I March 2. 1635. MY LORD, An Apologetical Letter. Na Time, when Men for reading of Papers concerning State are challenged, it must be a great Hazard to write them, and a greater to fend them from Home, and the moft to fend them to One fo near the Helm as is your Lordfhip, who the next Day (perhaps) may put in the Prince's Hands what is fent him. And then, though what is fet down may be free of great Faults, yet muft it pafs and be understood as it pleafeth the Prince to conftrue it. But what Marius Geminus faid to Julius Cafar, may be faid to King Charles; Cafar, qui apud te audent dicere, magnitudinem tuam ignorant; qui non audent, bumanitatem. And writing to your Lordship,I know to whom I write. Thus the Way of Glory lying near the Gates of Danger, I have adventured this Sheet of Paper, of which I beseech your Lordship to be both Judge and Patron. What a Noise hath been raifed in this Country by profecuting a Piece of Writing, fuppofed to be derogatory to the Honour of the King's Majefty! No Times have been without fuch Men. Wife Men keep their Thoughts locked up in the Cabinets of their Breafts, and fuffer the Faults of Times patiently; Fools rail, cry out, but amend nothing. What ever Advice hath been given for the putting of Libellers to the Extremity of Law, I would fay (with all humble Refpect to grave Statelinen) that, in a Matter of Calumny and Reproach with Subjects, a Prince can do nothing more fitting his own Fame and Reputation, than to flight and contemn them, as belonging nothing to him; and that 'twere better to neglect, than to be too curious in fearching after the Authors. So Theodofius, Honorius and Arcadius were wont to fay, If any Man fpeak Ill of the Emperour, if he do it of Lightness, it is to be contemned; if of Madneß, to be pityed; if of Injury, to be remitted. And Alexander the Great used to fay, Regium eft benefacere & male audire; or, as Plutarch reporteth it, Regium eft,a quibus male audias, magis effe iis beneficum. Nero (otherwise a terrible Prince) when that Pafquil was given out against him, Quis neget Æneæ magnâ de ftirpe Neronem? Suftulit bic Matrem, fuftulit ille patrem. Or, as DION citeth it, Νερών, Ορέσης, Αλκμαίων, Μητροκτονοι He took no Notice of it, followed not the Writers with any Punishment, fought them not, as ye find in Suetonius, Et quofdam,per indicem delatos ad Senatum, affici graviore pœnâ probibuit. Writings, which we fcorn and make none Account of, of themselves vanifh and turn into nought. If we chafe and fret, it would appear that we have been therein touched, and vively. fee in them our own Faults and Misdemeanors taxed and laid open. If thefe Papers for the King's Honour were not to be feen and read, or if they did derogate from the Fame of the Nobles, why were they not fuppreffed and hidden? But is this the Way to fupprefs and hide them? To imprison, arraign, banish, and execute the Perfons near whom they are found? Or is it not rather to turn them a Piece of the Story of the Time, to make fuch a Noife about them, and by feeking to avoid the Smoak to fall into the Fire? What we would most evite and fhun, to be the Authors to bring upon our own Heads? What gained Queen Elizabeth,the Twenty Third of her Reign, by cutting off the Hands of Stubbes and Page, on a Scaffold,for writing that Book against her Marriage with the Duke of Aniou, fave that,out of Horror of that new and unpractifed Punishment, the People acknowledged her to be the right and not uncertain Daughter of King Henry VIII. and fhe began to be feared, where before fhe was beloved of her Subjects? Whom a People fear, they hate, and whom they hate they wish taken away. A Prince fhould be more violent in revenging other Mens Quarrels than his own. That unfortunate Duke of Buckingham,in the Time of Richard III. could make good Ufe, against the Succeffion of the Race of Edward IV. in his Speech to the Commons of London, by remembring them of the ftrange Proceeding of King Edward against a Merchant named Burdet: Who dwelling at the Sign of the Crown,and having faid to his Son, that that after his Death he would make him Heritor of the Crown, meaning his own Houfe, was for this Tale, in Four Hours after, quartered; which Blot is eternally fixt on that Prince. In the Reign of King Kichard III. who had ever known that Pafquil against Three of his Courtiers, Louel, Ratcliff, and Catfby, If this Tyranny had not been mightily extended against that poor Gentleman Collingburn the Maker of it? Ye will fay, it is in a Prince's Power to fupprefs fuch Papers by Authority. That is the only Way to make all Men feck them, and, being found, highly prize them. Tacitus telleth us of certain Verfes of Fabricius Veiento against