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to hinder them from being impatient, but per"formed them very ill; a small Body of Troops, "under the Command of the Marquis of Saluzzo,

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was hitherto all that he contributed for the League, "whereof he was himself the Author and Head.

"Mean time the Pope was extreamly uneafy at "feeing the Slownefs, or rather Coldnefs, of the two "Monarchs on whom he relied. Indeed he had no "Caufe to complain of Henry, who had made him no Promife, and yet he ceafed not earnestly to

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The SECRET HISTORY of the CARDINAL,

2001. of the Master of the Savoy, and alfo 200 l. of Dr. Highden, Dean of my College at Oxford; 2001. of the Treafurer of the Church, and 2001. of Mr. Ellis, my Chaplain; and another 200l. of a Prieft: I hope the King will reftore it again, forafmuch as it is none of mine.

Sir, quoth Mafter King fton, there is no doubt in the King, • whom you need not diftruft: But, Sir, I pray you where is the Money? Quoth he, I will not conceal it, I warrant you; but • I will declare it unto you before I die, by the Grace of God. Have a little Patience with me, I pray you; for the Money is fafe enough in an honeft Man's Hands, who • will not keep one Penny thereof 'from the King.

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So Matter Kingston departed for that Time, my Lord being • very weak, and about four of the Clock next Morning, as I ⚫ conceived, I asked him, How • he did?-Well, quoth he, if I • had any Meat, I pray you give • me fome.-Sir, quoth I, there is none ready. Then he faid,

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prefs

You are much too blame; for you should have always Meat for me in a Readiness, whenfoever that my Stomach ferves me: I pray you get fome ready for me; for I mean to make myfelf ftrong to-day, to the Intent I may go to Confeffion, and • make me ready for God. Quoth I, I will call up the Cooks to prepare fome Meat, and alfo I will call Mr. Palmer, that he may difcourfe with you till your Meat be ready. With a good Will, quoth my Lord: And 'fo I called Mafter Palmer, who rofe directly and came to my • Lord.

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prefs him to undertake the Defence of the Church; ' as if the Church could not have fubfifted, if the

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Emperor had remained Master of Milan: But he "received only general Anfwers, Henry being un"willing to engage in the Affairs of Italy, where "he could reap no Advantage. In the mean time "the Pope was at an extraordinary Expence, which "threw him into great Streights; for which Reafon "he privately continued with the Vice-roy of Naples a Negotiation, with intent to haften or retard

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By GEORGE CAVENDISH, Efq3

• made of Chicken; and after that he was in his Confeffion the Space of an Hour: And then Mafter Kingston came to • him, and bid him, Good-morrow, and asked him, how he • did?Sir, quoth he, I watch but God's Pleafure to render up my poor Soul to him. I pray you • have me heartily commended unto his Royal Majefty; and befeech him on my Behalf, to call to his princely Remembrance all

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• Matters that have been between us, from the Beginning and the Progrefs; and especially between good Queen Katherine and him, and then fhall his Grace's Con• ftience know whether I have * offended him or not.* He is a • Prince of moft royal Carriage, and bath a princely Heart; but, • rather than be will miss or want any Part of his Will, bé will endanger the one Half of

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his Kingdom. I do affure you I have often kneeled before him, "Sometimes three Hours together, to perfuade him from his Will and Appetite, but could not prevail: And, Mafter Kingfton, bad I but ferved Go D, as diligently as I have ferved the KING, he would not have given me over in my grey Hairs. But this is the juft Reward that 1 must receive for my diligent Pains and Study, not regarding my Service to GOD, but only to my Prince. Therefore let me advife you, if you be one of the Privy-council, as by your Wifdom you are fit, take heed what you put in the King's Head, for you can never put it out again.

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And I defire you further to requeft his Grace, in God's Name, • that he have a vigilant Eye to Suppress the hellish + Lutherans, that they increafe not through his

'great

Here is Plain-dealing iz

*This is coming to the Teft indeed. dying Words; and the Truth discovered, when he had nothing to expect or fear in this Life.

+This, and what follows, we take to be the Effect of his Zeal for the Religion of his Judgment, and not of a perfecuting Spirit, though at VOL. IV.

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firft

"it according to the Proceedings of the Kings of "England and France. Herein he acted agreeable "to his real Temper, which made him always con

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fider the having two Strings to his Bow as the "fafeft Maxim of Policy; but he was always fo unfortuate as to reap, from his Artifices, Fruits contrary to his Hopes. As his fole Aim was to hin"der the Emperor from keeping the Dutchy of "Milan, to that End it was he would have the Kings of England and France make confiderable "Efforts,

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The SECRET HISTORY

"great Negligence, in fuch a fort
as he be compelled to take up
• Arms to fubdue them, as the
King of Bohemia was; whofe
Commons, being infected with
Wickliff's Hereftes, the King
was forced to take that Course.
Let him confider the Story of
Richard the Ild, the Second Son
of his Progenitor, who lived in
the Time of Wickliff's Seditions
and Herefies: Did not the Com-
mons, I pray you, in his Time,
rife against the Nobility and
chief Governors of this Realm;
and at the last some of them
were put to Death without
Fufice or Mercy? And, under
Pretence of having all Things
" common, did they not fall to
Spoiling and Robbing, and at
laft took the King's Perfon, and
carried him about the City,
making him obedient to their Pro-
clamations? Did not alfo the
traiterous Heretick, Sir John
Oldcastle, Lord Cobham, pitch
a Field with Hereticks against

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of the CARDINAL,

King Henry the IVth, where the King was in Perfon and fought against them, to whom GOD gave the Victory?

