*JS\ /-„„1a,r,n..nf V*r--.-.,..*,^. .;*t - -V A SHORT VIEW OF Map "41938 THE STATE OF l#i ANj^''--v WRITTEN IN 1 605 Sir JOHN ^ARINGTON, Knt., AND NOW FIRST EDITED BY Ri.v. W. DUNN MACRAY, M.A., F.S.A. (Dvforb anil ^"onbon : JAMES PARKER AND CO. 1879. Price Is. 6d. Anecdota Bodleiana : Gleanings from Bodleian MSS. I. OXFORD : BV E. PICKARD HALL, M.A,, AND J, H. STACY, Printers to the University. A SHORT VIEW OF THE STATE OF IRELAND, WRITTEN IN 1605 Sir JOHN HARINGTON, Knt., AND NOW FIRST EDITED BY Rev. W. DUNN MACRAY, M.A.; F..S,A. ©xforb ;inb JTouDoii : JAMES PARKER AND CO. 1879. ^3 KXCHANGE 7^<^ PREFACE. In the fact that the Memorial here first printed proceeds from the pen of Sir John Harington there will be to many prima facie evidence that it is likely to be worth reading. Nor, as the Editor thinks, will the expectation thus afforded be disappointed. The object with which the paper was written was one at which the author himself says those to whom it was addressed ' may fortune smyle' and others ' make great sport,' and certainly the smile will not be wanting with those who read it now; this object being none other than that one who had only been known for- merly as a gay courtier and a humorous and not over- particular writer, and then more lately as one who had seen some slight military service in Ireland, followed by a period of debt, difficulty, and durance, should be ap- pointed, per saltiim and simultaneously, Lord High Chan- cellor of Ireland and Archbishop of Dublin. And yet the proposal, made with gravity and urged with earnestness and learning, is supported by so much of good sense and good feeling, that one cannot but allow that, however unfit the author's antecedents and his naively confident self- assertion rendered him for the ofi&ces he craved, it had 0898 I i — VI been well for both Church and State in Ireland had his enlarged and temperate views (resembling Bacon's) been held by others in place and power there, and his capa- bility for understanding the Irish, and his friendly dealing with their prejudices, displaced the want of sympathy and intelligence which too generally marked the temper of the rulers. Although no name is attached to our manuscript, the occurrence in it of the Latin lines addressed to James I (here assigned to the year 1603) which occur also in the Nuga Aniiqucjs, .is sufficient demonstration of the author- ship, and of itself dispenses with any need of the further internal corroborations which might easily be pointed out. But there is a copy preserved in a volume of miscel- laneous papers among the MSS. at Eaton Hall, Cheshire, which bears the author's name, as well as dates of time and place ^ And the original letter which accompanied the memorial when sent to Cecil exists among the Cecil Papers at Hatfield House, Herts ^. Of this the Editor is enabled, by permission of the INIarquis of Salisbury and through the kindness of R. T. Gunton, Esq., the Librarian, to subjoin a copy. " Right honorable my very good Lord. "Your Lordship hath been pleased in tymes past to reed some discowrces of myne and to geve them better allow- ' Third Report of the Commhsion on Historical MSS., 1872, p. 212. ' Ibid, p. 1 59. vu ance then men of meaner judgment. Now I am bold to entreat your Lordship with the lyke favorable appro- bacion to reed this short relacion (for yt ys to long for a lettre) contayning my humble and zelows offer for his Majesties sarvyce in lerland. When your Lordship hath read yt, I make but one request more, and that in a word ys but this, that what successe soever yt shall please God to send to yt, my offer may have, as yt deservs, an honorable and favorable interpretacion. So I humbly take leave, from Kellston, 20 April, 1605. Your Lordships at comawndment, JOHN HARYNGTON." Addressed: "To the right honorable his very good Lord the Lord Viscownt Cramborne at the Cowrt." Harington made his application while as yet he only knew of the ' languishing sickness ' of the Chancellor, Archbishop Loftus ; but the decease of Loftus had already occurred on the 5th of the same month. His successor, Thomas Jones, Bishop of Meath, was appointed to both his offices of Archbishop of Dublin and Lord High Chancellor by Privy Seal of 14 Oct. and Letters Patent of 8 Nov. Among the many historical allusions with which this Memorial is enriched, that which is of most interest is the mention (p. 1 o) of the case of the supposed far-more-than- centenarian Countess of Desmond. The earliest notice VIU hitherto known is found in Sir Walter Raleigh's History of the World, published in 1614, but written during Sir Walter's imprisonment and before 161 2, where he says that he saw her in 1589 and that she lived many years afterwards. Into the much-argued controversy as to her real age the editor will not enter; he will only remark that while her alleged longevity is here reduced from the reaching to 140 years to the being 'above 120/ it is nevertheless referred to as if, being a well-known fact, the case did not require demonstration. At the same time, however, with just the same passing allusion as to a thing notorious, the more than 140 years usually assigned to the Countess of Desmond are here transferred to an anonymous individual of the other sex, of whose case no mention whatever has hitherto been found elsewhere, and fresh elements for dispute are consequently imported into this quccstio vexata ! Readers who are acquainted with Spenser's Viru) 0/ the State of Ireland will find in the two writers several pas- sages that are mutually illustrative although written with difi"ering tone and spirit ; e. g. they agree in asserting that the Irish wars were prolonged by military commanders for their own interest, in noticing the horrors of the famine in Munster, and in taxing the Clerg}' sent from England with ignorance and utter unfitness ^ ; while we ' See also Sir John Davj-s' letters to Cecil in 1606 ; Calendar of State Papers relating to Ireland, 1603-6, pp. 143, 476, and Preface to Calendar of 1606-S, pp. Iv, hi. IX learn from Harington that he and Sir Arthur Savage were amongst those who in 1599 proposed that the King of Scotland should be invited to undertake the subjugation of Ireland, a proposal which Spenser mentions and utterly and warmly condemns. From other autobiographical memoranda of a private character we learn that Harington wrote a Commentary on the sixth book of the ^Eneid for the use of Prince Henry, and that after 1 