Three Rules to be observed for the Preservation of a Man's Estate.

From Raleigh's Advice to his Son.

Amongst all other things of the world, take care of thy estate, which thou shalt ever preserve if thou observe three things: first, that thou know what thou hast, what everything is worth that thou hast, and to see that thou art not wasted by thy servants and officers. The second is, that thou never spend anything before thou have it; for borrowing is the canker and death of every man's estate. The third is, that thou suffer not thyself to be wounded for other men's faults, and scourged for other men's offences; which is, the surety for another, for thereby millions of men have been beggared and destroyed, paying the reckoning of other men's riot, and the charge of other men's folly and prodigality; if thou smart, smart for thine own sins; and, above all things, be not made an ass to carry the burdens of other men: if any friend desire thee to be his surety, give him a part of what thou hast to spare; if he press thee further, he is not thy friend at all, for friendship rather chooseth harm to itself than offereth it. If thou be bound for a stranger, thou art a fool; if for a merchant, thou puttest thy estate to learn to swim; if for a churchman, he hath no inheritance; if for a lawyer, he will find an invasion by a syllable or word to abuse thee; if for a poor man, thou must pay it thyself; if for a rich man, he needs not therefore from suretyship, as from a manslayer or enchanter, bless thyself; for the best profit and return will be this, that if thou force him for whom thou art bound, to pay it himself, he will become thy enemy; if thou use to pay it thyself, thou wilt be a beggar; and believe thy father in this, and print it in thy thought, that what virtue soever thou hast, be it never so manifold, if thou be poor withal, thou and thy qualities shall be despised. Besides, poverty is ofttimes sent as a curse of God; it is a shame amongst men, an imprisonment of the mind, a vexation of every worthy spirit: thou shalt neither help thyself nor others; thou shalt drown thee in all thy virtues, having no means to shew them; thou shalt be a burden and an eyesore to thy friends; every man will fear thy company; thou shalt be driven basely to beg and depend on others, to flatter unworthy men, to make dishonest shifts: and, to conclude, poverty provokes a man to do infamous and detested deeds; let no vanity, therefore, or persuasion, draw thee to that worst of worldly miseries.

If thou be rich, it will give thee pleasure in health, comfort in sickness, keep thy mind and body free, save thee from many perils, relieve thee in thy elder years, relieve the poor and thy honest friends, and give means to thy posterity to live, and defend themselves and thine own fame. Where it is said in the Proverbs, "That he shall be sore vexed that is surety for a stranger, and he that hateth suretyship is sure;' it is further said, "The poor is hated even of his own neighbour, but the rich have many friends.' Lend not to him that is mightier than thyself, for if thou lendest him, count it but lost; be not surety above thy power, for if thou be surety, think to pay it.

His history was continued by Sir Paul Rycaut (1628-1700), an English traveller and diplomatist.

The Taking of Constantinople by the Turks. A little before day, the Turks approached the walls and began the assault, where shot and stones were delivered upon them from the walls as thick as hail, whereof little fell in vain, by reason of the multitude of the Turks, who, pressing fast unto the walls, could not see in the dark how to defend themselves, but were without number wounded or slain; but these were of the common and worst soldiers, of whom the Turkish king made no more reckoning than to abate the first force of the defendants. Upon the first appearance of the day, Mohammed gave the sign appointed for the general assault, whereupon the city was in a moment, and at one instant, on every side most furiously assaulted by the Turks; for Mohammed, the more to distress the defendants, and the better to see the forwardness of the soldiers, had before appointed which part of the city every colonel with his regiment should assail: which they valiantly performed, delivering their arrows and shot upon the defendants so thick, that the light of the day was therewith darkened; others in the meantime courageously mounting the scaling-ladders, and coming even to handy-strokes with the defendants upon the wall, where the foremost were for the most part violently borne forward by them which followed after. On the other side, the Christians with no less courage withstood the Turkish fury, beating them down again with great stones and weighty pieces of timber, and so overwhelmed them with shot, darts, and arrows, and other hurtful devices from above, that the Turks, dismayed with the terror thereof, were ready to retire.

Mohammed, seeing the great slaughter and discomfiture of his men, sent in fresh supplies of his janissaries and best men of war, whom he had for that purpose reserved as his last hope and refuge; by whose coming on his fainting soldiers were again encouraged, and the terrible assault begun afresh. At which time the barbarous king ceased not to use all possible means to maintain the assault; by name calling upon this and that captain, promising unto some whom he saw forward golden mountains, and unto others in whom he saw any sign of cowardice, threatening most terrible death; by which means the assault became most dreadful, death there raging in the midst of many thousands. albeit that the Turks lay dead by heaps upon the ground, yet other fresh men pressed on still in their places over their dead bodies, and with divers event either slew or were slain by their enemies.

