Of
*
SAM oiteo
SIR ROBERT NAUNTON.
Master of the Court of Wards.
JL* ragmenta l\egalia.
Probably written about 1630.
REPRINTED FROM THE THIRD POSTHUMOUS EDITION OF 1653.
Edited by EDWARD ARBER, F.S.A., etc.,
.LECTURER IN ENGLISH LITERATURE, ETC.,
UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, LONDON
SOUTHGATE, LONDON, N.
15 January, 1870.
No. 20.
(All rights reserved.)
CONTENTS.
CONTENTS
Notices of Sir ROBERT NAUNTON
INTRODUCTION
BIBLIOGRAPHY
PAGE
2
5
. 7
10
FRAGMENTA REGALIA
I. Queen
Titles.
Creations.
Sir GEOFFREY BOLEYNE . . . . ... 14
Lord Mayor of London in 1458, in which year he was knighted.
Sir WILLIAM BOLEYNE, K.B., d. 10 Oct. 1505 . . . .14
Sir THOMAS BOLEYNE, 18 June 1525 Viscount ROCHFORD . . 14
8 rw , c!t Earl f WILTSHIRE, in England.
! Dec. iS^-^^yoRMOND in Ireland 8
He had two daughters :
ANNE BOLEYNE, created i Sept. 1532 Marchioness O/'PF.MBROKE 14,15
who became by marriage on 25 Jan. 1533, QUEEN CONSORT of England.
[The mother of ELIZABETH.]
MARY BOLEYNE, who married William Carey, Esq. . .
[The mother of Sir HENRY CAREY, Lord HUNSDON.]
14
II.
of fyer jetate anti / aoour.
Noblemen of an earlier date alluded to are inserted between [].
Title. Subsequent Creations as Peers.
1554. HENRY FITZ-ALLAN, i2th JSarZofARUXDBl.. d. 1580. . . 46
Sir FRANCIS BACON,
. ii July 1618. Baron VERULAM, of Verulam.
a8 Jan. 1621. Viscount ST. ALBANS. d. 1626. 38
TSir NICHOLAS BACON
CONTENTS. 3
1563. THOMAS, 5th Baron BURGH or BOROUGH, d. 14 Oct. 1597 . 53
[iS35- CHARLES BLOUNT, sth Baron MOUNTJOY, of Thurveston. d.
14 Oct. 1544] .... ... 56
1544. JAMES BLOUNT, 6th Baron MOUNTJOY, of Thurveston. d. 1593 56
1593. WM. BLOUNT, 7th Baron MOUNTJOY, of Thurveston. d. 1594 . 57
M 1594. CHARLES BLOUNT, 21 July 1603. Earl of DEVONSHIRE
Sth and last Baron MOUNT- d. 3 April 1606 19, 52, 57, 58, 61
JOY, of Thurveston
Sir HENRY CAREY 13 Jan. 1559. Baron HUNDSON. d. 1596 17, 46, 47
T Sir WILLIAM CECIL 25 Feb. 1571. Baron of BURGHLEY. d.
1598 3. 31
Sir THOMAS CECIL 1598. Baron of BURGHLEY
4 May 1605. Earl of EXETER, d. 1622 . 59
T Sir ROBERT CECIL 13 May 1603. Baron CECIL of Essendon.
20 Aug. 1604. Viscount CRANDOURNE.
4 May 1605. Earl of SALISBURY, d. 1612. 59-62
1576. ROBERT DEVEREUX, 2nd Earl of ESSEX . . 51-55,56
[EDMONDE DUDLEY, Esqre. d. 17 Aug. 1510]. ... 26, 27
WALTER DEVEREUX. 2nd Viscount HEREFORD
4 May 1572 Earl of ESSEX, d. 1576. . . 29
[JOHN DUDLEY. 12 Mar. 1542. Viscount L'lSLH
17 Feb. 1547. Earl of WARWICK.
1551. Duke of NORTHUMBERLAND, d. 1553.] 27
Sir AMBROSE DUDLEY 25 Dec. 1561. Baron L'IsLE.
26 Dec. 1561. Earl of WARWICK, d. 1589. 28
Sir ROBERT DUDLEY. 28 Sept. 1563. Baron DENBIGH
28 Sept. 1565. Earl of LEICESTER, d. 1588.
17, 26-29, 30
Sir FRANCIS ENGLEFIELD . . . . . .25
1562. ARTHUR GREY, isth Baron GREY, of Wilton, d. 1593 . . 48
7"Sir FULKE GREVILLE 29 Jan. 1621. Baron BROOKE of Beau-
champs Court, d. 1628. 5> S 2
T Sir CHRISTOPHER HATTON . . . . . -44
Sir WILLIAM HERBERT 10 Oct 1511. Baron HERBERT of Cardiff
ii Oct. 1551. arl O/PRMBROKE. d. 1569. 13-14
AT 1561. Sir OWEN HOPTON . . . . 4 3
.3/1573. Lord CHARLES HOWARD, 22 Oct. 1596. Earl of NOTTINGHAM.
2nd Baron HOWARD of Effing- d. 1624 . . . .45
ham
1597. Sir THOMAS HOWARD. 21 July 1603. Earl <7/"SuFFOLK.
DE WALDEN . d. 1624 . . . 4^
7 Sir WILLIAM KNOI.LYS 13 May 1603. Baron KNOLLYS of Greys
7 Nov. 1616. Viscount WALLINGFORD.
18 Aug. 1626. EarlofBwRUKV. d.
1632. . . . . .39
CONTENTS.
M Sir HENRY NORREYS 8 May 1572. Baron Norreys of Rycote.
d. 1600 . . . . .39
M Sir FRANCIS NORREYS 1600. zd Baron Norreys Rycote
28 Jan. 1620. Viscount THAME.
20 Jan. 1620. Earl of BERKSHIRE, d.
1623.
General Sir JOHN NORRIS . . . . . -39
Sir JOHN PACKINGTON . . . . . . 46
T Sir WILLIAM PAULET 9 Mar. 1539. Baron SAINT JOHN
19 Jan. 1550. Earl of WILTSHIRE.
12 Oct. 1551. Marquis <j/"WiNCHES-
TER. d. 10 Mar. 1572. . . .25
M Sir JOHN PERROT ...... 4 I "44
Sir THOMAS PERROT . . . . . . -43
M 1584. Sir WALTER RALEIGH ..... 47-5
^1556. THOMAS RATCLIFFE, 3rd Earl of SUSSEX, d. 1583. . 17, 29, 30
T 1556. Sir THOMAS SACKVILLE. 8 June 1567. Baron ^/BUCKHURST
13 Mar. 1603. Earl of DORSET, d. 1608. 17, 55, 56
T Sir HENRY SIDNEY ..... -34
EDWARD SEYMOUR. 13 Jan. 1559. Baron BEAUCHAMP of Hache
and Earl of HERTFORD. ^.1621. . . 26
M 1583. Sir PHILIP SIDNEY ..... 33-35
T 1589. EDWARD SOMERSET, 4th Earl of WORCESTER. 1628. . 63
T 1583. Sir EDWARD STAFFORD . . . . . .63
M 1588. Sir FRANCIS VERE . . . . 62, 63
M 1596. Sir HORACE VERB 24 July 1625. Baron VERE of Tilbury, d. 1635 63
T 1577. Sir FRANCIS WALSINGHAM .... 35-57
T 1554. JOHN, Baron WILLIAMS, of Thame . . . -39
M Baron WILLOUGHBT . . . . . . .47
III. j&ome otljer ^erison^ alhx&eb to.
BOWYER, a gentleman of the Black Rod . . . . . 17
CAWARDEN, an officer of the Customs . . . . .22
CUFFE, Secretary to the Earl of Essex . . . . .55
Sir HENRY WOTTON . . . . . 51, 55
. * . The dates preceding the names are those of succession to or creation
of the several titles. For further pursuit of this subject, consult SYLVANUS
MORGAN'S Sphere of Gentry, 1660, J. PHILPOT, the Somerset Herald's Col-
lection of Knights, 1660, BURKE'S Dormant Peerage, and NICOLAS' His-
toric Peerage, Ed. by Courthope, 1857.
NOTICES OF SIR ROBERT NAUNTON.
1. JOHN WEEVER, a.contempOTa.ry,'m'hisAMcientfuttera/I Mon-
uments, &=c., defcribing thofe in 'the Dioceffe of Norwich' ftates,
In the Priorie Church here at Letheringham, diuers of the ancient familie of
the Nantons lie buried. Of whom out of their pedegree, I haue these notes
following. Master William Smart affirmeth that he hath scene an ancient
Euidence, dated before the Conquest of England, wherein the Nantons are
named, who saith they were written by the name of Naivnton. Roger Awston
reporteth that Nawnton came in with the Conqueror, and that he hath scene
Records of the same, who for seruice done had then giuen him in marriage a
great inheritrix. It is reported that Nawntons lands were at that time 700
markes, perannnm. These Naitntons are Patrons of the Church of Alderton
in this County, as appeares by this Epitaph there.
Here lieth Henry Naunton Esquire, late Patron of this Church, and Tristram
Naunton, both Bonnes of William Naunton Esquire, and of Elisabeth\&s wife;
and Elisabeth wife to the said Henry, daughter of Euerard Asheby Esquire,
and Elisabeth daughter to the said Henry Naunton, and Elisabeth Asheby,
Patruus ignotus, Genetrix vix nota, sororque
Occumbunt sequeris tu ntihi sancte Pater. This is likwto
Chara JJonnis terras fugitis neque sic me fugitis chnrchher7t
Vos sequar in coelos. .... letheringbam,
Patri, Patruo, Matri, Sororulee charissimis
Posui,fle^tique Robertus Naunton. 1600.
Now Sir Robert Naunton knight, one of his Maiesties most Honourable
priuie Councell, and master of the Court of Wardes and Liueries. Of which
Office, will it please reade thus much out of the Interpreter, as followeth.
Master of the Court of Wards and Liueries, saith he [D. Cornell lit, Af.] is
the chiefe and principall officer of the Court of Wards and Liueries, named
and assigned by the King, to whose custody the Scale of Court is committed.
He at the entring vpon his Office, taketh an Oath before the Lord Chancel-
lour of England, well and truly to serue the king in his Office, to minister
equall lustice to rich and to poore, to the best of his cunning, wit, and power,
diligently to procure all things which may honestly and iustly be to the kings
aduantage and profit, and to the augmentation of the right and prerogatiue
of the Crowne, truly to vse the Kings Scale appointed to his office, to en-
deuour to the vttermost of his power, to see the King iustly answered of all
such profits, rents, reuenues, and issues, as shall yearely rise, grow, or be due
to the King in his office, from time to time, to deliuer with speed such as haue
to doe before him, not to take or receiue of any person any gift or reward in
any case or matter depending before him, or wherein the King shall be partie,
whereby any preiudice, losse, hinderance, or disherison shall be, or grow to
the king. Ann. 33. Hen. 8. cap. 33. WEEVER,//. 756-7. London. 1631.
2. The Rev. T. FULLER, D.D., in The Worthies of England,
Part iv. p. 64, Ed. 1662 : among the Worthies of Suffolk, gives
the following account of the prefeni Writer.
Sir Robert Naunton, was born in this County, of Right ancient Extrac-
tion, some avouching that his Family were here before, others that they came
in with the Conqueror, who rewarded the chief of that Name for his service
with a great Inheretrix given him in marriage. In so much that his Lands
were then estimated at (a vast sum in my ludgment) seven hundred pounds
[Fuller quotes Weever as above, for this] a year. For a long time they were
Patrons of Alderton in this County, where I conceive Sir Robert was born.
He was first bred Fellow Commoner in Trinity Colledge, and then Fellow
of Trinity-Hall in Cambridge. He was Proctor of the Vniversity, Anno
Domini 1601, which Office according to the Old Circle returned not to that
Colledge but once \nfourtyfour years. He addicted himself from his youth
to such studies, as did tend to accomplish him for Publick imployment. I
conceive his most excellent piece called Fragtnenta Regalia, set forth since
his death, was a fruit of his younger years. [This is a mistake, see/. 7.]
He was afterwards sworn Secretary of State to King James on Thursday
the eighth of January, 1617, which place he discharged with great ability and
dexterity, and I hope it will be no offence here to insert a pleasant passage.
One Mr. Wiemark a wealthy man, great Novilant, and constant Pauls
walker, hearing the News that day of the beheading of Sir Walter Raleigh :
6 NOTICES OF SIR ROBERT NAUNTON.
His head (said he) -would do very well on the shoulders of Sir Robert
Naunton, Secretary of State. These words were complained of, and Wie-
tnark summoned to the Privy Councel, where he pleaded for himself, that
he intended no dis-respect to Mr. Secretary, whose known Worth was above
all detraction ; Only he spake in reference to an oldProT.ierb, Two heads are
better than one. And so for the present he was dismissed. Not long after,
when rich men were called on for a Contribution to St. Pauls, Wiemark at
the Councel-Table subscribed a hundred pounds, but Mr. Secretary told
him two hundred were better than one, which betwixt fear and charity
Wiemark was fain to subscribe.
He died Anno Domini 163 . . leaving one daughter, who first was married
to Paul Vicount Banning, and af:er to the Lord Herbert, eldest son to
Philip Earl of Pembroke.
3. Rev. T. BIRCH, D.D., in his Memoirs of Queen Elizabeth,
i. 369-370, Ed. 1754, thus writes :
Mr. Naunton, who carried this letter to France, and whom the earl [of Es-
sex] stiles in it Visfriend, was descended from an antient family in Suffolk, and
educated a fellow-commoner of Trinity College in Cambridge, and afterwards
chosen a fellow of Trinity Hall. When his uncle William Ashby, esq.,
was sent embassador from queen ELIZABETH into Scotland in the year 1589,
he attended him thither, probably in the office of secretary, and was some-
times sent by him on affairs of trust and importance to the court of England,
where he was in July that year, discontented with his unsuccessful depen
dance on courtiers, and resolv'd to hasten back to his uncle, to whom he
return'd in the beginning of the month following, and continued with him
till January 1590, when Mr. Ashby was revok'd from his embassy, in which he
was succeeded.by Robert Bowes, esq. Mr. Naunton was in France during the
years 1596 and 1597, whence he corresponded frequently with the earl of Es-
sex, who does not appear to have had interest enough to advance him to any
civil post; for which reason it is probable, that, after his lordship's disgrace,
Mr. Naunton retired to his college, and was in 1601 elected orator of the
university of Cambridge. However he was afterwards call'd forth again
into the world, being made first a master of the requests, then surveyor of
the court of wards, and in January 1617-8, secretary of state, and at last master
of the court of wards, which post he resign' d in March 1634-5, and died in the
same month. He was a man of considerable learning, and well qualified for
political affairs, and his letters contain many curious facts and just observa-
tions on the characters of persons and parties, but obscur'd, as well as his
Fragmenta regalia, by an affectation of style less frequent under the reign
of queen ELIZABETH, than her immediate successor.
