lowing, he embarked again for Brussels; and, on the 22d, had an audience of the archduke, whom having prevailed upon to treat with the queen, he returned home, April 9, 1600, and was received by her majesty with great favour, and highly commended for his sufficiency in his negotiation. Soon after he was appointed one of the commissioners for the treaty of Boulogne, together with sir Henry Neville, the queen's ambassador in France, John Herbert, esq. her majesty's second secretary, and Robert Beale, esq. secretary to the council in the North; their commission being dated the 10th of May, 1600. The two last, with Mr. Edmondes, left London the 12th of that month, and arrived at Boulogne the 16th, as sir Henry Neville did the same day from Paris. But, after the commissioners had been above three months upon the place, they parted, July 28th, without ever assembling, owing to a dispute about precedency between England and Spain. Mr. Edmondes, not long after his return, was appointed one of the clerks of the privy-council; and, in the end of June 1601, was sent to the French king to complain of the many acts of injustice committed by his subjects against the English merchants. He soon after returned to England; but, towards the end of August, went again, and waited upon king Henry IV. then at Calais; to whom he proposed some measures, both for the relief of Ostend, then besieged by the Spaniards, and for an offensive alliance against Spain. After his return to England he was appointed one of the commissioners for settling, with the two French ambassadors, the depredations between England and France, and preventing them for the future. The 20th of May, 1603, he was knighted by king James I; and, upon the conclusion of the peace with Spain, on the 18th of August, 1604, was appointed ambassador to the archduke at Brussels. He set out for that place the 19th of April, 1605; having first obtained a reversionary grant of the office of clerk of the crown: and, though absent, was chosen one of the representatives for the Burgh of Wilton, in the parliament which was to have met at Westminster, Nov. 5, 1605, but was prevented by the discovery of the gunpowder-plot. During his embassy he promoted, to the utmost of his power, an accommodation between the king of Spain and the States-General of the United Provinces *.

* It appears from some of his dispatches, that prince Mauriee was ex

tremely averse to an accommodation; and used all the efforts imaginable, to

He was recalled in 1609, and came back to England about the end of August, or the beginning of September. In April 1610, he was employed as one of the assistant-commissioners, to conclude a defensive league with the crown of France; and, having been designed, ever since 1608, to be sent ambassador into that kingdom*, he was dispatched thither in all haste, in May 1610, upon the news of the execrable murder of king Henry IV. in order to learn the state of affairs there. He arrived at Paris, May 24th, where he was very civilly received; and on the 27th of June, had his audience of Mary de Medicis, queen regent; the young king (Lewis XIII.) being present. In November following he caused an Italian to be apprehended at Paris for harbouring a treasonable design against his master, king James I. There being, in 1613, a competition between him and the Spanish ambassador about precedency, we are told that he went to Rome privately, and brought a certificate out of the pope's ceremonial, shewing that the king of England is to precede the king of Castile. He was employed the same year in treating of a marriage between Henry prince of Wales and the princess Christine, sister of Lewis XIII. king of France; but the death of that prince, on the 6th of November 1612, put an end to this negotiation. And yet, on the 9th of the same month, orders were sent him to propose a marriage between the said princess and our prince Charles, but he very wisely declined opening such an affair so soon after

persuade Henry IV. to prevent the success of the treaty about the truce. And, while it was negociating, he was of a very craving humour; for, not satisfied with the large treatments granted by the States, not contented with the restitution from the archdukes of all the prince of Orange's land in Burgundy, and the Netherlands, he farther demanded satisfaction for certaiu pretensions, grounded upon grauts to his father from the States of Brabant and Flanders, which carried with them no show of equity. In his conduct he appeared to have been of a very warm temper; apt to fly out upon contradiction, and to embrace hasty resolutions, from which he was afterwards obliged to recede, in a manner that did him no credit.

* It is no small compliment to sir Thomas, that he was not a favourite at the French court. Mr. de Puisieux, one of the French prime ministers,

takes notice in a letter to their ambassador in England, that they would get nothing by having him in the room of sir George Carew, since sir Thomas Edmondes understood them too well. "If he should be sent," adds Mr. de Puisieux, "it is only with a design to make a fuller discovery of our affairs. We cannot nor ought to oppose openly the appointment of him; but whoever čan underhand divert this stroke would, in my opinion, do a good service." And secretary de Villeroy, in a letter to the above-mentioned ambassador, has these words: "Let me know,whether there is a means of procuring sir Thomas Edmondes to be employed elsewhere; which would be a great relief to the queen. However, I am not of opinion that you should make this proposal; for, if it does not succeed, it will only serve to exasperate this little man, who has spirit and courage enough.”

