Queen Elizabeth I readings

ELIZABETH 1 L] COLLECTED WORKS o Edited by Leah 8. Marcus, Janel Mueller, and Mary Beth Rose THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS Chicago & London

22 LETTERS 1533-1558 12 G§‘ PRINCESS ELIZABETH TO EDWARD SEYMOUR, DUKE OF SOMERSET, LORD PROTECTOR, SEPTEMBER 1548‘ [Addressed] To my lord protector’s grace My very good lord: Many lines? will not serve to render the least part of the thanks that your grace hath deserved of me, most especially for that you have been careful for my health, and sending unto me not only your comfortable letters but also physicians as Doctor Bill,* whose diligence and pain has been a great part of my recovery. For whom I do most heartily thank your grace, desiring you to give him thanks for me, who can ascertain you of mine estate of health, wherefore I will not write it. And although I be most bounden to you in this time of my sickness, yet [ may not be unthankful for that your grace hath made such® expedition for my patent.” With my most hearty thanks and commendations to you and to my good lady your wife,” most heartily fare you weil. From Cheshunt this present Friday. Your assured friend to my power, Elizabeth 13§ PRINCESS ELIZABETH TO EDWARD SEYMOUR, LORD PROTECTOR, JANUARY 28,1549' My lord: Your great gentleness and goodwill toward me, as well in this thing as in other things, I do understand; for the which, even as I ought, so I 1. Source: PRO, State Papers Domestic, Edward VI to/s/a; written 0 a clerk’s hand and signed by Elizabeth, with remnants of seal still attached Dating is conjectural, proposed by Knighton (65). 2. lines MS could read cither “lynes” or “lyves” 3. Bill Dr. Thomas Bill, one of several court physicians to Henry VI and Edward V1. 4. Right margin of the page has been torn away in MS after the letter s and again after the initial letters of thanks in the next sentence. The missing letters are supplied conjecturally. 5. patent a letter or document from a sovereign or person in authority, used for various purposes—for example, to convey some right, privilege, title, or property. The precise ref- erence here is unclear, but see Letter 13 n. 4,p. 23 6. wife Anne Stanhope Seymour (1497-1587), who became Edward Seymour’s second wife around 1535. 1. Source: Hatfield House, Cecil Papers 133/4/2; in Elizabeth’s hand. (For original-spelling version, see ACFLO, part 1.) Square brackets enclose editorially supplied identifications. As |} f LETTERS 15331558 23 do give you most humble thanks. And whereas your lordship willeth and counselleth me as a earnest friend to declare what 1 know in this matter and also 10 write what [ have declared to Master Tyrwhit, I shall most willingly do it. | declared unto him first that after that the cofterer had declared unto me what my lord admiral answered for Allen’s matter and for Durham Place’—that it was appointed to be a mint—he [the cofferer] told me that my lord admiral did offer me his house for my time being with the king’s majesty. And further said and asked me whether if the Council did consent that I should have my lord admiral, whether I would consent to it or no. I answered that I would not telt him what my mind was, and | inquired further of him what he meant to ask me that question or who bade him say so. He answered me and said no- body bade him say so, but that he perceived (as he thought) by my lord admiral’s inquiring whether my patent were sealed or no, and debating what he spent in his house, and inquiring what was spent in my house, that he was given that way rather than otherwise. And as concerning Kat Ashley, she never advised me unto it but said always (when any talked of my marriage) that she would never have me marry-—neither in England nor out of England—without the consent of the king's majesty, your grace’s, and the Council’s. And after the queen was departed” when | asked of her [ Ashley| what news she heard from London, she answered merrily, “They say there that your grace shall have my lord admiral, and that he will come shortly to woo you.” And moreover, I said unto him [Tyrwhit| that the cofterer sent a letter hither that my lord said that he would come this way as he went down to the country. Then I bade her write as she thought best, and bade her show it me when she had done; so she writ that she thought it not best the proceedings in Lord Admiral Thomas Seymour's treason trial uncovered his famitiar dealings with Elizabeth and evidence of his interest in marrying her, she fell under suspi- cion as a possible conspirator and was kept virtually under house arrest. Edward Seymour, duke of Somerset and Thomas's older brother, who presided over the investigation, dis patched Sir Robert Tyrwhit 1o interrogate Elizabeth and take down her testimony. She, however, chose to make her own representation in so delicate and dangerous a matter di- rectly to the lord protector. 2. cofferer ‘Thomas Parry, treasurer of her household. 3. Durham Place Elizabeths London house. The reference to Allen’s matter is obscure. 4. patent probably the patents for lands valued at £3000, provided for Elizabeth's main- tenance in Henry VIIT's will. 5. departed Dowager Queen Katherine, Thomas Seymour’s wife, had died on Septem- ber s, 1548. Vs e v [y Thentern 3 "l e