603 he had suffered imprisonment, apparently through some dispute with relatives regarding money-matters, to which he here makes only indistinct allusions, and which is not found mentioned elsewhere. The MS. from which the text is printed exists in the Rawlinson collection in the Bodleian Library, and is numbered B. 162. It is written in a neat and formal secretary's hand, and may have been the copy actually transmitted either to Cecil, the Secretary of State, or to Blount, the ex-Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, to whom it was addressed as being the two Ministers whom the King was most likely to consult. Another, and an anonymous, tract on the Commonwealth of Scotland is bound with it, and the following letter from Rawlinson's friend, Edw. Umfreville, is inserted, which relates to both tracts, but which speaks too slightingly of the one now printed. "Dear Sir, "The Letter to my Lords Devon and Cramborne I take to be wrote by one Harrington, who in his Letter informs you he is a Knight and a layman, requesting to be made a Priest and a Bishop in order to succeed to the Chan- celorship of Ireland, which he makes suit for — 'tis only a copy ; nor have I any opinion of the writer as he shews too great an enthusiastic fondness for his own qualifi- cations. As to the Scolish Common - Wealth the Title gives the account, and I believe [it] was collected to forward the Union propos'd in the reign of James 1st ; it is a very pretty thing and quoad me ought to be given to the Press, as a pi[e]ce of use in this present season. I am yours donee E. UMFREVILLE. ^.4. Q. 1748." To Dr. Rawlinson. The Editor issues this little brochure tentatively as the first of a contemplated short series of publications from MSS. in the Bodleian Library. From the many things there existing which deserve to be printed but which are too small to compose volumes, it is proposed to print a few miscellaneous selections in the present pamphlet-form. They will be uniform in type and appearance, but each tract will be complete in itself. Beyond scrupulous care in reproduction of texts, the Editor proposes to add only such brief introductions as may seem really necessary, with indexes, and a few notes where these may appear requisite or desirable. To my Lord of Dcvonshyrc and my Lord of Cramborne. 1605. "D IGHT honorable my very good Lords, having herd of late of the languyshing sicknes of the Chawncellour of lerland, and being moved in myne own disposycion and encoraged by some of my frends to ^ sew to be his suc- cessor, I had some skruple in my mynde whetliQr -1 man myght with a safe conscyence ambire magisfraium, se^y for an office, specially of soch nature, or owght^ ratncr-exspecr to bee called and appointed to the same. For I have read that Scipio, when one of his famillyar frends made request to him to bee thresorer for the warrs in his army, denyed him the suyt plainly, and bad him not take yt vnkyndly, " for 1 " (sayd hee) " have entreated an old frend of myne to accept thearof and hee hath denyed mee :" signifying that men showld not sew but bee sewd vnto to take places of charge. But yet seing the doctrin, or at least the practis, of this tyme ys otherwyse, and men that obskure themselves . shall not bee sowght for with torchlyght, but rather this age ys aptest to thinke better of them that thinke best of themselvs, I ame bold to discover myselfe to your Lordships in this my more honest then ernest * [The words ' stand for that place ' arc crossed out and ' sew to be his successor' written over them.] desyre : for I will ever practis that rewl on myselfe toward a contented mynde, that was sayd of Aristippus : Omnis Aristippum decuit color et status et res, Spectantem \Tentantcni\ maiora,fcre prccsentibus cequum. And the French proverb teacheth what a torment yt ys to bee in longing, Desir ti'a repos : and yf my lot bee to ly ve a pry vat man, I can with the Lacedemonian reioyse that Brytany hath so many hunderds more worthy then my- selfe. But becawse I ame to speake for myselfe to your Lordships in this matter, in which yt ys lykely his INIajestie will most specially bee advysed by yow two, your Lord- ships v/ili allow me allso to speake of myselfe the more •fra'iitkly, withowi imputacion of any arrogancy, that which 'in testithony of a good conscyence I may say trewly, and partly within your Lordships' own knowledges or at lest probable coniectures. Fyrst, in the generallytye, I may challeng in the conceyt of your Lordships that some imployment in the Comon- welth ys in a sort dew to my breeding and cowrse of lyfe, of both which I thanke God I need not shame : secondly, for my aptnes of servyce for that realm of lerland I may no lesse trewly take on mee somwhat more than ordi- nary, as having been thear twyse, once in the profowndest peace and quyet that ever yt enioyed in Queen Elisabeth's days, after in the sharpest and moste chargeable war that hath been in that realm since the Crown of England had any interest in yt. In the fyrst of thease I herd often the wysest and gravest men of this land debating of the means how to plant Colonyes thear, how to enritch them, how to —3— govern them, and after I saw those oversyghts committed that theyr forsyghts suspected. I learned on how lyght cawses the Desmond's wars began that was then but newly ended; I vnderstood the great charge the Queen was at for them ; I herd the tragedyes of rapin, flyght, and famin that that poor province of Munster had acted, so terrible spe- cially for the famin as no Cronicle of Jew or Gentill hath the lyke. In my second jorney thither I both learnd the cawses and fellt the effects of this last notable rebellyon, and tasted some of those disasters, and may say Quorum pars vna/ui: thear I saw some errors committed and some dewtyes omitted, both very strawng in Comawnders of soch fame : fynally, I stayd thear till that more neces- sary then honorable cessacion was concluded : after this I went to the Earl of Teroan and spake with him, for which I was in dawnger to have encurred the Queen's displeasure, yf yow, my Lord of Cramborn, had not rec- tefyed very nobly and justly her misconceyt she had apprehended of my goyng to him : vppon which she very' graciowsly (for I reioyce evn yet to remember yt) gave mee the pryvat heering of a long relacion of all owr proceedings in lerland, and withall acquaynted mee with her purpose in some soch importawnt matters as your Lordship at that tyme very