the Priefts and Senators, which were condemned to be burnt as long as the reading and finding of them was dangerous, they were much fought for, and with Danger read: But being afterwards Licentiate to be read, and the Liberty of having them obtained, they were forgotten, and no Mani cared for them. No Prince, how great foever, can abolish Pens, nor will the Memorials of Ages be extinguifhed by prefent Power, the Pofterity rendering to every one his due Honour and Blame. It is true, that Great Men fhould direct their great Care to Fame, and hold nothing more dear unto them, and he who contemneth it, neglecteth thofe Actions by which it is acquired: But it is Pity,Men fhould be more careful and ftudious of Fame for Times to come, in which they are not, than of Honefty in the Prefent Times in which they live, Sometimes it is great Wisdom in a Prince not to reject and difdain them who freely tell him his Duty, and open to him his Mifdemeanours to the Common-wealth, and the Surmifes and Umbrages of his People and Council for the amending Disorders, and bettering the Form of his Government. As ifa Man fhould tell King Charles, That there is none in all his Kingdoms here can reckon himself Lord of his own Goods amongst fo many Taxes and Taillages, fo much Pilling and Polling. So that Subftance is dayly plucked and pilled from honeft Men to be lafhed out amongst Unthrifts, that as Thucydides writes of the great Plague in his Time at Athens, Men feeing no Hope of Safety fpent all they had in one Night: So the Uncertainty of enjoying, and holding what they have for the prefent, draws the thrifty and unthrifty to one End, for no Man being fure of Lands, and lefs of Money, every Man is turned into a desperate Carelesness of his Estate. As to tell him alfo about this Subject who is the Subject of this Letter, the People fay, Kings feeking Treason fhall find Land,and feeking Land fhall find Treafon. The Denyal of a Prince's Defire was the Destruction of an innocent Naboth; the Voice of the People should not be kept from the Ears of a Prince. up As to unfold to a King, if Ufury be not lawful at all (for it is against Nature that Money fhould beget Money, and not tolerated by the Mofaical Law, and in Ezekiel, cap. 18. v. 13. it is reckoned among the crying. Sins, fuch as are Adultery and Bloodfhed) it being a Sin in the Perfons of Subjects,it is a greater Sin in the Perfon of a Prince; for any Sin is greater in the Perfon of a Prince, than in the Perfons of Subjects, as Sin was worfe and greater in Angels than Men. Nothing is profitable to a Prince which is not joined with Honour; and the State of Kings, unless it stand in Pureness and Fidelity,cannot fubfift in Power. As to tell King Charles, what a ftrange Thing it is to fwear a Man for the true Value of his own Subftance. Since the valuing of Subjects Lands and Rents, Rents were never lefs, nor the Lands worfe; a fecret Scourge of God having followed it, the Country scarce affording Bread to the Labourers of it. Remember David's Numbring the People. In the Times of King Henry VIII. Regnante Cardin Volfeio, this was held uncouth, ftrange and terrible; and no wonder if Men fcar and start at it now, under a Prince of fo meek a Spirit, fo innocently good, who preferreth Peace before War, Reft before Bufinefs, Honesty before Profit. None of all his Kingdom, no, not One being more Holy, more Chafte, nor a better Man; in whom reigneth Shamefastness and Modefty and Patience, taking all worldly Croffes in good Part; never gaping for Glory, nor thirsting after Riches: But only ftudying the Health of his Soul, Peace of his Kingdoms, and how to advance the holy Church, and restore her to her Frft Rents and Integrity. But God knoweth what he hath predeftinated and ordained for the Scourge of this Country, against whofe Ordinance prevaileth no Counsel. A Prince fhould be advertised that the Hatred and Diftaft of Men's prefent Eftates and Fortunes fetteth them on Work and maketh them exceeding earnest to seek Novations; for finding themselves plunged in the Beggary of a miferable Eftate; as many do believe, it turneth not them bafe, nor keepeth them under, but raiseth in them a mad Defire to change their Fortune; and this hath been the Enfign of Male-contents to attempt and enterprize dangerous Matters for it hath often been found that nothing hath fooner armed a People than Poverty, and Poverhath never so often been brought upon a Nation by the Uniruitfulness of the Earth, by Difafters ty M m Difafters of Seas, and other humane Accidents, as by the Avarice of the Officers and Favourites of Princes; who are brought foolishly to believe that, by tearing off the Skins of the Flock,they fhall turn the