4. Rev. D. LLOYD, Canon of St. Afaph, in a work, poffibly
fug^efted by the prefent one, entitled The States-men and Fa-
vourites of England fince the Reformation, London, 1665, makes
fome obfervations on the prefent writer ; beginning thus :
Sir Robert Naunton is the Author of one Book of Observations upon the
States-men of Queen Eliz. times, and must be the subject of another of
king James hit : He noted then in his youth, what he was to practice after-
wards in his more reduced years. His University-studies at Trinity-Colledge,
whereof he was Commoner ; and at Trinity-Hall, whereof he was Fellow ; His
Speeches both while Proctor and Orator of Cambridge, discovered him more
inclined to publick Accomplishments, than private Studies : He improved the
opportunity of the speech he was to make before King James at Hinchinbrook
so well, that as His Majesty was highly affected with his Latine and Learning,
so he exactly observed his prudence and serviceablenesse ; whereupon he
came to Court as Sir Thomas Overburies Assistant first, and then as Sir
George Villiers^ friend, who promoted him to be Secretary of State, Jan. 8
1617. as his Majesty did a while after to be Mr. of the Wards. The first place
whereof he discharged with as much ability and dexterity, as he did the
second with integrity ; onely he was observed close-handed. . . //. 569-70.
6. See also ].NlCHOl.'sfft/l.0fLe<:ei/lers/iirc, iii. 515. Ed. 1800:
and J. CAULFIELD'S Memoirs of Sir R. Naunton. Ed. 1814.
Fragmenta Regalia.
INTRODUCTION.
[His 'Effay' is an A. R C. book in the
Hiftory of Queen Elizabeth's Court : a
Primer, but hardly anything more. Naun-
ton lived too near the times he wrote of,
to write all he knew.
I cannot fay, I have finifhed it ; for I know how defective and
imperfect it is. ... I took it into confideration, how eafily I
might have dafht in too much of the ftain of pollution, and
thereby have defaced that little that is done : For I profefle, I
have taken care fo to mafter my Pen, that I might not (ex
animo, or of fet purpofe) difcolour truth, or any of the parts there-
of, otherwife than in concealment. . . . Modefty in me forbids
the defacements of men departed, whofe Pofterity yet remaining,
enjoyes the merit of their vertues, and doe still live in their
Honour. And I had rather incurre the cenfure of abruption,
than to be confcious, and taken in the manner of eniption, and
of trampling upon the graves of Perfons at reft ; which living,
we durft not look in the face, nor make our addrefles to them,
otherwife than with due regard to their Honours, and renown
to their Vertues. /. 64.
The foftened charaaer of thefe ' Courtly Chips'
being taken into account : Naunton expreffes therein the
ftrongeft poffible cenfure of the Earl of Leicefter. No
evil thing feems to him to be of too hard a belief con-
cerning ' The Gipfy' : and there is a thread of derifive
difparagement traceable in every allufion that he
makes to him.
The Sketch is brief, very clofely written, has frequent
obfcure allufions, and is confpicuous for its perfect
abfence of dates. If it was all written at one time, it
8 Introduction.
was written after the death of Edward Somerfet, Earl
of Worcefler, in 1628.
And as I have placed him laft, fo was he the lad liver of all the
Servants of her favour, and had the honour to fee his renowned
miftrefie, and all of them laid in the places of their reft. /. 63.
Again, it was written while Sir William Knollys en-
joyed the title of the only Earl of Banbury that there
has been [created 18 Aug. 1626 d. 1632]. Internal
evidence would therefore feem to fix the date of its
compofition about the year 1630.
Thefe Obfervations however they may have circul-
ated in MS. during Naunton's lifetime were not printed
until fix years after his death, which occurred on Good
Friday 1635. * Never has fuch a popular work received
harder ufage. The firft and fecond poflhumous editions
in 1641 and 1642, were apparently printed without any
fupervifion. It is hard to choofe which is the more
corrupt text : or in which there is a larger propor-
tion of jumbled nonfenfe. The text of 1653 feems
to have had more care fpent upon it, and has there-
fore been chofen for the prefent Reprint. The
reader will, however, in perufing it, fometimes wifh
that Naunton were by to explain his own meaning.
Of this ' little Draught of this great Princefs, and her
Times, with the fervants of her ftate and favour,'
written by a whilome Favourite of King James ; the
following may be noted :
1. There is a continuous fketch of the Queen's reign, running
through the tract The reader may follow it efpecially on pp.
18-21, 23, 24, 31-34, 59, 60.
2. An interefting fketch is given of the rife of the Houfe of
Dudley, under the heading Lticefter.
The account of Sir Walter Raleigh is difpaffionate, confidering
Naunton was Secretary of State at the time of his execution ;
and it was evidently written after the death of James I.
Naunton was very well acquainted with Lord Effex : and his
account of him is mingled with a hearty denunciation of his bad
advifers.
The particulars given of Sir Charles Blount, the laft Lord
Mountjoy, are related with the circumftantial fulnefs of an Eye-
1 J. Caulfield, Memoirs, /. 16. Ed. 1814.
Introduttion. 9
Witnefs. Sir Charles' firft coming to Court ; T his excellent Tilt-
ing ; Lord Effex's infult to him. with their fubfequent duel and
friendlhip ; 2 his ftealing away to the Army under Sir John Norris,
with the rating the Queen gave him on his recall ; 3 &c., &c.
3. "The principall note of her Reign will be, that (he ruled
much by faction and parties, which her felf both made, upheld,
and weakened, as her own great judgement advifed. For I dif-
afTent for the common received opinion, that my Lord of Leicefter
was abfolute and above all in her grace. ... I know it from
affured intelligence, that it was not fo." 4 So Naunton herein
refers to the following ftanding Court feuds, viz. : of
(i) ROBERT DUDLEY, Earlof) , ( THOMAS RADCLIFFE, Earlof
LEICESTER ) \ SUSSEX, . . 17, 29-30
(3) Sir JOHN PERROT with Sir CHRISTOPHER HATTON, 41-44
4) ROBERT DEVEREUX, .Ear/ ^.^j,/ General Sir JOHN NORREYS
or NORRIS, . . 53
(5) The HOWARDS and the ) ., j ROBERT DEVEREUX, Earl of
CECILS j-wiuij SSEX _ _ _ ^ ^
4. As in the Effay, the fame Noblemen are often referred to under
different names, with the view of preferving their identity and in
fome degree fupplying dates, their fucceflive titles are given at
pp. 2-4. Naunton divides his worthies into Togati and \Militia :
Gown-men and Swords-men. We have there diftinguiflied fuch of
them as hehasdone, by prefixing to their names^/or Zrefpectively.
5. ' The Queen was never profufe in the delivering out of her
treafure, but payed many, and moft of her fervants part in money,
and the reft with grace, which as the cafe stood, was taken for
good payment, leaving the Arrear of recompence due to their
merit, to her great Succeffor, who payed them all with advan-
tage.' 5 In fupport of this ftatement, it may be mentioned that
James I. created 2373 Knights during his reign, whereof 900
were made during its firft year. For their names, see^ Philipofs
A Perfeft Colleflion of all the Knights Bachelors, &c. London,
1660. In this lift Sir R. Naunton's name appears under date
Sept. 7, 1614.
Fragmenta Regalia naturally deals more with the
Court than the People : but flrangely omits all notice
of Drake, Hawkins, and the other Sea Heroes of that
time, although they were well known at Court, and
often in the Queen's favour. In it there is Contem-
porary Evidence as well as Hearfay; and we cannot
fpare any truth of that momentous age, in the midfl of
which our Faery Queen ruled the hearts and deflinies
of fome of the wiieft, braved, and beft of Englifhmen.
1 / 57- z P- 52, 53- 3 / 33- * P- 16. /. 50.
BIBLIOGRAPHY.
/ rajjmenta JUgalta.
(a) Esstics in the author's lifetime.
None.
(6) Issues since tfje author's toeatfj.
I. .<4f separate publication.
1. 1641. [London.] <&V& Princess. FRAGMENTA REGALIA,
i vol. 410. Written by Sir ROBERT NAUNTON, Master of the Court
(//"WARDS. Printed A nno Dom. 1641. [Contains 43 num-
bered/^.]
2. 1642. [London.] Fragmenta Regalia .... Written by Sir Robert
I vol. 410. Naunton, Master of the Court of Wards. Printed. Anno
Dom. 1642. [Contains 40 numbered #/.]
3. 1653. London, i vol. i2mo. See title upon opposite page.
10. 1814. London. The Court of Queen Elizabeth originally written by Sir
i vol. fol. Robert Naunton, under the title of Fragmenta Regalia.
With considerable biographical additions by JAMES CAUL-
FIELD [a bookseller in Wells Street, Oxford Street]. With
Portraits. [A Reprint of No. 1.]
11. 15 Jan. 1870. Loud, i vol. 8vo. English Reprints: see title at/, i.
II. With other works.
4. 1694. London. Arcana Aulica : or Walsingham's Manuel of Pruden-
1 voL I2mo. tial Maxims, for the States Man and Courtier. To which
is added Fragmenta Regalia. . . . [This latter has a sepa-
rate title and occupies /$. 157-247. It is apparently a re-
print of No. 3.]
5. 1707-8. London. The Phenix: or a Revival of Scarce and Valuable
2 vols. 8vo. Pieces of Remote Antiquity down to the Present Times
[projected by JOHN DUNTON]. Fragmenta Regalia is
Art VII. and occupies i. 181-221. [Apparently printed from
No. 3.]
The first volume, Naunton's tract included, was reissued
in 1721, -under a fresh title.
6. 1721. London. A collection of Choice, Scarce, and Valuable Tracts,
i vol. 8vo. . . . By a Gentleman who has search'd after them for above
Twenty Years.
7. 1797. London. Paul Hentzner's Travels in England. ... To which
i voL 8vo. is now added Sir Robert Naunton's Fragmenta Regalia.
. . . With Portraits and Views. Price i$s. in Boards; and
i/. is. bound in Morooco. [This Reprint of No. 1 occupies
pp. 77-151 of the volume.]
8. 1808. Edinburgh. Memoirs of ROBERT CAR[E]Y ; [Son of Lord HVNS-
i voL 8vo. DON, see p. 3] Earl of MONMOUTH. Written by himself.
And Fragmenta Regalia being a History of Queen Eliza-
beth's Favourites by Sir Robert Naunton. With explana-
tory annotations. [By Sir W. SCOTT.] Fragmenta Regalia
occupies/^. 169-301.
9. 1808-13. London. The Harleian Miscellany. Ed. byT. PARK. F.S.A.
10 vols. 410. [A Reprint of No. 1. It occupies it. 81-108, published
in 1809.]
Fragment a Regalia:
OR,
O B S E RVATIO N S
on the late Queen
ELIZABETH
Her Times, and Favourites.
Written by Sir ROBERT
N A u N T o N, Mailer of
the Court of Wards.
LONDON,
Printed by G. Dawfon, for William
Sfaares, at the Bible neer the Little North-
door of S. Pauls Church. 1653
Fragmenta Regalia,
OR,
Obfervations on the late Queen
ELIZABETH,
Her Times, and Favourites.
O take her in the Originall, She
was daughter to Henry the eighth,
by Anne Sullen, the fecond of fix
Wives which He had, and one of
the Maids of Honour to the di-
vorced Queen Katherine of Aujlria
(or as they flile it) Infanta of Spain,
and from thence taken into the
Royall Bed.
That She was not of a mofl Noble and Royall ex-
tract by Her Father, will not fall into queilion : for
on that fide there was difimbogued into her veines by
a confluence of Bloud, the very abflracT: of all the
greateft houfes in Chriftendome ; and remarkable it is
concerning that violent defertion of the Royall Houfe
of the Britains, by the invafion of the Saxons, and
afterwards by the Conquefl of the Normans, that by
the viciffitude of times, and through a difcontinuance
(almofl a thoufand yeares) the Royall Scepter mould
fall back into the Current of the old Britifh bloud, in
14 Queen Elizabeth's
the perfon of her renowned Grandfather Henry the
Seventh, together with whatfoever the German, Nor-
man, Burgundian, Cajlalian, and French Atchieve-
ments, with the intermarriages, which eight hundred
years had acquired, incorporated, and brought back
into the old Royall Line.
By her Mother fhe was of no Soveraign defcent,
yet Noble, and very ancient in the Name and Family
of Bullen, though fome erronioufly brand it with a
Citizens rife or originall, which was yet but of a
fecond Brother, who (as it were) divining the great-
neffe and luflre to come to his Houfe, was fent into
the City to acquire wealth, ad adificandum antiquam
domunt. Unto whofe achievements (for he was Lord
Mayor of London) fell in, as it was averred, both the
bloud and inheritance of the eldeft Brother, for want
of iffue Male, by which accumulation, the Houfe
within a few defcents mounted in Culmen honoris, and
was fuddenly elated into the befl Families of England
and Ireland, as Howard, Ormund, Sackvile, and divers
others. Having thus toucht, and now leaving her
ftirp, I come to her Perfon ; and as me came to the
Crown by the deceafe of her Brother and Sifter. Un-
der Edward She was his, and one of the darlings of
Fortune : for befides the confideration of Bloud, there
was between thefe two Princes a concurrency and
fympathy in their natures and affections, together with
the Celeftiall (conformity in Religion) which made
them one, and friends ; for the King ever called her
his fweeteft and deareft Sifter, aud was fcarce his own
man, She being abfent, which was not fo between him
and the Lady Mary. Under his Sifter She found her
condition much altered : For it was refolved, and her
deftiny had decreed to fet her an Apprentice in the
School of Affliction, and to draw her through the
Ordeall fire of tryall, the better to mould and fafhion
her to rule and Soveraign ty; which finimed, and
Fortune calling to mind, that the time of her fervitude
was expired, gave up her Indentures, and therewith
Favourites. 15
delivered up into her cuftody a Scepter, as a reward
for her patience, which was about the twenty iixth
year of her Age ; a time in which (as for externals)
Ihe was full blown, fo was me for her internals grown
ripe, and feafoned with adverfity, and in the exercife
of her Vertue ; for it feenis Fortune meant no more,
than to mew her a piece of her variety, and change-
ableneffe of her Nature, and fo to conduct her to her
deflined Felicity. She was of perfonage tall, of hair
and complexion fair, and therewith well favoured, but
high nofed, of limbs and feature neat, and which
added to the luftre of thofe exteriour Graces, of Stately
and Majeflick comportment ; participating in this
more of ner Father than Mother, who was of inferiour
allay, plaufible, or as the French hath it, more de-
bonaire and affable, vertues which might well fuit with
Majefty; and which defcending, as Hereditary to the
daughter, did render of a more fweeter temper, and
endeared her more to the love and liking of the peo-
ple; who gave her the name and fame of a moft
gracious and popular Prince ; the atrocity of her
Fathers nature, being rebated in hers, by the Mothers
fweeter inclinations. For to take, and that no more
than the Character out of his own mouth ; He never
fpared man in his anger, nor woman in his luft.
