that, besides his universal capacity and judgment, was notably exercised and practised in matters of religion and the church, which in these times, by the confused use of both swords, are become so intermixed with considerations of estate, as most of the counsels of sovereign princes or republics depend upon them; but nothing did more fill foreign nations with admiration and expectation of his succession than the wonderful and, by them, unexpected consent of all estates and subjects of England, for the receiving of the king without the least scruple, pause, or question. For it had been generally dispersed by the fugitives beyond the seas, who, partly to apply themselves to the ambition of foreigners, and partly to give estimation and value to their own employments, used to represent the state of England in a false light, that after Queen Elizabeth's decease there must follow in England nothing but confusions, interreigns, and perturbations of estate, likely far to exceed the ancient calamities of the civil wars between the houses of Lancaster and York, by how much more the dissensions were like to be more mortal and bloody when foreign competition should be added to domestical, and divisions for religion to matter of title to the crown. And in special, Parsons the Jesuit, under a disguised name, had not long before published an express treatise, wherein, whether his malice made him believe his own fancies, or whether he thought it the fittest way to move sedition, like evil spirits, which seem to foretell the tempest they mean to move; he laboured to display and give colour to all the vain pretences and dreams of succession which he could imagine, and thereby had possessed many abroad that knew not the affairs here, with those his vanities. Neither wanted there here within this realm divers persons both wise and well affected, who, though they doubted not of the undoubted right, yet setting before themselves the waves of people's hearts, guided no less by sudden and temporary winds than by the natural course and motion of the waters, were not without fear what might be the event. For Queen Elizabeth being a princess of extreme caution, and yet one that loved admiration above safety, and knowing the declaration of a successor might in point of safety be disputable, but in point of admiration and respect assuredly to her disadvantage, had from the beginning set it

down for a maxim of estate to impose a silence touching succession. Neither was it only reserved as a secret of estate, but restrained by severe laws, that no man should presume to give opinion or maintain argument touching the same; so, though the evidence of right drew all the subjects of the land to think one thing, yet the fear of danger of law made no man privy to others' thought. And therefore it rejoiced all men to see so fair a morning of a kingdom, and to be thoroughly secured of former apprehensions, as a man that awaketh out of a fearful dream. But so it was, that not only the consent but the applause and joy was infinite, and not to be expressed, throughout the realm of England, upon this succession; whereof the consent, no doubt, may be truly ascribed to the clearness of the right, but the general joy, alacrity, and gratulation, were the effects of differing causes. For Queen Elizabeth, although she had the use of many both virtues and demonstrations that might draw and knit unto her the hearts of her people, yet nevertheless carrying a hand restrained in gift, and strained in points of prerogative, could not answer the votes either of servants or subjects to a full contentment, especially in her latter days, when the continuance of her reign, which extended to fiveand-forty years, might discover in people their natural desire and inclination towards change; so that a new court and a new reign were not to many unwelcome. Many were glad, and especially those of settled estate and fortune, that the fears and uncertainties were overblown, and that the die was cast. Others, that had made their way with the king, or offered their service in the time of the former queen, thought now the time was come for which they had prepared; and generally all such as had any dependence upon the late earl of Essex, who had mingled the service of his own ends with the popular pretence of advancing the king's title, made account their cause was amended. Again, such as might misdoubt they had given the king any occasion of distaste, did contend by their forwardness and confidence to show it was but their fastness to the former government, and that those affections ended with the time. The papists nourished their hopes, by collating the case of the papists in England and under Queen Elizabeth, and the case of the papists in Scotland under the king; interpreting that the condition of

them in Scotland was the less grievous, and divining of the king's government here accordingly, besides the comfort they ministered to themselves from the memory of the queen his mother. The ministers, and those which stood for the presbytery, thought their cause had more sympathy with the discipline of Scotland than the hierarchy of England, and so book themselves to be a degree nearer their desires. Thus had every condition of persons some contemplation of benefit, which they promised themselves-over-reaching, perhaps, according to the nature of hope, but yet not without some probable ground of conjecture. At which time also there came forth in print the king's book, entitled Barıλıkòv A☎pov, containing matter of instruction to the prince his son touching the office of a king; which book falling into every man's hand, filled the whole realm, as with a good perfume or incense, before the king's coming in; for being excellently written, and having nothing of affectation, it did not only satisfy better than particular reports touching the king's disposition, but far exceeded any formal or curious edict or declaration, which could have been devised of that nature, wherewith princes in the beginning of their reigns do use to grace themselves, or at least express themselves gracious in the eyes of their people. And this was for the general the state and constitution of men's minds upon this change; the actions themselves passed in this manner