Shepherd rich. It is 110 Property of a good Shepherd to fhear often his Flock, and ever to milk them. Nor is it of a Prince to gall and perpetually afflict a People by a terrible Exchequer. Brutorum fe Regem facit qui premit fuos. Now in fuch Themes it were not ill for a Prince, to read fan Mariana and George Buchanan's Picce de jure Regni apud Scotos, for his own private and the publick Good. Princes have in their Actions this Difadvantage, that in Matters of Wrong and Injuries concerning their Subjects though they fometimes fuffer, by Reafon of their Power,, being thought i ftronger, they are ever efteemed to do the Wrong; which fhould move them to abstain from all violent Courfes, and think really their Subjects Loffes are their own.. T Ye will then fay, the Cafe of Princes is pitiful,if Writers of infamous Libels he not rigorou fly punished; without all Question the Law is juft and neceffary against them. But, in fome Cafes, good Princes never follow the Rigour and Extremity of Punishment fet down by their Laws, no, not against the naughtieft Subjects, and especially when the Cafe concerneth their own Particulars. There is much to be confidered in the Convoy of fuch Libels: Ifthey contain Truths there is fmall Wrong in fuch Papers, as to call Mary Magdalen a Sinner, Matthew an Publican, Thomas a Misbeliever, Paul a Perfecuter, Peter a Denyer of his Mafter, and the Reft Fugitives from him, and thefe are to be flighted and paft over. If they contain mixed Truths and Appearances, they may be neglected; If they admit no Interpretation, but true and flat Railing, then is a Prince's Patience to be tryed, and the Libel to be fcorned. If they propound Novelty and Caufes of Sedition, upon apparent Grounds,they are to be answered, and by good Reafon to be overthrown. If they be prefented by Way of Supplications,for redreffing of Errors: ! in the State, it is a Question whether they be Libels or not. That Supplication of Humphrey, Duke of Glocefter, to King Henry VI. of England against the Cardinal of Winchester, Arch-bishop of Tork, may have Place amongft Libels for the King is taxed there of notable Dotage. As that, by the Counsel of the Cardinal, he had fet at Liberty the King of Scots, fuffered his Jewels... and Houfhold-Stuff to be fold, granted the Cardinal a Charter of Pardon for taking up his Rents, which were fufficient to have maintained the Wars in France many Years; the fetting the Duke of Orleance at Liberty, against the Duke of Burgundy the great Friend of the English, and many other Points. Yet this being done by Way of Supplication, for Redrefs of Wrongs in the State, he was not threatned for (perhaps) Verity, but remitted to the Council; and, what for Fear, and what for Favour (faith the English Hiftory) the whole Matter was winked at touching the Duke, and nothing laid against the Cardinal, Miferia fumma, ubi de injuria conqueri pro delicto habetur. Thefe, who fet their Prince on Work to follow and purfue fuch an idle Piece of Paper, if they had fair Judges, and powerful Enemies near the Court, may themselves be brought within Compafs of that fame Punishment which they would have laid upon others; as Perillus was brought to take an Effay of his own brazen Bull: For no better are they which relate, divulge, and are Occafioners to have infamous Libels published,than they which write them. And thefe Men have done what in them lay to make that Paper publick, and have recorded, in the Annals of this Kingdom to all Ages, what fhould have been fmothered in the darkest Pits of Oblivion. They have often affembled the King's Majeftie's Subjects, to the great Charges and vain Attendance of many Noblemen and Barons, to fee their Paffions put forward. They have bufied the Prince to condemn others by Power (a Minister of their Attempts) and not purge himself to Pofterity; for fuch a Paper fhould have been answered by a Pen, not by an Ax. There is no Prince. living, no, nor dead, but Subjects have and do both write and fpeak of after their Fancies. Auguftus in a Letter to Tiberius, Noli in hac re indagare et nimium indignari quemquam effe qui de me loquatur male; fatis est enim fi hoc habemus ne quis male facere poffit. And Tiberius, in the Beginning of his Reign, (though after he killed Cremutius Codrus for Words) was wont to fay, in Civitate libera linguam quoque liberam effe debere. Wife Princes have never troubled them felves much about Talkers; weak Spirits cannot fuffer the Liberty of Judgments, nor the In difcretion of Tongues. To ftrive to reftrain them, is the Work of bufy Bodies, who would fain have fomewhat to do, but know not what, nor how to help Domitian to kill Gnats with his Dagger: Having won Points and Conclufions heretofore in the State beyond their Hopes, they begin to fofter great and fhameful Hopes beyond the Reach of obtaining. A Prince fhould be fuch towards his Subjects, as he would have God Eternal towards him, who, full of Mercy, fpareth peopled Cities, and darteth his Thunders amongst the vast and wild Moun tains. Familiar Familiar Epiftles. 