J ^ >ja MEMOIRS OF SIR ROBERT CARY; AND FRAGMENTA REGALIA. MEMOIRS OF ROBERT CARY, EARL OF MONMOUTH. WRITTEN BY HIMSELF. AND FRAGMENTA REGALIA ; BEING A HISTORY OF QUEEN ELIZABETH'S FAVOURITES. BY SIR ROBERT NAUNTON. WITH EXPLANATORY ANNOTATIONS. EDINBURGH : PRINTED BY JAMES BALLANTYNE AND CO. TOR ARCHIBALD CONSTABLE AND CO. EDINBURGH, AND JOHN MURRAY, LONDON. 1808. ADVERTISEMENT. The Memoirs of Sir Robert Cary were first published from the original MS., by the Earl of Corke and Orrery. They contain an interesting account of some important passages in Elizabeth's reign, and throw peculiar light upon the personal character of the Queen. The original edition having now become very scarce, it is presumed that a new impression will be acceptable to the public. Several additions have been made to the Earl of Corke's explanatory notes, particularly to such as refer to Border matters. These additions are distin- guished by the letter E. As a suitable companion to Cary's Memoirs, the Fragmema Regalia, a source from which our his- torians have drawn the most authentic account of the court of the virgin Queen, have also been reprinted. The author, Sir Robert Naunton, lived in the element of a court, and had experienced all its fluctuations. His characters of statesmen and warriors are drawn with such spirit, as leaves us only to regret their brevi- VI ty, and the obscurity in which he sometimes thinks it prudent to involve them. To lessen this inconvenience, a few explanatory notes have been added. Memoirs are the materials, and often the touch- stone, of history ; and even where they descend to inci- dents beneath her notice, they aid the studies of the antiquary and the moral philosopher. While, there- fore, it is to be regretted, that the reserved temper of our nation has generally deterred our soldiers and statesmen from recording their own story, an attempt to preserve, explain/ or render more generally accessi- ble the works which we possess of this nature, seems to have some claim upon public favour. CONTENTS, Page. Memoirs of Sir Robert Cary 1 — 162 Appendix. — Letter Sir Robert Cary to Lord Hunsdon 163 Letter Lord Hunsdon to Lord Burghley 165 FltAGMENTA REGALIA. Queen Elizabeth J71 Leicester , 200 Sussex 208 Lord Burleigh 21 1 Sir Philip Sidney 220 Sir Francis Walsingham 223 Willoughby 228 Sir Nicholas Bacon 230 Lord Norris 234 Knowls 235 Sir John Perrot 240 Sir Christopher Hatton ,, 248 Lord Effingham ,. 250 Sir John Packington , 254 Lord Hunsdon ...., 255 Sir Walter Raleigh 257 V1U CONTENTS. Page. Sir Foulk Greville ,. M 265 Lord Essex ., 267 Lord Buckhurst , 277 Lord Mountjoy 281 Sir Robert Cecill 288 Sir Francis Vere 295 Lord Worcester 298 PREFACE. An honourable author, * who in a just piece of criticism, has exhibited so spirited a manner of writing, that he has given wit even to a dictionary, and vivacity to a ca- talogue of names, and has placed our royal and noble English writers in a more learn- ed and eminent light than they have ever appeared before, having mentioned the Earl of Monmouth's Memoirs as a manu- script fit to be made public ; in concur- rence with his judgment, and from a desire to exhibit a new picture of Queen Eliza- * Horatio Walpole, youngest son of Sir Robert Wal- pole. Knight of the Garter, afterwards Earl of Orford. a X PREFACE. beth and King James I., the following Me- moirs are sent into the world, with such explanatory notes to the obscure and re- markable passages, as may possibly render those passages more intelligible and effi- cacious than they would otherwise have been. Most, if not all, writers seem to imagine, that futurity must be as well acquainted as they themselves are, with the times, cus- toms, and manners, of which they write ; and in points that, although apparently mi- nute, are really material, they give them- selves so little trouble, that many of their works, for want of proper exactness and at- tention, fall under the dreaded curse either of obsoleteness or oblivion. For example, when a noble house is extinct, the title is frequently given away to some distant fa- mily, no ways related to the former; this title is still carried on in history, without inserting the change of the name ; which trifling circumstance, to mention no other, often creates difficulties and confusion. A PREFACE. XI single explanatory word in the margin would obviate the evil. If we have cause, as we undoubted- ly have, to lament the darkness through which we are obliged to pervade in the Greek and Roman story, how much more have we to regret the want of light in the annals of our own nation ? History wants every assistance, be it ever so small, that can be afforded to it. Our posterity in- deed will have an advantage which our an- cestors wanted, by the constant unwearied publication of a set of papers, despicable in themselves, but very useful in their con- sequences. I would be understood to mean, the magazines, chronicles, registers, reviews, and every diffusive catalogue of that kind. These periodical productions, mixed as they are with abuse, nonsense, and gallimatias of every sort, will have the honour to be the corner-stones of those historical edifices which may be built hereafter ; purely be- cause they are at present the surest reposi- tories of dates and names. Xll PREFACE. The Earl of Monmouth is extremely de- fective in his dates. In his account of the death of Queen Elizabeth, and his own immediate journey into Scotland, he gives us barely the daj-s of the week, without mentioning either the month or year ; and after the accession of King James, he gives us no dates of any kind, unless once or twice from his own age, having first omit- ted to tell us the year in which he was born. That sera is to be guessed at ; and I know no properer clue to direct us than by ascertaining the period of the famous wild Buckingham-journey undertaken by the Prince of Wales into Spain. His Royal Highness set out from Theobalds, Februa- ry 17th, 1623 ; the Earl of Monmouth was sent after him in a month's time, and re- called in two or three months more; he says he was then near sixty-three years of age, so that the time of his birth must ei- ther be 1559, or J 560, PREFACE. Xlll He had three children, two sons and a daughter. His eldest son, Henry, Lord Leppington, was married in his father's life- time to Lady Martha Cranfield, the eldest daughter of Lionel, Earl of Middlesex, Lord Treasurer, and elder sister of Lady Frances Cranfield, who married the Earl of Dorset, * and was great-grandmother to the author of this preface. The second son, Thomas, died, I believe, unmarried ; at least neither of the sons left male issue. -f- Lord Leppington had two sons, who died before him. J # The witty Earl of Dorset, distinguished at the gay court of Charles II., and honoured as the steady protec- tor of Dryden. The Earl of Corke and Orrery did not resemble his ancestor so much in his talents, as in his disposition towards literature. E. f Thomas Cary left two daughters ; Elizabeth, who married John Mordaunt, Lord Avalon, second son of the first Earl of Peterborough ; and Philadelphia, who married Sir Henry Littleton, and died at Tunbridge, in 1665. E. J Lord Leppington succeeded his father in the Earl- dom of Monmouth, which became extinct on his death without issue-male. Mary, his daughter, (and called by XIV PREFACE. We know in whom and in what manner the male line of the daughter ended. Lady Philadelphia married the son and heir of Lord Wharton, and was great great grand- mother of the late extraordinary and ec- centric Duke of that title. The Memoirs themselves are character- istics sufficient of their author. They are true records of facts, which are either not mentioned, or are misrepresented by other historians. They are written in an unaf- fected, simple, intelligent style. Veracity is their only ornament ; but it is an orna- ment far beyond all others in historical anecdotes. They begin about the year 1577, when Don John of Austria came into the Low Countries ; Mr Robert Cary was, at that time, only seventeen years old. Few political observations could be made by so young a man : and although he had an op- portunity to be personally introduced to Collins his co-heir,) was the second wife of William, third Earl of Denbigh. E. PREFACE. XV two eminent princes, Don John of Austria, and Francis, Duke of Anjou, he only men- tions their names, and shews his juvenile thoughts to be more turned to tilts and tournaments, than to politics and affairs of state. When, afterwards, Mr Cary became at- tached to the Earl of Essex, and followed his Lordship into France, we see something of the soldierly character of that Earl, but much more of the partial inclinations which Queen Elizabeth entertained for so distin- guished a favourite. I have put such notes upon those particular passages, as leave the less room to speak of them here. The Queen was intuitively a sagacious Princess ; and if she had some foibles, they neither interrupted the interest of her own country, nor broke in upon those measures which she so steadily maintained for the good of Europe in general. She had a wonderful method of keeping up her dig- nity both at home and abroad. At home she threatened particular persons, and they XVI PREFACE. felt her anger ; abroad she threatened king- doms, and they felt her power. Sir Ro- bert Cary,* whose courage and personal resolution appear indisputable, trembles when he approaches her : he almost trem- bles when he thinks of her. He had the honour to be her relation ; his father was her cousin-german. She created him-f- Lord Hunsdon, in the first year of her reign; but she wisely declined the least mention of affinity : such a condescension must seemingly have debased her in her throne. During her whole reign, she took as little remembrance as possible either of her father or her mother : a retrospect of that kind must have been shocking, when the innocent wife was murdered, and the tyrannical husband was her murderer. It is certain that Queen Elizabeth could not bear the thoughts of a successor. The speeches made for her on her death-bed are f¥ He was knjghted in the year 1591. •f* That is, Sir Robert Cary's father. PREFACE. XV11 all forged. Echard, Rapin, and a long string of historians, make her say faintly, (so faintly indeed that it could not possibly be heard,) " I will that a king succeed me, " and who should that be but my nearest " kinsman the King of Scots ?" A different account of this matter will be found in the following Memoirs. She was speechless, and almost expiring, when the chief coun- sellors of state were called into her bed- chamber. As soon as they were perfectly convinced that she could not utter an arti- culate word, and scarce could hear or under- stand one, they named the King of Scots to her, a liberty they dared not to have taken if she had been able to speak. She put her hand to her head, which was pro- bably at that time in agonizing pain. The Lords, who interpreted her signs just as they pleased, were immediately convinced, that the motion of her hand to her head, was a declaration of James VI. as her suc- cessor. What was this but the unanimous XV111 PREFACE. interpretations of persons who were adoring the rising sun ? The Queen dead, Sir Robert Cary, with equal art and diligence, hastened to Scot- land, before any other messenger could let King James know, that the crown of Eng- land was ready to be placed upon his head. The lords, and the other members of the council, were assembled, and were prepa- ring to draw up an elaborate address to their new sovereign, at the very time when Mr Cary set out for Edinburgh. He reach- ed Holyroodhouse on the third day after the death of Queen Elizabeth, notwith- standing a dangerous fall from his horse, which wounded and retarded him. The King received the news with steadi- ness and decency. He had been prepared for it by a letter, * which Sir Robert Cary mentions to have written to him as soon as Queen Elizabeth was visibly drawing to^ * See the Memoirs, p. 118, PREFACE. XIX wards her dissolution. The annalists of that period all think themselves under a necessity of representing so important a scene very minutely. Some of them, Os- borne in particular, says, the King was in amaze, and from thence gives room to his own natural bitterness. Rapin makes him lift up his eyes in a private ejaculation to heaven. Others describe him as they think fit. The real truth is exactly represented by Sir Robert Cary, from whose letter King James had received sufficient information to gather in his mind a composure, which, perhaps, he seldom shewed on any other occasion. In the mean time, the Lord Mayor and Privy Council at London were so exces- sively alarmed and irritated at Sir Robert Cary's watchfulness and expedition, that, in their first address to the King, they seem almost as eager to pour forth their indigna- tion against Sir Robert Cary, as to express their duty and allegiance to their new so- vereign. XX PREFACE. Their letter is dated thus : — " Written u in your Majesty's city of London, the " 24th of March, 1603, at ten hours of the " clock at night." They begin their ad- dress in a very exalted style : " Right high, " right excellent, and mighty Prince, and " our dread Sovereign Lord." Then, after most humble expressions of loyalty, and a perfect recognition of King James's right, they attack Sir Robert Cary, with all the marks of jealousy and resentment, in the following manner. " Farther, we have thought meet and ne- " cessary to advertise your Highness, that " Sir Robert Cary, this morning, departed " from hence towards your Majesty, not " only without the consent of us who were " present at Richmond at the time of our " late sovereign's decease, but also contra- " ry to such commandments as we had " power to lay upon him, and to all decen- " cy, good manners, and respect, which he " owed to so manjr persons of our degree ; " whereby it may be, that your Majesty PREFACE. XXI Ci hearing, by a bare report only, of the " death of the late Queen, and not of our " care and diligence in the establishment " of your Majesty's right here, in such " manner as is above specified, may con- " ceive doubts of other nature than (God " be thanked) there is cause you should ; " which we would have clearly prevented, " if he had borne so much respect to us, as " to have stayed for a common report of " our proceedings, and had not thought it " better to anticipate the same : for we " would have been loth that any person of " quality should have gone from hence, " who should not, with the report of her " death, have been able to declare the first " effect of our assured loyalties/' This letter is signed first by the Lord Mayor, and then by three-and-thirty lords and gentlemen, members of the council, amongst whom is George, Lord Hunsdon, elder brother of our Earl of Monmouth, who, perhaps, would not have signed so harsh and public a representation against XX11 PREFACE. his own brother, had not that brother made use of him as a means to escape from Rich- mond, when the palace gates were shut and strictly guarded, the Queen being just ex- pired. The consequences of that escape, and how little Sir Robert Cary remember- ed the positive manner in which Lord Hunsdon had answered for him, will be seen in the Memoirs. To say the truth, our author is not to be entirely excused in giv- ing up, and in a manner betraying his bail. If such an act admits of any attenuation, Sir Robert Cary may claim it from the pri- vate information given him by Lord Ban- bury, who was one of the council, and knew of a secret intention to send another person into Scotland, and to detain Sir Ro- bert Cary at least till that messenger was arrived at Edinburgh. The intrigues of the court in this important season appear vari- ous and bustling ; full of persons betraying and betrayed. Every courtier, no doubt, wished for wings; Sir Robert Cary wisely got upon a horse. PREFACE. XXU1 All those who signed the letter, among whom Lord Banbury by the name of Wil- liam Knolles was one, must, from the te- nor of what they had given under their hands, remain the avowed enemies of our author. The weight and power of such a number of great men, had so irresistible an influence over King James, that, forgetting all his promises, he dismissed Sir Robert Cary from the post of gentleman of the bedchamber; — an act which is bitterly and justly complained of in these Me- moirs. * One circumstance in the foregoing letter must be taken notice of. Our author is there called Sir Robert Carjr, but when or upon what occasion he was knighted, does # Notwithstanding the sympathetic feeling of the no- ble biographer, those who consider that Cary's sole merit towards James consisted in a raven-like hovering around his dying kinswoman and benefactress, in or- der to gratify her successor with the earliest notice of her death, will not be greatly disposed to lament the disappointment of his ambition. E. XXIV PREFACE. not, I believe, appear from any printed his- tory, nor from any part of his Memoirs ex- cept one, where, speaking of the Earl of Essex, he says, " He (Lord Essex) made " all the haste he could to Dieppe. I met " him there. As soon as he saw me, he " drew his rapier, and came running to me, " and laid it on my shoulder/' It is evident, according to Camden, that Queen Elizabeth gave her generals a power of conferring knighthood upon whom they thought proper. * That author gives us more instances of it than one. The first, as I remember, is in the year 1570, when Thomas RatclifFe, Earl of Sussex, was sent, at the head of some forces, to quell a rebel- lion upon the borders of Scotland. " Sus- * Our author does not seem to have remembered, that the power of making knights was originally com- petent to every one, when he himself attained that or- der ; and it was only the difficulty of sustaining the dig- nity, which gradually limited the privilege of conferring it first to generals, and at length to sovereign princes exclusively. E. 13 PREFACE. XXV u sex/' says Mr Camden,* " being now " returned, knighted Edward Hastings, " Francis Russel, Valentine Brown, Wil- ", liam Hilton, Robert Staple ton, Henry " Curwen, and Simon Musgrave, for their " valour ; and he himself afterwards, for " his approved wisdom and virtue, was ad- " mitted of the Queen's privy council/' Queen Elizabeth gave the same power of making knights to her admirals. Ac- cordingly, Camden -j- tells us, that, in the year 1588, after the third sea-fight with the Spanish armada, " The next day the lord- " admiral J knighted the Lord Thomas " Howard, the Lord Sheffield, Roger Town- " send, John Hawkins, and Martin Forbis- " ter, for their valour/' A third example is given by the same * See Camden's History of Queen Elizabeth, book ii. page 149* f See Idem, book iii. page 414. J Charles, Lord Howard of Effingham. XXVI PREFACE. author* of this extraordinary prerogative* vested in Peregrine Bertie, Lord Willough- by, general of Queen Elizabeth's forces in the Netherlands, at the time when the Prince of Parma *f was obliged, by the va- lour of the English, to break up the siege of Bergen-op-zome. The fourth instance is directly to the point in question, and fixes the exact sera (the year 1591) when Sir Robert Cary was made a knight. It is inserted by Mr Camden in these words. " That he (the Earl of Essex) might win " the love and affection of his army, and " heighten their courage, he knighted ma- " ny, not without the offence of many * See Camden's Queen Elizabeth, book iii. p. 420., anno 1588. f Alexander Farnese was one of the greatest generals in the sixteenth century ; — an sera productive of re- markable military men. He was made governor of the Low Countries in the year 1578. If the Spanish arma- da had been successful, he intended to have invaded England with those forces which he afterwards employ- ed against Bergen-op-zome. 7 PREFACE. XXV11 " others, who had been dignified with that " honour before they came from home ; as " if he had too cheaply prostituted that ti- " tie, which had hitherto been of so glori- " ous esteem among the English, and which " the Queen had bestowed but very spa- " ringly, and that only upon men of good " note and spirit/' * By the quotations here drawn from Camden, it is plain that the royal prero- gative of knighting was, on some occasions, permitted and made over to the great offi- cers of state. Such a grant was, in all probability, limited and restrained. The Queen intended it only as a power to give immediate honours upon extraordinary oc- casions, in distant countries, and for signal acts of bravery and military conduct. Lord Essex, naturally rash and precipitate, often used this power inconsiderately. He re- warded services that were to be done ; the * See Camden's Queen Elizabeth, book iv. p. 449. XXV111 PREFACE. Queen rewarded services that were done : her words, her manner, her very looks were rewards. It is a just remark, made by our historians, that she denied a favour with more grace than her successor (we may add her two next successors) granted it. Camden's assertion of Queen Elizabeth's rare and wary disposal of knighthood, has drawn Mons. Rapin into an error. Speak- ing of her death he says, that there was then such a scarcity of knights, " Quil ne se " trouvoit plus assez de chevaliers dans lespro- " vinces pour etre deputez au parlement" * ^ That there were not knights enough to " serve in parliament/' Tindal, to correct, or rather to outdo Mons. Rapin, translates the passage, " that scarce a county had " knights enough to make a jury." Lord Essex most certainly gave no of- fence by any honours which he bestowed * See L'Histoire d'Angleterre, par M. de Rapin Thoyras, Vol. VII. liv. 18. p. 6. PREFACE. XXIX on Sir Robert Cary, who, from the begin- ning to the end of his life, deserved all those honours which he received. He was early attached to that brave and unfortu- nate Earl ; he was his true friend, and faithful servant. The total silence which may be observed in his Memoirs of his no- ble patron's catastrophe, proceeds, it may be presumed, from duty towards the Queen, whose inflexible severity as he could not applaud, he would not presume to cen- sure. No prince could come with greater ad- vantages than King James I. to the throne. Protestants and Papists allowed his right : the former from a just system of politics, and a true spirit of patriotism, because he was the nearest Protestant heir to the crown ; the latter, because, having often de- clared the right of his mother, they found themselves obliged to acknowledge the right of her son. Whether King James made a proper use, or not, of the right inherent in himself, and XXX PREFACE. the unanimity collected in his people, is a point neither proper nor necessary to be discussed here. It is certain he began his reign ungracefully. He drove the people from his presence by proclamation, as they loyally flocked to see him ; and he hanged up a cutpurse without any other authority or trial, but his own will and pleasure. This last action was little murmured at du- ring the astonishment of joy with which his new subjects received him ; but it was deeply, though not openly, remembered in the reign of his son, when jealousies arose and increased to such a height, that they overturned the king, the kingdom, the law, and the gospel. In the subsequent Memoirs will appear the yielding, timid disposition of King James I. : a prince flattered in his lifetime to the height of heaven : crammed down, since his death, into the lowest pit of hell. The extremes of flattery are always succeed- ed by the extremes of obloquy. Extremes of every kind are evidently avoided by Sir PREFACE. XXXI Robert Cary. He never dips his pen in gall ; he tells the truth, and the truth only ; he represents things as they were, without any sinister turn either on causes or effects : he appears open without indiscretion, plain without meanness, sincere without bias, and brave without ostentation. From his short sketches of characters, (I wish they had been more expanded and numerous,) we see every now and then into the closets of the two princes, Elizabeth and James, un- der whom he passed the vigour of his days. Queen Elizabeth was his chief friend during her lifetime. Her discernment and appro- bation were honours that reflected splen- dour upon him, as great as could arise from her royalty and exaltation. In the next reign, the consort of King James (a prin- cess who has undergone a variety of praise and censure) was remarkably firm and zea- lous in the protection of him. Henry, Prince of Wales, looked upon him with a most favourable eye ; and King Charles I., to whom he was many years an immediate XXX11 PREFACE. servant, took an early and public opportu- nity of raising him to the dignity of an English Earl. With that account he concludes his Me- moirs, of which a considerable share is ta- ken up in giving a very exact and connec- ted account of those Ostrogoths, the Bor- derers ; a set of wild men, who, from the time when the Romans left our island, till the death of Queen Elizabeth, kept the southern part of Scotland and the northern part of England in a perpetual civil war, and seem to have equalled the CafFres in the trade of stealing, and the Hottentots in ignorance and brutality. A description of these beasts in human shape, is extracted by Camden from JEneas Sylvius, after- wards Pope Pius II., who went into Scot- land in the year 1448. * As the times * Instead of referring to an authority so antiquated, the Earl might have quoted the following brief and ani- mated description of Camden from Lesly. " What manner of cattle stealers they are, that inhabit these PREFACE. XXXlll grew more and more civilized, these ani- mals became more and more human ; but still retained a great degree of their natu- ral cruelty, all their thirst of plunder, all valleys in the marches of both kingdoms, John Lesley, a Scotchman himself, and Bishop of Ross, will inform you. They sally out of their own borders, in the night, in troops, through unfrequented bye-ways, and many in- tricate windings. All the day-time, they refresh them- selves and their horses in lurking holes they had pitch- ed upon before, till they arrive in the dark at those places they have a design upon. As soon as they have seized upon the booty, they, in like manner, return home in the night, through blind ways, and fetching many a compass. The more skilful any captain is to pass through those wild deserts, crooked turnings, and deep precipices, in the thickest mists and darkness, his reputation is the greater, and he is looked upon as a man of an excellent head. — And they are so very cun- ning, that they seldom have their booty taken from them, unless sometimes, when, by the help of blood- hounds following them exactly upon the tract, they may chance to fall into the hands of their adversaries. When being taken, they have so much persuasive eloquence, and so many smooth insinuating words at command, that if they do not move their judges, nay, and even their adversaries, (notwithstanding the severity of their natures,) to have mercy, yet they incite them to admi- ration and compassion." E, XXXIV PREFACE, their strength, and all the fierceness of their courage. Particular governors, entitled Lord- Wardens of the East, West, and Mid- dle Marches, were constantly instituted to protect the English territories against such barbarians. The Marches were so deno- minated, because the inhabitants, being in a perpetual state of variance and hostility, were always ready to March,* either to annoy the enemy, or to defend themselves. There were March laws, and March courts of judicature, of which the Lord Warden, or his deputies, were supreme judges. Once a year a March day was appointed, when the Scots and English met, and adjusted, or attempted to adjust, all the disputes and claims of either nation upon the Borders. Castles were kept well garrisoned. Each person of any considerable estate was ob- * The explanation of the original word Marcha, or Marc'uz, with all its derivatives, is sufficiently uncertain. But it certainly does not come from the verb to march, as here assumed. It simply signifies a boundary, whe- ther of a private estate, a parish, or a kingdom. E. PREFACE. XXXV liged to provide himself with a castle, which was generally confirmed to him and his heirs by the crown. Some castles were fitted up entirely at the expense of the crown. That at Norham was given by Queen Elizabeth to Sir Robert Cary, for the life of himself and his two sons. Some lands were certainly annexed to it, by the price it bore, no less than six thousand pounds, when sold to Lord Dunbar. * Strong watches were set in every March* at small distances from each other. The inhabitants of the smallest villages were supplied with arms, especially in such places as were most liable to invasions. One good effect arose from this state of watchfulness and danger ; the gentry and the yeomen were rendered vigilant and warlike. Neither luxury, nor her two el- dest sons cowardice and indolence, could easily find footing in the Marches. Every gentleman was obliged to be an officer; * See the Memoirs, p. 136. XXXVI PREFACE. every peasant was born a soldier. The majors, the colonels, the captains of such a militia were really, not nominally, men of arms. Sir Robert Gary mentions, in ge- neral, some persons who were averse to follow him into Scotland, imagining that the Scotch outlaws must be far superior in the force of numbers; they were so, but were entirely subdued. The Marches long since reduced, the castles demolished, the Debateable Lands settled, and the two kingdoms united un- der one sovereign, make all farther enqui- ries into their former state unnecessary. The prudent, the courageous, and the ac- tive part which our author acted during his wardenship, will be found fully delineated in his own Memoirs. His situation was nice and perilous. It required a good head and a strong heart to fulfil such a post. But when moderation of temper is joined, as in him, with bravery of spirit, the great- est difficulties are certainly, if not easily, to be overcome. PREFACE. XXXV11 The felicities that might have arisen from the accession of King James I. were such as must have rendered us the envy and the dread of all foreign nations. After twelve hundred years' contests with the North Britons, we became one people, uni- ted in the same interest, and subjects to the same sovereign. But these are reflec- tions foreign and vague to the Memoirs of Sir Robert Cary ; yet as the present situa- tion of times and things unavoidably occur to our thoughts, whenever we read any his- torical anecdotes of our ancestors, I may possibly be forgiven in adding farther, that by our intercourse and conjunction with the Scots, we find ourselves united to a wise and a wary nation, whose writings are ipany of them the ornament and illustra- tion of this age. During the whole reign of King James I. the Memoirs are entirely personal, but not unentertaining ; and they are con- cluded by the coronation of King Charles J. I ought now to give an account by XXXV111 PREFACE. what means they came into my hands. They were copied by myself from a ma- nuscript entrusted to me by Lady Eliza- beth Spelman, daughter to the Earl of Mid- dleton, to whom I had the honour of be- ing in some degree of affinity. I have most religiously adhered to the original manu- script. The dying scene of Queen Elizabeth has already been extracted and published among Sir Thomas Edmund's papers, by my very worthy and learned friend Dr Birch in his Historical View from the year 1592 to 1617. Anecdotes of our English history have been ever sought after with great eagerness* especially those of Queen Elizabeth's reign. I here offer my mite to be thrown into that treasury. MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF ROBERT CARY, HARON OF LEPPINGTON AND EARL OF MONMOUTH. MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF ROBERT CAREY, BARON OF LEPPINGTON, AND EARL OF MONMOUTH. Lord my God, open mine eyes, and enlarge my heart with a true understanding of thy great mercies, that thou hast blessed me withal, from my first being, un- til this my old age ; and give me of thy grace to call to mind in some measure thy great and manifold bles- sings, that thou hast blessed me withal ; though my weakness be such, and my memory so short, as I have no abilities to express them as I ought to do, yet, Lord ! be pleased to accept of this sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving. 1 had the happiness to be born of good parents ; I was youngest of ten sons ; they brought me up under tutors and governors, % MEMOIRS OF ROBERT CARY, to give me learning and knowledge ; but I must acknowledge my own weakness, I had not ability to profit much thereby. After I attained to the years of seventeen, or thereabouts, Sir Thomas Layton was sent ambassador from the queen to the states first, and then to Don John de Austria. *. My father, the Lord Hunsdon, -f fitted me # Natural son of the Emperor Charles V. born at Ratisbon in 1547., a prince of great prowess in arms,, and particularly famous by his conquests over the Turks. He had been educated in a private manner in the coun- try during the Emperor's life. The splendour of his birth was concealed from him, till Philip IL, son and successor of Charles V., in the year 1561, owned him as his natural brother, brought him to court, and, in the year 1570, sent him against the Moors. In the year 1575, the king, his brother, constituted him governor of the Spanish Netherlands. After various conquests no- tified in history, he died October 1, 1578, in the thirty- second year of his age, of the plague, or, as adds Thua- nus, of grief and vexation, on account of suspicions con- ceived against him by Philip II. His funeral obsequies were performed with all the pomp and magnificent ce- remonies of those times. He expired in his camp near Namur. m f Henry Cary, Lord Hunsdon, whose pedigree is men- tioned in the preface. EARL OF MONMOUTH. 3 to go the journey with him ; we were abroad almost all the winter; after we had been with the states at Bruxelles, we took leave, and went on our journey towards Don John ; we found him at Luxemburgh. The next day he removed towards Na- mours,* and appointed our ambassador to meet him at Mons in Henault, which we did, and there had audience of him ; we stayed but two days with him, and took our leaves. After some time spent, in our return, at Bruxelles with the states, we re- turned to Dunkirk, and there took ship- ping for England ; and in short time came to court, where we dispersed, every man as he liked best. Shortly after this, Monsieur, -f the King of France's brother, came, and remained in * Namur. •j- The scenes of courtship, by letters, visits, and me- diators, which passed between the Duke d'Alenc.on, af- terwards d'Anjou, and Queen Elizabeth, are sufficiently known and recorded. He was the youngest son of Hen- ry II. and Catherine de Medici, and when he became 13 4 MEMOIRS OF ROBERT CARY, our court a good time. All the time of his being here, God so blessed me with means and abilities, as I was ever one in every action that our court triumphs then pro- duced ; and they were such as the best wits and inventions in those days could devise to make the court glorious, and to entertain so great a guest. * This Duke's stay here, was from Michaelmas to Christ- only brother of Henry II F. was surnamed Monsieur. His father Henry was accidentally killed in a tournament by the Comte de Montgomery. Henry left four sons; Francis, the husband of Mary Queen of Scots ; Charles, under whom was perpetrated the massacre at Paris, dis- tinguished by the feast of St Bartholomew ; Alexander, who, on the day of his confirmation, changed his chris- tian name to Henry, according to the usage of the church of Rome, and was afterwards stabbed by Cle- ment the monk ; Hercules, who changed his christian name in the same manner to Francis, and who, after a long and successless attempt to marry Queen Elizabeth, and various turbulent adventures in the Netherlands, died June 10, 1584, not without some suspicions of be- ing poisoned at Chateau Thierry, in France. * An account of a very splendid tournament perform- ed on this occasion, is preserved in Hollinshed's Chroni- cle, Vol. IV. p. 435, of the late 4to edition. Upon this ©ccasion, Sir Thomas Perrot and Mr Cooke appeared EARL OF MONMOUTH. 