and would use strange sweetness and blandishments of words, where he desired to effect or persuade anything that he took to heart. He was rather studious than learned, reading most books that were of any worth, in the French tongue; yet he understood the Latin, as appeareth in that Cardinal Hadrian and others, who could very well have written French, did use to write to him in Latin.

For his pleasures, there is no news of them; and yet by his instructions to Marsin and Stile, touching the queen of Naples, it seemeth he could interrogate well touching beauty. He did by pleasures, as great princes do by banquets, come and look a little upon them, and turn away. For never prince was more wholly given to his affairs, nor in them more of himself; insomuch as in triumphs of justs and tourneys, and balls, and masks, which they then called disguises, he was rather a princely and gentle spectator, than seemed much to be delighted.

No doubt, in him, as in all men, and most of all in kings, his fortune wrought upon his nature, and his nature upon his fortune. He attained to the crown, not only from a private fortune, which might endow him with moderation, but also from the fortune of an exiled man, which had quickened in him all seeds of observation and industry. And his times being rather prosperous than calm, had raised his confidence by success, but almost marred his nature by troubles. His wisdom, by often evading from perils, was turned rather into a dexterity to deliver himself from dangers, when they pressed him, than into a providence to prevent and remove them afar off. And even in nature, the sight of his mind was like some sights of eyes-rather strong at hand, than to carry afar off. For his wit increased upon the occasion; and so much the more, if the occasion were sharpened by danger. Again, whether it were the shortness of his foresight, or the strength of his will, or the dazzling of his suspicions, or what it was, certain it is, that the perpetual troubles of his fortunes, there being no more matter out of which they grew, could not have been without some great defects and main errors in his nature, customs, and proceedings, which he had enough to do to save and help with a thousand little industries and watches. But those do best appear in the story itself. Yet take him with all his defects, if a man should compare him with the kings his concurrents in France and Spain, he shall find him more politic than Lewis the Twelfth of France, and more entire and sincere than Ferdinando of Spain. But if you shall change Lewis the Twelfth for Lewis the Eleventh, who lived a little before, then the consort is more perfect. For that Lewis the Eleventh, Ferdinando, and Henry, may be esteemed for the tres magi of kings of those ages. To conclude, if this king did no greater matters, it was long of himself: ' for what he minded he compassed.

He was a comely personage, a little above just stature, well and straight limbed, but slender. His countenance was reverend, and a little like a churchman; and as it was not strange, or dark, so neither was it winning or pleasing, but as the face of one well disposed. But it was to the disadvantage of the painter, for it was best when he spake.

1 It was by his own will

His worth may bear a tale or two, that may put upon him somewhat that may seem divine. When the Lady Margaret, his mother, had divers great suitors for marriage, she dreamed one night, that one in the likeness of a bishop in pontifical habit did tender her Edmund, earl of Richmond, the king's father, for her husband, neither had she ever any child but the king, though she had three husbands. One day when King Henry the Sixth, whose innocency gave him holiness, was washing his hands at a great feast, and cast his eye upon King Henry, then a young youth, he said: "This is the lad that shall possess quietly that, that we now strive for." But that, that was truly divine in him was that he had the fortune of a true Christian, as well as of a great king, in living exercised, and dying repentant; so as he had a happy warfare in both conflicts, both of sin and the cross.

He was born at Pembroke Castle, and lieth buried at Westminster, in one of the stateliest and daintiest monuments of Europe, both for the chapel and for the sepulchre. So that he dwelleth more richly dead, in the monument of his tomb, than he did alive in Richmond, or any of his palaces. I could wish he did the like in this monument of his fame.

THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN OF KING HENRY THE EIGHTH.