JULIUS Cæsar, at the first, encountered a rugged fortune, which turned to his advantage: for this curbed his pride, aud spurred his industry. He was a man of unruly passions and desires; but extremely clear and settled in his judg ment and understanding: as appears by his ready address. to extricate himself both in action and discourse; for no man ever resolved quicker, or spoke clearer. But his will

and appetite were restless, and ever launched out beyond his acquisitions; yet the transitions of his actions were not rash, but well concerted: for he always brought his undertakings to complete and perfect periods. Thus, after having obtained numerous victories, and procured a great degree of security in Spain, he did not slight the remains of the civil war in that country; but having, in person, seen all things fully composed and settled there, he immediately went upon his expedition against the Parthians.

He was, without dispute, a man of a great and noble soul; though rather bent upon procuring his own private advantage, than good to the public: for he referred all things to himself, and was the truest centre of his own actions. Whence flowed his great and almost perpetual felicity and success: for neither his country nor religion, neither good offices, relations, nor friends, could check or moderate his designs. Again, he was not greatly bent upon preserving his memory; for he neither established a state of things, built lasting monuments, nor enacted laws of perpetuity, but worked entirely for his own present and private ends; thus confining his thoughts within the limits of his own times. It is true, he endeavoured after fame and reputation, as he judged they might be of service to his designs; but certainly, in his heart, he rather aimed at power than dignity, and courted reputation and honours only as they were instruments of power and grandeur. So that he was led, not by any laudable course of discipline, but by a kind of natural impulse, to the sovereignty; which he rather affected to seize, than appear to deserve.

This procedure ingratiated him with the people, who haa no dignity to lose; but, among the nobility and gentry, who desired to retain their honours, it gained him the character of a bold, aspiring man. And certainly they judged right; for he was naturally very audacious, and never put on the appearance of modesty but to serve a turn. Yet this daring spirit of his was so tempered, that it neither subjected him to the censure of rashness, or intolerable haughtiness, nor rendered his nature suspected; but was taken to proceed from a certain simplicity and freedom of behaviour, joined with the nobility of his birth. And in all other respects he had the reputation, not of a cunning and designing, but of an

open

and sincere man. And though he was a perfect master of dissimulation, and wholly made up of art, without leaving anything to nature but what art had proved, yet nothing of design or affectation appeared in his carriage: so that he was thought to follow his own natural disposition. He did not, however, stoop to any mean artifices, which men unpractised in the world, who depend not upon their own strength, but the abilities of others, employ to support their authority for he was perfectly skilled in all the ways of men, and transacted everything of consequence in his own person, without the interposition of others.

He had the perfect secret of extinguishing envy, and thought it proper in his proceedings to secure this effect, though with some diminution of his dignity. For being wholly bent upon real power, he almost constantly declined, and contentedly postponed all the empty show, and gaudy appearance of greatness: till at length, whether satiated with enjoyment, or corrupted by flattery, he affected even the ensigns of royalty, the style and diadem of a king, which proved his ruin. He entertained the thought of dominion from his very youth; and this was easily suggested to him by the example of Sylla, the affinity of Marius, the emulation of Pompey, and the corruption and troubles of the times. But he paved his way to it in a wonderful manner: first, by a popular and seditious, and afterwards by a military and imperial force. For at the entrance he was to break through the power and authority of the senate; which remaining entire, there was no passage to an immoderate and extraordinary sovereignty. Next, the power of Crassus and Pompey was to be subdued, which could not be but by arms. And, therefore, like a skilful architect of his own fortune, he began and carried on his first structure by largesses; by corrupting the courts of justice; by renewing the memory of Caius Marius and his party, whilst most of the senators and nobility were of Sylla's faction; by the Agrarian laws; by seditious tribunes, whom he instigated; by the fury of Catiline, and his conspirators, whom he secretly favoured; by the banishment of Cicero, upon whom the authority of the senate turned; and other the like artifices: but what finished the affair, was the alliance of Crassus and Pompey, joined with himself.