pofsible, Gentilis would have breathed all his excellent knowledge, both of the Mathematics and Law, into the breast of his dear Harry; for fo Gentilis used to call him: And though he . was not able to do that, yet there was in Sir Henry fuch a propenfity and connaturalnefs to the Italian language and thofe ftudies whereof Gentilis was a great mafter, that his friendship between them did daily increase, and proved daily advantageous to Sir Henry, for the improvement of him in several sciences, during his ftay in the univerfity:

From which place, before I fhall invite the reader to follow him into a foreign nation, though I muft omit to mention divers perfons that were then in Oxford, of memorable note for learning, and friends to Sir Henry Wotton, yet I muft not omit the mention of a love that was there begun betwixt him and Dr. Donne, fometime Dean of St. Paul's, a man of whose abilities I fhall forbear to say any thing; because he who is of this nation, and pretends to learning or ingenuity, and is ignorant of Dr. Donne, deferves not to know him. The friendship of these two

and died at London in 1608, aged 58 years. He published three books, "De Jure Belli;" which proved very ufeful to Grotius, in his great work, "De Jure Belli et Pacis," and also a tractate "De Latinitate veteris Bibliorum Verfionis," with other works. (Dictionnaire Historique, &c.)

The following high encomium is given of him by Mr. Thomas Savile, in a letter to Mr. Camden. "Albericum primarium olim in Italia "Judicem, Chriftianæ Religionis ergô nunc in Anglia exulem, Oxonii "Professorem publicum, et tuo et meo nomine dignum, Virum reperies "non unum è Tricafsinis, fed ipfam Humanitatem, merum Candorem, "alterum denique Camdenum." (Camdeni Epist. p. 8.)

Bayle mentions with much difapprobation a method obferved by Albericus Gentilis, whofe eagernefs in the acquifition of knowledge impelled him to feek inftruction not lefs from converfation than from reading. This circumftance is noticed by himself. "Quid de Oxonienfibus meis? Vel "repertoria mea teftantur fatis quantum ego capiam fructûs ex eorum "virorum et juvenum colloquiis, nam in illis ego defcripfi non pauca quæ, dum minùs id ipfi cogitant, difco tamen et affervo ex fermoni"bus familiaribus." (Dial. III. de Juris Suterp. p. 36.)

e Civil Law. In feveral parts of his writings he has frequent allufions to the processes and practices obferved in the ecclefiaftical courts. "A "libel, whofe fubftance cannot be changed after it is once given into a "civil or ecclefiafiical court, may in fome fort be declared or amended "before a replication be made thereunto. A witness, &c." (Preface to his Supplement to the History of Christendom.)

f In Dr. DONNE's letters, publifhed in 1651, are several addressed "To the beft Knight, Sir H. Wotton." Dr. Donne has thus expreffed his great regard for this his friend.

"Whom free from German schismes, and lightnesse
"Of France and faire Italie's faithleisnelse,

"Having from thefe fuck'd all they had of worth,
"And brought home that faith you carried forth
"I thoroughly love.

(Donne's Poems, 1633. p. 63.)

I must not omit to mention, being fuch a friendship as was generously elemented; and as it was begun in their youth, and in an Univerfity, and there maintained by correfpondent inclinations and studies, fo it lafted till age and death forced a feparation.

In Oxford he stayed till about two years after his father's death, at which time he was about the twenty-fecond year of his age: And having to his great wit added the ballaft of learning and knowledge of the arts, he then laid afide his books, and betook himself to the ufeful library of travel, and a more general converfation with mankind; employing the remaining part of his youth, his induftry, and fortune, to adorn his mind, and to purchase the rich treasure of foreign knowledge: Of which, both for the fecrets of Nature, the difpofitions of many nations, their several laws and languages, he was the possefsor in a very large measure, as I fhall faithfully make to appear, before I take my pen from the following narration of his life.

In his travels, which was almost nine years before his return into England, he stayed but one year in France, and most of that in Geneva, where he became acquainted with Theodore Beza (then very aged) and with Ifaac Cafaubon', in whose

Or rather, fix years. The writers of the Biographia Britannica explain the mistake by fuppofing that the tail of the 9 fhould be turned upwards to make it 6. It appears from a letter to Lord Zouch, dated July 10, 1592, that he had been abroad three years. He probably returned in 1595, as he was appointed Secretary to the Earl of Efsex, after his return, in 1596, when he was in the 27th or 28th year of his age. In his letters to the above nobleman he has given an entertaining account of his travels, under the difguife of a Dutchman, and particularly of his journey to Rome, where he diftinguished himself by wearing a large blue feather in a black hat. At Sienna he learned of Scipio Alberti the maxim which he recommended to Milton, I pensieri stretti et il viso sciolto."