AFTER the decease of that wise and fortunate king, Henry the Seventh, who died in the height of his prosperity, there followed, as useth to do, when the sun setteth so exceeding clear, one of the fairest mornings of a kingdom that hath been known in this land, or anywhere else. A young king, about eighteen years of age, for stature, strength, making, and beauty, one of the goodliest persons of his time. And though he were given to pleasure, yet he was likewise desirous of glory; so that there was a passage open in his mind, by glory, for virtue. Neither was he unadorned with learning, though therein he came short of his brother Arthur. He had never any the least pique, difference, or jealousy, with the king his father, which might give any occasion of altering court or council upon the change; but all things passed in a still.' He was the first heir of the White and Red rose; so that there was no discontented party now left in the kingdom, but all men's hearts turned towards him; and not only their hearts, but their eyes also; for he was the only son of the kingdom. He had no brother; which, though it be a comfortable thing for kings to have, yet it draweth the subjects' eyes a little aside. And yet, being a married man in those young years, it promised hope of speedy issue to succeed in the crown. Neither was there any queen mother, who might share any way in the government, or clash with his counsellors for authority, while the king intended his pleasure. No such thing as any great and mighty subject, who might any way eclipse or overshade the imperial power. And for the people and state in general, they were in such lowness of obedience, as subjects were like to yield, who

1 Quietly.

had lived almost four-and-twenty years under so politic a king as his father; being also one who came partly in by the sword; and had so high a courage in all points of regality; and was ever victorious in rebellions and seditions of the people. The crown extremely rich and full of treasure, and the kingdom like to be so in a short time. For there was no war, no dearth, no stop of trade, or commerce; it was only the crown which had sucked too hard, and now, being full, and upon the head of a young king, was like to draw less. Lastly, he was inheritor of his father's reputation, which was great throughout the world. He had strait alliance with the two neighbour states, an ancient enemy in former times, and an ancient friend,-Scotland and Burgundy. He had peace and amity with France, under the assurance, not only of treaty and league, but of necessity and inability in the French to do him hurt, in respect that the French king's designs were wholly bent upon Italy; so that it may be truly said, there had scarcely been seen or known, in many ages, such a rare concurrence of signs and promises, and of a happy and flourishing reign to ensue, as were now met in this young king, called after his father's name, Henry the Eighth.

QUEEN ELIZABETH.

BOTH nature and fortune conspired to render Queen Elizabeth the ambition of her sex, and an ornament to crowned heads. This is not a subject for the pen of a monk, or any such cloistered writer. For such men, though keen in style, are attached to their party; and transmit things of this nature unfaithfully to posterity. Certainly this is a province for men of the first rank; or such as have sate at the helm of states; and been acquainted with the depths and secrets of civil affairs.

All ages have esteemed a female government a rarity; if prosperous, a wonder; and if both long and prosperous, almost a miracle. But this lady reigned forty-four years complete, yet did not outlive her felicity. Of this felicity I purpose to say somewhat, without running into praises; for praise is the tribute of men, but felicity the gift of God.

And first, I account it a part of her felicity, that she was advanced to the throne from a private fortune. For it is implanted in the nature of men, to esteem unexpected success an additional felicity. But what I mean, is, that princes educated in courts, as the undoubted heirs of a crown, are corrupted by indulgence, and thence generally rendered less capable, and less moderate in the management of affairs. And, therefore, we find those the best rulers, who are disciplined by both fortunes. Such was, with us, King Henry the Seventh, and with the French, Louis the Twelfth, who both of them came to the crown almost at the same time, not only from a private, but also from an adverse and rugged fortune; and the former proved famous for his prudence, the other for his justice. In the same manner this princess also had the dawn of her fortune chequered, but in her reign it proved unusually constant and steady, From her birth, she was entitled to

the succession, but afterwards disinherited, and then postponed. In the reign of her brother, her fortune was more favourable and serene ; but in the reign of her sister, more hazardous and tempestuous. Nor was she advanced on a sudden from a prison to the throne, which might have made her haughty and vindictive, but being restored to her liberty, and still growing in hopes, at last in a happy calm, she obtained the crown without opposition or competitor. And this I mention to show that Divine Providence intending an excellent princess, prepared and advanced her by such degrees of discipline.

Nor ought the misfortunes of her mother to sully the glory of her birth, especially, because it is evident that King Henry the Eighth was engaged in a new amour before his rage kindled against Queen Anne; and because the temper of that king is censured by posterity, as exceedingly prone both to amours and jealousies, and violent in both, even to the effusion of blood. Add to this, that she was cut off through an accusation manifestly improbable, and built upon slight conjectures, as was then secretly whispered; and Queen Anne herself protested her innocence with an undaunted greatness of mind, at the time of her death. For, by a faithful and generous messenger, as she supposed, she, just before her execution, sent this message to the king: "That his majesty constantly held on in his purpose of heaping new honours upon her, for that first he raised her from a private gentlewoman, to the honour of a marchioness; next advanced her into a partnership of his bed and kingdom; and when now there remained no higher earthly honour, he designed to promote her an innocent to the crown of martyrdom." But the messenger durst not carry this to the king, now plunged in a new amour; though fame, the asserter of truth, has transmitted it to posterity.