5 mas ; * then he went from hence to Flush- ing, and from thence to Antwerp, where he was created, by the states, Duke of Brabant with great solemnity. My Lord of Nottingham as admiral, my Lord of Sussex, chamberlain of the queen's house- hold, -f and my father being governor of Berwick, were sent to convey him over in three of the queen's best ships. J They brought him to Antwerp ; and after the Duke was settled in his government, they took their leaves, and came for England. as challengers in armour, bedecked with apples and other fruit, representing persons of no less antiquity than Adam and Eve. Our author's name does not occur in the list of the gallants. E. * Anno 1581. t Thomas RatclifTe, a gallant and brave soldier, the avowed competitor and rival of the Earl of Leicester. E. % The train whom Elizabeth despatched to do honour to her suitor in the eyes of the Netherlands, amounted to a hundred gentlemen of the best blood in England, and more than three hundred serving-men. Lord Huns- don, alone, had, of gentlemen and others, a hundred and fifty in his train. His sons, Sir George and John Cary, attended him on this occasion, as well as our author. E. O MEMOIRS OF ROBERT CARY, My father left me there behind him, to stay some time with Sir John Norrice, * who then was in Antwerp ; and thence he ap- pointed me to travel into France, and there to stay for a time until he should send for me back. I staid at Antwerp from Shrovetide until Easter ; then I took my journey from thence into France, and made no stay till I came to Paris, and there I stayed nine months : then upon an acci- dent of some fear in England, that Eng- lishmen should be ill dealt with in France, -j- my father sent for me in all haste, to come away with all the speed I could for Eng- land : though very unwillingly, I obeyed, and came home about Christmas. The summer after, j I went with Mr Se- * He was second son of Henry Lord Norrice. " He was," says Cambden, " a man who deserved the utmost that fame could say, or his country could do for him." See Cambden's Life of Queen Elizabeth. •f* This suspicion probably arose from the ascen- dence of the Duke of Guise, and the Catholic party in France. E. t Anno 1583. EARL OF MONMOUTH. f cretary Walsingham into Scotland ; he be- ing sent thither ambassador * from her ma- jesty. It pleased the king at that time to take such a liking of me, as he wrote ear- nestly to the queen at our return, to give me leave to come back to him again, to attend on him at his court, assuring her majesty I should not repent my atten- dance. Her majesty gave her consent : I went to Berwick with my father a while after, with full resolution to go to him, being well provided of men, money, apparel, and horses ; but my father was no sooner come to Berwick, and I ready to take my journey to the king, but a countermand -f was sent to my father from the queen, straitly charging him to stay me, and not * To give advice to King James VI. A remarkable embassy, in which the subtle Walsingham effectually discovered the temper and disposition of that king. + The queen's jealousy of the King of Scots, and of all those whom he countenanced, appears by this coun- termand. 8 MEMOIRS OF ROBERT CARY, to suffer me to go into Scotland to the king. My journey being thus stayed, I return- ed shortly after, with my father, to the court. The beginning of the spring after Sluce * was besieged, and my Lord of Es- sex stole from court, with intent to get into Sluce if he could ; the queen sent me af- ter him, commanding me to use the best means, if I could find him, to persuade him to return to court. I made no long stay, but with all the speed I could went after him ; I found him at Sandwich, and with much ado I got him to return. As we were riding post back, I stayed a little behind him, and when he was out of sight, I re- turned to Sandwich. I left my Lord of Cumberland -f there, who had provided a small bark ; and we made all the haste we # Siuys, called in French l'Ecluse, in Latin Clausiae ; a town and sea-port of Flanders,, which underwent many sieges, and submitted to a variety of masters du- ring the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. f George Clifford, Earl of Cumberland. EARL OF MONMOUTH. 9 could towards Sluce. When we came right over Ostend, the water was so shallow, we could not get in with our bark ; we took our ship-boat, and rowed towards Ostend. We were no sooner come near the shore, but we were told that Sluce was yielded to the enemy that day ; notwithstanding, we went ashore to Ostend, where I found my brother Edmund a captain of the town. We were no sooner come to our lodging, but it was told us, for certain, that the ene- my was fully resolved to besiege Ostend with the greatest expedition that they could. The next morning, my Lord of Cumber- land, seeing our hopes frustrate by the town's yielding, resolved to go to his bark again, and from Flushing to go to Bergen- op-Soame * to see my Lord of Leicester, -j- * Bergen-op-Zoom is a fortified town of Brabant, si- tuated near the eastern shore of the river Scheld, parti- cularly known to the present times by the siege of it in the year 1747. f Leicester, as every reader may remember, was sent by Elizabeth, as ambassador extraordinary to the states 10 MEMOIRS OF ROBERT CARY, and then to return home again, thinking that I would go with him : but I was re- solved of another way, and told him, that it was for certain reported, that the enemy would shortly besiege the town, that I had a brother there, whom I could not leave, but meant to be partner with him both in good and ill. We took leave ; he to his bark, and I to stay with my brother. The report increased daily more and more of the enemy's approach : within two or three days after my Lord of Nottingham, * that was our admiral, came to us with provi- sion of munition and victuals, and left with us Sir William Read to be commander of the town. After he had stayed two or three days with us, he took ship again, and of Holland, and by them invested with supreme autho- rity. This was in 1586. E. # Charles Howard, Earl of Nottingham, remarkable for courage, conduct, fidelity, splendour, and every branch of worth and honour, supported by great abili- ties, through a long and prosperous life of eighty-eight years. EARL OF MONMOUTH. 11 went for England. We stayed there some fortnight. At last, letters came to us from my Lord of Leicester, that the town, that year, was free from any siege, and com- manded that six of the companies that w^ere there, should embark themselves with all speed, and come to him to Bergen-op- Soame. We came the next da}^, (for my brother's company being one of those were appointed to go, I went with him.) I stay- ed there most part of the summer; many things in that time were attempted, no- thing of worth performed. I, finding no hope of any good action to be performed, towards Michaelmas returned for England, and found by that little experience, that a brave war and a poor spirit in a comman- der, never agree zvell together. * * This observation seems to be levelled at Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, the undeserved and worthless favourite of our renowned queen. He was treacherous to Lady Jane Grey, abject to Queen Mary, and ungrate- ful to Queen Elizabeth. 12 MEMOIRS OF ROBERT CARY, The next year (which was 1586) was the queen of Scots' beheading. I lived in court, had small means of my friends ; yet God so blessed me, that I was ever able to keep company with the best. In all tri- umphs I was one ; either at tilt, tourney, or barriers in masque or balls : I kept men and horses far above my rank, and so con- tinued a long time. At which time (few or none in the court being willing to un- dertake that journey) her majesty sent me to the king of Scots, to make known her innocence of her sister's death, with letters of credence from herself to assure all that I should affirm. I was waylaid in Scotland, if I had gone in, to have been murdered ; but the king's majesty, knowing the disposition of his people, and the fury they were in, sent to me to Berwick, to let me know, that no power of his could warrant my life at that time ; therefore, to prevent further mischief, he would send me no convoy, but would send two of his counsel to the bound-road, EARL OF MONMOUTH. 13 to receive my letters, or what other mes- sage I had to deliver, * I had reason to give his majesty thanks, and so I did ; and sent him word, I would, with all speed, advertise her majesty of the gracious care he had of me ; and as I should be direc- ted, I would inform his majesty. I was commanded to accept of the king's offer. Sir George Hume, -f and the master of Melven, met me at the bound-road, where I delivered my message in writing, and my letters from the queen to the king ; and then came presently (post) to court, where I had thanks of her majesty for what I had done. * During these gracious private messages sent to Mr Robert Cary at Berwick, James VI. breathed forth at Edinburgh, open threatenings of resentment, and thun- dering declarations of revenge, all which were breath only. Vox et praterea nihil. Orrery. Spottiswoode's account of the matter, is, that the king denied Cary presence, and refused to receive his let- ters, which were therefore delivered after some delay to two of his council, deputed to receive them. E. + Master of the wardrobe to James VI. 14 MEMOIRS OF ROBERT CARY, The next year (1587) I was sent ambas- sador again to the King of Scots. When I came to Berwick, I sent for a safe con- duct. I had word from the king, he was going a journey towards Lough-mable * to suppress some rebels that held that castle against him, and therefore desired me to make what haste I could to Carlisle, and from thence I should come to him to Dum- fries, and there he would warrant my safe coming, and my safe return. I did as I was directed, and came to Dumfries, where I was by his majesty nobly entertained ; and stayed with him there some fourteen days, and then took my leave, and came for England ; and by the way I sent to the king from Carlisle two pieces of ordinance, with bullets, powder, and all things neces- sary, by which means he recovered his cas- # Lochmaben, a castle in Dumfries-shire. It was at present occupied by a kinsman and retainer of Lord Maxwell, who, returning from Spain, had excited an in- surrection among the Catholics in the south-west of Scotland. E. EARL OF MONMOUTH. 15 tie. But Robert Maxfield, * that held the castle against him, made an escape, and got to sea, and so prevented the king's jus- tice for that time. I returned to court, where the queen and counsel allowed very well of what I had done ; and so I ended that journey. The next year (1588) the King of Spain's great Armado came upon our coast, think- ing to devour us all. Upon the news sent to court from Plymouth of their certain ar- rival, my Lord Cumberland and myself took post horse, and rode strait to Ports- mouth, where we found a frigate that car- ried us to sea ; and having sought for the fleets a whole day, the night after we fell amongst them ; where it was our fortune to light first on the Spanish fleet; and find- ing ourselves in the wrong, we tacked about, * This is inaccurate. John Lord Maxwell escaped in a small bark, but was pursued and taken at sea by Sir William Stewart. David Maxwell., who held out Loch- maben, was hanged upon the surrender. The rest of the garrison were admitted to quarter. E. 16 MEMOIRS OF ROBERT CARY, and in some short time got to our own fleet, which was not far from the other. At our coming aboard our admiral, we stayed there awhile; but finding the ship much pestered, and scant of cabins, we left the admiral, and went aboard Captain Rey- man, where we stayed, and were very wel- come, and much made of. It was on Thursday that we came to the fleet. All that day we followed close the Spanish Ar- mado, and nothing was attempted on either side ; the same course we held all Friday and Saturday, by which time the Spanish fleet cast anchor just before Calais. We likewise did the same, a very small dis- tance behind them, and so continued till Monday morning about two of the clock; in which time our council of war had pro- vided six old hulks, and stuffed them full of all combustible matter fit for burning, and on Monday, at two in the morning, they were let loose, with each of them a man in her to direct them. The tide ser- ving, they brought them very near the Spa- EARL OF MONMOUTH. 17 nish fleet, so that they could not miss to i come amongst the midst of them: then they set fire on them, and came off them- selves, having each of them a little boat to bring him off. The ships set on fire came so directly to the Spanish fleet, as they had no way to avoid them, but to cut all their halsers, and so escape ; and their haste was such, that they left one of their four great galeasses on ground before Calais, which our men took, and had the spoil of, where many of the Spaniards were slain with the governor thereof, but most of them were saved with wading ashore to Calais. They being in this disorder, we made ready to follow them, where began a cruel fight, and we had such advantage both of wind and tide, as we had a glorious day of them ; continuing fight from four o'clock in the morning till almost five or six at night, where they lost a dozen or fourteen of their best ships, some sunk, and the rest ran ashore in diverse parts to keep themselves from sinking. After God had given us this 18 MEMOIRS OF ROBERT CARY, great victory, they made all the haste they could away, and we followed them Tues- day and Wednesday, by which time they were gotten as far as Flamborough-head. It was resolved on Wednesday at night, that, by four o'clock on Thursday, we should have a new fight with them for a farewell ; but by two in the morning, there was a flag of council hung out in our vice- admiral, when it was found that in the whole fleet there was not munition suffici- ent to make half a fight ; and therefore it was there concluded, that we should let them pass, and our fleet to return to the Downs. That night we parted with them, we had a mighty storm. Our fleet cast an- chor, and endured it ; but the Spanish fleet, wanting their anchors, were many of them cast ashore on the west of Ireland, where they had all their throats cut by the kernes ; * and some of them on Scotland, where they were no better used ; and the * Irish banditti, E. EARL OF MONMOUTH. 19 rest, with much ado, got into Spain again. Thus did God bless us, and gave victory over this invincible navy ; the sea calmed, and all our ships came to the Downs on Friday in safety. On Saturday my Lord of Cumberland and myself came on shore, and took post horse, and found the queen in her army at Tilbury camp, where I fell sick of a burn- ing fever, and was carried in a litter to London. I should have been then sent ambassador to the King of Scots, but could not by reason of my sickness. The next year (which was 1589) was the Journey of Portugal, * where my Lord of # What is here called the Journey of Portugal, was an expedition undertaken by Sir John Norris, and Sir Francis Drake, almost entirely at their own expense, against Spain and Portugal ; chiefly against the latter. The queen was frugal, she only found six ships of war, and permitted soldiers and sailors to be raised for the expedition. Stowe, I think, says, she gave sixty thou- sand pounds in money towards the undertaking. The success was not equal to the design ; but the bravery and spirit with which the enterprize was carried on, will remain a perpetual honour to the English nation. .20 MEMOIRS OF ROBERT CARY, Essex * stole from court to go that jour- ney, and left me behind him, which did so much trouble me, that I had no mind to stay in the court ; but, having given out some money to go on foot in twelve days to Berwick, -f- I performed it that sum- mer, which was worth to me two thousand pounds, which bettered me to live at court a good while after. { * Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex, omitted no op- portunity of shewing his courage, activity, and magni- ficence. His part in this expedition was not only car- ried on without the queen's knowledge and consent, but at his own expense. Throughout his whole life his conduct appears such, as to extort at once from all who have considered his character, the highest degree of ad- miration, pity, censure, and esteem. + In the county of Northumberland, on the river Tweed, three hundred miles north of London. J The spirit of laying wagers subsisted with our an- cestors as thoroughly, if not as extravagant!}^, as with us their gayer and less formal descendants. Monsieur de Voltaire is right in his assertion, where he says, Le comte de Stairs paria, selon le genie de sa nation. Orrery. This giving out, or staking money, to be returned in double or greater proportion upon the accomplishment, by the better, of the enterprize in question, is ridiculed in Jonson's " Every Man out of his Humour;" where Sir EARL OF MONMOUTH. 21 The next journey I undertook was into France with my Lord of Essex * (1591). I was a captain of one hundred and fifty men. This journey was very chargeable to me ; for I carried with me a waggon with five horses to draw it, I carried five great -j- horses over with me, and one little ambling nag, and 1 kept a table all the while I was there that cost me thirty pounds a week, which was from midsummer to almost Christmas ; and yet God so blessed me, that I never wanted, but He still sent me means to supply my wants. My Lord [of Essex] had over with him two hundred horse, and four thousand foot, besides volunteers, which were many. Af- ter that my Lord had stayed at Arques J Puntarvolo puts forth certain sums to be repaid, five for one, on the return of himself, his dog, and his cat, from the Turk's court in Constantinople. E. * To the assistance of Henry IV. E. f By great horses are meant, dressed, or menaged horses. J A city in Normandy, distant about a league and a half from Dieppe. 22 MEMOIRS OF ROBERT GARY, beside Deep * some three weeks, or more, and had commodiously lodged his army, he made a journey to Noyon, and passed still through the enemy's country, without any let or interruption, and took only his two hundred horse for his guard. In three long days journey we came to the King to Noyon. *f* There my Lord stayed with the King four days, and then returned towards Arques again : but in the return we might see many troops of horse of the enemies approaching very near us, but they never durst set upon us, so that we came in safe- ty to Gisors, J a garrison town of the King's. * Beside Deep, signifies near, or on the side of Dieppe. A port town in Normandy. Orrery. Essex complained bitterly of being left inactive in Normandy, and at length had orders to join the King at Noyon, which he performed after a long and difficult march. E. f A town in Picardy upon the river Oisa. The anci- ent Noviodunum, mentioned by Caesar, as a fortification difficult to be taken. It is the birth-place of Calvin, who was born there in the year 1509. J A town in Normandy, which owes its original to a castle built there in the year 1097, by William II. [Ru- fus] King of England, and Duke of Normandy. EARL OF MONMOUTH. 23 The next day we were to go to Arques, the way that we came. Our carriages were loaden, and gone out of the ports of the town, and my Lord and his company were on horseback ready to follow; but there came a French gentleman in good time to the town, and stayed our carriages, and came in great haste to my Lord, and de- sired to speak with him in private: my Lord alighted, and went into his lodging with him, and most of the company stayed on horseback expecting his return. When the Frenchman and my Lord were toge- ther, he discovered to my Lord that he was betrayed by the governor of the town,* and that by his intelligence, Monsieur Vil- liers, -f with above two thousand foot, and # Of Arques. f The person mentioned here, is Andre de Brancas, Seigneur de Villars, one of the principal chiefs of the league. Villars est celuy, (says a French historian,) qui defendit Rouen contre Henry IF. 1592, avec toute la bra- voure et toute la conduite possible. The ambush, though unsuccessful, was critically intended. Monsieur de Vil- 24 MEMOIRS OF ROBERT CARY, five hundred horse, were laid in a great wood, some three miles off the town, which we were to pass through, to cut us ail in pieces. This being made known to my Lord, some few of my Lord's friends were called to council ; and presently it was re- solved that we should make no stay there, but turn our course towards Pont-large, * so we marched a clean contrary way to that we should have done ; and some nine miles off the town, we put over the river Seine, and lay on the other side of the river in the open field all that night. The next day we got betimes to Pont-large, where, by the governor of the town, my Lord and all his troops were very well entertained. By this means God so blessed us, that we liers appears to have been a man of bravery in the field, of judgment in the cabinet, and of conduct in both. He died admiral of France in the year 1595. The family was originally Neapolitan, their name Brancacio. * Pont de l'Arche, a town in Normandy, upon the Seine. This town stands three leagues above Roan, and was the first place that surrendered to King Henry IV, upon his coming to the crown. EARL OF MONMOUTH. l 25 escaped this imminent clanger. Being all safe at Pont-large, my Lord sent to Arques for all his foot to come to him, which came in five or six days. After they had rested a while, he took leave of the governor, and marched by small journeys towards Arques, for then we feared no encounter of any enemy. The second night we lodged at a great village-town called Pavillie, * where, finding great store of victual, and all things necessary for the relief of the sol- diers, it was resolved that w r e should stay there four or five days. In which time, to shew Villiers how little we esteemed him and his forces, in a morning betimes both foot and horse marched some five miles off, only in a bravado, to see whether Villiers, or any of his troops in the town, durst come out and skirmish with us. *f* But there un- # Pa villi, a town in Normandy, four leagues from Kouen. f The bravery of these times was even wanton ana* unnecessary. 26 MEMOIRS OF ROBERT CARY, fortunately we lost Mr Walter Devereux,* my Lord's only brother, with a shot in the head ; and so we returned that night to Pa- villi e, the whole army being full of sorrow for the loss of so worthy a gentleman. The next night after, the town fell on fire, and in less than an hour, it was all burnt to the ground, so that we had much ado to get our troops and carriages safe out of the town. In four days after we came to Arques, where our horse and foot rested a good space, and refreshed themselves, till it was resolved that my Lord and his troops only should go to besiege Gornye, -f which was some fortnight after. We had not stayed long at Arques, but the whole army re- # Second son of Walter Devereux, the first Earl of Essex, who, in the year 1573, had leave from Queen Eli- zabeth to go into Ireland to conquer the barony of Clandeboy at his own expense. Orrery, Essex was blamed by the Queen for his rashness and indiscretion upon this occasion. E. + Gournay, a large city in Normandy, situated upon tfce river Epte, ten leagues from Roan. EARL OF MONMOUTH. 2? moved from thence towards Gornye to be- siege the town. We lay before it some ten days, in which time there came letters out of England to my Lord of Essex, to com- mand him presently to repair for Eng- land, and to leave his charge with Sir Thomas Layton. He presently dispatched Sir Thomas Darc}^ to desire longer stay ; and to let the Queen know that the King * intended shortly to besiege Roan, and what a dishonour it would be for ever to him, if he should leave him at such a time. Here Colonel Cromwell left the camp, and went for England ; having such urgent occasions of business that he could stay no longer. My Lord of Essex, upon his departure, gave me his regiment; and I made choice of my Lord of Valentia to be my lieutenant-colo- nel of my regiment, and gave my captain- ship to Sir Francis Rich, who was lieute- nant of my company before. After we had battered the town, and made a breach, in * Henry IV. 28 MEMOIRS OE ROBERT GARY, a morning betimes we were ready to give an assault ; but the chief commanders of the town, fearing their own weakness, held out a white flag to parley ; and upon con- ference it was agreed, that the commanders and soldiers should in safety pass out of the town, and that the town should be de- livered to my Lord for the King's use. All which was performed that morning before twelve of the clock. From this town my Lord sent me to court with the news of the yielding of the town, and the manner of it. I made what haste I could to get over from Dieppe, and within four days after I left my Lord, I ar- rived at Oatlands betimes in the morning. Before I came, Sir Thomas Darcy was sent back with a strait command for my Lord to return, as he would answer it at his utmost peril, with commission for Sir Thomas Layton to execute the place. I spake with most of the council before the Queen was stirring, who assured me, that there was no removing of her Majesty from EARL OF MONMOUTH. 29 her resolution, and advised me to take heed that I gave her no cause to be offended with me, by persuading her for his stay, which they assured me would do no good, but rather hurt. About ten of the clock she sent for me. I delivered her my Lord's letter. She presently burst out into a great rage against my Lord, and vowed she would make him an example to all the world, if he presently left not his charge, and returned upon Sir Francis Darcy's coming to him. I said nothing to her till she had read his letter. She seemed to be meanly well contented with the success at Gorny, and then I said to her, " Madam, I know my Lord's care is such to obey all your commands, as he will not make one hour s stay after Sir Francis hath delivered him his fatal doom ; but, Madam, give me leave to let your Majesty know before hand, what you shall truly find at his return, after he hath had the happi- ness to see you, and kiss your hand. He doth so sensibly feel his disgrace, and how- 30 MEMOIRS OF ROBERT CARY, ever you think it reason for this you have done, yet the world abroad, who know not the cause of his so sudden leaving his army to another, will esteem it a weakness in him, and a base cowardliness in him to leave the army, now, when he should meet the King and his whole army for the be- sieging of Roan. You will be deceived, Madam, if you think he will ever after this have to do with court or state affairs. I know his full resolution is to retire to some cell in the country, and to live there, as a man never desirous to look a good man in the face again. And in good faith, Ma- dam, to deal truly with your Majesty, I think you will not have him a long-lived man after his return. The late loss of his brother, whom he loved so dearly, and this heavy doom that you have laid upon him, will in a short time break his heart. Then your Majesty will have sufficient satisfac- tion for the offence he hath committed against you." She seemed to be something offended at EARL OF MONMOUTH, 31 my discourse, and bade me go to dinner. I desired her, that if she pleased to com- mand me any service, I might know her pleasure in the afternoon, for I meant with all the haste I could make to return to my charge. I had scarce made an end of my din- ner, but I was sent for to come to her again. She delivered me a letter, written with her own hand * to my Lord, and bade me tell him, that " if there were any thing in it that did please him, he should give me thanks for it." I humbly kissed her hand, and said to her, " I hoped there was in it that which would make him of the most dejected man living, a new creature, re- joicing in nothing so much as that he had to serve so worthy and so gracious a mis- tress/' * This is as strong an instance as possible of the Queen's affection to Lord Essex. It is evident her own heart, not the discourse of Mr Cary, although pro- per and judicious, extorted from her that letter. She satisfied herself with the pleasure of writing to him, when his glory deferred the pleasure of her seeing him. 32 MEMOIRS OF ROBERT CARY, After I had, with all due respects, taken my leave of her, I made no long stay, but that afternoon I took post horse, and made for France, Thus God blessed me in this journey, that through my poor weakness I procured that from her, which all my Lord's friends in court, nor all her council, could procure. I made all the haste I could, but came too late ; for that tide that I came to the haven to Dieppe, my Lord, having recei- ved her strait command from Sir Francis Darcy, resigned his charge to Sir Thomas Layton, and put himself into a little skiff in Dieppe, and made all the haste he could for England. When I came to Dieppe^ they all wondered that I missed him, for they told me it was not two hours since he set sail from thence. Missing him, I went to my charge at Arques, and there stayed till my Lord's return. At my Lord's coming to court, whereas he expected no- thing but her Majesty's heavy displeasure, he found it clean contrary ; for she used EARL OF MONMOUTH. 33 him with that grace and favour, that he staid a week with her, passing the time in jollity and feasting ; and then with tears in her eyes, she shewed her affection to him, and for the repair of his honour gave him leave to return to his charge again. * He made all the haste he could to Dieppe. I met him there. As soon as he saw me, he drew his rapier, and came run- ning to me, and laid it on my shoulder, -j- and straightly embraced me, and said to me, when he had need of one to plead for him, he would never use any other orator than myself. I delivered him the Queen's let- ter; then he said, " Worthy cousin, I know by herself how you prevailed with her, and what a true friend I had of you, which I shall never forget/' # The Queen was naturally of a gay mirthful temper. She could assume, indeed, all dispositions ; but in this account of her gracious reception of Essex, and her ap- parent disturbance of mind in taking leave of him, she was certainly sincere. f See the Preface. 34 MEMOIRS OF ROBERT CARY, The next day my Lord went to Arques, and there we staid till we took our jour- ney to Roan. * In short time after, my Lord coming to his army at Arques, (where there was no small joy for his Lordship's safe return,) he received from the King his resolution what day and time he (Henry IV.) meant to besiege the city of Roan, with his whole army, both horse and foot ; and desired my Lord to fit himself and his troops at the time appointed, which he slacked not to perform with all care and diligence. My Lord's quarter was allotted to be at Mount Malade, -f the town lying under us * Roan is one of the largest and most opulent cities in France. It is the capital of Normandy, in which the Dukes of Normandy kept their courts. It is surrounded hy mountains. Anthony de Bourbon, King of Navarre, father of Henry IV., was killed near the gate of St Hi- lary, when Roan was besieged in the year 1562 by Charles IX., whose troops the King of Navarre com- manded. f Mont aux Malades. This place is a small village upon one of the hills which surround Roan. It is to be EARL OF MONMOUTH. 35 not full a quarter of an English mile. The King, with his horse and foot, took for his quarter the town of Daringtall. * Between the King and my Lord, lay the Switzers upon another hill. Upon the right hand of my Lord lay Montmorancie, >f close to the town on low ground ; the rest of the King's army, as well on the side we lay on, as on the other side of the water, were dispersed in diverse parts. Monsieur de Roulet, J Governor of Pont-large, with his seen in all the maps of Normandy. It lies north-west of Roan. # Darnetal is another small village upon the north- east side of Roan, much at the same distance from the city. f Charles de Montmorenci Seigneur de Meru, third son of the great Constable Ann, Duke of Montmorenci. He signalized his bravery in a very exemplary manner throughout all the battles and sieges that were carried on during the League. He was made admiral of France by Henry IV. in the year 1596. The illustrious race of Montmorenci have produced more great men than any other family in France. J Monsieur de Roulet was one of the earliest, who, upon the death of Henry III., flew to the standard of Henry IV. He delivered up the keys of Pont de FArche 36 MEMOIRS OF ROBERT CARY, troops, were lodged on the other side of the water. The rest of the commanders, and the names of the places they lay in, I do not well remember; but sure I am, my Lord came to his quarter by five o'clock in the morning, and the whole town was roundly besieged before eleven of the clock. But Villiers, Governor of Roan, did that day shew himself to be a brave soldier, and a great commander. He brought out his troops, both of horse and foot, and there was not a quarter in the whole army, but what was bravely assaulted and fought withal by them that day. The King's quarter was not exempted ; but they did so furiously assault Montmorancie's quar- ter, that had not my Lord of Essex sent, his horse to. relieve him, he had been driven out of his quarter with great dishonour. Towards three in the afternoon, they had to the King, demanding no other recompence than the honour of serving his majesty. He was, says Perefix, a man of parts and of bravery. Homme de caur et d f esprit. EARL OF MONMOUTH. 