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THEODORE BEZA died at Geneva, Oct. 13, 1605, aged 86 years. This learned foreigner encouraged the Puritans in England, and in 1566 wrote with much confidence to Bishop Grindal in their behalf. Yet however attached he might be to the difcipline of his own church at Geneva, and he was very zealous for a Prefbyterian government, and by no means fo moderate as Calvin in that refpect, it appears from feveral of his letters to Archbishop Whitgift, that he retained the highest regard and veneration for the Church of England. His Biographer, Melchior Adam, has given this character of him. Ingenio fummo, judicio accurato, memoriâ tenacifsimâ, facundiâ fingulari, affabilitate et comi"tate nulli fecundus, adeo ut, propter commemoratas dotes, adjunctâ "iilis vitæ longævitate (quæ tamen omnia erant inferiora fummâ doctrinâ "et pietate) quidam vocarent Bezam ætatis suæ Phonicem."

Here I am placed to my very great contentment in the house of "Mr. Ifaac Cafaubon, a perfon of fober condition among the French, "and this is all I can fignifie of my felf, my little affairs not allowing me "much to speak of." (Letter to my Lord Zouch, Aug. 22, 1593,

Geneva.)

houfe (if I be rightly informed) Sir Henry Wotton was lodged, and there contracted a moft worthy friendship with that man of rare learning and ingenuity.

Three of the remaining eight years were spent in Germany, the other five in Italy (the ftage on which God appointed he fhould act a great part of his life); where both in Rome, Venice, and Florence, he became acquainted with the most eminent men for learning, and all manner of arts; as Picture, Sculpture, Chymistry, Architecture, and other manual arts, even arts of inferior nature; of all which he was a moft dear lover, and a most excellent judge.

He returned out of Italy into England about the thirtieth year of his age, being then noted by many both for his perfon and comportment: For indeed he was of a choice fhape, tall of ftature, and of a moft perfuafive behaviour; which was fo

This illuftrious fcholar, pronounced by Jofeph Scaliger to be the best Grecian of his time, was born at Geneva in 1559. He read lectures on the Belles Lettres, firft at his native place, and afterwards at Paris. Henry IV. of France appointed him his Librarian, and in vain attempted to withdraw him from his profefsion of the Reformed religion. After the untimely death of that Monarch, having obtained permifsion from the Queen Regent of France to leave the kingdom for a limited time, he came in October 1610, along with Sir Henry Wotton into England, where he was received by James I. with marks of peculiar kindness, rewarded with an annual penfion of three hundred pounds, and with valuable church-preferment. He was efteemed not more for his learned works than for his fingular affability and moderation. He approved Epifcopacy. In his works he calls himself "Hortibonus," a good garden Casau, in the language of Dauphiné, fignifying a garden, and bon good. It is well known that Ifaac Cafaubon and Grotius, extremely anxious to form an union between the Popish and Proteftant churches, had communicated their fentiments to each other upon this matter with 'great freedom.

Morton, Bishop of Durham, caufed a monument at his own expense to be erected to the memory of this learned man.

When Lord Herbert of Cherbury went to Paris in the earlier period of his life, he was, by the recommendation of the English Ambassador, received into the houfe of that incomparable fcholar, Ifaac Cafaubon, by whofe learned converfation he much benefited himself. (Life of Lord Herbert, printed at Strawberry Hill, p. 69.)

k "The very feat and fink of all corruption, to which," as he writes in a letter to King James, my wandering curiofity carried me no less "than four times in my younger years, where I fixed my ftudies moft "upon the hiftorical part in the politic management of religion; which "I found plainly converted from a rule of confcience to an inftrument "of state, and from the mistress of all fciences into the very handmaid "of Ambition."

mixed with sweet discourse and civilities, as gained him much love from all perfons with whom he entered into an acquaint

ance.

And whereas he was noted in his youth to have a fharp wit, and apt to jeft; that, by time, travel, and converfation, was fo polifhed, and made fo useful, that his company feemed to be one of the delights of mankind; infomuch as Robert Earl of Efsex' (then one of the darlings of Fortune, and in greatest favour with Queen Elizebeth) invited him first into a friendship, and, after a knowledge of his great abilities, to be one of his Secretaries, the other being Mr. Henry Cuffe ", fometime of Merton College in Oxford (and there alfo the acquaintance of Sir Henry Wotton in his youth); Mr. Cuffe being then a man of no common note in the Univerfity for his learning, nor after his removal from that place, for the great abilities of his mind, nor indeed for the fatalnefs of his end.

