left the lady Jane Grey his successor; and after some small opposition by the aforesaid lady's party, more especially the duke of Northumberland, her husband's father, got peaceable possession of the throne, and was crowned at Westminster, the last of April, in great state and magnificence. The former part of her reign, which in all was but short, was much taken up in restoring popery, and the papal power, in her dominions: which she effected in a great measure, through the shedding of much inocent blood, which has left a bitter stain upon her memory, in the records of time, as well for her cruelty as superstition; though authors generally represent her to be a princess, of herself, compassionate and good-natured. She was married to Philip king of Spain, on St. James's day, in the second year of her reign, and this marriage engaged her, about the fifth year of her reign, in a war with France; for king Philip, passing over to Calais, and so to Flanders, made great preparations against the French king, and was assisted therein, with a thousand English horse, four-thousand foot, and two thousand pioneers, whereof the earl of Pembroke was general. With this reinforcement king Philip directs his march to St. Quintin, and after a sharp siege, takes the place, the English (of whom the lord Henry Dudley, who first advanced the standard upon the wall, was here slain) doing him mighty service herein, which the king generously rewarded, with the spoils of the town. But this action may be truly said to have been fatal to England, in regard it was the principal cause of the loss of Calais; for while the greatest part of that garison was employed in the aforesaid siege, and before Calais was reinforced, having then but five-hundred men in it, the duke of Guise, with a powerful army, advancing towards it, intrenches himself at Sand-gate, and sent one detachment along the Downs, towards Rise-bank, and another to Newnem-bridge. He soon possesses himself of both, for the few soldiers that guarded them, had fled secretly into the town; the next day, they raised a battery from the hills, of Rise-bank, against the walls of Calais, between the water-gate and the prison, and continuing the same for three days, made a small breach, by which they could not well enter, neither was it so designed; for while the English were busy in the defence of this place, the French making their way through the ditch (which was full of water) entered the castle, designing thence to pass into the town. But here the bravery of sir Anthony Agar withstood them, and stopped their further progress, though to the loss of his own life; for there was not a man besides killed, during the siege; till the governor, the lord Wentworth, that same evening, which was the fifth of January, considering succours far, the enemy's nigh approach, and the weakness of the garison, thought fit to capitulate; and so it was agreed, the town, with the ammunition and artillery, should be delivered to the French, the lives of the inhabitants saved, and all to depart where they pleased, excepting the governor and fifty more, such as the duke of Guise should appoint to remain prisoners, and be put to ranson. Thus the good town of Calais, after it had been in the hands of the English, for

the space of two-hundred and ten years (for it was taken by Edward the third, after a siege of eleven months, in 1347) was lost in less than a fortnight, till which time, we had the keys of France, at our girdles; and so it was believed queen Mary resented the loss accordingly, for she died soon after, having said not long before, That if she were opened, they should find Calais at her heart.' Some feints were made for the repairing of this loss, for the queen equipped out a fleet, with a design to surprise Brest; they landed in Conquet road, and in a short time became masters of the town, with the great abbey, which they sacked and burnt, together with divers adjacent villages, where they found good plunder. From hence (having now alarmed the country) the admiral judged it not convenient to pursue their enterprise, and so returned; king Philip, in the mean time, went on with his wars, and could not conclude a peace (though both sides seemed to desire it) because he insisted stifly upon the rendition of Calais to the English, which the French would by no means yield to; which, together with the king's absence, hastened the queen's death, for she departed this life at St. James's, November 17, 1558, when she had reigned five years, four months, and odd days.

The chief ground of this war with France was the conjugal tie, whereby the queen was bound to adhere to king Philip her husband.

ELIZABETH.