37 shewn their worth and valour in all other places. They came up towards my Lord's quarters. We were ready to entertain them, and we held skirmish at the least two hours ; and after some killed and hurt on both sides, they fairly retired into the town, and we to our lodging ; and so ended that day's sport. Diverse days after, they made sallies out of the town, and gave attempts to diverse quarters, which we that lay on high had the pleasure to behold, but they never at- tempted any thing against us but the first day. They had a spleen to no quarter so much as to Montmorancie's. The reason was, for that he had begged of the King, the government of the town, if it had been taken either by agreement or by assault. We lay long there, and to little purpose ; for though the town walls were weak, and of no force to endure a battery, which my Lord would fain have been at, and offered the King that he and his troops should be the first that should enter, if he would make 38 MEMOIRS OF ROBERT CARY, a breach, (which four cannons would soon have done,) it would not be hearkened un- to ; old Byron * thinking it better, by con- tinuing the siege, for want of victuals to make them come to composition, than to hazard the wealth of the town to the spoil of the soldiers, if it should be won by as- sault. All our attempts were against St Ka- therine's. There we wrought in trenches * Armand de Gontaut Seigneur de Biron, one of the marshals of France ; a brave soldier, an able negociator, and acknowledged favourite of three succeeding princes, Charles IX., Henry III., and Henry IV. His age and experience gave him great weight with Henry IV., who, although neither influenced by favourites, nor ministers, listened attentively to his councils. Historians seem to think, that Biron's purposes were not always disinterest- ed and upright. He is here called old Birpn, to distinguish him from his eldest son Charles de Gontaut, premier Marechal de Biron, who made so considerable a figure at this siege, that the King, at his return to Paris, pointed him out (aux Eche-vins) to the magistrates of that city, with this expression, Messieurs, voici un grand General. Je le pre- sente a mes amis et a mes enemis. " Gentlemen, here } r ou see a great General. I present him to my friends and to my enemies." EARL OF MONMOUTH. 39 so near them, as we came to lie in their counterscarp, and had often conference with them in the fort. One night there were scaling ladders prepared, and we had hope to won it by scalado. My Lord was there with the chief gentlemen of his army. We were all commanded to wear shirts above the armour,* (I lost many shirts that I lent that night,) this was done accordingly. When all things were prepared and ready, we marched forwards ; and the first that came to set up the ladders, found them, at least, two yards too short ; so we were forced to retire with shame enough, the fort playing upon us in our coming on, and in our going off; but there was little hurt done, by reason of the darkness of the night. ^ # To distinguish them from the enemy. + Sully, in his Memoirs, gives an account of a despe- rate sally made by the besieged garrison, by which the English were driven out of the counterscarp, after a fierce resistance; but on the succeeding night, Essex re- took the post at the head of an hundred English gentle- men, and maintained it till the siege was raised. E. 40 MEMOIRS OF ROBERT CARY, One day my Lord and his best friends being at the head of the French, prattling to those in the fort, we had been all cut in pieces, had not the worth and valour of Sir Ferdinando George prevented it by God's assistance. For he having charge of the trenches that day, and a corps de guard of English soldiers by him, it was God's will, that he, looking through a loop hole, es- pied twenty-five or thirty armed men with halberds sallying out of the fort, who meant to come upon us on a sudden by a by-way that they had, and to cut all our throats : but he on a sudden, (seeing the present danger,) by commanding a dozen or four- teen of his best soldiers, whom he trusted most to follow him, in his doublet and hose, and his rapier by his side, leapt over the trenches, the rest bravely following him, and with all speed came upon them that were coming to this execution. They see- ing this desperate resolution, (whether they thought they had been betrayed, or what else I know not,) retired into the fort with EARL OF MONMOUTH. 41 all speed back again ; and he came brave- ly off with all his followers without any- hurt, though they had many shot made at them in their going on, and coming off from the rampiers. Thus by God's help, and this man s brave resolution, my Lord and all that were with him escaped this imminent danger. All the attempts we made were only against the fort,* my Lord still urging the King to batter some part of the town, but it would never be yielded to. Thus we spent a long time to little purpose, from Michaelmas to almost Christmas, when the Duke of Parma came with an army to re- lieve the town, and did effect it. The King was forced to raise his siege with shame enough, and to retire : * at * The King, according to Sully, offered the Prince of Parma battle at Neuf-Chattel. But the Prince, a wary and excellent general, avoided the combat, and filed off towards Rouen, which he relieved, while Henry's army were drawn up in vain expectation of a general engage- ment. E. 42 MEMOIRS OF ROBERT CARY, which time the winter coming on, my Lord left his army with Sir Roger Williams, * Sir Thomas Baskervile, and other comman- ders, took his leave of the King, and came for England. I returned with my Lord, and left my regiment with Sir Henry Poore, (now Vis- count Valentia, -j~) and some fortnight be- * Sir Roger Williams had been sent over by Queen Elizabeth with six hundred men under his command to assist Henry IV. who afterwards requested four thousand more, which were sent to him under the command of the Earl of Essex. Both these succours were granted in 1591. f The family of Power is extinct. The Earls of An- glesey possess the title of Valentia. Sir Francis Annes- ley, knight and baronet, had a reversionary grant of the title. He was created Baron Mountnorris of Mount- norris, in the county of Armagh, in Ireland, and by other letters patent under the great seal of England, dated 11th of March, 19th of James I. he was crea- ted Viscount of Valentia, in the county of Kerry, in Ireland, to him and his heirs male ; to hold immediate- ly after the death of Henry Power, Lord Viscount Va- lentia, (the person mentioned in these Memoirs,,) with- out heirs male of his body ; which title, says the geneo- logist, Sir Francis Annesley accordingly enjoyed. He was the famous Lord Mountnorris who received such oppression and injustice from the Earl of Strafford, EARL OF MONMOUTH. 43 fore Christmas, my Lord, and those that came with him, arrived at court, where he was very welcome to the Queen, and all that attended him, for his sake. Thus end- ed our French wars. I spent two winters and a summer in court after this, in which time, the Queen gave me out of the exchequer one thou- sand pounds to pay my debts, which gave me great relief. Presently after this, my old Lord Scroope * died at Carlisle, and the Queen gave the west wardenry to his son that had married my sister. He having that office imposed upon him, came to me w T ith great earnestness,- and desired me to be his deputy, offering me yearly that I should live with him in his house, he would # Henry Lord Scroop. He was Knight of the Gar- ter, governor of the castle of Carlisle, and warden of the West Marches towards Scotland. He left two sons, Thomas and Henry. Thomas married Philadelphia, daughter of Henry Cary, Lord Hunsdon. He was par- ticularly serviceable to Queen Elizabeth, by defending the Borders against the Scots, and by making a truce with them, very advantageous to England. 44 MEMOIRS OF ROBERT CAItY, allow me half a dozen men, and as many horses, to be kept at his charge ; and his fee being a thousand marks yearly, he would part it with me, and I should have the half. This his noble offer I accepted of, left the court, and went with him to Carlisle, where I was no sooner come, but I entered into my office. Thus after I had passed my best time in court, and got little, I betook myself to the country, after I was past one-and-thirty years old, where I lived with great con- tent : for we had a stirring world, and few days passed over my head but I was on horseback, either to prevent mischief, or to take malefactors, and to bring the Border in better quiet than it had been in times past. * God blessed me in all my actions, # The King of Scotland, afterwards our James I. ha- ving vented all his anger against Queen Elizabeth in words and vapours, began to consider that silence and submission were the likeliest means to lead him to the succession of her throne. So early as 1587, he prohi- bited the incursions on England, which commenced on EARL OF MONMOUTH. 45 and I cannot remember that I undertook any thing in the time that I was there, but it took good effect. One memorable thing of God's mercy shewed unto me, was such, as I have good cause still to remember it. 1 had private intelligence given me, that there were two Scottishmen that had kil- led a churchman in Scotland, and were by one of the Greenes * relieved. This Greene the execution of Queen Mary. In the year 1595, he published a proclamation, prohibiting, on very severe pe- nalties, his subjects on and near the borders of the two kingdoms, either to oppress or any ways molest and in- jure the English, Queen Elizabeth published another proclamation to the same purpose. From this time greater peace and harmony than had been, were main- tained by the subjects of each sovereign, and a better union subsisted between Elizabeth and James. * Erroneously printed for Graemes, a clan of Bor- derers thus described in a note on the Lay of the Last Minstrel* " John Grahame, second son of Malice, Earl of Mon- teith, commonlv surnamed John with the Bright Sword, upon some displeasure risen against him at court, retired with many of his clan and kindred into the English Bor- ders in the reign of king Henry the Fourth, where they seated themselves; and many of their posterity have 46 MEMOIRS OF ROBERT CARY. dwelt within five miles of Carlisle : he had a pretty house, and close by it a strong continued there ever since. Mr Sandford, speaking of them, says (which indeed was applicable to most of the Borderers on both sides,) f They were all stark moss- troupers, and arrant thieves : Both to England and Scot- land outlawed ; yet sometimes connived at, because they gave intelligence forth of Scotland, and would raise 400 horse at any time upon a raid of the English into Scot- land. A saying is recorded of a mother to her son (which is now become proverbial) Rifle, Rowlie, hough's i' the pot: that is, the last piece of beef was in the pot, and therefore it was high time for him to go and fetch more." Introduction to the History of Cumberland. " The residence of the Graemes being chiefly in the Debateable Land, so called because it was claimed by both kingdoms, their depredations extended both to England and Scotland, with impunity ; for as both war- dens accounted them the proper subjects of their own prince, neither inclined to demand reparation for their excesses from the opposite officers, which would have been an acknowledgment of his jurisdiction over them. See a long correspondence on this subject betwixt Lord Dacre and the English Privy Council, in Introduction to History of Cumberland, The Debateable Land was finally divided betwixt England and Scotland by com- missioners appointed by both nations." The Graemes, after the accession of James VI. to the English throne, were, by a very summary exertion of power, transported to Ireland. E. EARL OF MONMOUTH. 47 tower for his own defence in time of need.* I thought to surprise the Scots on a sud- den, and about two o'clock in the morning I took horse in Carlisle, and not above twenty-five in my company, thinking to surprise the house on a sudden. Before I could surround the house, the tw T o Scots were gotten into the strong tower, and I might see a boy riding from the house as fast as his horse could carry him ; I little suspecting what it meant. But Thomas Carleton came to me presently, and told me, that if I did not presently prevent it, both myself and all my company would be either slain, or taken prisoners. It was strange to me to hear this language. He then said to me, " Do you see that boy that rideth away so fast ? He will be in Scotland within this half hour ; and he is gone to let them know, that you are here, and to what end you are come, and the # This was probably Netherby Tower, which is still stand in 2. E. 48 MEMOIRS OF ROBERT CARY, small number you have with you ; and that if they will make haste, on a sudden they may surprise us, and do with us what they please." Hereupon we took advice what was best to be done. We sent notice pre- sently to all parts to raise the country, and to come to us with all the speed they could ; and withal we sent to Carlisle to raise the townsmen ; for without foot we could do no good against the tower. There we staid some hours, expecting more com- pany ; and within short time after, the country came in on all sides, so that we were quickly between three and four hun- dred horse; and, after some little longer stay, the foot of Carlisle came to us, to the number of three or four hundred men ; whom we set presently at work, to get up to the top of the tower, and to uncover the roof; and then some twenty of them to fall down together, and by that means to win the tower. The Scots, seeing their pre- sent danger, offered to parley, and yielded themselves to my mercy. They had no EARL OF MONMOUTH. 4Q sooner opened the iron gate, and yielded themselves my prisoners, but we might see four hundred horse within a quarter of a mile coming to their rescue, and to sur- prise me and my small company ; but of a sudden they stayed, and stood at gaze. Then had I more to do than ever ; for all our Borderers came crying with full mouths, " Sir, give us leave to set upon them ; for these are they that have killed our fathers, our brothers, our uncles, and our cousins ; and they are come, thinking to surprise you, upon weak grass nags, * such as they could get on a sudden ; and God hath put them into your hands, that we may take revenge of them for much blood that they have spilt of ours." I desired they would be patient awhile, and be- thought myself, if I should give them their wills, there would be few, or none of them, (the Scots) that would escape unkilled, # Horses taken up from grass, and unfit for hard ex- ercise. E. 50 MEMOIRS OV ROBERT CARY, (there was so many deadly feuds among them,) and therefore I resolved with my- self, to give them a fair answer, but not to give them their desire. So I told them, that if I were not there myself, they might then do what pleased themselves ; but be- ing present, if I should give them leave, the blood that should be spilt that day would lie very heavy upon my conscience, and therefore I desired them, for my sake, to forbear ; and if the Scots did not pre- sently make away with all the speed they could upon my sending to them, they should then have their wills to do what they pleased. They were ill satisfied with my answer, but durst not disobey. I sent with speed to the Scots, and bade them pack away with all the speed they could ; for if they stayed the messenger's return, they should few of them return to their own home. They made no stay ; but they were turned homewards before the messen- ger had made an end of his message. Thus, by God's mercy, I escaped a great danger ; EARL OF MONMOUTH. 51 and, by my means, there were a great many men's lives saved that day. Not long after this, I married a gentle- woman, * more for her worth than her wealth ; for her estate was but five hundred pounds a-year jointure, and she had be- tween five and six hundred pounds in her purse. Neither did she marry me for any great wealth; for I had in all the world, but one hundred pounds a-year pension out of the exchequer, and that was but during pleasure, and I was near a thousand pounds in debt ; besides, the Queen was mightily offended with me for marrying, -f and most of my best friends ; only my fa- ther was no ways displeased at it, which gave me great content. * Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Hugh Trevannion. She was a widow when Mr Cary married her, but the name of her first husband is no where mentioned. f This was a well-known and remarkable feature of the Queen's character. She considered all her courtiers as her adorers, and the marriage of any of them was therefore an affronting act of infidelity. E. 52 MEMOIRS OF ROBERT GARY, After I was married, I brought my wife to Carlisle, where we were so nobly used by my Lord, * that myself, my wife, and all my servants, were lodged in the castle, where we lived with him, and had our diet for ourselves, our servants and horses, pro- vided for as his own were. We had not long lived thus, but a sudden occasion cal- led me up to the term, which then was at St Albans, by reason of a great plague that year at London, the Queen lying then at Windsor. The cause was as followeth : There was an old gentleman in Suffolk, that had an old wife, his name was Gardi- ner ; they were childless. This man, in re- compense of some favour my father had done him, (after his own life and his wife's,) made an estate of a lordship of his called Colombine-hall, in Suffolk, to my brother * Thomas Lord Scroop, who succeeded his father in the government of the castle at Carlisle. Orrery. Both his father and he are famous in Border song and tradition. E. EARL OF MONMOUTH. 55 William and his heirs jnale, and for want thereof, to me and my heirs male, and for want thereof, to my father and his heirs for ever. My brother marries, and, by fraudulent means, privately cuts me off from the in- tail, and by the consent of Gardiner and his wife, makes his own wife a jointure of this lordship. My brother dies without children. Then came it out that this land was given in jointure to his wife. I com- menced suit of law with her ; my eldest brother took her part, by reason that if she had prevailed, after her life the law had cast the land upon him. My sister-in-law and I had proceeded so far in Chancery, that the cause was to be heard and de- cided that Michaelmas term at St Albans. Those that I put in trust to follow my law business, wrote to me in plain words, that neither they nor any body else durst fol- low the cause, they were so bitterly threat- ened by my brothers agent, who did as- sure them my brother would be there him- 54 MEMOIRS OF ROBERT GARY, self, to see that his sister-in-law should have no wrong, and then they should see who durst appear to contradict him. Thus did my brother, by his power, mean to over- throw my right in my absence ; for he as- sured himself I durst not come too near the court, having so lately offended the Queen, and the most of my friends, by my mar- riage. But he was deceived ; for I having heard this b} r my servant, that I put in trust to follow my business, I presently re- solved to come to St Albans, and to do my best to defend my own cause. I had not been there two days, but in the lodging where I lay, my brothers man came in to take up a lodging for his master. I asked him where my brother was ? He told me he was within two miles of the town, and was come expressly out of the Isle of Wight, for no other cause, but a business in law, wherein he made sure account to overthrow his adversary that term ; but against whom it was he knew not. He took horse again, after he had provided a EARL OF MONMOUTH. 55 lodging, to meet his master. He met him not a mile from the town, and told him that he had found me there, and that I lay same house that he was to lie in. at this news was much trou- x musing with himself a good ist, of a sudden, he turned his nead, and came not at all to St Al- ts, but went to Windsor, and trusted ohers to follow the cause. My cause was so just, that I ended the business that term, overthrew my sisters jointure, and had the land settled as it was in statu quo prius. Having ended my business, I meant to return to Carlisle again. My father wrote to me from Windsor, that the Queen meant to have a great triumph there, on her coro- nation day, 1593, and that there was great preparation making for the course of the field and tourney. * He gave me notice of # Plays, masks, triumphs, and tournaments, which the author calls tourneys, were small branches of those 56 MEMOIRS OF ROBERT CARY, the Queen's anger for my marriage, and said it may be, I being so near, and to re- turn without honouring her day, as I ever before had done, might be a cause of her further dislike, but left it to myself to do what I thought best. My business of law therefore being ended, I came to court, and lodged there very privately; only I made myself known to my father and some few friends besides. I here took order, and sent to London to provide me things ne- cessary for the triumph : I prepared a present for her Majesty, which, with my caparisons, cost me above four hundred pounds. I came into the triumph unknown of any. I was the forsaken knight that had vowed solitariness, but, hearing of this great triumph, thought to honour my mis- tress with my best service, and then to re- many spreading allurements which Elizabeth made use of, to draw to herself the affections and the admiration of her subjects. She appeared at them with dignity, ease, grace, and affability. EARL OF MONMOUTH. 57 turn to pay my wonted mourning. The triumph ended, and all things well passed over to the Queen's * liking. I then made myself known in court ; and for the time I stayed there, was daily conversant with my old companions and friends ; but it so fell out, that I made no long stay there : it was upon this occasion. My brother, Sir John Cary, that was then Marshal of Berwick, was sent to by the King of Scots, to desire him that he would meet his Majesty at the bound road at a day appointed ; for, that he had a matter of great importance to acquaint his sister the Queen of England withal; but # The Queen was undoubtedly advertised, that her forsaken knight (for such indeed he was) had issued forth from his solitariness to bask himself in the sun- shine of her luminous countenance, and to gather cou- rage and prowess from the beams of her bright eyes. Nothing, not even trifles, passed abroad or at home, with which she was not acquainted. But as she had no immediate occasion for the service of Sir Robert Cary, her Majesty was determined still to continue the out ward show of her resentment, till she wanted him. 58 MEMOIRS OF ROBERT GARY, he would not trust the Queen's ambassa- dor with it, nor any other, unless it were my father, or some of his children. My brother sent him word he would gladly wait on his Majesty, but durst not until he had acquainted the Queen therewith ; and when he had received her answer, he would acquaint him with it. My brother sent notice to my father of the King's desire. My father shewed the letter to the Queen. She was not willing that my brother should stir out of the town ;* but knowing, though she would not know, that I was in court, she said, " I hear your fine son, that has lately married so worthily, is hereabouts ; send him, if you will, to know the King's pleasure/' My father answered, he knew I would be glad to obey her commands. " No," said she, " do you bid him go, for f The town of Berwick, from whence the Queen would not have him stir, because she did not deem him to be a proper messenger, knowing there was a better within cail. EARL OF MONMOUTH. 59 I have nothing to do with him." * My fa- ther came and told me what had passed between them. I thought it hard to be sent, and not to see her ; but my father told me plainly, that she would neither speak with me, nor see me. " Sir," said I, " if she be on such hard terms with me, I had need be wary what I do. If I go to the King without her license, it were in her power to hang me-f- at my return ; and, for any thing I see, it were ill trusting her/' My father merrily went to the Queen, and told her what I said. She answered, " if the gentleman be so mistrustful, let the Se- cretary make a safe conduct to go and come, and I will sign it." Upon these terms I parted from court, and made all the haste for Scotland. I stayed but one * Still maintaining her dignity, yet impatient to have him go. f By this expression may be seen the terror in which this mighty princess governed her subjects. By the un- reiaxed tightness with which she grasped the reins of government, she was at once beloved and feared. 60 MEMOIRS OF ROBERT CARY, night with my wife at Carlisle, and then to Berwick, and so to Edinburgh, where it pleased the King to use me very gracious- ly : and after three or four days spent in sport and merriment, he acquainted me with what he desired the Queen should know ; which, when I understood, J said to his Majesty, " Sir, between subject and subject, a message may be sent and deli- vered without any danger ; between two so great monarchs as your Majesty and my Mistress, I dare not trust my memory to be a relator, but must desire you would be pleased to write your mind to her. If you shall think fit to trust me with it, I shall faithfully discharge the trust reposed in me." He liked the motion, and said it should be so, and accordingly I had my dispatch within four days. * # The purport of this interview with James VI. does not appear, James was, in 1693, greatly embarrassed with Bothwellon the one hand, and the Catholic Earls of Huntly and Errol on the other. Probably the conference regarded some request of assistance from England. E. EARL OF MONMOUTH. 61 I made all the haste I could to court, which was then at Hampton Court. I ar- rived there on St Steven's day in the af- ternoon. Dirty as I was, I came into the presence, where I found the lords and la- dies dancing. The Queen was not there. My father went to the Queen, to let her know that I was returned. She willed him to take my message or letters, and bring them to her. He came for them, but I de- sired him to excuse me ; for that which I had to say, either by word, or by writing, I must deliver myself : I could neither trust him, nor much less any other there- with. He acquainted her Majesty with my resolution. With much ado, I was called for in; and I was left alone with her. Our first encounter was stormy and terrible, which I passed over with silence. After she had spoken her pleasure of me and my wife, I told her, that " she herself was the fault of my marriage, and that if she had but graced me with the least of her favours, I had never left her, nor her 62 MEMOIRS OF ROBERT CARY, court ; and seeing she was the chief catise of my misfortune, I would never off my knees till I had kissed her hand, and ob- tained my pardon/' She was not displea- sed with my excuse, and before we parted we grew good friends. Then I delivered my message and my papers, which she took very well, and at last gave me thanks for the pains I had taken. So having her princely word, that she had pardoned and forgotten all faults, I kissed her hand, and came forth to the presence, and was in the court, as I was ever before. * # The firmness with which Mr Cary weathered out this storm, evidently shews in what a school, and under what a mistress, he had been bred. He well knew, that the curious desire of the Queen to be fully informed of every particular .relating to the King of Scots, must, af- ter a certain degree of assumed passion, turn into a pro- per calm, proper at least for hearing his sentiments, if not for expressing some of her own. The effects of his judgment were fully answered ; and certainly his judg- ment never appeared more conspicuous, than from the beginning to the end of the scene which he has ex- hibited upon this occasion. . EARL OF MONMOUTH. 63 This God did for me, to bring me in fa- vour with my sovereign ; for if this occa- sion had been slipt, it may be I should ne- ver, never, have seen her face more. After I had stayed all Christmas, till al- most Shrovetide* I took leave of her Ma- jesty, and all the rest of my friends, and made straight for Carlisle. I continued there till the midst of May, still busying myself with the affairs of the Borders, at which time my wife was brought to bed of a daughter. Shortly after, some of my Lord Scroop's officers were at a difference with me about Border-causes. My Lord, as I conceived, was more favourable on their sides than mine, whereupon I resolved not to con- tinue his deputy any longer. We parted on very good terms ; and about six weeks after my daughter was born, my wife and I took our leaves of him, and came to Wi- therington, which was her jointure. There we stayed till towards the spring the next 64 MEMOIRS OF ROBERT CARY, year ; and having no employment, I re- solved to repair again to the court. My wife was by this time again with child. We set out from Witherington, and by easy journeys we got to London. My father having the keeping of Arundel- house, I got lodging in it for myself, my wife, and my servants. I went daily to court, and passed the time as merrily as I had done before. I had not been there long, but I was a suitor to my father for the reversion of Norham Castle, which he willingly granted, so I could get the Queen's consent. * After I understood his pleasure, I proceeded no further in it, till I had written to my brother John, who was Marshal of Berwick, for his good will, who had then one hundred pounds of mine out of the domains of Norham, as a gift from my father. He, when he understood my * Norham Castle and its demesnes were the proper- ty of the crown, but were leased out to any well deser- ving subject. The lessee was also captain or governor of the castle. E. EARL OF MONMOUTH. 65 meaning, did what he could to hinder me of it, and made his means to old Bur- leigh, * who moved the Queen not to grant the reversion without my brother's consent. ♦He wrought so with her, as her answer to me was, that, till I satisfied my brother John, she would not grant my suit. I knew it was to no purpose to deal any fur- ther in it, till I had spoken with my bro- ther, and given him satisfaction to his con- tent, and therefore deferred it till I return- ed to the North. By this time my wife grew something big; and by reason she could not well agree with the air of Lon- don, I went with her to a place called Den- ham, hard by Ux bridge, and there she staid till she was brought to bed of a boy, which was about the midst of January. * William Cecil, Lord Burleigh, was at this time near his end. Gouty in his limbs, infirm in his health, politic still in his head. Wise and wary to his last moments; unwilling to suffer the least grant to be made that in any wise might reflect on the Queen's honour and jus- tice. 66 MEMOIRS OF ROBERT CARY, Not long after this, Sir John Selby, who was deputy warden for my father of the East March, died, and then my father cal- led me to him, and told me if I would ac- cept of the place, he would put me in pos* session of Norham ; paying to my brother one hundred pounds per annum as he had done before. I willingly accepted of his offer, and prepared myself for the journey, and left my wife and her children at Den- ham, till she had gathered more strength, and was fit for travel. The first thing I did, was to agree with my brother for his good will for Norham, which I bought at a dear rate ; for I continued to pay him one hundred pounds a-year as long as he continued Marshal of Berwick, and besides I gave him my interest of a lease which was worth six hundred pounds a-year, which should have fallen to me if I had survived him. Having perfected this agreement, my brother acqainted my Lord Treasurer therewithal. When the Queen knew there- of, she was pleased to grant me the rever- 2 EARL OV MONMOUTH, 67 sion of the captainship of Norham after my father s death, who had given me the possession of it in his lifetime. Having thus ended with my brother, I then began to think of the charge I had taken upon me, which was the government of the East March in my father's absence. I wrote to Sir Robert Car, * who was my opposite warden, a brave, active young man, and desired him that he would ap- point a day when he and myself might pri- vately meet in some part of the Border, to take some good order for the quieting the Borders, till my return from London, which journey I was shortly of necessity to take. He staid my man all night, and wrote to me back, that he was glad to have the happiness to be acquainted with me, and did not doubt but the country would be * Sir Robert Ker of Cessford, ancestor of the ducal bouse of Roxburghe. Lord Orrery, in a note upon the passage in the former edition, confounded him with Sir Thomas Ker of Ferni heist, ancestor of the Lothian fa- mily, and father of Robert Car, Earl of Somerset. E. 68 MEMOIRS OF ROBERT GARY, the better governed by our good agree- ments. I wrote to him on the Monday, and the Thursday after he appointed the place and hour of meeting. After he had filled my man with drink, and put him to bed, he and some half a score with him got to horse, and came into England to a little village. There he broke up a house, and took out a poor fellow, who, he pretended, had done him some wrong, and before the door cruelly mur- dered him, and so came quietly home, and went to bed. The next morning he deli- vered my man a letter in answer to mine, and returned him to me. It pleased me well at the reading of his kind letter; but when I heard what a brave he had put upon me, I quickly resolved what to do, which was, never to have to do with him till I was righted for the great wrong he had done me. Upon this resolution, the day I should have met with him, I took post, and with all the haste I could, rode to London, leaving him to attend my com- EARL OF MONMOUTH. 69 ing to him as was appointed. There he staid from one till five, but heard no news of me. Finding by this that I had ne- glected him, he returned home to his house ; and so things rested (with great dislike the one of the other) till 'I came back, which was with all the speed I could, my busi- ness being ended. The first thing I did after my return, was to ask justice for the wrong he had done me, but I could get none. The Borderers seeing our disagree- ment, they thought the time wished for of them was come. The winter being begun, there was roads made out of Scotland into the East March, and goods were taken three or four times a week. I had no other means left to quiet them, but still sent out of the garrison horsemen of Berwick to watch in the fittest places for them ; and it was their good hap many times to light upon them with the stolen goods driving before them. They were no sooner brought before me, but a jury went upon them, and, being found guilty, they were present- 70 MEMOIRS OF ROBERT CARY, ly hanged. A course which hath been sel- dom used, but I had no way to keep the country quiet but to do so ; for when the Scots thieves found what a sharp course I took with them that were found with the bloody hand, I had in a short time the country more quiet. All this while we were but in jest as it were, but now began the great quarrel between us. There was a favourite of his, * a great thief, called Giordie Bourne. This gallant, with some of his associates, would, in a bravery, cpme and take goods in the East March. I had that night some of the gar- rison abroad. They met with this Giordie and his fellows, driving of cattle before them. The garrison set upon them, and with a shot killed Giordie Bourne's uncle, and he himself, bravely resisting, till he was sore hurt in the head, was taken. Af- ter he was taken, his pride was such, as he * Sir Robert Car's. EAltL OF MONMOUTH. 