wysely and frendly advysed mee to impart to few, and I foUowd your dyrec- cion ^ Then allso did I bring your Lordship from the Cown- sell thear, that Pitiful! face of lerland, as your Lordship termed yt, that hath since been washt somewhat cleaner * [See NtigcE Aniiquce, 1S04, vol. i., pp. 309-10.] C Justice then Atorney [Pophaml : Sir Fr. Wal- singam. [1584] 4oo,ojo''. [1599- November, 1599. — 4 — |i6oo.] I Ovid. Ars Ainat. ii. 13.] I Knighred by Kssex, 30 July, 1599.] with blood and hot water, and ev'n then (which I cannot forget, and sewr I ame your Lordship doth remember) I told your Lordship how Sir Artur Savage and some other, not the worst servytors thear, held lerland no better then lost, yf his ]\Iajestie of Skodand, now owr Soveraygn, did not vndertake yt, and I presumed to advyse (so con- fident I was then of yowr good mynde to his Majestic) that he myght bee mocyond to accept of yt, and geve a sonne in hostage for his fydelyty, which speech of myne your Lordship showd no manner dislyke of, but only sayd yt wold not bee. And in this desperat state and case your Lordship, my Lord of Devonshyre, fownd lerland, the rebells hartned, the subiects weakned and impoveryshed, the tresure exhawsted, the towns discontented, and yet with incredyble felycyty and vallor yow saved yt and reduced yt to that quyet and repose yt now hath. The which your noble servyce, as yt will bee and hath been remembred by mee and others to your eternall honor, so I assewr mee yt stirrs vp in your Lordship a continuall care of the good of that realm, according to the saying, Non \Nec\ minor est virtus quam quccrere porta tueri. And now geve mee leave, my Lords, in my zeal to that Cowntry (whear I allso have receaved some dignity) to tell your Lordships that the quyet yt now enioyeth ys not a perfect recovery of helth, but rather (as some, not of the worst berth and breeding in that Cowntry, have told mee) lyke to a man that having had a pestilent and furyows fever, and all his blood and strength spent thearwith, lyes quyet, not becawse hee wold not, but becawse hee cannot. stir ; but yet as redy still to rage and rave yf the humor had strength as before. Whearfore, to delyver my poor opinioi\, the way to perfect the quyet of that country now begonne ys, fyrst, by a Parlament of that Realme to com- pose, as neer as ys possyble, all the broken and dowbtfull titles and clayms, specially of the great howses, examining them within 40 yeer past, or according to dew cowrse of justyce, within terms of preskription, (which the Jubile of the Jews did in some sort allow) : and that Commis- syoners for that purpose bee named of theyr own Cowntry or choyse for evry Province, and that the partyes be bownd by soUemne oth to stand to theyr order and award, which may allso bee recorded and ratifyed by act of Parlament ; and whear matters seem very ambyguows and the partyes very obstinat, to put yt to lotts, or, rather then fay], to combat, which in former ages hath been done in England, and agrees with a maxim of our law, Better a mischcef then an inconvenience. The patrimonyes thus devyded and establyshed, the King's part known, the tenures and intayls recorded in the Exchequer thear, the very seeds of wrongs and op- pressyons wowld bee consumed, marciall law (God knows in that Realm a moste parciall law) myght bee layd asyde; but insteed thearof a Starchamber of competent Judges, and well mixed of Nobillyty and Cownsellors, really establyshed, to punish ryotts and all exorbitant misdemeanors. Then showld the Poor man know his meum and the Peer his non meum, which now ys strawngly confownded ; then the Lords wold be as feard to commit oppressyon, the Shreevs extorcion, the other offycers brybery, as they are with vs : then most of the chargable c 2 — 6 — ILil). I. ftOfC llll't.] forts wold make proffitable ferms, and the noble men myght build palaces and sollace themselvs with parks and ponds, and thear tenawnts lyve in as good peace and plenty as heer in England. Neyther will yowr Lordships thinke I dream an Eutopia heer, that neyther hath been nor ys lyke to bee : for sewr yt was never more lyke to bee then at this instant vnder owr present Soveraygn, so blessed for his peace, so renowned for his goodnes and justyce, whose very name ys more awfully reverenced thear then the armes and armyes of all his progenitors : soch ys the nature of Justice, that the most vniust honor yt, the most feerce submit them to yt, the barbarous obay yt ; yt makes, yt confyrras, yt encreases, the frutes of peace; and whear yt ys thear indeed Bcati pacifici. But this owr Captens and men of warre thear perhaps do not wysh ; at least I observed, evn at my fyrst being thear, that some of them tooke speciall care how to nowrysh the seeds of new quarrells, lest yf all wear quyet theyr crafte wold bee owt of request, doing heerin lyke owr gun- powder-makers or salt-peeter-men, that fyrst dig vp owr flowrs to serve theyr turn, and in putting backe the earth agayn leave a mixture apt to breed more of the same stuffe in few yeers. This makes IMachiavell in his booke of the Art of Warre both confesse and confyrme that hee that makes soldyery his art to lyve by can hardly bee eyther vir bonus or cives bo)ius, honest man or good subiect, as one that in his hart wysheth not to effect that for which his Prince geves him his pay. But your Lordship being no JNIercenary Commawnder, but a noble Peer of this realm as well as Leavtenant of that, I know do bear a far other mynde, and thearfore do not only wysh the peace and floryshing estate of that Kingdom, but are very lyke to effect yt. Yet, vnder reformacion, geve mee leave to say this to both your Lordships, yt ys not the sending thither of Judges or great Lawyers that can pacyfy theyr conten- tions or set an end to theyr suyts, as well appeered in the yeer 1587, when two of our principall Judges of this land now lyving tooke a long and paynfuU, "and as vayn and frutelesse, a jorney into Munster, whear, as I ame sewr yowr Lordships can tell, they prevayled so litle for seriing the vndertakers that in no long tyme after theyr tenawnts wear all expulsed, themselvs, many of them, glad to fly to the port- towns, and yf they had been overtaken they wold have had a quietus est for any more vnder- takings. And thearfore I dare bee bold to say they muste bee of another robe that shall do good among them to compose theyr questyons and end theyr fewds and quarrells. They suspect all