If we fearch further into her intellectuals and abil-
ities, the whole courfe of Government deciphers them
to the admiration of poflerity ; for it was full of mag-
nanimity, tempered with Juftice, and Piety; and to
fpeak truly, noted but with one act or taint ; all her
deprivations either of life or liberty, being legall, and
neceffitated : She was learned (her fex, and the time
confidered) beyond common belief; for letters about
this time, and fomewhat before, began to be of efteem
and in fafhion, the former ages being overcaft with the
mifts and fogs of the Romane ignorance ; and it was
the maxime that over-ruled the foregoing times, that
ignorance was the mother of devotion Her warres
were a long time more in the auxiliary part, in affifl-
1 6 Queen Elizabeth's Favourites.
ance of forraign Princes and States, than by invafion
of any, till common policie advifed it for a fafer way,
to flrike firft abroad, than at home to expect the warre,
in all which me was felicious and victorious. The
change and alteration of Religion upon the inftant of
her acceffion (the fmoak and fire of her Sifters Mar-
tyrdomes fcarcely quenched) was none of her leaft
remarkable accounts : But the fupport and eftablim-
ment thereof, with the meanes of her fubfiflence,
amidfl fo powerfull enemies abroad, and thofe many
domeftique praclifes, were (me thinks) works of in-
fpiration, and of no humane providence, which on her
Sifters departure me moft religioufly acknowledged,
afcribing the glory of her deliverance to God alone :
for me received the news both of the Queens death,
and her Proclamation, by the generall confent of the
Houfe, and the publike murage of the people, whereat,
falling on her knees (after a good time of refpiration)
me uttered this Verfe of the Pfalms, A Domino faftum
ejl iftud, et eft mirabile in oculis nojlris, which we find
to this day on the ftamp of her gold, with this on her
filver, Pofui Deum adjutorem meum. Her Miniflers
and Inftruments of State, fuch as were partidpes cur-
arum, and bear a great part of the burthen, were
many, and thofe memorable, but they were onely
Favourites, not Minions ; fuch as acted more by her
own Princely rules and judgements, than by their own
wills and appetites, which me obferved to the laft : for
we find no Gavefton, Vere, or Spencer, to have fwayed
alone, during forty four yeares, which was a well fettled
and advifed Maxime ; for it valued her the more, it
awed the moft fecure, and it took beft with the people,
and it ftarved all emulations, which are apt to rife and
vent in obloquious acrimony (even againft the Prince)
where there is onely Amator Palatii.
The principall note of her Reign will be, that me
ruled much by faction and parties, which her lelf both
made, upheld, and weakened, as her own great judge-
ment advifed. For I difaffent from the common re-
Favourites. 17
ceived opinion, that my Lord of Leicejler was abfolute
and above all in her Grace : and though I come
fomewhat mort of the knowledge of thofe times, yet
(that I might not rove, and moot at randome) I know it
from affured intelligence, that it was not fo. For proof
whereof (among many that I could prefent) I will both
relate a mort, and therein a known truth, And it was
thus. Bowyer, a Gentleman of the Black rod, being
charged by her exprefle command to look precifely to
all admiffions into the Privy-Chamber, one day flayed
a very gay Captain, and a follower of my Lord of
Leiceflers, from entrance ; For that he was neither
well known, nor a fworn fervant to the Queen : at
which repulfe, the Gentleman bearing high on my
Lords favor, told him, he might perchance procure
him a difcharge : Leicejler coming into the contefla-
tion, faid publikely (which was none of his wont) that
he was a Knave, and mould not continue long in his
office ; and fo turning about to go in to the Queen,
Bowyer (who was a bold Gentleman, and well beloved)
ftept before him, and fell at her Majefties feet, related
the ftory, and humbly craves her Graces pleafure ; and
whether my Lord of Leiceftervizs King, or her Majefty
Queen? Whereunto me replyed with her wonted
oath (Gods death) my Lord, I have wiflit you well,
but my favour is not fo lockt up for you, that others
mail not partake thereof; for I have many fervants,
unto whom I have, and will at my pleafure bequeath
my favour, and likewife refume the fame ; and if you
think to rule here, I will take a courfe to fee you
forth-coming : I will have here but one Miflrefs, and
no Matter, and look that no ill happen to him, lett it
be feverely required at your hands. Which fo quelled
my Lord of Leicefter, that his fained humility was long
after one of his beft vertues. Moreover the Earl of
Suffix, then Lord Chamberlain, was his profeft An-
tagonift to his dying day. And for my Lord of
Hunfdon and Sir Thomas Sackvile, after Lord Trea-
furer, (who were all Contemporaries) he was wont to
B
1 8 Queen Elizabeth's
fay of them, that they were of the Tribe of Dan, and
were Noli me tangere's; implying, that they were not to
be contefted with, for they were indeed of the Queens
neer kindred. From whence, and in more inftances
I conclude, that fhe was abfolute and foveraign Mift-
refs of her Graces ; and that all thofe, to whom fhe
diftributed her favours, were never more than Tenants
at will, and flood on no better ground than her
Princely pleafure, and their own good behaviour.
And this alfo I prefent as a known obfervation, that
fhe was (though very capable of Counfell) abfolute
enough in her own refolutions, which was ever ap-
parent even to her laft, in that her averfation to grant
Tirone the leaft drop of her mercy, though earneftly
and frequently advifed, yea, wrought only by the
whole Councell of State, with very many preffing
reafons, and as the ftate of her Kingdome then flood,
(I may fpeak it with affurance) neceffitated Arguments.
If we look into her inclination, as it is difpofed either
to magnificence or frugality, we fhall find in them
many notable confiderations, for all her difpenfations
were fo poyfed, as though difcretion and juflice had
both agreed to fland at the beam, and fee them
weighed out in due proportion, the maturity of her
years and judgement meeting in a concurrency, and
at fuch an age as feldome lapfeth to exceffe. To con-
fider them apart : We have not many prefidents of her
liberality, or of any large donatives to particular men ;
my Lord of Effex Book of Parks only excepted, which
was a Princely gift, and fome few more of a leffer fize
to my Lord of Leicefter, Hatton, and others. Her
rewards confifled chiefly in grants of Leafes of Offices,
Places of Judicature : but for ready money, and in
any great fummes, fhe was very fparing ; which we
partly conceive was a vertue rather drawn from necef-
fity, than her nature, for fhe had many layings out,
and to her lafl period. And I am of opinion with S.
Walter Rawliegh, that thofe many brave men of our
times, and of the Militia, tafled little more of her
Favourites. 1 9
bounty than in her grace and good word, with their
due entertainment, for (he ever paid the Souldiers
well, which was the honour of her times, and more
than her great adverfary of Spain could perform. So
that when we come to the confideration of her frugal-
ity, the obfervation will be little more, than that her
bounty and it were fo inter-woven together, that the
one was fuited by an honourable way of fpending, the
other limited by a neceffitated way of fparing. The
Irifh action we may call a malady, and a confumption
of her times, for it accompanied her to her end ; and
it was of fo profufe and vaft an expence, that it drew
neer a diftemperature of State, and of paffion in her
felf : For toward her laft me grew hard to pleafe ; her
Arms being accuftomed to profperity, and the Irifh
profecution not anfwering her expectation and wonted
fucceffe for a good while, it was an unthrifty and in-
auipitious war. which did much diflurb and miflead
her judgement, and the more, for that it was a pre-
fident which was taken out of her own pattern : For
as the Queen (by way of diverfion) had at the coming
to the Crown fupported the revolted States of Holland,
fo did the King of Spain turn the trick on her felf
towards her going out, by cherifhing the Irifh re-
bellion. Where it falls into confideration, what the
State of the Kingdome and the Crown-Revenues were
then able to embrace and endure ; if we look into the
eflablifhment of thofe times, with the lift of the Irifti
Army, confidering the defeatments of Black-water, with
all precedent expences, as it flood from my Lord of
Effex undertaking to the furrender of Kingfale under
the Generall Mountjoy, and fomewhat after ; we mail
find the Horfe and Foot Troops were for three or four
yeares together, much about 20000. Which befides
the Navall charge, which was a dependant of the fame
Warre, in that the Queen was then forced to keep in
continuall pay a ftrong Fleet at Sea, to attend the
Spanifh Coafts and Ports, both to allarum the Spaniard,
and to intercept his Forces defigned for the Irifh affi-
20 Queen Elizabeth's
fiance : fo that the charge of that Warre alone did
coil the Queen 300000!. per annum at lead, which
was not the moity of her disburfments, an expence
which (without the publique ayd) the State and the
Royall receipts could not have much longer endured ;
which out of her own frequent Letters and complaints
to the Deputy Mountjoy, for cafheering part of that
Lift as foon as he could, may be collected, for the
Queen was then driven into a flrait.
We are naturally prone to applaud the times behind
us, and to vilifie the prefent : for the current of her
fame carries it to this day, how Royally and victori-
oufly me lived and dyed, without the grievance and
grudge of the people ; yet that truth may appear with-
out retraction from the Honour of fo great a Princeffe,
it is manifeft me left more debts unpaid, taken upon
the credit of her Privy Scales, then her Progenitors
did, or could have taken up that way, in a hundred
yeares before her ; which was an enforced piece of
State, to lay the burthen on that horfe, that was beft
able to bear it, at the dead lift, when neither her
receipts could yield her relief at the pinch, nor the
urgency of her affaires endure the delays of a Par-
liamentary affiflance : And for fuch ayds it is like-
wife apparent, That fhe received more, and with the
love of the people, than any two of her Predeceffors,
that took mofl ; which was a Fortune ftrained out of
the Subject, through the plaufibility of her Comport-
ment, and, as I would fay without offence, the prodi-
gall diftribution of her Graces to all forts of Subjects :
For I believe, no Prince living, that was fo tender
of Honour, and fo exactly flood for the prefervation
of Soveraignty, that was fo great a Courtier of her
people, yea, of the Commons, and that ftoopt and
defcended lower in prefenting her perfon to the pub-
lique view, as fhe pafl in her Progreffes and Peram-
bulations; and in the ejaculation of her prayers on
her people. And truly, though much may be given
in praife of her magnanimity, and therewith comply
Favourites. 21
with her Parliaments, and for all that come off at lafl
with honour and profit ; yet mufl we afcribe fome part
of the commendation to the wifdomes of the times,
and the choice of Parliament men : for I find not
that they were at any time given to any violent or
pertinatious difpute, elections being made of grave
and difcreet perfons, not factious and ambitious of
fame ; fuch as came not to the Houfe with a male-
volent fpirit of contention, but with a preparation to
confuK on the publique good, rather to comply than
contefl with her Majefly : Neither doe I find, that the
Houfe was at any time weakned and peftered with
the admiffion of too many young heads, as it hath
been of later times ; which remembers me of Recorder
Martins Speech, about the tenth of our late Soveraign
Lord King lames, when there were accounts taken of
forty Gentlemen, not above twenty, and fome not ex-
ceeding fixteen ; which moved him to fay, That it was
the ancient cuflome for old men to make Lawes for
young ones, but that then he faw the cafe altered, and
that there were children elected unto the great Coun-
cell of the Kingdome, which came to invade and
invert nature, and to enact Laws to govern their
Fathers. Sure we are, the Houfe alwayes took the
common caufe into their confideration, and they faw
the Queen had juft occafion, and need enough to ufe
their affiflance ; neither doe I remember that the
Houfe did ever capitulate or preferre their private to
the publique, the Queens neceffities, etc. but waited
their times, and in the firfl place gave their fupply,
and according to the exigency of her affaires ; yet
failed not at lafl to obtain what they defired, fo that
the Queen and her Parliaments had ever the good
Fortune to depart in love, and on reciprocall tearmes
which are confiderations which have not been fo exactly
obferved in our lafl affemblies, as they might, and I
would to God they had been : for confidering the
great debt left on the King, and in what incumbrances
the Houfe it felf had then drawn him, his Majefly was
22 Queen Elizabeth's
not well ufed, though I lay not the blame on the
whole fuffrage of the Houfe, where he had many good
friends ; for I dare avouch, had the Houfe been freed
of half a dozen of popular and difcontented perfons,
fuch as (with the fellow that burnt the Temple at
Ephefus) would be talked of, though but for doing of
mifchief, I am confident the King had obtained, that
which in reafon, and at his firfl acceffion, he ought to
have received freely, and without any condition. But
pardon the digreflion, which is here remembred, not
in the way of aggravation, but in true zeal to the pub-
lique good, and prefented in caveat to future times ;
for I am not ignorant how the fpirit of the Kingdome
now moves to make his Majefty amends on any occa-
fion, and how defirous the Subject, is to expiate that
offence at any rate, may it pleafe his Majeflygracioufly
to make tryall of his Subjects affection, and at what
price they now value his goodneffe and magnanimity.
But to our purpofe, the Queen was not to learn, that
as the flrength of her Kingdome confifted in the mul-
titude of her Subjecls, fo the fecurity of her perfon
refted in the love and fidelity of her people ; which
me politiquely affected (as it hath been thought) fome-
what beneath the height of her fpirit, and natural
magnanimity. Moreover it will be a true note of her
providence, that me would alwayes liflen to her profit,
for me would not refufe the informations of mean
perfons, with purpofed improvement, and had learned
the Phylofophy of Hoc agere, to look into her own
work ; of the which there is a notable example of one
Carwarden, an under-Officer of the Cuflom-houfe,
who obferving his time, prefented her with a paper,
mewing how me was abufed in the under-renting of
her Cuflomes, and therewithall humbly defired her
Majefty to conceal him, for that it did concern two or
three of her great Councellours, whom Cuftomer Smith
had bribed with 200!. a man, fo to lofe the Queen
2000!. per annum, which being made known to the
Lords, they gave ftrict order, that Carwarden mould
Favourites. 23
not have acceffe to the back-flairs ; till at lafl, her
Majefly fmelling the craft, and miffing Carwarden,
(he fent for him back, and encouraged him to fland to
his information ; which the poor man did fo hand-
fomely, that within the fpace of ten yeares, he brought
Smith to double his rent, or to leave the cuftoms to
new Farmers. So that we may take this alfo into
obfervation ; that there were of the Queens Councell,
that were not in the Catalogue of Saints.
Now as we have taken a view of fome particular
notions of her times, her nature, and neceffities : It is
not without the text, to give a fhort touch on the
helps, and advantages of her reign, which were without
parallell, for me had neither husband, brother, fifter,
nor children to provide for, who as they are depend-
ants of the Crown, fo doe they neceffarily draw main-
tenance from thence, and do oftentimes exhauft and
draw deep, efpecially when there is an ample frater-
nity of the bloud Royall, and of the Princes of the
Bloud, as it was in the time of Edward the third, and
Henry the fourth ; fo; when the Crown cannot, the
publique ought to give them honourable allowance ;
for they are the honour and hopes of the Kingdom,
and the publique, which enjoyes them, hath a like in-
terefl in them with the Father that begot them : and
our Common-Law, which is the heritance of the
Kingdom e, did ever of old provide ayds for the
Primogenitures, and the eldeft daughter. So that the
multiplicity of Courts, and the great charge which
neceffarily follow a King, and Queen, a Prince and
the Royall Iffue, was a thing which was not in rerum
natura, during the fpace of forty years, and which by
time was worn out of memory, and without the con-
fideration of the prefent times. Infomuch, that the
aydes given to the late and right noble Prince Henry,
and to his Sifter the Lady Elizabeth, were at firft
generally received for Impofitions of a new Coynage.
