
 
 All your friends here are well, but many look 
 blank because of this sudden rupture of the Parlia- 
 ment. God Almighty turn all to the best, and stay 
 the fury of this contagion, and preserve us from 
 further judgments ; so 1 rest your most affectionate 
 nephew, J. H. 
 
 Oxford, 6 August 1626. 
 
 XXIV 
 
 To my Father ; fro7n London 
 
 I WAS now the fourth time at a dead stand in 
 the course of my fortunes ; for though I was 
 recommended to the duke and received many 
 noble respects from him, yet I was told by some 
 who are nearest him that somebody hath done me 
 ill offices by whispering in his ear that I was too 
 much Digbyfied, and so they told me positively 
 that I must never expect any employment about 
 him of any trust. While I was in this suspense, 
 Mr Secretary Conway sent for me and proposed
 
 330 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 unto me that the King had occasion to send a gen- 
 tleman to Italy in nature of a moving agent, and 
 though he might have choice of persons of good 
 quality that would willingly undertake this em- 
 ployment, yet understanding of my breeding he 
 made the first proffer to me, and that I should go 
 as the King's servant and have allowance accord- 
 ingly. I humbly thanked him for the good opin- 
 ion he pleased to conceive of me being a stranger 
 to him, and desired some time to consider of the 
 proposition and of the nature of the employ- 
 ment ; so he granted me four days to think upon 
 it, and two of them are passed already. If I may 
 have a support accordingly, I intend by God's 
 Grace (desiring your consent and blessing to go 
 along), to apply myself to this course ; but before 
 I part with England I intend to send you further 
 notice. 
 
 The sickness is miraculously decreased in this 
 city and suburbs, for from 5200, which was the 
 greatest number that died in one week, and that 
 was some forty days since, they are now fallen to 
 300. It was the violentest fit of contagion that ever 
 was for the time in this island, and such as no story 
 can parallel, but the ebb of it was more swift than 
 the tide. My brother is well, and so are all your 
 friends here, for I do not know of any of your ac- 
 quaintance that 's dead of this furious infection. Sir 
 John Walter asked me lately how you did, and 
 wished me to remember him to you. — So with my 
 love to all my brothers and sisters, and the rest of
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 331 
 
 my friends which made so much of me lately in the 
 country, I rest your dutiful son, J. H. 
 
 London, 7 August 1626. 
 
 XXV 
 
 To the Right Honourable the Lord Conway^ 
 Prmcipal Secretary of State to His Maj- 
 esty at Hampton Court 
 
 Right Honourable, 
 
 SINCE I last attended your lordship here, I 
 summoned my thoughts to council and can- 
 vassed to and fro within myself the business you 
 pleased to impart unto me for going upon the 
 King's service to Italy. I considered therein many 
 particulars : First, the weight of the employment, 
 and what maturity of judgment, discretion, and 
 parts are required in him that will personate such 
 a man ; next, the difficulties of it, for one must 
 send sometimes light out of darkness, and like the 
 bee suck honey out of bad as out of good flowers ; 
 thirdly, the danger which the undertaker must 
 converse withal, and which may fall upon him by 
 interception of letters or other cross casualties ; 
 lastly, the great expense it will require, being not 
 to remain sedentary in one place, as other agents, 
 but to be often in itinerary motion. 
 
 Touching the first, I refer myself to your hon- 
 our's favourable opinion and the character which
 
 22^ FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 my Lord S. and others shall give of me ; for the 
 second, I hope to overcome it ; for the third, I 
 weigh it not, so that I may merit of my king and 
 country; for the last, I crave leave to deal plainly 
 with your lordship that I am a cadet, and have 
 no other patrimony or support but my breeding, 
 therefore I must breathe by the employment. 
 And, my lord, I shall not be able to perform what 
 shall be expected at my hands under one hundred 
 pounds a quarter, and to have bills of credit accord- 
 ing. Upon these terms, my lord, I shall apply 
 myself to this service, and by God's blessing hope 
 to answer all expectations. — So referring the 
 pemises to your noble consideration, I rest, my 
 lord, your very humble and ready servitor, 
 
 J. H. 
 
 London, September 8, 1626, 
 
 XXVI 
 
 To my Brother, Dr Howell, after Bishop of 
 
 Bristol 
 
 My Brother, 
 
 NEXT to my father, it is fitting you should 
 have cognisance of my affairs and fortunes. 
 You heard how I was in agitation for an employ- 
 ment in Italy, but my Lord Conway demurred upon 
 the salary I propounded. I have now waived this 
 course. Yet I came off fairly with my lord ; .for I
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL ^33 
 
 have a stable home employment proffered me by 
 my Lord Scroop, Lord President of the North, 
 who sent for me lately to Worcester House, though 
 I never saw him before, and there the bargain was 
 quickly made that I should go down with him to 
 York for secretary, and his lordship hath promised 
 me fairly. I will see you at your house in Horsley 
 before I go, and leave the particular circumstances 
 of this business till then. 
 
 The French that came over with Her Majesty, 
 for their petulancy and some misdemeanours, and 
 imposing some odd penances upon the Queen, are 
 all cashiered this week, about a matter of six score, 
 whereof the Bishop of Mende was one, who had 
 stood to be steward of Her M ajesty's courts, which 
 office my Lord of Holland hath. It was a thing 
 suddenly done, for about one of the clock, as they 
 were at dinner, my Lord Conway and Sir Thomas 
 Edmonds came with an order from the King that 
 they must instantly away to Somerset House, for 
 there were barges and coaches staying for them ; 
 and there they should have all their wages paid 
 them to a penny, and so they must be content to 
 quit the kingdom. This sudden undreamed of 
 order struck an astonishment into them all, both 
 men and women ; and running to complain to the 
 Queen, His Majesty had taken her before into his 
 bedchamber, and locked the doors upon them until 
 he had told her how matters stood. The Queen fell 
 into a violent passion, broke the glass windows, and 
 tore her hair ; but she was calmed afterwards. Just
 
 334 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 such a destiny happened in France some years since 
 to the Queen's Spanish servants there, who were all 
 dismissed in like manner for some miscarriages. 
 The like was done in Spain to the French, there- 
 fore it is no new thing. 
 
 They are all now on their way to Dover ; but 
 I fear this will breed ill-blood betwixt us and 
 France, and may b'reak out into an ill-favoured 
 quarrel. 
 
 Master Montague is preparing to go to Paris as 
 a messenger of honour, to prepossess the King and 
 Council therewith the truth of things. 
 
 So with my very kind respects to my sister, I 
 rest your loving brother, J. H. 
 
 London, 15 March 1626. 
 
 XXVII 
 
 To the Right Honourable the Lord S, 
 
 ■ My Lord, 
 
 I AM bound shortly for York, where I am 
 hopeful of a profitable employment. There is 
 fearful news come from Germany, that since Sir 
 Charles Morgan went thither with 6000 men for the 
 assistance of the King of Denmark, the King hath 
 received an utter overthrow by Tilly. He had 
 received a fall off a horse from a wall five yards 
 high a little before, yet it did him little hurt. 
 
 Tilly pursueth his victory strongly, and is got 
 over the Elbe to Holsteinland, insomuch that they
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 33s 
 
 write from Hamburg that Denmark is in danger 
 to be utterly lost. The Danes and Germans seem 
 to lay some fault upon our King, the King upon 
 the Parliament that would not supply him with 
 subsidies to assist his uncle and the Prince Pals- 
 grave, both which was promised upon the rupture 
 of the treaties with Spain, which was done by the 
 advice of both Houses. 
 
 This is the ground that His Majesty hath lately 
 sent out privy seals for loan moneys until a Par- 
 liament may be called, in regard that the King of 
 Denmark is distressed, the Sound like to be lost, 
 the Eastland trade and the staple at Hamburg 
 in danger to be destroyed, and the English garri- 
 son under Sir Charles Morgan at Stoad ready to be 
 starved. 
 
 These loan-moneys keep a great noise, and they 
 are imprisoned that deny to conform themselves. 
 
 I fear I shall have no more opportunity to send 
 to your lordship till I go to York, therefore I 
 humbly take my leave, and kiss your hands, being 
 ever, my lord, your obedient and ready servitor, 
 
 J. H. 
 
 XXVIII 
 
 To Mr R. L.y Merchant 
 
 I MET lately with J. Harris in London, and I 
 had not seen him two years before, and then 
 I took him, and knew him to be a man of thirty, 
 but now one would take him by his hair to be near
 
 2>z(> FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 threescore, for he is all turned gray. I wondered at 
 such a metamorphosis in so short a time. He told 
 me it was for the death of his wife that nature had 
 thus antedated his years. It is true that a weighty 
 settled sorrow is of that force that, besides the 
 contradiction of the spirits, it will work upon the 
 radical moisture, and dry it up, so that the hair 
 can have no moisture at the root. This made me 
 remember a story that a Spanish advocate told me, 
 which is a thing very remarkable. 
 
 When the Duke of Alva was in Brussels, about 
 the beginning of the tumults in the Netherlands, 
 he had sat down before Hulst in Flanders, and 
 there was a provost-marshal in his army, who was 
 a favourite of his, and this provost had put some 
 to death by secret commission from the duke. 
 There was one Captain Bolea in the army, who was 
 an intimate friend of the provost's, and one even- 
 ing late he went to the said captain's tent, and 
 brought with him a confessor and an executioner, 
 as it was his custom. He told the captain that he 
 was come to execute his excellency's commission 
 and martial law upon him. The captain started up 
 suddenly, his hair standing at an end, and being 
 struck with amazement, asked him wherein he had 
 offended the duke. The provost answered. Sir, I 
 come not to expostulate the business with you, but 
 to execute my commission. Therefore I pray pre- 
 pare yourself, for there 's your ghostly father and 
 executioner. So he fell on his knees before the 
 priest, and having done, the hangman going to put
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 337 
 
 the halter about his neck the provost threw it away, 
 and breaking into a laughter told him there was no 
 such thing, and that he had done this to try his 
 courage, how he could bear the terror of death. 
 The captain looked ghastly upon him, and said. 
 Then, sir, get you out of my tent, for you have 
 done me a very ill office. The next morning the 
 said Captain Bolea, though a young man of about 
 thirty, had his hair all turned gray, to the admira- 
 tion of all the world and of the Duke of Alva him- 
 self, who questioned him about it, but he would 
 confess nothing. The next year the duke was re- 
 voked, and in his journey to the court of Spain he 
 was to pass by Saragossa, and this Captain Bolea 
 and the provost went along with him as his domes- 
 tics. The duke being to repose some days in Sara- 
 gossa the young-old Captain Bolea told him that 
 there was a thing in that town worthy to be seen 
 by his excellency, which was a casa de locos, a 
 bedlam-house, for there was not the like in Christ- 
 endom. Well, said the duke, go and tell the warden 
 I will be there to-morrow in the afternoon, and wish 
 him to be in the way. The captain having obtained 
 this went to the warden and told him that the duke 
 would come to visit the house the next day, and 
 the chiefest occasion that moved him to it was that 
 he had an unruly provost about him who was sub- 
 ject oftentimes to fits of frenzy, and because he 
 wisheth him well he had tried divers means to cure 
 him, but all would not do, therefore he would try 
 whether keeping him close in Bedlam for some
 
 338 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 days would do him any good. The next day the 
 duke came with a ruffling train of captains after 
 him, amongst whom was the said provost, very 
 shining brave ; being entered into the house about 
 the duke's person, Captain Bolea told the warden, 
 pointing at the provost, that 's the man. So he took 
 him aside into a dark lobby, where he had placed 
 some of his men, who muffled him in his cloak, 
 seized upon his gilt sword with his hat and feather, 
 and so hurried him down into a dungeon. My pro- 
 vost had lain there two nights and a day, and after- 
 wards it happened that a gentleman coming out of 
 curiosity to see the house peeped in at a small grate 
 where the provost was. The provost conjured him, 
 as he was a Christian, to go and tell the Duke of 
 Alva his provost was there clapped up, nor could 
 he imagine why. The gentleman did the errand, 
 whereat the duke, being astonished, sent for the 
 warden with his prisoner. So he brought my pro- 
 vost, en cuerpo madman-like, full of straws and 
 feathers before the duke, who at the sight of him, 
 breaking out into laughter, asked the warden why 
 he had made him his prisoner. Sir, said the warden, 
 it was by virtue of your excellency's commission 
 brought me by Captain Bolea. Bolea stepped forth 
 and told the duke. Sir, you have asked me oft 
 how these hairs of mine grew so suddenly gray. I 
 have not revealed it yet to any soul breathing, but 
 now I '11 tell your excellency, and so fell a-relating 
 the passage in Flanders. And, sir, I have been 
 ever since beating my brains how to get an equal
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 339 
 
 revenge of him ; and I thought no revenge to be 
 more equal or corresponding, now that you see he 
 hath made me old before my time, than to make 
 him mad if I could, and had he stayed some days 
 longer close prisoner in the bedlam-house, it might 
 haply have wrought some impressions upon his 
 pericranium. The duke was so well pleased with 
 the story, and the wittiness of the revenge, that he 
 made them both friends ; and the gentleman who 
 told me this passage said that the said Captain 
 Bolea was yet alive, so that he could not be less 
 than ninety years of age. 
 