71 asked, who it was that durst avow that night's work ? But when he heard it was the garrison, he was then more quiet. But so powerful and awful was this Sir Robert Car and his favourites, as there was not a gen- tleman in all the East March that durst of- fend them. Presently after he was taken, I had most of the gentlemen of the March come to me, and told me, that now I had the ball at my foot, and might bring Sir Robert Car to what condition I pleased ; for that this man's life was so near and dear unto him, as I should have all that my heart could desire for the good and quiet of the country and myself, if upon any condition I would give him his life. I heard them and their reasons ; notwith- standing, I called a jury the next morn- ing, and he was found guilty of March- treason. * Then they feared that I would cause him to be executed that afternoon, * Border-treason, of which there were several kinds. E. 72 MEMOIRS OF ROBERT CARY, which made them come flocking to me, humbly intreating me that I would spare his life till the next day ; and if Sir Robert Car came not himself to me, and made me not such proffers as I could not but accept, that then I should do with him what I pleased. And further, they told me plain- ly, that if I should execute him before I had heard from Sir Robert Car, they must be forced to quit their houses, and fly the country ; for his fury would be such against me and the March I commanded, as he would use all his power and strength to the utter destruction of the East March. They were so earnest with me, that I gave them my word he should not die that day. There was post upon post sent to Sir Ro- bert Car ; and some of them rode to him themselves to advertise him in what dan- ger Giordie Bourne was : how he was con- demned, and should have been executed that afternoon, but, by their humble suit, I gave them my word, that he should not die that day ; and therefore besought hini EARL OF MONMOUTH. 73 that he would send to me with all the speed he could, to let me know that he would be the next day with me, to offer me good conditions for the safety of his life. When all things were quiet, and the watch set at night, after supper, about ten of the clock, I took one of my men's liveries, and put it about me, and took two other of my servants with me in their liveries, and we three, as the Warden's men, came to the Provost Marshal's, where Bourne was, and were let into his chamber. We sat down by him, and told him that we were desirous to see him, because we heard he was stout and valiant, and true to his friend ; and that we were sorry our master could not be moved to save his life. He voluntarily of himself said, that he had lived long enough to do so many villanies as he had done ; and withal told us, that he had lain with above forty men's wives, what in England, what in Scotland ; and that he had killed seven Englishmen with his own hands, cruelly murdering them: 74 MEMOIRS OF ROBERT CARY, that he had spent his whole time in who- ring, drinking, stealing, and taking deep re- venge for slight offences. He seemed to be very penitent, and much desired a mi- nister for the comfort of his soul. We pro- mised him to let our master know his de- sire, who, we knew, would presently grant it. We took our leaves of him ; and pre- sently I took order, that Mr Selby, a very worthy honest preacher, should go to him, and not stir from him till his execution the next morning : for, after I Had heard his own confession, I was resolved no condi- tions should save his life ; and so took or- der, that, at the gates opening the next morning, he should be carried to execu- tion, which accordingly was performed.* * Until the death of Queen Elizabeth, the kingdom of England had not the benefit of an island. The neigh- bourhood of Scotland made England sensible of many of the inconveniences that are felt by neighbouring kingdoms on the continent. Mr Cary's Memoirs very circumstantially relate some of the blackest deeds of the most turbulent Borderers, of which this account of Gior- die [George] Bourne, is a most conspicuous example. EARL OF MONMOUTH. 75 The next morning I had one from Sir Ro- bert Car for a parley, who was within two miles staying for me. I sent him word, " I would meet him where he pleased, but I would first know upon what terms and conditions/' Before his man was returned, he had heard, that in the morning very early Giordie Bourne had been executed. Many vows he made of cruel revenge, and returned home full of grief and disdain, and from that time forwards still plotted revenge. He knew the gentlemen of the country were altogether sackless ; * and to make open road upon the March, would but shew his malice, and lay him open to the punishment due to such offences. But his practice was how to be revenged on me, or some of mine. It was not long after that my brother and I had intelligence, that there was a * Sackless i& an obsolete term, signifying innocent. It often occurs in the Border laws, with which Sir Ro- bert Cary was very conversant. E. 76 MEMOIRS OF ROBERT GARY, great match made at foot-ball, and the chief riders were to be there. The place they were to meet at was Shelsy, * and that day we heard it was the day for the meet- ing. We presently called a council, and after much dispute, it was concluded, that the likeliest place he was to come to, was to kill the scouts, -f And it was the more suspected, for that my brother, before my coming to the office, for cattle stolen out of the bounds, and as it were from under the walls of Berwick, being refused justice upon his complaint, or at least delayed, sent of the garrison into Liddisdale, and killed there the chief offender which had done the wrong. Upon this conclusion, there was order taken, that both horse and foot should lie * Kelso. E. f Every night, in these troublesome times, centinels, called scouts, were placed to watch the fords of the Tweed and other passes, by which the marauders used to make inroads into England. In the first edition, the word is nonsensically corrupted into Scottes. E. EARL OF MONMOUTH. 77 in ambush in diverse parts of the bounds to defend the scouts, and to give a sound blow to Sir Robert, and his company. Be- fore the horse and foot were set out with directions what to do, it was almost dark night, and the gates ready to be locked. We parted ; and I was, by myself, coming to my house : God put it into my mind, that it might well be, he meant destruction to my men, that I had sent out to gather tithes for me at Norham ; and their rendezvous was every night to lie and sup at an ale- house in Norham. * I presently caused my page to take horse, and to ride as fast as his horse could carry him, and to com- mand my servants, (which were in all, eight,) that presently upon his coming to them, they should all change their lodging, and go straight to the castle, there to lie that night in straw and hay. Some of them were unwilling thereto, but durst not dis- * Cary, it must be remembered, had a lease of Nor- ham from the crown. E. 78 MEMOIRS OF ROBERT CARY, obey ; so all together left their ale-house, and retired to the castle. They had not well settled themselves to sleep, but they heard in the town a great alarm ; for Sir Robert and his company came straight to the ale-house, broke open the doors, and made enquiry for my servants. They were answered, that, by my command, they were all in the castle, After they had searched all the house, and found none, they feared they were betrayed, and with all the speed they could made haste homewards again. Thus God blessed me from this bloody tra- gedy. All the whole March expected nightly some hurt to be done ; but God so blessed me, and the government I held, as, for all his (Sir Robert Car s) fury, he never drew drop of blood in all my March, neither durst his. thieves trouble it much with steal- ing, for fear of hanging if they were taken. Thus we continued a year, and then God sent a means to bring things to better quiet by this occasion. EARL OF MONMOUTH. 79 There had been commissioners in Ber- wick, chosen by our Queen, and the King of Scots, for the better quieting of the Bor- ders. * By their industry, they found a great number of malefactors guilty, both in England and Scotland ; and they took or- der, that the officers of Scotland should de- liver such offenders as were found guilty in their jurisdictions to the opposite officers in England, to be detained prisoners, till they had made satisfaction for the goods they had taken out of England. The like order was taken with the wardens of Eng- land, and days prefixed for the delivery of them all. And in case any of the officers on either side should omit their duties, in not delivering the prisoners at the days and places appointed, that then there should a * The English commissioners were, the Bishop of Durham, Sir Robert Bowes, Francis Slingsby, and Dr Colmer. Those for James were, the Bishop of Dun- keld, Sir George Home of Wedderburne, Ker of Paw- donside, and Young, archdeacon of St Andrews. They met at Carlisle about the end of 1596. & 80 MEMOIRS OF ROBERT CARY, course be taken by the sovereigns, that what chief officer soever should offend herein, he himself should be delivered and detained, till he had made good what the commissioners had agreed upon. The English officers did punctually, at the day and place, deliver their prisoners, and so did most of the officers of Scotland ; only the Lord of Bocleugh * and Sir Ro- bert Car were faulty. They were complain- ed of, and new days appointed for the de- livery of their prisoners. Bocleugh was the first that should deliver, and he failing, en- tered himself prisoner into Berwick, there to remain till those officers under his charge were delivered to free him. -f- He chose for * Sir Walter Scott of Buccleuch, who had lately dis- tinguished himself by various incursions on the English west Borders, particularly by breaking into Carlisle Cas- tle for the release of a Scottish prisoner called Kinmont Willie. E. f Cessford was about to have surrendered himself at the same time with Buccleuch, but the accidental dis- charge of a pistol excited the suspicion of treachery on the part of the Governor of Berwick, who had come to EARL OF MONMOUTH. 81 his guardian Sir William Selby* master of the ordnance at Berwick. When Sir Ro- bert Cars day of delivery came, he failed too, and my Lord Hume, by the King's command, was to deliver him prisoner into Berwick upon the like terms, which was performed. Sir Robert Car, contrary to all men's expectations, chose me for his guar- dian, and home I brought him to my own house after he was delivered to me. I lodged him as well as I could, and took order for his diet, and men to attend on him ; and sent him word, that (although by his harsh carriage towards me, ever since I had that charge, he could not expect any favour, yet) hearing so much goodness of him* that he never broke his word ; if he would give me his hand and credit to be a true prisoner, he should have no guard set upon him, but have free liberty for his friends in Scotland, to have ingress and re- receive him, and the conference was broke np in confu- sion. E. 82 MEMOIRS OF ROBERT CARY, gress to him as oft as he pleased. He took this very kindly at my hands, accepted of my offer, and sent me thanks. Some four days passed ; all which time his friends came unto him, and he kept his chamber. Then he sent to me, and desired me I would come and speak with him, which I did ; and after long discourse, charging and recharging one another with wrong and inj uries, at last, before our parting, we became good friends, with great protes- tations on his side, never to give me occa- sion of unkindness again. After our recon- ciliation, he kept his chamber no longer, but dined and supped with me. I took him abroad with me, at the least thrice a- week, a-hunting, and every day we grew better friends. Bocleugh, in few days after, had his pledges delivered, and was set at liberty. But Sir Robert Car could not get his, so that I was commanded to carry him to York, and there to deliver him prisoner to the archbishop, which accordingly I did. * * There is extant a letter from the archbi&hop to the l EARL OF MONMOUTH. 83 At our parting he professed great love un- to me for the kind usage I had shown him, and that I should find the effects of it up- on his delivery, which he hoped would be shortly. Thus we parted ; and, not long after, his pledges were got, and brought to York, and he set at liberty. After his return home, I found him as good as his word. We met oft at days of truce, and I had as good justice as I could desire ; and so we continued very kind and good friends all lord-treasurer, respecting the mode of keeping his hos- tages. " I understand," saith he, " that the gentleman is wise and valiant, but somewhat haughty here, and resolute. I would pray your lordship, that I may have directions whether he may not go with his keeper in my company, to sermons; and whether he may not sometimes dine with the council, as the last hostages did ; and, thirdly, whether he may sometimes be brought to sitting to the common-hall, where he may see how careful her majes- ty is that the poorest subject in her kingdom may have their right, and that her people seek remedy bylaw, and not by avenging themselves. Perhaps it may do him good as long as he liveth." E. 84 MEMOIRS OF ROBERT GARY, the time that I stayed in that March, which was not long. For presently after this my father died ; and I had letters sent down from Secretary Cecill, that it was her Majesty's pleasure I should continue as absolute warden in my father's place, until her further pleasure were known. I continued so about a twelve- month, and lived at my own charge, which impaired my poor estate very much. In this time God sent me another son, which was born and christened at Berwick. I did often solicit Mr Secretary for some al- lowance to support me in my place, but could get no direct answer. I sued for leave to come up myself, but could get none. The March was very quiet, and all things in good order, and I adventured without leave to come up. The Queen lay at Theobalds, and early in a morning I came thither. I first went to Mr Secretary, who was much troubled when he saw me, and by no means could I get him to let the Queen know that I was EARL OF MONMOUTH. 85 there, but counselled me to return, that she might never know what I had done. When I could do no good with him, I went to my brother, who then was chamberlain, after my Lord Cobham's death. I found him far worse than the other ; and I had no way to save myself from some great dis- grace, but to return without her know- ledge of my being there ; for, by no in- treaty could I get him to acquaint her with it. I was much troubled, and knew no 4 , well what to do. The Queen w r ent that day to dinner to Enfield-house ; and had toiles set up in the park to shoot at bucks after dinner. I durst not be seen by her, these two counsellers had so terrified me. But after dinner, I went to Enfield ; and walking solitary in a very private place, exceeding melancholy, it pleased God to send Mr William Killigrew, one of the pri- vy-chamber, to pass by where I was walk- ing, who saluted me very kindly, and bade me welcome. I answered him very kindly; and he perceiving me very sad, and some- 86 MEMOIRS OF ROBERT GARY, thing troubled, asked me why I was so ? I told him the reason. He made little reck- oning of what they had said to me, but bade me comfort myself, for he would go presently to the Queen, and tell her of my coming up, on such a fashion, as he did warrant me, she would take it well, and bid me welcome. Away he went, and I stayed for his return. He told the Queen, that she was more beholden to one man, than to many other, that made greater show of their love and service. She was desirous to know who it was. He told her it was myself; who, not having seen her for a twelvemonth and more, could no longer endure to be deprived of so great a happiness ; * but took post with all speed * This dexterous turn placed Cary's journey in a view- quite irresistible. Her courtiers understood well how to play upon the Queen's passion for general admiration. In the Life of Sir Walter Raleigh, there is an admira- ble letter, describing his affectation of fury, at being de- barred the sight of his Queen and goddess as she passed in a barge by the Tower, in which he lay prisoner. It is obviously calculated for the Queen's eye, and proba- EARL OF MONMOUTH. 87 to come up to see your Majesty, and to kiss your hand, and so to return instantly again. She presently sent him back for me, and received me with more grace and favour than ever she had done before ; and after I had been with her a pretty while, she was called for to go to her sports. She arose, I took her by the arm, and led her to her standing. My brother and Mr Se- cretary seeing this, thought it more than a miracle. She continued her favour to me the time I stayed, which was not long ; for she took order, I should have five hundred pounds out of the Exchequer, for the time I had served ; and I had a patent given me, under the great seal, to be her warden of the East March. And thus was I pre- served by a pretty jest, when wise men thought I had wrought my own wrack. For out of weakness, God can shew strength, bly, as in the present case, had its usual mollifying con- sequences, E. 88 MEMOIRS OF ROBERT CARY, and his goodness was never wanting to me in any extremity. With grace and favour I returned to my charge again : yet, before my return, the Queen was pleased to renew my grant of Norham, with the life of both my sons, and the longer liver of us. I was not long settled in my office, but there fell out a new occasion to remove me ; which was, that my Lord of Willoughby * (who was newly come from travel) was made Go- vernor of Berwick, -f and the East March * Peregrine Bertie, Lord Willoughby of Eresby. He had made a considerable figure in the wars of the Low Countries, and in France, where he had passed through all the offices of a commander. He was a military no- bleman of a very bright character. He died in the year J601. f The last town in England ; the barrier between the two British kingdoms. Often taken, retaken, sold, pawn- ed, and exchanged, both by the English and Scots. From the time of Edward IV., entirely in the hands of the English. Queen Elizabeth, ever jealous of her Scot- tish neighbours, reduced the town to a less size, and augmented the fortifications. — " Be it also remember- ed," says Camden in his Britannia, " that the governor of this place was always a person of the greatest emi- EARL OF MONMOUTH. 89 did properly belong to the governor there. He came down with full commission for both places, so that I was now to seek what course of life to take. Being at liberty, up came I to court, where long I did not stay ; but new occasion was offered me to continue a Northern man still. Sir John Foster, * who had been an ac r tive and valiant man, and had done great good service in the Middle March, (of which place he had been long warden,) grew at length to that weakness, by reason of his age, that the Borderers knowing it, grew insolent, and, by reason of their many excursions and open roads, the inhabitants of that March were much weakened and impoverished, so that they were no longer able to subsist without present help. The nence among the English nobility, and was also warden of these eastern marches." See Dr Gibson's Camden's Britannia, Vol. II. page 1099* * A knight of considerable possessions in Northum- berland. The family, according to Camden, were ori- ginally of Berkshire. 90 MEMOIRS OF ROBERT CARY, Queen and council were informed thereof. To remedy this inconvenience, they made choice of a worthy nobleman, my Lord Euers, * to supply Sir John Foster's place ; and to enable him the better, he was allow- ed one hundred horsemen out of York- shire, to be disposed of at his pleasure, for the better quieting of the country. He came into his office with great joy and comfort for the poor inhabitants of the March, and to the terror and fear of the malefactors, expecting their utter ruin. But it oft falls out, that seldom comes a better : for although his Lordship did carefully employ his whole endeavour for the good of the March, and the destroying of male- factors, yet, by trusting too much to men that he thought honest and faithful to him, he was deceived and abused ; for, for all his hundred horsemen, and his desire to •j- The son of Sir William Eure, who was created an English Baron by King Henry VIII. The family is ex- tinct. Ralph, Lord Eure, the last of the title, died in 1707. EARL OF MONMOUTH. 91 have the country well governed, yet he had not long been there, but the thieves were freed of their fear, and the poor inha- bitants in worse case than ever. And to be short, the whole five years that he re- mained there, every year grew worse and worse ; that none flourished but malefac- tors, who did what they listed, and harried and spoiled whole townships at their plea- sure ; so that the poor inhabitants were ready to fly their country, and to leave it waste. The Queen and council were in- formed thereof, and my Loi;d himself made suite to leave his place, seeing himself abu- sed by his officers whom he trusted, and could not tell how to help it. About this time, I had resigned my of- fice of the East March to my Lord Wil- loughby, and was at court. Mr Secretary sent for me to his chamber, and was de- sirous to know of me, whether I would ac- cept it, if the Queen would confer on me the warden of the Middle March ? I said to him, I was a stranger to the country, 92 MEMOIRS OF ROBERT GARY, and had a small acquaintance in it, and the March was much weakened and spoil- ed : yet, upon good conditions, it might be I would accept it. He assured me, that my demands should be very unreasonable if they were refused ; and that I should be sure to have a hundred horse, as my Lord Euers had, and if I desired more, he did not doubt but the Queen would grant them. I desired two days time to give my answer, which was granted. After I had conferred with my friends, and resolved what to do, I came to him, and told him, that, although I knew all things were out of order in the Middle March, and that the thieves did domineer, and do what they pleased, and that the poor inhabitants were utterly disenabled and overthrown, yet was I not desirous to put the Queen and coun- try to greater charge than was fitting : and whereas his Lordship offered me more soldiers than my Lord Euers had, I did not desire so many ; but, if I might be al- lowed but forty horsemen, and they to be EARL OF MONMOUTH. 93 my own servants, and resident with me in my own house, I would put the Queen and country to no more charge, and would accept of the place. * He was much ama- zed at my small demand, and went presently to the Queen to acquaint her therewith. I had my demand granted, my commission with all speed signed, and I was sent down to execute my office. I was no sooner come down,* but I re- moved my wife, children, and household, to Alnwick Abbey, f which was in the Mid March ; the house where Sir John Foster ever lived when he was warden. The first thing I did, after I was settled in * Such an instance of moderation and frugality to- wards the public, must be extremely acceptable to Queen Elizabeth. She lost not a moment's time in rewarding a servant who made so small a demand. The Queen was perfectly frugal of the revenue of the crown. Mr Cary wisely followed her Majesty's example. •j- Alnwick Abbey belonged to a monastery, built in the town of Alnwick, (or, as pronounced, Anwick,) by the family of the Vescies, in the year 1 147. The par- ticular site of Alnwick is mentioned hereafter. 94 MEMOIBS OF ROBERT CARY, t mjr office, was to cleanse my under officers. I made choice of Sir Henry Woodrington,* and Sir William Fenwick, to be my two deputy wardens ; and gave the one the keepership of Risdale, -f- the other that of Liddisdale, J and allowed them, out of my forty horse, six a piece to attend them. I allowed Roger Woodrington two horsemen, who was employed by me on all occasions ; and for the time I remained there, did the Queen and country very great and good service. The rest of the horse I bestowed on my servants in my own house, which # Sir Henry Widdrington, I presume, that family be- ing seated in Northumberland. f Risdale, properly Reedsdale, is a small district of Northumberland, adjoining to Liddisdale. E. J Liddisdale is a small district in the south-west of Scotland, on the Borders of England ; bounded on the east with Northumberland, on the south with Cumber- land. Orrery. There must be here some mistake of the transcriber, or error in the MS. Liddisdale being a part of Scot- land, Cary could never nominate its keeper ; and that office was, in fact, held by Buccleugh and his deputies. We should probably read Tynedale. E. EARL OF MONMOUTH. 95 were gentlemen's sons in the country, and younger brothers of good rank ; so that I had continually in my own stable (with my own provision) forty good horse, and good men able to ride them. The thieves hearing of my being settled there, continued still their wonted course in spoiling the country, not caring much for me, nor my authority. It was the be- ginning of summer when I first entered into my office ; but afore that summer was end- ed, they grew somewhat more fearful. For the first care 1 took, was to cleanse the coun- try of our inbred fears, the thieves within my March, for by them most mischief was done : for the Scotch riders * were always guided by some of them in all the spoils they made. God blessed me so well in all my designs, as I never made journey in vain, but did that I went for. Amongst other malefactors, there were two gentlemen thieves, that robbed and * Robbers, or, as sometimes termed, moss-troopers. 96 MEMOIRS OF ROBERT CARY, took purses from travellers in the high- ways, (a theft that was never heard of in those parts before.) I got them betrayed, took them, and sent them to Newcastle jail, and there they were hanged, I took not so few as sixteen or seven- teen that summer, and the winter follow- ing, of notorious offenders, that ended their days by hanging or heading. When I was warden of the East March, I had to do but with the opposite March, which Sir Robert Car had ; but here I had to do with the East, Middle, and West Marches of Scotland. I had very good justice with * Sir Robert Car, and the Laird of Fenhest, that had charge over the east part of the Middle March ; but the west part, which was Liddisdale* and the West March, kept me a great while in cumber. The first thing they did, was the taking of Hartwe- selly-f and carrying away of prisoners and * From. f A village or small market town near the Tyne, on the western frontier of Northumberland* It is now pro- EARL OF MONMOUTH. 97 all their goods. I sent to seek for justice for so great a wrong. The opposite offi- cer sent me word, it was not in his power, for that they were all fugitives, and not an- swerable to the King's laws. I acquainted the King of Scots with his answer. He signified to me that it was true, and that if I could take my own revenge without hurt- ing his honest subjects, he would be glad of it. I took no long time to resolve what to do, but sent some two hundred horse to the place where the principal outliers lived, and took and brought away all the goods they had. The outlaws themselves were in strong-holds, and could no wa} r be got hold of. But one of the chief of them, be- ing of more courage than the rest, gat to horse and came pricking after them, cry- ing out and asking, what he was that durst avow that mighty work ! One of the com- nounced Haltwhistle. Lord Orrery confounds it with a place on the English side of the Tweed, wFich he calls Wesell ; meaning probably Twizell. E ? G 98 MEMOIRS OF ROBERT CARY, pany came to him with a spear and ran him through the body, leaving his spear broke in him, of which wound he died. The goods were divided to poor men from whom they were taken before. This act so irritated the outlaws, that they vowed cruel revenge ; and that before the next winter was ended, they would leave the whole country waste, that there should be none to resist them. His name was Sim * of the Cat-hill, that was killed, * Simon Armstrong. The " Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border' is full of songs concerning the Armstrongs, to one of which the Editor has prefixed the following general account of that tribe of Borderers : " The Armstrongs appear to have been, at an early period, in possession of great part of Liddisdale, and of the Debateable Land. Their immediate neighbourhood to England, rendered them the most lawless of the Bor- der depredators ; and, as much of the country possessed by them was claimed by both kingdoms, the inhabi- tants, protected from justice by the one nation, in op- position to the other, securely preyed upon both. The chief was Armstrong of Mangertoun ; but, at a later pe- riod, they are declared a broken clan, i. e. one which had no lawful head, to become surety for their good EAIiL OF MONMOUTH. 99 (an Armstrong,) and it was a Ridley * of •Hartwesell that killed him. They present- behaviour. The rapacity of this clan, and of their allies, the Elliots, occasioned the popular saying, r Elliots and Armstrongs ride thieves all/ — But to what Border-fami- ly of note, in former days, would not such an adage have been equally applicable ? All along the river Liddel may still be dlcovered the ruins of towers, possessed by this numerous clan. They did not, however, entirely trust to these fastnesses; but, when attacked by a superior force, abandoned entirely their dwellings, and retired in- to morasses, accessible by paths known to themselves alone. Oue of their most noted places of refuge was the Tarras Moss, a desolate and horrible marsh, through which a small river takes its course. Upon its banks are found some dry spots, which were occupied by these outlaws, and their families, in cases of emergency. The stream runs furiously among huge rocks, which has oc- casioned a popular saying — Was ne'er ane drown'd in Tarras, nor yet in doubt, . For e'er the head can win down, the hams (brains) are out. The morass itself is so deep, that, according to an old historian, two spears tied together would not reach the bottom. In this retreat, the Armstrongs, anno 1588, baf- fled the Earl of Angus, when lieutenant on the Border, although he reckoned himself so skilful in winding a thief, that he declared, <( he had the same pleasure in it, as others in hunting a hare." On this occasion he was totally unsuccessful, and nearly lost his relation, Douglas of Ively, whom the freebooters made prisoner." * The Ridleys are mentioned by Camden as an an- cient and worthy family of Northumberland. 100 MEMOIRS OF ROBERT CARY, ly took a resolution to be revenged on that town. Thither they came, and set many houses of the town on fire, and took away all their goods ; and as they were running up and down the streets with lights in their hands to set more houses on fire, there was one other of the Ridleys that w T as in a strong stone house that made a shot out amongst them, and it was his good hap to kill an Armstrong, one of the sons of the chiefest outlaw. The death of this young man wrought so deep an impression amongst them, as many vows were made, that be- fore the end of next winter, they would lay the whole Border waste. This (the murder) was done about the end of May. The chief of all these outlaws, was old Sim of Whittram. * He had five or six sons, as # The Earl of Orrery presumed, the place here meant to he Whithern, a market town, lying upon the sea in the bay of Wigtoun, and in the shire of Galloway. — The truth is, that Whittram is a well-known place in Liddisdale. E. EARL OF MONMOUTH. 101 able men as the Borders had. This old man and his sons had not so few as two hundred at their commands, that were ever ready to ride with them to all actions* at their beck. The high parts of the Marsh -f towards Scotland were put in a mighty fear, and the chief of them, for themselves and the rest, petitioned to me, and did assure me, that unless I did take some course with them, by the end of that summer, there was none of the inhabitants durst, or would, stay in their dwellings the next winter, but they would fly the country, and leave their houses and lands to the fury of the out- laws. Upon this complaint, I called the # The frequent excursions of the Borderers, (indeed on both sides,) gave occasion to an enigmatical proverb, according to the style of those times, If they come they come not, arid if they come not they come. Meaning that if their herds were intercepted by those free-booters, then their cattle did not come home as usual at night, but if the free-booters did not come, then the cattle surely returned. t March, or frontier. E. 102 MEMOIRS OF ROBERT GARY, gentlemen of the country together, and ac- quainted them with the misery that the highest parts of the March towards Scot- land were likely to endure, if there were not timely prevention to avoid it, and de- sired them to give me their best advice what course were fit to be taken. They all showed themselves willing to give me their best counsels, and most of them were of opinion, that I was not well advised to re- fuse the hundred horse that my Lord Euers had ; and that now my best way was speedi- ly to acquaint the Queen and council with the necessity of having more soldiers, and that there could not be less than a hun- dred horse sent down for the defence of the country, besides the forty that I had already in pay, and that there was nothing but force of soldiers could keep them in awe : and to let the council plainly under- stand, that the March, of themselves, were not able to subsist, whenever the winter and long nights came in, unless present cure and remedy were provided for them. EARL OF MONMOUTH. 103 I desired them to advise better of it, and to see if they could find out any other means to prevent their mischievous inten- tions, without putting the Queen or coun- try to any further charge. They all resol- ved there was no second means. Then I told them my intention what I meant to do, which was, " That myself, with my two deputies, and the forty horse that I was allowed, would, with what speed we could, make ourselves ready to go up to the wastes, and there we would entrench ourselves, and lie as near as we could to the outlaws ; and, if there were any brave spirits among them, that would go with us, they should be very welcome, and fare and lie as well as myself : and I did not doubt before the summer ended, to do something that should abate the pride of these outlaws/' Those, that were unwilling to hazard themselves, liked not this motion. They said, that, in so doing, I might keep the country in quiet the time I lay there ; but, when the winter approached, I could stay there no longer, 104 MEMOIRS OF ROBERT GARY, and that was the thieves' time to do all their mischief. But there were divers young gentlemen, that offered to go with me, some with three, some with four horses, and to stay with me so long as I would there continue. I took a list of all those that of- fered to go with me, and found, that, with myself, my officers, the gentlemen, and pur servants, we should be about two hun- dred good men and horse ; a competent number, as I thought, for such a service. The day and place was appointed for our meeting in the wastes, and, by the help of the foot* of Liddisdale and Ris- dale, we had soon built a pretty fort, and within it we had all cabins made to lie in, and every one brought beds or matresses to lie on. There we stayed, from the midst of June, till almost the end of August. We were between fifty and sixty gentlemen, # Soldiers maintained by the sovereigns of each king- dom, and placed in the several castles upon the Borders, not only to secure the limits, but to. suppress the riders. EARL OF MONMOUTH. 