MarginaliaAnno. 1547. tayned to Princely affaires,MarginaliaK. Edwards chest for keeping of Actes and doings of Counsaile. so had he a cheste seuerally to hymselfe for euery yere, for the keping of such recordes and matters, as past and were concluded by the Counsaile. Of whome also he would require a reason and cause of euery thing that should passe their iudgements. And of this chest he would euermore keepe the key about hym. His notes also hee ciphred in Greeke letters, to the ende that those that wayted vpon him, should not read nor know what hee had written.

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MarginaliaM. Coxe, Maister of Requestes. He had moreouer great respect to iustice, and to the dispatch of poore mens sutes, would appoynt houres & tymes with maister Coxe, then maister of hys Requests  

, how and by what order they might be sped in their causes wythout long delayes and attendaunce, and so also debate with hym, that theyr matters might be heard and iudged with equity accordingly.

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What Hieronymus Cardanus sayth of hym cōcerning his knowledge in liberall sciēces, I thought here to expresse in hys owne wordes  

, both in latin and english, so much the rather, because he speaketh of hys owne experiment, and vpon the present talke which he had with the king himselfe. The wordes of Cardanus first in latine be these:

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MarginaliaEx Hieronym. Cardino in lib. De Genituris. A Derant 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, non Musica. Humanitas mortalitatis nostræ imago, grauitas Regiæ Maiestatis, indoles tanto principo digna. In vniuersum magno miraculo humanarum rerum, tanti ingenij & tantæ expectationis puer educabatur. Non hæc Rhetoricè exornata veritatem excedunt, sed sunt minora.

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Decimum quintum adhuc agebat annum. Interrogabat (Latinè non minus qaum 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 erraticorū 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 diuersitatem aspectus, uelut in Cristallo and sole cum iris in pariote relucet. Parua enim mutatio magnam facit loci differentiā. At Rex, & quonam pacto absque subiecto illud fieri potest. iridi enim paries subiectum est? Tum ego, velut in lactea via, & luminum reflexione, cum plures candelæ 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 quam nosceret, & noscere antequam vti posset. Conatus quidā humanæ conditionis, quem non solum Anglia, sed orbis ereptū immaturè deflere debet. O quam 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, publicjs negocijs admouebatur, liberalis animo, atque in his patrem emulabatur. &c. Hæc Cardanus.

MarginaliaTlhe words of Cardanus in the commendatiō of K. Edward. T Here was in him a towardly disposition and pregnancye apt to all humain literature: as who being yet a childe had the knowledge of diuers tongues, first of the english his own natural tongue, of the latine also, & of the frēch, neither was he ignorant (as I heare) of the greck, Italian & spanishe tongues, and of other Languages peraduenture moe. In his own, in the French and in the Latin tongue singularely perfect, and with like facility apt to receaue all other. Neither was he ignoraūt in Logike, in the principles of naturall Philosophy, or in Musick. There was in hym lacking neither humanitie the Image of our mortalitie, a Princely grauitie and maiestie, nor any kind of towardnesse beseeming a noble king. Briefly, it might seeme a miracle of nature, to behold the excellent wit and forwardnes that appeared in him being yet but a child. This I speake not rhetorically, to amplifie things or to make thē more thē truth is: yea the truth is more then I doe vtter.