 1 thank you a thousand times for the Cepha- 
 lonia Muscadel and Botargo you sent me; I hope 
 to be shortly quit with you for all courtesies ; in 
 the interim I am vour obliged friend to serve you, 
 
 J. H. 
 
 York, this i May 1626. 
 
 Postscript 
 
 I AM sorry to hear of the trick that Sir John 
 Ayres put upon the company by the box of 
 hailshot, signed with the ambassador's seal, that he 
 had sent so solemnly from Constantinople, which 
 he made the world believe to be full of chequins 
 and Turkey gold.
 
 EPISTOL^ HO-ELIAN^ 
 SECTION V
 
 SECTION V 
 
 To Dan Caldwaliy Esq, ; from Tork 
 
 My Dear D., 
 
 THOUGH I may be termed a right Northern 
 man, being a good way this side Trent, yet 
 my love is as Southern as ever it was ; I mean it 
 continueth still in the same degree of heat, nor 
 can this bleaker air or boreas' chilling blasts cool it 
 a whit. I am the same to you this side Trent as 
 I was the last time we crossed the Thames together 
 to see Smug the smith, and so back to the still- 
 yard ; but I fear that your love to me doth not 
 continue in so constant and intense a degree, and 
 I have good grounds for this fear, because I never 
 received one syllable from you since I left London. 
 If you rid me not of this scruple, and send to 
 me speedily, I shall think, though you live under 
 a hotter clime in the South, that your former love 
 is not only cooled, but frozen. 
 
 For this present condition of life, I thank God, 
 I live well contented. I have a fee from the King, 
 diet for myself and two servants, livery for a horse, 
 and a part of the King's house for my lodging, and 
 other privileges which I am told no secretary 
 before me had; but I must tell you the perquisites
 
 344 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 are nothing answerable to my expectation yet. I 
 have built me a new study since I came, wherein 
 I shall amongst others meditate sometimes on you 
 and whence this present letter comes. So with 
 a thousand thanks for the plentiful hospitality and 
 jovial farewell you gave me at your house in Es- 
 sex, I rest yours, yours, yours, J. H. 
 
 York, 13 July 1627. 
 
 II 
 
 To Mr Richard Leat 
 
 SIGNOR mio, it is now a great while methinks 
 since any act of friendship, or other inter- 
 changeable offices of love hath passed between us, 
 either by letters or other accustomed ways of cor- 
 respondence ; and as I will not accuse, so I go not 
 about to clear myself in this point, let this long 
 silence be termed therefore a cessation rather than 
 neglect on both sides. A bow that lies a while un- 
 bent, and a field that remains fallow for a time, grow 
 never the worse, but afterwards the one sends forth 
 an arrow more strongly, the other yields a better 
 crop being recultivated. Let this be also verified 
 in us^ let our friendship grow more fruitful after 
 this pause, let it be more active for the future. 
 You see I begin and shoot the first shaft. I send 
 you herewith a couple of red deer pies, the one Sir 
 Arthur Ingram gave me, the other my Lord Presi- 
 dent's cook ; I could not tell where to bestow
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 345 
 
 them better. In your next let me know which is 
 the best seasoned. I pray let the Sydonian mer- 
 chant, J. Bruckhurst, be at the eating of them, and 
 then I know they will be well soaked. If you 
 please to send me a barrel or two of oysters, which 
 we want here, I promise you they shall be well 
 eaten with a cup of the best claret and the best 
 sherry, to which wine this town is altogether ad- 
 dicted, shall not be wanting. 
 
 I understand the Lord Weston is Lord Treas- 
 urer, we may say now that we have treasurers of all 
 tenses, for there are four living, to wit, the Lords 
 Manchester, Middlesex, Marlborough, and the 
 newly-chosen. I hear also that the good old man 
 (the last) hath retired to his lodgings in Lincoln's 
 Inn, and so reduced himself to his first principles, 
 which makes me think that he cannot bear up long 
 now that the staff is taken from him. I pray in your 
 next send me the Venitian Gazette. — So with my 
 kind respects to your father, I rest yours, 
 
 J. H. 
 
 York, 9 July 1627. 
 
 Ill 
 
 To Sir Ed. Sa., Knight 
 
 SIR, it was no great matter to be a prophet, and 
 to have foretold this rupture betwixt us and 
 France upon the sudden renvoy of Her Majesty's 
 servants, for many of them had sold their estates
 
 346 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 in France, given money for their places, and so 
 thought to live and die in England in the Queen's 
 service, and so have pitifully complained to that 
 king ; thereupon he hath arrested above lOO of 
 our merchantmen that went to the vintage at Bor- 
 deaux. We also take some stragglers of theirs, for 
 there are letters of mart given on both sides. 
 
 There are writs issued out for a Parliament, and 
 the town of Richmond in Richmondshire hath 
 made choice of me for their burgess, though Mas- 
 ter Christopher Wansford and other powerful men, 
 and more deserving than I, stood for it. I pray 
 God send fair weather in the House of Commons, 
 for there is much murmuring about the restraint 
 of those that would not conform to loan-moneys. 
 There is a great fleet a-preparing and an army of 
 landmen, but the design is uncertain whether it be 
 against Spain or France, for we are now in enmity 
 with both those crowns. The French Cardinal 
 hath been lately to the other side the Alps, and set- 
 tled the Duke of Nevers in the Dutchy of Man- 
 tua, notwithstanding the opposition of the King of. 
 Spain and the Emperor, who alleged that he was to 
 receive his investiture from him, and that was the 
 chief ground of the war ; but the French arms 
 have done the work, and come triumphantly back 
 over the hills again. — No more now, but that I 
 am as always your true friend, J. H. 
 
 March 2, 1627.
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 347 
 
 IV 
 
 To the Worshipful Mr Alderman of the town 
 of Rich?nond^ and the rest of the worthy mem- 
 bers of that ancient corporation. 
 
 I RECEIVED a public instrument from you 
 lately, subscribed by yourself, and divers others, 
 wherein I find that you have made choice of me to 
 be one of your burgesses for this now near-ap- 
 proaching Parliament. I could have wished that 
 vou had not put by Master Wandesford and other 
 worthy gentlemen that stood so earnestly for it, 
 who being your neighbours had better means and 
 more abilities to serve you. Yet since you have 
 cast these high respects upon me, I will endeavour 
 to acquit myself of the trust, and to answer your 
 expectation accordingly ; and as I account this 
 election an honour unto me, so I esteem it a great 
 advantage that so worthy and well-experienced 
 a knight as Sir Talbot Bows is to be my colleague 
 and fellow-burgess. I shall steer by his compass 
 and follow his directions in anything that may con- 
 cern the welfare of your town and of the precincts 
 thereof, either for redress of any grievance or by 
 proposing some new thing that may conduce to 
 the further benefit and advantage thereof, and this 
 I take to be the true duty of a Parliamentary bur- 
 gess, without roving at random to generals. 1 hope 
 to learn of Sir Talbot what 's fitting to be done,
 
 348 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 and I shall apply myself accordingly to join with 
 him to serve you with my best abilities. — So I rest, 
 your most assured and ready friend to do you 
 service, J. H. 
 
 London, March 24, 1627. 
 
 V 
 
 To the Right Honourable the Lord Clifford at 
 
 Knaresborough 
 
 My Lord, 
 
 THE news that fills all mouths at present is 
 the return of the Duke of Buckingham from 
 the Isle of Ree, or, as some call it, the Isle of Rue, 
 for the bitter success we had there; for we had 
 but a tart entertainment in that salt island. Our 
 first invasion was magnanimous and brave, whereat 
 near upon 200 French gentlemen perished, and 
 divers barons of quality. My Lord Newport had 
 ill luck to disorder our cavalry with an unruly 
 horse he had. His brother. Sir Charles Rich, was 
 slain, and divers more upon the retreat. Amongst 
 others great Colonel Gray fell into a salt pit, and 
 being ready to be drowned, he cried out. Cent 
 milk escus pour ma rant^on^ " A hundred thousand 
 crowns for my ransom." The Frenchmen, hearing 
 that, preserved him, though he was not worth a 
 hundred thousand pence. Another merry passage 
 a captain told me, that when they were rifling the 
 dead bodies of the French gentlemen after the first
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 349 
 
 invasion, they found that many of them had their 
 mistress's favours tied about their genitories. The 
 French do much glory to have repelled us thus, 
 and they have reason, for the truth is they com- 
 ported themselves gallantly, yet they confess our 
 landing was a notable piece of courage, and if our 
 retreat had been answerable to the invasion, we had 
 lost no honour at all. A great number of gallant 
 gentlemen fell on our side, as Sir John Heydon, 
 Sir John Burrowes, Sir George Blundel, Sir Alex. 
 Bret, with divers veteran commanders who came 
 from the Netherlands to this service. 
 
 God send us better success the next time, for 
 there is another fleet preparing to be sent under 
 the command of the Lord Denbigh. — So I kiss 
 your hand, and am your humble servitor, 
 
 J.H. 
 
 London, ia^ of September 1627. 
 
 VI 
 
 'To the Right Honourable the Lord Scroop, Karl 
 of Sufiderlandj Lord President of the North 
 
 My Lord, 
 
 MY Lord Denbigh is returned from attempt- 
 ing to relieve Rochelle, which is reduced to 
 extreme exigent ; and now the duke is preparing 
 to go again, with as great power as was yet raised, 
 notwithstanding that the Parliament hath flown 
 higher at him than ever, which makes the people
 
 350 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 here hardly wish any good success to the expedi- 
 tion, because he is general. The Spaniard stands 
 at a gaze all this while, hoping that we may do the 
 work, otherwise I think he would find some way 
 to relieve the town, for there is nothing conduceth 
 more to the uniting and strengthening of the 
 French monarchy than the reduction of Rochelle. 
 The King hath been there long in person with his 
 cardinal, and the stupendous works they have raised 
 by sea and land are beyond belief, as they say. The 
 sea works and booms were traced out by Marquis 
 Spinola, as he was passing that way for Spain from 
 Flanders. 
 
 The Parliament is prorogued till Michaelmas 
 term. There were five subsidies granted, the great- 
 est gift that ever subjects gave their king at once ; 
 and it was in requital that His Majesty passed the 
 Petition of Right, whereby the liberty of the free- 
 born subject is so strongly and clearly vindicated. 
 So that there is a fair correspondence like to be 
 betwixt His Majesty and the two Houses. The 
 duke made a notable speech at the council table 
 in joy hereof. Amongst other passages one was, 
 " That hereafter His Majesty would please to make 
 the Parliament his favourite, and he to have the 
 honour to remain still his servant." No more now 
 but that I continue your lordship's most dutiful 
 servant, J. H. 
 
 London, 25 September 1628.
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 351 
 
 VII 
 
 To the Right Honourable the Lady Scroop, 
 Countess of Sunderland; from Stamford 
 
 Madam, 
 
 I LAY yesternight at the post-house at Stilton, 
 and this morning betimes the postmaster came 
 to my bed's head and told me the Duke of Buck- 
 ingham was slain. My faith was not then strong 
 enough to believe it, till an hour ago I met in 
 the way with my Lord of Rutland (your brother) 
 riding post towards London. It pleased him to 
 alight and show me a letter, wherein there was 
 an exact relation of all the circumstances of this sad 
 tragedy. 
 