105 besides their servants, and my horsemen ; so that we were not so few as two hundred horse. We wanted no provision for our- selves nor our horses, for the country peo- ple were well paid for any thing they brought us ; so that we had a good mar- ket every day before our fort, to buy what we lacked. The chief outlaws, at our coming, fled their houses where they dwelt, and betook themselves to a large and great forest, (with all their goods,) which was called the Tarras. * It was of that strength, and so surrounded with bogs and marsh grounds, and thick bushes and shrubs, as they fear- ed not the force nor power of England nor Scotland, so long as they were there. They sent me word, that I was like the first puff of a haggis, -f hottest at the first, and bade . * 'Hi # See a preceding note for an account of this mo- rass. E- + A Scotch proverb. The haggis is a kind of pud- ding; the stomach of a sheep, filled with minced meat, blood, onions, and herbs. A dish much eaten by the common people of Scotland. It is always sent up very 106 MEMOIRS OF ROBERT GARY, me stay there as long as the weather would give me leave. They would stay in the Tarras-wood, till I was weary of lying in the waste ; and when I had had my time, aqd they no whit the worse, they would play their parts, which should keep me waking the next winter. Those gentlemen of the country that came not with me, were of the same mind ; for they knew, (or thought at least,) that my force was not suf- ficient to withstand the fury of the out- laws. The time I stayed at the fort I was not idle, but cast, by all means I could, how to take them in the great strength they were in. I found a means to send a hundred and fifty horsemen into Scotland, (conveighed by a muffled man,* not known to any of the company,) thirty miles with- in Scotland; and the business was so carri- ed, that none in the country took any hot, and, when cut, smokes, and the air coming out, makes a noise. # A disguised guide. E. 4 EARL OF MONMOUTH. 10T alarm at this passage. They were quietly brought to the backside of the Tarras, to Scotland- ward. There they divided them- selves into three parts, and took up three passages which the outlaws made them- selves secure of, if from England side they should at any time be put at. They had their scouts on the tops of hills, on the English side, to give thern warning if at any time any power of men should come to surprise them. The three ambushes were safely laid, without being discovered, and, about four o'clock in the morning, there were three hundred horse, and a thou- sand foot,* that came directly to the place where the scouts lay. They gave the alarm ; our men broke down as fast as they could into the wood. The outlaws thought them- selves safe, assuring themselves at any time # From this it would appear, that Cary, although his constant attendants in his fort consisted only of '200 horse, had, upon this occasion, by the assistance, pro- bably, of the English and Scottish royal garrisons, col- lected a much greater force. E. 108 MEMOIRS OF ROBERT CART, to escape ; but they were so strongly set upon on the English side, as they were forced to leave their goods, and to betake themselves to their passages towards Scot- land. There was presently five taken of the principal of them. The rest, seeing themselves, as they thought, betrayed, re- tired into the thick woods and bogs, * that our men durst not follow them, for fear of losing themselves. The principal of the five, that were taken, were two of the eldest sons of Sim of Whittram. These five they brought to me to the fort, and a number of goods, both of sheep and kine, which satisfied most part of the country, that they had stolen them from, -f # There are now no trees in Liddisdale, except on the banks of the rivers, where they are protected from the sheep. But the stumps and fallen timber, which are every where found in the morasses, attest how well the country must have been wooded in former days. E. f The Editor of the " Border Minstrelsy/' has tran- scribed this passage from Cary's Memoirs, and adds : — ee The people of Liddisdale have retained, by tradi- tion, the remembrance of Carys Raid, as they call it. EARL OF MONMOUTH. 109 The five that were taken, were of great worth and value amongst them ; insomuch, that, for their liberty, I should have what conditions I should demand, or desire. First, all English prisoners were set at li- berty. Then had I themselves, and most part of the gentlemen of the Scottish side, so strictly bound in bonds, to enter to me, in fifteen days warning, any offender, that they durst not, for their lives, break any covenant that I made with them ; and so, upon these conditions, I set them at liberty, and was never after troubled with these kind of people. Thus God blessed me in bringing this great trouble to so quiet an They tell, that, while he was besieging the outlaws in the Tarras, they contrived, by ways known only to them- selves, to send a party into England, who plundered the warden's lands. On their return, they sent Cary one of his own cows, telling him, that, fearing he might fall short of provision during his visit to Scotland, they had taken the precaution of sending him some English beef. The anecdote is too characteristic to be suppres- sed." E. 110 MEMOIRS OF ROBERT CARY, end ; we broke up our fort, and every man retired to his own house. After God had put an end to this trou- blesome business, I rested in quiet the rest of the summer, and the next winter after ; and had leisure, by little and little, to purge the March of inbred thieves : and God so blessed me, that I failed not in any of my undertakings, but did effect what I went for, which did so astonish all the ma- lefactors as they were afraid to offend ; so that the March rested very quiet from the invasion of the foreign, and from the petty stealths of the thieves that lived amongst ourselves. The next summer after I fell into a cum- bersome trouble, but it was not in the na- ture of thieves or malefactors. There had been an ancient custom of the Borderers, when they were at quiet, for the oppo- site Border to send to the warden of the Middle March, to desire leave that they might come into the Borders of Eng- land, and hunt with their greyhounds for deer, towards the end of summer, which EARL OF MONMOUTH. Ill was never denied them. But, towards the end of Sir John Foster's government, when he grew very old and weak, they took boldness upon them, and, without leave asking, would come into England, and hunt at their pleasure, and stay their own time : and when they were a hunting, their servants would come with carts, and cut down as much wood as every one thought would serve his turn, and carry it away to their houses in Scotland. Sir John's imbe- cility and weakness occasioned them to continue this misdemeanour some four or five years together, before he left his office. And after my Lord Euers had the office, he was so vexed and troubled with the dis- orders of the country, as all the time he re- mained there, he had no leisure to think of so small a business, and to redress it ; so that now they began to hold it lawful to come and go at their pleasures, without leave asking. The first summer I entered, they did the like. The Armstrongs kept me so on work, that I had no time to re- 112 MEMOIRS OF ROBERT CARY, dress it. But having over-mastered them, and the whole March being brought to a good stay and quietness, the beginning of next summer, I wrote to Ferniherst, * the warden over-against me, to desire him to acquaint the gentlemen of his March, that I was no way unwilling to hinder them of their accustomed sports to hunt in Eng- land as they ever had done, but withal I would not, by my default, dishonour the Queen and myself, to give them more li- berty than was fitting. I prayed him, therefore, to let them know, that if they would, according to the ancient custom, send to me for leave, they should have all the contentment I could give them ; if otherwise they would continue their wont- ed course, I would do my best to hinder them. Notwithstanding this letter, within a month after, they came and hunted as they * Sir Thomas Ker of Ferniherst, ancestor: of the Marquis of Lothian. E, 5 E*ARL OF MONMOUTH. US used to do without leave, and cut down wood, and carried it away. I wrote again to the warden, and plainly told him, I would not suffer one other affront, but if they came again without leave, they should dearly aby * it. For all this, they would not be warned ; but towards the end of the summer, they came again to their wonted sports. I had taken order to have present word brought me, which was done. I sent my two deputies with all the speed they could make, and they took along with them such gentlemen as were in their way, with my forty horse, and about one of the clock they came to them, and set upon them ; some hurt was done, but I gave es- pecial order they should do as little hurt, and shed as little blood as possibly they could. They observed my command, only they broke all their carts, and took a do- zen of the principal gentlemen that were * Suffer for it. H 114 MEMOIRS OF ROBERT CARY, there, and brought them to me to Wither- ington, * where I then lay. I made them welcome, and gave them the best enter- tainment that I could. They lay in the castle two or three days, and so I sent them home ; they assuring me, that they would never hunt there again without leave, which they did truly perform all the time I stayed there; and I many times met them myself, and hunted with them two or three days : and so we continued good neighbours ever after. But the King com- plained to the Queen very grievously of this fact. The Queen and council liked very well of what I had done ; but to give the King some satisfaction to content him, my two officers were commanded to the Bishop of Durham's, there to remain pri- soners during her Majesty's pleasure. With- in a fortnight I had them out again, and there was no more of this business. The # The castle of Withrington, in Northumberland. 2 EARL OF MONMOUTH. 115 rest of the time I stayed there, it was go- verned with great quietness. In this state was this Middle March, when Kino- James came in Kino- of Bog*- land ; and in all the time I continued of- ficer there, God so blessed me, and in all the actions I took in band, that I never failed of any one enterprise, but they were all effected to my own desire, and the good of that government. Thus passed I forty- two of my years, God assisting me with his blessing and mighty protection. After that all things were quieted, and the Border in safety, towards the end of five years that I had been warden there, having little to do, I resolved upon a jour- ney to court, to see my friends, and renew my acquaintance there. I took my jour- ney about the end of the year. * When I came to court, I found the Queen ill dis- posed, and she kept her inner lodging ; yet she, hearing of my arrival, sent for me. * 160c. 116 MEMOIRS OF ROBERT GARY, I found her in one of her withdrawing chambers, sitting low upon her cushions. She called me to her; I kissed her hand, and told her it was my chiefest happiness to see her in safety* and in health, which I wished might long continue. She took me by the hand, and wrung it hard, and said, " No, Robin, I am not well/' and then dis- coursed with me of her indisposition, and that her heart had been sad and heavy for ten or twelve days ; and in her discourse, she fetched not so few as forty or fifty great sighs. I was grieved at the first to see her in this plight ; for in all my lifetime be- fore, I never knew her fetch a sigh, but when the Queen of Scots was beheaded. Then, * upon my knowledge, she shed many tears and sighs, -f manifesting her inno- cence, that she never gave consent to the death of that Queen. I used the best words I could, to per- * At that time — In the year 1587* f They were indeed necessary upon that occasion. EARL OF MONMOUTH. 117 suade her from this melancholy humour ; but I found by her it was too deep-rooted in her heart, and hardly to be removed. This was upon a Saturday night, and she gave command, that the great closet should be prepared for her to go to chapel the next morning. The next day, all things being in a readiness, we long expected her coming. After eleven o'clock, one of the grooms * came out, and bade make ready for the private closet, she would not go to the great. There we stayed long for her coming, but at the last she had cushions laid for her in the privy chamber hard by the closet door, and there she heard ser- vice. From that day forwards, she grew worse and worse. She remained upon her cushions four days and nights at the least. All about her could not persuade her, either to take any sustenance, or go to bed. # Of the chambers. 118 MEMOIRS OF ROBERT CARY> I hearing that neither the physicians, nor none about her, could persuade her to take any course for her safety, feared her death would soon after ensue. I could not but think in what a wretched estate I should be left, most of my livelihood de- pending on her life. And hereupon I be- thought myself with what grace and favour I was ever received by the King of Scots, whensoever I was sent to him. I did as- sure myself, it was neither unjust, nor un- honest for me to do for myself, if God, at that time, should call her to his mercy. Hereupon I wrote to the King of Scots, (knowing him to be the, right heir to the crown of England, *) and certified him in what state her Majesty was. I desired him not to stir from Edinburgh ; if of that sickness she should die, I would be the first man that should bring him news of it. * Protestants and Papists unanimously allowed his right; not a. murmur arose against it. EARL OF MONMOUTH. 119 The Queen grew worse and worse, be- cause she would be so, none about her being able to persuade her to go to bed. My Lord Admiral * was sent for, (who, by reason of my sisters death, that was his wife, had absented himself some fortnight from court;) what by fair means, what by force, he got her to bed. There was no hope of her recovery, because she refused all remedies. On Wednesday, the 23d of March, she grew speechless. That afternoon, by signs, she called for her council, and by putting her hand to her head, -f when the king of * Charles Howard, Earl of Nottingham, married to Catherine, eldest daughter of Henry, Lord Hunsdon. f The sign here mentioned, is a true and indisputa- ble fact, otherwise it would not have been inserted by the plain, sincere, and ingenious author of these Me- moirs, who was present at the time the sign was made. But still it remains a doubt whether the Queen intend- ed it for a sign or notT The Lords present pretended to think it one. Orrery. So my Lord Orrery. But it is plain from her repeat- ed signs to the bishop to continue his devotions, that 120 MEMOIRS OF ROBERT GARY, Scots was named to succeed her, thev all knew he was the man she desired should reign after her. About six at night she made signs for the archbishop * and her chaplains to come to her, at which time I went in with them, and sat upon my knees full of tears to see that heavy sight. Her Majesty lay upon Elizabeth knew the import of her motions. And whom could she have thought of destining to be her successor, hut the King of Scotland. E. * John Whitgift, archbishop of Canterbury. He was highly esteemed by Queen Elizabeth for his sense, learn- ing, and piety. The Queen, who was particularly wary what concessions she made, and to whom she granted them, allowed Archbishop Whitgift, in the year 1579, (then Bishop of Worcester,) the power of bestowing the prebends of his church on such persons as he thought lit, which disposal before this time had not been in the nomination of the Bishop, but of the crown ; nor did she now give away the right of such disposal to him, and his successors, but only as a particular favour to himself during his continuance in that see. And in the year 1580, the nomination of justices of the peace for Worcestershire and Warwickshire was left to his discre- tion. Such a confidence did the Queen repose in the wisdom and integrity of this Bishop.— See the Lives of the Archbishops. EARL OF MONMOUTH. 121 her back, with one hand in the bed, and the other without The bishop kneeled down by her, and examined her first of her faith ; and she so punctually answered all his several questions, by lifting up her eyes, and holding up her hand, as it was a com- fort to all the beholders. Then the good man told her plainly what she was, and what she was to come to ; and though she had been long a great Queen here upon earth, yet shortly she was to yield an ac- count of her stewardship to the King of kings. After this he began to pray, and all that were by did answer him. After he had continued long in prayer, till the old man's knees were weary, he blessed her, and meant to rise and leave her. The Queen made a sign with her hand. My sister Scroop * knowing her meaning, told the bishop the Queen desired he would pray still. He did so for a long half hour * Philadelphia, Lady Scroop, second daughter of Henry Cary, Lord Hunsdon. 122 MEMOIRS OF ROBERT GARY, after, and then thought to leave her. The second time she made sign to have him continue in prayer. He did so for half an hour more, with earnest cries to God for her soul's health, which he uttered with that fervency of spirit, as the Queen, to all our sight, much rejoiced thereat, and gave testimony to us all of her Christian and comfortable end. By this time it grew late, and every one departed, all but her women that attended her. This that I heard with my ears, and did see with my eyes, I thought it my duty to set down, and to affirm it for a truth, upon the faith of a Christian ; because I know there have been many false lies reported of the end and death of that good lady. I went to my lodging, and left word with one in the cofferer's chamber to call me, if that night it was thought she would die, and gave the porter an angel to let me in at any time when I called. Between one and two of the clock on Thursday morn- ing, he that I left in the cofferer's chamber, EARL OF MONMOUTH. 125 brought me word the Queen was dead. * I rose and made all the haste to the gate to get in. There I was answered, I could not enter ; the lords of the council having been with him, and commanded him that none should go in or out, but by warrant from them. At the very instant, one of the council (the comptroller) asked whether I was at the gate. I said, yes. He said to me, if I pleased he would let me in. I de- sired to know how the Queen did. He answered, pretty well. I bade him good night. He replied, and said, Sir, if you will come in, I will give you my word and credit you shall go out again at your own pleasure. Upon his word, I entered the gate, and came up to the cofferer's cham- ber, where I found all the ladies weeping bitterly. He led me from thence to the privy chamber, where all the council was assembled ; there I was caught hold of, * She died March 24, soon after the archbishop had left her, about three o'clock in the morning. .124 MEMOIRS OF ROBERT CARY, and assured I should not go for Scotland, till their pleasures were farther known. I told them I came of purpose to that end. From thence they all went to the secre- tary's chamber; and as they went, they gave a special command to the porters, that none should go out of the gates, but such servants as they should send to pre- pare their coaches and horses for London. There was I left in the midst of the court to think my own thoughts till they had done council. I went to my brother's* chamber, who was in bed, having been over-watched many nights before. I got * George Lord Hunsdon, a Privy Counsellor, Cap- tain of the Band of Pensioners, Governor of the Isle of Wight, and Knight of the Garter. Orrery, He was a gallant and high-spirited gentleman. In 1570 he attended the Earl of Sussex, in an invasion of Scotland, directed against Queen Mary's partizans, on which occasion, he received the honour of knighthood. In the same expedition, he distinguished himself, by sending a cartel, or challenge, to Lord Fleming, the Go- vernor of Dumbarton Castle. Their correspondence may "be found in Hollinshed, ad annum 1570. E. EARL OJF MONMOUTH. 125 him up with all speed, and when the coun- cil's men were going out of the gate, my brother thrust to the gate. The porter know- ing him to be a great officer, let him out. I pressed after him, and was stayed by the porter. My brother said angrily to the porter, " Let him out, I will answer for him." Whereupon I was suffered to pass, which I was not a little glad of. I got to horse, and rode to the Knight Marshal's lodging, by Charing Cross, and there stayed till the Lords came to White- hall Garden. I staid there till it was nine o'clock in the morning, and hearing that all the Lords were in the old orchard at Whitehall ; I sent the Marshal to tell them, that I had staid all that while to know their pleasures, and that I would attend them, if they would command me any service. They were very glad when they heard I was not gone, and desired the Marshal to send for me, and I should with all speed be dispatched for Scotland. The Marshal believed them, and sent Sir Arthur Savage 126 MEMOIRS OF ROBERT CARY, for me. I made haste to them. One of the council (my Lord of Banbury * that now is) whispered the Marshal in the ear, and told him, if I came they would stay me, and send some other in my stead. The Marshal got from them, and met me com- ing to them between the two gates. He bade me begone, for he had learned, for certain, that if I came to them, they would betray me. I returned and took horse between nine and ten o'clock, -f and that night rode to Doncaster. J The Friday night, I came to my own house at Witherington, and presently took order with my deputies to * William Knolles. He was Treasurer of the house- hold to Queen Elizabeth. He was raised to high ho- nours by James I., was made Master of the Wards, and Knight of the Garter. He was created Earl of Banbury by Charles L, in the second year of that King's reign, probably the year when these Memoirs were put toge- ther. + On Thursday morning, March 24. J Situated upon the river Done, in Yorkshire, 155 miles from London. EARL OF MONMOUTH. 127 see the Borders kept in quiet 9 which they had much to do: and gave order the next morning, the King of Scotland should be proclaimed King of England, and at Mor- peth * and Alnwick, -f Very early on Sa- turday I took horse for Edinburgh, and came to Norham $ about twelve at noon, so that I might well have been with the King at supper time : but I got a great fall by the way, and my horse, with one of his heels, gave me a great blow on the head, that made me shed much blood. It made me so weak, that I was forced to ride a soft pace after, so that the King was newly gone to bed by the time that I # Morpeth, a borough town in Northumberland, si- tuated upon the river Wansbeck (Wentsbeach.) f The Castle of Alnwick has been mentioned before, page 93. The town, which lies directly north of Mor- peth, in the high road to Berwick, stands upon the river Alne, in Northumberland. % The last town, or rather village, in the most north- ern part of Northumberland, near the mouth of the Tweed, south-west of Berwick. 128 MEMOIRS OF ROBERT CAKY, knocked at the gate. * I was quickly let in, and carried up to the King's chamber. I kneeled by him, and saluted him by his title of England, Scotland, France, and Ireland. He gave me his hand to kiss, and bade me welcome. *j* After he had long discoursed of the manner of the Queen's sickness, and of her death, he ask- ed what letters I had from the council ? I told him, none : and acquainted him how narrowly I escaped from them. J And yet I had brought him a blue ring from a fair lady, that I hoped would give him assu- rance of the truth that I had reported. He took it, and looked upon it, and said, " It is enough : I know by this you are a true messenger/' Then he committed me to the charge of my Lord Hume, and gave straight command that I should want no- # Of Holyroodhouse, on Saturday, March 0,6, 1603. -f This interview is particularly mentioned by Francis Osborne, Esq. in his Traditional, or rather Satirical Memorials of James I. J See the Preface. EARL OF MONMOUTH. 129 thing. He sent for his chirurgeons to at- tend me, and when I kissed his hand at my departure, he said to me these gracious words : " I know you have lost a near kins- woman, and a loving mistress : but take here my hand, I will be as good a master to you, and will requite this service with honour and reward." So 1 left him that night, and went with my Lord Hume to my lodging, where I had all things fitting for so weary a man as I was. After my head was drest, I took leave of my Lord, and many others that attended me, and went to my rest. The next morning, by ten o'clock, my Lord Hume was sent to me from the King, to know how I had rested; and withal said, that his Majesty commanded him to know of me, what it was that I desired most that he should do for me ; bade me ask, and it should be granted. I desired my Lord to say to his Majesty from me, that I had no reason to importune him for i 130 MEMOIRS OF ROBERT CARY, any suit, for that I had not as yet done him any service : but my humble request to his Majesty was, to admit me a gentle- man of his bedchamber ; and hereafter, I knew, if his Majesty saw me worthy, I should not want to taste of his bounty. My Lord returned this answer, that he sent me word back, " With all his heart, I should have my request/' And the next time I came to court (which was some four days after) at night, I was called into his bed- chamber, and there by my Lord of Rich- mond, * in his presence, I was sworn one of the gentlemen of his bedchamber, and presently I helped to take off his clothes, and stayed till he was in bed. After this there came daily gentlemen and noblemen from our court ; and the King set down a # Lodowick Stewart, Duke of Richmond and Lennox, a relation to James I., by whom he was much, and most deservedly, regarded, being a nobleman of an excellent character. 13 EARL OF MONMOUTH, 131 fixed day for his departure towards Lon- don. * Upon the report of the Queen's death, the East Border -f broke forth into great unruliness, insomuch, as many complaints came to the King thereof. I was desirous to go to appease them, but I was so weak, and ill of my head, that I was not able to undertake such a journey ; but I offered that I would send my two deputies, that should appease the trouble, and make them quiet, which was by them shortly af- ter effected. J Now was I to begin a new world ; for, by the King's coming to the crown, I was # He left Edinburgh April 5, and was a month in his journey ; hunting and feasting the whole way. f We should read West Border. E. J Upon the Queen's death, Gary's old acquaintances, the Armstrongs, broke into England, and plundered the country as far as Penrith. Sir William Selby was sent against them from Berwick ; Henry Witherington, and William Fenwick, were joined in commission with him. Having levied the force of the borders of both king- doms, his strength, when he reached Liddisdale, was a thousand horse ; so that he was enabled severely to chas- tise the insurgents. E. 132 MEMOIRS OF ROBERT CARY, to lose the best part of my living. For my office of wardenry ceased, and I lost the pay of forty horse, which were not so little, (both) as a thousand pounds per an- num. Most of the great ones in court en- vied my happiness, when they heard I was sworn of the King's bedchamber : and in Scotland I had no acquaintance. I only relied on God and the King. The one ne- ver left me; the other, shortly after his coin- ing to London, deceived my expectation, and adhered to those that sought my ruin. At the King's coming to the Tower, there was, at the least, twenty Scots gen- tlemen discharged of the bed-chamber, * and sworn gentlemen of the privy-cham- ber, amongst which (some that wished me little good, had such credit with the King, that) I was to go the same way that the rest did ; out of God's blessing into the warm sun. I could not help it. Those # Amongst whorn, Mr James Hays> mentioned here- after, page 134, was one. EARL OF MONMOUTH. 133 that ruled the helm had so resolved it ; and I was forced to that I could not help. All the comfort that I had was the King's assurance that I should shortly be admit- ted to his bed-chamber again. And where- as I was promised one hundred pounds per annum in fee farm, it was cut short to one hundred mark. Thus all things went cross with me, and patience was my best com- panion. He that did me most hurt, * and was greedy of Naboth's vineyard, gave me that counsel which I followed, and I found after it did me much good. He told me he knew the King better than I did, and assured me, that if the King did perceive in me a discontented mind, I should never have his love nor favour again, -f I had a * Whoever this was, our author, with great tender- ness, secretes his name ; partly, perhaps, from gratitude, since, after he had seized the vineyard, he gave Naboth good advice. f The King was cheerful and facetious at his meals, and in his idle conversations. He loved to see those he talked to as jovial as himself, especially when he was 134 MEMOIRS OF ROBERT CARY, sad heart, yet still before the King I shew- ed myself merry and jovial. This continued till the Queen * came up, which was the next summer, -j- My wife waited on her ; and at Windsor was sworn of her privy-chamber, and mistress of her sweet coffers, J and had a lodging allowed her in court. This was some com- fort to me, that I had my wife so near me. Shortly after her coming, she § made suite for James Hays || to be admitted again in- conscious that he had given them occasion to be other- wise. * Ann, second daughter of Frederick, King of Den- mark. f She arrived at York, June 11, 1603; and meeting the King soon after at Sir G. Fermor's seat, in Nor- thamptonshire, proceeded with him to London. J They were called sweet coffers, from the variety of musks and sweets, in which the Queen's clothes were kept, according to the perfumed fashion of those times. The employment, I believe, was the same as that which is now termed mistress of the robes. i § The Queen. || To shew a specimen of Osborne's bitterness, speak- ing of this gentleman, he says, " It is known he (James Bays) did bestow more trimming in the varnish of a EARL OF MONMOUTH. 135 to the bed-chamber * with Philip Her- bert, -f- I bestirred myself as well as I could, and charged the King with his pro- mise, but could do no good. They were taken in, J and poor I refused, never after to hope for it. wainscot carcase, than any of his master's ancestors dick in the clothing themselves and their own families." In the representation of characters and things, two differ- ent sides may generally be exhibited ; the one black, the other white. Osborne never fails to exhibit only the dark side. Writers, who act more ingenuously, exhibit both. This gentleman, Sir James Hays, is represented in history, as sumptuous in his apparel, costly in his manner of living, and splendid in his entertainment of foreigners. He was sent ambassador into France, in the fifteenth year of King James, where he spared no cost to sustain the honour and wealth (Osborne would say the luxury and extravagance) of the English nation, " Having," says a genealogist, iS his anti-suppers, at one of which, an attendant eat, for his own share, a pye reck- oned at twenty pounds sterling." * Hfe was a gentleman of the bed-chamber in Scot- land, and desired to be in the same post in England. f Brother to the Earl of Pembroke. "He pretend- ed," says Lord Clarendon, " to no other qualifications, than to understand horses and dogs very well." — He was Chancellor of the University of Oxford. J They afterwards became great favourites, and en- joyed very high promotions. Sir James Hay was crea- 136 MEMOIRS OF ROBERT CARY, They left me not thus that wished me evil; but having nothing but Norham to live on, my good Lord of Dunbar * beg- ged the keeping of it over my head, and I did see it was folly to strive, and there- fore thought on the next best course to do myself good. Dunbar thirsted after no- thing more than to get of me the posses- sion of Norham. My Lord Cecil was um- pire between us : he offered five thousand pounds : I held it at seven thousand : six thousand pounds was agreed upon, which was truly paid, and did me more good than if 1 had kept Norham. After the agreement made, having received two thou- sand pounds, the rest I was to have at three months, and three months ; I then took my journey to the North, to give his ted Earl of Carlisle, and Philip Herbert was created Earl of Montgomery ; both were made Knigbts of the Garter. # George Hume, Earl of Dunbar. He bears a cha- racter in history of great integrity, conduct, and resolu- tion. EARL OF MONMOUTH. 137 agents possession of Norham. I sold them there as much goods, as, when I returned back, I received of my Lord Dunbar eight hundred pounds for. When I was at Norham, God put it in- to my mind to go to Dunfermline, to see the King's second son. * I found him a very weak child. I stayed a day or two with my Lord of Dunfermline, *f whom I had long known, and was my noble friend, and so returned to court again. The summer after, mv Lord Dunferm- line and his lady were to bring up the young Duke. The King was at Theobalds, when he heard that they were past Nor- thumberland ; from thence the King sent me to meet them, and gave me commission to see them furnished with all things ne- * The misguided, unfortunate Charles I. + Alexander Seaton, Earl of Dunfermline, Chancellor of Scotland. As he was educated in the Roman Catho- lic religion, he continued in it to his last moments. Pru- dence, integrity, and moderation, were the characteris- tics which distinguished him throughout his life. 138 MEMOIRS OF ROBERT GARY, cessary, and to stay with them till they had brought the Duke to court. I did so, and found the Duke at Bishops Awke- land. * I attended his Grace all his jour- ney up ; and at Sir George Farmor's, in Northamptonshire, -f we found the King and Queen, who were very glad to see their young son. There were many great ladies suitors for the keeping of the Duke ; J but when they did see how weak a child he was, and not likely to live, their hearts were down, and none of them was desirous to take charge of him. After my Lord Chancellor of Scotland and his lady had stayed here from Mid- summer, till towards Michaelmas, they were to return for Scotland, and to leave the Duke behind them. The Queen (by # A market-town in the bishopric of Durham, where the Bishops of that see have a palace. f Eaton was the name of Sir George Farmor's seat. J Of York. EARL OF MOXMOUTH. 139 approbation of the Lord Chancellor*) made choice of my wife, to have the care and keeping of the Duke. Those who wished me no good, were glad of it, thinking that if the Duke should die in our charge, (his weakness being such as gave them great cause to suspect it,) then it would not be thought fit that we should remain in court after. My gracious God left me not, but out of weakness, he shewed his strength, and, beyond all men's expectations, so bles- sed the Duke with health and strength, un- der my wife's charge, as he grew better and better every day. The King and Queen rejoiced much to see him prosper as he did ; and my wife, for the care she had of him, and her diligence, (which indeed was great,) was well esteemed of them both, as did well appear. For by her procurement, when I was from court, she got me a suite of the King, that was worth to me afterwards four or five thousand pounds. I had the charge * Lord Dunfermline, Chancellor of Scotland, 140 MEMOIRS OF ROBERT CART, given me of the Duke's household, and none allowed to his service, but such as I gave way to ; by which means I preferred to him a number of my own servants. In the mean time, that my wife had the charge of him, my daughter was brought up with the King's daughter, * and served her, and had the happiness to be allowed to wait on her in the privy-lodgings. My wife and self, by waiting still in the privy- lodgings of the Duke, got better esteem of the King and Queen. The Duke was past four years old, when he was first delivered to my wife ; he was not able to go, nor scant stand alone, he was so weak in his joints, and especial- ly his ankles, insomuch, as many feared they were out of joint. Yet God so bles- sed him, both with health and strength, * The Princess Elizabeth. She was born at Dun- fermline Castle. She was married in the year 1612, to Frederic, Prince Palatine of the Rhine, elected King of Bohemia. This illustrious and unfortunate princess was grandmother to King George the First. EARL OF MONMOUTH. 