Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 3.djvu/188

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [9* s. in. MA*, n, '99.

"I shall be glad to entertain a correspondence with you in both kinds, which you writ of : for the latter whereof I am now ready for you, having sent you some Ure of that mine." Sir Henry replies in a long letter to the " Right Honourable and my very good Lord," in which he describes a visit to Kepler, who, from the account given, would appear to have been the discoverer of the principle of photo- graphy. It is clear from the tenor of the letters that the two kept up an occasional correspondence. Besides their relationship, there was a certain community of taste between them, or "congeniality with your Lordship's studies," as the worthy knight expresses it. Furthermore, Sir Henry was on intimate terms with the other members of the Bacon family, to one of whom, Sir Edmund Bacon, he poured out his heart for very many years, as may be seen from the numerous letters printed in the 'Reliquiae,' pp. 399-482. It must also be remembered that Sir Henry Wotton in his early days travelled much in France, Germany, and Italy, first as a matter of taste, and then from absolute necessity, as he was afraid, being a follower of Essex, of sharing the fate of liis partisans. Izaac Walton, in the charming life of his friend prefixed to the ' Reliquiae ' (p. 17), says :

" Therefore did he, so soon as the Earl was appre- hended, very quickly, and as privately, glide through Kent to Dover, without so much as looTting toward his native and beloved Bocton ; and was by the help of favourable winds, and liberal payment of the mariners, within sixteen hours after his departure from London, set upon the French shore ; where he heard shortly after, that the Earl was arraigned, condemned, and beheaded ; and that his friend Mr. Cuffe was hanged, and divers other persons of eminent quality executed."

In point of fact, young Wotton ran, so to speak, for his life, and was lucky enough to escape from the wrath of the angry and merciless queen. It was after these startling events that he once more betook himself to Italy, towards which country he ever bore a singular affection, whence he did not return to England until after Elizabeth's death. After fulfilling, under her successor, the office of ambassador thrice to the republic of Venice, " beside several other foreign employ- ments," with credit to himself and satisfaction to his sovereign, he came home in the year before James I. died, i.e., 1624. I have given these particulars for the purpose of showing that Sir Henry Wotton enjoyed unrivalled opportunities of becoming acquainted with the character and abilities of Englishmen, Jesuits or otherwise, domiciled or even tra- velling on the Continent. In fact, it was a part of his duty to report on all such persons,

by express command of King James, contained in a letter

"given under our signet at Newmarket, the seventh day of December, in the fourteenth year of our reign of England, France, and Ireland, and of Scotland the fiftieth, 1616."' Reliquiae,' pp. 483-4.

I should like to quote the whole of the letter, for it is of absorbing interest, and especially shows the difficulties our forefathers were forced to undergo when travelling in Italy. They might "remain in Lombardy or Tus- cany, to gain the language there," but they

"do daily flock to Rome, out of vanity and curio- sity, to see the Antiquities of that City ; where falling into the Company of Priests and Jesuites, or other ill disposed persons, they are not only cor- rupted with their Doctrine, but poisoned with their positions, and so return again into their countries, both averse to Religion, and ill-affected to Our State and Government."

Then King James I., whom the sycophantic Bishop Hall calls "that glorious Saint, our dear Master" ('The Works of Joseph Hall, Bishop of Norwich,' 1647, p. 424), proceeds :

" These are therefore to require you, to take notice with diligence of all such, as by the way of Venice shall bend their courses thither, and to admonish them, as from Us, that they should not presume to go beyond the bounds of the Dukedom of Florence, upon any occasion whatsoever."

I will only add that a continental tour must have been no easy matter in those days ; and that fact will perhaps explain why Shake- speare is supposed never to have passed beyond the English shores, and why Robert Burton says he never did.

Now it is a very curious fact that Sir Henry Wotton mentions what appears to be the same story told by Tobie Matthew "at an uncertain date " to Viscount St. Albans, in a letter written to his and the late Chancellor's nephew, Sir Edmund Bacon, on 5 December, 1638. He says :

"And first I send you your immortal uncle's Confession of his Faith, which I did promise you at Canterbury, solidly and excellently couched, as whatever else had the happiness to fall under his meditation and pen. Next ; you receive a letter freshly written me from Cambridge, with mention (God bless us) of a Jesuit of your name : who seems (as all that conies from any of you is piercing) to have sent over lately some pretty insinuative book in matter of Theological controversy, perchanc better dressed than any before, and with moi relish commended to the vulgar taste, but I believe it will be the same to the stomach : for well they may change their form, but it is long since we have heard their substance over and over, still the same ad fastidium usque. I shall languish to know how he toucheth upon your name and stirp." ' Reliquiae,' p. 471.

In a postscript to the same letter the gossiping Provost of Eton adds :