strawngers and specially a lawyer, yet I will not deny but Sir Robert Gardyner and the Master of the Rolls thear had great good report in all the Cowntry, but I dowbt wheather eyther of them wold take so paynfuU an offyce consydering theyr yeers and some indisposycion of body, for, yf they wowld, sewr they myght do moch good, and take vp very mafiy of thease desperat controversyes. But, bee yt spoken withowt arrogancy, vnder your Lord- ships' good favors, in this kynde of appeasing debates and quyeting theyr contentions, which requyres no soche deep skill in law, but only an vprvght conscyence and generall vnderstanding of the grownds of the laws of God and nature (thowgh I have allso red Justinian in Lord Cheef Justices. [Sir Edm. Anderson and Sir John Pjphain.] [C. J. K. B. Ird. 1586- 16 H-] [Sir Ant. St. Leger, 1593-1609.] — 8 [ F^gerton, Reader at Line. Inn, Lent, 1382.] in [Sir Conyers Clifford] [?] Cambridg vnder Doctor Bynge \ and Litleton in an Inne of Cowrt whear my Lord Chawncellor that now ys was a Reader), I may say trewly of myselfe I have in nature a disposycion and some dexterytye to deal in soche cawses; to which yt hath pleasd God somtyme to geve a successe beyond vulger exspectacion. And, that I may not troble your Lordships with pryvat instances of matters falhng in compasse of a Shreeve or a Justyce, it was my hap many yeers since to treat between two of the greatest Erls of this Realm, being then at very great varyawnce, and they both of excellent speritts and standing on poynts of honor as became theyr byrths, theyr cowrage, theyr yowth, yet in short tyme, with my honest handling the matter between them, I browght them, with each a page, to meet at my poor howse, and thear perfectly to reconcyle themselvs. Allso in lerland the governowr of Connoght employed mee to end a longe sute and deep grudge between some of good sort in Galloway, and thowgh I wear then a meer strawnger to them I browght the matter to good terms of end between them. Your Lordships well know that in former ages thear wear more Byshops Lord Chawncellors in England then Lawyers, and I fynde in the Harralds' books one Harington Chawncellor that was neyther of bothe, and Sir Thomas Moore in King Hary the viijih's tyme was more a devyne then a lawyer, and so moche the more devyne that hee was never known to have taken any brybe but one, and that was a sylver cup which hee tooke of the mother and gave yt full of wyne to the dawghter^. ' [Thomas Bynge, LL.D., Reg. Prof, of Civil Law, 1574-1594. See note i.] * L^ce note 2.] 9 — Sir Christopher Hatton in our days, being no great Gierke in eyther, became the place well, thowgh he became his former place moche better ; his next successor was a meer Lawyer, for I can charge him with no dyvinitye. But his successor, (yf La\vyers wold not take exception to mee) I wowld say ys no greater Lawyer then Dyvyne. But I forget myselfe to talke of Englysh Chawncellors ; I com- pare but with Irysh, whear meaner witts then a Moore, a Bacon, a Bromly, an Egerton, may discharge the place. As for mee I thinke my very genius doth in a sort lead mee to that Cowntry: for — whearas dyvers are wont to complayn, some of the dawngerows passages thether, some of an yll affection of that people to owr nacion, some of the soyle and ay.r not agreeing with them, some that the Realm in generall ys beggerly and of no account — I thank God I, for my part, have crost that sea fowr severall tymes, in depth of winter, in heat of sommer, yet skarse was sea- sycke ; I never fownd in the remote sheers of England or Walls eyther the gentry more kynde in theyr fashion of intertaynment, or the marchawnts and townsmen and women more cyvill in behaveowr, or the mean sort and peasawnts more loving and servisable whear they are honestly vsed, throwgh all the fyve provinces ; but they are so seldome vsed to soch vsage, and so grosly abvsed, somtyme by the soldyer in war, somtyme by the offycer in peace, that yt ys no wonder yf they take revenge, except wee wold looke for that perfeccion of obedyence in them to keep that new rewl, when one takes away the cloke to geve the cote allso, and we skarce observe the old saying, Love yowr frend and hate yowr enemy. As for the wholsomnes of the Gowntry, many impute that to [1587- 1591.] [Sir John Puckering, 1592-6.] [Egerton, Lord Elles- mere, 1603- [Sir N. Ba- con, 1551 - 79. Sir T. Bromley. 1579-87.] [St. Malt. 43.] lO the earth and ayr that springs indeed of theyr own surfet and disorder; but whear a man hath lyvd above 140 yeer, a woman, and she a cowntes, above 120, the Cowntry ys lyke to be hehhy, and for myselfe having been thear both in spring, sommer, awtumne, and winter, I thanke God I was never sycke 24 howrs. As for the beggerlynes of yt, no wonder yf war and spoyle make beggers, but I will never cownt that realm beggerly that hath wood, corn, wool, kyne, deer, fowl, and fysh. Furder, I cannot cownt myselfe a strawnger thear that ame somwhat more then ordinarily acquaynted with all the Erls and great men thear, Ormond, Killdare, Toomont, Clanrichard, Teroan. Terconnell, and, to fill vp the number, the two Erls in the Towr', who have been (by accydent) prisoners in this howse, besyde dyvers of the barrons and knights of good accownt and good names both English and Irysh, Rryans, Nugents, Gerralds, Darceys, Connors, Blages, Edmonds, all which have in theyr severall kyndes and tymes done me cowrtesyes, and many, thowgh thear wear no great cawse, have taken mee thear for a great Clarke. Neyther ys the Cowntry withowt rare examples of fidel- lyty in servants, of love and chastytye in matrons, howso- ever some pens have taxed the one with trechery, the other with incontynency : gold hath corrupted of both sorts in all cowntryes, yet have thear been many men thear, that neyther for terror or reward wold forsake theyr masters evn to the losse of theyr lyves, and myselfe have seen a worthy Lady thear that defended her husband from his furyows enemy (who loved her perhaps more than hee * [See note 3.] — II — hated him) and in defence of her husband was wownded and left for dead, yet now lyves not only an honor to her nation but evn to her sex. Thease consyderacions put together have animated Hiee the rather to offer myselfe to this place of servyce in that Cowntry, in which I have a great hope and a moch greater desyre to deserve well of my most graciows Soveraygn, whose justyce and grace next vnder God have vpheld my poor