141 that he proved daily stronger and stronger. Many a battle my wife had with the King, but she still prevailed. The King was de- sirous that the string under his tongue should be cut, for he was so long begin- ning to speak, as he thought he would ne- ver have spoke. * Then he would have him put in iron boots, to strengthen his si- news and joints ; but my wife protested so much against them both, as she got the victory, and the King was fain to yield. My wife had the charge of him from a lit- tle past four, till he was almost eleven years old ; in all which time, he daily grew more and more in health and strength, both of body and mind, to the amazement of many that knew his weakness, when she first took # He always had an impediment in his speech. It is remarked somewhere, that he had less of it at his trial than at any other time ; probably, because he was then more cautious and considerate than at other times : he was naturally hasty in his manner of speaking, especial- ly when irritated, which he was easily apt to be, till his troubles reduced a spirit and disposition in him, which were extremely improper and ungraceful. 142 MEMOIRS OF ROBERT CARY, charge of him. t Now was my wife to leave her charge, and the Duke to have none but men to attend upon him. My wife had four hundred pounds a-year pen- sion during her life, and admitted to the Queen's service, in the place she was be- fore ; and so with great grief took leave of her dear master the Duke. And now began anew more troubles for me to run through ; for it was resolved by some of my ill wishers, that I should leave his service when my wife went from him. And to that end, there was a Scots gentle- man of great learning, and very good worth, sent for out of Ireland from his service there, to be placed as chief governor over the Duke, both in his bed-chamber, and over his household ; and Prince Henry, the * Unless he had fallen by an untimely death, his strength of nature, his temperance, and his regularity were such, as must have carried him to a very great EARL OF MONMOUTH. 143 chief instrument of his preferment. * Over he came, and daily expected to receive his charge by the appointment of the King and council : and to that end, a council was called, the King being present, where it was propounded, that this gentleman should be chief gentleman of his bed- chamber, master of his robes, and com- mander of his household and family : and for that I had served him long, they would not clean -f- dismiss me, but I should be of his bed-chamber still, and keeper of his privy-purse. It was near concluding that it should be so, but my God, that never forsook me, put it into the mind of my Lord Chamberlain Suffolk J to say some- # Henry Prince of Wales was particularly acute in his judgment of men of worth and learning. Such it seems was this gentleman, but his name remains concealed. "f Entirely. J Lord Thomas Howard. He was only son, by the second wife, to Thomas, the second Duke of Norfolk'. He was created Earl of Suffolk, in the first year of King James, (1603,) to whom he was Lord Chamberlain. 144 MEMOIRS OF ROBERT CARY, thing for me. It was no more but this ; he said to the King, " Sir, this gentleman that is recommended to be so near the Duke, I have heard much worth of him, and by report, he is a fit man for near at- tendance about his grace. Notwithstand- ing, give me leave, I beseech you> to speak my knowledge of my cousin Cary. I have known him long, and the manner of his living. There was none in the late Queen's court, that lived in a better fashion than he did. He so behaved himself, that he was beloved of all in court* and elsewhere ; wheresoever he went, the company he kept was of the best, as well noblemen as others. He carried himself so, as every honest man was glad of his company. He ever spent with the best, and wore as good clothes as any, and he exceeded in making choice of what he wore to be handsome and comely. His birth I need speak nothing of : it is known well enough. I leave him to your Majesty to dispose of: only this, sure I am, there is none about the Duke that EARL OY MONMOUTH. 145 knows how to furnish him with clothes and apparel so well as he ; and therefore, in my opinion, he is the fittest man to be master of the robes/' This cast the scales. The King took hold of his speech, and said, he had spoken justly and honestly; my birth and breeding requiring the chief place about his son, and I should have it, and the mastership of his robes ; he should do me a great deal of wrong else. Hereupon, though many were mad against it, yet the King's pleasure being signified, there durst none oppose; but it was by the council concluded, that I should be sworn chief gentleman of his bed-chamber, and of the office of his robes ; and the other of his bed-chamber, and master of his privy- purse. The King and council being risen, word was with all speed sent to St James's to Prince Henry of what was decreed. By the persuasion of some about him, he came to Whitehall in all haste to alter this reso- lution. He was much discontented, and K 146 MEMOIRS OF ROBERT GARY, greatly desired an alteration. The King sent for my Lord Chamberlain. The Prince was very earnest, and something angry at my Lord, that he had said so much. He very nobly excused himself, that he had said no more, but what he knew to be true. After long dispute, and that the Prince saw the King was unwilling to alter what was resolved by the council, he said to my Lord, " I hope it shall not offend you, if I can get Sir Robert Cary himself to accept of the second place/' He answered, no : what I consented to should satisfy him ; so they parted, and the Prince came to St James's much troubled. I had word what passed betwixt them. To St James's I went, and attended in the Prince's privy-chanv- ber to know his pleasure, looking still when he should call to speak with me. I stayed two days, and heard no word from him. The third, after supper, he called me to the cup-board, and thus began : " You know my brother is to have his household settled, and there are two places about EARL OF MONMOUTH. 147 him of equal worth ; and because you have served him long, and are nobly born, it is reason you should have your choice. There is the survey orship of his lands, (which I take to be the best place,) and the mastership of his robes. You have many friends ; and by having that office, you may do them and yourself good. The other I take to be a place of no such im- port. I thought good to know of yourself, which you would make choice of."* I humbly thanked him, that he gave me that respect in advising me to that which he thought best ; but I humbly craved par- don, alleging my insufficiency in the one, which if I should accept, I should wrong my master, and discredit myself; and if I had skill in any thing, I thought I could * The few letters remaining of this hopeful Prince, and this private conversation with Sir Robert Cary, join- ed to the several anecdotes we have of his short life, shew him to have been of a most noble, sincere, just, and generous disposition. 148 MEMOIRS OF ROBERT CARY, tell how to make good clothes ; and there- fore desired humbly I might continue in the place I had ; and that he would please to dispose of the other as he liked. He was satisfied with my answer ; and within two days after, I was sworn chief gentle- man of the bed-chamber, and master of the robes ; and the other, gentleman of the bed-chamber, master of the privy-purse, and surveyor-general of his lands. This storm was thus blown over, and I was settled as 1 desired. I continued so a long time, and God so blessed me, as I had the favour and good opinion of the King, and regained my credit with that worthy Prince, that maugre the malice of some near about him, he thought me ho- nest and faithful to the King, himself, and his brother; and daily more and more I found the Prince to conceive better and better of me. But the hopes I had of him did quickly vanish ; for within two years * * On Sunday, October 12th, l6l 1. EARL OF MONMOUTH. 149 after, it pleased God to call to his mercy, that hopeful and brave Prince, that was a terror to his enemies, and a sure anchor to his friends. * And that small time he lived here, he employed it so worthily, as the loss of him was so grievous to all the subjects of this island, that no expression of sorrow could enough manifest their grief. The Duke, by succession, was then Prince ; and before I could imagine any mischief to be plotted against me, there was a sure groundwork laid (as they thought) to supplant me, and put me from being his chamberlain at his creation, when he was Prince of Wales. Long before the time, one near about the Prince would often say to me, that at his creation I was sure to be # All historians agree in giving an excellent and ex- alted character to Prince Henry. He was certainly a most hopeful Prince. He died in a lucky hour for his fame and happiness ; whilst his laurels were fresh, and long before they could possibly be blasted, by envy, ma- lice, revenge, or, to comprehend all hell in one word, by party. 150 MEMOIRS OF ROBERT CARY, his chamberlain ; but then I could not be of his bed-chamber. I did always answer, that 1 would not be put out of his bed- chamber for any other office that could be given me ; but I did see no reason why I should not hold them both. This kind of language he held oft with me. At last, before the Prince in his school-chamber, he began the like speech, the Prince affirm- ing J could not be both. I then suspected something, and pleaded for myself, that there was a present example of my Lord of Somerset, who was the King's chamber- lain, and yet kept the bed-chamber. It was alleged that he was a favourite, but never any before had them both. I said there was as great reason for me to be chamberlain, and of his bed-chamber, as for another to be his surveyor-general, and to hold his place in the bed-chamber. That was said to be but a petty office, but the chamberlain's place was of a high nature. This discourse was moved before the Prince, of purpose that he might hear me refuse EARL OF MONMOUTH. 151 the chamberlains place, except I might continue my place in the bed-chamber, which was all they desired. Shortly after, they got the Prince to confirm to the King what he heard me say, that I would not be his chamberlain, to lose my place in the bed-chamber. Then they pleaded to the King, how unfit it was that any man should hold both places ; and that there w^s no example that ever Prince had the like ; in- somuch, as they brought the King to their opinion. Then the King was wrought on to make my Lord of Roxburghe * the Prince's chamberlain, which was conclu- ded ; but kept so secret, as none knew of it but the King, the Prince, my good friend, and Roxburghe. This was about Easter. On a sudden, it was resolved, that the Prince should, the Mid-summer after, * This was no other than Sir Robert Car, our author's ancient acquaintance. Their strife was now transferred from the Borders to the court. Sir Robert Car was created first Lord, and, secondly, Earl of Roxburghe. E. 152 MEMOIRS OF ROBERT GARY, be created. Some ten days before the time it was whispered, that Roxburghe should be chamberlain, and at last it came to my ears. The court was fully persuaded, that none but myself should hold the place, which made me think it would be a great disgrace to me to miss it, and made me use the best means I could to get the place, and prevent them. After I got the true knowledge of all their proceedings, and how the King and Prince were brought in by a wile to give the place from me, I ad- dressed myself to the Queen, told her all I knew, and how secretly it had been plot- ted and wrought. I humbly besought her Majesty to interpose for me. When she had heard me, she could not believe that Roxburghe, or his friend, durst, or would seek so eminent a place under her son, without her knowledge and consent. But when, by Roxburghe's wife, she was assured of it, she sent for me again, and told me, it was true that I had said, but bade me trouble myself no further : her wrong was EARL OF MONMOUTH. 155 more than mine, and she would right both herself and me. Presently she made known, both to Roxburghe, and his friend, in what disdain she took it, that they durst undertake such a business without acquainting her, and vowed they should buy the neglect of her at a dear rate. She kept her word ; for Roxburghe was presently sent into Scot- land in her high disgrace, and never after saw her ; my other friend felt her heavy hand a long time after. And at the Prince's creation, which was the Michaelmas * fol- lowing, 1 was sworn the Prince's cham- berlain, and continued of his bed-chamber. Thus did God raise up the Queen to take my part, and by her means the storm that was so strongly plotted against me, was brought to nought. Then was the Prince's house settled ; and amongst other officers, Sir John Vil- liers was sworn of his bed-chamber, and Sir Robert Car ; the one made master of * Anno 1616. 154 MEMOIRS OF ROBERT CARY, the robes, the other keeper of the privy- purse : Sir James Fullerton groom of the stole, and Mr Murray secretary. Long before this, had I married my daughter to my Lord Wharton's son * and heir. My eldest son -f was, at the Prince's creation, made a Knight of the Bath, (who was then newly come from travel,) and by the Queen s means, my youngst son J was, before his creation, sworn a groom of his bed-chamber. My wife waited on the Queen, and myself on the Prince ; so (for the time it lasted) we lived at no great charge ; and most of the little means we had, we employed as it came in to the bet- tering of our estate. But it continued not long thus ; for with- in four years after, or thereabouts, the Queen died ; § her house dissolved, and my wife was forced to keep house and fa- mily, which was out of our way a thousand # Sir Thomas Wharton. f Henry. J Thomas. § She died in 1619. EARL OF MONMOUTH. 155 pounds a-year that we saved before. In this state I continued, till I came to the age of almost sixty years, in favour, both with the King and my Master. About this time, * I married my eldest son, -f to the eldest daughter of Sir Lionell Cranfield, afterwards Earl of Middlesex, and Lord Treasurer of England. Not long after, by my Master's means, the King made me Baron of Leppington. $ Two years after, the Prince and my Lord of Buckingham went from Theobalds to New-hall. The 17th of February, the King went to New- market. There the Prince appointed my- self and the rest of his servants to meet him two days after. But the first news that we heard, was, that the Prince and my Lord Duke were gone for Spain. § This made a great hub-bub in our court, and * I believe in the year l6<20. f Henry. % Anno 1621. % They set out post for Spain, February 17 th, and ar- rived at Madrid, March 7th, 1623. 156 MEMOIRS OP ROBERT CARY, in all England besides. I was appointed to go after him by sea, and to carry such ser- vants of his with me, as the Prince had left word should come after, and such others as the King allowed. I had a large commis- sion made me for the government, and to keep in good order those that went with me. From Portsmouth we set sail about the midst of March, and the fourth day after we landed at St Andero's, in Biscay ; and there I received a letter from the Prince, that all his servants should return back in the ship they came, only myself and my Lord Compton should come to him to Madrid. To Madrid I came some six days after ; before which time, the Prince had remanded his servants to come to him. There I stayed some month * with the Prince ; by which time he found that his stay there would be longer than he ex- pected. He considered my years, and fear- * About a month. EARL OF MONMOUTH. 157 ed the heat of the year coming fast on, would much distemper me, and therefore persuaded me to return for England, and sent a great many of his servants back with me. We returned in the ship we came, and landed at Portland, in Dorsetshire. There I took post, and came to Greenwich to the King. I delivered him the Prince's letters ; and after some discourse had with me, I kissed his hand, took my leave of him, and came to my own house, where I remained very privately, until the Prince's return. I must not forget God's goodness towards me in this journey. I was then upon sixty-three years of age, (years not well agreeing with such a journey,) but God so blessed me from the first to the last, as I continued in perfect health ; and all the time I was in Spain, I had such a stomach to my meat, as in my younger days I never had the like. At Michaelmas after, to the comfort of all true English hearts, the Prince landed 158 MEMOIRS OF ROBERT CARY, at Portsmouth. * After this, the match was broken off with Spain, and a treaty in France for the King's youngest sister. My Lord of Holland-f* was employed ambassa- dor for this service, and my Lord of Car- lisle J sent after him for assistance. Many to's and fro's there were before it was con- cluded. Two years or more were spent in this affair; and when it was come to a full point of agreement on all parts, the # The Prince having departed from Madrid, Septem- ber 9th, and setting sail from St Andero the 11th, land- ed in England, October 5th, 1623. f Henry Rich, Earl of Holland. He was beheaded immediately after his royal master, at the same time with the Duke of Hamilton, and the noble-spirited Lord Capel. The Earl of Clarendon, in characterising Lord Holland, says, " He was a well-bred man, and a fine gentleman in good times, but too much desired to en- joy ease and plenty, when the King could have neither, and did think poverty the most insupportable evil that could befal any man in this world." % Sir James Hay, mentioned in page 134. Might we not ask the critical Mr Osborne, could the ambassador Jive too splendidly, or appear too magnificent, in a treaty of marriage for the King's only son, and the immediate heir of the crown? EARL OF MONMOUTH. 159 King fell sick of a tertian ague at Theobalds, and, to the grief of all true hearts, died of that sickness, the 27th day of March, in the twenty-second year of his reign. And now began afresh, in my old years, new troubles ; for whereas heretofore all Princes, when they came to be Kings, had an especial care to prefer their old servants, or at least to let them hold the places they had under them whilst they were Princes ; it fell out otherwise with us. For myself being his chamberlain, and the rest, (as the master of the horse, treasurer, comptroller, and secretary,) were all discharged of our places ; and those that served in those of- fices in the old King's time, continued in them still. But the King dealt very gra- ciously with us ; and for the loss of our places, gave the most of us good rewards. To myself, in particular, he gave (to me and my heirs for ever) five hundred pounds per annum in fee farm, which was a very bountiful gift, and a good satisfaction for the loss of my office ; and especially be- 160 MEMOIRS OF ROBERT GARY, cause I continued my place of gentleman of the bed-chamber. In May after, the King went to Dover to meet his new Queen, * and by the time he came back with her to Whitehall, the plague grew so hot in London, as none that could tell how to get out of it, would stay there. The King and Queen removed to Hampton Court. The infection grew hotter and hotter. The parliament was re- moved to Oxford. The plague grew hot there too ; so that what for that and other discontents,*!* the parliament was dissolved. The King went in progress to Beauly. The Queen returned to Oatlands J and None- # Henrietta Maria, daughter of the Great Henry IV., by Mary de Medici ; a princess who proved more per- nicious to this kingdom, than the pestilence which ra- ged at her arrival. •f The discontents were many, and some of them just. They were as hot and infectious as the plague itself. J A royal seat in Surrey; the jointure-house of Queen Henrietta Maria ; pulled down, and even the materials sold, soon after the catastrophe of King Charles in 1649. EARL OF MONMOUTH. l6l such,* and I and my family to Kenel- worth,-f where we stayed the summer. To- wards Michaelmas the plague began to decrease. The King returning from his progress, was met by the Queen at Salis- bury, at which place I found his Majesty, leaving my wife and family at Kenelworth. I waited on him till he returned southward, and also waited on him at Windsor. Some ten days before Christmas, the King and Queen went to keep their Christmas at Hampton Court, and I returned to Ke- nelworth, and stayed there ten days after Christmas, where I heard of a new Parlia- ment to begin the 8th of February, and that the King was to be crowned at West- minster the 6th thereof.J I returned to * Another royal seat in Surrey, built by Henry VIIL, in all the magnificence of that time. f In Warwickshire, where are now the remains of one of the finest castles in England. t 1626. 162 MEMOIRS OF ROBERT CARY, &C. court, and, among others that the King pleased to give honours to at his corona- tion, I was created Earl of Monmouth. APPENDIX. Sir Robert Carey to the Lord Hunsdon his Father. May it Please your Lordship t* understande, that yes- terday yn the afternoone, I stood by her Majestie, as she was at cards yn the presens chamber. She cawlde me too her, and asket me, when you ment too go too Barwyke ? I towlde hyr, that you determynde to begyn your journey presently after Whytsontyd. She grew yn- too a grate rage, begynnynge with Gods Wonds, that she wolde set you by the feete, and sende another yn your place, if you dalyed with her thus ; for she wolde nott be thus dalyed with all. I towlde her, that with as much possyble speed as myght be, you wolde departe ; and that your lyyng att London thys fortnyght was too no other ende but to make provysion for your jorney. She anseryd me, that you have byn goynge from Chrystmas too Ester, and from Ester to Whytson- 164 APPENDIX. day ; but if you differde the tyme any longer, she wolde appoynt some uther yn your place ; and thys message she commandyd me to sende you. Your Lps. humble and obedyent Sunne, R. Carey. To the Ryghte Honorable my very goode L. and Father , my L. of Hunsdon. APPENDIX. 165 Henry Lord Hunsdon to Lord JBurghley, Lord Treasurer of England. My very goode Lord, Havynge alwayse founde your L. rny goode L. and frende more then any uther, I am the bowlder to ac- quaynte your L. with a harde aceydente too me, such as I thynke your L. wolde as hardly beleve, as I did lyttell look for ytt. Thys day at dyner I recevyd a letter from my sunn Robartt Carey, of such speechys as hyr Majestie ensy'd unto hym upon Sunday towchynge me; which, for bre- vity sake, I sende your L. the copy of; wheryn I thynk myself so hardly delte with all by her Majestie, as I can- nott beyre it, nor obay itt yn suche sort, as she com- mands it. My L. I have never refusyd to serve hyr ; howsoever she commandyd me, so longe as I was able ; and be- ynge now, by reason of the maryagys of my two daw- ters, and besydes theyr maryage-mony, was att as grete chargys with the tyme of theyr maryagys, as theyr ma- ryage-mony came unto; beynge now commanded too repayre to Barwyke, I desyerde only att hyr Majestie's hands the lone of 10001. too be payde upon rny enter- taynment of Barwyke and the wardenery, wherof too be 166 APPENDIX. repayde the one halfe at Mychalmas next, and the uther halfe at our Lady day, whyche to be borrowyde of a marchant, the interest comes nott too lOOl. and trewly I wolde nott have made so symple a seute unto hyr, but thatt apon thes occasyons aforesayde, I hade layde all my platte to gage, without which, I cowlde nott, with any credytt, go thyther; and hopynge, that she wolde consyder so farr of my nede, I have stayde herapon, the rather knowynge the matters both of Scotland and the Bordars too be yn suche state, as ther was no suche ne- cessitye of my said hasty goynge to Barwike. But syns I fynde her Majestie so small care of my necessyte, and so redy to threten me, not only with the placynge of summe uther yn my place, butt also to impryson me ; syns my suytt ys no better consydered of by hyr, and that her Majestie ys so reddy apon so small cawse too deale thus (nott hardly) but extremely with me, as I had the ofFyce of Barwyke of her Majestie spe- cyally, and only by your L. goode meanes agenste the wylls of utliers, who sought too putt me by ytt, too preferre uthers of thyer frends unto ytt ; so am I most hartely too pray your L. that as you were the only brynger of me to that office, wheryn I hope I have per- formyd my dewty, bothe for her Majestie's servys, and for the goode of the hole countrey, bothe too her Ma- jestie's honor, the benyfitt of the countrey, the commen- dacyon of your L. who preferde me unto yet, and too myne owne credytt, yn despight of myn ennymys wher- soever ; so I humbly pray yoiir L., thatt syns I see, that APPENDIX. 167 hyr Majestie ys so redely to place surae uther yn ytt, that your L. wyl be a meanes, that I may with her favor departe withall, as I dyd with hyr goode favour receive ytt : for an offyce of that charge ys not to be governed by any, that hath no better credytt or countenance of hyr Majestie's then I have; for I am nott ignorent, what qwarrels may be pykt too any mane, that hathe such a charge, if the Prynce shall be reddy, nott only too heare every complaynte, whyther ytt be false oi\ trew; and so apon imagynacion too, condemn without cause. Well! my L. Gode send them joy, that shall succede me ; and too do her Majestie no worse servys theryn, then I have done ; assurynge your L. that I will parte from ytt with a better wyll, (fyndyng my selfe yn no better grace with hyr Majestie than I do,) then ever I was too receive ytt. I am the bowlder too trouble your L. thys muche, because I doo by thys bearer wryght lyttle les to hyr Majestie: and for any imprysonment she cane use too me, ytt shall redownde too hyr dysho- nor, bycause I,;neyther have nor wyll deserve ytt, and therfore ytt shall not troble me. Thus havynge byn over tedyous too your L., I com- mytt your L. too the tuycion of the Almighty. At Hunsdon, this 8 of June, 1584. Your L. to commande, Hunsdon. To the Ryght Honorable, and my very good L., my X. Burghley, L. Hyghe Tresurar of Eng- land. FRAGMENTA REGALIA; OR, OBSERVATIONS ON THE LA.TE QUEEN ELIZABETH, HER TIMES AND FAVOURITES. WRITTEN BY Sir ROBERT NAUNTON, MASTER OF THE COURT OF WARDS. FRAGMENTA REGALIA; OR, OBSERVATIONS ON THE LATE QUEEN ELIZABETH, HER TIMES AJfD FAVOURITES. THE QUEEN. To take her in the original, she was daugh- ter to Henry the Eighth, by Anne Bullen, the second of six wives which he had, and one of the maids of honour to the divorced Queen Katherine of Austria, (or, as they now style it,) Infanta of Spain, and from thence taken into the royal-bed. That she was of a most noble and roy- al extract by her father, will not fall in- to question ; for on that side there was dis- 172 FRAGMENTA REGALIA. imbogued into her veins, by a confluence of blood, the very abstract of all the great- est houses in Christendom ; and remarkable it is, concerning that violent desertion of the royal house of the Britons, by the in- vasion of the Saxons, and afterwards by the conquest of the Normans, that by their vicissitude of times, and through a discon- tinuance, almost a thousand years, the roy- al sceptre should fall back into the current of the old British blood, in the person of her renowned grandfather, Henry the Se* venth, together with whatsoever the Ger- man, Norman, Burgundian, Castalian, and French achievements, with the intermar- riages which eight hundred years had ac- quired, incorporated, and brought back into the old royal reign. By her mother, she was of no sovereign descent, yet noble, and very ancient in the name and family of Bullen ; though some erroneously brand it with a citizen's rise, or original, which was yet but of a second brother, who, as it were, divining the great- FRAGMENTA REGALIA, 175 ness and lustre, to come to his house, was sent into the city to acquire wealth, ad (Kdijicandum antiquum domum, unto whose achievements (for he was Lord Mayor of London *) fell in, as it was averred, both the blood and inheritance of the eldest brother, for want of issue male ; by which accumulation, the house, within a few de- scents, mounted in culmen honoris, and was suddenly elated into the best families of England and Ireland, as Howard, Or- mund, Sackvile, and divers others. Ha- ving thus touched, and now leaving her strip, I come to her person ; and as she came to the crown by the decease of her brother and sister; under Edward, she was his, and one of the darlings of fortune ; for besides the consideration of blood, there was between these two Princes, a concur- rency and sympathy in their natures and * Her great-grandfather, Sir Geoffrey Boleyn. He married a daughter of the Lord Hastings. 174 rRAGMENTA REGALIA. affections, together with the celestial bond, (conformity in religion,) which made them one, and friends; for the King ever called her his sweetest and dearest sister, and was scarce his own man, she being absent, which was not so between him and the Lady Mary, * Under his sister, she found her condition much altered : for it was re- solved, and her destiny had decreed to set her an apprentice in the school of afflic- tion, and to draw her through the ordeal fire of trial, the better to mould and fashion her to rule and sovereignty : which finish- ed, and Fortune calling to mind, that the, time of her servitude was expired, gave up her indentures, and therewith delivered up into her custody a sceptre, as a reward for her patience, which was about the twenty- sixth year of her age ; a time in which (as for externals) she was full blown, so was # Queen Elizabeth, when trying a pen, usually wrote the name of her beloved brother Edward. FRAGMENTA REGALIA. 175 she for her internals grown ripe, and sea- soned with adversity, and in the exercise of her virtue ; for it seems Fortune meant no more, than to shew her a piece of her va- riety and changeableness of her nature, and so to conduct her to her destined felicity. She was of personage tall, of hair and com- plexion fair, and therewith well favoured, but high-nosed, of limbs and feature neat, and which added to the lustre of those exte- rior graces, of stately and majestic comport- ment, participating in this more of her father than mother, who was of an inferior allay, plausible, or, as the French hath it, more debonaire, and affable virtues, which might well suite with majesty, and which descend- ing, as hereditary to the daughter, did ren- der her of a more sweeter temper, and en- deared her more to the love and liking of the people, who gave her the name and fame of a most gracious and popular Prince ; the atrocity of her father's nature being rebated in hers, by the mother's sweeter inclinations ; for to take, and that 176 PRAGMENTA REGALIA. no more than the character out of his own mouth, he never spared man in his anger, nor woman in his lust. If we search further into her intellectuals and abilities, the whole course of her go- vernment deciphers them to the admiration of posterity ; for it was full of magnanimi- ty tempered with justice and piety, and to speak truly, noted but with one act or taint, all her deprivations, either of life, or liberty, being legal and necessitated. She was learned (her sex, and the time consi- dered) beyond common belief; for letters about this time, and somewhat before, be- gan to be of esteem, and in fashion, the former ages being overcast with the mists and fogs of the Roman ignorance ; and it was the maxim that over-ruled the forego- ing times, that ignorance was the mother of devotion. Her wars were a long time more, in the auxiliary part, in assistance of foreign Princes and states, than by inva- sion of any, till common policy advised it for a safer way, to strike first abroad than FRAGMENTA REGALIA. 177 at home to expect the war, in all which she was felicious and victorious. The change and alteration of religion upon the instant of her accession, (the smoke and fire of her sister's martyrdoms, scarcely quenched,) was none of her least remarka- ble accounts ; but the support and esta- blishment thereof, with the means of her subsistence amidst so powerful enemies abroad, and those many domestic prac- tices, were, methinks, works of inspiration, and of no human providence, which, on her sister's departure, she most religiously acknowledged, ascribing the glory of her deliverance to God alone ; for she received the news both of the Queen's death, and her proclamation, by the general consent of the House, and the public suffrage of the people ; whereat, falling on her knees, (af- ter a good time of respiration,) she uttered this verse of the psalms, a domino factum est istud, et est mirabile in oculis nostris, which we find to this day on the stamp of M 178 ERAGMENTA REGALIA. her gold ; with this on her silver, Posui Deum adjutorem meum. Her ministers and instru- ments of state, such as were participes cu- rarum 9 and bare a great part of the bur- den, were many, and those memorable, but they were only favourites, not minions ; such as acted more by her own princely rules and judgments, than by their own wills and appetites, which she observed to the last : for we find no Gaveston, Vere, or Spencer, to have swayed alone, during forty-four years, which was a well settled and advised maxim ; for it valued her the more, it awed the most secure, and it took best with the people, and it starved all emulations, which are apt to rise and vent in obloquious acrimony, (even against the Prince,) where there is only, a major pa- latii. The principal note of her reign will be, that she ruled much by faction and parties, which herself both made, upheld, and weakened, as her own great judgment ad- vised ; for I dissent from the common re- 13 ERAGMENTA REGALIA. 