 Upon Saturday last, which was but next before 
 yesterday being Bartholomew eve, the duke did 
 rise up in a well-disposed humour out of his bed, 
 and cut a caper or two ; and being ready, and 
 having been under the barber's hands (where the 
 murderer had thought to have done the deed, for 
 he was leaning upon the window all the while), he 
 went to breakfast attended by a great company of 
 commanders, where Monsieur Soubize came unto 
 him, and whispered him In the ear that Rochelle 
 was relieved ; the duke seemed to slight the news, 
 which made some think that Soubize went away 
 discontented. After breakfast the duke going out. 
 Colonel Fryer stepped before him, and stopping
 
 352 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 him upon some business, one Lieutenant Felton 
 being behind, made a thrust with a common ten- 
 penny knife over Fryer's arm at the duke, which 
 lighted so fatally, that he slit his heart in two, leav- 
 ing the knife sticking in the body. The duke took 
 out the knife and threw it away, and laying his 
 hand on his sword, and drawing it half out, said, 
 "The villain hath killed me" (meaning, as some 
 think. Colonel Fryer), for there had been some 
 difference betwixt them, so reeling against a chim- 
 ney he fell down dead. The duchess being with 
 child, hearing the noise below, came in her night- 
 gears from her bedchamber, which was in an upper 
 room, to a kind of rail, and thence beheld him 
 weltering in his own blood. Felton had lost his 
 hat in the crowd, wherein there was a paper sowed, 
 wherein he declared that the reason which moved 
 him to this act was no grudge of his own, though 
 he had been far behind for his pay, and had been 
 put by his captain's place twice, but in regard he 
 thought the duke an enemy to the State, because 
 he was branded in Parliament, therefore what he 
 did was for the public good of his country. Yet 
 he got clearly down, and so might have gone to 
 his horse, which was tied to a hedge hard by ; but 
 he was so amazed that he missed his way, and so 
 struck into the pastry, where though the cry went 
 that some Frenchman had done it, he, thinking 
 the word was Felton, he boldly confessed it was he 
 that had done the deed, and so he was in their 
 hands. Jack Stamford would have run at him, but
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 353 
 
 he was kept off by Mr Nicholas; so being carried 
 up to a tower, Captain Mince tore off his spurs, 
 and asking how he durst attempt such an act, 
 making him believe the duke was not dead, he 
 answered boldly that he knew he was despatched, 
 for it was not he but the hand of heaven that gave 
 the stroke, and though his whole body had been 
 covered over with armour of proof he could not 
 have avoided it. Captain Charles Price went post 
 presently to the King four miles off, who being at 
 prayers on his knees when it was told him, yet he 
 never stirred, nor was he disturbed a whit till all 
 Divine service was done. This was the relation as 
 far as my memory could bear, in my Lord of Rut- 
 land's letter, who willed me to remember him unto 
 your ladyship, and tell you that he was going to 
 comfort your niece (the duchess) as fast as he 
 could. And so I have sent the truth of this sad 
 story to your ladyship as fast as I could by this 
 post, because I cannot make that speed myself, in 
 regard of some business I have to despatch for my 
 lord in the way. — So I humbly take my leave, 
 and rest your ladyship's most dutiful servant, 
 
 J. H. 
 
 Stamford, August 5, 1628.
 
 354 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 VIII 
 
 To the Right Honourable Sir Peter Wichts, 
 His Majesty's Ambassador at Constantinople 
 
 My Lord, 
 
 YOURS of the 2nd of July came to safe hand, 
 and I did all those particulars recandos you 
 enjoined me to do to some of your friends here. 
 
 The town of Rochelle hath been fatal and un- 
 fortunate to England, for this is the third time that 
 we have attempted to relieve her, but our fleets and 
 forces returned without doing anything. My Lord 
 of Lindsey went thither with the same fleet the 
 duke intended to go on, but he is returned with- 
 out doing any good. He made some shots at the 
 great boom and other barricades at sea, but at such 
 a distance that they could do no hurt, insomuch 
 that the town is now given for lost and to be past 
 cure, and they cry out we have betrayed them. At 
 the return of this fleet two of the whelps were cast 
 away, and three ships more, and some five ships 
 who had some of those great stones that were 
 brought to build St Paul's, for ballast and for other 
 uses, within them, which could promise no good 
 success, for I never heard of anything that pros- 
 pered which being once designed for the honour of 
 God was alienated from that use. The Queen in- 
 terposeth for the releasement of my Lord of New- 
 port and others who are prisoners of war. I hear
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 3SS 
 
 that all the colours they took from us are hung up 
 in the great church of Notre Dame as trophies in 
 Paris. Since I began this letter there is news 
 brought that Rochelle hath yielded, and that the 
 King hath dismantled the town, and razed all the 
 fortifications landward, but leaves those standing 
 which are toward the sea. It is a mighty exploit 
 the French King hath done, for Rochelle was the 
 chiefest propugnation of the Protestants there, and 
 now questionless all the rest of their cautionary 
 towns which they kept for their own defence will 
 yield, so that they must depend hereafter upon the 
 King's mere mercy. I hear of an overture of peace 
 betwixt us and Spain, and that my Lord Cotting- 
 ton is to go thither and Don Carlos Coloma to 
 come to us. God grant it, for you know the saying 
 in Spanish, " Nunca vi tan mala paz, que no fuera 
 mejor, que la mejor guerra." It was a bold thing 
 in England to fall out with the two greatest mon- 
 archs of Christendom, and to have them both her 
 enemies at one time, and as glorious a thing it was 
 to bear up against them. God turn all to the best, 
 and dispose of things to His glory. — So I rest 
 your lordship's ready servitor, 
 
 J. H. 
 
 London, i September 1628.
 
 2S6 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 IX 
 
 To my Cousin^ Mr St Geon, at Christ Church 
 College in Oxford 
 
 Cousin, 
 
 THOUGH you want no incitements to go on 
 in that fair road of virtue where you are now 
 running your course, yet being lately in your noble 
 father's company, he did intimate unto me that 
 anything which came from me would take with you 
 very much. I hear so well of your proceedings 
 that I should rather commend than encourage you. 
 I know you were i-emoved to Oxford in full matu- 
 rity. You were a good orator, a good poet, and a 
 good linguist for your time. I would not have that 
 fate light upon you, which useth to befall some, 
 who from golden students become silver bachelors 
 and leaden masters. I am far from entertaining 
 any such thought of you, that logic with her quid- 
 dities and^^-^d" la vel Hipps can any way unpolish 
 your humane studies. As logic is clubfisted and 
 crabbed, so she is terrible at first sight. She is like 
 a gorgon's head to a young student, but after a 
 twelve months' constancy and patience this Gor- 
 gon's head will prove a mere bugbear. When you 
 have devoured the Organon you will find philo- 
 sophy far more delightful and pleasing to your 
 palate. In feeding the soul with knowledge the 
 understanding requireth the same consecutive acts
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 357 
 
 which nature useth in nourishing the body. To 
 the nutrition of the body there are two essential 
 conditions required, assumption and retention. 
 Then there follows two more Trei/zt? and77-pd<Trai//t?, 
 Concoction and Agglutination or adhesion. So in 
 feeding your soul with science, you must first as- 
 sume and suck in the matter into your apprehen- 
 sion, then must the memory retain and keep it in, 
 afterwards bv disputation, discourse and medita- 
 tion. It must be well concocted, then must it be 
 agglutinated and converted to nutriment. All this 
 may be reduced to these two heads, teneri fideliter, 
 £sf uti faeliciter, which are two of the happiest pro- 
 perties in a student. There is another act required 
 to good concoction called the act of expulsion, 
 which puts off all that is unsound and noxious, so 
 in study there must be an expulsive virtue to shun 
 all that is erroneous, and there is no science but is 
 full of such stuff, which by direction of tutor and 
 choice of good books must be excerned. Do not 
 confound yourself with multiplicity of authors ; 
 two is enough upon any science, provided they be 
 plenary and orthodox. Philosophy should be your 
 substantial food, poetry your banqueting stuff. 
 Philosophy hath more of reality in it than any 
 knowledge. The philosopher can fathom the deep, 
 measure mountains, reach the stars with a staff, and 
 bless heaven with a girdle. 
 
 But amongst these studies you must not forget 
 the unicum necessarium. On Sundays and holidays 
 let divinity be the sole object of your speculation,
 
 358 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 in comparison whereof all other knowledge is but 
 cobweb \ea.vn'mg, prae qua quisquiliae caetera. 
 
 When you can make truce with study, I should 
 be glad you would employ some superfluous hour 
 or other to write unto me, for I much covet your 
 good, because I am your affectionate cousin, 
 
 J. H. 
 
 London, 25 October 1627. 
 
 To Sir Sackvil Trevor^ Knight 
 
 Noble Uncle, 
 
 I SEND you my humble thanks for the curious 
 sea-chest of glasses you pleased to bestow on 
 me, which I shall be very chary to keep as a mon- 
 ument of your love. I congratulate also the great 
 honour you have got lately by taking away the 
 spirit of France ; I mean by taking the third great 
 vessel of her Sea-Trinity, her Holy Spirit, which 
 had been built in the mouth of the Texel for the 
 service of her King. Without complimenting with 
 you, it was one of the best exploits that was per- 
 formed since these wars began ; and besides the 
 renown you have purchased, I hope your reward 
 will be accordingly from His Majesty, whom I re- 
 member you so happily preserved from drowning 
 in all probability at St Anderas Road in Spain. 
 Though princes' guerdons "^come slow, yet they 
 come sure. And it is oftentimes the method of
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 359 
 
 God Almighty Himself to be long both in His 
 rewards and punishments. 
 
 As you have bereft the French of their Saint 
 Esprit^ their Holy Spirit^ so there is news that the 
 Hollander have taken from Spain all her saints ; I 
 mean I'odos los santos, which is one of the chiefest 
 staples of sugar in Brazil. No more but that I wish 
 vou all health, honour, and heart's desire. Your 
 much obliged nephew and servitor, J. H. 
 
 London, 26 of October 1625. 
 
 XI 
 
 To Captain Tho. B. ; from York 
 
 Noble Captain, 
 
 YOURS of the first of March was delivered 
 me by Sir Richard Scot, and I held it no pro- 
 fanation of this Sunday evening, considering the 
 quality of my subject, and having (I thank God 
 for it) performed all church duties, to employ some 
 hours to meditate on you, and send you this 
 friendly salute, though I confess in an unusual 
 monitory way. My dear captain, I love you per- 
 fectly well, I love both your person and parts which 
 are not vulgar. I am in love with your disposition, 
 which is generous, and I verily think you were 
 never guilty of any pusillanimous act in your life. 
 Nor Is this love of mine conferred upon you gratis, 
 but you may challenge it as your due, and by way 
 of correspondence, in regard to those thousand
 
 36o FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 convincing evidences you have given me of yours 
 to me, which ascertain me that you take me for 
 a true friend. Now I am of the number of those 
 that had rather commend the virtue of an enemy 
 than soothe the vices of a friend ; for your own 
 particular, if your parts of virtue and your infirm- 
 ities were cast into a balance, I know the first 
 would much out-poise the other ; yet give me 
 leave to tell you that there is one frailty, or rather 
 ill-favoured custom, that reigns in you, which 
 weighs much: it is a humour of swearing in all your 
 discourses, and they are not slight, but deep, far- 
 fetched oaths that you are wont to rap out, which 
 you use as flowers of rhetoric to enforce a faith 
 upon the hearers, who believe you never the more, 
 and you use this in cold blood when you are not 
 provoked, which makes the humour far more dan- 
 gerous. I know many (and I cannot say I myself 
 am free from it, God forgive me) that, being trans- 
 ported with choler, and as it were made drunk 
 with passion by some sudden provoking accident, 
 or extreme ill-fortune at play, will let fall oaths 
 and deep protestations, but to belch out and send 
 forth as it were whole volleys of oaths and curses 
 in a calm humour, to verify every trivial discourse, 
 is a thing of horror. I knew a king that being 
 crossed in his game would amongst his oaths fall 
 on the ground and bite the very earth in the rough 
 of his passion. I heard of another king (Henry 
 the Fourth of France) that in his highest distem- 
 per would swear but ventre de Saint Gris, by the
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 361 
 
 belly of Saint Gris. I heard of an Italian that, 
 having been much accustomed to blaspheme, was 
 weaned from it by a pretty wile ; for having been 
 one night at play and lost all his money, after many 
 execrable oaths, and having offered money to an- 
 other to go out to face heaven and defy God, he 
 threw himself upon a bed hard by, and there fell 
 asleep. The other gamesters played on still, and 
 finding that he was fast asleep, they put out the 
 candles, and made semblance to play on still ; they 
 fell a-wrangling and spoke so loud that he awoke ; 
 he, hearing them play on still, fell a-rubbing his 
 eyes, and his conscience presently prompted him 
 that he was struck blind, and that God's judgment 
 had deservedly fallen down upon him for his blas- 
 phemies, and so he fell to sigh and weep pitifully. 
 A ghostly father was sent for, who undertook to 
 do some acts of penance for him, if he would make 
 a vow never to play again or blaspheme, which he 
 did, and so the candles were lighted again, which 
 he thought were burning all the while ; so he be- 
 came a perfect convert. I could wish this letter 
 might produce the same effect in you. There is a 
 strong text that the curse of heaven hangs always 
 over the dwelHng of the swearer, and you have 
 more fearful examples of miraculous judgments in 
 this particular than of any other sin. 
 
