have all or none: a Rule quite contrary to Nature, and the most indulgent Parents, who they may expreffe more Affection to one in the Abundance of Bequeathes, yet cannot forget fome Legacyes, and Distributives, and Dividents to others of their begetting, and how hurtfull Partiality is, and proves, every Dayes Experience tells us, out of which common Confideration, might have framed to their Hands a Maxime of more Difcretion, for the Conduct, and Managment of their new graved Lord and Master.

But to omit that of Infufion, and to do Right to Truth, my Lord of Effex, even of thofe that truely loved and honoured him, was noted for too bold an Ingroffer, both of Fame and Favor, and of this without Offence to the Living, or treading on the facred Grave of the Dead, I fhall present the Truth of a Paffage yet in Memory.

My Lord of Mountjoy, who was another Child of her Favour, being newly come, and then but Sir Charles Blunt, (for my Lord William his elder Brother was then living) had the good Fortune to run one Day very well at Tilt, and the Queene was therewith fo well pleased, that she fent him in Token of her Favor, a Queene at Cheffe in hold, richly enamelled, which his Servants had the next Day faftened unto his Arme, with a crymfon Ribband; which my Lord of Effex, as he paffed through the Privy Chamber, elpying with his Cloake caft under his Arme, the better to command it to the View, enquired what it was, and for what Caufe there fixed? Sir Foulk Grevile tould him it was the Queene's Favour, which the Day before, and next after the Tilting, fhe had fent him: whereat my Lord of Effex, in a Kind of Emulation, and as though he would have limitted her Favour, faid, Now I perceive every Foole muft have a Favor. This bitter and publique Affront came to Sir Charles Blunt's Eare, at which he fent him the Challenge, which was accepted by my Lord, and they met neare Marybone Parke, where my Lord was hurt in the Thigh, and difarmed: The Queene, miffing of the Men, was very curious to learne the Truth, but at last it was whispered out, she sware by God's Death it was fit that fome one or other fhould take him downe, and teach him better Manners, otherwife there would be no Rule with him; and here I note the Iminition of my Lord's Friendship with Mountjoy, which the Queene her felfe did then conjure.

Now for his Fame we need not goe far, for my Lord of Effex having borne a Grudge to Generall Norris, who had unwittingly offered to undertake the Action of Brittaine, with fewer Men than my Lord had before demanded on his Returne with Victory, and a glorious Report of his Valour, he was then thought the onely Man for the Irish Wars, wherein my Lord of Effex fo wrought by difpifing the Number and Qualitie of the Rebells, that Norris was fent over with a fcanted Force, joyned with the Reliques of the uttered Troopes of Brittaine, of fet Purpofe, and as it fell out to ruine Norris; and the Lord Barrowes, by my Lord's Procurement, fent at his Heeles, and to command in Chiefe, and to convay Norris onely to his Government at Mounter, which the great Heart of the Generall to fee himfelfe undervalued, and undermined, by my Lord and Burrowes, which was as the Proverb fpeakes, juvenes docere fenes.

Now

Now my Lord,Burrowes in the Beginning of his Profecution dyed, whereupon the Queene was fully bent to fend over my Lord Mountjoy, which my Lord of Effex utterly mifliked, and oppofed with many Reafons, and by Arguments of Contempt towards Mountjoy, (his then profeffed Friend, and Familiar) fo predominate was his Defire to reape the whole Honour of clofeing up that War, and all other; now the Way being paved, and opned, by his owne Work-man-fhip, and fo handled, that none durft appeare to ftand in the Place; at laft, and with much adoe, he obtained his owne Ends, and therewith his fatall Deftruction, leaving the Queene and the Court, where he stood impregnable, and firme in her Grace, to Men that long had fought, and wayted their Times to give him the Trip, and could never find any Oppertunity but this of his Abfence, and of his owne Creation, and those are true Obfervations of his Appetite, and Inclinations, which were not of any true Proportion, but hurried, and tranfported, with an over Defire, and Thirstineffe after Fame, and that deceiptfull Fame of Popularity, and to helpe on his Catastrope, I obferve likewife two Sorts of People that had a Hand in his Fall: First was the Souldary, which all flock unto him, as it were foretelling a Mortality, and are commonly of blunt, and too rough Councells, and many Times diffonant from the Time of the Court and State: the other Sort were of his Family, his Servants, and his 'owne Creatures, fuch as were bound by Safety and Obligations of Fidelity, to have looked better to the steereing of that Boate, wherein they themselves were carryed, and not to have fuffered it to fleet and run on Ground with those empty Sales of Tumor, of Popularity, and Applaufe: me thinks one honest Man or other, which had but the brushing of his Cloathes, might have whispered in his Eare, My Lord looke to it, this Multitude that followes you, will either devoure you, or undoe you, do not ftrive to over-rule all, for it will coft hot-water, and it will procure Envy, and if needs your Genius must have it fo, let the Court and the Queene's Prefence be your Station, for your Abfence must undoe you; but as I have fayd, they have fuckt too much of their Lords Milke, and instead of withdrawing, they drew the Coales of his Ambition, and infufed into him too much of the Spirit of Glory, yea, and mixed the Goodneffe of his Nature, with a Touch of Revenge, which is ever more accompanied with the Deftinie of the fame Fate of this Number, there were fome of infufferable Natures about him, that towards his laft gave defperate Advise, fuch as his Integritie abhorred, and his Fidelitie forbad, amongst whom Sir Henry Wotton notes without Injury, his Secretary Cuffe, as a vile Man, and of a perverfe Nature: I could alfo name others, that when he was in the right Courfe of Recovery, fettling to Moderation, would not fuffer a Receafe in him, but stirred up the Dregs of thofe rude Humors, which by Times, and his Affections out of his owne Judgement, he thought to repofe, and give them all a Vomit. And thus I conclude this noble Lord, as a Mixture betweene Profperity, and Adverfity, once a Child of his great Miftreffe's Favour, but a Sonne of Bellona.