179 ceived opinion, thai my Lord of Leices- ter was absolute and above all in her grace. And though I come somewhat short of the knowledge of those times, yet (that I might not rove, and shoot at random) I know it from assured intelligence, that it was not so; for proof whereof, (among many that I could present,) I will both relate a short, and therein a known truth. And it was thus : Bowyer, a gentleman of the black-rod, being charged by her express command to look precisely to all admis- sions into the privy-chamber, one day stay- ed a very gay captain, and a follower of my Lord of Leicester's, from entrance ; for that he was neither well known, nor a sworn servant to the Queen ; at which re- pulse, the gentleman bearing high ou my Lord's favour, told him, he might per- chance procure him a discharge. Leices- ter coming into the contestation, said pub- licly, (which was none of his wont) that he was a knave, and should not continue long in his office ; and so turning about to go 180 FRAGMENTA REGALIA. into the Queen, Bowyer (who was a bold gentleman, and well beloved) stept before him, and fell at her Majesty's feet, related the story, and humbly craves her Grace's pleasure ; and whether my Lord of Leices- ter was King, or her Majesty Qeeen : where- unto she replied, with her wonted oath, (God's death,) my Lord, I have wished you well, but my favour is not so locked up for you, that others shall not partake thereof; for I have many servants, unto whom I have, and will, at my pleasure, be- queath my favour, and likewise resume the same ; and if you think to rule here, I will take a course to see you forthcoming ; I will have here but one mistress, and no master ; and look that no ill happen to him, least it be severely required at your hands; which so quelled my Lord of Leices- ter, that his feigned humility was long af- ter one of his best virtues. Moreover, the Earl of Sussex, then lord-chamberlain, was his professed antagonist to his dying day ; and for my Lord of Hunsdon, and Sir FRAGMENTA REGALIA. 181 Thomas Sackville, after lord-treasurer, (who were all contemporaries,) he was wont to say of them, that they were of the tribe of Dan, and were noli me tangeres, imply- ing, that they were not to be contested with, for they were indeecLof the Queen's near kindred ; from whence, and in more instances, I conclude, that she was abso- lute and sovereign mistress of Jher ^graces ; and that all those to whom she distributed her favours, were never more than tenants at wil], and stood on no better ground than her princely pleasure, and their own good behaviour; and this also I present as a known observation, that she was (though very capable of counsel) absolute enough in her own resolutions, which was ever apparent even to her last, in that her aversation to grant Tyrone * the least drop of her mercy, though earnestly and fre- quently advised ; yea, wrought only by the * The unfortunate treaty with Tyrone certainly went far to prepare for the ruin of Essex. 182 FRAGMEINTTA REGALIA. whole council of state, with very many pressing reasons ; and as the state of her kingdom then stood, (I ma}^ speak it with assurance,) necessitated arguments. If we look into her inclination, as it is disposed, either to magnificence, or frugality, we shall find in them many notable considera- tions ; for all her dispensations were so poi- sed, as though Discretion and Justice had both agreed to stand at the beam, and see them weighed out in due proportion ; the maturity of her years and judgment meet- ing in a concurrency, and at such an age as seldom lapseth to excess. To consider them apart, we have not many precedents of her liberality, or of any large donatives to particular men ; my Lord of Essex book of Parks only excepted, which was a princely gift ; and some few more of a lesser size to my Lord of Leicester, Hatton, and others. Her reward consisted chiefly in grants of leases, of offices, places of judica- ture; but for ready money, and in any great sums, she was very sparing, which we part- FRAGMENTA REGALIA. 183 ly conceive was a virtue, rather drawn out by necessity, than her nature ; for she had many layings out, and to her last period. And I am of opinion with Sir Walter Raw- leigh, that those many brave men of our times, and of the militia, tasted little more of her bounty than in her grace, and good word with their due entertainment; for she ever paid the soldiers well, which was the honour of her times, and more than her great adversary of Spain could perform : so that when we come to the consideration of her frugality, the observation will be little more than that her bounty and it were so woven together, that the one was suited by an honourable way of spending, the other limited by a necessitated way of spa- ring. The Irish action we may call a ma- lady, and a consumption of her times ; for it accompanied her to her end, and it was of so profuse and vast an expense, that it drew near a distemperature of state, and of passion in herself; for toward her last, she grew somewhat hard to please, her arms 184 TBAGMENTA REGALIA. being accustomed to prosperity, and the Irish persecution not answering her expec- tation and wonted success for a good while; it was an unthrifty and inauspicious war, which did much disturb and mislead her judgment; and the more, for that it was a precedent which was taken out of her own pattern ; for, as the Queen (by way of diver- sion) had, at the coming to the crown, sup- ported the revolted States of Holland, so did the King of Spain turn the trick on her- self towards her going out, by cherishing the Irish rebellion ; where it falls into con- sideration, what the state of the kingdom and the crown revenues were then ably to embrace and endure ; if we look into the establishment of those times, with the list of the Irish army, considering the defeat- ments of Blackwater, with all precedent expenses, as it stood from my Lord of Es- sex, undertaking to the surrender of King- sale under the General Mountjoy, and somewhat after, we shall find the horse and foot troops were for three or four years to- FRACMJETNTTA REGALIA. 185 gether much about 20,000. Which, be- sides the naval charge, which was a depen- dant of the same war, in that, the Queen was then forced to keep in continual pay, a strong fleet at sea, to attend the Spanish coasts and ports, both to alarm the Spa- niard, and to interrupt his forces designed for the Irish assistance ; so that the charge of that war alone did cost the Queen 300,0001. per annum at least, which was not the moiety of her other disbursements, an expense which (without the public aid) the state, and the royal receipts, could not have much longer endured; which out of her own frequent letters and complaints to the deputy Mountjoy, for cashiering part of that list as soon as he could, may be col- lected, for the Queen was then driven in- to a strait. We are naturally prone to applaud the times behind us, and to vilify the present ; for the current of her fame carries it to this day, how royally and victoriously she lived and died, without the grievance and grudge 186 FliAGMENTA REGALTA. of the people ; yet that truth may appear without retraction, from the honour of so great a Princess, it is manifest she left more debts unpaid, taken upon the credit of her privy-seals, than her progenitors did, or could have taken up that way in a hun- dred years before her; which was an en- forced piece of state, to lay the burden on that horse that was best able to bear it, at the dead lift, when neither her receipts could yield her relief at the pinch, nor the urgency of her affairs endure the de- lays of a parliamentary assistance : and for such aids, it is likewise apparent, that she received more, and with the love of the people, than any two of her predecessors, that took most ; which was a fortune strain- ed out of the subject, through the plausi- bility of her comportment, and, as I would say, without offence, the prodigal distribu- tion of her graces to all sorts of subject. For I believe no Prince living, that was so tender of honour, and so exactly stood for the preservation of sovereignty, that was so FRAGMENTA REGALIA. 187 great a courtier of her people, yea, of the Commons, and that stoopt and descended lower in presenting her person to the pub- lic view, as she past in her progresses and perambulations, and in the ejaculation of her prayers on her people : and truly, though much may be given in praise of her mag- nanimity, and therewith comply with her parliaments, and for all that, come off at last with honour and profit ; yet must we ascribe some part of the commendation to the wisdoms of the times, and the choice of parliament-men ; for I find not that they were at any time given to any violent or per- tinacious dispute, elections being made of grave and discreet persons, not factious and ambitious of fame ; such as came not to the House with a malevolent spirit of con- tention, but with a preparation to consult on the public good, rather to comply than contest with her Majesty. Neither do I find that the House was at any time weak- ened and pestered with the admission of too many young heads, as it hath been of 188 FRAGMENTA REGALIA. later times, which remembers me of Recor- der Martin's speech, about the tenth of our late sovereign Lord King James, when there were accounts taken of forty gentle- men, not above twenty, and some not ex- ceeding sixteen, which moved him to say, that it was the ancient custom for old men to make laws for young ones ; but that then he saw the case altered, and that there were children elected unto the great council of the kingdom, which came to in- vade and invert nature, and to enact laws to govern their fathers. Sure we are, the House always took the common cause into their consideration ; and they saw the Queen had just occasion, and need enough to use their assistance, neither do I remember that the House did ever capitulate or prefer their private to the public, &c. The Queen's necessities but waited their times, and in the first place they gave their supply, and according to the exigency of her affairs, yet failed not at last to obtain what they de- sired : so that the Queen and her parlia- FRAGMENTA REGALIA, 189 ments had ever the good fortune to depart in love, and on reciprocal terms, which are considerations which have not been so ex- actly observed in our last assemblies, as they might, and I would to God they had been, for considering the great debt left on the King, and in what incumbrances the house itself had then drawn him, his Ma- jesty was not well used, though I lay not the blame on the whole suffrage of the House, where he had many good friends ; for I dare avouch, had the House been freed of half a dozen of popular and discontent- ed persons, such (as with the fellow that burnt the temple at Ephesus) w r ould be talked of, though but for doing of mischief, I am confident the King had obtained that which, in reason, and at his first ac- cession, he ought to have received freely, and without any condition. But pardon the digression, which is here remembered not in the way of aggravation, but in true zeal to the public good, and presented in caveat to future times; for I am not igno- 190 FKAGMENTA REGALIA. rant how the spirit of the kingdom now moves to make his Majesty amends on any occasion, and how desirous the subject is to expiate that offence at any rate, may it please his Majesty graciously to make trial of his subjects affection, and at what price they now value his goodness and magnani- mity. But to our purpose ; the Queen was not to learn, that as the strength of her kingdom consisted in the multitude of her subjects, for the security of her person rest- ed in the love and fidelity of her people, which she politicly affected (as it hath been though t)some what beneath the height of her spirit, and natural magnanimity. Moreover it will be a true note of her providence, that she would always listen to her profit ; for she would not refuse the informations of mean persons, with purposed improvement, and had learned the philosophy 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 custom-house, who ob- serving his time, presented her with a pa- FRAGMENTA REGALIA. 191 per, shewing how she was abused in the under renting of her customs, and, there- withal, humbly desired her Majesty to con- ceal him ; for that it did concern two or three of her great counsellors, whom custo- mer Smith had bribed with 2001. a man, so to loose the Queen 2,0001. per annum ; which being made known to the Lords, they gave strict order, that Carwarden should not have access to the back stairs ; till at last her Majesty smelling the craft, and missing Carwarden, she sent for him back, and encouraged him to stand to his information, which the poor man did so handsomely, that within the space of ten years, he brought Smith to double his rent, or to leave the customs to new farmers ; so that we may take this also into observa- tion, that there were of the Queen's coun- cil, that were not in the catalogue of saints. Now as we have taken a view of some particular notions of her times, her nature, and necessities, it is not without the text, 192 FRAGMENTA REGALIA. to give a short touch on the helps and ad- vantages of her reign, which were without parallel ; for she had neither husband, bro- ther, sister, nor children to provide for, who as they are dependents of the crown, so do they necessarily draw maintenance from thence, and do oftentimes exhaust and draw deep, especially when there is an ample fraternity of the blood-royal, and of the Princes of the blood, as it was in the time of Edward the Third, and Henry the Fourth ; for then when the crown cannot, the public ought to give them honourable allowance, for they are the honour and hopes of the kingdom, and the public which enjoys them hath a like interest in them with the father that begot them ; and our common-law, which is the heritance of the kingdom, did ever of old provide aids for the primo-genitures, and the eldest daugh- ter ; so that the multiplicity of courts, and the great charge which necessarily follow a King and Queen, a Prince and the royal issue, was a thing which was not in rerum FRAGMENTA REGALIA. lfJS natura, during the space of forty years, and which by time was worn out of memory, and without the consideration of the pre- sent times ; insomuch, that the aids given to the late and right noble Prince Henry, and to his sister the Lady Elizabeth, were at first generally received for impositions of a new coinage. Yea, the late imposi- tions for knighthood, (though an ancient law,) fell also into the imputation of a tax of novelty ; for that it lay long covered in the embers of division, between the houses of York and Lancaster, and forgotten, or connived at by the succeeding princes ; so that the strangeness of the observation, and the difference of those latter reigns, is, that the Queen took up beyond the power of the law, which fell not into the murmur of the people, and her successors nothing but by warrant of the law, which, nevertheless, was conceived (through disuse) to be inju- rious to the liberty of the kingdom. Now before I come to any further men- tion of her favourites, (for hitherto I have N 194 FRACrMENTA 11EGALIA. delivered but some obvious passages, there- by to prepare and smooth a way for the rest that follows,) it is requisite that I touch on the relics of the other reign, I mean the body of her sister's council of state, which she retained entire ; neither removing, nor discontenting any, although she knew them averse to her religion, (and in her sister's time perverse towards her person,) and pri- vate to her troubles and imprisonment ; a prudence which was incompatible with her sister's nature, for she both dissipated and persecuted the major part of her brother's council : but this will be of certainty, that how compliable soever and obsequious she found them, yet for a good space she made little use of their councils, more than in the ordinary course of the board : for she held a dormant table in her own princely breast, yet she kept them together, and their places without any sudden change ; so that we may say of them, that they were of the court, not of the council, for whilst she amazed them witb-a kind of premissive 11 PRAGMENTA REGALIA. 195 disputation, concerning the points contro- verted by both churches, she did set down her own reservations without their privity, and made all her progressions gradations. But so that the tents of her secrecy with intent of her establishment, were pitched before it was known where the court would sit down ; neither do I find that any of her sister's council of state were either repug- nant to her religion, or opposed her do- ings, (Englefield, master of the horse ex- cepted,) who withdrew himself from the board, and shortly after from out her domi- nions, * so pliable 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. Pawlet, Marquis of Winchester, and lord- treasurer, having served then four princes in as various and changeable season, that I may well say, time nor any age hath yield- ed the like precedent. * Sir Francis Englefield. He retired into Spain. 196 FBAGMENTA REGALIA. This man being noted to grow high in her favour, (as his place and experience re- quired,) was questioned by an intimate friend of his, how he stood up for thirty years together, amidst the changes and reigns of so many chancellors and great personages ? why, quoth the Marquis, ortus sum ex sa- lice, non ex quercu, I was made of the plia- ble willow, not of the stubborn oak ; and truly the old man hath taught them all, es- pecially William, Earl of Pembroke, for they two were always of the King's reli- gion, and over-zealous professors. Of this it is said, that being both younger brothers, (yet of noble houses,) they spent what was left them, and came on trust to the court : where upon the bare stock of their wits, they began to traffic for themselves, and prospered so well, that they got, spent, and left more than any subjects from the Nor- man conquest to their own times ; where- unto it hath been prettily replied, that they lived in a time of dissolution. To conclude then, of any of the former TRAGMENTA REGALIA. 197 reign, it is said, that these two lived and died, chiefly, in her favour. The latter, up- on his son's marriage with the Lady Ka- therine Gray, was like utterly to have lost himself; but at the instant of the consum- mation, apprehending the insafety and dan- ger of an intermarriage with the blood-roy- al, he fell at the Queen's feet, where he both acknowledged his presumption with tears, and projected the cause and the di- vorce together; and so quick he was at his work, for it stood him upon, that upon repudiation of the lady, he clapt up a mar- riage for his son the Lord Herbert, with Mary Sidney, daughter to Sir Henry Sid- ney, then lord-deputy of Ireland, * the # This incident did not happen in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, but in that of Queen Mary. The unfortunate Lady Jane Gray, and her sisters, Lady Catherine and Lady Mary, were married in the month of May 1553. Lady Jane's fate is well known. Lady Catherine was united to Henry Lord Herbert, son and heir of William Earl of Pembroke, then one of Lady Jane's firm friends. But when Pembroke turned with the tide to Queen Mary, he caused the union to be dissolved by divorce. 108 FIIAGMEN'TA REGALIA. blow falling on Edward, late Earl of Here- ford, who (to his cost) took up the divorced lady, of whom the Lord Beauchamp was born, and William Earl of Hereford is de- scended. * I come now to present those of her own election, which she either ad- mitted to her secrets of state, or took into her grace and favour; of whom in their or- Mary Sydney was not, however, as alleged by Nauntori, the immediate successor of Lady Catherine Grey ; for the Lord Herbert was married after the divorce to Anne, daughter of George Earl of Shrewsbury, and on her death to Mary Sidney, as mentioned in the text. * The unfortunate Lady Catherine Grey, when di- vorced from Lord Herbert, was married privately to Ed- ward Seymour, Earl of Hertford. For this offence, they were both committed to the Tower, and their marriage was annulled by the obsequious Archbishop of Canter- bury. But as the unfortunate pair found means to have intercourse, even in their captivity, Hereford was accu- sed in the star-chamber, 1 . of debauching a virgin of the blood-royal ; 2. of breaking prison ; 3. of having in- tercourse with her a second time. And he was fined 50001. on each charge, besides being condemned to nine years imprisonment. The poor Lady Catherine died in prison, after a long captivity. So jealous was Queen Elizabeth of all who could pretend the least title to her succession. FHAGMENTA REGALIA. 1.99 der, I crave leave to give unto posterity a cautious description, with a short charac- ter, or draught of the persons themselves ; for without offence to others, I would be true to myself, their memories and merits distinguishing them of the militia from the togati, and of these she had as many, and those as able ministers, as any of her pro- genitors. 200 FRAGMENTA REGALIA LEICESTER. It will be out of doubt, that my Lord of Leicester was one of the first whom she made master of the horse ; he was the youngest son, then living, of the Duke of Northumberland, beheaded primo Maria, and his father was that Dudley, which our histories couple with Empson ; and both so much infamed for the caterpillars of the Commonwealth, during the reign of Henry thf Seventh; who being a noble extract, was executed the first year of Henry the Eighth, but not thereby so extinct, but that he left a plentiful estate, and such a son, who, as the vulgar speaks it, could live without the tear ; for out of the ashes of his father's infamy, he rose to be a Duke, and as high as subjection could permit, or sovereignty endure ; and though he could not find out any appellation to assume the crown in his own person, yet he projected, and very nearly affected it for his son Gil- FRAGMENTA REGALIA. 201 bert, by intermarriage with the Lady Jane Grey, and sq by that way to bring it about into his loins. Observations which, though they lie behind us, and seem impertinent to the text, yet are they not much extrava- gant, for they must lead and shew us how the after passages were brought about with the dependencies, and on the hinges of a collateral workmanship : and truly it may amaze a well-settled judgment, to look back into those times, and to consider how this Duke could attain to such a pitch of greatness, his father dying in ignominy, and at the gallows his estate confiscate, and that for peeling and polling by the clamour and crucifige of the people ; but when we better think upon it, we find that he was given up, but as a sacrifice to please the people, not for any offence com- mitted against the person of the King ; so that upon the matter he was a martyr of the prerogative, and the King in honour could do no less than give back to his son the privilege of his blood, with the acquirings of his father's profession ; for he was a law- 202 1RAGMENTA REGALIA. yer, and of the King's council, at law be- fore he came to be exinteriohus consiliis, where besides the licking of his own fin- gers, he got the King a mass of riches, and that not with the hazard, but the loss of his fame and life for the King's father's sake. Certain it is, that his son was left rich in purse and brain, which are good foundations, and full to ambition ; and it may be supposed, he was on all occasions well heard of the King, as a person of mark and compassion in his eye, but I find not that he did put up for advancement during Henry the Eighth's time, although a vast aspirer and provident storier. It seems he thought the King's reign was much given to the falling sickness, but espying his time fitting, and the sovereignty in the hands of a pupil prince, he thought he might as well then put up for it as the best ; for having then possession of blood and a purse, with a head -piece of a vast extent, he soon got honour, and no sooner there, but he began to side it with the best, even with IltAGMENTA REGALIA. 203 the Protector : and in conclusion, got his and his brother's heads, still aspiring, till he expired, in the loss of his own ; so that pos- terity may, by reading the father and the grandfather, make judgment of the son ; for we shall find that this Robert (whose original we have now traced the better to present him) was inheritor of the genius and craft of his father; and Ambrose, of the estate, of whom hereafter we shall make some short mention. We take him now as he was admitted into the court, and the Queen's favour, where he was not to seek to play his part well and dexterously. But his play was chiefly at the foregame, not that he was a learner of the latter, but he loved not the after wit, for they report (and I think not untruly) that he was seldom behind hand with his gamesters, and that they always went away with the loss. He was a very goodly person, and singu- lar well featured, and all his youth well fa- voured, and of a sweet aspect, but high 204 PRAGMEISTTA REGALIA. foreheaded, which as I should take it, was of no discommendation : 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 some of her kindred, and some few that had hand- some wits in crooked bodies, she always took personage 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, she called me to mind, the suf- ferings of his ancestors, both in her father's and sister's reigns, and restored his and his brother's blood, creating Ambrose the el- der, Earl of Warwick, and himself, Earl of Leicester, &c. And he was ex primitiis, or of her first choice, for he rested not there, but long enjoyed her favour ; and therewith, much what he listed, till time and emulation (the companions of great ones) had resol- ved on his period, and to cover him at his setting in a cloud at Cornebury, not by so violent a death, and by the fatal sentence FRAGMENTA REGALIA. 205 of judicature, as that of his father's and grandfather's was, but as it is suggested by that poison which he had prepared for others, wherein they report him a rare ar- tist ; * I am not bound to give credit to all vulgar relations, or to the libels of the times, which are commonly forced, and falsified suitable to the moods and hu- mours of men, in passion, and discontent j but that which leads me to think him no good man, is, (amongst others of known truth,) that of my Lord of Essex death in Ireland, and the marriage of his lady yet living, which I forbear to press, in regard that he is long since dead, and others li- ving, whom it may concern, -f- * He died of a fever at Cornebury Park, in Oxford- shire, on a journey to his magnificent Castle of Kenel- worth, 4th September, 1588. The suspicion of poison, insinuated by Naunton, seems only to have arisen from the suddenness of his death. f Leicester took to his second wife, Lettice Knolles, widow of Walter Devereux, Earl of Essex, and was cur- 206 FllAGMENTA REGALIA. To take him in the observations of his letters and writings, (which should best set him off,) for such as fell into my hands, I never yet saw a style or phrase more seem- ing religious, and fuller of the streams of devotion, * and were they not sincere, I doubt much of his well being, and I may fear he was too well seen in the aphorisms and principles of Nicholas the Florentine, and in the reaches of Caesar Borgia ; and hitherto I have only touched him in his courtship. I conclude him in his lance : he was sent governor by the Queen to the Uni- ted States of Holland, where we read not of his wonders, for they say that he had more of Mercury than Mars, and that his device rently accused of having poisoned her husband to make way for the match. # He ordinarily affected an extravagant zeal for the Protestant religion, received the eucharist frequently, and pretended great respect for the more strict clergy, who, in turn, attached themselves to his party. See Memoirs of the Sidneys, Vol. I. p, 54. Grotius de Rebus Belgicis> Lib. 5. PRAGMENTA REGALIA. 20? might have been, without prejudice to the great Caesar, — veni^ vidi, redii. * * The preceding Memoirs of Cary have a sneer at Leicester's Low-Country exploits, p. 11. 208 FRAGMENTA REGALIA SUSSEX. . His co-rival, before mentioned, was Tho- mas Ratcliff, Earl of Sussex, who in his constellation was his direct opposite, for he was indeed one of the Queen's martial* ists, and did very good service in Ireland, at her first accession, till she recalled him to the court, where she made him Lord Chamberlain ; but he played not his game with that cunning and dexterity as Leices- ter did, who was much the more facer e courtier, though Sussex was thought much the honester man, and far the better sol- dier, but he lay too open on his guard. He was a goodly gentleman, and of a brave noble nature, true and constant to his friends and servants ; he was also of a very noble and ancient lineage, honoured through many descents by the title of Vis- counts Fitzwalters: Moreover there was FRAGMENTA REGALIA. 209 such an antipathy in his nature to that of Leicester's, that, being together in court, and both in high employments, they grew to a direct frowardness, and were in conti- nual opposition, the one setting the watch, the other the centinel, each on the other's actions and motions ; for my Lord of Sus- sex was of a great spirit, which, backed with the Queen's special favour, and supported by a great and ancient inheritance, could not brook the other's empire : Insomuch as tixo Queen, upon sundry occasions, had somewhat to do to appease and attain them, until death parted the competition, and let the place of Leicester, who was not long alone without his rival in grace and com- mand ; and to conclude, this favourite, it is confidently affirmed, that, lying in his last sickness, he gave this caveat to his friends : I am now passing into another world, and I must now leave you to your fortunes, and to the Queen's grace and goodness; but beware of the gipsey, meaning Leicester, o 210 FRAGMENTA REGALIA. for he will be too hard for you all ; you know not the best so well as I do. * * In the libels called " Leicester's Commonweal th" and M Leicester's Ghost.," he is accused of having caused Sussex to be poisoned : and that he endeavoured to poison his favour with the Queen, is evident from many passages in the correspondence of Sir Ralph Sadler, during the great Northern Insurrection in 12th Eliza- beth. FKAGMENTA REGALIA. 211 LORD BURLEIGH. I now come to the next, which was Se- cretary William Cecill ; for on the death of the old Marquis of Winchester, he came up in his room ; a person of a most subtle and active spirit, who though he stood not altogether by the way of constellation, and making up of a part and faction, for he was wholly intentive to the service of his mistress, and his dexterity, experience, and merit, challenged a room in the Queen's favour, which eclipsed the other's over seeming greatness, and made it appear, that there were others that steered and stood at the helm besides himself, and more stars in the firmament of her grace than Ursa Major, or the Bear with the rag- ged staff. * * The cognisance of Leicester, assumed by his fa- ther when created Earl of Warwick. It is well known 212 FUAGMENTA REGALIA. He was born, as they say, in Lincoln- shire ; but, as some upon knowledge aver, of a younger brother of the Cecills of Hart- fordshire, a family, of mine own know- ledge, though now private, yet of no mean antiquity ; who being exposed, and sent to the city, as poor gentlemen use to do their younger sons, he came to be a rich man on London-Bridge; and purchasing in Lin- colnshire, where this man was born, he was sent to Cambridge, then to the Inns of Court, and so he came to serve the Duke of Somerset in the time of his Protector- ship as secretary ; and having a pregnancy to great inclinations, he came by degrees to a higher .conversation with the chiefest affairs of state and councils ; but on the fall of the Duke, he stood some years in umbrage, and without employment, till the state found and needed his abilities ; and though we find not that he was taken into as the badge of the renowned king-making Earl of Warwick. FRAGMENTA REGALIA. 21S any place during Mary's reign, unless (as some have said) towards the last, yet the council on several occasions made use of him ; and at the Queen's entrance he was admitted Secretary of State, afterwards he was made Master of the Court of Wards, then Lord Treasurer, a person of most re- quisite abilities ; and indeed the Queen be- gan then to need, and to seek out for men of both garbs : and so I conclude, and rank this great instrument of state amongst the Togati, for he had not to do with the sword, more than as the great paymaster and contriver of war, which shortly follow- ed, wherein he accomplished much through his theorical knowledge at home, and his intelligence abroad, by unlocking the coun- cils of the Queen s enemies. We must now take, and that of truth, into observation, that until the tenth of her reign, her times were calm and serene, though sometimes a little overcast, as the most glorious sun-risings are subject to sha- dowings and droppings in ; for the clouds %lk FKAGMENTA REGALIA. of Spain, and vapours of the Holy League, began then to disperse and threaten her se- renity : Moreover, she was then to provide against some intestine storms, which began to gather in the very heart of her kingdom, all which had a relation and corresponden- cy, each with the other, to dethrone her, and to disturb the public tranquillity, and therewithal, as a principal work, the es- tablished religion ; for the name of Recu- sant began then, and first, to be known to the world ; and till then, the Catholics were no more than church Papists, but were com- manded by the Pope's express letters, to appear, and forbear church going, as they tender their Holy Father, and the holy Catholic church their mother: so that it seems the Pope had then his aims to take a true muster of his children, but the Queen had the greater advantage ; for she likewise took tale of her apostate subjects, their strength, and how many they were that had given up their names unto Baal, who then, by the hands of some of his pro- rilAGMENTA REGALIA. 215 selytes, fixed his bulls on the gates of Paul's, which discharged her subjects of all fideli- ty, and laid siege to the received faith, and so under the veil of the next successor to replant the Catholic religion ; so that the Queen had then a new task and work in hand, that might well awake her best pro- vidence, and required a muster of men and arms, as well as courtships and councils; for the times began to be quick and ac- tive, fitter for stro^er motions than those of the carpet and measure ; and it will be a true note of her magnanimity, that she loved a soldier, and had a propension in her nature to regard, and always to grace them ; which the courtiers taking into ob- servation, took it as an invitation to win honour, together with her Majesty's favour, by exposing themselves to the wars, espe- cially when the Queen's and the affairs of the kingdom stood in some necessity of a soldier; for we have many instances of the sallies of the nobility and gentry, yea, and out of the court, and her privy favourites, 216 FRAGMENTA REGALIA. that had any touch or tincture of Mars in their inclinations, and to steal away with- out license, and the Queen's privity, which had like to have cost some of them dear ; so predominant were their thoughts and hopes of honour growing in them, as we may tru- ly observe in the expositions of Sir Philip Sidney, my Lord of Essex, Mountjoy, and divers others, whose absence, and the man- ner of their eruptions, was very distasteful to her : whereof I can here add a true, and no impertinent story, and that of the last Mountjoy, who having twice or thrice sto- len away into Britain, (where under Sir John Norris, he had then a company,) without the Queen's leave and privity ; she sent a messenger unto him, with a strict charge to the general to see him sent home. When he came into the Queen's presence, she fell into a kind of reviling, demanding how he durst go over without her leave ; " serve me so/' quoth she, " once more, and I will lay you fast enough for running ; you will never leave it until you are knock- FRAGMENTA REGALIA. 