Yea, the late Impofitions for Knighthood (though an
ancient Law) fell alfo into the imputation of a tax of
24 Queen Elizabeth's
novelty, for that it lay long covered in the embers of
divifion, between the Houfes of York and Lancafter,
and forgotten, or connived at by the fucceeding Prin-
ces : So that the flrangeneffe of the observation, and
difference of thofe later reignes is, that the Queen took
up beyond the power of the Law, which fell not into
the murmure of the people; and her fucceffors nothing,
but by warrant of the Law, which nevertheleffe was
conceived (through difufe) to be injurious to the
liberty of the Kingdome.
Now before I come to any further mention of her
Favourites, (for hitherto I have delivered but fome
obvious paffages, thereby to prepare and fmooth a
way for the reft that follows) it is requifite that I touch
on the reliques of the other raign, I mean the body of
her Sifters Councel of State, which me retained intire ;
neither removing, nor difcontenting any, although me
knew them a[d]verfe to her Religion (and in her Sifters
time perverfe towards her perfon) and private to her
troubles and imprifonment ; A prudence which was
incompatible with her Sifters nature, for me both
diffipated and perfecuted the major part of her
Brothers Councel. But this will be of certainty, that
how compliable foever and obfequious me found them,
yet for a good fpace fhe made little ufe of their Coun-
fels, more than in the ordinary courfe of the Board,
for fhe held a dormant Table in her own Princely
breaft : yet fhe kept them together, and their places,
without any fudden change : fo that we may fay of
them, That they were of the Court, not of the Coun-
felL For whileft fhe amazed them with a kind of pro-
miflive difputation concerning the points controverted
by both Churches, fhe did fet down her own referva-
tions without their privity, and made all her progref-
fions gradations. But fo, that the tenents [tents ?] of her
fecrecy, with intent of her eftablifhment, were pitcht
before it was known where the Court would fit down.
Neither doe I find, that any of her Sifters Councel of
State were either repugnant to her Religion, or oppofed
Favourites. 25
her doings (Englefield Matter of the Horfe excepted,
who withdrew himfelf from the Board, and fhortly after
from out her Dominions) fo plyable and obedient they
were to change with the times, and their Princes.
And of this there will fall in here a relation both of
recreation, and of known truth.
Paulet Marqueffe of Winchefter, and Lord Treafurer,
having ferved then four Princes in as various and
changeable feafon, that I may well fay, time nor any
age hath yielded the like prefident. This man being
noted to grow high in her favour (as his place and ex-
perience required) was queftioned by an intimate
friend of his, how he flood up for thirty years together,
amidft the changes and raignes of fo many Chan-
cellors and great Perfonages ; Why, quoth the Mar-
queffe, Ortus fum ex falice, non ex quercu, I was made
of the plyable Willow, not of the ftubborn Oak. And
truly the old man hath taught them all, efpecially
William Earl of Pembroke, for they two were ever of
the Kings Religion, and over-zealous profeffors. Of
thefe it is faid, that being both younger Brothers (yet
of Noble Houfes) they fpent what was left them, and
came on truft to the Court ; where upon the bare
flock of their Wits they began to traffick for them-
felves and profpered fo well, that they got, fpent, and
left more than any Subjects from the Norman Con-
quefl to their own times : whereunto it hath been
prettily replyed, that they lived in a time of diffolu-
tion.
To conclude then, of any of the former raign, it is
faid, that thefe two lived and dyed chiefly in her
favour. The latter, upon his fonnes mariage with the
Lady Katherine Grey was like utterly to have loft, him-
felf : But at the inflant of the confummation, apprehend-
ing the infafety and danger of an inter-mariage with
the Bloud-Royall, he fell at the Queens feet, where he
both acknowledged his prefumption with teares, and
projected the caufe and the divorce together; and fo
quick he was at his work, (for it flood him upon) that
26 Queen Elizabeth's
upon repudiation of the Lady, he clapt up a marriage
for his Son the Lord Herbert, with Mary Sidney
daughter to Sir Henry Sidney, then Lord Deputy of
Ireland; the blow falling on Edward late Earl of
Hereford, who to his coll took up the divorced Lady,
of whom the Lord Beauchamp was born, and W illiam
Earl of Hereford is defcended. I come now to pre-
fent thofe of her own Election, which me either ad-
mitted to her fecrets of State, or took into her grace
and favour : of whom, in their order, I crave leave to
give unto posterity a cautious defcription, with a fhort
Character or draught of the perfons themfelves. For
without offence to others, I would be true to my felf,
their memories and merits diflinguifhing them of the
Militia from the Togati ; and of thefe me had as many
and thofe as able Miniflers, as any of her Progenitors.
Leicefter.
' will be out of doubt, that my Lord
Jler was one of the firfl whom me made
Matter of the Horfe : he was the youngefl
Sonne then living of the Duke of Northum-
berland, beheaded primo Maritz; and his
Father was that Dudley, which our Hiftories couple with
Empfon ; and both fo much infamed for the Caterpillars
of the Common-wealth, during the reign of Henry the
feventh,who being of a Noble extract, was executed the
firfl year of Henry the eight : but not thereby fo extinct,
but that he left a plentiful Eflate, and fuch a Son,
who, as the vulgar fpeaks it, could live without the
teat ; for out of the afhes of his Fathers infamie, he
rofe to be a Duke, and as high, as fubjection could
permit, or Soveraignty endure ; and though he could
not find out any appellation to affume the Crown in
his own Perfon, yet he projected, and very neerly
effected it for his Son Gilbert, by inter-marriage with
the Lady lane Grey, and fo by that way to bring it
Favourites. 27
about into his loynes. Obfervations, which though
theyjlie behind us, and feem impertinent to the Text,
yet are they not much extravagant : for they mufl
lead, and mew us how the after-paffages were brought
about with the dependances, and on the hinges of a
collaterall workmanfhip : and truly, it may amaze
a well fetled judgement, to look back into thofe
times, and to confider how this Duke could attain to
fuch a pitch of greatneffe ; his Father dying in igno-
minie, and at the Gallows, his Eflate confifcate, and
that for peeling and polling, by the clamour, and cru-
cifige of the people ; but when we better think upon
it, we find that he was given up, but as a Sacrifice to
pleafe the people, not for any offence committed
againft the perfon of the King ; fo that upon the
matter he was a Martyr of the Prerogative, and the
King in honour could doe no leffe, than give back to
his Son the priviledges of his bloud, with the acquir-
ings of his Fathers profeffion, for he was a Lawyer,
and of the Kings Counfels at Law, before he came to
be ex interioribus conflliis, where befides the licking of
his own fingers, he got the King a maffe of riches,
and that not with the hazard, but the loffe of his fame
and life for the Kings Fathers fake. Certain it is,
that his fonne was left rich in purfe and brain, which
are good foundations, and full to ambition ; and it
may be fuppofed, he was on all occafions well heard
of the King, as a perfon of mark and compaflion in
his eye : but I find not that he did put up for advance-
ment, during Henry the eights time, although a vaft
afpirer, and provident ftorer. It feems he thought
the Kings reign was given to the falling ficknefle : but
efpying his time fitting, and the Soveraignty in the
hands of a pupil Prince, he thought he might as well
then put up for it as the befl, for having then poffef-
fion of bloud, and a purfe, with a head-piece of a vail
extent, he foon got honour, and no fooner there, but
he began to fide it with the befl, even with the Pro-
tector, and in conclufion got his, and his Brothers
28 Queen Elizabeth's
heads ; ftill afpiring, till he expired, in the loffe of his
own : fo that pofterity may by reading the Father and
Grandfather, make judgement of the Son ; for we
fhall find, that this Robert (whofe originall we have
now traced, the better to prefent him) was inheritor of
the genius and craft of his Father, and Ambrofe of the
eftate, of whom hereafter we fhall make fome fliort
mention.
We take him now as he was admitted into the
Court, and the Queens favour, where he was not to
feek to play his part well, and dexterioufiy. But his
play was chiefly at the fore-game ; not that he was a
learner at the latter, but he loved not the after-wit, for
they report (and I think not untruly) that he was
feldome behind hand with his Gamefters, and that
they alwayes went away with the loffe.
He was a very goodly perfon, and fingular well
featured, and all his youth well favoured, and of a
fweet afpedl, but high- for eheaded, which as I mould
take it, was of no difcommendation : but towards his
latter end (which with old men, was but a middle age)
he grew high-coloured and red-faced. So that the
Queen in this, had much of her Father, for (excepting
fome of her kindred, and fome few that had handfome
wits in crooked bodies) me alwayes took perfonage in
the way of her election ; for the people hath it to this
day in proverb, King Harry loved a man. Being thus
in her grace, (he called to mind the fufferings of his
Anceflors, both in her Fathers and fifters reigns, and
reftored his and his brothers bloud, creating Ambrofe,
the elder, Earl of Warwick, and himfelf Earl of Lei-
cefter. etc. And he was ex primitiis, or of her firft
choice ; for he refted not there, but long enjoyed her
favour : and therewith much what he lifted, till time
and emulation (the companions of great ones) had
refolved on his period, and to cover him at his fetting
in a cloud at Cornbury, not by fo violent a death, and
by the fatall fentence of Judicature, as that of his
Fathers and Grandfathers was ; but as it is fuggefted,
Favourites. 29
by that poyfon which he had prepared for others,
wherein they report him a rare Artift. I am not
bound to give credit to all vulgar relations, or to the
libels of the times, which are commonly forced, and
falfified fuitable to the moods and humours of men in
paffion and difcontent : But that which leads me to
think him no good man, is amongft others of known
truth, that of my Lord of Effex death in Ireland, and
the marriage of his Lady yet living, which I forbear to
preffe, in regard that he is long fmce dead, and others
living whom it may concern.
To take him in the obfervations of his Letters and
Writings (which mould beft fet him off) for fuch as
fell into my hands, I never yet faw a flyle or phrafe
more feeming religious, and fuller of the ftreames of
devotion ; and were they not fincere, I doubt much
of his well-being; and I may fear he was too well feen
in the Aphorifmes and principles of Nicholas the
Florentine, and in the reaches of Ccefar Borgia. Hi-
therto I have touched him in his Courtfhip; I con-
elude him in his Lance. He was fent Governour by
the Queen to the United States of Holland '; where we
read not of his wonders; for they fay that he had
more of Mercury than of Mars ; and that his device
might have been, without prejudice to the Great Ccefar,
Veni, vidi, redii.
Sujfex.
Is Corrivall before mentioned, was Thomas
Radcliffe Earl of Suffex, who in his con-
flellation was his direct oppofite ; for he
was indeed one of the Queens Martialifls,
and did very good fervice in Ireland at
her firfl acceffion, till fhe recalled him to the Court,
where fhe made him Lord Chamberlain; but he played
not his game with that cunning and dexterity as Lei-
cejler did, who was much the more facete Courtier,
though Suffex was thought much the honefler man, and
far the better fouldier: but he lay too open on his guard.
jo Queen Elizabeth's
He was a goodly Gentleman, and of a brave Noble
nature, true and conflant to his friends and fervants :
He was alfo of a very Noble and ancient lineage,
honoured through many defcents by the title of Vif-
counts Fitzwalters. Moreover there was fuch an
Antipathy in his nature to that of Leicefters, that being
together in Court, and both in high imployments,
they grew to a dire6l frowardneffe, and were in con-
tinual oppofition ; the one fetting the watch, the other
the fentinell, each on the others actions and motions ;
for my Lord of Stiffex was of a great fpirit, which
backt with the Queens fpeciall favour, and fupported
by a great and ancient inheritance, could not brook the
others Empire : Infomuch as the Queen upon fundry
occafions had fomewhat to doe to appeafe and attain
them, untill death parted the competition, and left the
place to Leicefter, who was not long alone without his
rivall in grace and command. And to conclude this
Favourite : it is confidently affirmed, that lying in his
laft fickneffe, he gave this caveat to his Friends : I
am now paffing into another world, and I muft now
leave you to your Fortunes, and to the Queens grace
and goodneffe : but beware of the Gipfie, meaning
Leicefter, for he will be too hard for you all, you know
not the beaft fo well as I do.
Lord Burleigh.
Now come to the next, which was Secretary
William Cecil; For on the death of the
old Marquefs of Winchejler, he came up
in his room. A perfon of a moft fubtile
and active fpirit, who though he flood
not altogether by the way of conftellation and making
up of a part and faction, for he was wholly intentive
to the fervice of his Miftris, and his dexterity, experi-
ence, and merit challenged a room in the Queens
favour, which eclipfed the others over-feeming great-
neffe, and made it appear, that there were others that
fleered and flood at the Helm befides himfelf, and
Favourites. 31
more Starres in the Firmament of her grace than Vrfa
major, or the Bear with the ragged ftaffe.
He was born, as they fay, in Lincolnjhire ; but as
fome upon knowledge averre, of a younger Brother ot
the Cecils of Hartford/hire, a family (of mine own
knowledge) though now private, yet of no mean an-
tiquity. Who being expofed, and fent to the City, as
poor Gentlemen ufe to do their younger Sons, he
came to be a rich man on London bridge ; and pur-
chafmg in Lincoln/hire, where this man was born, he
was fent to Cambridge, then to the Innes of Court,
and fo he came to ferve the Duke of Sommerfet in the
time of his Protectorfhip as Secretary ; and having a
pregnancy to great inclinations, he came by degrees
to a higher converfation with the chiefeft affairs of
State and Councels : but on the fall of the Duke he
flood fome yeers in umbrage, and without imploy-
ment, till the State found and needed his abilities :
and though we find not that he was taken into any
place, during Maries raign, unleffe (as fome have faid)
towards the laft ; yet the Councel on feverall occa-
fions made ufe of him, and at the Queens entrance he
was admitted Secretary of State, afterwards he was
made Mafter of the Court of Wards, then Lord Trea-
furer : A perfon of mofl exquifite abilities. And in-
deed the Queen began then to need, and to feek out
for men of both Garbs, and fo I conclude, and rank
this great Inftrument of State amongfl the Togati, for
he had not to doe with the Sword, more than as the
great Pay-mafler, and Contriver of Warre, which
fhortly followed, wherein he accomplifhed much
through his Theoricall knowledge at home, and in-
telligence abroad, by unlocking the Councels of the
Queens enemies.
