Heic jacet. NICHOLAUS BACON, miles, nuper cuftos magni figilli Angliæ. Qui functus eft eodem magiftratu viginti annos tempore ELIZABETH Regina, & obiit vicefimo die Februarii A.D MDLXXVIII. ætatifque fuæ fexa geffimo octavo. He was well known to our great antiquary Cambden, who gives him this fhort, but copious character: He was very corpulent, but of a ready penetrating genius; very prudent and eloquent. He was bleffed with a ftrong memory, and was one of the pillars on which her Majelty's Privy council depended. He was alfo exemplary in the Juties of religion, both public and private, according to Mr. Holland. And Mr. Lloyd informs us, that the excellency of his parts was fet off with the dignity of his perfon: That the Queen used to say, My Lord keeper's foul lodgeth well: That he was never ambitious of his greatnefs, according to his motto, Mediocria firma: That he was not fo follicitous for a large, as for a well-gotten eftate That when Queen Elifabeth called at his houfe at Gorham Bury, or, as others write, at Redgrave in Suffolk, in her progrefs; and was pleafed to fay, Sir Nicholas, your boufe is too little for you: Hie both wittily and grate fully replied, No, Madam, 'tis your Highness's goodness hath made me too great for my house. And finally Mr. Lloyd fums up his character in this manner:-He understood his Mistress well, and the times better. He could raife factions to ferve the one, and allay them to fuit the other. He had the deepeft reach into affairs of any man at the Council-table; the acuteit head to penetrate into difficulties; the moft comprehenfive judgment to dif. cern the merits of a caufe; the ftrongeft memory to recollect all bufinefs at one view; the greateft patience to debate and confider; and the clearest reason to urge any thing that came in his in Council or Chancery. His favour was eminent with his Miftrefs, and his alliance ftrong with her Statefmen His dexterity and dispatch advanced way, him to the court of Wards; his deep experience made him Lord-keeper. He was the exacteft man to draw up regulations in Council, and the moft difcreet to execute them in Court. When others urged the repeal of the act, whereby Queen Elifabeth was declared illegitimate, he was for waving that defign, thinking the closure of a feftered wound more prudent than the opening of it; and judging it higher wifdom to fatisfy the world with the old law, That the crown takes away all defects; than to perplex it with new difputes. His account of England, and all its affairs, was punc tual; his ufe of learned artists was con tinual; his correfpondence with his fellow Statefmen exact; his apprehenfion of our laws and government clear; his model of both, methodical; his faithfulness to the church eminent; and his induftrious invention for the State indefatigable. He was, in a word, a father to his country, and of Sir Nicholas Bacon, his eldest son, of Redgrave, the first Baronet of England; and of Sir Francis Bacon, Viscount of Verulam, and Lord-chancellor of England. It was not only the lofs of this good and faithful fervant, but the growing power and artful contrivance of the Papifts, that gave the Queen at this time more than ordinary concern. The Pope himself, not difcouraged by the mifcarriage of Stukely, as noted before in Numb. XLII. fent more forces into Ireland, and renewed the bull of Pius V. and grants a bull for founding a new college at Rome, for training up the English fugitives in rebellion, of whom, among other things, it was required, before they could be admitted to take an oath, That they would at any time, at the command of their Superiors, return into their own country, and be ready to&c. This year alfo was remarkable for bringing Robert Parfons and Edmund Campian into England, who were the two firft Jefuits that ever appeared on the English fhore. At the fame time the the nation fwarmed with priests and emiffaries from the Pope, to preach fedition and rebellion, under colour of adminiftering the facraments to the fcrupulous Catholicks; and under the difguife of Gentlemen, merchants, ar tificers, and even in the drefs, and garb of foldiers. Which, being known at court, was enough to awaken the attention of the Queen and her Coun cil, who had not forgot the effects of bulls and excommunications, where many were bound by oath, and others thought themselves obliged in confcience to fee them executed; and this produced a proclamation, command ing all thofe that had any children, wards, or kinfmen, beyond fea, to give in their names to the Ordinary in ten days, and to call them home within four months; and forbidding all perfons to entertain or harbour any jefuit or prieft, fent forth from the feminaries of Rome, or Rheims, on pain of being punished, as rebels and feditious per. fons. However, this did not deter the factious from their wicked counfels. Seditious books were difperfed, affert ing the King of Spain's right to the crown, and his and the Pope's engage ments to affift Elifabeth's rebellious fub. jects, in cafe they would take up arms to dethrone her. And these declarations being backed immediately with the forces of thefe two enemies, which landed in Ireland, under San Joseppo, an Italian Commander, tho' without fuccefs, they being obliged by the Earl of Ormond to furrender at difcretion, in five days, after he had opened his trenches before the Fort del Oro, which they had built the Queen iffued out another proclamation, That they, who would not keep within the bounds of their duty, muft expect no favour. the