estate from utter rewyn, that I may justly say the verse in Ovid, dc Tn'slibus, Si quid adhuc ego sum, muneris omnc siii est. And thearfore, in hope to doe his Maiestie servyce thear, I can bee content to leave my cowntry and sweetest home, in which, thowgh I possesse not all those magni- ficall sollaces that your Lordships and soch great states are owners of, yet I enioy some of those pryvat content- ments that greater men wysh for and want. And least yowr Lordships showld ymagin that this conceyt for lerland ys a newsprung desyre in mee, yt was my hap to wryte, (now more then two yeers past,) a kynde of fare- well to all poetry and lyght studyes, and, as yt wear, a tender of my devoted servyce to his Maiestie in what kynde so ever of servyce hee wold employ mee, which being not vnpleasing to his Maiestie then, I presume shall not be tedyows to your Lordships now. /« h(xc verba : — Musa jocosa, meos solari assueta dolores Et mecum vicdijs ludere docta malis, Me peregrinanlem comi/aia, et castra sequentem, Ausa viihi in tumidis et comes ire fretis, Qua me ruricolam, tractantem et arata, sequuta es, [Trist. I. vi. 6.] 12 Nec poteras ihalamis abstinuisse mei's, Te nunc JEionce (namque hinc es nata) reh'nquo, Filius hie hceres te colat vsque mens. Nunc iuvat oblitis mediiari seria ludis, Hos annos, animum hunc, Musa severa decei ; Jam pro ficiitijs solatia vera relucent. Cum Dominum, Regem cum resaluto meum. Jam dabitur veras audire ac reddere voces, Nostra sat est pietas dissiviulata diu. Quod superest CEvi, patricE patria;que parenti Dedico, nec levibus iam datur hora iocis. Huic mea mens soli, mea mens huic semper adharet, Hunc solum, hunc semper, promeruisse paro. Seu velit Hispano bellum indixisse potenti, Jiista sub invicto Principe bella sequar : Seu pacem mavult, antiquaque Jijcdera iungi, Quam cupidus pads nuncius ire velim ! Sire satis domitis leges perscribere Hibernis, In me consilium sentiet esse pium : Seu velit injames patricB punire tirannos. Tela tirannorum iendet ad ora manus : Digna vel augusto struxisse palacia rege. Ah ! nimis his operis ingeniosus eram : Seu iuvat interdum sacris dare tempera libris. Lector et auditor non malus esse queam. Quid velit incerlum est, sed quod velit impiger ipse Exequar ; hoc ccrtum est, Musa iocosa, vale ! This, thowgh thear bee no great learning in yt, yet your Lordships being both learned I know will not mis- lyke, and as I ment to cease to bee Poeta when I wrate yt — ^3 — so I thinke I began to be Va/t's, (my Muse having had few cawses of solace since ;) but I protest at that tyme my mynde assented thearto as frankly as my muse, and yt was exprest from my hart as trewly as from my hand. And yowr Lordships may bee pleasd to observe, that I did evn then take vppon mee to bee able to doe some honest servyce in lerland, and that I had then a kynde of purpose to studye wholly dyvinytye, and yf I wear then so affected and so enclyned, sewr the great trobles I have sustayned since, the deep greevawnces by restraynt of li- berty, by sicknes,by vnkynd kinsfolke, by vnfaythfuU frends, have not only quickned my vnderstanding and encreased my experyence and knowledg in matters of the Star- chamber and Chawncery (in both which I have fownd most honorable justys), but allso mortyfyed my vayn and ydle affections, and made mee apt for a more holly vocacion, from which thowgh since my comming from Cambridg I was never averse, yet afflyctions, as yowr ^ wisdoms know, are forcyble and inward motyves and calls, that have allmost made mee vow myselfe heerto. And heerin, my Lords, thowgh at the fyrst yow may for- tune smyle at the reeding of this that follows, yet I shall entreat yow to way my offer as seryowsly made by mee in this behalfe as in the other, and yt may bee that which I in pyety, and zeal both to God's servyce and his Majesties, do heer offer, your Lordships vppon mature consydera- cion may fynde reasons in good pollycy of state to accept. My offer and dcsyre, as I towcht in the beginning, ys to bee the Chawncellor's successor, and, to explane yt playnly, [' Lordships ' crossed out.] — 14 — [I] Timothy 3- [i] [Geneva ver- sion.] ['No strik- er.'] I mean as well to his sperytuall offyce as his temporall. This I know wowld make great sport to som man in the world that in Queen Elisabeth's tyme traduced mee for a Papist, looking on all my doings with so envyous eys as now I fear both his inward and outward syght fayleth him, for yt will seem to him a straung vielaviorphosis that his Papist thinks no skorn to bee a Superintendent. But beleeve mee, my Lords, I sport not with your wisdoms, and lesse with the offyce of a Byshop, and becawse, as I noted before, your Lordships are both well learned, and yew, my Lord of Devonshyre, are a great devyne and well read both in the Fathers and late wryters (perhaps more than some Byshops in lerland), I appeal to both your wysest judgments, fyrst yf I may not honestly seek yt, secondly yf I bee not capable of the place, thirdly whether the exawmple bee not good and godly rather than any way oflFensyve or skandalows. For the fyrst, I take myselfe warranted by expresse words of the Skrypture, fidclis sermo, Si qiiis episcopatum desiderat, bonum opus desiderat. Thearfore that yt ys a lawfull and a comendable desyre I hope no man can justly call in question. For the second, the same Apostle in the same chapter setteth down the propertyes and notes of soch as shold bee the Candidati or competitors of that place, and they are thease, as they are set down in the best translacion read in owr Churche. A bishop, sayth hee, 77iust bee rnrc- proovable, husband of one wyfe, watching, sober, modest, harberoivs, apt to teach, not gevn to wjne, no quarreller, not gevn to filllhy lucre, and so foorth, as yowr Lordships know and can see at your pleasures. In all thease eyther — 15 ioyntly or severally try mee, and way mee with the Byshops of lerland, and yf I way not in the ballawnce with the best of them, let me bee cownted to lyght. Yf any cryme bee fownd in my whole lyfe I refuse all good opinion, yet hath my lyfe been syfted, not by him that sifted Saint Peeter, but by some that when the wynde stood in some doors cold both syft and shifte very cunningly. For being husband of one wyfe, howsoever yt bee ment, (for I judg not those Bishops that are bigami) I dare stand to the sevearcst judgments, whether they will judg of mee by Saint Pawl's rewle in the second, third, and forth verse, or of