the brother's death. About the end of December 1613, sir Thomas desired leave to return to England, but was denied till he should have received the final resolution of the court of France about the treaty of marriage; which being accomplished, he came to England towards the end of January 1613-14. Though the privy-council strenuously opposed this match because they had not sooner been made acquainted with so important an affair, yet, so zealous was the king for it, that he sent sir Thomas again to Paris with instructions, dated July 20, 1614, for bringing it to a conclusion. But, after all, it appeared that the court of France were not sincere in this affair, and only proposed it to amuse the protestants in general. In 1616 sir Thomas assisted at the conference at Loudun, between the protestants and the opposite party; and, by his journey to Rochelle, disposed the protestants to accept of the terms offered them, and was of great use in settling the pacification. About the end of October, in the same year, he was ordered to England; not to quit his charge, but, after he should have kissed the king's hand, and received such honour as his majesty was resolved to confer upon him, in acknowledgment of his long, painful, and faithful services, then to go and resume his charge; and continue in France, till the affairs of that kingdom, which then were in an uncertain state, should be better established. Accordingly he came over to England in December; and, on the 21st of that month, was made comptroller of the king's household; and, the next day, sworn a privy-counsellor. He returned to the court of France in April 1617; but took his leave of it towards the latter end of the same year. And, on the 19th of January, 1617-18, was advanced to the place of treasurer of the household; and in 1620 was appointed clerk of the crown in the court of king's bench, and might have well deserved the post of secretary of state that he had been recommended for, which none was better qualified to discharge. He was elected one of the burgesses for the university of Oxford, in the first parliament of king Charles I. which met June 18, 1625, and was also returned for the same in the next parliament, which assembled at Westminster the 26th of February following; but his election being declared void, he was chosen for another place. Some of the speeches which he made in parliament are printed. On the 11th of June 1629, he was commissioned to go ambassador to the French court, on purpose to carry king Charles's ratification, and to receive Lewis the XIIIth's

oath, for the performance of the treaty of peace, then newly concluded between England and France: which he did in September following, and with this honourable commission concluded all his foreign employments. Having, after this, enjoyed a creditable and peaceful retreat for about ten years, he departed this life, September 20, 1639. His lady was Magdalen, one of the daughters and co-heirs of sir John Wood, knight, clerk of the signet, by whom he had one son, and three daughters. She died at Paris, December 31, 1614, with a character amiable and exemplary in all respects. Sir Thomas had with her the manor of Albins, in the parishes of Stapleford-Abbot, and Navestoke in Essex, where Inigo Jones built for him a mansionhouse, delightfully situated in a park, now the seat of the Abdy family. Sir Thomas was small of stature, but great in understanding. He was a man of uncommon sagacity, and indefatigable industry in his employments abroad; always attentive to the motions of the courts where he resided, and punctual and exact in reporting them to his own; of a firm and unshaken resolution in the discharge of his duty, and beyond the influence of terror, flattery, or corruption. The French court, in particular, dreaded his experience and abilities; and the popish and Spanish party there could scarcely disguise their hatred of so zealous a supporter of the protestant interest in that kingdom. His letters and papers, in twelve volumes in folio, were once in the possession of secretary Thurloe, and afterwards of the lord chancellor Somers. The style of them is clear, strong, and masculine, and entirely free from the pedantry and puerilities which infected the most applauded writers of that age. Several of them, together with abstracts from the rest, were published by Dr. Birch in a work entitled "An historical view of the Negotiations between the Courts of England, France, and Brussels, from the year 1592 to 1617. Extracted chiefly from the MS State-papers of sir Thomas Edmondes, kt. ambassador in France, &c. and of Anthony Bacon, esq. brother to the lord chancellor Bacon," London, 1749, 8vo. Several extracts of letters, written by him in the early part of his political life, occur in Birch's "Memoirs of queen Elizabeth," and other letters are in Lodge's " Illustrations of British History."'

Biog. Brit.-Lloyd's State Worthies.-Prince's Worthies.-Lodge's Illus trations.

EDMONDES (CLEMENT), son to sir Thomas Edmondes, mentioned as the patron of the preceding sir Thomas, was born in Shropshire in 1566; and in 1585 became either clerk or chorister of All Souls' college; took one degree in arts, and then was chosen fellow of the house in 1590. Four years after, he proceeded in that faculty; and then leaving the college, was, mostly by his father's endeavours, made successively secretary, as it is said, for the French tongue to queen Elizabeth about 1601, remembrancer of the city of London, master of the requests, muster-master at Briel, in Zealand, one of the clerks of the council, and in 1617, a knight. He was a learned person, was generally skilled in all arts and sciences, and famous as well for military as for politic affairs; and therefore esteemed by all an ornament to his degree and profession. He published "Observations on the five first books of Cæsar's Commentaries of the civil wars," London, 1600, folio; "Observations on the sixth and seventh books of Cæsar's Commentaries," &c. London, 1600, folio; "Observations on Cæsar's Commentaries of the civil wars, in three books," London, 1609, folio. On which, or the former observations, Ben Jonson has two epigrams. All, or most, of these observations, are reprinted with an addition of an eighth commentary by Hirtius Pansa, with our author's (Edmondes) short observations upon them, London, 1677, fol. Before which edition is the Life of Cæsar, &c.

Our learned author died in St. Martin's in the fields, London, Oct. 12, 1622, and was buried in the little chapel belonging to his manor of Preston, near Northampton. Over his grave is a fair monument erected, with an English and Latin epitaph. That in English is as follows: "Here lieth sir Clement Edmondes, knt. one of the clerks of his majesty's most honourable privy council. His dextrous pen made him most worthily esteemed in his own vocation; and in the art military, by Cæsar's confession, an understanding soldier. He lived faithfully industrious in his place, and died religiously constant in the belief of the resurrection," &c.'

EDMONDSON (HENRY), a learned schoolmaster, who styled himself Henricus Edmundus ab Edmundo, was born in Cumberland in 1607, and in 1622 entered a student in Queen's college, Oxford, in the inferior rank of tabarder,

} Ath, Ox. vol. I.—Lloyd's State Worthies.-Fuller's Worthies,