Duke of Guife his Lieutenant-general; which must have ended in the wort of confequences to Elifabeth. The favourites were created, the one Duke of Lenox, the other Earl of Ara ran: and Lenox to managed the States, that he had Moreton arrested at the Council board and beheaded, for be ing concerned in the murder of the late King; notwithstanding Q. Elifabeth interpofed, both with perfuafions and threats. Thefe difficulties and dangers, which threatened the state, mightily forwarded the treaty of marriage between Eli Jabeth and the Duke of Anjou. Her Majefty carried things to fuch a length, That the agreed with Simie upon the chief articles; received the honourable ambaffy, fent on that occafion from Henry III, with great pomp and mag. nificence: appointed Commiffioners to treat with them finally: The Duke himself was permitted to wait upon her: and, on her coronation-day, her Majefty, being in converfation with him, pulled off her ring from her finger and put it upon the Duke's; which behaviour, added to the figning of the articles of this marriage this year (1581) made it generally conjectured, That she had at last refolved to marry, But it is more than probable, that Elifabeth never had any intention to confummate what was agreed on in fo formal and public a manner. Such a treaty was, if ever, most neceffary at that time, when fhe was fo befet with inveterate and powerful enemies, daily plotting against her; and was certain, if the rejected the offer, or feemed otherwife than in earneft, that the Duke would have immediately accepted of the daughter of Spain; by which the number and power of her enemies would increase: Therefore Elifabeth ventured to play this bold stroke, and to make the bro On the other fide, the news from Scotland augmented Elifabeth's fears and cares. The young King was now wholly governed by two young father of the K. of France the dupe of her vourites, minions of the Duke of Guife; whofe whole endeavours were to finish the ruin of the Earl of Moreton, to engage the King to marry a Madam of France, and, after marriage, to declare politics; not doubting, but time would furnish her with fufficient pretences to delay the confununation of her marriage, till a more favourable juncture thould warrant her final retractation. Thus lation fo far, as to caufe a man's hand to be cut off for writing a fatyre against the marriage, fhe, after fpending a whole night, without taking any reft, amidft the fighs and tears of her Ladies, went fuddenly to his room in the morning, and, privately informing him of the diflike her fubjects fhewed to the match, declared her final resolution was Never to marry. And the Parliament meeting foon after (in the beginning of 1582) he had the mortification to find they took all the steps poffible to convince him, that her Majefty had done no other than fubmit to the inclination of her fubjects; by paffing very fevere laws against the Papifts, wherein all thofe were declared guilty of high treafon,' who fhall endeavour to diffuade the sub Thus we find that her Majefty, immediately upon figning the articles of marriage, ftarted feveral objections by her agents at the court of France; and, at home, her confidents were inftructed to fpirit up the people againft it: nay, her Ministers, who had feemed moft defirous of her marriage, murmured publicly; and her Maids of honour, that were most intimate with her, ftrove by perfuafions, mingled with tears, to reprefent to her all the mifchiefs, which might from thence befal her, as well as the whole kingdom; and to divert her from this refolution. And what furnished the complain ants with more fubftantial reafons, for acting in this manner, was, the openness of the Papifts, who began already to boast of the Duke of Anjou's protection; for, in contempt of the latejects from their allegiance to the proclamation, the nation was fuddenly over-run with Romish priests and jefuits, who were fo impudent as openly to teach and defend the most extravagant doctrines concerning the Pope's power; and some of them fcrupled not to own, that they were impowered to abfolve every man in particular from his oath of allegiance, from which Pius V's bull had abfolved the whole nation in general. Armed with thefe objections, the diffembling Queen knew the could break off her agreement at will. But, as he was willing to caft the blame entirely upon the Duke, her next care was, by acts of feverity, and the execution of justice, against thofe that hoped to be protected by him, to wean his affections, and to make him difcover fufficient tokens of difguft, upon which the might the more eafily clear herself of any blame in the eye of the world. Therefore the put to death Edmund Campian, a jefuit, and three other priests: which convinced the Duke of Anjou, and thofe who at tended him into England, that they muft expect but little comfort in fuch a country, provided the marriage was confummated. In this crifis the Queen pretending to be greatly enamoured with the Duke, and even carrying her diffimu Queen, and from the religion eftablifhed in the kingdom, or fhall reconcile them to the church of Rome; as alfo thofe, who fhall be thus reconciled. Thofe alfo, by the fame act, are fined in two hundred marks, and imprisonment for a year, who fhall fay mafs; and they, who shall be knowingly prefent at mafs, are ⚫fined in a hundred marks, with imprifonment alfo for a year. Moreover, they who abfented themselves from their parish churches, on the days appointed for divine fervice, are "fined in twenty