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Being yet but xv. yeares of age he asked of me in Latine (in which tongue he vttered hs minde no lesse readely and eloquētly, then I could do my selfe) what my bookes which I had dedicated to him, De varietate rerum, did containe? I sayd that in the first chapter was shewed the cause of Comets, or blasing starres, which hath bene long sought for, & yet hetherto scarce fully found. What cause (sayd he) is þ^t?MarginaliaThe cause of Comets. The concourse or meeting (sayd I) of the light of the wandering Planets and Starres. To this the king thus replied againe: Forsomuch (said he) as the motion of the starres kepeth not one course but is diuers and variable by contynuall alteration, how is it then that the cause of these Comets either doth not quickely vade and vanishe, or that the Comet doth not keep one certein and vniforme course and motion with the said Starres and Planets? Wherunto I aunswered that the Comet hath his course and mouinge, but much more swifter then they, because of the diuersity of aspect, as we se in Cristall, and in the Sunne when the forme of the Rainbow reboundeth on the wall. For a little mutation maketh a great difference of place. Then said the king: and how can that be, hauing no subiect: For of þ^e rainbow the wall is the subiect? Lyke (sayd I) as in Lactea via, MarginaliaLactea via is a white & a brigt part of the firmament, like a long white cause or way appearing in the nyght among the thicke starres. or in reflection of lightes, as where many candles be lighted & set nere together, in the middle they cause a certain bright and white lightsomnes to appeare. &c.

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And so by this little tryall a great gesse may bee giuen what was in this king. In whom no doubt was a greate hope and expectation amongest all good & learned mē, both for the ingenious forwardnes, and amiable swetnes which in his conditions appeared. First he began to loue & fauour liberal Artes & sciences, before he knew them, and to know them before he could vse them, whose mortall condition and sodain decease and decay in those tender & vnripe yeres, not onely England, but all the world hath cause to lament. O how truely is it said of the Poet,

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

A shew or sight onely of excellency he coulde giue vs: example he coulde not geue. Where a kingly Maiestie required grauitie, there you shoulde haue seene him a sage and an old man: and yet gentle and plesaunt also, according as the conditiō of his age then required. He playd wel vpon the Lute. Hee had also to doe in handelinge of weighty affaires of the Realme: He was liberall and bountifull in hart, and therein he imitated his father. &c.

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MarginaliaCarmen Epitaphicū Cardani, in obitū Reg. Edouardi.
Flete nefas magnum, sed toto flebitis orbe
Mortales: vester corruit omnis honor.
Nam Regum decus, & inuenum flos spesq; bonorum.
Delitiæ secli, & gloria gentis erat.
Dignus Apollieneis lachrymis doctæq́; Mineruæ
Flosculus heu miserè concidit antè diem.
Te tumulo dabimus Musæ, supremaq́; flentes
Munera, Melpomene tristia fata canet.
Ex Hier. Cardano.

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Thus after the godly disposition and properties of thys king briefly in ths wise declared, now (God wllinge) wee will intermedle something to describe the order and proceadings which he followed in his administration and gouernment of both the states, as wel politicke, as especially ecclesiasticke. Who  

after the decease of hys Father comminge to the crown, because he was of young and tender age, he was committed to 16. gouernours.MarginaliaThe Lorde Edw. Semer mad L. Protectour. Amongst whom especiallye the Lord Edward Semer Duke of Somerset his Vncle, was assigned and adioyned to hym as Protectour and ouer seer of him and of the common wealth,MarginaliaCommendation of the Lord Protectour. a man not so highly aduanced for his consanguinitye, as also for hys noble vertues and especially for his fauour to Gods worde, worthy of his vocation and calling. Through the endeuour and industry of which man, first that monstrous Hidra wyth 6. heades, the sixe Articles I meane (which deuoured vp so many men before) was abolished and takē away. By reasō whereof the counsels and proceedings of Winchester beegan to decay, who storming at the same matter, wrote to the Lord Protectoure in the cause thereof, as by his letters is to bee seene.

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MarginaliaReformation by K. Edward. The holy scriptures he restored to the mother tong, masses he extinguished and abolished. Furthermore, after softer beginninges, by litle and litle greater thinges followed in þ^e reformation of the Churches. Then such as before were in banishment for the daunger of the truth, were again receiued to their countrey. To be short, a new face of thinges began now to appeare, as it were in a stage new players cōming in, the old beyng thrust out. For the most parte the bishops of churches and dioccesses were changed. Such as had bene domme prelates before, were compelled to geue place to other then that would preach and take paynes.

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Besides other also out of forreine countreis, men of learning and notable knowledge were sent for and receiued, a-