Neither Do I Find That Any Of Her Sister's Council Of State Were
Either Repugnant To Her Religion, Or Opposed
Her doings; Englefeild,
Master of the Wards, excepted, who withdrew himself from the Board,
and shortly after out of her
Dominions; so pliable and obedient they
were to change with the times and their prince; and of them will
fall a relation of recreation. Paulet, Marquis of Winchester, and
Lord Treasurer, had served then four princes, in as various and
changeable times and seasons, that I may well say no time nor age
hath yielded the like precedent. This man, being noted to grow high
in her favour (as his place and experience required), was questioned
by an intimate friend of his, how he had stood up for thirty years
together, amidst the change and ruins of so many Chancellors and
great personages. "Why," quoth the marquis, "ORTUS SUM E SALICE,
NON EX QUERCU," I.E., "I am made of pliable willow, not of the
stubborn oak." And, truly, it seems the old man had taught them
all, especially William, Earl of Pembroke, for they two were always
of the King's religion, and always zealous professors: of these 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 Norman Conquest to their own times;
whereupon it hath been prettily spoken that they lived in a time of
dissolution.
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