We Are Naturally Prone To Applaud The Times Behind Us, And To Vilify
The Present; For The Concurrent Of Her
Fame carries it to this day,
how loyally and victoriously she lived and died, without the grudge
and grievance of
Her people; yet the truth may appear without
detraction from the honour of so great a princess. It is manifest
she left more debts unpaid, taken upon credit of her privy-seals,
than her progenitors did, or could have taken up, that were a
hundred years before her; which was no inferior piece of State, to
lay the burthen on that house {26} which was best able to bear it at
a dead lift, when neither her receipts could yield her relief at the
pinch, nor the urgency of her affairs endure the delays of
Parliamentary assistance. And for such aids it is likewise apparent
that she received more, and that with the love of her people, than
any two of her predecessors that took most; which was a fortune
strained out of the subjects, through the plausibility of her
comportment, and (as I would say, without offence) the prodigal
distribution of her grace to all sorts of subjects; for I believe no
prince living, that was so tender of honour, and so exactly stood
for the preservation of sovereignty, was so great a courtier of the
people, yea, of the Commons, and that stooped and declined low in
presenting her person to the public view, as she passed in her
progress and perambulations, and in her ejaculations of her prayers
on the people.
And, truly, though much may be written in praise of her providence
and good husbandry, in that she could, upon all good occasions,
abate her magnanimity, and therewith comply with the Parliament, and
so always come off both with honour and profit; yet must we ascribe
some part of the commendation to the wisdom of the times, and the
choice of Parliament-men; for I said {27} not that they were at any
time given to any violent or pertinacious dispute, the 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
contention, but with a preparation to consult on the public good,
and rather to comply than to contest with Majesty: neither dare I
find {28} that the House was weakened and pestered through the
admission of too many YOUNG HEADS, as it hath been of LATTER times;
which remembers me of the Recorder Martin's speech about the truth
of our late Sovereign Lord King James, {29} when there were accounts
taken of FORTY gentlemen not above TWENTY, and some not exceeding
SIXTEEN years of age; which made him to say, "that it was the
ancient custom for old men to make laws for young ones, but there he
saw the case altered, and there were children in the great council
of the kingdom, which came to invade and invert nature, and to enact
laws to govern their fathers." Such {30} were in the House always,
{31} and took the common cause into consideration; and they say the
Queen had many times just cause, and need enough, to use their
assistance: neither do I remember that the House did ever
capitulate, or prefer their private to the public and the Queen's
necessities, but waited their times, and, in the first place, gave
their supply, and according to the exigence of her affairs; yet
failed not at the last to attain what they desired, so that the
Queen and her Parliaments had ever the good fortune to depart in
love, and on reciprocal terms, which are considerations that have
not been so exactly observed in our LAST assemblies. And I would to
God they had been; for, considering the great debts left on the
King, {32} and to what incumbrances the House itself had then drawn
him, His Majesty 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 it, had the House been freed of half a dozen popular
and discontented persons (such as, with the fellow that burnt the
temple of Ephesus, would be talked of, though for doing mischief), I
am confident the King had obtained that which, in reason, and at his
first occasion, he ought to have received freely, and without
condition. But pardon this digression, which is here remembered,
not in the way of aggravation, but in true zeal of the public good,
and presented IN CAVEAT of future times: for I am not ignorant how
the genius and 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 to make a trial
of his subjects' affections; and at what price they value now his
goodness and magnanimity.
But to our purpose: the Queen was not to learn that, as the
strength of the kingdom consisted in the multitude of her subjects,
so the security of her person consisted and rested in the love and
fidelity of her people, which she politically affected (as it hath
been thought) somewhat beneath the height of her natural spirit and
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
information of meanest personages, which proposed improvement; and
had learned the philosophy of (HOC AGERE) to look unto her own work:
of which there is a notable example of one Carmarthen, an under
officer of the Custom House, who, observing his time, presented her
with a paper, showing how she was abused in the under-renting of the
Customs, and therewith humbly desired Her Majesty to conceal him,
for that it did concern two or three of her great counsellors, {33}
whom Customer Smith had bribed with two thousand pounds a man, so to
lose the Queen twenty thousand pounds per annum; which being made
known to the Lords, they gave strict order that Carmarthen should
not have access to the back-stairs; but, at last, Her Majesty
smelling the craft, and missing Carmarthen, 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 was
brought to double his rent, or leave the Custom to new farmers.
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