1. To Arabella Countess of Lothian. MADAM, Α 3 S thofe Ancients who,when they had given over with Credit any Faculty wherein they excelled, were wont to offer the Tools and Inftruments of their Art to the Shrine of of fome Deity; my Mufical Recreations, giving Place to more laborious, and ferious, (my Lute thefe many Days, like my Mind, lying out of Tune, keeping no Harmony in perfect Difcord) offer thefe Airs and Tabulature to your Ladyfhip's harmonious Virtues: And to whom could they more defervedly appertain,than untoher whofe Goodness of Nature and eminent known Virtues of Mind, may juftly intitle her the only Grace and Mufe of our Northern Climate. Though the Gift be not much worth, I hope your Ladyfhip will deign to accept it, as if it were a greater and more precious, from a Giver brought already in Admiration of your Ladyfhip's Worth, and who defireth nothing more than to remain, Your Ladyfbip's to Command, W. Drummond. 2. To Isabella Countess of Perth. MADAM, You OUR Courtefy hath prevented me; it being mine to offer you Thanks, both for efteeming me worthy fo Honourable a Task, and for meafuring thofe Lines according to Affection, and not their Worth: For if they had any, it was all (as the Moon hath her Light)borrowed from the Rays of your Ladyfhip's own Invention.But thisQuality becometh well your fweet Difpofition, and the Generofity of that Noble Stem of which you have your Birth; as doth the erecting of that notable Monument to your all-worthy Lord; by the which ye have not only obliged all his Kindred now living, but in Ages to come the unborn Pofterity to render you immortal Thanks. Your Defert and good Opinion of me have, by a gracious Violence (if I can be fo happy as to do you Service) won me to remain, your LadyThip's Ever to Command, 3. To the Right Honourable, John Earl of Perth. ૩ that deferves no Question; nor receives his Being any other Breath: The Wind in Autumn ftrows the Earth with old Leaves, then the Spring the Woods with new Indews; yet I have ever thought the Knowledge of Kindred, and the Genealogies of the antient Families of a Country, a Matter fo far from Contempt, that it deferveth highest Praife. Herein confifteth Part of the Knowledge of a Man's own felf. It is a great Spur to Virtue to look back on the Worth of our Line. In this is the Memory of the Dead preferved with the Living: Being more firm and honourable than any Epitaph. The living know that Band which tyeth them to others. By this Man is distinguished from the Reafonless, and the Noble of Men from the bafer Sort. For it often falleth out, though we cannot tell how, for the most Part, that Generofity followeth good Birth and Parentage. This moved me to effay this Table of your Lordfhip's Houfe, which is not inferior to the beft and greateft in this lfle. It is but roughly (I confefs) hewen, nakedly limned, and,after better Informations, to be amended. In Pieces of this Kind, who doth according to fuch Light as he receiveth, is beyond Reprehenfion. 4. To the Right Honourable, John Earl of Traquair. MY LORD, T HE Ocean, though great Rivers with many Currents pay him Tribute, difdains not to receive alfo the leffer Loyal, though ignoble Brooks, which by one only Urn pour themselves into his Bofom no more will your Lordship, after the many Congratu lations of your Country, of the State, of your great Friends, reject the Applaufe of the Mufes (fair, though contemned, Miftreffes) who by me offer this Pofy of Flowers to your Lordship (who is the Flower of Nobleness) in Acknowledgment of your Lordship's conftant Zeal to wards them, and their many Obligations towards you, congratulating your profperous Fortunes, which they wish to encrease, and praying the Heavens at laft may turn fo propitious to Virtuel and true Worth, that though they do not reward them upon Earth, yet the World may feer. that they do not fuffer them ever to ly oppreffed. They have fair Hopes that the Advancement i of your Lordship is the Advancement of them, for the Body preceeding, the Shadow inuft follow. Your Lordfhip being near the Helm of the State, they expect a new Saturnian World: Knowledge must flourish, Ignorance decay, (as Mifts before the Sun) Innocency live guarded, Oppreffion trampled, and they fhall no longer hereafter have Occafion to with, ask or complain. Your Lordship's Servant, 91 W. Drummond. To |