58 SPEECHES 15581572 tainly determine of any other—but at the leastways, by my goodwil and desire, he shall be such as shall be as careful for the preservation of the realm and you as myself.” And albeit it might please almighty God to continue me still in this mind to live out of the state of marriage, yet it is not to be feared but He will so work in my heartand in your wisdoms as good provision by His help may be made in convenient time, whereby the realm shall not re- main destitute of an heir that may be a fit governor, and peradventure more beneficial to the realm than such offspring as may come of me. For although I be never so caretul of your well-doings, and mind ever 30 to be, yet may my issue grow out of kind and become, perhaps, un- gracious. And in the end this shall be for me sufficient: that a marble stone shall declare that a queen, having reigned such a time, lived and died a virgin. And here | end, and take your coming unto me in good part, and give unto you all eftsoons'* my hearty thanks, more yet for your zeal and good meaning than for your petition. ! SPEECH 3, VERSION 2' 1559, Her answer to [the Commons’| petition that she marry “Ina thing which is not much pleasing unto me, the infallible testimony of your goodwill and all the rest of my people is most acceptable. As concerning your instant persuasion of me to marriage LI must tell you | 9. This and the preceding sentence vary significantly io the ambridge MS, which reads: “Twill never in that matter conclude anything that shall be prejudicial to the realm, for the weal and safety whereof, as a good mother of my country, will never shun o spend my life. And whosoever my choice may light upon, he shall be as careful for the preservation of the realm and you (1 will not say as myself, for | cannot so certanly promise for another as | do surely know of miyself) but as any other can be." 10. eftsoons soon after, in the next moment. 11. In the Cambridge MS this sentence reads: “ITo conclude, [ take your coming to me in good part and give you my hearty thanks, more yet for your zeal, goodwill, and good meaning than for your message and petition.” 1. Source: William Camden’s printed Latin transhation (115) of Elizabeth’s speech of Feb- ruary 10, 1559; English retranslation i Annales: The True and Royal History of the Famous Empress Elizabeth (London: for B. Fisher, 1625) (an unlisted variant of STC 4497}, bk.1, pp. 27-29. This is the form in which the specch has been best known to later ages, but it freely embroiders upon and condenses the speech as we have it from the carly sources. As Cam- den himself states at a later juncture (bk. 1, p. 132), the queen spoke “in few words, which [ will shut up tn fewer” ’.F’ P bgteaverorantiibiatasbies it SPEECHES 15581572 59 have been ever persuaded that 1 was born by God to consider and, above all things, do those which appertain unto His glory. And thc.rc- fore it is that I have made choice of this kind of lite, which is most free and agreeable for such human affairs as may tend to His service only. From which, if either the marriages which have been offered me by divers puissant princes or the danger of attempts made against my ll-ft.‘ could no whit divert me, it is long since I had any joy in the honor of a husband; and this is that I thought, then that [ was a private person. But when the public charge of governing the kingdom came upon me. it seemed unto me an inconsiderate folly to draw upon myself the cares which might proceed of marriage. To conclude, | am already bogmzl:l unto an husband, which is the kingdom of England, and that may suf- fice you. And this)” quoth she, “makes me wonder that you forget, your- selves, the pledge of this alliance which | have made with my kingdom.” And therewithal, stretching out her hand, she showed them the ring with which she was given in marriage and inaugurated to her kingdom in express and solemn terms.