We muft now take (and that of truth) into obferva-
tion, That untill the tenth of her reign her times were
calm and ferene, though fometimes a little over-cafl,
as the moft glorious Sun-rifings are fubject to fhadow-
ings and droppings in. For the clouds of Spain, and
vapours of the Holy League, began then to difperfe
32 Queen Elizabeth's
and threaten her ferenity ; Moreover fhe was then to
provide againfl fome intefline flormes, which began to
gather in the very heart of her Kingdome ; all which
had a relation and correfpondencie each with other,
to dethrone her, and to diflurbe the publike tran-
quillity, and therewithall (as a principall work) the
eftablifhed Religion ; for the name of Recufant began
then, and firfl to be known to the world, and till then
the Catholiques were no more than Church Papifls ;
but were commanded by the Popes exprefs Letters to
appear, and forbear Church-going, as they tender their
holy Father, and the holy Catholique Church their
Mother : fo that it feems the Pope had then his aimes
to take a true mufler of his children ; but the Queen
had the greater advantage, for fhe likewife took tale of
her apoflate Subjects, their flrength, and how many
they were that had given up their names unto Baal.
He then by the hands of fome of his Profelytes, fixed
his Bulls on the Gates of Pauls, which difcharged her
Subjects of all fidelity, and laid fiege to the received
faith, and fo under the vail of the next Succeffor, to
replant the Catholique Religion ; fo that the Queen
had then a new task and work in hand, that might
well awake her beft providence, and required a mufler
of men and Armes, as well as Courtfhips and Coun-
cels ; for the times began to be quick and active, and
fitter for ftronger motions, than thofe of the Carpet ;
and it will be a true note of her magnanimity, that
fhe loved a Souldier, and had a propenfion in her
nature to regard, and alwayes to grace them : which
the Courtiers taking into obfervation, took it as an in-
vitation to win honour, together with her Majeflies
favour, by expofing themfelves to the Warres ; efpe-
cially, when the Queens and the affairs of the King-
dome flood in fome neceflity of a Souldier : For we
have many inflances of the Sallies of the Nobility and
Gentry : yea, and out of the Court, and her privy
Favourites (that had any touch or tincture of Mars in
their inclinations) and to fleal away without Licenfe,
and the Queens privity, which had like to have cofl
Favourites. 33
fome of them dear; fo predominant were their thoughts
and hopes of honour growing in them ; as we may
truly obferve in the difpofitions of Sir Philip Sidney,
my Lord of Effex, Moimtjoy, and divers others, whofe
abfence, and the manner of their eruptions was veiy
diflaftefull to her : whereof I can here adde a true
and no impertinent ftory, and that of the laft Mount-
joy; who having twice or thrice ftoln away into Britain
(where under Sir lohn Norris he had then a Company)
without the Queens leave and privity ; me fent a
Meffenger unto him, with a ftricl charge to the Ge-
nerall to fee him fent home : when he came into the
Queens prefence, fhe fell into a kind of reviling, de-
manding how he durft goe over without her leave ;
Serve me fo (quoth fhe) once more, and I will lay you
fail enough for running ; You will never leave it untill
you are knockt on the head, as that inconfiderate
fellow Sidney was ; You (hall go when I fend you, in
the mean time fee that you lodge in the Court (which
was then at White-half) where you may follow your
Book, read and difcourfe of the Wars.
But to our purpofe : It fell out happily to thofe, and
(as I may fay) to thofe times, That the Queen, during
the calm of her Reign, was not idle, nor rockt afleep
with fecurity ; for fhe had been very provident in the
Reparation and Augmentation of her Shipping and
Ammunition : and I know not whether by a fore-fight
of policy, or an inftinct, it came about, or whether it
was an act of her compaffion ; but it is moft certain,
That fhe fent Levies, and no fmall Troops to the
am fiance of the revolted States of Holland, before fhe
had received any affront from the King of Spain, that
might deferve, or tend to a breach in Hoftility; which
the Papifts to this day maintain, was the provocation
and caufe of the after-wars : but omitting what might
be faid to this point, thofe Netherland wars were the
Queens Seminaries, and the Nurferies of very many
brave Souldiers ; and fo were likewife the Civill wars
of France (whither fhe fent five feverall Armies) the
Fence-fchocls that inured the youth and Gallantry of
34 Queen Elizabeth's
the Kingdom, and it was a Militia wherein they were
daily in acquaintance with the difcipline of the Spaniards,
who were then turned the Queens inveterate enemies.
And this have I taken into obfervation of her Dies
Halcionii, thofe yeares of hers which were more ferene
and quiet than thofe that followed; which though
they were not leffe propitious, as being touched more
with the point of honour and victory, yet were they
troubled, and ever clouded over both with domeftique
and forraign machinations ; and it is already quoted,
they were fuch as awakened her fpirits, and made her
caft about how to defend, rather by offending, and by
the way of diverting to prevent all Invafions, then to
expect them, which was a piece of policy of the times :
and with this I have noted the caufes or principia of
the Warres following, and likewife pointed to the feed-
plots from whence me took up thofe brave men, and
plants of honour, which acted on the theatre of Mars,
and on whom fhe difperfed the rayes of her grace,
which were perfons in their kindes of rare vertues, and
fuch as might (out of height of merit) pretend intereft
to her favour ; of which rank, the number will equall,
if not exceed that of the Gown-men. In recount of
whom I proceed with Sir Philip Sidney.
Sir Philip Sidney.
|]E was fonne to Sir Henery Sidney, Lord
Deputy of Ireland^ and Prefident of Wales;
a perfon of great parts, and in no mean
grace with the Queen ; his mother was
fitter to my Lord of Leicester, from whence
we may conjecture, how the Father flood up in the
place of honour and imployment, fo that his defcent
was apparently noble on both fides : For his educa-
tion, it was fuch as travell, and the Univerfity could
afford, or his Tutours infufe; for after an incredible
proficiency in all the fpecies of Learning ; he left the
Academicall life, for that of the Court, whither he
came by his Uncles invitation, famed afore-hand by a
Favourites. 35
noble report of his accomplifhments, which together
with the ftate of his perfon, framed by a naturall pro-
penfion to Armes, he foon attracted the good opinion
of all men, and was fo highly prized in the good
opinion of the Queen, that me thought the Court
deficient without him : And whereas (through the
fame of his deferts) he was in the election for the
Kingdom of Pole, me refufed to further his advance-
ment, not out of emulation, but out of fear to lofe the
Jewell of her times : He married the daughter andfole
heir of Sir Francis Walfingham, then Secretary of
State, a Lady deftinated to the Bed of honour, who
(after his deplorable death at Zutphen in the Nether-
lands, where he was Governour of Flujhing at the
time of his Uncles being there) was married to my
Lord of Effex, and fince his death to my Lord of Saint
Albans, all perfons of the fword, and otherwife of great
honour and vertue.
They have a very quaint and facetious figment of
him, That Mars and Mercury fell at variance whofe
fervant he mould be. And there is an Epigrammifl
that faith, that Art and Nature had fpent their excel-
lencies in his fafhioning ; and fearing they mould not
end what they begun, they beftowed him on Fortune,
and nature flood mufing and amazed to behold her
own work ; but thefe are the fictions of Poets.
Certain it is, He was a noble and matchlefs Gentle-
men, and it may be juftly faid without hyperboles of
ficlion, as it was of Cato Uticenfis, That he feemed to
be born to that onely which he went about. Verfatilis
ingenii, as Plutarch hath it. But to fpeak more of
him, were to make him lefle.
Sir Fr. Walfingham
Ir Francis Walfingham (as we have faid)
had the honour to be Sir Philip Sidney's
Father in law : He was a Gentleman (at
firfl) of a good houfe, but of better educa-
tion, and from the Univerfity travelled
36 Queen Elizabeth's
for the reft of his Learning. He was doubtleffe the
beft Linguift of the times, but knew beft how to ufe
his own tongue, whereby he came to be employed in
the chiefeft affaires of State. He was fent Ambaffa-
dour into France, and flayed there a Lieger long, in
the heat of the civill warres, and at the fame time that
Mounfier was here a Suitor to the Queen ; and, if I
be not miftaken, he played the very fame part there,
as fmce Gundamore did here : At his return, he was
taken principal Secretary, and was one of the great
Engines of State, and of the times, high in the Queens
favour, and a watchful fervant over the fafety of his
Miftreffe.
They note him to have had certain curiofities, and
fecret wayes of intelligence above the reft : But I
muft confeffe I am to feek wherefore he fuffered Parry
to play fo long on the hook, before he hoyfed him up;
and I have been a little curious in the fearch thereof,
though I have not to doe with the Arcana Imperil.
For to know is fometimes a burthen ; and I remember
that it was Ovid's crimen aut error, That he faw too
much. But I hope thefe are Collaterals of no danger.
But that Parry intending to kill the Queen, made the
way of his acceffe by betraying of others, and im-
peaching of the Priefts of his own correfpondency,
and thereby had acceffe and conference with the
Queen, and alfo oftentimes familiar and private con-
ference with Walfingham, will not be the Quaere of
the myftery ; for the Secretary might have had end of
difcovery on a further maturity of the Treafon : but
that after the Queen knew Parries intent, why me
mould then admit him to private difcourfe, and Wal-
fingham to fuffer it, confidering the condition of all af-
failings, and permit him to go where and whither he
lifted, and onely on the fecurity of a dark fentinell fet
over him, was a piece of reach and hazard beyond my
apprehenfion.
I muft again profeffe, That having read many of his
Letters (for they are commonly fent to my Lord of
Leicejler, and Burleigh, out of France) containing many
Favourites. 37
fine paffages and fecrets ; yet if I might have been
beholding to his Cyphers, whereof they are full, they
would have told pretty tales of the times. But I muft
now clofe up, and rank him amongft the Togati, yet
chief of thofe that laid the foundation of the Dutch
and French wars, which was another piece of his fine-
nefle, and of the times ; with one obfervation more,
That he was one of the great allayes of the Aufterian
embracements : For both himfelf, and Stafford that
preceded him, might well have been compared to the
fiend in the Gofpel, that fowed his tares in the night ;
fo did they their feeds of divifion in the dark. And it
is a likely report that they father on him, at his return,
That he faid unto the Queen, with fome fenfibility of
the Spanifh defigns on France: Madam, I befeech
you be content not to fear ; The Spaniard hath a
great appetite, and an excellent digeftion, but I have
fitted him with a bone for this twenty yeares, that
your Majefty fhall have no caufe to doubt him ; por-
vided that if the fire chance to flack which I have
kindled, you will be ruled by me, and now and then
cafi in fome Englifh fewel, which will revive the flame.
IVilloughby.
Lord Willoughby was one of the Queens
firft Sword-men : He was of the ancient
extract of the Bartues, but more ennobled
by his mother, who was Dutcheffe of
Suffolk.
He was a great Mafter of the Art Military, and was
fent Generall into France, and commanded the fecond
of five Armies that the Queen fent thither in aid of
the French. I have heard it fpoken, that had he not
flighted the Court, but applyed himfelf to the Queen,
he might have enjoyed a plentifull portion of her
grace: And it was his faying, (and it did him no good)
That he was none of the Reptilia, intimating, that he
could not creep on the ground, and that the Court
was not in his Element ; for indeed, as he was a great
38 Queen Elizabeth's
Souldier, fo was he of a fuitable magnanimity, and
could not brook the obfequioufnefle and affiduity of
the Court ; and as he then was fomewhat defcending
from youth, happily he had an animam revertendi, and
to make a fafe retreat.
Sir Nic. Bacon.
Come to another of the Togati, Sir Nicholas
Bacon, An arch-piece of Wit and Wifdom.
He was a Gentleman, and a man of Law,
and of great knowledge therein; whereby,
together with his other parts of learning
and dexterity, he was promoted to be Keeper of the
Great Seal : and being of kin to the Treafurer Bur-
leigh, had alfo the help of his hand to bring him into
the Queens favour ; for he was abundantly factious,
which took much with the Queen, when it was fuited
with the feafon, as he was well able to judge of his
times. He had a very quaint faying, and he ufed it
often to good purpofe ; That he loved the jeft well,
but not the lofle of his friend. He would fay, That
though he knew, Unufquifque fuafortttmzfaber, was a
true and good principle ; yet the moft in number were
thofe that marred themfelves. But I will never for-
give that man, that lofeth himfelf, to be rid of his jeft.
He was father to that Refined Wit, whicii fmce hath
acled a difaflrous part on the publique ftage, and of
late fate in his Fathers room as Lord Chancellor.
Thofe that lived in his age, and from whence I have
taken this little Modell of him, give him a lively
Character ; and they decipher him for another So/on,
and the Synon of thofe times, fuch a one as Oedipus
was in diffolving of Riddles. Doubtlefie he was as
able an Inftrument; and it was his commendation,
that his head was the Mawl (for it was a great one)
and therein he kept the Wedge that entred the knotty
pieces that came to the Table. And now I muft
again fall back to fmooth and plain a way to the reft
that is behind, but not from the purpofe.
Favourites. 39
There were about thefe times two Rivals in the
Queens favour ; Old Sir Francis Knowls Controller of
the Houfe, and Sir Henry Norris, whom fhe called up
at a Parliament to fit with the Peers in the higher
Houfe, as Lord Norris of Ricot, who had married the
daughter and heir of the old L. Williams of Tame, a
Noble perfon, and to whom in the Queens adverfity
fhe had been committed to fafe cuftody, and from him
had received more than ordinary obfervances. Now
fuch was the goodneffe of the Queens nature, that fhe
neither forgot good turns received from the Lord
Williams, neither was fhe unmindfull of this Lord
Norris, whofe Father, in her Fathers time, and in the
bufineffe of her Mother, dyed in a Noble caufe, and in
the j uftification of her innocencie.
Lord Norris.
jjY Lord Norris had by this Lady an ample
Iffue, which the Queen highly refpected :
for he had fix Sonnes, and all Martiall
brave men : The firft was William his
eldeft, and Father to the late Earl of
Berkffiire ; Sir lohn, vulgarly called Generall Norris ;
Sir Edward, Sir Thomas, Sir Henry, and Maximilian ;
Men of an haughty courage, and of great experience
in the conduct of Military affaires : And to fpeak in
the Character of their merit, they were perfons of fuch
renown and worth, as future times muft out of duty
owe them the debt of an honourable memory.
Knowls.
[Ir Francis Knowls was fomewhat of the
Queens affinity, and had likewife no in-
competent Iffue ; for he had alfo William
his eldeft, and fince Earl of Banbury, Sir
Thomas, Sir Robert, and Sir Francis ; if I
be not a little miftaken in their names and martialling;
and there was alfo the Lady Lettice, a Sifter of thefe,
40 Queen Elizabeth's
who was firfl Counteffe of Effex, and after of Leicefter.
And thefe were alfo brave men in their times and
places ; but they were of the Court and Carpet, not
led by the genius of the Camp.