And

In this so terrible a conflict, it chanced Justinianus the general to be wounded in the arm, who, losing much blood, cowardly withdrew himself from the place of his charge, not leaving any to supply his room, and so got into the city by the gate called Romana, which he had caused to be opened in the inner wall; pretending the cause of his departure to be for the binding up of his wound, but being, indeed, a man now altogether discouraged.

The soldiers there present, dismayed with the departure of their general, and sore charged by the janissaries, forsook their stations, and in haste fled to the same gate whereby Justinianus was entered; with the sight whereof the other soldiers, dismayed, ran thither by heaps also. But whilst they violently strive altogether to get in at once, they so wedged one another in the entrance of the gate, that few of so great a multitude got in; in which so great a press and confusion of followed trodden under foot, or thrust to death. The minds, eight hundred persons were there by them that emperor himself, for safeguard of his life, flying with the rest in that press as a man not regarded, miserably ended his days together with the Greek empire. His dead body was shortly after found by the Turks among

looked into most libraries, registers, and memorials of churches, cities, and corporations; I have pored over many an old roll and evidence, and produced their testimony, as beyond all exception, when the cause required, in their very own words-although barbarous they be that the honour of verity might in nowise be impeached.

For all this I may be censured as unadvised, and scant modest, who, being but of the lowest form in the school of antiquity, where I might well have lurked in obscurity, have adventured as a scribbler upon the stage in this learned age, amidst the diversities of relishes both in wit and judgment. But to tell the truth unfeignedly, the love of my country, which compriseth all love in it, and hath endeared me to it, the glory of the British name, the advice of some judicious friends, hath overmastered my modesty, and-willed I, nilled I-hath enforced me, against mine own judgment, to undergo this burden too heavy for me, and so thrust me forth into the world's view. For I see judgments, prejudices, censures, aspersions, obstructions, detractions, affronts, and confronts, as it were, in battle-array, to environ me on every side; some there are which wholly contemn and avile this study of antiquity as a back-looking curiosity; whose authority, as I do not utterly vilify, so I do not overprize or admire their judgment. Neither am I destitute of reason whereby I might approve this my purpose to well-bred and well-meaning men, which tender the glory of their native country; and, moreover, could give them to understand that, in the study of antiquity-which is always accompanied with dignity, and hath a certain resemblance with eternity-there is a sweet food of the mind well befitting such as are of honest and noble disposition. If any there be which are desirous to be strangers in their own soil, and foreigners in their own city, they may so continue, and therein flatter themselves. For such like I have not written these lines, nor taken these pains.

The Britannia has gone through many subsequent editions, and has proved so useful a repository of antiquarian and topographical knowledge, that it has been styled by Bishop Nicolson 'the common sun, whereat our modern writers have all lighted their little torches.' The last edition is that of 1789, in two volumes folio, largely augmented by Mr Gough.

In 1593, Camden became head-master of Westminster School, and, for the use of his pupils, published a Greek Grammar in 1597. In the same year, however, his connection with that seminary came to an end, on his receiving the appointment of Clarencieux king-of-arms, an office which allowed him more leisure for his favourite pursuits. The principal works which he subsequently published are: 1. An Account of the Monuments and Inscriptions in Westminster Abbey; 2. A Collection of Ancient English Historians; 3. A Latin Narrative of the Gunpowder Plot, drawn up at the desire of James VI.; and, 4. Annals of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth, also in Latin. The last of these works is praised by Hume as good composition, with respect both to style and matter, and as being 'written with simplicity of expression, very rare in that age, and with a regard to truth.' It is, however, generally considered as too favourable to Elizabeth; and Dr Robertson characterises the account of Scottish affairs under Queen Mary as less accurate than any other. Camden died unmarried in 1623, at the age of seventy-two, and was interred in Westminster Abbey. Not long before his death, he founded and endowed a history lecture at Oxford.

SIR HENRY SPELMAN-SIR ROBERT COTTONJOHN SPEED-SAMUEL DANIEL SIR JOHN HAYWARD.