“And reproach me so no more,” quoth she, ’ “that I have no children: for every one of you, and as many as are En- are my children and kinsfolks, of whom, so long as I am not de- prived and God shall ‘prescrve me, you cannot charge me, without of- fense, to be destitute. “But in this [ must commend you, that you have not appointed me an husband. For that were unworthy the majesty of an absolute princess, and the discretion of you that are born my subjects. Nevertheless, if God have ordained me to another course of life, I will promise you to do nothing to the prejudice of the commonwealth, but as far as possible I may, will marry such an husband as shall be no less careful for the common good, than myself. And if I persist in this which I have pro- posed unto myself, I assure myself, that God will so direct my counsels and yours that you shall have no cause to doubt of a successor which may be more profitable for the commonwealth than him which may proceed from me, sithence® the posterity of good princes doth often- times degenerate. 2. For the motif of the ring, see also Elizabeth’s conversations with Maithand, Speech 4, p-65. 3. sithence since.

60 SPEECHES 1558-1572 “Lastly, this may be sufficient, both for my memory and honor of my name, if when [ have expired my last breath, this may be inscribed upon my tomb: Here lies interred Elizabeth, A virgin pure until her death” 4 88° QUEEN ELIZABETH’S CONVERSATIONS WITH THE SCOTTISH AMBASSADOR, WILLIAM MAITLAND, LAIRD OF LETHINGTON, SEPTEMBER AND OCTOBER 1561' {Headed| The discourse of the laird of Lethington’s negotiation with the queen of England, etc. After that he [Maitland] had declared the queen’s majesty his sover- eign’s arrival,’ good estate, and desire to continue and increase by good v Souree: BL, MS Royal i8.B.VL. Tractatus et Literae Regum Scottac, 148-1571. which in- cludes two partial copies, both incomplete. In making the present transcription, we have used the first copy (fols. 263r-265r) until the point at which the second, generally superior, copy begins (fols. 270r-271v); the second copy appears 10 lack only its first leaf. We have used the first copy to supply words that are no longer legible i the second copy because of rebinding and repair. Brackets enclose editorially supplied elements, This conversation is printed in A Letter from Mary Queen of Scots w the Duke of Guise, January. 1562, ed. with an appendix of original documents by John Hungerford Pollen, $. 1., Scottish History Society, 43 {Edinburgh: University of Edinburgh Press, 1904), pp 37-45. A third version from the Scottish Privy Council Register at the Scottish Record Office, Edinburgh (MS PC /2, fols. r2r-14v), 1s generally superior but unsuitable for use as copy text here because the upper fifth of each folio leaf is severely damaged. The most signiticant of its variant readings are recorded in the notes as SRO. A transcription of the SRO version is available in David Mas- son, ed., Registers of the Privy Council of Scottand (Edinburgh: Her Majesty's General Reg- ister House, 1898), addenda, vol. 14, pp. 172-78. Our modernized version preserves some Scots and French usages from the original. William Maitland (15282-1573), laird of Lethington, was a humanist graduate of Saint Andrews University employed as secretary and ambassador by Mary of Gui gent of Scotland, and then by her daughter, Mary, ten down his account of his conversations with | . queen re- Queen of Scots. Maitland mity have writ- beth as much as two months after the fact. A copy was enclosed in Mary, Queen of Scots letter to the duke of Guise in January 1562, There is a much Jater Latin account in George Buchanan's Rerum Scoticarum historia (Edinburgh, 1583), which was transtated and freely revised by Sir John Hayward for his An- nals of the First Four Years of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth, written in the carly decades of the seventeenth century but not published until John Bruce's edition for the Camden Soci- ety (London, t840). 