Between thefe two Families, there was (as it falleth
out amongft Great ones, and Competitors for favour)
no great correfpondencie : and there were fome feeds,
either of emulation or diftruft call between them, which
had not been disjoyned in the refidence of their per-
fons, (as it was the fortune of their imployments, the
one fide attending the Court, the other the Pavilion)
furely they would have broken out into fome kind of
hoftility, or at leaft they would have wreflled one in
the other, like Trees incircled with ivy : For there was
a time when (both thefe Fraternities being met at
Court) there paffed a challenge between them at cer-
tain exercifes, the Queen and the old men being
fpedlators, which ended in a flat quarrell amongft
them all. And I am perfwaded (though I ought not
to judge) that there were fome reliques of this feud,
that were long after the caufes of the one Families
(almofl utter) extirpation, and of the others improf-
perity For it was a known truth, that fo long as my
Lord of Leicefter lived, who was the main pillar of the
one fide, as having married the Siller, none of the
other fide took any deep rooting in the Court, though
otherwife they made their wayes to Honour by their
fwords : And that which is of more note, (confidering
my Lord of Leicefter s ufe of Men of Arms, being
fhortly after fent Governour to the Revolted States,
and no Souldier himfelf) is, that he made no more
accompt of Sir lohn Norris, a Souldier then defervedly
famoufed, and trained from a Page, under the difcip-
line of the great Captain of Chriflendome, the Ad-
mirall Cajlilion, and of Command in the French and
Dutch wars almoft twenty yeers. It is of further ob-
fervation, that my Lord of Effex (after Leiceftcrs de-
ceafe) though initiated to Armes, and honoured by the
General in the Portugal expedition, whether out of
inftigation (as it hath been thought) or out of ambi-
Favourites. 41
tion, and jealoufie to be eclipfed and overfhadowed
by the fame and fplendonr of this great Commander,
loved him not in fincerity. Moreover, certain it is,
he not onely crufht, and upon all occafions quell'd the
growth of this brave man, and his famous Brethren ;
but therewith drew on his own fatall end, by under-
taking the Irifh a6lion, in a time when he left the
Court empty of friends, and full fraught with his pro-
feft enemies. But I forbear to extend my felf in any
further relation upon this fubje<5l; as having left fome
notes of truth in thefe two Noble Families, which I
would prefent ; and therewith toucht fomewhat, which
I would not, if the equity of the Narration would have
admitted an intermiffion.
Sir lohn Per rot.
[Ir lohn Perrot was a goodly Gentleman, and
of the Sword : And as he was of a very an-
cient defcent, as an heir to many abftrac~ls
of Gentry, especially from Guy de Bryan
of Lawhern, fo was he of a vaft Eftate,
and came not to the Court for want. And to thefe
adjuncts, he had the endowments of courage, and
height of fpirit, had it lighted on the allay of temper
and difcretion ; the defect whereof, with a native free-
dome and boldneffe of fpeech, drew him on to a clouded
fetting, and laid him open to the fpleen and advantage
of his enemies, amongft whom Sir Chriftopher Hatton
was profeft. He was yet a wife man, and a brave
Courtier ; but rough, and participating more of active
than fedentary motions, as being in his conftellation
deftinated for Armes. There is a qusere of fome
denotations, how he came to receive his foyle, and that
in the Cataftrophe ; for he was ftrengthened with hon-
ourable Alliances, and the privy friendfhips of the
Court ; My Lord of Leicefter, and Burleigh, both his
Contemporaries, and Familiars; but that there might be
(as the Adage hath it) falfity in friendfhip ; and we may
reft fatisfied, that there is no difputing againft fate.
42 Queen Elizabeth's
They quote him for a perfon that loved to Hand too
much alone, and on his own legges ; of too often
receffes, and difcontinuance from the Queens prefence;
A fault which is incompatible with the wayes of Court
and favour.
He was fent Lord Deputy into Ireland, (as it was
thought) for a kind of haughtineffe of fpirit, and re-
pugnancy in Councels; or as others have thought,
the fitteft perfon then to bridle the infolency of the
Irijh ; And probable it is, that both thefe (confidering
the fway that he would have at the Board, and head
in the Queens favour) concurred, and did a little con-
fpire his remove, and his ruine : But into Ireland he
went, where he did the Queen very great and many
fervices, if the furpluffage of the meafure did not abate
the value of the merit ; as after-times found that to be
no paradox: For to fave the Queens purfe, (which
both her felf, and my Lord Treafurer Burleigh, ever
took for good fervices) he impofed on the Irijh the
charge of bearing their own armes ; which both gave
them the poffeffion, and taught them the ufe of wea-
pons ; which proved in the end a moft fatall work,
both in the profufion of bloud and treafure.
But at his return, and on fome account fent home
before touching the ftate of the Kingdome, the affidu-
ous teftimonies of her grace were towards him ; till by
his retreat to his Caftle at Cary, where he was then
building, and out of defire to be in command at home,
(as he had been abroad) together with the hatred and
practice of ffatton, then in high favour, whom not long
before he had too bitterly taunted for his dancing, He
was accufed for high Treafon, and for high words and
a forged Letter, condemned ; though the Queen on
the newes of his condemnation, fwore by her wonted
oath, That they were all knaves. And they deliver
with affurance, That on his return to the Tower, after
his Triall, he faid in oathes and in fury to the Lieu-
tenant Sir Owen Hopton, What, will the Queen fuffer
her Brother to be offered up as a facrifice to the envy
of my frisking adverfaries ? Which being made known
Favourites. 43
to the Queen, and the Warrant for his execution ten-
dered, and fomewhat enforced ; fhe refufed to fign it,
and fwore he fhould not die, for he was an honeft and
a faithfull man. And furely, though not altogether to
fet up our reft and faith upon tradition, and upon old
report, as that Sir Thomas Perrot his Father was a
Gentleman of the Privy-Chamber to Henry the eight,
and in the Court married a Lady of great honour, of
the Kings familiarity, which are prefumptions of fome
implication : But if we goe a little further, and com-
pare his picture, his qualities, gefture, and voyce, with
that of the Kings, which memory retains yet amongft
us, they will plead ftrongly, that he was a fubrepticious
child of the bloud Royall.
Certain it is, that he lived not long in the Tower ;
and that after his deceafe, Sir Thomas Perrot his Son
(then of no mean efteem with the Queen) having
before married my Lord of Effex Sifter, fince Countefs
of Northumberland, had reftitution of all his lands ;
though after his deceafe alfo (which immediately fol-
lowed) the Crown refumed his Eftate, and took ad<
vantage of the former Attainder. And to fay the
truth, the Priefts forged Letter was at his arraignment
thought but a ficlion of envy, and was foon after ex-
ploded by the Priefts own confeffion. But that which
moil exafperated the Queen, and gave advantage to
his enemies, was (as Sir Walter Rawleigh takes into
his obfervation) words of difdain. For the Queen by
lharp and reprehenfive Letters, had netled him; and
fhortly after fending others of approbation, commend-
ing his fervice, and intimating an invafion from Spain;
which he no fooner perufed, but he faid publiquely in
the great Chamber at Dublin : Lo, now fhe is ready
to piffe her felf for fear of the Spaniard; I am again
one of her White-boy es.
Words which are fubjecl; to a various conftruclion,
and tended to fome difreputation of his Soveraign :
and fuch as may ferve for inftruclion to perfons in
place of honour and command, to beware of the vio-
44 Queen Elizabeth's
lences of nature, but efpecially of the exorbitances of
the tongue. And fo I conclude him with this double
obfervation, The one of the innocency of his intentions,
exempt and clear from the guilt of treafon and dif-
loyalty ; The other, of the greatnefle of his heart : For
at his arraignment, he was fo little dejected by what
might be alledged and proved againft him, that he
rather grew troubled with choler, and in a kind of ex-
afperation defpifed his Jury, though of the Order of
Knighthood, and of the fpeciall Gentry, claiming the
priviledge of triall by the Peeres and Baronage of the
Realm : fo prevalent was that of his native Genius,
and the haughtineffe of his fpirit, which accompanied
him to his laft, and till (without any diminution of
courage) it brake in pieces the cords of his magnani-
mity, for he dyed fuddenly in the Tower, and when it
was thought the Queen did intend his enlargement,
with the reftitution of his poffeffions, which were then
great, and comparable to moft of the Nobility.
Hatton.
[IR Chriftopher Hatton came into the Court
as his oppofite, Sir lohn Perrot, was wont
to fay by the Galliard, for he came thither
as a private Gentleman of the Innes of
Court in a Mask; and for his activity and
perfon, which was tall and proportionable, taken into
favour: he was firil made Vice-Chamberlain, and
fhortly afterward advanced to the place of Lord Chan-
cellor : a Gentleman, that befides the graces of his
perfon, and dancing, had alfo the adjectaments of a
ftrong and fubtill capacity, one that could foon learn
the difcipline and garb both of the times and Court ;
the truth is, he had a large proportion of gifts and en-
dowments, but too much of the feafon of envy ; and
he was a meer vegetable of the Court, that fprung up
at night, and funk again at his noon.
Favourites. 45
Lord Effingham.
Lord of Effingham, though a Courtier be-
times, yet I find not, that the fun-lhine of
her favour broke out upon him, untill me
took him into the Ship, and made him
High-Admirall of England. For his ex-
tract., it may fuffice, that he was the fon of a Howard,
and of a Duke of Norfolk : And for his perfon, as
goodly a Gentleman as the times had any ; if Nature
had not been more intentive to compleat his perfon,
than Fortune to make him rich : For the times con-
fidered, which were then active, and a long time after
lucrative, he dyed not wealthy, yet the honefler man ;
though it feemes the Queens purpofe was to tender the
occafion of his advancement, and to make him capable
of more Honour: which at his return from Cadize-
Accounts me conferred on him, creating him Earle of
Nottingham ; to the great difcontent of his Colleague,
my Lord of Effex, who then grew exceffive in the ap-
petite of her favour ; and in truth, was fo exorbitant in
the limitation of the Soveraign afpect, that it much
alienated the Queenes grace from him, and drew others
together with the Admirall to a combination, and to
confpire his ruine. And though I have heard it from
that party, (I mean of the Admirals faction) that it lay not
in his proper power to hurt my Lord of Effex, yet he had
more Followers, and fuch as were well skilled in fetting
of the gyn. But I leave this to thofe of another age.
It is out of doubt, that the Admirall was a good, honeft,
andabraveman,andafaithfullfervanttohisMiftrefle,and
fuch a one as the Queen, out of her own Princely judge-
ment, knew to be a fit Inftrument for that fervice, for me
was no ill Proficient in the reading of Men,as wellas Books;
and his fundry expeditions, as that aforementioned, and
88. doth both expreffehis worth, and manifefl the Queens
truft, and the opinion me had of his fidelity and conduct.
Moreover, the Howards were of the Queenes alli-
ance and confanguinity by her Mother, which fwayed
her affection, and bent it toward this great Houfe; and
it was part of her naturall propenfion, to grace and
46 Queen Elizabeth's
fupport ancient Nobility, where it did not intrench,
neither invade her interefl ; for on fuch trefpaffes fhe
was quick and tender, and would not fpare any what-
foever ; as we may obferve in the cafe of the Duke,
and my Lord of Hereford, whom fhe much favoured
and countenanced, till they attempted the forbidden
fruit ; The fault of the laft, being in the fevereft in-
terpretation but a trefpafle of incroachment ; But in
the firfl, it was taken for a Ryot againft the Crown,
and her own Soveraign power : and as I have ever
thought, the caufe of her averfion againft the reft of
the Houfe, and the Dukes great Father-in-law Fitz
Allen Earle of Arundel, a perfon of the firft rank in
her affections, before thefe ; and fome other jealoufies
made a feparation between them ; this Noble Lord,
and the Lord Thomas Howard, fmce Earl of Suffolk,
flanding alone in her grace, the reft in umbrage.
Sir lohn Packington.
|IR lohn Packington was a Gentleman of no
mean family, and of form and feature no
way defpifable ; for he was a brave Gen-
tleman, and a very fine Courtier ; and for
the time he flayed there, (which was not
lafting) very high in her grace ; but he came in, and
went out, and through difaffiduity, drew the Curtain
between himfelf and the light of her grace ; and then
death overwhelmed the remnant, and utterly deprived
him of recovery : And they fay of him, that had he
brought leffe to the Court than he did, he might have
carried away more than he brought ; for he had a
time on it, but an ill husband of opportunity.
Lord Hun/don.
Lord QiHunfdon was of the Queens neer-
eft kindred; and on the deceafe of Suffix,
both he and his Son took the place of
Lord Chamberlain ; he was a faft man to
his Prince, and firm to his friends and
Favourites. 47
fervants ; and though he might fpeak big, and therein
would be born out, yet was he not the more dreadfull,
but leffe harmfull, and far from the prac~life of my Lord
of Leicefters inflrudlions, for he was down-right ; and
I have heard thofe that both knew him well, and had
interefl in him, fay merrily of him, that his Latine and
his diffimulation were both alike ; and that his cuflome
of fwearing, and obfcenity in fpeaking, made him feem
a worfe Chriflian than he was, and a better Knight of
the Carpet than he mould be : As he lived in a ruffling
time, fo he loved fword and buckler men, and fuch as
our Fathers were wont to call men of their hands ; of
which fort, he had many brave Gentlemen that fol-
lowed him ; yet not taken for a popular and dangerous
perfon And this is one that flood amongfl the Togati,
of an honeft flout heart, and fuch a one (as upon oc-
cafion) would have fought for his Prince, and his
Country, for he had the charge of the Queens Perfon,
both in the Court, and the Camp at Tilbury.
Rawleigh.
[IR Walter Rawleigh was one, that (it feems)
Fortune had pickt out of purpofe, of whom
to make an example, or to ufe as her
Tennis-Bail, thereby to mew what fhe
could doe ; for fhe tofl him up of no-
thing, and too and fro to greatneffe, and from thence
down to little more than to that wherein fhe found
him, (a bare Gentleman) Not that he was leffe, for he
was well defcended, and of good alliance, but poor in
his beginnings : and for my Lord of Oxfords jefl of
him, (the Jack, and an upflart) we all know, it favours
more of emulation, and his humour, than of truth ;
and it is a certain note of the times, that the Queen
in her choice, never took into her favour a meer new
man, or a Mechanick, as Comities obferves of Lewis the
eleventh of France, who did ferve himfelf with perfons
of unknown Parents ; fuch as was Oliver the Barber,
whom he created Earle of Dunoyes, and made him ex
48 Queen Elizabeth's
fecretis confiliis, and alone in his favour and famili-
arity.