SIR HENRY SPELMAN, a man of similar tastes, and who was intimate with Camden, was born in 1562 at Congham, in Norfolk, of which county he was high-sheriff in 1604. His works are almost all upon legal and ecclesiastical antiquities. Having, in the course of his investigations, found it necessary to study the Saxon language, he embodied the fruits of his labour in his great work called Glossarium Archæologicum, the object of which is the explanation of obsolete words occurring in the laws of England. Another of his productions is A History of the English Councils, published partly in 1639, and partly after his death, which took place in 1641. The writings of this author have furnished valuable materials to English historians, and he is considered as the restorer of Saxon literature, both by means of his own studies, and by founding a Saxon professorship at Cambridge.-SIR ROBERT COTTON (1570-1631) is celebrated as an industrious collector of records, charters, and writings of every kind relative to the ancient history of England. In the prosecution of his object he enjoyed unusual facilities, the recent suppression of monasteries having thrown many valuable books and written documents into private hands. In 1600, he accompanied his friend Camden on an excursion to Carlisle, for the purpose of examining the Picts' wall and other relics of former times. It was principally on his suggestion that James I. resorted to the scheme of creating baronets, as a means of supplying the treasury; and he himself was one of those who purchased the distinction. Sir Robert Cotton was the author of various historical, political, and antiquarian works, which are now of little interest, except to men of kindred tastes. His name is remembered chiefly for the benefit which he conferred upon literature, by saving his valuable library of manuscripts from dispersion. After being considerably augmented by his son and grandson, it became, in 1706, the property of the public, and in 1757 was deposited in the British Museum. One hundred and eleven of the manuscripts, many of them highly valuable, had before this time been unfortunately destroyed by fire. During his lifetime, materials were drawn from his library by Raleigh, Bacon, Selden, and Herbert; and he furnished literary assistance to many contemporary authors. Besides aiding Camden in the compilation of the Britannia, he materially assisted JOHN SPEED (1552–1629), by revising, correcting, and adding to a History of Great Britain, published by that writer in 1614. Speed was indebted also to Spelman and others for contributions. He is characterised by Bishop Nicolson as 'a person of extraordinary industry and attainments in the study of antiquities.' Being a tailor by trade, he enjoyed few advantages from education; yet his history is a highly creditable performance, and was long the best in existence. He was the first to reject the fables of preceding chroniclers concerning the origin of the Britons, and to exercise a just discrimination in the selection of authorities. His history commences with the original inhabitants

of the island, and extends to the union of England and Scotland under King James, to whom the work is dedicated. In 1606, he published maps of Great Britain and Ireland, with the English shires, hundreds, cities, and shire-towns. This collection was superior to any other that had appeared.-SAMUEL DANIEL (1562-1619), who has already been mentioned as a poet, distinguished himself also as a writer of prose. Besides A Defence of Rhyme, published in 1611, he composed A History of England, of which only the first and second parts-extending from the Norman Conquest to the end of the reign of Edward III.-were completed by himself. Of these, the first appeared in 1613, and the second about five years later. Being a judicious and tasteful performance, and written in a clear, simple, and agreeable style, the work became very popular, and soon passed through several editions. It was continued, in an inferior manner, to the death of Richard III. by John Trussel, an alderman of Winchester. Like Speed, Daniel was cautious in giving credit to narratives of remote events, as will appear from his remarks, here subjoined:

Uncertainty of the Early History of Nations. Undertaking to collect the principal affairs of this

kingdom, I had a desire to have deduced the same from the beginning of the first British kings, as they are registered in their catalogue; but finding no authentical warrant how they came there, I did put off that desire with these considerations: That a lesser part of time, and better known-which was from William I. surnamed the Bastard-was more than enough for my ability; and how it was but our curiosity to search further back into times past than we might discern, and whereof we could neither have proof nor profit; how the beginnings of all people and states were as uncertain as the heads of great rivers, and could not add to our virtue, and, peradventure, little to our reputation to

know them, considering how commonly they rise from the springs of poverty, piracy, robbery, and violence; howsoever fabulous writers, to glorify their nations, strive to abuse the credulity of after-ages with heroical or miraculous beginnings. For states, as men, are ever best seen when they are up, and as they are, not as they were. Besides, it seems, God, in His providence, to check our presumptuous inquisition, wraps up all things in uncertainty, bars us out from long antiquity, and bounds our searches within the compass of a few ages, as if the same were sufficient, both for example and instruction, to the government of men. For had we the particular occurrents of all ages and all nations, it might more stuff, but not better our understanding; we shall find still the same correspondences to hold in the actions of men; virtues and vices the same, though rising and falling, according to the worth or weakness of governors; the causes of the ruins and mutations of states to be alike, and the train of affairs carried by precedent, in a course of succession, under like colours.