pounds a month.'Yet, when the Duke departed, Elisabeth, to her other marks of esteem and affection, added a prefent of a large fum of money, of which he was in great want, to carry on the wars in the Netherlands, where he had been lately declared Sovereign of the confederate provinces. She in perfon accompa nied him as far as Canterbury, and ordered feveral English Lords to wait upon him as far as Antwerp, that the might in fome meafure perfuade him, that nothing but the love of her fubjects, and the fear of difobliging them, could have prevented their marriage. By this management Elifabeth took off the edge of that refentment, which otherwife might have been expected to follow by the Duke of Guife; of the plots, which were forming in England in favour of Queen Mary, difcovered by fome letters to the faid Queen from Francis Throckmorton, and by feditious pamphlets, which, amongst other treafons, exhorted her very Maids of honour to ferve her in the fame manner, as Judith did Holofernes; and of the King of Spain's refolution to revenge his loffes, fuftained by the late expedition of Sir Francis Drake. follow from the French court: for we fee that Henry III. foon after gave her notice of the Duke of Guife's fecret machinations,and martial preparations, intended for an invafion of England directly, or by the means of Scotland. This obliged her to turn her mind immediately to the affairs of that country: where the fo artfully managed, That, without appearing concerned in the plot, King James was feized by the Earls of Mar, Lindley, and Gowry, partizans of England; the Duke of Lenox, his favourite, obliged to flee into France; and the Earl of Arran, his other favourite, was alfo taken and detained prifoner by the confpirators, till it was thought the intereft of Elifabeth's enemies was entirely destroyed. And in the mean time a new treaty was pretended to be begun by the Council, for the enlargement of both Queen Mary and her fon. But the articles, tendered to the captive Queen on this occafion, were couched in fuch general and ambiguous terms, as, it must be confeffed, there does not appear in them any more fincerity, or intention to bring that affair to an iffue, than heretofore. However, this propofal from Elifabeth ferved her purpofe, to free herfelf from the perpetual follicitations in her favour, and, if pof-expedition: That, to gain a certain fible, to put a stop to the continual Throckmorton being arrested upon the discovery made in the letters abovementioned, and brought before the Council, he at firft refolutely denied the accufation; but being fhewn a catalogue of all the ports in England, that were convenient to land forces at; and another catalogue of all the Gentle men, that profeffed the Romish religion in England, found in his fcrutore or defk; he then confeffed, That he ⚫ had drawn those catalogues, in confequence of a difcourfe with Jeney and Sir Francis Inglefield, concerning the manner how England might be invaded: That Morgan, another fu gitive in France, had told him, the catholic Princes had formed a defign to free the Queen of Scots, and to employ the Duke of Guife in that account of what fuccours the Roman plots, hatched for her deliverance.catholics in England might be dependBut, when the King was permitted to meet the States, and, by feeming to be content under the government of his new Ministry, was permitted to be entirely at liberty, all her politics had well nigh been overthrown by the return of Arran, who was a bold, daring man, of no principle, ambitious, and covetous; and who regained fuch an afcendant over the young King, that, had she not found means to take him off from her enemies, and to fe cure his intereft in his royal Mafter by a proper reward, he would certainly have cut her out more work in that part of the island, than fhe could have been well able to manage; efpecially as he was apprifed of the fuccours preparing to be fent into Scotland, 1 ed upon, Charles Paget, alias Mope, was fent into Suex, where the Duke of Guife intended to land: That himfelf, Throckmorton, imparted the project to the Spanish Ambaffador, who had been already informed of it, and fhewed him the ports where it would be 'moft proper to land: That he, moreover, acquainted the faid Ambaffador, with the names of the great men, to whom he might freely open his mind; because, as he was a public perfon, he would not be fo narrowly watched: And, finally, that he had conferred with the faid Ambaffador, how to raise foldiers privately in England, to have them ready, when the foreign troops fhould arrive.' The The Council defired Mendoza, the Spanish Ambaffador, to come to them affembled; and charged him fo home with the particulars of this information against him, that, instead of excufing himfelf, or denying the facts, he en deavoured to juftify thofe proceedings, by charging the Queen of committing hoftilities against his Mafter by fea and her Minifters, of labouring inceffantly to fow difcord between England and Spain. A few days after he had - notice given him to depart the kingdom; and Sir William Wade, Clerk of the Council, was dispatched to Spain, to inform the King of what had paffed, and of his Miftrefs's willingness to receive another Ambaffador from him: but Philip refufed Wade an audience; and Wade returned immediately, without imparting the contents of his ambafly to the Prime-minifter. (To be continued.) A COPY of the ASSESSMENT laid upon every Man, according to his Eftate, by Order of the Houfe of Commons, June 18, 1641. |