His approaches to the Univerfity and Innes of
Court, were the grounds of his improvement; but they
were rather excurfions, than fieges or fettings down,
. for he flayed not long in a place ; and being the
youngeft brother, and the houfe diminifhed in Patri-
mony, he forefaw his own deftiny ; that he was firft to
roul (through want and difability to fubfift otherwayes)
before he could come to a repofe, and as the ftone
doth by long lying gather mofs : He firft expofed him-
felf to the Land fervice of Ireland, a Militia which
then did not yeeld him food and rayment, (for it was
ever very poor) nor had he patience to flay there,
though fhortly after he came thither again under the
command of my Lord Grey ; but with his own Colours
flying in the field ; having in his interim caft a new
chance, both in the Low-Countries, and in a Voyage
to Sea ; and if ever man drew vertue out of neceffity,
it was he : therewith was he the great example of
induflry ; and though he might then have taken that
of the Merchant to himfelf, Per mare, per terras, currit
mercator ad Indos, He might alfo have faid, and truly
with the Phylofopher, Omnia mea mecum porto ; For it
was a long time before he could brag of more than he
carried at his back ; and when he got on the winning
fide, it was his commendations, that he took pains for
it, and underwent many various adventures for his
after-perfection, and before he came into the publike
note of the World : And that it may appear how he
came up (Per ardua) Per varies cafus, per tot difcri-
mina rerum, not pulled up by chance, or by any gentle
admittance of Fortune; I will briefly defcribe his
native parts, and thofe of his own acquiring, which
were the hopes of his rifing.
He had in the outward man, a good prefence, in a
handfome and well compacted perfon, a flrong naturall
wit, and a better judgement, with a bold and plaufible
tongue, whereby he could fet out his parts to the bell
advantage; and to thefe he had the adjundts of fome
Favourites, 49
generall Learning, which by diligence he enforced to
a great augmentation, and perfection; for he was an in-
defatigable Reader, whether by Sea or Land, and none
of the leafl obfervers both of men and the times ; and
I am confident, that among the fecond caufes of his
growth, that variance between him, and my Lord Grey,
in his defcent into Ireland, was a principall ; for it
drew them both over the Councell Table, there to
plead their caufe, where (what advantage he had in
the caufe, I know not) but he had much better in the
telling of his tale ; and fo much, that the Queen and
the Lords took no flight mark of the man, and his
parts ; for from thence he came to be known, and to
have acceffe to the Queen, and the Lords ; and then
we are not to doubt how fuch a man would comply,
and learn the way of progreffion. And whether Lei-
cefter had then cafl in a good word for him to the
Queen, which would have done no harm, I doe not
determine : But true it is, He had gotten the Queens
eare at a trice, and fhe began to be taken with his
elocution, and loved to hear his reafons to her de-
mands : and the truth is, fhe took him for a kind of
Oracle, which netled them all ; yea, thofe that lie
relyed on, began to take his fuddain favour as an
Allarum, and to be fenfible of their own fupplantation,
and to project his, which made him fhortly after fing,
Fortune my foe, &>c. So that finding his favour de-
clining, and falling into a receffe, he undertook a new
peregrination, to leave that Terra infirma of the Court,
for that of the Warres, and by declining himfelf, and
by abfence, to expell his, and the paffion of his
enemies, which in Court was a flrange device of re-
covery, but that he knew there was fome ill office
done him, that he durfl not attempt to mind any other
wayes, than by going afide ; thereby to teach envy a
new way of forgetfulneffe, and not fo much as to
think of him ; howfoever, he had it alwayes in mind,
never to forget himfelf; and his device took fo
well, that at his return he came in (as Rammes doe,
by going backward) with the greater flrength, and fo
50 Queen Elizabeth's
continued to her laft, great in her grace, and Captain
of the Guard, where I mufl leave him ; but with this
obfervation, That though he gained much at the
Court, yet he took it not out of the Exchequer, or
meerly out of the Queens purfe, but by his wit, and
the help of the Prerogative ; for the Queen was never
profufe in the delivering out of her treafure, but payed
many, and moft of her fervants part in money, and
the reft with grace, which as the cafe flood, was taken
for good payment, leaving the Arrear of recompence
due to their merit, to her great Succeffor, who payed
them all with advantage.
Greml.
[IR Foulk Grevil, fmce Lord Brook, had no
mean place in her favour, neither did he
hold it for any fhort term ; for if I be
not deceived, he had the longeft leafe,
and the fmootheft time without rub, of
any of her Favourites. He came to the Court in his
youth and prime, for that is the time, or never : He
was a brave Gentleman, and honourably defcended,
from William Lord Brook, and Admiral to Henry the
feventh. Neither illiterate ; for he was, as he would
often profeffe, a friend to Sir Philip Sidney, and there
are of his now extant, fome fragments of his Poem,
and of thofe times, which doe intereft him in the
Mufes ; and which fhewes, the Queens election had
ever a noble conduct, and its motions more of vertue
and judgement, than of fancy.
I find, that he neither fought for, or obtained any
great place or preferment in Court during all the time
of his attendance, neither did he need it ; for he came
thither, backt with a plentifull Fortune, which as him-
felf was wont to fay, was the better held together
by a fingle life, wherein he lived and dyed a conftant
Courtier of the Ladies.
I
Favourites. 51
EJjfex.
Lord of Effex (as Sir Henry Wotton a
Gentleman of great parts, and partly of
his time and retinue, obferves) had his
introduction by my Lord of Leicefter, who
had married his Mother, a tie of affinity,
which, befides a more urgent obligation, might have
invited his care to advance him, his Fortune being
then (and through his Fathers infelicity) grown low.
But that the fon of a Lord Ferrers of Chartley, Vif-
count Hartford, and Earle of Effex, who was of the
ancient Nobility, and formerly in the Queens good
grace, could not have room in her favour, without
the affiflance of Leicejler, was beyond the rule of her
nature, which as I have elfewhere taken into obferva-
tion, was ever inclinable to favour the Nobility : Sure
it is, That he no fooner appeared in Court, but he
took with the Queen and Courtiers ; and I believe,
they all could not choofe but look through the Sacrifice
of the Father, on his living Sonne, whofe image, by the
remembrance of former paffages, was afrefh (like the
bleeding of men murdered) reprefented to the Court,
and offered up as a fubject of compaflion to all the
Kingdome. There was in this young Lord, together
with a moft goodly Perfon, a kind of urbanity or in-
nate courtefie, which both won the Queen, and too
much took upon the people, to gaze upon the new
adopted fon of her favour.
And as I goe along, it were not amiffe to take into
obfervation two notable quotations. The firfl was, a
violent indulgencie of the Queen (which is incident to
old age, where it encounters with a pleafing and fuit-
able object) towards this Lord ; all which argued a
non-perpetuity: The fecond was, a fault in the Object
of her grace, my Lord himfelf, who drew in too faft,
like a childe fucking on an over-uberous Nurfe ; and
had there been a more decent decorum obferved in
both, or either of thofe, without doubt the unity of
their affections had been more permanent, and not fo
52 Queen Elizabeth's
in and out as they were, like an Inflrument ill tuned,
and lapfmg to difcord.
The greater errour of the two (though unwillingly)
I am conflrained to impofe on my Lord of Effex, or
rather on his youth; and none of the leafl of his blame
on thofe that flood Sentinels about him, who might
have advifed him better, but that like men intoxicated
with hopes, they likewife had fuckt in with the mofl,
and of their Lords receipt, and fo like Cafars would
have all or none ; A rule quite contrary to nature, and
the mofl indulgent Parents, who though they may ex-
preffe more affection to one in the abundance of be-
quefls, yet cannot forget fome Legacies, juft diftribu-
tives, and dividents to others of their begetting : And
how hatefull partiality proves, every dayes experience
tells us, out of which common confederation might
have framed to their hands a maxime of more difcre-
tion for the conduct and management of their now
graced Lord and Matter.
But to omit that of infufion, and to doe right to truth :
My Lord of Effex (even of thofe that truly loved and
honoured him) was noted for too bold an ingroffer both
of fame and favour ; And of this (without offence to
the living, or treading on the facred urne of the dead)
I fhall prefent a truth, and a paffage yet in memory.
My Lord Mountjoy, (who was another child of her
favour) being newly come to Court, and then but Sir
Charles Blunt, (for my Lord William his elder brother
was then living) had the good fortune one day to run
very well a Tilt ; and the Queen therewith was fo well
pleafed, that me fent him in token of her favour, a
Queen at Chejfe of gold richly enameled, which his
fervants had the next day faftned on his Arme with a
Crymfon ribband; which my Lord of Effex, as he
paffed through the Privy Chamber efpying, with his
cloak caft under his Arme, the better to commend it
to the view, enquired what it was, and for what caufe
there fixed ? Sir Foulk Grevil told him, that it was
the Queens favour, which the day before, and after
the Tilting (he had fent him ; whereat my Lord
Favourites. 53
in a kind of emulation, and as though he would have
limited her favour, faid, Now I perceive every fool
muft have a favour.
This bitter and publike affront came to Sir Charles
Blunts eare, who fent him a challenge, which was ac-
cepted by my Lord, and they met near Mary-bone-
park, where my Lord was hurt in the thigh and dif-
armed : the Queen miffing the men, was very curious
to learn the truth ; and when at laft it was whifpered
out, me fwore by Gods death, it was fit that fome one
or other mould take him down, and teach him better
manners, otherwife there would be no rule with him.
And here I note the inition of my Lords friendfhip with
Mount joy ) which the Queen her felf did then conjure.
Now for fame, we need not goe farre ; for my Lord
of Effex having borne a grudge to Generall Norris, who
had (unwittingly) offered to undertake the action ot
Britain with fewer men, than my Lord had before de-
manded : on his return with victory, and a glorious
report of his valour, he was then thought the onely
man for the Irijli Warre ; wherein my Lord of Effex
fo wrought, by defpifmg the number, and quality of
Rebels, that Norris was fent over with a fcanted force,
joyned with the reliques of the veterane Troops of
Britain, of fet purpofe (as it fell out) to ruine Norris ;
and the Lord Burrowes, by my Lords procurement,
fent at his heels, and to command in chief; and to
confine Norris onely to his Government at Munfler,
which brake the great heart of the Generall, to fee
himfelf undervalued and undermined by my Lord and
Burrowes, which was as the Proverb fpeakes it, Im-
berbes docere fenes.
My Lord Burrowes, in the beginning of his profe-
cution dyed ; whereupon the Queen was fully bent to
have fent over Mountjoy, which my Lord of Effex
utterly difliked, and oppofed with many reafons, and
by arguments of contempt againfl Mountjoy, his then
profeffed friend and familiar ; fo predominant were
his words, to reap the honour of clofmg up that
Warre, and all other.
54 Queen Elizabeth's
Now the way being opened and plained by his own
workmanfhip, and fo handled that none durfl appear
to Hand for the place, at lafl with much adoe he ob-
tained his own ends, and withall his fatall deflruclion,
leaving the Queen and the Court (where he flood firm
and impregnable in her grace) to men that long had
fought and watcht their times to give him the trip, and
could never find any opportunity but this of his ab-
fence, and of his own creation. And thefe are the
true obfervations of his appetite and inclinations,
which were not of any true proportion, but carried and
tranfported with an over-defire and thirftineffe after
fame, and that deceitfull fame of popularity. And to
help on his Cataftrophe, I obferve likewife two forts
of people that had a hand in his fall ; the firft was the
Souldiery, which all flockt unto him, as foretelling a
mortality ; and are commonly of blunt and too rough
counfels, and many times diffonant from the time of
the Court and the State. The other fort were of his
family, his fervants, and his own creatures, fuch as
were bound by the rules of fafety, and obligations of
fidelity, to have looked better to the fleering of that
Boat, wherein they themfelves were carried, and not
have fuffered it to float and run on ground, with thofe
empty Sailes of Fame and Rumour of popular applaufe.
Me thinks one honefl man or other, that had but the
office of brufhing his clothes, might have whifpered in
his ear, My Lord, look to it, this multitude that fol-
lows you, will either devour you, or undoe you ; ftrive
not to rule, and over-rule all, for it will cofl hot water,
and it will procure envy ; and if needs your Genius
muft have it fo, let the Court, and the Queens prefence
be your flation. But as I have faid, they had fuckt
too much of their Lords milk, and inftead of with-
drawing, they blew the coales of his ambition, and
infufed into him too much of the fpirit of glory ; yea,
and mixed the goodneffe of his nature with a touch of
revenge, which is ever accompanied with a deftiny of
the fame fate. And of this number there were fome
infufferable Natures about him, that towards his lafl
Favourites. 55
gave defperate advice, fuch as his integrity abhorred,
and his fidelity forbade ; Amongft whom, Sir Henry
Wotton notes (without injury) his Secretary Ciiffe a
vile man, and of a perverfe nature : I could alfo name
others, that when he was in the right courfe of re-
covery, and fetling to moderation, would not fuffer a
receffe in him, but ftirred up the dregs of thofe rude
humours, which by time, and his affliction, out of his
own judgement he fought to repofe ; or to give them
all a vomit. And thus I conclude this Noble Lord,
as a mixture between profperity and adverfity ; once
the Childe of his great Miflreffe favour, but the fon
of Bellona.
Buckhnrft.
JY Lord of Buckhurft was of the Noble
Houfe of the Sackvils, and of the Queens
confanguinity; his Father was Sir Richard
Sackvil, or as the people then called him,
Fill-fack, by reafon of his great wealth,
and the vaft patrimony which he left to this his Son ;
whereof he fpent in his youth the beft part, untill the
Queen by her frequent admonitions diverted the tor-
rent of his profufion. He was a very fine Gentleman
of perfon and endowments both of art and nature ;
but without meafure magnificent, till on the turn of
his humour, and the allay that his yeares and good
counfels had wrought upon thofe immoderate courfes
of his youth, and that height of fpirit inherent to his
Houfe. And then did the Queen, as a moft judicious
and indulgent Prince, when me faw the man grow
flayed and fetled, give him her affiftance, and advanced
him to the Treafurerfhip, where he made amends to
his Houfe for his mif-fpent time, both in the increafe-
ment of Eftate and Honour, which the Queen conferred
on him, together with the opportunity to remake himfelf,
and thereby to mew that this was a Childe, that mould
have a fhare in her grace, and a tafte of her bounty.
They much commend his Elocution, but more the
excellency of his Pen, for he was a Schollar, and a
56 Queen Elizabeth's
perfon of a quick difpatch, (Faculties that yet run in
the bloud) And they fay of him, that his Secretaries
did little for him by the way of Inditement, wherein
they could feldome pleafe him, he was fo facete and
choice in his phrafe and ftile : And for his Difpatches,
and the content he gave to Suiters, he had a decorum
feldome fmce put in practife ; for he had of his At-
tendants that took into Roll the names of all Suiters,
with the Date of their firft Addrelfes ; and thefe in
their Order had hearing ; fo that a frefh man could
not leap over his head, that was of a more ancient
edition, except in the urgent affaires of State.
I find not, that he was any wayes infnared in the
factions of the Court, which were all his times flrong,
and in every mans note ; The Howards and the Cecils
on the one part, My Lord of Effex, etc. on the other
part. For he held the ftaffe of the Treafury faft in his
hand, which once in the year made them all beholding
to him, And the truth is, (as he was a wife man, and
a flout) he had no reafon to be a partaker ; for he
flood fure in bloud, and in grace, and was wholly in-
tentive to the Queens fervice ; and fuch were his
abilities, that me received affiduous proofes of his fuffi-
ciency ; and it hath been thought, that me might have
had more cunning inftruments, but none of a more
flrong judgement and confidence in his wayes, which
are fymptomes of magnanimity and fidelity ; where-
unto me thinkes this Motto hath fome kind of refer-
ence, Aut nunquam tentes, aut perfice. As though he
would have charactered in a word the Genius of his
Houfe, or exprefl fomewhat of an higher inclination,
than lay within his compafle. That he was a Courtier,
is apparent, for he flood alwayes in her eye and favour.