SIR JOHN HAYWARD, in 1599, published The First Part of the Life and Reign of Henry IV. which he dedicated to the Earl of Essex. Some passages in it gave such offence to the queen, that she caused the author to be imprisoned. He was patronised by James I. however; and at the desire of Prince Henry, composed Lives of the Three Norman Kings of England (1613). After his death, which happened in 1627, was published (1630) his Life and Reign of King Edward VI. with the Beginning of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth. He writes with considerable smoothness,

but in a dramatic style, imitating Livy and other ancient historians in the practice of putting speeches into the mouths of his historic characters. Queen Elizabeth, it is said, ordered Lord Bacon to search Hayward's Life of Henry IV. to see if it contained any treason. Bacon reported that there was no treason, but that there were many felonies; for the author had stolen many of his sentiments and conceits out of Tacitus.

RICHARD GRAFTON:

We now revert to a useful class of writers, the English chroniclers; a continuous succession of whom appeared during this period. The first was RICHARD GRAFTON, a printer in London in the reigns of Henry VIII. and three succeeding monarchs. Being employed, after the death of Edward VI. to prepare the proclamation which declared the succession of Lady Jane Grey to the crown, he was, for this simple professional act, deprived of his patent, and committed to prison. While there, he compiled An Abridgment of the Chronicles of England, published in 1563; also a Manuel of the Chronicles of England, 1565; A Chronicle at large and Meere History of the Affayres of England, &c. 1568-69, two volumes. Grafton's works are of little value or authority. His death took place some time after 1572.

JOHN STOW.

JOHN STOW enjoys a much higher reputation as an accurate and impartial recorder of public events. This industrious writer was born in London about the year 1525. He was the son of a tailor, and brought up to the same trade, but early exhibited a decided turn for antiquarian research. About the year 1560, he formed the design of composing annals of English history, and travelled on foot through a considerable part of England, for the purpose of examining the historical manuscripts preserved in cathedrals and other public establishments. He also enlarged, as far as his pecuniary resources allowed, his collection of old books and manuscripts, of which there were many scattered through the country, in consequence of the suppression of monasteries by Henry VIII. Necessity, however, compelled him to resume his trade, and his studies were suspended till the bounty of Dr Parker, archbishop of Canterbury, enabled him again to prosecute them. In 1565, he published his Summary of English Chronicles, dedicated to the Earl of Leicester, at whose request the work was undertaken.

and according to Bishop Bale, the universities were not all clear as

* Vast numbers of books were at this period wantonly destroyed; to this 'detestable fact.' Bale adds: 'I know a merchantmanwhich shall at this time be nameless-that bought the contents of two noble libraries for forty shillings price: a shame it is to be spoken. This stuff hath he occupied instead of gray paper, by the space of more than these ten years, and yet hath he store enough for as many years to come.'-Bale's Declaration, &c. quoted in Collier's Eccles. Hist. ii. 166. Another illustration is given by the editor of Letters written by Eminent Persons in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries (London, 1813). 'The splendid and magnificent abbey of Malmesbury,' says he, which possessed some of the finest manuscripts in the kingdom, was ransacked, and its treasures either sold or burned to serve the commonest purposes of life. An antiquary who travelled through that town many years after the dissolution, relates that he saw broken windows patched up with remnants of the most valuable manuscripts on vellum, and that the bakers had not even then consumed the

stores they had accumulated, in heating their ovens ! The greater part of the manuscripts, we suspect, would be merely missals and charters of the monasteries.

Archbishop Parker's death, in 1575, reduced Stow's income, but he managed to continue his researches, to which his whole time and energies were now devoted. At length, in 1598, appeared his Survey of London, the best known of his writings, and which has served as the groundwork of all subsequent histories of the metropolis. There was another work, his large Chronicle, or History of England, on which forty years' labour had been bestowed, which he was very desirous to publish; but of this he succeeded in printing only an abstract, entitled Flores Historiarum, or Annals of England (1600). A volume published from his papers after his death, entitled Stow's Chronicle, does not contain the large work now mentioned, which, though left by him fit for the press; seems to have somehow gone astray. In his old age, he fell into such poverty as to be driven to solicit charity from the public. Having made application to James I. he received the royal license to repair to churches, or other places, to receive the gratuities and charitable benevolence of well-disposed people.' It is little to the honour of the contemporaries of this worthy and meritorious citizen, that he should have been literally reduced to beggary. Under the pressure of want and disease, Stow died in 1605, at the advanced age of eighty years. His works, though possess ing few graces of style, have always been esteemed for accuracy and research. He often declared that, in composing them, he had never allowed himself to be swayed either by fear, favour, or malice; but that he had impartially, and to the best of his knowledge, delivered the truth. So highly was his accuracy esteemed by contemporary authors, that Bacon and Camden took statements upon his sole credit.