2. At the time of these negotiations, Mary, Queen of Scots, widowed by the death of Fran- cis 11 of France in December 1560, had just arrived back in Edinburgh (August 1561). SPEECHES 1558-1572 61 means thamity standing betwixt the realms, and had acquitted himself of the visitation and other good offices commutted to his charge upon her majesty’s [Mary’s| behalf (tending to the conservation of friend- ship and good neighborhood and suchlike); had, upon the behalf of the nobility of Scotland, after some rehearsal of things past, desired her highness [Elizabeth] to use the queen their sovereign in all things con- cerning her or her estate so gently and favorably that she might thereby be provoked not only to be the more careful to entertain’ bat also to enter in a more strait* knot, if it were possible, whereof they trom time to time »:rouldmysla_gmukc overtures as occasion would serve, for the great desire they had to see intelligence betwixt the two realms to continue. He proponed the principal matter as the only moyen therein® whereby the principal difference might be honorably composed and taken away, with such good remonstrances and persuasions as he thought might best serve tor furtherance of the purpose, and ample discourse of the commodities that thereby apparently should ensue to both the realms. She answered at the first in this manner: “1 looked for another mes- sage from the queen your sovereign. and marvels that she remembers not better her promise made to me before her departing from France, after many delays of that thing which she in honor is bound to do—to wit, the ratification of the treaty® wherein she promised to answer me directly at her homecomng. | have long enough been fed with fair words. It had been time I should ere now seen the effect of so many good words.” : “Madame,” said he, “her majesty was not fully fifteen days at home when 1 was dispatched toward your highness. In which time her majesty had not entered into the maniment’ of any affairs, being tully occupied in receiving her nobility and people and admitting to her presence such as was convenient. And before all thing, it was expedient 3.SRO adds “th’amity.” 4. strait tight. 5. moyen | means| therein; SRO adds “in their judgments” 6. treaty the Treaty of Edinburgh (1560), signed by France and England but as yet un ratified by Scotland, which provided for the withdrawal of English troops from Scotland and called for Mary to recognize Elizabeth as the rightful ruler of England, By the terms of the treaty, Mary, Queen of Scots, was to give up her use of the arms of England, which she and her husband Frandis 11 had adopted since the death of Mary Tudor as @ way of assert- ing Mary, Queen of Scots' claim to the Enylish throne. 7. maniment managing.

96 SPEECHES 1558-1572 thanks than to have made any new request for the same. There hath been some that have, ere this, said unto me they never required more than that they might once hear me say I would marry. Well, there was never so great a treason but might be covered under as fair a pretense. “The second point was the limitation of the succession of the crown, wherein was nothing said for my safety, but only for themselves. A strange thing that the foot should direct the head in so weighty a cause, which cause hath been so diligently weighed by us for that it toucheth us more than them. I am sure there was not one of them that ever wasa second person,” as [ have been, and have tasted of the practices against my sister, who I would to God were alive again. I had great occasions to hearken to their motions, of whom some of them are of the Common House. But when friends fall out truth doth appear, according to the old proverb, and were it not for my honor, their knavery should be known. There were occasions in me at that time: [ stood in danger of my life, my sister was so incensed against me. 1 did differ from her in religion and I was sought for divers ways, and so shall never be my successor. “I have conferred before this time with those that are well learned and have asked their opinions touching the limitation of succession, who have been silent—not that by their silence after lawlike manner they have seemed to assent to it, but that indeed they could not tell what to say considering the great peril to the realm and most danger to my- self. But now the matter must needs go trimly and pleasantly, when the bowl runneth all on the one side. And alas, not one amongst them all would answer for us, but all their speeches was for the surety of their country. They would have twelve or fourteen limited in succession and the mo the better. And those shall be of such uprightness and so divine as in them shall be divinity itself. Kings were wont to honor philoso- phers, but if I had such I would honor them as angels, that should have such piety in them that they would not seck where they are the second to be the first, and where the third to be the second, and so forth. “Itis said I am no divine. Indeed, I studied nothing else but divinity till I came to the crown,'” and then I gave myself to the study of that which was meet for government, and am not ignorant of stories