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CHAP. which he fupplied with arms and provifions; and he XLV. put every thing in a condition for refifting the Spanish invafion, which was daily expected. The deputy, inform1601. ed of the danger, to which the fouthern provinces were expofed, left the profecution of the war against Tyrone, who was reduced to great extremities; and he marched with his army into Munster.

23d Sept.

AT laft, the Spaniards, under Don John d'Aquila, arrived at Kinsale; and Sir Richard Piercy, who commanded in the town with a small garrison of an hundred and fifty men, found himfelf obliged to abandon it on their appearance. These invaders amounted to four thousand men, and the Irish discovered a strong propensity to join them, in order to free themselves from the English government, with which they were extremely difcontented. One chief ground of their complaint, was the introduction of trials by jury; an inftitution, abhorred by that people, though nothing contributes more to the fupport of that equity and liberty, for which the English laws are fo justly celebrated. The Irish alfo bore a great favour to the Spaniards, having entertained the opinion that they themselves were defcended from that nation; and their attachment to the catholic religion proved a new cause of affection to the invaders. D'Aquila affumed the title of general in the holy war for the preservation of the faith in Ireland; and he endeavoured to perfuade the people, that queen Elizabeth was, by several bulls of the pope, deprived of her crown; that her fubjects were abfolved from their oaths of allegiance; and that the Spaniards were come to deliver the Irish from the power of the devil H. Mountjoy found it neceffary to act with vigour, in order to prevent a total infurrection of the Irifh; and having gathered together his forces, he formed the fiege of Kinfale by land; while Sir Richard Levison, with a fmall fquadron, blockaded it by fea. He had no fooner begun his operations than he heard of the arrival of another body of two thousand Spaniards under the command of Alphonfo Ocampo, who had taken poffeffion of Baltimore and Berehaven; and he was obliged to detach Sir George Carew to oppofe their progrefs. Tyrone, meanwhile, with Randal, Mac Surley, Tirel baron of Kelley, and other chieftains of the Irish, had joined Ocampo

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1601.

Ocampo with all their forces, and were marching to the CHA P. relief of Kinfale. The deputy, informed of their defign XLV. by intercepted letters, made preparations to receive them; and being reinforced by Levifon with fix hundred marines, he posted his troops on an advantageous ground, which lay on their paffage, leaving fome cavalry to prevent a fally from d'Aquila and the Spanish garrifon. When Tyrone, with a body of Irish and Spaniards, approached, he was furprized to find the English fo well pofted, and ranged in fuch good order; and he immediately founded a retreat: But the deputy gave orders to puriue him; and having thrown thefe advanced troops into diforder, he followed them to the main body, whom he also attacked, and put to flight, with the flaughter of twelve hundred men. Ocampo was taken prisoner; Tyrone fled into Ulfter; O'Donnel made his escape into Spain; and d'Aquilo, finding himself reduced to the greatest difficulties, was obliged to capitulate upon fuch terms as the deputy prefcribed to him: He surrendered Kinfale and Baltimore, and agreed to evacuate the kingdom. This great blow, joined to other fucceffes, gained by Wilmot, governor of Kerry, and by Roger and Gavin Harvey, threw the rebels into difmay, and gave a profpect of the final reduction of Ireland.

THE Irish war, though fuccessful, was extremely burthenfome on the queen's revenue; and befides the fupplies granted by parliament, which were indeed very fmall, but which they ever regarded as mighty conceffions, the had been obliged, notwithstanding her great fru-, gality, to employ other expedients, fuch as felling the royal demefnes and crown jewels K, and exacting loans from the people in order to fupport this caufe, so effential to the honour and interefts of England. The ne- Od. 27. A ceffi y of her affairs obliged her again to fummon a par-parliament liament; and it here appeared, that though old age was advan ng faft upon her, though fhe had loft much of her popularity by the unfortunate execution of Effex, infomuch that, when the appeared in public, fhe was not attended with the ufual acclamations M, yet the powers of her prerogative, fupported by her vigour, ftill remained as high and uncontroulable as ever.

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CHAP.

XLV.

1601.

THE active reign of Elizabeth had enabled many perfons to diftinguith themfelves in civil and military employments; and the queen, who was not able, from her revenue, to give them any rewards proportioned to their fervices, had made ufe of an expedient, which had been employed by her predeceffors, but which had never been carried to fuch an extreme as under her administration. She granted her fervants and courtiers patents for monopolies; and these patents they fold to others, who were thereby enabled to raise commodities to what price they pleafed, and who put invincible restraints upon all commerce, induftry, and emulation in the arts. It is aftonishing to confider the number and importance of those commodities, which were thus affigned over to patentees. Currants, falt, iron, powder, cards, calf-fkins, fells, pouldavies, ox-fhin-bones, train-oil, lifts of cloth, pot-afhes, annifeeds, vinegar, fea-coals, fteel, aquavitæ, brushes, pots, bottles, falt-petre, lead, accidences, oil, calamint-ftone, oil of blubber, glaffes, paper, ftarch, tin, fulphur, new drapery, dried pilchards, tranfportation of iron ordnance, of beer, of horn, of leather, importation of Spanish wools, of Irish yarn: Thefe are but a part of the commodities, which had been appropriated to monopolifts N. When this lift was read over in the house, a member cried out, Is not bread in the number ?* Bread! faid every one with aftonishment. Yes, I affure you, replied he, if affairs go on at this rate, we fall have bread reduced to a monopoly before next parliament° These monopolifts were fo exorbitant in their demands, that in fome places they railed the price of falt, from fixteen pence a bufhel, to fourteen or fifteen thillings P. Such high profits naturally begot intruders upon their. commerce; and in order to fecure themselves against encroachments, the patentees were armed with high and arbitrary powers from the council, by which they were enabled to opprefs the people at pleasure, and to exact. money from fuch as they thought proper to accufe of in-. terfering with their patent The patentees of falt-petre, having the power of entering into every house, and of committing what havock they pleased in stables, cellars,