RAPHAEL HOLINSHED-WILLIAM HARRISON

JOHN HOOKER-FRANCIS BOTEVILLE.

Among all the old chroniclers, none is more frequently referred to than RAPHAEL HOLINSHED, of whom, however, almost nothing is known, except that he was a principal writer of the Chronicles which bear his name, and that he died about the year 1582. Among his coadjutors were WILLIAM HARRISON, a clergyman, JOHN HOOKER, an uncle of the author of the Ecclesiastical Polity, and FRANCIS BOTEVILLE, of whom nothing has been recorded but that he was a man of great learning and judgment, and a wonderful lover of antiquities.' The diligent John Stow, also, was among the contributors. Prefixed to the historical portion of the work is a description of Britain and its inhabitants, by William Harrison, which continues to be highly valued, as affording an interesting picture of the state of the country and manners of the people in the sixteenth century. This is followed by a history of England to the Norman Conquest, by Holinshed; a history and description of Ireland, by Richard Stanihurst; additional chronicles of Ireland, translated or written by Hooker, Holinshed, and Stanihurst; a description and history of Scotland, mostly translated from Hector Boece, by Holinshed or Harrison; and, lastly, a history of England, by Holinshed, from the Norman Conquest to 1577, when the first edition of the Chronicles was published. In the second edition, which appeared in

1587, several sheets containing matter offensive to the queen and her ministers were omitted; but these have been restored in the excellent edition in six volumes quarto published in London in 1807-8. It was from Holinshed-who followed Boece-that Shakspeare derived the groundwork of his tragedy of Macbeth. As a specimen of these Chronicles, we are tempted to quote some of Harrison's sarcastic remarks on the degeneracy of his contemporaries, their extravagance in dress, and the growth of luxury among them.

Character of the English.

An Englishman [Andrew Boord], endeavouring somehis purpose, supposing by some of them to find out one time to write of our attire, made sundry platforms for steadfast ground whereon to build the sum of his discourse. But in the end, when he saw what a difficult piece of work he had taken in hand, he gave over his travel, and only drew the picture of a naked man, unto whom he gave a pair of shears in the one hand, and a piece of cloth in the other, to the end he should shape his apparel after such fashion as himself liked, sith he could find no kind of garment that could please him anywhile together, and this he called an Englishman. Certes this writer (otherwise a lewd popish hypocrite and ungracious priest) shewed himself herein not to be of our nation, even from the courtier to the carter, is altogether void of judgment, sith the fantastical folly such, that no form of apparel liketh us longer than the first garment is in the wearing, if it continue so long and be not laid aside, to receive some other trinket newly devised by the fickle-headed tailors, who covet to have several tricks in cutting, thereby to draw fond customers to more expense of money.

For my part I can tell better how to inveigh against this enormity than describe any certainty of our attire; sithence such is our mutability, that to-day there is none to the Spanish guise, to-morrow the French toys are most fine and delectable, ere long no such apparel as that which is after the high Alman [German] fashion, by-and-by the Turkish manner is generally best liked of, otherwise the Morisco gowns, the Barbarian sleeves, and the short French breeches make such a comely vesture, that except it were a dog in a doublet, you shall not see any so disguised as are my countrymen of England. And as these fashions are diverse, so likewise it is a world to see the costliness and the curiosity, the excess and the vanity, the pomp and the bravery, the change and the variety, and finally, the fickleness and folly that is in all degrees, insomuch that nothing is so constant in England as inconstancy of attire.

O how much cost is bestowed now-a-days upon our bodies, and how little upon our souls! How many suits of apparel hath the one, and how little furniture hath the other! How long time is asked in decking up latter! How curious, how nice also, are a number of of the first, and how little space left wherein to feed the men and women, and how hardly can the tailor please them in making it fit for their bodies! How many times must it be sent back again to him that made it! What chafing! What fretting! What reproachful language doth the poor workman bear away! And many times when he doeth nothing to it at all, yet when it is brought home again, it is very fit and handsome: then must we put it on, then must the long seams of our hose be set by a plumb-line, then we puff, then we blow, stand well upon us. and finally sweat till we drop, that our clothes may which sometimes are polled, sometimes curled, or sufI will say nothing of our heads, fered to grow at length like woman's locks, many times cut above or under the ears round as by a wooden dish. Neither will I meddle with our variety of beards, of which some are shaven from the chin like those of Turks, not a few cut short like to the beard of Marquis Otto,