my wyfe by that of the eleavnth verse : and, above all, I will bee bold to say this, that in the cowrse of my whole lyfe I have ever been that which hee specially wisheth a byshop to bee, u(\)iKapyifiOS. Neyther compare I with Irysh Byshops as skorning theyr meanesse, for I know some of them to bee men of reverent guyfts, and some have been partakers with mee by neyghborhood and accydent both of good and yll fortunes, and wold bee very willing, I know, to have mee a fellow laborer in the desolat vyneyard of the Churche of lerland, which bringeth yet sowr grapes soch as set not teeth but swoords on edge. For to speake somwhat of the gover[n]ment or rather misgover[n]ment of theyr Church, what a strawng thing ys yt that in 44 yeers preaching thear was skant forty-fowr men owt of the Eng- lysh Pale that wowld willingly come to servyce. And what was the cawse heerof ? meerly the yll choyse of the ministers sent thether, when profane men go to convert men superstycious, Purytans are sent to perswade Papist. [St. Luke xxii. 31.] — i6 And to looke no farder backe then to my Lord of Essex being thear, the fashion was, all his tyme, to reed no prayers owt of the Communion booke, but onely a Chaplen kneeled down in the middest of a roome, and thear made a prayer ex tempore, of neer halfe an howr, ending yt with a Pater rtoster ; which thowgh some of my Lord's Chaplens that had voluble towngs cowld perform in some tollerable sort, yet to heer Sir Connyers Clifford's Chaplen and some others attempt the lyke, and stammer yt owt lyke a boy that wanted a prompter, grew so rydi- culows that yt was allmost impyows : and straight the recusant Lords wowld aske vs why wee wold blame them for refusing owr prayers, when my Lord Levtenant and the governowrs did show so manifest mislyke of them. But for my part, I tooke a far other cowrse in my pryvat conference, and wold continew the lyke yf I had publique awtorytye. Whear I saw Crosses or Images remayning in any of theyr Churches or howses, I told them owr Church did not condemne the vse but the abvse of thease, when throwgh a neglygent and affected ygnorawnce the peeple creep to them and are prostrate afore them as to deytyes ; but for those that wold breake them and defase them with skorn to the proioti'pos, which no Christian wold doe, but soch as eyther Judaiz or Mahometize, I assewred them owr Church held them as worthy of punishment as owr State held theyr cowntryman that trayld Queen Elisabeth's picture at his horse tayle. For theyr Copes and comly Vestiments, I sayd that the Queen and Church heer did not disallow them, yet I wysht theyr charytyes to remember how litle pleasing yt ys to God to guild the ded walls of the Church, and cloth the stone allters with purple and needle worke, while the poor, being the trew lyving members of the Church and (being honest) the temples of the Holly Ghostc, are famysht, naked, and harborlesse. For Confessyon in dew fashion and fowrm, owr Communyon booke, owr learnedest devynes, and owr wysest statesmen do hyghly approve yt, only they are lothe injicere laqueum conscieiitijs, to snare men's con- scyences, by imposing a necessytye, as wee see in bodyly deseases (except they bee very apparaunt) no man's frend, nor phisycion, will compell him to take phisycke. For Fasting in Lent and other appointed days, owr prayrs in the booke, owr allmynaks, owr proclamacions evry Lent, show we approove them, and thowgh I cowld not deny that wee vse to moch indulgence to the breakers of that law, and they of the other syde are extreemly skru- pelows in the same, yet in rewl of charyty they showld not judg vs and wee much lesse condemne them, acknow- ledging myselfe culpable theyrin oftyme rather for com- pany then for cawse ; neyther can I excuse yt but with Saint Augustyn's sayinge in a fawlt not vnlyke to this in nature ; whear company entyseth to folly (sayth hee) pudei \interduin\ non esse tmpudenlem, to bee shamfest ys esteemed the greatest shame. Now for theyr visyohs at Saint Patryk's Purgatory confyrmed by some, and theyr miracle of the water running backe 24 howrs at Athlone testyfyed by many', I discovered the naturall cawses of both. I confuted the Earl of Teroans preests in an argument before * [See note 4.] [Conf. ii. 9.] 2,400 Skots sla)"!! at Aloan. — i8 — [Sess. xiv. cap. I.] [St. Luke xiii. 3.] [Eph. him, and made him say all was not so cleer as thr-y made yt. For theyr skruple they made to come to owr servyce, thowgh some wear very obstinat, yet others seemed to bee better satisfyed when I showd them how the same wee read in Englysh they reed in Latten. For the Sacraments; that owr Babtysm ys not disallowed nor iterated by the adversaryes ; that in the Lord's Supper, thowgh wee vse not words of realytyes and transubstancia- cion, words not known to the prymityve Churche, yet wee have a most reverent opinion of yt, wee receavd yi kneelinge, and that the Queen did wysh men wold leave disputing of yt and beleeve of yt evry one as God showld geve him grace. For Repentawnce, commonly calld Pen- av/nce, whether yt bee, as the Cowncell of Trent defynes, a severall Sacrament, or (as some learned men held then and yet doe) a part of Babtisme and as yt wear a remem- brawnce or continuacion of yt, wee all affyrm yt godly and necessary, according to that text, Ntsi penitentiam habueriiis onmes simtil peribiiis. As for Maryadge, I askt them how they colde say, Sacramenium inagnum est hoc, seing theyr preests eschew yt as vnholy, and theyr layitye observe yt skarce as a cy\dll bargayn, whyle with hand- fasting and devorsing they play fast and loose at theyr pleasure. For the rest, the Church of England allows them as reverent ceremonyes, yea misteryes, thowgh not fynding in the fyrst 600 yeer whear they are called properly Sacraments. Finally, I prooved that every Byshop lawfully called ys a successor to the Apostles, and that this exoticall power claymed by one over all hath slender fowndacion — 19 — in Scripture, and thearfore no wonder yf owr cowntryman Bedawrate 900 yeer since, Stultus populus quczrit Romam} . By these and soch kynd of myld conferences many may bee wonne, and not as owr men have vsed them, by vyolent hewing down theyr crosses, burning and defasing theyr ymages, rayling in the pulpet on all theyr Saynts and ceremonyes, feasting on Ash-wedensdays and Good- Frydays, going to plow on theyr Christmas-days, and pro- nowncing that all theyr awncestors are damned that did but pray