BUCKHURST.

M

BUCKHURST.

Y Lord of Buckhurst was of the noble House of Sackviles, and of the Queene's Confanguinity; or as the People then called him Fill-Sacks, by reafon of his great Wealth, and the vaft Patrimony left to his Sonne, whereof in his Youth he spent the beft Part, untill the Queene, by her frequent Admonitions, diverted the Torrent of his Profufion: He was a very fine Gentleman, of Person and Endowments, both of Art and Nature, but without Measure magnificent, till on the Torne of his Honour, and the Allay that his yearely good Counfell had wrought upon thofe immoderate Courses of his Youth, and that Height of Spirit inherent to his Houfe; and then did the Queene as a moft judicious, indulgent Princeffe, who when the faw the Man growne fetled, and ftayd, gave him an Affiftance, and advanced him to the Treasurer-fhip, where he made Amends to his Houfe for his mif-fpent Time, both in the Increasement of his Eftate and Honour which the Queene conferred upon him, together with the Opportunity to remake himselfe, and thereby to fhew that this was a Child that fhould have a Share in her Grace.

They much commend his Elocution, but more the Excellency of his Pen, for he was a Scholler, and a Perfon of a quick Difpatch, Faculties that yet run in the Blood; and they fay of him, that his Secretaries did little for him, by the Way of Indictment, wherein they could feldome please him, he was fo facete and choyce in his Phrafes, and Style; and for his Difpatches, and for the Content he gave to Suitors, he had a Decorum feldome put in Practife, for he had of his Attendance that tooke into a Role, the Names of all Suitors, with the Date of their first Addreffes, fo that a fresh Man could not leape over his Head, that was of a more ancient Edition, excepting the urgent Affayres of the State.

I finde not, that he was any Way infnared in the Factions of the Court, which were all his Time ftrong; and in every Man's Note, the Howards and Cecills of the one Part, and my Lord of Effex, &c. on the other, for he held the Staffe of the Treasury faft in his Hand, which made them once in a Yeare to be beholding to him; and the Truth is, as he was a wife Man, and a ftout, he had no Reason to be a Partaker, for he stood fure in Blood, and in Grace, and was wholly intentive to the Queene's Service: and fuch were his Abilities, that the received affiduous Proofes of his Sufficiency; and it hath been thought the might have more cunning Instruments, but none of a more strong Judgment, and Confidence in his Wayes, which are Symptomes of Magnanimitie; whereunto methinks his Motto hath fome Kind of Reference, Aut nunquam tentes, aut perfice; as though he would have charactered in a Word the Genius of his House, or expreffe fomewhat of a higher Inclination that lay within his Compaffe, that he was a Courtier is apparent, for he ftood alwaies in her Eye, and in her Favour.

VOL. I.

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MOUNT JOY.

MY

MOUNT JOY.