wherein 4. second person second in line to the throne, a; zabeth was under Mary Tudor, 10. Elizabeth's claim to have studied nothing but divinity in her youth 1s supported by her translations of religious works-—Marguerite of Navarre’s Mirror of the Sinful Soul Queen Katherine's Prayers or Meditations, Ochino’s Sermo de Christo, and bK. 1, chap. 1, of the French version of Calvin's fustitutes (under the tide “How We Qught to Know God”). SPEECHES 15581572 97 appeareth what hath fallen out for ambition of Kingdoms, as in Span, Naples, Portingal,'" and at home. And what cocking'? hath been be tween the father and the son for the same! You would have a limitation of succession. Truly if reason did not subdue will in me, I would cause you to deal in it, so pleasant a thing it should be unto me. But | stay it for your benefit; for if you should have liberty to treat of it, there be so many competitors—some kinsfolk, some servants, and some tenants; some would speak for their master, and some for their mistress, and every man for his friend—that it would be an occasion of @ greater charge than a subsidy."” And if my will did not yield to reason, it should be that thing I would gladly desire, to see you deal in it. “Well, there hath been error—1I say not errors, for there were too many in the proceeding in this matter. But we will not judge that these attempts were done of any hatred to our person, but even for lack of good foresight. | do not marvel though Domini Doctores' with you, my lords, did so use themselves therein, since after my brother’s death they ./ openly preached and set forth that my sister and 1 were bastards, Well, [ wish not the death of any man, but only this I desire: that they which have been the practitioners herein may betore their deaths repent the same and show some open confession of their faults, whereby the scabbed sheep may be known from the whole. As for my own part, 1 care not for death, for all men are mortal; and though 1 be a woman, yet I have as good a courage answerable to my place as ever my father had. Tam your anointed queen. 1 will never be by violence constramed to do anything. 1 thank God I am indeed endued with such qualities that if 1 were turned out of the realm in my petticoat, I were able to live in any place of Christendom. “Your petition is to deal in the limitation of the succession. At this present, it is not convenient, nor never shall be without some peril unto you and certain danger unto me. But were it not for your peril, at this time I would give place notwithstanding my danger. Your perils are 1. Portingal Portugal. 12. cocking fighung, contention. 13. subsidy taxes granted by Parliament to the sovereign to atd in meeting the expenses of government 14. Domini Doctores Inerally “Doctors of the Lord”— her derisive term for bishops who either spoke for the petition in the House of Lords or attended as members of the Lovds’ delegation on the occaston of the present speech. Among the latter were the archbishop of York {Dr. Thomas Young) and, according to 1Y Ewes, the bishops of London (Edmund Grindal) and Durham (James Pilkington).

98 SPELCHLS 1558-1572 sundry ways, for some may be touched who resteth now in such terms with us as is not meet to be disclosed cither in the Common House or in the Upper House. But as soon as there may be a convenient time and that it may be done with least peril unto you, although never without great danger unto me, 1 will deal therein for your safety and offer it unto you as your prince and head, without request. For it is monstrous that the feet should direct the head. “And therefore, this is my mind and answer, which I would have to be showed in the two Houses; and for the doing thereof, you, my lord chief justice,'* are meetest to do it in the Upper House and you, Cecil, in the Nether House.” And therewith speaking of the speaker, that the Lower House would have had their speaker there, wherein they did not consider that he was not there to speak, she said he was a speaker in- deed, and there ended.' The Aftermath of a Speech SPEECH 9, ADDITIONAL DOCUMENT A CECIL'S REPORT 10 THE FULL HOUSE OF COMMONS NOVEMBER 6, 1566, ON ELIZABETH'S SPEECH OF NOVEMBLR 5' [Endorsed] s November 1566. The report made to the Commons House of the queen’s majesty’s answer by the mouth of me the secretary, William Cecil, with the consent of thirty Lords and twenty-mine Commons. {Headed] 5 November. The sum of the queen’s majesty’s speech to the Lords and Commons assembled to the mumber of sixty. She took knowledge of the petition that was to be made to her consist- ing of two parts, the one for her marriage, the other for the limitation of 15.lord chiefjustice probably Ste Robert Cathin, who was one of the two lord chief justices m attendance and was igned the duties of Sir Nicholas Bacon, who was dl during November. 