to owr Lady, with soch lyke, as yt ys no marvell yf soch laborers have in 44 yeers made so slender an harvest. But now, my Lords, yt may bee obiected that the ex- ample ys strawnge for a Knight, a layman, and one moche conversant in lyght studyes and poetry, to bee made a Byshop and a Freest ; but that ys not new or strawnge. For, many hunderd yeers since, Novatianus was chosen a Byshop before hee was babtised, and Nectarius, a man specially commended by Mr. Calvin, being both lay and vnlearned was made Byshop of Con- stantinople ; and not to travell so far for examples, Wickam, a good survayor of building in King Edward the Third's tyme, hee that wrate on Winsor wall, ' This howse made Wickam,' meaning, not that hee had made the howse, but the howse had made and raysd him, this Wickam was made Byshop of Winchester, and howsoever hee cold not preach to edefye the Church yet hee will bee famows to all posterytye for edifyces in the Church. Cromwell, neyther Doctor in learning nor Saynt in lyving, was vice-gerent to Henry the Eighth in cawses ecclesy- ' [See note 5.] [Parker, De Anltg. Eccl. Brit. 1572. P- 286.] 20 [i5o8- 1512.] [Dean of Worcester, 1597-1604.] My Lord of Devon['s] chaplen, IThomas Bastard.] [De Civ. Dei. xviii. 14.] asticall ; and in this cowntry a Knight, and awncestor to Sir Georg Speake, whose father was Knight of the Bath as himselfe ys now, became a sperituall man of meer devocion in the Church of Exciter. In Yorkshyre, Sir James Harington, Knight, and after preest, one of owr howse of Bryerlegh, was abowt 130 yeer since Dean of Yorke : so as thear want not examples of men of good name, and of my own name, that have obtaynd as raoch as I sew for. As for the name of a poet (of which I wold I wear worthy) I know not why that shold not bee a step rather then a stop ^ to any preferment of learninge : for neyther did Sir Philip Sydney's poetry hinder him from being a great soldyer and wyse statesman, nor Doctor Eeds pleasant vayn in that kynde hinder him from being an excellent preacher and good Church-man ; besyde, one of your Lordships hath a chaplen that hath publyshed a worke in this kynde ^, which I commended, and told yowr Lordship how I wrate to him this among others. No envy stop thy race in running ryme. Nor bee that hygh vocacion shamed of yt ; A poet hathe one step vnto a prophet, And soche a step as ys no shame to clyme. And myselfe, in a comment I wrate for the Prince on the sixt booke of Vergill (a copy whearof I gave as a token of my love to yowng Sir Willim Cecill), have showd some proofe of the affynyty of those studyes; witnes Saint Awgustin, who sayth the fyrst Poets wear Theologi, as the [' let * crossed out.] \Chrestoleros; seuen bookes of epigrairies, by T. B. 8". Lond. 1598.] 21 name Vaies doth partly signifye. And thowgh I ame not so presumptuus of my skill as some of my cote in King Edward's days, that wowld preach in gold chayns and guilt spurrs, and that in no worse awdytory then Oxford ', gestum agere spectantibus tot Roscijs ^, yet vppon lawfuU calling I wold not dowbt both to show and encrease my talent, and rather in lerland then heer, both becawse heer ys better choyse of laborers, and yt hath been sayd by owr Savyor, Nemo propheta i?t patria. Now for calling, I wowld think my Soveraygns choyce and allowawnce not only a lawfull and suffycient but a most honorable callinge, hee being vnder God owr cheefe and sacred hed, and the moste learned and excellent devyne that ever was kinge since King David, and I must frankly confesse that his Majesties often and admirable discowrses in theology have stird and con- fyrmd this godly desyre in mee ; and except his wisdome shall approove this my desyre I will master my own affeccion in yt, and take yt for an infallible token that God hath not called mee, but passe yt over as a dream or ydle suggestion voyd of vertue thowgh free from cryme. And yf God shall put in his wyse and relligiows hart to approve yt, I hope the world shall see I will not put hand to this plow and looke backe, but discharge the place sijie querela. And I ame of opinion the example will not be hurtfull in this age, so apt to contemne this holly vocacion, and specially in that cowntry, whear men of no learninge, of mean parentage, and bankerowts both ■ [See note 6.] ' [" — eorum impudentiam qui agunt in scena gestum spectante Roscio." Cic. de Oratore, ii. 57.] [St. Luke iv. 24.] 22 — Mr. [John] King's Sermon. [i St. Pet. ii. 9.] in State and good name, have been sent or rather obtruded to them both to sperytuall and temporall dignityes. Magistrats obnoxiows to crymes or skorns have seldome corage in themselves or a\vtor)-ty with others ; and specially Preesthood showld not bee bestowd but very respectyvely, being a hygh function to which one owght to come with a lowly mynde. I thanke God I have ever honored yt, wyshing I wear but worthy to be honored by yt, and to my great contentment I herd the 1 9 of March last a preest in professyon, a great clarke in learning, and Kynge in name, preach before our most royall, learned and rellegiows Kinge indeed, of the worthynes of preest- hood, vppon this text, Vos estis regale sacerdocium, etc., showing how preesthood in the law of nature was the ellder brother's place, that Esaw selling his berthryght sold his preesthood, that those sweet smelling garments that Jacob wore when hee stale the blessinge wear the garments of preesthood, and moch more to the lyke effect, of which his Majestie that can best judg gave a good approbacion. In the Commonwelth wee are born subiects, wee are employd as sowldyers, and preferd vppon desert to be captens ; so in the Church, which ys lykened to a well ranged army, by Babtism wee are regenerat and made subiects, by Confyrmacion wee are as yt wear prest for sowldyers, by Orders wee may bee preferd for leaders, pastors, and Byshops in the spirituall warfare; and as I past those temporall charges in the Irysh warre, my Prince's servyce requyringe yt, to the hasard of my lyfe, so yt shall not greeve mee in that more worthy warfare to spend the rest of my lyfe thear or ellsewhear, as my gracyows Soveraygn shall employ mee, and I will think yt —23— as honorable among men and more meritoryows before God to become thear on of thia noble Kynges Chapplens then to have been then one of that famows Queen's Champions. As for the dewty of preachinge I trust I showld discharge yt, thowgh I know well that ys not the greatest charge of a Byshop : when Christe sayd to Saint Peeter, /Soo-Ace rh apvla pov, and irotfiaive rot npo^ard fiov, Feed v]y lams. Feed my sheep, thear was somwhat besyde preaching entended, thear must bee baculus pastoralis vsed, both for correption and for correccion, the hungry must bee fed, the wandring browght home, the weak and sycke cheryshed, the rotten and infected severed ; thease are the dewtyes of a Byshop, which well stand with the ofFyse and awtoryty of a Chawncellor, and each lends strength to the other, and in that cowntry I thinke him hardly fit for eyther [that] ys not fit for both. And thus, my good Lords, I have been bold in this playn manner to make my offer, rather then desyre, known to your Lordships, that may, yf yow please, make yt known to his sacred INIajestie, for whose servyce I offer yt. I conclude (as one pretily argued last day in the Schools^), that the world ys a stage and wee that lyve in yt are all stage-players, some are good for many parts, some only for dumme shows, some deserve a plaudile, some a plorate. I playd my chyldes part happily, the schollar and students part to neglygently ^, the sowldyer and cowrtyer faythfully, the husband lovingly, the contryman not basely nor corruptly. Once I playd the foole to frendly, in break- [See note 7.] » [See note 8.] [St. John xxi. IS, i6.] [ Prov. xxii. 26, &c. n IPs.lxxxii.e.] — 24 — ing the wyse Solomon's cownsell, had not a just Solomon gevn the condemnd chyld to the parent that had most ryght. Now I desyre to act a Chawncellors part hollyly, that my last act may equall my fyrst, and that I may not in extremo actu deficere \ Your part, my Lords, ys to dyrect owr parts, and the King himselfe acts God's part ; yow are lyke Saints that pray for vs, hee ys lyke Sancius Sanctorum, that may electe and reiecte as pleaseth him. Ego dixi, dij esits. God grawnt vs all so to act owr earthly part that wee misse not owr heavnly. And for myne own part I must confesse I have a strong perswasyon that Hee that hath presen'd mee beyond hope, in prison, in persecucion, in plage, in poverty, and restored mee agayn to bee free and frended, in helth and owt of det, hath yet ordayned mee to act some worthy part of pyety and gratitude to my Prince, to whome, next to God, I ow, vow, and will performe, all dewty, love and obedyence. Finis. * [' — in extremo actu corruisse.' Cic. de Senect., 18.] NOTES. 1. p. 8.] On Nov. 2, 1580, Haringtcn writes a letter to John Walsingham, from King's College, saying that he has then entered on the study of Civil Law. Cal. State Papers, Domestic Series, 1547- 1580, p. 685. 2. p. 8.] The story as told by Thomas More {Life of Sir T. More, 1726, p. 208) and by Cresacre More {Life of Sir T. More, 1828, p. 221) is, that one Mr. Vaughan, in whose favour the Chancellor had made a decree, some time after presented the latter with a gilt cup as a new-year's gift, by his wife's hands ; but Sir Thomas, after pledging her health in it, immediately returned it as his own gift to herself. 3. p. 10.] These 'two Earls' were, (i.) James, the 'Sugan' or 'Straw' Earl of Desmond, who was confined in the Tower from 1601 until 1607, in which year he died; and (2.) Florence Mac-Carthy, who claimed the title of Earl of Clancar in right of his wife, and was recognised as the head of the tribe, or the Mac-Carthy More, and who was also confined in the Tower from 1601 until enlarged upon bail in 161 4. The editor is enabled to correct the date usually assigned for the death of Desmond, viz. that of 1608, through the kindness of Lieut. Gen. Maitland, Lieut. Governor of the Tower, who informs him that in the burial-register of the Chapel of St. Peter ad Vincula, there is the entry, ' Desmond, 28th April, 1607.' The day of the month is not quite clear, having been altered. As Kelston lies in the way from Bristol (to which port the prisoners were brought from Ireland) to London, it appears that ' the two Earls ' must have remained there under guard at least for one night. 4. p. 17.] The editor has failed to find any notice of this alleged miracle at Athlone, or of the defeat of the Scots there which appears from the marginal note to have been connected with it ; and he has vainly had the help of an Irish friend well-known for his researches into the history of his country. 26 5. p. 19.] Probably Harington derives this story from Jewel, who m his Reply to Harding's Answer, says (art. iv, div. 29) that Bede being at Rome, ' and seeing the multitude of strangers that came only to gaze and to see news, expounded these four solemn letters S. P. Q. R. in this wise, Stullus populus qurerit Romam.' The editor of the Parker Society's edition of Jewel's Worki notes on this (vol. i. p. 421), that he can give no authority for this stor)', and the present editor, after careful searching, can only repeat his words. He finds the interpretation quoted as being a saying of Bede ' de Gothis ' in Antidolwn Melancholi<£ (12". Francof. 1668, p. 56), and in Zedler's Universal Lexicon, vol. xx.\iii, under the heading of the letter S, it is repeated as having been uttered by Bede in ridicule of the Goihs. It is hardly necessary to point out Jewel's mistake in asserting that Bede visited Rome. 6. p. 21.] Richard Tavemer, High Sheriff of Oxfordshire, is said to have preached in the array here described and with a sword by his side at St. Mary's in Oxford in the year of his shrievalty ; but Wood, who notices the fact of his preaching at O.xford upon several occasions, in consequence (probably) of there being no lawful preachers in the place at the time, says that these descriptions of his appearance are doubtless false, for that he always wore a damask gown. He had obtained letters from Edw. VI licensing him, although a mere layman, to preach in any church in his dominions (^Wood's Annals, vol. ii. p. 152, sub anno 1563). 7. p. 23.] This argument in the Schools cannot be referred to the academical disputations before the King at Oxford, since the Memo- rial was written in April, and the visit to Oxford was in August. It would be interesting to trace, were it possible, this scholastic allusion to the old idea which had so lately been made familiar to the English public in As You Like It; but Harington's anta Cruz J i tnoy JUL 1/ ^ U0VO3 2 12,000(11/95) Gaylord Bros.. Inc. Stockton, Calif. T M. Reg. U.S. Pat. Off. UC. BERKELEY LIBRARIES 0003357084 rf i)Hi)H 1 1 U3 THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY '-i''-'lji^^':^_Ml^^