 There is a little town in Languedoc in France 
 that hath a multitude of the pictures of the Virgin 
 Mary up and down, but she is made to carry Christ 
 in her right hand, contrary to the ordinary custom ;
 
 26cL FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 and the reason they told me was this, that two 
 gamesters being at play, and one having lost all his 
 money, and bolted out many blasphemies, he gave 
 a deep oath that that whore upon the wall, mean- 
 ing the picture of the Blessed Virgin, was the cause 
 of his ill luck ; hereupon the child removed im- 
 perceptibly from the left arm to the right, and 
 the man fell stark dumb ever after it. Thus went 
 the tradition there. This makes me think upon the 
 Lady Southwel's news from Utopia, that he who 
 sweareth when he playeth at dice may challenge his 
 damnation by way of purchase. This infamous 
 custom of swearing I observe reigns in England 
 lately more than anywhere else, though a German 
 in his highest puff of passion swears a hundred 
 thousand Sacraments, the Italian by the whore of 
 God, the French by his death, the Spaniard by his 
 flesh, the Welshman by his sweat, the Irishman by 
 his five wounds, though the Scot commonly bids 
 the devil heal his soul, yet for variety of oaths the 
 English roarers put down all. Consider well what 
 a dangerous thing it is to tear in pieces that dread- 
 ful name which makes the vast fabric of the world 
 to tremble, that holy name wherein the whole 
 hierarchy of heaven doth triumph, that blissful 
 name wherein consists the fulness of all felicity. 
 I know this custom in you yet is but a light dis- 
 position ; it is no habit I hope. Let me therefore 
 conjure you by that power of friendship, by that 
 holy league of love which is between us, that you 
 would suppress it before it come to that, for I must
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 2^2 
 
 tell you that those who could find in their hearts 
 to love you for many other things do disrespect 
 you for this ; they hate your company, and give 
 no credit to whatsoever you say, it being one of 
 the punishments of a swearer as well as of a liar 
 not to be believed when he speaks truth. 
 
 Excuse me that I am so free with you ; what 
 I write proceeds from the clear current of a pure 
 affection, and 1 shall heartily thank you, and take 
 it for an argument of love, if you tell me of my 
 weaknesses, which are (God wot) too too many ; 
 for my body is but a cargazon of corrupt humours, 
 and being not able to overcome them all at once, 
 I do endeavour to do it by degrees, like Sertorius, 
 his soldier, who when he could not cut off the 
 horse tail with his sword at one blow, fell to pull 
 out the hairs one by one. And touching this par- 
 ticular humour from which I dissuade you, it hath 
 raged in me too often by contingent fits, but I 
 thank God for it I find it much abated and purged. 
 Now the only physic I used was a precedent fast, 
 and recourse to the Holy Sacrament the next day, 
 of purpose to implore pardon for what had passed, 
 and power for the future to quell those exorbitant 
 motions, those ravings and feverish fits of the 
 soul, in regard there are no infirmities more dan- 
 gerous, for at the same instant they have being 
 they become impieties. And the greatest symptom 
 of amendment I find in me is, because whensoever 
 I hear the holy name of God blasphemed by any 
 other, it makes my heart to tremble within my
 
 3^4 
 
 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 breast. Now it is a penitential rule, that if sins 
 present do not please thee, sins passed will not hurt 
 thee. All other sins have for their object either 
 pleasure or profit, or some aim and satisfaction to 
 body or mind, but this hath none at all, therefore 
 fie upon it, my dear captain, try whether you can 
 make a conquest of yourself in subduing this 
 execrable custom. Alexander subdued the world, 
 Caesar his enemies, Hercules monsters, but he that 
 overcomes himself is the true valiant captain. I 
 have herewith sent you a hymn consonant to this 
 subject, because I know you are musical and a 
 good poet. 
 
 A gradual Hymn of a double 
 of the Holy 
 
 I. Let the vast universe. 
 
 And therein everything. 
 The mighty acts rehearse 
 Of their immortal King, 
 His name extol 
 What to Nadir 
 From zenith stir 
 'Twixt pole and pole. 
 
 cadence ^tending to the Honour 
 Name of God 
 
 3. Earth which the centre art 
 
 And only standest still. 
 Yet move, and bear thy part; 
 Resound with echoes shrill. 
 Thy mines of gold. 
 With precious stones. 
 And unions. 
 His fame uphold. 
 
 2. Ye elements that move. 
 
 And alter every hour. 
 Yet herein constant prove. 
 And symbolise all four. 
 His praise to tell. 
 Mix all in one. 
 For air and tone 
 To sound this peal. 
 
 4. Let all thy fragrant flowers 
 Grow sweeter by this air. 
 Thy tallest trees and bowers 
 Bud forth and blossom fair, 
 Beasts, wild and tame. 
 Whom lodgings yield 
 House, dens or field, 
 Collaud His name.
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 
 
 3^5 
 
 5 . Ye seas with earth that make 
 One globe flow high and 
 
 swell. 
 Exalt your Maker's name. 
 In deep His wonders tell : 
 Leviathan, 
 And what doth swim. 
 Near bank or brim. 
 His glory scan. 
 
 6. Ye airy regions all 
 Join in a sweet consent. 
 
 Blow such a madrigal 
 
 May reach the firmament. 
 Winds, hail, ice, snow. 
 And pearly drops. 
 That hang on crops. 
 His wonders show. 
 
 7. Pure element of fire 
 With holy sparks inflame 
 
 This sublunary choir. 
 
 That all one concert frame, 
 Their spirits raise. 
 To trumpet forth 
 Their Maker's worth. 
 And sound His praise. 
 
 8. Ye glorious lamps that roll 
 In your celestial spheres 
 
 All under His control. 
 
 Who you on poles upbears, 
 Him magnify, 
 Ye planets bright. 
 And fixed lights 
 That deck the sky. 
 
 9. O Heaven, Crystalline, 
 Which by thy watery hue 
 
 Dost temper and refine 
 The rest in azured blue. 
 His glory sound 
 Thou first mobile 
 Which makest all wheel 
 In circle round. 
 
 10. Ye glorious souls who reign 
 In sempiternal joy. 
 
 Free from those cares and pain 
 Which here did you annoy. 
 And Him behold 
 In whom all bliss 
 Concentred is. 
 His laud unfold. 
 
 1 1. Blest maid which dost sur- 
 mount 
 All saints and seraphims. 
 And reignest as paramount 
 And chief of cherubims. 
 Chant out His praise 
 Who in thy womb 
 Nine months took room 
 Though crowned with 
 rays. 
 
 1 2 . Oh let my soul and heart. 
 
 My mind and memory 
 Bear in this hymn a part. 
 
 And join with earth and sky. 
 Let every wight. 
 The whole world o'er 
 Laud and adore 
 The Lord of light.
 
 266 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 All your friends here are well, Tom Young 
 excepted, who I fear hath not long to live amongst 
 us. — So I rest your true friend, J. H. 
 
 York, the i of August 162,8. 
 
 XII 
 
 To Will. Austin J Esq. 
 
 I HAVE many thanks to give you for that ex- 
 cellent poem you sent me upon the passion 
 of Christ. Surely you were possessed with a very 
 strong spirit when you penned it ; you were 
 become a true enthusiast. For, let me despair if 
 I lie unto you, all the while I was perusing it it 
 committed holy rapes upon my soul. Methought 
 I felt my heart melting within my breast, and my 
 thoughts transported to a true elysium all the while, 
 there were such flexanimous strong ravishing strains 
 throughout it. To deal plainly with you, it were 
 an injury to the public good not to expose to open 
 light such divine raptures, for they have an edifying 
 power in them, and may be termed the very quint- 
 essence of devotion. You discover in them what 
 rich talent you have, which should not be buried 
 within the walls of a private study, or pass through 
 a few particular hands, but appearin public view and 
 to the sight of the world, to the enriching of oth- 
 ers, as they did me in reading them. Therefore 
 I shall long to see them pass from the Bankside to 
 Paul's Churchyard, with other precious pieces of
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 367 
 
 yours which you have pleased to impart unto me. 
 — Your most affectionate servitor, J. H. 
 
 Oxford, 20 August 1628. 
 
 XIII 
 To Sir I. S., Knight 
 
 YOU wrote to me lately for a footman, and I 
 think this bearer will suit you. I know he 
 can run well, for he hath run away twice from me, 
 but he knew the way back again ; yet though he 
 hath a running head as well as running heels (and 
 who will expect a footman to be a staid man ?) I 
 would not part with him were I not to go post to 
 the north. There be some things in him that 
 answer for his waggeries. He will come when you 
 call him, go when you bid him, and shut the door 
 after him. He is faithful and stout, and a lover 
 of his master. He is a great enemy to all dogs 
 if they bark at him in his running, for I have seen 
 him confront a huge mastiff and knock him down. 
 When you go a country journey, or have him run 
 with you a-hunting you must spirit him with liquor ; 
 you must allow him also something extraordinary 
 for socks, else you must not have him to wait at 
 your table ; when his grease melts in running hard 
 it is subject to fall into his toes. I send him you 
 but for trial. If he be not for your turn, turn him 
 over to me again when I come back. 
 
 The best news I can send you at this time is that
 
 368 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 we are like to have peace both with France and 
 Spain, so that Harwich men, your neighbours, shall 
 not hereafter need to fear the name of Spinola, who 
 struck such an apprehension into them lately that 
 I understand they begin to fortify. 
 
 I pray present my most humble service to my 
 good lady, and at my return from the North I will 
 be bold to kiss her hands and yours. — So I am, 
 your much obliged servitor, J. H. 
 
 London, 25 of May 1628. 
 
 XIV 
 
 'T^o f?iy Father 
 
 OUR two younger brothers, which you sent 
 hither, are disposed of. My brother doctor 
 hath placed the elder of the two with Mr Hawes, 
 a mercer in Cheapside, and he took much pains 
 in it, and I had placed my brother Ned with Mr 
 Barrington, a silk-man in the same street, but 
 afterwards, for some inconveniences, I removed 
 him to one Mr Smith, at the Flower-de-Luce, in 
 Lombard Street, a mercer also. Their masters are 
 both of them very well to pass, and of good repute. 
 I think it will prove some advantage to them here- 
 after to be both of one trade, because when they 
 are out of their time they may join stocks together. 
 So that I hope, sir, they are as well placed as any 
 two youths in London, but you must not use to 
 send them such large tokens in money, for that
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 369 
 
 may corrupt them. When I went to bind my 
 brother Ned apprentice in Drapers' Hall, casting 
 my eyes upon the chimneypiece of the great room 
 I spied a picture of an ancient gentleman, and 
 underneath Thomas Howell. I asked the clerk 
 about him, and he told me that he had been a 
 Spanish merchant in Henry VlII's time, and 
 coming home rich, and dying a bachelor, he gave 
 that hall to the Company of Drapers, with other 
 things, so that he is accounted one of their chief- 
 est benefactors. I told the clerk that one of the 
 sons of Thomas Howell came now hither to be 
 bound. He answered that if he be a right Howell, 
 he may have when he is free three hundred pounds 
 to help to set up, and pay no interest for five 
 years. It may be hereafter we may make use of 
 this. He told me also that any maid that can prove 
 her father to be a true Howell may come and de- 
 mand fifty pounds towards her portion of the said 
 hall. I am to go post towards York to-morrow to 
 my charge, but hope, God willing, to be here again 
 the next term. — So, with my love to my brother 
 Howell, and my sister his wife, I rest your dutiful 
 son, J. H. 
 