16. 1n this final sentence the diarist reverts to the third person. Elizabeth’s quip about the r of the Commtons appointed at the beginning of speaker speaking refers to the new spe the parliamentary session. He was S ard Onslowe—the queen’ solicitor general, whu, she suggests, spoke more than a speaker should—that is, took a rather more active part in the creation of the joint delegation than was appropriate, At least one later M8 (BL, Stowe 354), albeit substantially similar 1o the version recorded here, reads instead “she was a speaker indeed” Most modern versions have emended the line accordingly, thereby los- ing 1. Source: PRO, State Papers Domest zabeths wry conclusion, abeth 12/43/y, fol. 145 all in Cecil's hand, At the beth had called upon Cecil to report it 1o the end of her speech on November s, | SPEECHES t558-1572 99 the succession of the crown. Wherein she allowed not the manner of the proceeding in respect of the weight of the matters, but imputed that which she thought therein amiss to lack of foresight than® any evil meaning in any person. And as to her marriage, she said she thought she had so suisfied by her answer thereto that she looked rather tor thanks than for request. But for further satisfaction of any person that might thereof doubt be- cause she had in her former speeches expressed her contrary disposi- tion or mind, she said that ought not to move any person, considering she hath certainly declared her mind to be now otherwise and that she is fully determined to marry. And that should be proved by her deeds as soon as time and occasion would serve, if almighty God should not take away either her own person or the person of him with whom she meant to marry. And at this present she could use no other mean to sat- isfy the doubtful but with the word of a prince, which being in so pub- lic a place ought not to be mustrusted. And in the matter of marriage, she trusted in God’s goodness to have children, for otherwise she v protested that she would never marry. Except the person were present she could not now otherwise proceed, nor in this matter could use any other words for the purpose than she had, and so in the end required to be believed. The other matter for limitation of the succession: she said as it was necessary, which she would not deny, so did she know therein such per- ils to enter into the decision thereof at this present time——as she was fully persuaded in her mind, considering the competitors on all sides and for other causes to her known not meet for this present to be di- vulged abroad—that it was neither for herself nor for her people void of great peril. For she said she knew many causes and some of her own ex- perience, having been a second person to a sister (the late queen meant) how perilous it was for her own person. But yet it she did not also see how perilous it was for her subjects at this time, she would not forbear for her own peril to deal therein. And yet meant she not so to neglect it nor to be careless thereof, but whensoever she should find it less per- “Nether House.” He clearly struggled 1o palliate Elizabeth’s angry language in the speech as she had delivered it. There are no fewer than three drafts of Cecil’s report in the PRO, of which this is the last and probably the version presented to the full House on November 6. After Cecil finished, ominously, “all the House was silent.” See Nea count (1145-40) and Hartley (1:19-65). 2.than rather than,

326 SPEECHES 1588-1603 fear of treachery. But I tell you that I would not desire to live to distrust my faithful and loving people. Let tyrants fear: I have' so behaved my- self that under God I have placed my chiefest strength and safeguard in lthe loyal hearts and goodwill of my subjects. Wherefore I am come v among you at this time but for my recreation and pleasure, being re- solved in the midst and heat of the battle to live and die amongst you all," to lay down for my God and for my kingdom and for my people mine honor and my blood even in the dust. [ know 1 have the body but of a weak and feeble woman, but I have the heart and stomach of a king and of a king of England too—and take foul scorn that Parma® or any prince of Europe should dare to invade the borders of my realm. To the which rather than any dishonor shall grow by me, I myself will venter® my royal blood; I myself will be your general, judge, and rewarder of @M\gjfi. { know that already for your forwardness you have deserved rewards and crowns, and 1 assure you in the word of a prince you shall not fail of them.