217 cd on the head, as that inconsiderate fellow Sidney was ; you shall go when I send you, in the mean time see that you lodge in the court, (which was then at Whitehall,) where you may follow your book, read, and dis- course of the wars/' But to our purpose : it fell out happily to those, and, as I may say, to those times, that the Queen, during the calm of her reign, was not idle nor rocked asleep with security, for she had been very provident in the re- paration and augmentation of her shipping and ammunition : and I know not, whe- ther by a foresight of policy, or an instinct it came about, or whether it was an act of her compassion, but it is most certain, that she sent levies, and no small troops, to the assistance of the revolted states of Holland, before she had received any affront from the King of Spain, that might deserve or tend to a breach in hostility, which the Pa- pists, to this day, maintain, was the provo- cation and cause of the after wars : but omitting what might be said to this point, 218 FRAGMENTA REGALIA. those Netherland wars were the Queen's seminaries, and the nurseries of very many brave soldiers ; and so were likewise the ci- vil wars of France (whither she sent five several armies) the fence-schools, that in- ured the youth and gallantry of the king- dom, and it was a militia wherein they were daily in acquaintance with the dis- cipline of the Spaniards, who were then turned the Queen's inveterate enemies. And this have I taken into observation, her dies halcionii, those years of hers which were more serene and quiet than those that followed, which, though they were not less propitious, as being touched more with the point of honour and victory, yet were they troubled, and ever clouded over, both with domestic and foreign machinations ; and it is already quoted, they were such as awa- kened her spirits, and made her cast about how to defend, rather by offending, and by the way of diverting to prevent all inva- sions than to expect them, which was a piece of policy of the times : and with thi$ ERAGMENTA REGALIA, 219 I have noted the causes or principia of the wars following, and likewise pointed to the seed-plots from whence she took up those brave men and plants of honour, which act- ed on the theatre of Mars, and on whom she dispersed the rays of her grace, which were persons in their kinds of rare virtues, and such as might (out of height of merit) pretend interest to her favour, of which rank the number will equal, if not exceed that of the gown-men, in recount of whom I proceed with Sir Philip Sidney, 220 FRAGMENTA REGALIA. SIR PHILIP SIDNEY. He was son to Sir Henry Sidney, Lord- Deputy of Ireland, and President of Wales, a person of great parts, and in no mean grace with the Queen. His mother was sis- ter to my Lord of Leicester ; from whence we may conjecture, how the father stood up in the place of honour and employment, so that his descent was apparently noble on both sides : For his education, it was such as travel and the University could af- ford, or his tutors infuse ; for after an in- credible proficiency in all the species of learning, he left the academical life for that of the court, whither he came by his un- cle's invitation, famed afore-hand by a no- ble report of his accomplishments, which, together with the state of his person, fra- med by a natural propension to arms, he soon attracted the good opinion of all men, FRAGMENTA REGALIA. 221 and was so highly prized in the good opi- nion of the Queen, that she thought the court deficient without him : And whereas (through the fame of his deserts) he was in the election for the kingdom of Pole, she refused to further his advancement, not out of emulation, but out of fear to lose the jewel of her times. * He married the daugh- ter and sole heir of Sir Francis Walsing- ham, then secretary of state, a lady desti- nated to the bed of honour, who (after his deplorable death at Zutphen, in the Ne- therlands, where he was governor of Vitish- ing, at the time of his uncle's being there) was married to my Lord of Essex, and since his death, to my Lord of Saint Al- bons, all persons of the sword, and other- wise of great honour and virtue. They have a very quaint and factious figment of him, that Mars and Mercury fell at variance whose servant he should * See Memoirs of the Sidneys, p. 104, and Wood's Athena Oxon, Vol. I, p. 226. 222 FltAGMENTA REGALIA. be : And there is an epigrammist that saith, that Art and Nature had spent their excel- lencies in his fashioning ; and fearing they should not end what they begun, they be- stowed him on Fortune, and Nature stood musing, and amazed to behold her own work. But these are the petulancies of poets. Certain it is, he was a noble and match- less gentleman ; and it may be justly said, without hyperboles of fiction, as it was of Cato Uticensis, that he seemed to be born to that only which he went about ;— ver- satilis ingenii, as Plutarch hath it ; but to speak more of him, were to take him less. FUAGMENTA REGALIA. 223 SIR FRANCIS WALSINGHAM. Sir Francis Walsingham, as we have said, had the honour to be Sir Philip Sidney's father-in-law. He was a gentleman, at first, of a good house, but of a better education, and from the university travelled for the rest of his learning. He was doubtless the best linguist of the times ; but knew best how to use his own tongue, whereby he came to be employed in the chiefest affairs of state. He was sent ambassador into France, and stayed there a lieger long, in the heat of the civil wars, and at the same lime that Monsieur was here a suitor to the Queen ; and, if I be not mistaken, he played the very same part there, as since 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 Queen's favour, and a 224 FRAGMENTA REGALIA. watchful servant over the safety of his mis- tress. They note him to have had certain cu- riosities, and secret ways of intelligence above the rest ; but I must confess I am to seek wherefore he suffered Parry to play so long on the hook, before he hoisted him up ; and I have been a little curious in the search thereof, though I have not to do with the arcana imperii. * For to know is sometimes a burden ; and I remember that it was Ovid's crimen aut error ) that he saw too much. But I hope these are collaterals of no danger : but that Parry intending to kill the Queen, made # William Parry, doctor of laws, a bigotted Papist. He pretended to reveal to the Queen and her ministers the plots which had been formed against her by Mor- gan and other fugitive Catholics. For this purpose he obtained repeated access to the Queen's person, har- bouring all the while, as he himself confessed, the pur- pose of assassinating her. His treason was discovered by the confession of Edmund Neville, his accomplice ; although Parry was not immediately secured, but suffer- ed, as Naunton expresses it, to play on the hook for some time afterward. FRAGMENTA REGALIA. 225 the way of his access by betraying of others, and impeaching of the priests of his own correspondency, and thereby had ac- cess and conference with the Queen, and also oftentimes familiar and private con- ference with Walsiogham, will not be the query of the mystery ; for the secretary might have had end of discovery on a fur- ther maturity of the treason, but that after the Queen knew Parry's intent, why she should then admit him to private discourse, and Walsingham to suffer it, considering the condition of all assailings, and permit him to go where and whither he listed, and only on the security of a dark centinel set over him, was a piece of reach and hazard beyond my apprehension. I must again profess, that having read many of his letters, for they are commonly sent to my Lord of Leicester and Burleigh out of France, containing many fine pas- sages and secrets, yet if I might have been beholding to his ciphers, whereof they are p 226 FRAGHENTA REGALIA. full, they would have told pretty tales of the times : but I must now close up, and rank him amongst the Togati, yet chief of those that laid the foundation of the Dutch and French wars, which was another piece of his finesse, and of the times, with one ob- servation more, that he was one of the great allays of the Austerian embracements ; * for bothhimself, and Stafford that preceded him, might well have been compared to the fiend in the gospel, that sowed his tares in the night, so did they their seeds of division in the dark ; and it is a likely report that they father on him, at his return, that the Queen said unto him, with some sensibili- ty, of the Spanish designs on France, ma- dam, I beseech you be content not to fear; the Spaniard hath a great appetite, and an excellent digestion ; but I have fitted him with a bone for these twenty years, that your Majesty shall have no cause to doubt * Sir Robert quaintly intimates, that he disconcerted the alliances formed by Austria. 7 ERAGMENTA REGALIA. 227 him, provided, that if the fire chance to slack which I have kindled, you will be ruled by me, and now and then cast in some English fuel, which will revive the flame. 228 FRAGMENTA REGALIA. WILLOUGHBY. * My Lord Willoughby was one of the Queen's first swordsmen ; he was of the ancient extract of the Bartues, but more ennobled by his mother, who was Duchess of Suffolk. He was a great master of the art mili- tary, and was sent general into France, and commanded the second of five armies, that the Queen sent thither in the aid of the French. I have heard it spoken, that had he not slighted the court, but applied him- self to the Queen, he might have enjoyed a plentiful portion of her grace ; and it was his saying, (and it did him no good,) # Peregrine Bertie, Lord Willoughby of Eresby, dis- tinguished popularly by the epithet of " Brave Lord Willoughby." He was general of the English forces in Flanders, after the recal of Leicester, and distinguish- ed himself greatly. FRAGMENTA REGALIA. 229 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 soldier, so was he of a suitable magnanimity, and could not brook the obsequiousness and assiduity of the court, and as he then was somewhat descending from youth, happily he had an animam revertendi, and to make a safe re- treat. 230 FRAGMENTA REGALIA SIR NICHOLAS BACON.* I come to another of the Togati, Sir Nicholas Bacon, an arch piece of wit and wisdom ; 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 Treasurer Burleigh, had also the help of his hand to bring him into the Queen's favour, for he was abundantly fa- cetious, which took much with the Queen, when it was suited with the season, as he was well able to judge of his times : he had a very quaint saying, and he used it often to good purpose, that he loved the # Lord-keeper of the great seal, and the first who,, in that office, was invested with the powers of a lord chan- cellor. FRAGMENTA REGALIA. 231 jest well, but not the loss of his friend : He would say, that though he knew wins- quisque sua fortunes faber was a true and good principle, yet the most in number were those that marred themselves, but I will never forgive that man that loseth him- self to be rid of his jest. He was father to that refined wit, which since hath acted a disastrous part on the public stage, and of late sate in his father's room as lord chancellor. Those that lived in his age, and from whence I have taken this little model of him, gives him a lively character ; and they decipher him for ano- ther Solon, and the Synon of those times, such a one as QEdipus was in dissolving of riddles; doubtless he was as able an in- strument ; and it was his commendation, that his head was the maul, (for it was a great one,) and therein he kept the wedge that entered the knotty pieces that came to the table. And now I must again fall back to smooth and plain a way to the rest that is behind, but not from the purpose. 232 PRAGMENTA REGALIA. There were about these times two rivals in the Queen's favour, old Sir Francis Knowls, controller of the house, * and Sir Henry Norris, whom she called up at a parliament, to sit with the peers in the higher House, as Lord Norris of Recot, who had married the daughter and heir of the old Lord Williams of Tain, a noble person, and to whom, in the Queen's adversity, she had been committed to safe custody, and from him had received more than ordinary observances, -f- Now such was the good- ness of the Queen's nature, that she neither * Sir Francis Knowls, or Knollys, whose sister was married to Secretary Walsingham. He was vice-cham- berlain, treasurer of the household, and knight of the garter* *j- During the reign of Queen Mary, Elizabeth, when removed from her confinement in the Tower to Wood- stock, was placed under the guardianship of Sir John Williams, afterwards Lord Williams of Tame, and Sir Henry Benefield. The former was distinguished by the courtesy, the latter by the churlish severity of his con r duct towards their royal charge. As we see that Eliza- beth did not forget to reward the former, it may be mentioned to her honour, that the only vengeance she took of her jailor Benefield, was to assure him, he should I?RAGMENTA REGALIA. 233 forgot the good turns received from the Lord Williams, neither was she unmindful of this Lord Norris, whose father, in her father's time, and in the business of her mother, died in a noble cause, and in the justification of her innocency. * have the custody of any state prisoner, whom she de- sired should be confined with peculiar rigour. * Henry Norris, groom of the stole, unjustly execu- ted, on account of alleged adultery with Ann Bullen, 1536. 234 ERAGMENTA REGALIA. LORD NORRIS. My Lord Norris had, by this lady, an ample issue, which the Queen highly re- spected ; for he had six sons, and all mar- tial brave men ; the first was William his eldest, and father to the late Earl of Berk- shire; Sir John, vulgarly called General Norris ; Sir Edward, Sir Thomas, Sir Hen- ry, and Maximilian, men of an haughty courage, and of great experience in the con- duct of military affairs : and, to speak in the character of their merit, they were such persons of such renown and worth, as fu- ture times must out of duty owe them the debt of an honourable memory. FRAGMENTA REGALIA. 235 KNOWLS. Sir Francis Knowls was somewhat of the Queen's affinity, and had likewise no in- competent issue ; for he had also William his eldest, and since Earl of Banbury ; Sir Thomas, Sir Robert, and Sir Francis, if I be not a little mistaken in their names and marshalling ; and there was also the Lady Lettiee, a sister of these, who was first Coun- tess of Essex, and after of Leicester ; and these were also brave men in their times and places, but they were of the court and car- pet, not led by the genius of the camp. Between these two families there was (as it falleth out amongst great ones and competitors for favour) no great correspon- dency : and there were some seeds, either of emulation or distrust, cast between them, which, had they not been disjoined in the residence of their persons, as it was the for- 236 PRAGMENTA REGALIA. tune of their employments, the one side attending the court, the other the pavi- lion, surely they would have broken out into some kind of hostility, or at least they would have wrestled one in the other like trees encircled with ivy ; for there was a time when both these fraternities being met at court, there passed a challenge be- tween them at certain exercises, the Queen and the old men being spectators, which ended in a flat quarrel amongst them all ; and I am persuaded, though I ought not to judge, that there were some relics of this feud that were long after the causes of the one families (almost utter) extirpation, and of the others im prosperity. For it was a known truth, that so long as my Lord of Leicester lived, who was the main pillar of the one side, as having married the sister, none of the other side took any deep root- ing in the court; though otherwise they made their ways to honour by their swords : and that which is of more note, (consider- FRAGMENTA REGALIA. 237 ing my Lord of Leicester's use of men of arms, being shortly after sent governor to the revolted states, and no soldier himself,) is, that he made no more account of Sir John Norris, a soldier then deservedly fa- moused, * and trained from a page, under the discipline of the great Captain of Chris- tendom, the Admiral Castilion, and of command in the French and Dutch wars almost twenty years. It is of further ob- servation, that my Lord of Essex, after Leicester's decease, though initiated to arms, and honoured by the general, in the Portugal expedition ; whether out of insti- gation, as it hath been thought, or out of ambition and jealousy, to be eclipsed and overshadowed by the fame and splendour of this great commander, loved him not in sincerity, -f Moreover, certain it is, he * Witness his memorable retreat at the head of a thousand men only, through the Prince of Parma's whole army for three miles together. f Sir Francis Drake, and Sir John Nqrris, in con- junction, undertook an expedition, called at the time'. 238 I'RAGMENTA REGxiLIA. not only crushed, and, upon all occasions, quelled the growth of this brave man, and his famous brethren, but therewith drew on his own fatal end, by undertaking the Irish action, in a time when he left the court, empty of friends, and full fraught with his profest enemies. * But I forbear to extend myself in any further relation upon this subject, as having lost some notes • The Journey of Portugal/' having for its object the in- vasion of that kingdom, Essex stole from court, and join- ed them without the Queen's leave, at which she was highly displeased. # Sir John Norris was sent into Ireland in 1596, with the title of lord-general. But his success against the rebels did not correspond with his high military charac- ter. He was imposed upon by Tyrone, and was at con- stant variance with the Lord-Deputy Russell. When the latter was recalled, Norris expected to succeed him in his office ; but through the influence of Essex, Lord Bourg was sent over as deputy, and Sir John was order- ed in a sort of disgrace to his government of Munster. This slight is supposed to have broken his heart, and he died in the arms of his brother Sir Edward in 1597. Es- sex, by disgracing this brave general, meant to pave the way for his own Irish expedition, and the success of his intrigue proved the immediate cause of his ruin. FRAGMENTA REGALIA. 239 of truth, in these two noble families, which I would present, and therewith touched somewhat, which I would not, if the equi- ty of the narration would have admitted an intermission. 240 FRAGMENTA REGALIA. SIR JOHN PERROT. Sir John Perrot was a goodly gentleman, and of the sword ; and as he was of a very ancient descent, as an heir to many ab- stracts of gentry, especially from Guy de Bryan of Lawhern, so was he of a vast es- tate, and came not to the court for want ; and to these adjuncts, he had the endow- ments of courage and height of spirit, had it lighted on the allay of temper and discre- tion, the defect whereof, with a native free- dom and boldness of speech, drew him on to a clouded setting, and laid him open to the spleen and advantage of his enemies, amongst whom Sir Christopher Hatton was profest. He was yet a wise man, and a brave courtier, but rough, and participating more of active than sedentary motions, as being in his constellation destinated for arms. There is a query of some denotations, how 1'RAGMENTA REGALIA. 241 he came to receive his foil, and that in the catastrophe, for he was strengthened with honourable alliances, and the privy friend- ships of the court. My Lord of Leicester and Burleigh, both his contemporaries and familiars. But that there might be, as the adage hath it, falsi- ty in friendship, and we may rest satisfi- ed, that there is no dispute against fate. They quote him for a person that loved to stand too much alone, and on his own legs; of too often recesses, and discontinuance from the Queen's presence; a fault which is incompatible with the ways of court and favour. He was sent lord-deputy into Ireland, as it was thought, for a kind of haughti- ness of spirit, and repugnancy in councils ; or, as others have thought, the fittest per- son then to bridle the insolency of the Irish : and probable it is, that both these (considering the sway that he would have at the board, and head in the Queen's) con- Q 242 FRAGMENTA REGALIA. curred, and did a little conspire his remove and his ruin. But into Ireland he went, where he did the Queen very great and many services, if the surplusage of the measure did not abate the value of the me- rit, as aftertimes found that to be no paro- dox ; for to save the Queen's purse, (which both herself and my Lord Treasurer Bur- leigh ever took for good services,) he im- posed on the Irish the charge of bearing their own arms, which both gave them the possession, and taught them the use, of weapons, which proved in the end a most fatal work, both in the profusion of blood and treasure. * # Perrot is generally allowed to have done good ser- vice in humbling the Irish rebels, although Spenser, na- turally partial to his predecessor Lord Gray, says, he reaped the fruit of another man's harvest. Both that poet and Camden remark the impolicy of habituating the Irish to the use of arms in Ulster. The reason al- leged, was, to enable them to oppose the Scottish J^les- men, by whom they were often invaded. But the in- conveniences of the system were discovered in the long and desperate rebellion of Tyrone. 8 ERAGMENTA REGALIA. 24S But at his return, and on some account sent home before, touching the state of the kingdom, the assiduous testimonies of her grace towards him, till by his retreat to his castle at Cary, where he was then building, and out of desire to be in command at home, as he had been abroad, together with the hatred and practice of Hatton, then in high favour, whom not long before he had too bitterly taunted for his dan- cing, he was accused of high treason, and for high words, and a forged letter, con- demned ; though the Queen, on the news of his condemnation, swore by her wonted oath, that they were all knaves. And they deliver with assurance, that on his return to the Tower after his trial, he said in oaths and in fury to the Lieutenant, Sir Owen Hopton, " what, will the Queen suffer her brother to be offered up as a sacrifice to the envy of my frisking adversaries ?" Which being made known to the Queen, and the warrant for his execution tendered and somewhat enforced, she refused to sign it, 244 PllAGMENTA REGALIA. and swore he should not die, for he was an honest and a faithful man. And surely, though not altogether to set up our rest and faith upon tradition, and upon old re- ports, as that Sir Thomas Perrot, his father, was a gentleman of the privy-chamber to Henry the Eighth, and in the court marri- ed a lady of great honour of the King's fa- miliarity, which are presumptions of some implication : But if we go a little further, and compare his picture, his qualities, ges- ture, and voice, with that of the King's, which memory retains yet amongst us, they will plead strongly that he was a sub- reptious child of the blood-royal. ? Certain it is, that he lived not long in * Swift, in the Introduction to " Polite Conversa- tion/' tells us, perhaps, from Irish tradition, * Sir John Perrot was the first man of quality, whom I find upon record, to have sworn hy God's wounds. He lived in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, and was supposed to be a natural son of Henry Vlll., who might also, proba- bly, have been his instructor." FRAGMENTA REGALIA. 245 the Tower, * and that after his decease, Sir Thomas Perrot, his son, (then of no mean es- teem with the Queen,) having before mar- ried my Lord of Essex's sister, since Countess of Northumberland, had restitution of all his lands, though after his decease, also, which immediately followed, the crown resumed his estate, and took advantage of the for- mer attainder. And to say the truth, the priest's forged letter was, at his arraign- ment, thought but as a fiction of envy, and was soon after exploded by the priest's own confession ; but that which most exaspera- ted the Queen, and gave advantage to his * Sir Thomas Perrot was charged upon very suspi- cious and slight evidence, with fomenting disturbances in Ireland, and holding correspondence with the Queen's enemies. But his real and unpardonable crime was, ha- ving abused the Queen by contumelious expressions. For it was a part of his singular character, that he used to break forth on slight provocation into the most furious and gross effusions of passion, which was no slight argu- ment of the truth of that tradition, which called him the son of Henry VIII., by Mary, wife to Thomas Perrot of Haroldstone, Pembrokeshire. He was condemned in \5Q2, and died in the Tower of a broken heart. 246 FRAGMENTA IlEGALIA. enemies, was (as Sir Walter Rawleigh takes into his observation) words of disdain ; for the Queen, by sharp and reprehensive let- ters, had nettled him ; and shortly after sending others of approbation, commend- ing his service, and intimating an inva- sion from Spain, which he no sooner per- used, but he said publicly in the great chamber at Dublin : " Lo, now she is ready to piss herself for fear of the Spa- niard ; I am again one of her white boys/' Words which are subject to a various construction, and tended to some disrepu- tation of his sovereign, and such as may serve for instruction to persons in place of honour and command, to beware of the violences of nature, but especially of the exorbitances of the tongue. And so I con- clude him with this double observation, the one of the innocency of his intentions, exempt and clear from the guilt of treason and disloyalty ; the other of the greatness of his heart; for at his arraignment, he was so little dejected, by what might be FRAGMENTA REGALIA. 247 alleged and proved against him, that he rather grew troubled with choler, and in a kind of exasperation despised his jury, though of the order of knighthood, and of the special gentry, claiming the privilege of trial by the peers and baronage of the realm, so prevalent was that of his native genius, and the haughtiness of his spirit, which accompanied him to his last, and till, without any diminution of courage, it brake in pieces the cords of his magnanimity ; for he died suddenly in the Tower, and when, it was thought, the Queen did intend his enlargement, with the restitution of his pos- sessions, which were then very great, and comparable to most of the nobility. 248 FRAGMENTA REGALIA. HATTON. Sir Christopher Hatton came into the court as his opposite ; Sir John Perrot was wont to say, by the Galliard ; for he came thither as a private gentleman of the Inns of Court in a mask ; and for his activity and person, which was tall and proportionable, taken into her favour. He was first made vice-chamberlain, and shortly afterward advanced to the place of lord-chancellor ;* a gentleman that, besides the graces of his * In 1587, on the death of Sir Thomas Bromley. He was more a courtier than a lawyer ; but spared no pains to supply his own personal deficiences, by consulting the ablest men of the profession. His death was hastened by a harsh and unexpected demand of the Queen, that he should refund a large sum received by him of first- fruits and tenths. It is remarkable, that Hatton died a short time before his adversary Sir John Perrot; yet had laid the plan of his ruin so surely, that he soon fol- lowed him to the grave. / PRAGMENTA REGALIA, 249 person and dancing, had also the adjecta- ments of a strong and subtle capacity, one that could soon learn the discipline and garb, both of the times and court. The truth is, he had a large proportion of gifts and endowments, but too much of the sea- son of envy ; and he was a mere vegetable of the court, that sprung up at night, and sunk again at bis noon. 250 FRAGMENTA REGALIA, LORD EFFINGHAM. My Lord of Effingham, though a cour- tier betimes, yet I find not that the sun- shine of her favour broke out upon him, until she took him into the ship, and made him high admiral of England : for his ex- tract it may suffice, that he was the son of a Howard, and of a Duke of Norfolk. * And for his person, as goodly a gentle- man as the times had any, if nature had not been more intentive to complete his # He was the son of Lord William Howard, ninth son of Thomas, second Duke of Norfolk, created, in 1553, Lord Howard of Effingham. Charles, the second Lord Effingham, of whom Naunton here treats, was made knight of the garter in 1574, but did not attain the post of high admiral until 1584> He had the honour to command the English fleet during the ever memorable year of the Spanish Armada. ERAGMENTA REGALIA. 251 person, than fortune to make him rich ; for the times considered, which were then ac- tive, and a long time after lucrative, he died not wealthy, yet the honester man; though it seems the Queen's purpose was to tender the occasion of his advancement, and to make him capable of more ho- nour, which at his return from Cardize ac- counts ; * she conferred it upon him, crea- ting him Earl of Nottingham, to the great discontent of his colleague, my Lord of Essex, who then grew excessive in the ap- petite of her favour ; and, in truth, was so exorbitant in the limitation of the sove- reign aspect, that it much alienated the Queen's grace from him, and drew others, together with the admiral, to a combina- tion, and to conspire his ruin. And though I have heard it from that party, I mean of the admiral's faction, that it lay not in his proper power to hurt my Lord of Essex, # Lord Effingham commanded in chief at sea, and the Earl of Essex at land in that exploit. 252 FliAGMENTA REGALIA. yet he had more followers, and such as were well skilled in setting of the gin ; but I leave this to those of another age. It is out of doubt, that the admiral was a good, honest, and a brave man, and a faithful servant to his mistress ; and such a one as the Queen, out of her own princely judgment, knew to be a fit instrument for that service ; for she was no ill proficient in the reading of men, as well as books, and his sundry expeditions, as that aforemen- tioned, and eighty-eight, doth both express his worth, and manifest the Queen's trust, and the opinion she had of his fidelity and conduct. Moreover, the Howards were of the Queen's alliance, and consanguinity by her mother, which swayed her affection, and bent it toward this great house ; and it was a part of her natural propension, to grace and support ancient nobility, where it did not entrench, neither invade her interest ; for on such trespasses she was quick and tender, and would not spare any whatso- FRAGMENTA REGALIA. 253 ever, as we may observe in the case of the Duke, and my Lord of Hertford, whom she much favoured and countenanced, till they attempted the forbidden fruit : * the fault of the last being, in the severest in- terpretation, but a trespass of encroach- ment ; but in the first, it was taken for a riot against the crown, and her own sove- reign power, and as I have ever thought the cause of her aversion against the rest of the house, and the Duke's great father- in-law Fitz Allen, Earl of Arundel ; a per- son of the first rank in her affections before these, and some other jealousies, made a separation between them ; this noble Lord, and the Lord Thomas Howard, since Earl of Suffolk, standing alone in her grace, the rest in umbrage. * Namely, by endeavouring to connect themselves with the succession to the crown. Norfolk, by bis un- happy scheme of marrying Queen Mary of Scotland; and Hertford, by his scarce less unfortunate connection with the Lady Catherine Grey, already mentioned by Naunton. 254 1RAGMENTA REGALIA. SIR JOHN PACKINGTON. Sir John Packington was a gentleman of no mean family, and of form and feature no way despicable ; for he was a brave gen- tleman, and a very fine courtier ; and for the time which he stayed there, which was not lasting, very high in her grace ; but he came in, and went out, and through disas- siduity, drew the curtain between himself and the light of her grace, and then death overwhelmed the remnant, and utterly de- prived him of recovery ; and they say of him, that had he brought less 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. ERAGMENTA REGALIA. 255 LORD HUNSDON.* * My Lord of Hunsdon was of the Queen's nearest kindred ; and on the decease of Sussex, both he and his son took the place of lord chamberlain. He was a fast man to his Prince, and firm in his friends and ser- vants ; and though he might speak big, and therein Avould be borne out, yet was he not the more dreadful, but less harmful, and far from the practice of my Lord of Leicester's instructions, for he was down right ; and I have heard those, that both knew him well, and had interest in him, say merrily of him, that his Latin and his dissimulation were both alike ; and that # Cary, Lord Hunsdon, father of Sir Robert Cary, Earl of Monmouth. See the preceding Memoirs. Naun- ton's character of this nobleman, is well supported by the style of his letter to Burleigh, p. l6o. 256 FUAGMENTA I1EGALIA. his custom of swearing, and obscenity in speaking, made him seem a worse Chris- tian than he was, and a better knight of the carpet than he should be ; as he lived in a ruffling time, so he loved sword and buckler men, and such as our fathers were wont to call men of their hands ; of which sort he had many brave gentlemen that followed him ; yet not taken for a popular and dangerous person ; and that is one that stood amongst the Togati, of an honest stout heart, and such a one as, upon occa- sion, would have fought for his prince and his country ; for he had the charge of the Queen's person, both in the court, and in the camp at Tilbury. TRAGMENTA REGALIA. 257 RALEIGH. Sir Walter Raleigh was one, that, it seems, fortune had picked out of purpose, of whom to make an example, or to use as her tennis-ball, thereby to shew what she could do ; for she tossed him up of no- thing, and to and fro to greatness, and from thence down to little more than to that wherein she found him, a bare gentleman ; not that he was less, for he was well de- scended, and of good alliance, but poor in his beginnings ; * and for my Lord of Ox- ford's jest of him (the jack and an upstart -f-) * He was the fourth son of Walter Raleigh of Far- del, near Plymouth-, a gentleman of ancestry, but with a large family and diminished estate. t The story bears, that while Queen Elizabeth was playing on the virginals, Lord Oxford remarking the motion of the keys, said, in covert allusion to Raleigh's K 258 TRAGMENTA REGALIA. we all know, it savours 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 mere new man, or a mechanic, as Comines observes of Lewis the Eleventh of France, who did serve himself with persons of un- known parents ; such as was Oliver the barber, whom he created Earl of Dunoys, and made him ex secretis consiliis 9 and alone in his favour and familiarity; his approaches to the university and Inns of Court w r ere the grounds of his improvement; but they were rather excursions than sieges, or set- tings down, for he stayed not long in a place ; and being the youngest brother, and the house diminished in patrimony, he foresaw his own destiny, that he was first to rule, through want and disability,- to subsist otherwise, before he could come to a repose: and as the stone doth by long ly- favour at court, and the execution of Essex,