Again, it is no inconsiderable part of Queen Elizabeth's felicity, that the course of her reign was not only long, but fell within that season of her life which is fittest for governing. Thus she began her reign at twenty-five, and continued it to the seventieth year of her age. So that she neither felt the harshness of a minority, the checks of a governor's power, nor the inconveniences of extreme old age, which is attended with miseries enough in private men, but in crowned heads, besides the ordinary miseries, it usually occasions a decay of the government, and ends with an inglorious exit. For scarce any king has lived to extreme old age, without suffering some diminution in empire and esteem. Of this we have an eminent instance in Philip the Second, king of Spain, a potent prince, and admirably versed in the arts of government, who, in the decline of life, was thoroughly sensible of this misfortune, and therefore wisely submitted to the necessity of things, voluntarily quitted his acquisitions in France, established a firm peace with that kingdom, and attempted the like with others, that so he might leave all quiet and composed to his successor. Queen Elizabeth's fortune, on the contrary, was constant and fixed, that no declension of affairs followed her lively, though declining age; nay, for an assured monument of her felicity, she died not till the rebellion of Ireland ended in a victory, lest her glory should otherwise have appeared any way ruffled or incomplete. It should likewise be considered over what kind of people she

SO

reigned. For had her empire fallen among the Palmyrenians, or in soft unwarlike Asia, it had been a less wonder, since a female in the throne would have suited an effeminate people; but in England, a hardy military nation, for all things to be directed and governed by a woman, is a matter of the highest admiration.

Yet this temper of her people, eager for war, and impatient of peace, did not prevent her from maintaining it all her reign. And this peaceable disposition of hers joined with success, I reckon one of her chiefest praises; as being happy for her people, becoming her sex, and a satisfaction to her conscience. Indeed, about the tenth year of her reign, there rose a small commotion in the north of her kingdom, but it was presently suppressed. The rest of her reign passed in a secure and profound peace. And I judge it a glorious peace for two reasons, which, though they make nothing to its merit, yet contribute much to its honour. The one, that it was rendered more conspicuous and illustrious by the calamities of our neighbours, as by so many flames about us. The other, that the blessings of peace were not unattended with the glory of arms, since she not only preserved, but advanced the honour of the English name for martial greatness. For what by the supplies she sent into the Netherlands, France, and Scotland; the expeditions by sea to the Indies, and some of them round the world; the fleets sent to infest Portugal, and the coasts of Spain; and what by the frequent conquests and reductions of the Irish rebels, we suffered no decay in the ancient military fame and virtue of our nation.

It is likewise a just addition to her glory, that neighbouring princes were supported in their thrones by her timely aids; and that suppliant states, which, through the misconduct of their kings, were abandoned, devoted to the cruelty of their ministers, the fury of the multitude, and all manner of desolation, were relieved by her.

Nor were her counsels less beneficent than her supplies, as having so often interceded with the king of Spain, to reconcile him to his subjects in the Netherlands, and reduce them to obedience, upon some tolerable conditions. And she, with great sincerity, importuned the kings of France, by repeated admonitions, to observe their own edicts, that promised peace to their subjects. It is true her advice proved ineffectual, for the common interest of Europe would not allow the first, lest the ambition of Spain being uncurbed, should fly out, as affairs then stood, to the prejudice of the kingdoms and states of Christendom; and the latter was prevented by the massacre of so many innocent men, who, with their wives and children, were butchered in their own houses by the scum of the people, armed and let loose like so many beasts of prey upon them by public authority. This bloodshed cried aloud for vengeance, that the kingdom stained by so horrible an impiety might be expiated by intestine slaughter. However, by interposing, she performed the part of a faithful, prudent, and generous ally.

There is also another reason for admiring this peaceful reign, so much endeavoured and maintained by the queen, viz., that it did not

1 By Catherine de Medici and Charles IX. on the eve of the St. Bartholomew; when the Huguenots were massacred.