 London, 30 September 162^.
 
 370 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 XV 
 
 To my Brother J Dr Howell, at 'Jesus College, 
 
 in Oxon 
 
 BROTHER, I have sent you here enclosed 
 warrants for four brace of bucks and a stag, 
 the last Sir Arthur Manwaring procured of the 
 King for you towards the keeping of your act. I 
 have sent you also a warrant for a brace of bucks 
 out of Waddon chase ; besides, you shall receive 
 by this carrier a great wicker hamper with two 
 geoules of sturgeon, six barrels of pickled oysters, 
 three barrels of Bologna olives, with some other 
 Spanish commodities. 
 
 My Lord President of the north hath lately 
 made me patron of a living hard by Henley, called 
 Hambledon. It is worth five hundred pounds 
 a year communibus annis, and the now incumbent, 
 Dr Pilkington, is very aged, valetudinary, and 
 corpulent. My lord by legal instrument hath trans- 
 mitted the next advowson to me for satisfaction of 
 some arrearages. Dr Dommlaw and two or three 
 more have been with me about it, but I always 
 intended to make the first proffer to you ; there- 
 fore, I pray, think of it. A sum of money must 
 be had, but you shall be at no trouble for that if 
 you only will secure it (and desire one more who 
 I know will do it for you), and it shall appear 
 unto you that you have it upon far better terms
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 371 
 
 than any other. It is as finely situated as any rec- 
 tory can be, for it is about the midway betwixt Ox- 
 ford and London. It lies upon the Thames, and 
 the glebeland house is very large and fair, and not 
 dilapidated, so that considering all things it is as 
 good as some bishoprics. I know His Majesty is 
 gracious unto you, and you may well expect some 
 preferment that way, but such livings as these are 
 not to be had everywhere. I thank you for invit- 
 ing me to your act. I will be with you next week, 
 God willing, and hope to find my father there. — 
 So, with my kind love to Dr Mansel, Mr Wat- 
 kins, Mr Madocks, and Mr Napier at All Souls', 
 I rest your loving brother, J. H. 
 
 London, 20 June 1628. 
 
 XVI 
 
 T(? my Father, Mr Ben. 'Johnson 
 
 FATHER ^¥.'H., Nullum fit magnum ingenium 
 sine mixtura dementiae^ there is no great wit 
 without some mixture of madness, so saith the 
 philosopher, nor was he a fool who answered, nee 
 parvum, sine mixtura stultitiae, nor small wit without 
 some allay of foolishness. Touching the first it is 
 verified in you, for I find that you have been often- 
 times mad. You were mad when you wrote your 
 " Fox," and madder when you wrote your 
 " Alchemist ; " you were mad when you wrote 
 " Catilin," and stark mad when you wrote
 
 Zli FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 " Sejanus ; " but when you wrote your " Epi- 
 grams" and the " Magnetic Lady " you were not 
 so mad. Insomuch that I perceive there be 
 degrees of madness in you. Excuse me that I am 
 so free with you. The madness I mean is that 
 divine fury, that heating and heightening spirit 
 which Ovid speaks of. 
 
 Est Deus in nobis agetante calescimus ilk : that 
 true enthusiasm which transports and elevates the 
 souls of poets above the middle region of vulgar 
 conceptions, and makes them soar up to heaven 
 to touch the stars with their laurelled heads, to 
 walk in the Zodiac with Apollo himself, and com- 
 mand Mercury upon their errand. 
 
 I cannot yet light upon Doctor Davies' Welsh 
 grammar. Before Christmas I am promised one. 
 So desiring you to look better hereafter to your 
 charcoal fire and chimney, which 1 am glad to be 
 one that preserved it from burning ; this being the 
 second time that Vulcan hath threatened you, it 
 may be because you have spoken ill of his wife, 
 and been too busy with his horns. — I rest your 
 son, and contiguous neighbour, 
 
 J. H. 
 
 Westminster, 27 June 1629.
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 373 
 
 XVII 
 
 To Sir Arthur higrani, at his house in York 
 
 I HAVE sent you herewith a hamper of melons, 
 the best I could find in any of Tothillfield gar- 
 dens, and with them my very humble service and 
 thanks for all favours, and lately for inviting me 
 to your new noble house at Temple Newsam 
 when I return to Yorkshire. To this 1 may 
 answer you as my Lord Coke was answered by a 
 Norfolk countryman who had a suit depending in 
 the King's Bench against some neighbours touch- 
 ing a river that used to annoy him, and Sir Edward 
 Coke asking how he called the river, he answered, 
 " My Lord, I need not call her, for she is forward 
 enough to come of herself." So I may say that 
 you need not call me to any house of yours, for 
 I am forward enough to come without calling. 
 
 My Lord President is still indisposed at Dr 
 Nappier's, yet he wrote to me lately that he hopes 
 to be at the next sitting in York. — So with a ten- 
 der of my most humble service to my noble good 
 ladv, I rest your much obliged servant, 
 
 J. H. 
 London, 25 July i62g.
 
 374 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 XVIII 
 
 To R. S., Esq. 
 
 I AM one of them who value not a courtesy 
 that hangs long betwixt the fingers. I love not 
 those viscosa beneficia, those bird-limed kindnesses 
 which Pliny speaks of; nor would I receive money 
 in a dirty clout, if possibly I could be without it. 
 Therefore I return you the courtesy by the same 
 hand that brought it. It might have pleasured me 
 at first, but the expectation of it hath prejudiced 
 me, and now perhaps you may have more need of 
 it than your humble servitor, J. H. 
 
 Westminster, 3 August 1629. 
 
 XIX 
 
 'To the Countess of Sunderland at York 
 
 Madame, 
 
 MY lord continues still in a course of physic at 
 Dr Nappier's. I wrote to him lately that 
 his lordship would please to come to his own house 
 here in St Martin's Lane, where there is a greater 
 accommodation for the recovery of his health, Dr 
 Mayern being on the one side, and the King's 
 apothecary on the other ; but I fear there be some 
 mountebanks that carry him away, and I hear he 
 intends to remove to Wickham to one Atkinson, a 
 mere quack-salver, that was once D. Lopez's man.
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 375 
 
 The little knight that useth to draw up his 
 breeches with a shoeing-horn, I mean Sir Posthu- 
 mus Hobby, flew high at him this Parliament, and 
 would have inserted his name in the scroll of recu- 
 sants that is shortly to be presented to the King, 
 but I produced a certificate from Linford under the 
 minister's hand, that he received the communion 
 at Easter last, and so got his name out. Besides, 
 the deputy-lieutenants of Buckinghamshire would 
 have charged Biggin Farm with a light horse, but 
 Sir William Allford and others joined with me to 
 get it off. 
 
 Sir Thomas Wentworth and Mr Wansford are 
 grown great courtiers lately, and come from West- 
 minster Hall to White Hall (Sir Jo. Saville, tKeir 
 countryman, having shown them the way with his 
 white staff). The Lord Weston tampered with 
 the one, and my Lord Cottington took pains with 
 the other, to bring them about from their violence 
 against the prerogative. And I am told the first 
 of them is promised my lord's place at York in 
 case his sickness continues. 
 
 We are like to have peace with Spain and 
 France ; and for Germany, they say the Swedes 
 are like to strike into her, to try whether they may 
 have better fortunes than the Danes. 
 
 My Lady Scroop (my lord's mother) hath lain 
 sick a good while, and is very weak. — So I rest, 
 madame, your humble and dutiful servitor, 
 
 J. H. 
 
 Westminster, 5 August 162^.
 
 376 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 XX 
 
 To Dr H. W. 
 
 IT is a rule in friendship, " when distrust enters in 
 at the fore gate love goes out at the postern." 
 It is as true a rule that 'q airopia Trj<; iiTLcrT'ijfxr]'; 
 ap^-q dubitation is the beginning of all knowledge. 
 I confess this is true in the first election and co- 
 optation of a friend, to come to the true knowledge 
 of him by queries and doubts ; but when there is 
 a perfect contract made, confirmed by experience 
 and a long tract of time, distrust then is mere 
 poison to friendship. Therefore, if it be as I am 
 told, I am unfit to be your friend, but your servant, 
 
 J.H. 
 Westminster, 20 October \6ig. 
 
 XXI 
 
 To Dr H. W. 
 
 THEY say in Italy that deeds are men and 
 words are but women. I have had your 
 word often to give me a visit. I pray turn your 
 female promises to masculine performances, else I 
 shall think you have lost your being ; for you know 
 it is a rule in law, idem est non esse^ ^ non apparere. 
 Your faithful servitor, 
 
 J.H. 
 Westminster, 25 September 1629.
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 377 
 
 To Mr B. Chaworth^ on my valentine^ Mistress Francis 
 Metcalf {tiow Lady Robinson)^ at York 
 
 A Sonnet 
 
 Could I charm the Queen of Love 
 To lend a quill of her white dove. 
 Or one of Cupid's pointed wings. 
 Dipt in the fair Castalian springs. 
 
 Then would I write the all divine 
 
 Perfections of my Valentine. 
 
 As 'mongst all flowers the rose excels. 
 As amber 'mongst the fragrantest smells. 
 As 'mongst all minerals the gold. 
 As marble 'mongst the finest mould. 
 As diamonds 'mongst jewels bright. 
 As Cynthia 'mongst the lesser lights. 
 
 So 'mongst the northern beauties shine 
 
 So far excels my Valentine. 
 
 In Rome and Naples I did view 
 Faces of celestial hue ; 
 Venetian dames I have seen many 
 (I only saw them, touched not any) ; 
 Of Spanish beauties, Dutch and French, 
 I have beheld the quintessence : 
 
 Yet saw I none that could outshine 
 
 Or parallel my Valentine. 
 
 The Italians, they are coy and quaint, 
 
 But they grossly daub and paint ; 
 
 The Spanish, kind and apt to please. 
 
 But savouring of the same disease ; 
 
 Of Dutch and French, some few are comely. 
 
 The French are light, the Dutch are homely ; 
 
 Let Tagus, Po, the Loire and Rhine 
 
 Then vail unto my Valentine.
 
 378 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 Here may be seen pure white and red. 
 
 Not by feigned art but nature wed. 
 
 No simpering smiles, no mimic face. 
 
 Affected gesture, or forced grace, 
 
 A fair smooth front, free from least wrinkle. 
 
 Her eyes (on me) like stars do twinkle ; 
 
 Thus all perfections do combine 
 
 To beautify my Valentine. 
 
 XXII 
 
 To Mr Tho. M, 
 
 NOBLE TOM, you desired me lately to com- 
 pose some lines upon your mistress's black 
 eyes, her becoming frowns, and upon her mask. 
 Though the least request of yours be a command 
 unto me, the execution of it a contentment, yet I 
 was hardly drawn to such task at this time, in re- 
 gard that many businesses puzzle my pericranium 
 — " aliena negotia centum per caput & circa sali- 
 ent latus." Yet lest your Clorinda might expect 
 such a thing, and that you might incur the hazard 
 of her smiles (for you say her frowns are favours), 
 and that she may take off her mask unto you the 
 next time you go to court her, I send you the en- 
 closed verses sonnetwise, which haply may please 
 her better in regard I hear she hath some skill in 
 music.
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 379 
 
 Upon Black Eyes and Becoming Frowns 
 
 A Sonnet 
 
 Black eyes, in your dark orbs doth lie 
 
 My ill or happy destiny. 
 
 If with clear looks you me behold. 
 