N D'Ewes, p. 649, 650, 652. r D'Ewes, p. 647.

o Ibid. p. 648.

Ibid. p. 644, 646, 652.

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1601.

lars, or wherever they fufpected falt-petre might be ga-CH A P thered, commonly extorted money from thofe who de- XLV. fired to free themselves from this damage or trouble R. And while all domeftic intercourse was thus reftrained, left any scope thould remain for industry, almost every species of foreign commerce was confined to exclufive companies, who bought and fold at any price, that they themselves thought proper to offer or exact.

THESE grievances, the moft intolerable for the present, and the most pernicious in their confequences, that ever were known in any age or under any government, had been mentioned in the laft parliament, and a petition had even been presented to the queen, complaining of the patents; but she still perfifted in defending her monopolifts against her people. A bill was now introduced into the lower house, abolishing all these monopolies; and as the former application had been unsuccessful, a law was infifted on as the only certain expedient for correcting these abuses. The courtiers, on the other hand, maintained, that this matter regarded the prerogative, and that the commons could never hope for fuccefs, if they did not make application, in the most humble and respectful manner, to the queen's goodness and beneficence. The topics, which were advanced in the house, and which came equally from the courtiers and the country gentlemen, and were admitted by both, will appear the most extraordinary to fuch as are prepoffeffed with an idea of the privileges enjoyed by the people during that age, and of the liberty poffeffed under the adminiftration of Elizabeth. It was afferted that the queen inherited both an enlarging and a reftraining power; by her prerogative she might fet at liberty what was reftrained by ftatute or otherwise, and by her prerogative she might reftrain what was otherwife at liberty: That the royal prerogative was not to be canvaffed nor disputed nor examined TM; and did not even admit of any limitation ". That abfolute princes, fuch as the fovereigns of England, were a species of divinity. That it was in vain to attempt tying the queen's hands by laws or ftatutes; fince, by means of her difpenfing power, fhe could loofen herself at plea

R D'Ewes, p. 653.. 644, 649.

A a 2

s Ibid. p. 644, 675.

U Ibid. p. 646, 654.

T

fure:

T Ibid. P

XIbid. p. 649.

CHAP.fure Y: And that even if a clause should be annexed to XLV. a statute, excluding her difpenfing power, fhe could firft

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difpenfe with that claufe, and then with the ftatute. After all this difcourfe, more worthy of a Turkish divan than of an English house of commons, according to our prefent idea of this affembly, the queen, who perceived how odious monopolies had become, and what heats were. likely to arife, fent for the fpeaker, and defired him to inform the houfe, that fhe would immediately cancel the moft grievous and oppreffive of these patents A.

THE house was ftruck with aftonishment, and admiration, and gratitude at this extraordinary instance of the queen's goodness and condefcenfion. A member said, with tears in his eyes, that, if a sentence of everlasting happiness had been pronounced in his favour, he could not have felt more joy than that with which he was at present overwhelmed ". Another observed, that this mesfage from the facred person of the queen, was a kind of gofpel or glad-tidings, and ought to be received as fuch, and be written in the tablets of their hearts C.

And it

was farther remarked, that, in the fame manner as the Deity would not give his glory to another, fo the queen herself was the only agent in their prefent profperity and happiness D. The house voted, that the fpeaker, with a committee, should ask permiffion to wait on her majefty, and return her thanks for her gracious conceffions to her people.

WHEN the speaker, with the other members, was introduced to the queen, they all flung themselves on their knees; and remained in that posture a confiderable time, till the thought proper to exprefs her defire, that they fhould rife E. The speaker difplayed the gratitude of the commons; because her facred ears were ever open to hear them, and her bleffed hands ever stretched out to relieve them. They acknowledged, he said, in all duty and

Y D'Ewes, p. 649. Z lbid. p. 640, 645.
B D'Ewes p. 654.

the end of the volume.

A See note at c Ibid,

P. 656. D Ibid. p. 657. E We learn from Hentzner's Travels, that no one fpoke to queen Elizabeth without kneeling; though now and then she raised some with waving her hand. Nay, wherever he turned her eye, every one fell on his knees. Her fucceffor firft allowed his courtiers to omit this ceremony. Even when queen Elizabeth was abfent, those who covered her table, though perfons of quality, neither approached it nor retired from it without kneeling, and that often three times.

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