SECOND daughter to Henry the eighth, by queen Anne Bullen, succeeded her sister Mary to the imperial crown of England; a princess whose virtues it is impossible for me to celebrate (if it were my design) having advanced the glory of the English nation, both at home and abroad, beyond any of her predecessors; and how far short her successors have been from improving, or so much as maintaining of it, is evident in history, but no where so well as in that celebrated piece, the Detection of the four last reigns, &c. In war she was involved almost all her reign, and had not only to do with, but triumphed over the proudest monarchy then in Europe (I might say in the world) I mean that of Spain, which, however, being foreign from the present design, I shall not meddle with. The first occasion of quarrel she had with France was, in the second year of her reign, when the French, having upon the suit of the queen dowager of Scotland, sent great numbers of soldiers, to aid and assist her against the reforming lords, queen Elisabeth, disliking such neighbours, and knowing the queen of Scots was married and governed in France, and began to assume the English arms, upon the humble suit of the said lords, sent them a strong reinforcement by land, under the command of the lord Grey of Wilton, and at the same time dispatched sir William Winter, vce-admiral, with a fleet of ships, for to block up Leith. The army, after some stay at Berwick, pursued their march, and, after some usual pickering by the way, and overtures of a cessation, arrived

before Leith, which was chiefly garisoned by French soldiers; the place was bravely attacked several times, and wonders done by the English both by sea and land against it; and the French omitted nothing that could be done for its defence; and this continued from about the beginning of April till the latter end of June, at which time, the place being very much streightened, and must have yielded, the commissioners appointed for that purpose made a peace at Edinburgh, which, July 7, was proclaimed in the town of Leith; by virtue of which treaty the French were to depart out of Scotland, except one hundred and twenty, and the Scottish queen to put out of her title the arms of England and Ireland, &c. About two years after, that horrid massacre was perpetrated, in France, upon the poor protestants, that is so infamous in history, the popish party having leagued themselves against them; which barbarity powerfully induced the queen to assist the reformists, in order to prevent their final destruction; and, to that purpose, sent over a good band of soldiers to New-haven in France, which the townsmen joyfully received, over whom, and other forces that did arrive, was constituted general the earl of Warwick, who landed here, the twenty-ninth of October, anno 1562. This place is remarkable in history for the long siege it sustained, through the valour of the English; first came the Rhinegrave before it, then the constable of France, and last of all, the prince of Conde, whose united forces had in all probability been baffled, had it not been for a violent pestilence that raged within, and swept away its defendants in great numbers; but notwithstanding this, and that the enemy's cannon were within twenty-six paces of the town, and many breaches made, yet the noble Warwick, with his respective officers and soldiers, stood at the breaches to receive the enemy, if they offered to make an assault; which the constable perceiving, he caused a trumpeter to sound a parley; which being accepted of, the town was surrendered upon honourable articles, after the earl had held it eleven months, the perfidy of the reformists giving also an helping hand to these misfortunes; to which may be added, another disadvantage, in that the French had a pretence, by this our aiding the protestants, to withhold the surrendering of Calais, after the term of eight years, whereof some were already expired.

About the thirty-second year of the queen's reign, Henry the third king of France, was murdered; whereupon the leaguers armed under the duke of Maine, to keep Henry, king of Navarre, then a protestant, from the crown; whom they pressed so hard upon, that he was forced to fly into Dieppe, designing from thence to get over into England; but first sends to the queen an account of his circumstances, who. commise rating his condition, forthwith sends him sixty thousand brave soldiers, under the command of the lord Willoughby; the report of whose arrival coming to Maine's ears, he suddenly raises the siege; which so animated the king, that he marched out, encountered and defeated his enemy, and so, by degrees, prevailed, through the queen's good assistance, from time

to time, both of men and money. The Spaniards having also, about this time, by means of the leaguers, got footing in Bretagne, the queen dispatches thither three-thousand men, under the command of that thrice famous general, sir John Norris, who beat them quite out of that country. About a year after my lord Willoughby's succours, arrives in France the renowned earl of Essex, with four-thousand foot more, some horse and pioneers, as a further reinforcement to the king, and did honourable service, challenging monsieur Villerse, governor of Roan, to a single combate, which he refuses, and then returned; but had the mortification to have his brother, Walter Devereux, a brave young gentleman, slain with a musquet-bullet, before Roan. The last succours were to the number of two-thousand, and put under the command of that excellent soldier, sir Roger Williams, who was always forward for the greatest attempts, and did here excellent service. He beat the leaguers that blocked up the passes about Dieppe, upon such unequal terms, that Henry the fourth could not but take notice, and highly extol his valour, in his letter to the queen. This queen, after a glorious reign of forty-four years, five months, and odd days, at the age of seventy-years, anno 1602, having lived longer than any of the kings of England, since the conquest, died at Richmond, and lies buried at Westminster.