 You give me mines and mounts of gold ; 
 
 If you dart forth disdainful rays. 
 
 To your own dye you turn my days. 
 
 Black eyes, in your dark orbs by changes dwell. 
 My bane or bliss, my paradise or hell. 
 
 That lamp which all the stars doth blind. 
 
 Yields to your lustre in some kind. 
 
 Though you do wear to make you bright 
 
 No other dress but that of night. 
 
 He glitters only in the day. 
 
 You in the dark your beams display. 
 
 Black eyes, in your two orbs by changes dwell. 
 My bane or bliss, my paradise or hell. 
 
 The cunning thief that lurks for prize. 
 
 At some dark corner watching lies. 
 
 So that heart-robbing God doth stand 
 
 In your black lobbies, shaft in hand. 
 
 To rifle me of what I hold 
 
 More precious far than Indian Gold. 
 
 Black eyes, in your dark orbs by changes dwell. 
 My bane or bliss, my paradise or hell. 
 
 O powerful Negromantic eyes. 
 
 Who in your circles strictly pries. 
 
 Will find that Cupid with his dart 
 
 In you doth practise the black art. 
 
 And by the enchantment I'm possessed. 
 
 Tries his conclusions in thy breast. 
 
 Black eyes, in your dark orbs by changes dwell. 
 My bane or bliss, my paradise or hell.
 
 38o FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 Look on me, though in frowning wise. 
 
 Some kind of frowns become black eyes. 
 
 As pointed diamonds being set. 
 
 Cast greater lustre out of Jet, \ 
 
 Those pieces we esteem most rare, -j 
 
 Which in night shadows postur'd are : i 
 
 Darkness in churches congregates the sight. 
 
 Devotion strays in glaring light. 
 
 Black eyes, in your dark orbs by changes dwellj 
 
 My bane or bliss, my paradise or hell. i 
 
 Touching her mask I will not be long about it. 
 
 Upon Clorinda^s Mask 
 
 So have I seen the sun in his full pride 
 O'ercast with sullen clouds, and lose his light 
 So have I seen the brightest stars denied 
 To show their lustre in some gloomy night. 
 So Angels' pictures have I seen veil'd o'er. 
 That more devoutly men should them adore; 
 So with a mask saw I Clorinda hide 
 Her face more bright than was the Lemnian Bride. 
 
 Whether I have hit upon your fancy, or fitted 
 your mistress I know not. I pray let me hear what 
 success they have ; so wishing you your heart's 
 desire, and if you have her, a happy confarreation, 
 I rest in verse and prose, yours, 
 
 J. H. 
 
 Westminster, 29 of March 1629.
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 781 
 
 XXIII 
 
 To the Right Honourable my Lady Scroops 
 Countess of Sunderlafid at hangar 
 
 Madam, 
 
 I AM newly returned from Hunsdon, from giv- 
 ing the rites of burial to my lord's mother. 
 She made m,y lord sole executor of all. I have all 
 her plate and household stuff in my custody, and 
 unless I had gone as I did, much had been embez- 
 zled. I have sent herewith the copy of a letter the 
 King wrote to my lord upon the resignation of his 
 place, which is fitting to be preserved for posterity 
 amongst the records of Bolton Castle. His Maj- 
 esty expresseth therein that he was never better 
 served nor with more exactness of fidelity and jus- 
 tice by any, therefore he intends to set a special 
 mark of his favour upon him, when his health 
 will serve him to come to Court. My Lord Carle- 
 ton delivered it me, and told me he never remem- 
 bered that the King wrote a more gracious letter. 
 I have lately bought in fee-farm, Wanlesse Park, 
 off the King's Commissioners for my lord. I got 
 it for six hundred pounds, doubling the old rent, 
 and the next day I was offered five hundred 
 pounds for the bargain. There were divers that 
 put in for it, and my Lord of Anglesey thought 
 himself sure of it, but I found means to frustrate 
 them all. I also compounded with Her Majesty's
 
 382 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 Commissioners for respite of homage for Rabbi 
 Castle. There was ^^120 demanded, but I came 
 off for 40s. My Lord Wentworth is made Lord 
 Deputy of Ireland, and carries a mighty stroke at 
 Court. There have been some clashings betwixt 
 him and my Lord of Pembroke lately, with others 
 at Court, and divers in the north, and some, as Sir 
 David Fowler, with others, have been crushed. 
 
 He pleased to give me the disposing of the next 
 attorney's place in York, and John Lister being 
 lately dead, I went to make use of the favour, and 
 was offered three hundred pounds for it, but some 
 got betwixt me and home, so that I was forced to 
 go away contented with one hundred pieces Mr 
 Ratcliff delivered me in his chamber at Grav's Inn, 
 and so to part with the legal instrument I had, 
 which I did rather than contest. 
 
 The duchess your niece is well. I did what your 
 ladyship commanded me at York House. — So 
 I rest, madam, your ladyship's ready and faithful 
 servitor, J. H. 
 
 Westminster, this i of July i62g. 
 
 XXIV 
 
 To D. C, Esq., at his house in Essex 
 
 My D. D., 
 
 I THANK you for your last society in Lon- 
 don, but I am sorry to have found Jack T. in 
 that pickle, and that he had so far transgressed
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 3^3 
 
 the Fannian law, which allows a chirping cup to 
 satiate, not to surfeit, to mirth, not to madness, 
 and upon some extraordinary occasion of some ren- 
 counters, to give nature a fillip but not a knock, 
 as Jack did. I am afraid he hath taken such a 
 habit of it that nothing but death will mend him, 
 and I find that he is posting thither apace by this 
 course. I have read of a King of Navarre (Charles 
 le Mauvais) who perished in strong waters, and of 
 a Duke of Clarence that was drowned in a butt of 
 Malmesey, but Jack T., I fear, will die in a butt 
 of Canary. Howsoever, commend me unto him, 
 and desire him to have a care of the main chance. 
 — So I rest yours, J. H. 
 
 York, 5 Ju/y 1629. 
 
 XXV 
 
 To Sir Thomas Lake^ Knight 
 
 I HAVE shown Sir Kenelme Digby both our 
 translations of Martiall's " Vitam quae faciunt 
 beatiorem," etc., and to tell you true he adjudged 
 yours the better, so I shall pay the wager in the 
 place appointed, and try whether I can recover 
 myself a.t gioco d' amore, which the Italian saith is 
 a play to cosen the devil. If your pulse beat 
 accordingly, I will wait upon you on the river to- 
 wards the evening, for a floundering fit to get some 
 fish for our supper. — So 1 rest, your true servitor, 
 3 July 1629. J. H.
 
 384 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 XXVI 
 
 To Mr Ben. yohnson 
 
 Father Ben., 
 
 YOU desired me lately to procure you Dr 
 Davies' Welsh Grammar to add to those 
 many you have. I have lighted upon one at last, 
 and I am glad I have it in so seasonable a time 
 that it may serve for a New Year's gift, in which 
 quality I send it you ; and because it was not you, 
 but your muse, that desired it of me, for your 
 letter runs on feet, I thought it a good correspond- 
 ence with you to accompany it with what fol- 
 lows: 
 
 Upon Dr Davies' British Grammar 
 
 'T was a tough task, believe it, thus to tame 
 A wild and wealthy language, and to frame 
 Grammatic toils to curb her, so that she 
 Now speaks by rules, and sings by prosody ; 
 Such is the strength of art rough things to shape. 
 And of rude commons rich enclosures make. 
 Doubtless much oil and labour went to couch 
 Into methodic rules the rugged Dutch ; 
 The Rabbles pass my reach, but judge I can 
 Something of Clenard and Quintilian ; 
 
 Italian. And for those modern dames I find they three 
 Spanish. Are only lops cut from the Latian tree, 
 
 French. And easy 'twas to square them into parts. 
 The tree itself so blossoming with arts. 
 I have been shown for Irish and Bascuence 
 Imperfect rules couched in an accidence :
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 385 
 
 But I find none of these can take the start 
 Of Davies, or that prove more men of art. 
 Who in exacter method and short way. 
 The idioms of a language do display. 
 
 This is the tongue the bards sung in of old. 
 And Druids their dark knowledge did unfold. 
 Merlin in this his prophecies did vent 
 Which through the world of fame bear such extent. 
 This spoke that son of Mars, and Britain bold 
 Arthur. Who first amongst Christian worthies is enrolled. 
 This Brennus, who, to his desire and glut. 
 The mistress of the world did prostitute. 
 This Arviragus and brave Catarac 
 Sole firee, when all the world was on Rome's rack. 
 This Lucius who on angel's wings did soar 
 To Rome, and would wear diadem no more ; 
 And thousand heroes more which should I tell 
 This new year scarce would serve me, so farewell. 
 
 — Your son and servitor, J. H. 
 
 Cal., April 1629. 
 
 XXVII 
 
 T^o the Right Honourable the Earl of Bristol at 
 Sherburn Castle 
 
 My Lord, 
 
 I ATTENDED my Lord Cottington before he 
 went on his journey towards Spain, and put 
 him in mind of the old business against the Viceroy 
 of Sardinia, to see whether any good can be done, 
 and to learn whether the conde or his son be solv- 
 ent. He is to land at Lisbon; one of the King's
 
 386 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 ships attends him, and some merchantmen take the 
 advantage of this convoy. 
 
 The news that keeps greatest noise now is that 
 the Emperor hath made a favourable peace with the 
 Dane, for Tilly had crossed the Elbe and entered 
 deep into Holstein Land, and in all probability 
 might have carried all before him, yet that king had 
 honourable terms given him and a peace is con- 
 cluded (though without the privity of England). 
 But I believe the King of Denmark fared the bet- 
 ter, because he is grandchild to Charles the Em- 
 peror's sister. Now it seems another spirit is like 
 to fall upon the Emperor, for they write that Gus- 
 tavus. King of Swethland, is struck into Germany 
 and hath taken Mecklenburg. The ground of his 
 quarrel, as I hear, is that the Emperor would not 
 acknowledge, much less give audience to, his am- 
 bassadors. He also gives out to come for the 
 assistance of his allies the dukes of Pomerland and 
 Mecklenburg, nor do I hear that he speaks any- 
 thing yet of the Prince Palsgrave's business. 
 
 Don Carlos Caloma is expected here from 
 Flanders about the same time that my Lord 
 Cottington shall be arrived at the Court of Spain. 
 God send us an honourable peace, for as the 
 Spaniard says, Nunca vi tan malapaz, que ne fuesse 
 mejor, que la mejor guerra. — Your lordship's most 
 humble and ready servant, J. H. 
 
 London, 20 May 1629.
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 387 
 
 XXVIII 
 
 To my Cousin I. P., at Mr Conradus 
 
 Cousin, 
 
 A LETTER of yours was lately delivered me. 
 I made a shift to read the superscription, 
 but within I wondered what language it might be 
 in which it was written. At first I thought it was 
 Hebrew or some of her dialects, and so went from 
 the liver to the heart, from the right hand to the 
 left to read it, but could make nothing of it. Then 
 I thought it might be the Chinese language, and 
 went to read the words perpendicular ; and the 
 lines were so crooked and distorted that no cohe- 
 rence could be made. Greek I perceived it was 
 not, nor Latin or English. So I gave it for mere 
 gibberish and your characters to be rather hiero- 
 glyphics than letters. The best is you keep your 
 lines at a good distance, like those in Chancery 
 bills, who, as a clerk said, were made so wide of 
 purpose, because the clients should have room 
 enough to walk between them without jostling one 
 another ; yet this wideness had been excusable if 
 your lines had been straight, but they were full of 
 odd kind of undulations and windings. If you can 
 write no otherwise one may read your thoughts 
 as soon as your characters. It is some excuse for 
 you that you are but a young beginner. I pray let 
 it appear in your next what a proficient you are, 
 otherwise some blame may light on me that placed
 
 388 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 you there. Let me receive no more gibberish or 
 hieroglyphics from you, but legible letters, that I 
 may acquaint your friends accordingly of your 
 good proceedings. — So I rest your very loving 
 cousin, J. H. 
 
