Marginalia1547.for he would (he sayd) spend hys lyfe and all he had, rather then to agree and graunt to that he knew certainlye to be agaynst the truth. The whych when the Byshops heard, notwythstanding they vrged hym styll to graunt, and would by no meanes haue hys nay. Then the good kyng seyng their importunate sute, that nedes they would haye hys Maiesty to consent thereto, in the ende hys tender hart burstyng out in bytter weeping and sobbyng, desyred them to bee content. Where at the Byshops themselues, seyng the kynges zeale and constancie, wept as fast as he, and so tooke theyr leaue of hys Grace: and commyng from hym the Archbyshop tooke maister Cheke hys Schoolemaister  

by the hand, and sayd: Ah maister Cheke, you may be glad all the daies of your life, that you haue such a Scholer, for he hath more diuinitie in hys litle finger, then all we haue in all our bodyes. MarginaliaThe Lady Maryes Masse stayed by the teares of kyng Edward.Thys the Lady Maries Masse for that tyme was stayed.

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Ouer and besides these heauenlye graces and vertues, most chiefly to be required in all faythfull & Christen Magistrates whych haue gouernaunce of Christes flocke, neither was he also vnprouided of such outward giftes and knowledge as appertayne to the gouernance of his Realme politike. MarginaliaKing Edward skilfull in the exchaunge.In so much that neither he was inexpert or ignorant of the exchange and all the circumstances of the same touching doinges beyond the sea, but was as skilfull in the practises therof, and could say as muche as the chiefest doers in hys affayres. Likewyse in the enterteyning of Embassadors, to whom he woulde geue aunswere, and that to euery part of theyr oration, to the great wonder of them that heard, doyng that in hys tender yeares by hym selfe, whych many Princes at theyr mature age seldome are wont to do, but by other. And as he was a great noter of thinges that pertayned to Princely affayres, MarginaliaKing Edwardes chest for keping of the Actes and doings of hys Counsaile.so had he a chest seuerally to hym selfe for euery yeare, for the keeping of such recordes and matters, as paste & were concluded by the Counsaile. Of whom also hee woulde require a reason and cause of euery thyng that shoulde passe their iudgements. And of thys cheste he would euermore kepe the key about hym. Hys notes also he ciphred in Greeke letters, to the ende that those that wayted vpon him, should not read nor know what he had written.

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MarginaliaM. Coxe, Maister of the Requestes.He had moreouer great respect to iustice, and to the dispatch of poore mens sutes, woulde appoynt houres and times wyth Maister Coxe, then Maister of his Requestes  

, how and by what order they might bee sped in theyr causes wythout long delayes and attendaunce, and so also debate wyth hym, that theyr matters myght beheard and iudged wyth equity accordingly.

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What Hieronymus Cardanus sayth of hym concerning hys knowledge in liberall sciences, I thought here to expresse in hys own wordes  

, both in Latin and English, so much the rather, because he speaketh of his own experiment, and vpon the present talke whych he had wyth the king him self. The wordes of Cardanus first in Latine be these:

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MarginaliaEx Hieronym. Cardino in Lib. De Genituris.ADerant enim illi gratiæ. Linguas enim multas adhuc puer callebat: Anglicam natalem, Latinam, Gallicam, non expers (vt audio) Grecæ, Italicæ, & Hispanicæ, & forsan aliarum. Propriam, Gallicam & Latinam exactè tenebat, & ad omnia docilis erat. Non illi dialectica decrat, non naturalis Philosophiæ principia, nō Musica. Humanitas mortalitatis nostræ imago, grauitas Regiæ Maiestatis, indoles tanto principo digna. In vniuersum magno miraculo humanarū rerum, tanti ingenij & tantæ expectationis puer educabatur. Nō hæc Rhetoricè exornata veritatem excedunt, sed sunt minora.

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Decimum quintum adhuc agebat annum. Interrogabat (Latinè nō minus q̃ ego politè & promptè loquebatur) quid continent libri tui rerum varietate? hos enim nomini Maiestatis suæ dedicaueram. Tum ego Cometarum primum causam, diu frustra quæsitam, in primo capite ostendo. Quæ nam inquit ille? Concursus, ego aio, luminis erraticorum syderum. At Rex, quomodo, cum diuersis motibus astra moueantur, non statim dissipatur aut mouetur eorum motu? At ego, mouetur equidem sed longè celerius illis ob diuersitatēaspectus, velut in Cristallo & sole cum iris in pariote relucer. Parua enim mutatio magnam facit loci differentiam. At Rex, & quonam pacto absque subiecto illud fieri potest, iridi enim paries subiectum est? Tum ego, velut in lactea via, & luminū reflexione, cum plures cādelæ propè accensæ medium quoddam lucidum & candidum efficiunt. Itqq́; ex vngue Leonem, vt dici solet. Fuit hic in maxima omnium aut bonorum aut eruditorum expectatione ob ingenuitatem atque suauitatem morum. Prius cæperat fauere artibus q̃ nosceret, & noscere anteq̃ vt posset. Conatus quidam humanæ conditionis, quem non solum Anglia, sed orbis ereptum immaturè deflere debet. O q̃ benè dixerat ille:

