OF THE KNIGHT.

b

...rarely fall into a solitary and cloistered original: "umbratilem," literally "in the shadows," referring to a life spent only among books rather than in the sun of public life. life; nor are these virtues to be unearthed only from authors, but are to be sought among men and in the full light of the State. For this reason, he decided to travel among foreign nations for several years, so that he might adorn his domestic discipline (acquired through tireless labor) with the practical use and experience of affairs. Would that the young men of our age, armed with at least a moderate amount of learning, would visit neighboring peoples with the same purpose. Certainly, just as they would be more welcome to foreigners and more pleasant to themselves on the journey, so upon returning, they would bring back more virtue and solid knowledge, and less vice and frivolity.

He travels from the year 1576 to 1580.

During the four years that he was absent from England, he traveled through various parts of Italy, Germany, and France with great profit, everywhere diligently observing the methods of governance, the temperaments of the peoples, and the condition of affairs. Having returned home,
Esquire of the Body. 1583. age 39.

three years later he was made an Esquire of the Body original Greek: "Somatophylax," a personal attendant to the monarch. to Queen Elizabeth. I find nothing certain, however, as to where he lived during those three years. I believe he pursued private studies at Merton College, for I find him not yet occupied in any business of the State. Perhaps in that interval,
Public Orator.

he was the Public Orator of the University; for we understand from the Commentaries of his Life that he performed that duty. Having spent two years in the Court of Queen Elizabeth,
1585. age 41.

he married ^a a wealthy widow, originally from the city of Bristol.

The man’s supreme prudence and erudition (acquired by so many years of practice and study) could not remain hidden for long once he showed himself to the State. In particular, his loyalty and readiness in conducting business were recognized by Burleigh,
Dear to Burleigh.

the Treasurer William Cecil, Lord Burghley, the Queen's chief advisor., who in those times held the chief place of merit both in the administration of the State and in the favor of the Prince. Through his patronage, it came about that the Queen immediately perceived how well-suited Bodley’s talent was for public business. The condition of affairs throughout Europe, though indeed exceedingly turbulent and dangerous, was nevertheless quite favorable for Bodley's glory. ^b For at that time, the Spaniard King Philip II of Spain. violently afflicted the Estates of the Netherlands, the Guises A powerful French noble family leading the ultra-Catholic faction. stirred up uprisings in France, and the Papists began a rebellion in England. All these things were driven at once with the purpose of utterly rooting out the Reformed Religion, whether by arms or by treachery. The Jesuits had even proceeded to such wickedness and audacity that they incited certain men to nefariously do away with the Queen. For she was, as it were, the Pillar of the Protestants; they saw that if she were overthrown, the Reformation would fall of its own accord. She, meanwhile, in order to look to the safety of her Kingdom and Religion in time, attempted by every means—

—to join the Protestant Princes in a most holy league. She supplied troops to the Estates of the Netherlands; she implored the Kings of France and Scotland through her Ambassadors to defend the common cause.

An Ambassador is sent to Germany. 1585. age 41.

When the matter of sending an Ambassador to Germany was discussed, she nominated Thomas Bodley, who had learned the temperaments of the Germans during his earlier travels and was imbued with a certain hereditary hatred toward the Papal Religion. He received mandates from the Queen to the Elector Palatine, the Dukes of Saxony, Württemberg, Brunswick, Lüneburg, the Marquis of Brandenburg, and the Landgrave of Hesse. He eloquently explained to each of them how much danger threatened the Protestants; he entreated them with every prayer to take up the cause of Religion; and he implored them to meet the danger early, lest while they fought individually, they might all be subjected to the yoke of the Pope and the Spaniards. He added that it was greatly in their interest to assist Henry, King of Navarre The future King Henry IV of France, then a leader of the Huguenots., with troops. He showed it was unworthy for this man to lack the help of Protestants while he was being oppressed by the efforts of the Guises; and indeed dangerous for the inheritance of the Kingdom of France to be left to the enemies of the reformed Religion. On the same embassy, he was ordered to include the King of the Danes;
To Denmark.

and to warn him (in addition to the previous arguments) in the name of the Queen, that it was in his primary interest to suppress the designs of the Guises, since they had not hesitated to claim the kingdom of Denmark itself for a relative of the Duke of Lorraine.

^c Meanwhile, the Rebellion in France grew. Guise, the leader of the conspiracy, was celebrated by the common people and the clergy as the sole champion of Religion. He entered Paris itself; the King Henry III of France. immediately fled the city out of fear. Elizabeth, fearing lest the King's spirit be broken by these difficulties and that he might descend to conditions ruinous to the Protestants, sent
To France 1589. age 45.

Thomas Bodley into France for the sake of encouraging him. She commanded him above all things not to declare the journey or the cause of the journey to anyone; so much so that she would not allow him to take even a single servant with him. He carried no letters except those written by the Queen's own hand to the King himself and his intimates. This is proof of the high opinion the most prudent Queen had conceived of Bodley, entrusted as he was with so sudden and difficult a matter to his loyalty alone. Nor did he disappoint her hope and opinion. For although neither the histories nor his private papers show the main points of this embassy, he himself—a modest judge of his own merits—affirms in the Commentaries of his Life that it was fortunately initiated by the Queen and faithfully administered by himself, bringing destruction to the Guises and safety to the Protestants.

^a Wood, Athenae Oxonienses, p. 327. ^b See Camden, History of Elizabeth, the year 1585. ^c Camden, History of Elizabeth, the year 1589.