 Westminster, 20 September 1629, 
 
 XXIX 
 
 To the Lord Viscount Wentworthy Lord Presi- 
 dent of York 
 
 My Lord, 
 
 MY last was of the first current, since which I 
 received one from your lordship, and your 
 commands therein, which I shall ever entertain 
 with a great deal of cheerfulness. The greatest 
 news from abroad is that the French King with his 
 cardinal are come again on this side the hills, hav- 
 ing done his business in Italy and Savoy, and re- 
 served still Pignerol in his hands, which will serve 
 him as a key to enter Italy at pleasure. Upon the 
 highest mountain amongst the Alps he left this 
 ostentatious inscription upon a great marble pil- 
 lar — 
 
 A la memoire eternelle de Louis treiziesme, 
 
 Roy de France et de Navarre, 
 Tres-Auguste, tres-victorieux, tres-heureux, 
 
 Conquerant, tres-juste ; 
 Lequel apres avoir vaincu toutes les Nations 
 
 de r Europe,
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 389 
 
 II a encore triomphe les Elements 
 
 Du ciel et de la terre, 
 Ayant passe deux fois ces Monts au mois 
 
 de Mars avec son Armee, 
 Victorieuse, pour remmettre les Princes 
 
 d' Italic en leurs estats, 
 Defendre et proteger ses Alliez. 
 
 To the eternal memory of Lewis the Thirteenth, 
 King of France and Navarre, most gracious, most 
 victorious, most happy, most just, a conqueror ; 
 who having overcome all nations of Europe, he 
 hath also triumphed over the elements of heaven 
 and earth, having twice passed over these hills in 
 the month of March with his victorious army, to 
 restore the princes of Italy to their estates, and to 
 defend and protect his allies. — So I take my leave 
 for the present, and rest your lordship's most 
 humble and ready servitor, J. H. 
 
 Westminster, 5 August 1629. 
 
 XXX 
 
 To Sir Kenelme Digby, Knight 
 
 GIVE me leave to congratulate your happy 
 return from the Levant, and the great hon- 
 our you have acquired by your gallant comport- 
 ment in Algiers in re-escating so many English 
 slaves ; by bearing up so bravely against the Vene- 
 tian fleet in the bay of Scanderoon ; and making 
 the Pantaloni to know themselves and you better. 
 I do not remember to have read or heard that
 
 390 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 those huge galleasses of Saint Mark were beaten 
 before. I give you the joy also that you have 
 borne up against the Venetian ambassador here, 
 and vindicated yourself of those foul scandals he 
 had cast upon you in your absence. Whereas you 
 desire me to join with my Lord Cottingham and 
 others to make affidavit touching Bartholomew 
 Spinola, whether he be Vezino de Madrid, viz. 
 free denison of Spain, I am ready to serve you 
 herein, or to do any other office that may right 
 you, and tend to the making of your prize good. 
 Yet I am very sorry that our Alleppo merchants 
 suffered so much. 
 
 I shall be shortly in London, and I will make 
 the greater speed, because I may serve you. So 
 I humbly kiss my noble lady's hand, and rest your 
 thrice assured servitor, J. H. 
 
 Westminster, 25 November 1629. 
 
 XXXI 
 
 To the Right Honourable Sir Peter Wicht, 
 Ambassador at Co?istantinop!e 
 
 MASTER SIMON DIGBY delivered me 
 one from your lordship of the first of 
 June; and I was extremely glad to have it, for I 
 had received nothing from your lordship a twelve- 
 month before. Mr Comptroller Sir Tho. Edmonds 
 is lately returned from France, having renewed the 
 peace which was made up to his hands before by
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 391 
 
 the Venetian ambassadors, who had much laboured 
 in it, and had concluded all things beyond the Alps 
 when the King of France was at Susa to relieve 
 Casal. The monsieur that was to fetch him from 
 Saint Denis to Paris put a kind of jeering com- 
 pliment upon him, viz. that his excellency should 
 not think it strange that he had so few French 
 gentlemen to attend in this service, to accompany 
 him to the court, in regard there were so many 
 killed at the Isle of Rhee. The Marquis of 
 Chasteau Neuf is here from France, and it was 
 an odd speech also from him reflecting upon Mr 
 Comptroller, that the King of Great Britain used 
 to send for his ambassadors from abroad to pluck 
 capons at home. 
 
 Mr Burlimach is to go shortly to Paris to re- 
 cover the other moiety of Her Majesty's portion; 
 whereof they say my Lord of Holland is to have 
 a good share. The Lord Treasurer Weston is he 
 who hath the greatest vogue now at court, but 
 many great ones have clashed with him. He is 
 so potent that I hear his eldest son is to marry 
 one of the blood royal of Scotland, the Duke of 
 Lennox's sister, and that with His Majesty's con- 
 sent. 
 
 Bishop Laud of London is also powerful in his 
 way, for he sits at the helm of the church, and 
 doth more than any of the two archbishops, or 
 all the rest of his two-and-twenty brethren besides. 
 
 In your next I should be glad your lordship 
 would do me the favour as to write how the grand
 
 392 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 signior is like to speed before Bagdad in this his 
 Persian expedition. 
 
 No more now, but that I always rest your 
 lordship's ready and most faithful servitor, 
 
 J. H. 
 
 Westminster, i January 1629. 
 
 XXXII 
 
 To my Father 
 
 SIR THOMAS WENTWORTH hath been 
 a good while Lord-President of York, and 
 since is sworn Privy Councillor, and made baron 
 and viscount ; the Duke of Buckingham himself 
 flew not so high in so short a revolution of time. 
 He was made viscount with a great deal of high 
 ceremony upon a Sunday in the afternoon at 
 Whitehall. My Lord Powis (who affects him not 
 much) being told that the heralds had fetched his 
 pedigree from the blood royal, viz., from John of 
 Gaunt, said, " Damme, if ever he come to be 
 King of England, I will turn rebel." When I 
 went first to give him joy he pleased to give me 
 the disposing of the next attorney's place that falls 
 void in York, which is valued at three hundred 
 pounds. I have no reason to leave my Lord of 
 Sunderland, for I hope he will be noble unto me; 
 the perquisites of my place, taking the King's fee 
 away, came far short of what he promised me at 
 my first coming to him, in regard of his non-
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 393 
 
 residence at York, therefore I hope he will con- 
 sider it some other way. This languishing sickness 
 still hangs on him, and I fear will make an end 
 of him. There 's none can tell what to make of it, 
 but he voided lately a strange worm at Wickham ? 
 But I fear there 's an imposthume growing in him, 
 for he told me a passage, how many years ago my 
 Lord Willoughby and he, with so many of their 
 servants {de gayete de cceur) played a match at 
 football against such a number of countrymen, 
 where my Lord of Sunderland, being busy about 
 the ball, got a bruise in the breast which put him 
 in a swoon for the present, but did not trouble 
 him till three months after, when being at Bever 
 Castle (his brother-in-law's house) a qualm took 
 him on a sudden, which made him retire to his 
 bedchamber. My Lord of Rutland following 
 him, put a pipe full of tobacco in his mouth, and 
 he, being not accustomed to tobacco, taking the 
 smoke downwards, fell a-casting and vomiting up 
 divers little imposthumated bladders of congealed 
 blood which saved his life then, and brought him 
 to have a better conceit of tobacco ever after, and 
 I fear there is some of that clotted blood still in 
 his body. 
 
 Because Mr Hawes of Cheapside is lately dead 
 I have removed my brother Griffith to the Hen 
 and Chickens in Paternoster Row to Mr Taylor's, 
 as genteel a shop as any in the city, but I gave a 
 piece of plate of twenty nobles price to his wife. 
 I wish the Yorkshire horse may be fit for your
 
 394 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 turn. He was accounted the best saddle gelding 
 about York when I bought him of Captain Philips 
 the muster-master. And when he carried me first 
 to London there was twenty pounds offered for 
 him by my Lady Carlisle. No more now, but de- 
 siring a continuance of your blessing and prayers 
 I rest, your dutiful son, J. H. 
 
 London, 3 December 1630. 
 
 XXXIII 
 
 To the Lord Cottington^ Ambassador-Kxtraor- 
 dinary for His Majesty of Great Britain in 
 the Court of Spain 
 
 My Lord, 
 
 I RECEIVED your lordship's lately by Harry 
 Davies the Correo Santo, and I return my 
 humble thanks, that you were pleased to be 
 mindful (amongst so many high negotiations) of 
 the old business touching the Viceroy of Sardinia. 
 I have acquainted my Lord of Bristol accordingly. 
 Our eyes here look very greedily after your lord- 
 ship and the success of your embassy, and we are 
 glad to hear the business is brought to so good a 
 pass, and that the capitulations are so honourable 
 (the high effects of your wisdom). 
 
 For news, the Swedes do notable feats in Ger- 
 many, and we hope their cutting the Emperor and 
 Bavarian so much work to do, and the good offices
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 395 
 
 we are to expect from Spain upon this redintegra- 
 tion of peace will be an advantage to the Prince 
 Palatin, and facilitate matters for restoring him to 
 his country. 
 
 There is little news at our court, but that there 
 fell an ill-favoured quarrel 'twixt Sir Kenelme 
 Digby and Mr Goring, Mr Jermin and others 
 at St James' lately about Mrs Baker the maid of 
 honour, and duels were like to grow of it, but that 
 the business was taken up by the lord treasurer, 
 mv Lord of Dorset, and others appointed by the 
 King. My Lord of Sunderland is still ill disposed; 
 he willed me to remember his hearty service to 
 your lordship, and so did Sir Arthur Ingram, and 
 my lady ; they all wish you a happy and honour- 
 able return, as doth your lordship's most humble 
 and ready servitor, J. H. 
 
 London, i March 1630. 
 
 XXXIV 
 
 T(? my Lord Viscount Rocksavage 
 
 My Lord, 
 
 SOME say, the Italian loves no favour, but 
 what 's future; though I have conversed much 
 with that nation, yet I am nothing infected with 
 their humour in this point : for I love favours 
 passed as well, the remembrance of them joys my 
 very heart, and makes it melt within me ; when 
 my thoughts reflect upon your lordship I have 
 
 ')
 
 396 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 many of these fits of joy within me, by the pleas- 
 ing speculation of so many most noble favours 
 and respects which I shall daily study to improve 
 and merit. My lord, your lordship's most humble 
 and ready servitor, 
 
 J. H. 
 Westminster, 22 March 1630. 
 
 XXXV 
 
 To the Karl of Bristol 
 
 My Lord, 
 
 I DOUBT not but your lordship hath had in- 
 telligence from time to time what firm invasions 
 the King of Swedes hath made into Germany, and 
 by what degrees he hath mounted to this height, 
 having but six thousand foot and five hundred 
 horse when he entered first to Mecklenburg, and 
 taken that town while commissioners stood treat- 
 ing on both sides in his tent ; how thereby his 
 army much increased, and so rushed further into 
 the heart of the country, but passing near Mag- 
 denburg, being diffident of his own strength, he 
 suffered Tilly to take that great town with so much 
 effusion of b'ood, because they would receive no 
 quarter ; your lordship hath also heard of the 
 battle of Leipzic, where Tilly, notwithstanding 
 the victory he had got over the Duke of Saxony 
 a few days before, received an utter discomfiture, 
 upon which victory the King sent Sir Thomas Roe
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 397 
 
 a present of two thousand pounds and in his letter 
 calls him his strenuum consultorem^ he being one 
 of the first who had advised him to this German 
 war after he had made peace betwixt him and the 
 Polander. I presume also your lordship heard how 
 he met Tilly again near Ausburg, and made him 
 go upon a wooden leg whereof he died, and after 
 soundly plundered the Bavarian, and made him 
 flee from his own house at Munchen, and rifled 
 his very closets. 
 