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Immodicis breuis est atas & rara senectus.

Specimen virtutis exhibere potuit, non exemplum. Vbi grauitas Regia requirebatur, senem vidisses: vt blandus erat & comis, ætatem referebat. Cheli pulsabat, publicis negocijs admouebatur, liberalis animo, atq́; in his patrem emulabatur. &c. Hæc Cardanus.The same in English.

MarginaliaTlhe words of Cardanus in the cōmendation of K. Edward.THere was in him a towardly disposition and pregnancie apte to all humane literature: as who beyng yet a child had the knowledge of diuerse tongues, first of the Englishe his own naturall tongue, of the Latine also, and of the French. Neither was hee ignoraunt (as I heare) of the Greke, Italian, and Spanishe tongues, and of other languages, peraduenture moe. In his own, in the French and in the Latine tongue singularely perfecte, and with lyke facilitie apt to receaue all other. Neither was he ignoraūt in Logike, in the principles of Naturall Philosophie, or in Musicke. There was in him lacking, neither humanitie, the Image of our mortalitie, a Princely grauitie and Maiestie, nor any kynd of towardnes besemyng a noble kyng. Briefly, it might seeme a miracle of nature, to beholde the excellent witte and forwardnes that appeared in hym beyng yet but a childe. Thys I speake not rhetorically, to amplifie thinges or to make them more thē truth is: yea the truth is more then I do vtter.

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Beyng yet but xv. yeares of age he asked of me in Latine (in whiche tongue hee vttered hys mynde no lesse readely and eloquently, then I could do my selfe) what my bookes, whiche I had dedicated to hym, De varietate rerum, did conteyne? I sayd that in the first chapter was shewed the cause of Cometes, or blasyng starres, which hath bene long sought for, and yet hetherto scarse fully founde. What cause (sayd he) is that? MarginaliaThe cause of Comets.The concourse or metyng (sayd I) of the lyght of the wanderyng Planets and Starres. To this the kyng thus replyed agayne: For somuch (sayd he) as the motion of the Starres kepeth not one course, but is diuers and variable by continuall alteration, how is it then that the cause of these Comets either doth not quickely vade and vanysh, or that the Comete doth not keepe one certeine and vniforme course and motion with the sayd Starres and Planets? Wherunto I aunswered that the Comete hath hys course & mouyng, but much more swifter then they, because of the diuersitie of aspect, as we see in Cristall, and in þ^e Sunne when the forme of the raynbow reboundeth on the wall. For a litle mutation, maketh a great difference of place. Then sayd the kyng: and how can that be, hauyng no subiect: For of the raynbow the wall is the subiect Lyke (sayd I) as in Lactea via, MarginaliaLactea via is a white and a bright part of the firmament, lyke a long bright causey or way, appearyng in the nyght among the thicke Starres.or in reflexion of lyghtes, as where many candles be lyghted and set nere together, in the mydle they cause a certeine bryght and whyte lyghtsomnes to appeare. &c.

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And so by this litle triall, a great gesse may bee giuen what was in this king. In who no doubt was a great hope & expectation amongest all good & learned mē both for the ingenious forwardnes, & amiable swetnes which in his conditions appeared. First he began to loue and fauour liberall Artes and sciences, before he knew them: and to know them, before he could vse them. Whose mortall condition, & sodein deceasse and decay in those tender & vnrype yeares, not onely England, but all the world hath cause to lament. O how truly is it said of the Poete.

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Thynges that be excedyng excellent,
Be not commonly long permanent.

A shew or syght onely of excellencie he coulde giue vs: example hee coulde not giue. Where a kingly Maiestie required grauitie, there you shoulde haue seene hym a sage and an olde man: and yet gentle and pleasaunt also, accordyng as the condition of his age then required. Hee played well vppon the Lute: hee had also to do in handlyng of weighty affaires of the

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