Lord Mountjoy was of the ancient Nobility, but utterly decayed in the Support thereof; (Patrimony through his Grandfather's Exceffe) his Father's Vanitie in Search of the Philofopher's Stone, and his Brother's untimely Prodigallity; all which feemed by a joynt Confpiracie to ruinate the Houfe, and altogether to annihilate it: As he came from Oxford he tooke the Inner Temple in the Way to Court; whither he no fooner came, but he had a pretty kind of Admiffion, which I have heard from a difcreet Man of his owne, and much more of the Secrets of thofe Times; he was then much about twenty Yeares of Age, browne haired, of a fweet Face, and of a moft neate Compofure, tall in his Perfon; the Queene was then at Whitehall, and at Dinner, whither he came to fee the Fashion of the Court, and the Queene had foone found him out, and, with a Kind of an affected Favour, asked her Carver what he was? he anfwered he knew him not; infomuch an Enquiry was made one from another, who he might be, till at length it was told the Queene, he was Brother to the Lord William Mountjoy; thus Enquirie with the Eye of her Majefty fixed upon him, as fhe was wont to doe, and to daun Men the knew not, ftirred the Blood of the young Gentleman, infomuch as his Colour went and came; which the Queene obferving, called unto him, and gave him her Hand to kiffe, encouraging him with gracious Words, and new Lookes; and fo diverting her Speech to the Lords, and Ladyes, fhe fayd, that fhe no fooner obferved him, but the knew there was in him fome Noble Blood, with fome other Expreffions of Pitty towards his House; and then againe demanding his Name, fhe fayd, faile you not to come to the Court, and I will bethinke my felfe, how to do you good; and this was his Inlet, and the Beginning of his Grace; where it falls into Confideration, that though he wanted not Wit, and Courage, for he had very fine Attractives, as being a good Peece of a Scholler, yet were thofe accompanied with the Retractives of Bafhfulneffe, and naturall Modefty, which as the Wave of the Houfe of his Fortune then flood, might have hindred his Progreffion, had they not been reinforced by the Infufion of foveraigne Favour, and the Queene's gracious Invitation; and that it may appeare how he was, and how much that heritique Neceffity, will worke in the Directions of good Spirits, I can deliver it with Affurance, that his Exhibition was very fcant, untill his Brother died, which was fhortly after his Admiflion to the Court, and then was it no more but a thousand Markes per Annum, wherewith he lived plentifully, and in a fine Garbe, and without any great Suftentation of the Queene, during all her Times.

And as there was in Nature, a kind of Backwardneffe, which did not befriend him, nor fuite with the Motion of the Court, fo there was in him an Inclination to Armes, with an Humor of travelling, and gadding Abroade, which had not fome wife Man about him, laboured to remove, and the Queene layd in her Command, he would out of his owne native Propensity marred his owne Market, for as he was growne by reading, whereunto he

was

4

was much addicted to the Theory of a Souldier, fo was he ftrongly invited by his Genius, to the Acquaintance of the Practife of the War, which were the Causes of his Excurfions, for he had a Company in the Low Countries, from whom he came over with a noble Acceptance of the Queene, but fomewhat restles in honourable Thoughts, he expofed himfelfe again, and againe, and would preffe the Queene with the Pretences of visiting of his Company so often, till at length he had a flat Denyall, yet he ftroke over with Sir John Norris into the Action of Brittaine, which was then a hot, and active War, whom he would alwaies call his Father, honouring him above all Men, and ever bewailing his End, fo contrary he was in his Efteeme, and Valuation of this great Commander, to that of his Friend, my Lord of Effex, till at laft the Queene began to take his Degreffions for Contempt, and confined his Refidence to the Court, and her owne Prefence, and upon my Lord of Effex Fall, fo confident fhe was in her owne princely Judgment, and the Opinion fhe had conceived of his Worth, and Conduct, that he would have this noble Gentleman, and none other, to bring in the Irish Wars, to a propitious End, for it was a propheticall Speech of her owne, that it would be his Fortune, and his Honour, to cut, the Thred of that fatall Rebellion, and to bring her in Peace to the Grave, wherein the was not deceived, for he atchieved it, but with much Paines and Carefulneffe, and without the Forces, and many Jealoufies of the Court and Times, wherewith the Queene's Age, and the Malignitie of her fetling Times, were repleate; and fo I come to his deare Friend in Court, Secretary Cecill, whom in his long Abfence he adored as his Saint, and counted him his only Mecenas, both before and after his Departure from Court, and during all the Time of his Command in Ireland; well knowing that it lay in his Power, and by a Word of his Mouth, to make or marr him.

S1Bu

ROBERT CECILL.

IR Robert Cecill, fince Earle of Salisbury, was the Sonne of the Lord Burleigh, and by degrees Succeffor of his Places and Favors, though not of his Lands, for he had Sir Thomas Cecill, his elder Brother, fince created Earle of Exeter: He was firft Secretary of State, then Mafter of the Court of Wards, and in the last of her Raigne came to be Lord Treasurer; all which were the Steps of his Father's Greatneffe, and of the Honour he left to his House for his Perfon he was not much beholding to Nature, though fomewhat for his Face, which was the best Part of his Outfide: for his Infide it may be faid, and without Offence, that he was his Father's owne Sonne, and a pregnant Prefident in all his Difcipline of State: he was a Courtier from his Cradle,, which might have made him betimes, but he was at the Age of twenty and upwards, and was far fhort of his after Proofe, but expofed, and by Change of Clymat he foon made fhew what he was and would be.

He lived in those Times wherein the Queene had moft Need and Use of Men of Waight, and amongst many able Ones, this was Chiefe, as having taken his Sufficiency from his Inftruction, which begat him the Tutorship of

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the