Biographical Outlines Part 4

Born 1489.-Died 1556.-Henry VII.-Henry VIII.-Edward VI.-Mary.

Born at Aslacton, in Nottinghams.h.i.+re, was a tutor at Cambridge, and was made at one bound Archbishop of Canterbury. He owed his rise to his clever suggestions for enabling Henry VIII. to divorce Queen Katherine, and became the favourite of Anne Boleyn in consequence. As Primate he sanctioned three divorces of Henry VIII. He drew up the Book of Common Prayer. He perished at the stake at Oxford in 1550, under Mary, after signing several recantations which he finally repudiated, and died with firmness.

SEBASTIAN CABOT,

Born 1447.-Died 1557.-Edward IV.-Edward V.-Richard III.-Henry VII.-Henry VIII.-Edward VI.

Was born at Bristol, of Venetian ancestry; became a celebrated navigator.

He was the first to see the coast of Labrador from the s.h.i.+p _Matthew_, and discovered a great part of America.

SIR PHILIP SIDNEY.

Born 1554.-Died 1586.-Mary.-Elizabeth.

This eminent gentleman, poet, and man of letters was born at Penshurst in Kent. He was General of the Horse under Queen Elizabeth, and distinguished himself in many engagements. He wrote a romance called _Arcadia_ and _The Defence of Poesie_. He was killed at the battle of Zutphen in Holland, where, when a draught of water was brought him, he showed his unselfishness by sending it to a poor dying soldier near him, saying, "He wants it more than I do."

SIR FRANCIS WALSINGHAM.

Born 1536.-Died 1590.-Henry VIII.-Edward VI.-Mary.-Elizabeth.

Sir Francis Walsingham was one of Elizabeth's most devoted ministers, and one of the craftiest and wiliest of men. He had an army of spies in pay, and was the chief mover in the cruelties practised in Elizabeth's reign, and in the beheading of Mary Queen of Scots.

SIR FRANCIS DRAKE.

Born 1545.-Died 1596.-Henry VIII.-Edward VI.-Mary.-Elizabeth.

One of the "Devons.h.i.+re Worthies," born at Tavistock. Sailing from Plymouth with five s.h.i.+ps, he pa.s.sed through the Straits of Magellan to the South Seas, captured many large Spanish galleons with his famous _Golden Hind_, and returned to Plymouth by the Cape of Good Hope. He had been two years and ten months sailing round the world (December 1577 to 1580). Queen Elizabeth dined with Drake on board the _Golden Hind_ at Deptford and knighted him with her own hands. Some of the timbers of Drake's famous s.h.i.+p were made into a chair, which was given to the university of Oxford. Drake took a distinguished part in the defeat of the Spanish Armada.

WILLIAM CECIL,

Born 1520.-Died 1598.-Henry VIII.-Edward VI.-Mary.-Elizabeth.

Lord Burleigh, was born in Lincolns.h.i.+re. He was the greatest of all Queen Elizabeth's statesmen and the chief originator of the English merchant navy. By taking their privileges from the Hanse Town steelyard merchants, who monopolized nearly all the foreign trade of England, he obliged English merchants to build their own s.h.i.+ps; and devoted himself also to raising the revenues of the country. He purified the coinage and took a chief part in building the first Exchange, where the London merchants could meet under cover to transact their business. He persuaded Queen Elizabeth to visit it, and it ever after was known as the Royal Exchange. This building was burnt in the great fire (1666). Lord Burleigh was a silent and most cautious man, fond of books and his garden, and was a most useful minister to England.

EDMUND SPENSER.

Born 1553.-Died 1599.-Mary.-Elizabeth.

The author of the _Fairy Queen_, six books of which were unfortunately lost by his servant when coming from Ireland, where Spenser was private secretary to the cruel Lord Grey de Wilton. He was the great friend of Sir Philip Sidney and Sir Walter Raleigh. He was born and died in London.

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE.

Born 1564.-Died 1616.-Mary.-Elizabeth.-James I.

Universally acknowledged as the greatest poet that ever lived. He was born in 1564 at Stratford-on-Avon, and when quite young delighted the court of Queen Elizabeth with his genius. His plays are the best known of his works, and those which relate to historical subjects are treasuries of information upon the manners, customs, and mode of life of the times they represent.

SIR WALTER RALEIGH,

Born 1552.-Died 1618.-Edward VI.-Mary.-Elizabeth.-James I.

Was born at Hayes, in Devons.h.i.+re, and was one of the "Devons.h.i.+re Worthies." He was the son of a Devons.h.i.+re gentleman of small fortune, who rose rapidly in favour with Queen Elizabeth from his wit, good looks, and great talents. He was sent on a command to Ireland, and afterwards took great part in colonizing Virginia in North America. In the reign of James I. he was unjustly accused of high treason and sent to the Tower, where he wrote his famous "History of the World." He was beheaded at Westminster, though his guilt was never proved.

FRANCIS BACON,

Born 1561.-Died 1626.-Elizabeth.-James I.-Charles I.

Lord Verulam, was born in London. This extraordinary man was a great statesman and lawyer, an eminent writer, and has been called the Light of Science and Father of Experimental Philosophy. He was made Royal Keeper and Lord Chancellor under James I., and then trafficked in the decisions of the woolsack. After a career of unbounded expense and the most unprincipled use of his high offices, Bacon was impeached and sentenced to a kind of imprisonment within twelve miles of the court. For five years he presented the pitiful sight of vast genius, united to a total want of principle or high character, and with all his splendid gifts he died despised and in disgrace.