Lord Mountjoy.
|Y Lord Mountjoy was of the ancient No-
bility, but utterly deceived in the fapport
thereof, Patrimony; through his Grand-
fathers excefs in the action of Bullen,
his Fathers vanity in the fearch of the
Favourites. 5 7
Philosophers ftone, and his Brothers untimely prodi-
galities ; all which feemed by a joynt confpiracy to
mine the Houfe, and altogether to annihilate it.
As he came from Oxford, he took the Inner-Temple
in his way to Court ; whither he no fooner came, but
(without asking) he had a pretty ilrange kind of ad-
miffion, which I have heard from a difcreet man of his
own, and much more of the fecrets of thofe times.
He was then much about twenty yeares of age, of a
Brown hair, a fweet face, a moft neat Compofure, and
tall in his perfon. The Queen was then at White-
Hall, and at dinner, whither he came to fee the fa-
fhion of the Court : the Queen had foon found him out,
and with a kind of an afFec"led frown, asked the Lady
Carver what he was ? me anfwered, She knew him
not ; Infomuch as enquiry was made from one to
another, who he might be ; till at length it was told
the Queen, he was Brother to the Lord William
Mountjoy. This inquifition, with the eye of Majefty
fixed upon him, (as me was wont to doe, and to daunt
men me knew not) ftirred the bloud of this young
Gentleman, infomuch as his colour came and went ;
which the Queen obferving, called him unto her, and
gave him her hand to kiffe, encouraging him with
gracious words, and new lookes ; and fo diverting her
fpeech to the Lords and Ladies, me faid, That fhe no
fooner obferved him, but that me knew there was in
him fome Noble bloud, with fome other expreffions of
pity towards his houfe : And then again demanding
his name, me faid, Fail you not to come to the Court,
and I will bethink my felf how to doe you good. And
this was his inlet, and the beginnings of his grace.
Where it falls into confideration, That though he
wanted not wit and courage, (for he had very fine At-
tractions, and being a good piece of a Schollar) yet
were they accompanied with the retradlivenefle of
bafhfulneffe, and a naturall modefly, which (as the
tone of his houfe, and the ebbe of his fortune then
flood) might have hindred his progreflion, had they
not been re-inforced by the infufion of Soveraign
favour, and the Queens gracious invitation. And that
58 Queen Elizabeth's
it may appear how low he was, and how much that
heretique Neceflity will work in the dejection of good
fpirits, I can deliver it with affurance, that his exhibi-
tion was very fcant untill his Brother dyed, which was
fhortly after his admiflion to the Court, and then was
it no more than 1000 Marks per anmtm, wherewith he
lived plentifully in a fine way and garb, and without
any great fuftenation, during all her times. And as
there was in his nature a kind of backwardnefle, which
did not befriend him, nor fuit with the motion of the
Court, fo there was in him an inclination to Armes,
and a humour of travelling : which had not fome wife
men about him laboured to. remove, and the Queen
her felf laid in her commands, he would (out of his
naturall propenfion) have marred his own market :
For as he was grown by reading (whereunto he was
much addicted) to the Theory of a Souldier, fo was he
(Irongly invited by his Genius to the acquaintance of
the practique of the Warre ; which were the caufes of
his excurfions; for he had a company in the Low-
Countries, from whence he came over with a Noble
acceptance of the Queen ; but fomewhat reftlefle in
honourable thoughts, he expofed himfelf again and
again, and would prefle the Queen with the pretences
of vifiting his Company fo often, that at length he had
a flat deniall; and yet he dole over with Sir lohn
Norris into the action of Britain, (which was then a
hot and active Warre) whom he would alwayes call
his Father, honouring him above all men, and ever
bewailing his end : fo contrary he was in his efteem
and valuation of this great Commander, to that of his
friend, my Lord of Effex. Till at laft, the Queen be-
gan to take his deceffions for contempts, and confined
his refidence to the Court, and her own prefence : And
upon my Lord Effex fall, (fo confident me was in her
own Princely judgement, and opinion me had con-
ceived of his worth and conduct) that me would
have this noble Gentleman, and none other, to
finifh and bring the Irifh Warre to a propitious end :
For it was propheticall fpeech of her own, That it
would be his fortune, and his honour, to cut the
Favourites. 59
tl.red of that fatall Rebellion, and to bring her in
peace to the grave. Where (he was not deceived; for
he atchieved it, but with much paines and carefulneffe,
and not without the feares and many jealoufies of the
Court and times, wherewith the Queens age, and the
malignity of her fetting times were replete.
And fo I come to his dear Friend in Court, Mafter
Secretary Cecil, whom in his long abfence from Court
he adored as his Saint, and courted for his onely
Mcecenas, both before and after his departure from
Court, and during all the time of his Command in
Ireland, well knowing that it lay in his power, and by
a word of his mouth, to make or marre him.
Cecil
IR Robert Cecil, fmce Earle of Salisbury,
was the fon of the Lord Burleigh, and the
inheritor of his wifedome, and by degrees,
Succeffor of his places and favours, though
not of his Lands; for he had Thomas
Cecil his elder brother, fmce created Earle of Exeter.
He was firft Secretary of State, then Mafter of the
Wards, and in the laft of her raign came to be Lord
Treafurer ; all which were the fteps of his Fathers
greatneffe, and of the honour he left to his Houfe.
For his perfon, he was not much beholding to nature,
though fomewhat for his face, which was the beft part
of his outfide : but for his infide, it may be faid, and
without folo3cifme, that he was his Fathers own fon,
and a pregnant proficient in all difcipline of State :
He was a Courtier from his Cradle, (which might have
made him betimes) yet at the age of twenty and up-
wards, he was much fhort of his after-proof; but ex-
pofed, and by change of climate, he foon made mew
what he was, and would be : He lived in thofe times
wherein the Queen had moft need, and ufe of men of
weight ; and amongfl able ones, this was a chief, as
having his fufficiency from his inftruclions that begat
him, the Tutorfhip of the times, and Court, which were
60 Queen Elizabeth's
then the Academies of Art and Cunning; for fuch was
the Queens condition from the tenth or twelfth of her
Raign, that me had the happineffe to ftand up (where-
of there is a former intimation) though invironed with
more enemies, and aflaulted with more dangerous
practifes, than any Prince of her times, and of many
ages before. Neither muft we in this her prefervation
attribute too much to humane policies : for that God
in his omnipotent providence had not onely ordained
thofe fecundary meanes, as inftruments of the work,
but by an evident manifeftation, that the fame work
which fhe acted, was a well-pleafing fervice of his own,
out of a peculiar care had decreed the protection of
the work-Miftreffe, and thereunto added his abundant
bleffing upon all, and whatfoever fhe undertook; which
is an obfervation of fatisfaction to my felf, that fhe was
in the right ; though to others now breathing under
the fame form, and frame of her Government, it may
not feem an animadverfion of any worth : but I leave
them to the perill of their own folly.
And fo again to this great Mafter of State, and the
StafFe of the Queens declining age ; who though his
little crooked perfon could not promife any great fup-
portation, yet it carried thereon a head, and a head-
piece of a vaft content, and therein it feemes nature
was fo diligent to compleat one, and the beft part
about him, as that to the perfection of his memory,
and intellectuals, fhe took care alfo of his fences, and
to put him into Linceos Oculos, or to pleafure him the
more, borrowed of Argus, fo to give unto him a pro-
fpective fight ; and for the reft of his fenfitive vertues,
his predeceffor Walfingham had left him a receit, to
fmell out what was done in the Conclave ; and his
good old Father was fo well feen in the Mathematicks,
as that he could tell you through all Spain, every part,
every Ship, with the burthens, whither bound with
preparation, what impediments for diverfion of enter-
prifes, counfels, and refolutions. And that we may
fee (as in a little Map) how docible this little man
was : I will prefent a tafte of his abilities.
Favourites. 61
My Lord of DevonJJiire, (upon the certainty the
Spaniard would invade Ireland with a flrong Army)
had written very earneflly to the Queen and the Coun-
cell, for fuch fupplies to be fent over, that might en-
able him to march up to the Spaniard, if he did land,
and follow on his profecution againft the Rebels. Sir
Robert Cecil, (befides the generall difpatch of the
Councell, as he often did) wrote this in private ; for
thefe two began then to love dearly.
My Lord, Out of the abundunce of my affeftion, and
the care I have of your -well-doing; I mufl in private
put you out of doubt, (for of fear I know you cannot be
otherwife fenfible, than in the way of Honour) that the
Spaniard will not come unto you this year ; for I have it
from my own, what preparations are in all his parts,
and what he can doe : for be confident, he beareth up a
reputation by feeming to embrace more than he can gripe;
but the next year, be afsured, he will cajl over unto you
fome forlorn hopes, which how they may be re-inforced
beyond his prefent ability, and his firjliritention, I cannot
as yet make any certain judgement, but I believe out of
my intelligence, that you may expect their landing in
Munfter, and the more to diftraEl you, in feverall places,
as at Kings-Saile, Beer-haven, Baltimore, where you
may be fure (coming from Sea) they will firft for tifie and
learn the Jlrength of the Rebels, before they dare take the
field; howfoever (as I know you will not] leffen not your
care, neither your defences ; and whatfoever lies within
my power to doe you and the publike fervice, reft thereof
affured.
And to this I would adde much more, but it may
(as it is) fuffice to prefent much as to his abilities in
the Pen, that he was his Crafts-mailer in forraign in-
telligence : And for domeftique affaires, as he was one
of thofe that fate at the Stern to the laft of the Queen,
fo he was none of the leaft in skill, and in the true ufe
of the Compafle.
And fo I mail onely vindicate the fcandall of his
death, and conclude him : For he departed at S. Mar-
62 Queen Elizabeth's
garets neer Maryborough, in his return from the Bath ;
as my Lord Vifcount Cranborne, my Lord Clifford his
Son, and Son-in-law, my felf, and many more can
witnefle. But that the day before he fwounded in the
way, was taken out of the Litter, and laid into his
Coach, was a truth, out of which that falfhood, con-
cerning the manner of his death, had its derivation,
though nothing to the purpofe, or to the prejudice
of his worth.
Vere.
1'IR Francis Vere was of the ancient and of
the mofl Noble extract of the Earles of
Oxford : And it may be a queflion, whe-
ther the Nobility of his Houfe, or the
Honour of his Atchievements might mofl
commend him ; but that we have an authentique Rule
to decide the doubt :
Nam genus et proauos, et qua non fecimus ipjl,
Vix ea nq/lra voco.
For though he were an Honorable Slip of that ancient
Tree of Nobility, (which was no difadvantage to his
vertue) yet he brought more glory to the Name of
Vere than he took of Bloud from the Family. He
was amongfl the Queens Sword-men inferior to none,
but fuperior to many : Of whom it may be faid, To
fpeak much of him, were the way to leave out fome-
thing that might adde to his praife, and to forget more
that could adde to his Honour.
I find not that he came much to the Court, for he
lived almofl perpetually in the Camp : but when he
did, no man had more of the Queens favour, and none
lefle envied ; for he feldome troubled it with the jeal-
oufie and allarums of fupplantations ; his way was
another fort of undermining. They report, that the
Queen (as me loved Martiall men) would Court this
Gentleman as foon as he appeared in her prefence. And
furely he was a Souldier of great worth, and com-
manded thirty yeares in the fervice of the States, and
Favourites. 63
twenty yeares over the Englifh in chief, as the Queens
Generall : and he that had feen the Battail of Newport,
might there beft have taken him, and his Noble
Brother my Lord of Tilbury, to the life.
IVorcefter.
[Y Lord of Worcefter I have here put laft,
but not leaft in the Queens favour. He
was of the ancient and noble Bloud of
the Bewfords, and of her Grandfathers
line by the Mother; which the Queen
could never forget, efpecially where there was a con-
currencie of old bloud with fidelity, a mixture which
ever forted with the Queens nature. And though
there might appear fomething in this Houfe which
might avert her grace, (though not to fpeak of my
Lord himfelf, but with due reverence and honour) I
mean contrariety or fufpition in Religion; yet the
Queen ever refpecled this Houfe, and principally this
Noble Lord, whom me firft made Matter of the Horfe,
and then admitted of her Councell of State. In his
youth (part whereof he fpent before he came to refide
at Court) he was a very fine Gentleman, and the bed
Horfeman and Tilter of the times, which were then
the manlike and noble recreations of the Court,
and fuch as took up the applaufe of men, as well as
the praife and commendation of Ladies. And when
yeares had abated thefe Exercifes of Honour, he grew
then to be a faithfull and profound Counceller. And
as I have placed him laft, fo was he the laft liver of
all the Servants of her favour, and had the honour to
fee his renowned Miftreffe, and all of them laid in the
places of their reft : And for himfelf, after a life of
a very noble and remarkable reputation, he dyed rich,
and in a peaceable old age. A fate (that I make the
laft, and none of the flighteft obfervations) which be-
fell not many of the reft ; for they expired like unto
lights blown out, with the fnuffe {linking, not commend-
ably extinguifhed, and with offence to the ftanders by.
64 Queen Elizabeth's Favourites.
And thus I have delivered up this my poor Eflay;
A little Draught of this great Princefs, and her Times,
with the Servants of her State and favour. I cannot
fay, I have finifhed it ; for I know how defective and
imperfect it is, as limbed onely in the originall nature,
not without the active blemifhes ; and fo left it as a
task fitter for remote times, and the fallies of fome
bolder Penfil to correct that which is amifle, and draw
the reft up to life. As for me to have endeavoured
it, I took it to confideration, how eafily I might have
dafht in too much of the drain of pollution, and
thereby have defaced that little which is done : For
I profefle, I have taken care fo to matter my Pen,
that I might not (ex animo, or of fet purpofe) difcolour
truth, or any of the parts thereof, otherwife than in
concealment. Happily there are fome which will not
approve of this modefty, but will cenfure me for pufill-
animity, and with great cunning Artifts attempt to
dra.w their Line further out at large, and upon this of
mine; which may with fomewhat more eafe be effected,
for that the frame is ready made to their hands ; and
then happily I could draw one in the midfl of theirs.
But that modefly in me forbids the defacements of
Men departed, whofe Poflerity yet remaining, enjoyes
the merit of their vertues, and doe ftill live in their
Honour. And I had rather incurre the cenfure of
abruption, than to be confcious, and taken in the
manner of eruption, and of trampling upon the graves
of Perfons at reft ; which living, we durft not look in
the face, nor make our addreffes to them, otherwife
than with due regard to their Honours, and renown to
their Vertues.
FINIS.
Muir &* Paterson, Printers, Edinburgh.
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