The History of England - Vols. 1 to 6 (336 page)
Read The History of England - Vols. 1 to 6 Online
Authors: David Hume
[u]Lives of the Admirals, vol. i. p. 432.
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[d]History of the World, vol. ii. p. 222.
[g]A compendious or brief Examination of certain ordinary Complaints of divers of
our Countrymen. The author says, that in 20 or 30 years before 1581, commodities had in general risen 50 per cent; some more. Cannot you, neighbour, remember, says he, that, within these 30 years, I could in this town buy the best pig or goose I could lay my hands on for four-pence, which now costeth twelve-pence, a good capon for three pence, or four-pence, a chicken for a penny, a hen for two-pence, p. 35. Yet the price of ordinary labour was then eight-pence a day, p. 31.
[h]Lives of the Admirals, vol. i. p. 475.
[i]Digges’s compleat Ambassador.
[k]Strype, vol. iii. Append. p. 54.
[l]Harrison, after enumerating the queen’s palaces, adds: “But what shall I need to
take upon me to repeat all, and tell what houses the queen’s majesty hath? Sith all is hers; and when it pleaseth her in the summer season to recreate herself abroad, and view the estate of the country, and hear the complaints of her poor commons injured by her unjust officers or their substitutes, every nobleman’s house is her palace, where she continueth during pleasure, and till she return again to some of her own, in which she remaineth, so long as she pleaseth.” Book ii. chap. xv. Surely one may say of such a guest, what Cicero says to Atticus, on occasion of a visit payed him by Caesar.
Hospes tamen non is cui diceres, amabo te, eodem ad me cum revertêre. Lib. xiii. Ep.
52. If she relieved the people from oppressions (to whom it seems the law could give no relief) her visits were a great oppression on the nobility.
[m]Biogr. Brit. vol. iii. p. 1791.
[p]Strype, vol. iii. p. 129. Append.
[q]Life of Burleigh published by Collins.
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[NOTE [KK]]
Life of Burleigh published by Collins, p. 44. The author hints, that this quantity of plate was considered only as small in a man of Burleigh’s rank. His words are
his plate was not above fourteen or fifteen thousand pounds:
That he means pounds weight is evident. For, by Burleigh’s will, which is annexed to his life, that nobleman gives away in legacies, to friends and relations, near four thousand pounds weight, which would have been above twelve thousand pounds sterling in value. The remainder he orders to be divided into two equal portions; the half to his eldest son and heir; the other half to be divided equally among his second son and three daughters. Were we therefore to understand the whole value of his plate to be only 14
or 15,000 pounds sterling, he left not the tenth of it to the heir of his family.
[t]This appears from Burleigh’s will: He specifies only the number of ounces to be
given to each legatee, and appoints a goldsmith to see it weighed out to them, without making any distinction of the pieces.
[NOTE [LL]]
Harrison says, “the greatest part of our building in the cities and good towns of England consisteth only of timber, cast over with thick clay to keep out the wind. Certes, this rude kind of building made the Spaniards in queen Mary’s days to wonder; but chiefly when they saw that large diet was used in many of these so homely cottages, insomuch that one of no small reputation amongst them, said, after this manner; These English, quoth he, have their houses made of sticks and dirt, but they fare commonly so well as the king. Whereby it appeareth, that he liked better of our good fare in such coarse cabins, than of their own thin diet in their princely habitations and palaces. The clay with which our houses are commonly impannelled is either white, red, or blue.” Book ii. chap. 12. The author adds, that the new houses of the nobility are commonly of brick or stone, and that glass windows were beginning to be used in England.
[y]Carte, vol. iii. p. 702. from Beaumont’s Dispatches.
[NOTE [MM]]
The following are the words of Roger Ascham, the queen’s preceptor.
“It is your shame (I speak to you all, you young gentlemen of England), that one maid should go beyond ye all in excellency of learning and knowledge of divers tongues.
Point out six of the best given gentlemen of this court, and all they together show not so much good will, spend not so much time, bestow not so many hours daily, orderly, and constantly, for the encrease of learning and knowledge as doth the queen’s majesty herself. Yea I believe, that besides her perfect readiness in Latin, Italian, French, and Spanish, she readeth here now at Windsor more Greek every day, than some prebendary of this church doth Latin in a whole week.—Amongst all benefits PLL v6.0 (generated September, 2011)
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which God had blessed me withal, next the knowledge of Christ’s true religion, I count this the greatest, that it pleased God to call me to be one poor minister in setting forward these excellent gifts of learning,” &c. Page 242. Truly, says Harrison, it is a rare thing with us now to hear of a courtier which hath but his own language; and to say how many gentlewomen and ladies there are that, besides sound knowledge of the Greek and Latin tongues, are thereto no less skilful in the Spanish, Italian, and French, or in some one of them, it resteth not in me, sith I am persuaded, that as the noblemen and gentlemen do surmount, in this behalf, so these come little or nothing at all behind them, for their parts; which industry God continue.——The stranger, that entereth in the court of England upon the sudden, shall rather imagine himself to come into some public school of the university, where many give ear to one that readeth unto them, than into a prince’s palace, if you confer thus with those of other nations. Description of Britain, book ii. chap. 15. By this account, the court had profited by the example of the queen: The sober way of life practised by the ladies of Elizabeth’s court appears from the same author. Reading, spinning, and needle work occupied the elder; music the younger. Id. ibid.
[[M]
at the end of the volume.
[[M]]I believe there is no reader of common sense, who does not see, from the narrative in the text, that the author means to say, that queen Mary refuses constantly to answer before the English commissioners, but offers only to answer in person before queen Elizabeth in person, contrary to her practice during the whole course of the conference, till the moment the evidence of her being an accomplice in her husband’s murder is unexpectedly produced. It is true, the author having repeated four or five times an account of this demand of being admitted to Elizabeth’s presence, and having expressed his opinion, that, as it had been refused from the beginning, even before the commencement of the conferences, she did not expect it would now be complied with; thought it impossible his meaning could be misunderstood (as indeed it was impossible), and not being willing to tire his reader with continual repetitions, he mentions in a passage or two, simply, that she had refused to make any answer. I believe also, there is no reader of common sense who peruses Anderson or Goodall’s collections, and does not see, that, agreeably to this narrative, queen Mary insists unalterably and strenuously on not continuing to answer before the English commissioners, but insists to be heard in person, by queen Elizabeth in person; though once or twice, by way of bravado, she says simply, that she will answer and refute her enemies, without inserting this condition, which still is understood. But there is a person, that has writ an Enquiry historical and critical into the evidence against Mary queen of Scots; and has attempted to refute the foregoing narrative. He quotes a single passage of the narrative in which Mary is said simply to refuse answering; and then a single passage from Goodall, in which she boasts simply that she will answer; and he very civilly and almost directly calls the author a liar, on account of this pretended contradiction. That whole Enquiry, from beginning to end, is composed of such scandalous artifices; and from this instance, the reader may judge of the candour, fair dealing, veracity, and good manners of the Enquirer. There are indeed three events in our history, which may be regarded as touchstones of partymen. An English Whig, PLL v6.0 (generated September, 2011)
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who asserts the reality of the popish plot, an Irish Catholic, who denies the massacre in 1641, and a Scotch Jacobite, who maintains the innocence of queen Mary, must be considered as men beyond the reach of argument or reason, and must be left to their prejudices.
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David Hume,
The History of England, vol. 5
[1778]
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