Alas! if thefe he not plain Prefidents, and fufficint Perfuafions to admonish a Prince, then GOD will take away from us our prudent Rulers, and leave us to the Hands of our Enemies; and then will enfue Mischief upon Mifchief, Inconveniences, Barrenness, and Scarcity for want of good Orders in the Commonwealth, from which GOD of his tender Mercy defend « us!

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Mafter Kingston, farewel, I wish all Things may have good Success; my Time draws on, I may not tarry with you, I pray you remember my Words.

Now began the Time to ' draw near, for he drew his Speech at length, and his Tongue began to fail him, his Eyes perfectly fet in his Head, his Sight failed him. Then we • began

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firft Sight it bears fuch a Face: But the contrary appeared by his Condact; for we do not find, that he ever was the Caufe of any one's Death or Suffering on the Score of Religion.

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"Efforts, after which he would not have fcrupled to have forfaken them, provided the Emperor "had fatisfied him: On that Article Francis was in no better Difpofition in regard to his Allies; his View was to recover his Sons out of Spain, " and could he have fucceeded by treating with the Emperor, he would have as little regarded the Concerns of the Pope and Venetians.

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"As to the Republick of Venice, it was of great "Confequence to her, that the Emperor fhould not re

By GEORGE CAVENDISH, Efq;

began to put him in mind of

"main

than to his fpiritual Func

CHRIST'S Paffion, and caufedtion, wherein he should have ex

the Yeomen of the Guard to ⚫ ftand by privately to see him die, and bear witness of his Words ⚫ and his Departure, who heard all his Communications.

• And then presently the Clock ftruck eight, at which Time ⚫ he gave up the Ghoft, and thus departed he this Life, one of us looking upon another, fuppofing he prophefied of his Departure.

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We fent for the Abbot of the Houfe to anoint him, who fpeedily came as he was ending his Life, who faid certain Prayers before that the Life was out of his Body.

Here is the End and Fall of Pride, for I affure you he was • in his Time the proudest Man alive, having more regard to the Honour of his Perfon,

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preffed more Meekness and Humility. For Pride and Ambition are both linked together; and 'Ambition is like Choler, which is an Humour that makes Men active, earneft, and full of Alacrity and Stirring, if it be not ftopped or hindred in its Course: But, if it be ftopped, and cannot have its Way, it becometh 'aduft, and thereby malign and venemous. So ambitious and proud Men, if they find the Way open for their Rifing and Advancement, and still get forwards, they are rather bufy than dangerous: But, if they be checked in their Defires, they become fecretly discontent, and look upon Men and Matters with an evil Eye, and are best pleased when Things go 'backwards; but I forbear to fpeak any further herein.*

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• The

*We much fufpect the Genuineness of this whole Paragraph: For we cannot easily conceive how Cavendish could fo fuddenly fall into fuch a Tranfition of fevere Reflections, after he had been fo pathetically conducting his Mafter thro' his Adverfity to his Death, and fo

I 2

'fully

main Mafter of the Milanese, and her Expences to “hinder it was nothing, in comparison to the Prejudice fhe would have received, if he peaceably "held that Dutchy: So never ceafing to follicit "the Kings of England and France, fhe continues "the War, though but faintly, in Expectation that "these two Monarchs would bear the greater Part of "the Charge.

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"The Pope ftill continued his Negotiations with the Vice-roy of Naples, which afforded the Venetians

The SECRET HISTORY of the CARDINAL,

The Cardinal being departed, Mafter Kingston fent Post to London one of the Guards: Then was Mafter King fton and the Abbot in Confultation about the Funeral, which was folemnized the Day after, for Mafter King fton would not stay the return of the Poft.*

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They thought good that the Mayor of Leicester and his Brethren fhould fee him perfonally dead, to prevent falfe Reports that he was alive. And in the interim, whilft the Mayor was fent for, his Bones were laid in a Coffin, and his Shirt of Hair and his over Shirt of fine Holland were taken off and were put into the Coffin together, with all fuch Ornaments wherewith he was in ⚫ vefted when he was made Archbishop, as Mitre, Crofs, Ring, and Pall, and all other Things due to his Order.

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Thus he lay that Day with his Coffin opened and bare'faced, that all that defired might fee him; about three of the Clock he was buried by the Abbot with great Solemnity; and, being in the Church, his Corps were fet in the Lady's Chapel with many Tapers, and poor Men about him holding the Torches in their Hands, who watched the Corps all that "Night, whilft the Canons fung ⚫ divers Dirges and other divine 'Orifons: And at four of the 'Clock the next Morning, the • Cardinal's Servants and Mafter

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fully bewing his uncommon Refignation to what befel him, as well as his bearty good Wishes for the Welfare of his Prince and Country, notwithstanding all his Disappointments. And, if it was really his, ave muft pronounce it, an ungenerous, inconfiftent Flourish.

* It rather looks as if thofe about him had poisoned him, by their burrying bis Corps fo foon out of the Way, and calling in the Magiftrates of the Town to fee he was dead. But of this more hereafter,

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