 Now your lordship shall understand, that the 
 said king is at Mentz, and keeps a court there like 
 an emperor, there being above twelve ambassadors 
 with him. The King of France sent a great mar- 
 quis for his ambassador to put him in mind of his 
 articles, and to tell him that His Christian Majesty 
 wondered he would cross the Rhine without his 
 privity, and wondered more that he would invade 
 the Churchlands, meaning the Archbishop of 
 Mentz, who had put himself under the protection 
 of France. The Swede answered that he had not 
 broke the least tittle of the articles agreed on, and 
 touching the said archbishop he had not stood 
 neutral as was promised, therefore he had justly 
 set on his skirts. The ambassador replied, in case 
 of breach of articles, his master hau eighty thou- 
 sand men to pierce Germany when he pleased. 
 The King answered, that he had but twenty thou- 
 sand, and those should be sooner at the walls of 
 Paris than his fourscore thousand should be on the 
 frontiers of Germany. If this new conqueror goes
 
 398 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 on with this violence, I believe it will cast the 
 policy of all Christendom into another mould, and 
 beget new maxims of State, for none can foretell 
 where his monstrous progress will terminate. Sir 
 Henry Vane is still in Germany observing his mo- 
 tions, and they write that they do not agree well, 
 as I heard the King should tell him that he spoke 
 nothing but Spanish to him. Sir Robert Anstruther 
 is also at Vienna, being gone thither from the diet 
 at Ratisbon. 
 
 I hear the infant cardinal is designed to become 
 Governor of the Netherlands, and passeth by way 
 of Italy, and so through Germany : his brother 
 Don Carlos is lately dead. — So I humbly take 
 my leave and rest, my lord, your lordship's most 
 humble and ready servitor, J. H. 
 
 Westminster, 23 April 1630. 
 
 XXXVI 
 
 To my noble lady, the Lady Cor. 
 
 Madame, 
 
 YOU spoke to me for a cook who had seen 
 the world abroad, and I think the bearer 
 hereof will fit your ladyship's turn. He can mari- 
 nate fish, make jellies, he is excellent for a piquant 
 sauce, and the haugou. Besides, madam, he is 
 passing good for an oUa. He will tell your lady- 
 ship that the reverend matron the olla-podrida hath 
 intellectuals and senses. Mutton, beef, and bacon
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 399 
 
 are to her as the will, understanding, and memory 
 are to the soul. Cabbage, turnips, artichokes, po- 
 tatoes and dates are her five senses, and pepper 
 the common sense. She must have marrow to keep 
 life in her, and some birds to make her light. By 
 all means she must go adorned with chains of 
 sausages. He is also good at larding of meat after 
 the mode of France. Madame, you may make 
 proof of him, and if your ladyship find him too 
 saucy or wasteful you may return him whence you 
 had him. — So I rest, madam, your ladyship's 
 most humble servitor, J. H. 
 
 Westminster, 2 June 1630. 
 
 XXXVII 
 
 To Mr E. D. 
 
 YOU write to me that T. B. intends to give 
 money for such a place. If he doth, I fear 
 it will be verified in him that a fool and his money 
 is soon parted, for I know he will be never able to 
 execute it. I heard of a late Secretary of State that 
 could not read the next morning his own hand- 
 writing, and I have read of Caligula's horse that 
 was made consul, therefore I pray tell him from 
 me (for I wish him well) that if he thinks he is fit 
 for that office he looks upon himself through a false 
 glass. A trotting horse is fit for a coach but not 
 for a lady's saddle, and an ambler is proper for a 
 lady's saddle but not for a coach. If Tom under-
 
 400 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 takes this place he will be as an ambler in a coach, 
 or a trotter under a lady's saddle. When I come 
 to town I will put him upon a far fitter and more 
 feasible business for him, and so commend me to 
 him, for I am his and your true friend, 
 
 J. H. 
 
 Westminster, 5 June 1630. 
 
 XXXVIII 
 
 To my Father 
 
 THERE are two ambassadors-extraordinary to 
 go abroad shortly, the Earl of Leicester and 
 the Lord Weston. This latter goes to France, 
 Savoy, Venice, and so returns by Florence, a pleas- 
 ant journey, for he carries presents with him from 
 King and Queen. The Earl of Leicester is to go to 
 the King of Denmark and other princes of Ger- 
 many. The main of the embassy is to condole the 
 late death of the Lady Sophia Queen Dowager of 
 Denmark, our King's grandmother. She was the 
 Duke of Mecklenburg's daughter, and her hus- 
 band, Christian the Third, dying young, her por- 
 tion, which was forty thousand pounds, was restored 
 her, and living a widow forty-four years after, she 
 grew to be so great a housewife, setting three or 
 four hundred people at work, that she died worth 
 near two millions of dollars, so that she was reputed 
 the richest queen of Christendom. By the consti-
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 401 
 
 tutions of Denmark this estate Is divisible amongst 
 her children, whereof she had five, the King of 
 Denmark, the Duchess of Saxonv, the Duchess 
 of Brunswick, Oueen Anne, and the Duchess of 
 Holstein. The King being male is to have two 
 shares, our King and the Lady Elizabeth are to have 
 that which should have belonged to Oueen Anne ; 
 so he is to return by the Hague. It pleased my 
 Lord of Leicester to send for me to Baynard's 
 Castle, and proffer me to go secretary in this em- 
 bassy, assuring me that the journey shall tend to 
 my profit and credit. So I have accepted of it, for 
 I hear very nobly of my lord, so that I hope to 
 make a boon voyage of it. I desire, as hitherto, 
 your prayers and blessing may accompany me. 
 So, with my love to my brothers and sisters, I 
 rest, your dutiful son, 
 
 J. H. 
 London, 5 May 1632. 
 
 XXXIX 
 
 To Mr Alderman Moulson^ Governor of the 
 Merchant Adventurers 
 
 THE Earl of Leicester is to go shortly ambas- 
 sador-extraordinary tothe King of Denmark, 
 and he is to pass by Hamburg. I understand by 
 Mr Skinner that the staple hath some grievances 
 to be redressed. If this embassy may be an advan-
 
 402 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 tage to the company I will solicit my lord that he 
 may do you all the favour that may stand with his 
 honour. So I shall expect your instructions accord- 
 ingly, and rest, yours ready to serve you, 
 
 J. H. 
 Westminster, i June 1632. 
 
 XL 
 
 'To Mr Alderman ClethrOy Governor of the 
 Eastland Company 
 
 I AM informed of some complaints that your 
 Company hath against the King of Denmark's 
 officers in the Sound. The Earl of Leicester is 
 nominated by His Majesty to go ambassador ex- 
 traordinary to that king and other princes of Ger- 
 many. If this embassy may be advantageous unto 
 you, you may send me your directions and I will 
 attend my lord accordingly, to do you any favour 
 that may stand with his honour and conduce to 
 your benefit and redress of grievances. So I take 
 my leave, and rest, yours ready to do you service, 
 
 J. H. 
 Westminster, i of June 1632.
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 403 
 
 XLI 
 
 To the Right Honourable the Earl of Leicester 
 
 at Pettworth 
 
 My Lord, 
 
 SIR JOHN PENNINGTON is appointed 
 to carry your lordship and your company 
 to Germany, and he intends to take you up at 
 Margate. I have been with Mr Burlamach, and 
 received a bill of exchange from him for 10,000 
 dollars, payable in Hamburg. I have also received 
 ^'2000 of Sir Paul Pinder for your lordship's use ; 
 and he did me the favour to pay it me all in old 
 gold. Your allowance hath begun since the 25th 
 of July last at ^^8 per diem, and is to continue so 
 till your lordship return to His Majesty. I under- 
 stand by some merchants to-day upon the exchange 
 that the King of Denmark is at Luckstadt, and 
 stays there all this summer ; if it be so, it will save 
 half the voyage of going to Copenhagen, for in lieu 
 of the Sound, we need go no further than the river 
 of Elbe. — So I rest your lordship's most humble 
 and faithful servitor, 
 
 J. H. 
 Westminster, 13 August 1632.
 
 404 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 XLII 
 
 To the Right Honourable the Lord Mohun 
 
 My Lord, 
 
 THOUGH any command from your lordship 
 be welcome to me at all times, yet that which 
 you lately enjoined me in yours of the 12th of 
 August, that I should inform your lordship of 
 what I know touching the Inquisition is now a 
 little unseasonable, because I have much to do to 
 prepare myself for this employment to Germany, 
 therefore I cannot satisfy you in that fulness as I 
 could do otherwise. The very name of the Inqui- 
 sition is terrible all Christendom over, and the 
 King of Spain himself with the chiefest of his 
 grandees tremble at it. It was founded first by 
 the Catholic King, Ferdinand (our Henry the 
 Eighth's father-in-law), for he having got Granada 
 and subdued all the Moors, who had had firm 
 footing in that kingdom about 700 years, yet he 
 suffered them to live peaceably a while in point 
 of conscience; but afterwards he sent a solemn 
 mandamus to the Jacobin friars to endeavour the 
 conversion of them by preaching and all other 
 means. They finding that their pains did little 
 good (and that those whom they had converted 
 turned apostates), obtained power to make a re- 
 search, which afterwards was called Inquisition ; 
 and it was ratified by Pope Sixtus that if they
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 405 
 
 would not conform themselves by fair means, 
 they should be forced to it. The Jacobins being 
 found too severe herein, and for other abuses be- 
 sides, this Inquisition was taken from them and 
 put into the hands of the most sufficient ecclesias- 
 tics. So a council was established and officers 
 appointed accordingly. Whosoever was found pen- 
 dulous and brangling in his religion was brought 
 by a sergeant called Familiar before the said Coun- 
 cil of Inquisition. His accuser or delator stands 
 behind a piece of tapestry to see whether he be 
 the party, and if he be, then they put divers 
 subtile and entrapping interrogatories unto him, 
 and whether he confesses anything or no, he is 
 sent to prison. When the said Familiar goes to 
 any house, though it be in the dead of the night 
 (and that 's the time commonly they use to come, 
 or in the dawn of the day), all doors and trunks 
 and chests fly open to him, and the first thing he 
 doth he seizeth the party's breeches, searcheth his 
 pockets, and takes his keys, and so rummageth 
 all his closets and trunks ; and a public notary 
 whom he carrieth with him takes an inventory 
 of everything, which is sequestrated and deposited 
 in the hands of some of his next neighbours. The 
 party being hurried away in a close coach and 
 clapped in prison, he is there eight days before 
 he makes his appearance, and then they present 
 unto him the cross and the missal-book to swear 
 upon ; if he refuseth to swear, he convicteth him- 
 self, and though he swear, yet he is remanded to
 
 4o6 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 prison. This oath commonly is presented before 
 any accusation be produced. His gaoler is strictly 
 commanded to pry into his actions, his deportment, 
 words, and countenance, and to set spies upon him, 
 and whosoever of his fellow prisoners or others 
 can produce anything against him, he hath a re- 
 ward for it. At last, after divers appearances, ex- 
 aminations, and scrutinies, the information against 
 him is read, but the witnesses' names are concealed, 
 then is he appointed a proctor and an advocate, 
 but he must not confer or advise with them pri- 
 vately, but in the face of the court. The King's 
 attorney is a party in it, and the accusers com- 
 monly the sole witnesses. Being to name his own 
 lawyers oftentimes others are discovered and fall 
 into trouble ; while he is thus in prison, he is so 
 abhorred and abandoned of all the world that 
 none will, at least none dare, visit him. Though 
 one clear himself, yet he cannot be freed till an 
 Act of Faith pass, which is done seldom, but very 
 solemnly. There are few who, having fallen into 
 the gripes of the Inquisition, do escape the rack; 
 or the sanbenito, which is a straight yellow coat 
 without sleeves, having the portrait of the devil 
 painted up and down in black, and upon their 
 heads they carry a mitre of paper, with a man 
 frying in the flames of hell upon it, they gag their 
 mouths, and tie a great cord about their necks. 
 The judges meet In some uncouth dark dungeon, 
 and the executioner stands by, clad In a close dark 
 garment, his head and face covered with a chaperon,
 
 OF JAMES HOWELL 407 
 
 out of which there are but two holes to look 
 through, and a huge link burning in his hand. 
 When the ecclesiastic inquisitors have pronounced 
 the anathema against him, they transmit him to 
 the secular judges to receive the sentence of death, 
 for churchmen must not have their hands imbrued 
 in blood; the King can mitigate any punishment 
 under death, nor is a nobleman subject to the 
 rack. 
 
 I pray be pleased to pardon this rambling im- 
 perfect relation, and take in good part my con- 
 formity to your commands, for I am your lord- 
 ship's most ready and faithful servitor, 
 
 J. H. 
 
 Westminster, 30 Jugust 1632. 
 
 END OF VOLUME I
 
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