* In the meantime, my lieutenant gen- eral” shall be in my stead, than whom never prince commanded a more noble or worthy subject. Not doubting but by your concord in the camp and valor in the field and your obedience to myself and my general, we shall shortly have a famous victory over these enemies of my God and of my kingdom.' 3-have Cabala version reads “have always” 4. Cabala version of sentence 1o this point is markedly different: “And therefore 1 am come amongst you, as you see at this time, not for my recreation and disport, but being re- solved in the midst and heat of the battle to live or die amongst you atl” 5. take foul scorn that Parma Cabuala version reads “think foul scorn that Parma or "} Alessandro Farnese, duke of Parma, was regent of the Spanish Netherlands under Philip I1. 6. venter venture, but possibly also “vent”; Cabala version reads instead “take up arms” 7 your virtue Cubula version reads “every one of your virtues, 8. Lassure you...them Cubala version of this clause is"we do assure youin the word of a prince, they shall be duly paid you?” 9. lieutenant general Leicester, whose death came only shortly afterward, in September. 10. Cabla version of final sentence is “Not doubting but by your obedience to my gen- eral, by your concord in the camp, and your valor in the field, we shall shortly have a fa- mous victory over thuse enemies of my God, of my Kingdoms, and of my people” SPEECHES 1588-1603 327 20 GS QUEEN ELIZA H'S LATIN SPEECH TO THE HEADS OF OXFORD UNIVERSITY, SEPTEMBER 28, lsgl' Merits and gratitude have so captured my reason that they compel me to do what reason itself prohibits; for the cares of kingdoms have such great weight that they are wont rather to blunt the wit than to sharpen the memory. Let there be added besides a disuse of this language, which has been such and so constant that in thirty-six years [ scarcely remem- ber using it thirty times. But now the ice is broken: [ have either to stick with it or to get off of it. Your merits are not the exceptional and notable praises (unmerited by me) that you have given me; nor declarations, narrations, and explications in many kinds of learning; nor orations of many and various kinds cruditely and notably expressed; but another thing which is much more precious and more excellent: namely, a love that has never been heard nor written nor known in the memory of man. Of this, parents lack any example; neither does it happen among familiar friends; 1o, nor among lovers, in whose fate faithfulness is not always lncludui,( expencncc itself teaches. It is such that neither per suasions nor threats nor curses can dcslruy On the contrary, time has no power over it-—time that eats away iron, that wears away rocks, can- not disjoin it. Such are your merits, of such a kind that I would think them to be everlasting if | also were cternal. For which, if I had a thou- sand rather than one tongue, I would not be able to express due thanks, so much is the mind able to conceive that it knows not how to express. In gratitude for which, accept thus much of prayer and advice. From the beginning of my reign, my greatest and special concern, care, and watchfulness has been that the realm be kept free as much from exter- nal enemies as from internal tumults, that it, long flourishing for many ages, might not be enfeebled under my hand. Truly, after the guardian- 1. Source: Bodleian Library, University of Oxlord, MS Bodley goo. (For original Latin, sec O, part 2.) Of the many extant manuscript and printed copies of beth's 1592 ociated with the cort: it is written inan elegant ch, this copy 15 the one most closely as itatic hand of the period and bound in a fine gilt and tooked limp veltum cover along with Pro Marcello, dating from the same era, and (on smaller sheets) Latin and English version he Blessed Virgin Mary 10 the Messanians,’ a text that may be refated 10 one of the Oxford debates or entertain- Queen Elizabeth's autograph English translation of Cicero’s of ments offered to the queen in 1592 This volume may have been presented as a gift to one of The italic hand recording Elizabeth’s the Oxford heads during or after the royal visit ctary hand recording her 1593 speech be- speech shows many close similarities to the se fore Parliament (Speech 21, Version 2, p. 130) in Bodleian, MS Eng hist. €19, and may be the work ot the same copyist