Sir Henry Wotton, being now taken into a ferviceable friendfhip with the Earl of Efsex, did perfonally attend his councils and employments in two voyages at fea against the Spaniards, and also in that (which was the Earl's laft) into Ireland: That voyage wherein he then did fo much provoke the Queen to anger, and worse at his return into England; upon whose immoveable favour the Earl had built fuch fandy hopes, as encouraged him to thofe undertakings; which, with the help of a contrary faction, fuddenly caufed his commitment to the Tower.

Sir Henry Wotton obferving this, though he was not of that faction (for the Earl's followers were allo divided into their feveral interefts) which encouraged the Earl to those undertakings which proved fo fatal to him and divers of his confederation; yet knowing treafon to be fo comprehenfive, as to take in even circumstances, and out of them to make fuch pofitive conclufions

1 See Sir Henry Wotton's "Parallel betwixt Robert Earl of Efsex and George Duke of Buckingham." (Reliq. Wotton, p. 161.)This parallel was animadverted upon by Lord Clarendon.

The unfortunate Secretary of Robert Devereux, Earl of Efsex. He is generally fuppofed to have advised thofe violent measures which ended in the deftruction of his noble patron. His character as a scholar was established by the tract, "De rebus geftis in fancto Concilio Nicæno," a tranflation from Greek into Latin. He fuffered for the fame offence with his mafter. Sir Henry Wotton defcribes Cuffe as "A man of "fecret ambitious ends of his own, and of proportionate counfels, "fmothered under the habit of a fcholar, and flubbered over with a "certain rude and clownish fashion that had the femblance of integrity." (Reliq. Wotton, p. 180.)He is called by Camden, Vir exquifitif“fima doctrinâ ingenioque acerrimo, fed turbido et tortuofo.” Owen, the Epigrammatifi, wrote the following lines upon him; alluding to his untimely death.

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"Doctus eras Græcè, felixque tibi fuit Alpha, -
"At fuit infelix Omega, Cuffe, tuum."

as fubtle statesmen fhall project, either for their revenge or fafety: Confidering this, he thought prevention by abfence out of England", a better fecurity than to ftay in it, and there plead his innocency in a prifon. Therefore did he, fo foon as the Earl was apprehended, very quickly, and as privately glide through Kent to Dover, without fo much as looking toward his native and beloved Bocton; and was by the help of favourable winds and liberal payment of the mariners, within fixteen hours after his departure from London, fet upon the French fhore; where he heard shortly after, that the Earl was arraigned, condemned, and beheaded; and that his friend Mr. Cuffe was hanged, and divers other perfons of eminent quality executed.

The times did not look fo favourable upon Sir Henry Wotton, as to invite his return into England: Having therefore procured of Sir Edward Wotton, his elder brother, an afsurance that his annuity fhould be paid him in Italy, thither he went; happily renewing his intermitted friendship and intereft, and indeed his great content in a new conversation with his old acquaintance in that nation, and more particularly in Florence (which city is not more eminent for the Great Duke's Court, than for the great recourfe of men of choiceft note for learning and arts), in which number he there met with his old friend, Signior Vietta, a gentleman of Venice, and then taken to be Secretary to the Great Duke of Tuscany.

After fome stay in Florence, he went, the fourth time, to

"In the beginning of his account of "The State of Chriftendom," he pathetically laments his voluntary banishment. That day fhould "have been more joyful unto me than the day of my birth and nativity, "wherein I might have feen a letter from any of my friends with afsurance of my pardon to call me home. But I find myfelf fo much inferior to Coriolanus in good fortune, as I come behind him in manly valour, "and other laudable qualities."

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Τι; το στέρεσθαι πατρίδος ή κακον μεγα;

Μεγιστον· ἔργῳ δ' ἐστι μείζον ή λόγῳ.

• Here be compofed his great work, "The State of Chriftendom; or a moli Exact and Curious Difcovery of many Secret Pafsages and Hidden Myfteries of the Times," 1657, folio.-A fecond edition appeared in 1677, with feveral additions. The defign of the Author feems to have been to ingratiate himself with Queen Elizabeth; on the tranfactions of whofe reign he expatiates in all the language of panegyric.

That men of learning fhould fix their refidence at Florence we need not wonder, when we reflect that this city has been long celebrated for its many excellent libraries, and principally for the ducal palace, which contains the greatest and most valuable collection made by one family, and within one roof, of ancient and modern fculpture, paintings and curiofities of every kind, both natural and artificial. Yet Sir Henry Wotton has given a very unfavourable account of this place. "I live "here in a Paradife inhabited by devils. Venice hath icarce heard of "thofe vices which are here practifed. My beft commodity is the con"verfation of certain gentlemen, and their vulgar very pure and correct. "So that here we have good means to learn to fpeak well and to do *ill." (Letter to Lord Zouch, Florence, June 25, 1592.)