The causes of the war in this queen's time were not direct, but collateral, in behalf of the king and reformists of France.

JAMES I.

THEN the sixth king of Scotland of that name, was immediately, upon the death of queen Elisabeth, proclaimed queen of England, Scotland, France, and Ireland, &c. as being descended from the united roses of Lancaster and York, king Henry the seventh, and queen Elisabeth, his wife, whose issue, by the male, failing in the late deceased queen Elisabeth, the offspring of Margaret, their eldest daughter, was next heir, which lady was married to James the fourth, king of Scotland, and by him had issue James the fifth, whose only daughter, queen Mary, was mother to this our monarch. This king was of a timorous nature, and peaceable disposition, so that beati pacifici was his motto; and was so far from making any pretensions to the crown of France, or any part of its dominions, notwithstanding his great power, and the flourishing state of the nation, that he suffered his son-in-law, the Palsgrave, and his own daughter, Elisabeth, his wife, with their numerous issue, not only to be beaten out of Bohemia, but even from their just patrimony, the Palatinate, and to live many years in great want and penury, to the king's great dishonour, who was nothing but a bluster of words, and ever and anon sending ambassadors, till all was quite lost and unretrievable. This king died at Theobalds, March 27, 1625, in the fifty-ninth year of his age, having reigned twenty two years compleat.

OD

AN

CHARLES I

THE only surviving son of king James (for that noble prince, Henry, died before his father) succeeded to the imperial crown of England. The reformed in France, in the beginning of this king's reign, lay under great oppressions from their king, Lewis the thirteenth, and his prime minister of state, cardinal Richelieu; insomuch that they were forced, for their safety, to have recourse to arms, under the command of that ever famous captain, the duke of Roan, by land, and monsieur Sobiez, his brother, who rid admiral at sea; and by that means, Rochelle, besieged by the French king's arms, was relieved upon all occasions. Hereupon, through the contrivance of the duke of Buckingham, an English fleet was sent to join that of the French, under the duke of Montmorency, the Dutch then basely concurring with some ships of theirs also; with which united force, Montmorency fights, and utterly defeats the fleet of the Rochellers, under monsieur Sobiez, and then reduced the isles of Rhee and Oleron under the French power. But Buckingham soon after changing his sentiments (the grounds whereof we will assign in the causes of this war) there is a declaration of war published against France, and, for the prosecution of the same with vigour, the duke is commissioned admiral and general of a navy of one-hundred sail, and six or seven-thousand land soldiers, with which he came before Rochelle, still besieged by the French, where Sobiez came on board of him; and, for several reasons, it was agreed to land the army on the island of Oleron, and not on the isle of Rhee: But Sobiez going to persuade the Rochellers to join with the English, the duke, before his return, lands on the isle of Rhee, in spight of the opposition made by the French; but, instead of pursuing the blow, not only neglects to take the fort La Prie, to secure his retreat, and prevent the French from landing supplies, but stays five days, whereby Toiras, the French governor, encouraged his men, and also got more force and provisions into the cittadel of St. Martin's. The French were so alarmed at this invasion, that the king offered the duke of Roan, and the Rochellers, any terms to join against the English, which both refusing, it caused both their ruins.

The enemy's retreat, upon the landing of the English, was so hasty, that they quitted a well, about twenty paces from the counterscarp, which supplied the cittadel with water; which not being possessed by the English, upon their first approach, the French drew a work about it, which our men could not force, and without which well, the besieged could not have subsisted. However, the duke resolves to take the fort by famine; but, instead of pressing it with a straight siege, he entertains a treaty of surrender with Toiras, and several compliments passed between them, subscribed your humble servant, Buckingham, and your humble servant, Toiras, till the latter got relief of men, victuals, and ammunition, and then broke off the treaty with the duke. Soon after this, the French landed forces on the island, by the neglect of the English to oppose them, and orders were given to draw the English out of