ll over
the country;--a practice which was retained not only to the end of the
reign, but for many years afterwards, during which the 17th of November
continued to be solemnly observed under designation of the Birthday of
the Gospel.

END OF THE FIRST VOLUME.

_Printed by R. and A. Taylor, Shoe-Lane._

* * * * *

MEMOIRS OF THE COURT OF QUEEN ELIZABETH.

VOL. II.

CHAPTER XVII.

1571 TO 1573.

Notice of sir T. Gresham.--Building of his exchange.--The queen's visit
to it.--Cecil created lord Burleigh and lord-treasurer.--Justs at
Westminster.--Notices of the earl of Oxford, Charles Howard, sir H. Lee,
sir Chr. Hatton.--Fresh negotiations for the marriage of Elizabeth with
the duke of Anjou.--Renewal of the intrigues of Norfolk.--His
re-committal, trial, and conviction.--Death of Throgmorton.--Sonnet
by Elizabeth.--Norfolk beheaded.--His character and
descendants.--Hostility of Spain.--Wylson's translation of
Demosthenes.--Walsingham ambassador to France.--Treaty with
that country.--Massacre of Paris.--Temporizing conduct of
Elizabeth.--Burleigh's calculation of the queen's nativity.--Notice of
Philip Sidney.

From the intrigues and violences of crafty politicians and discontented
nobles, we shall now turn to trace the prosperous and honorable career
of a private English merchant, whose abilities and integrity introduced
him to the notice of his sovereign, and whose patriotic munificence
still preserves to him the respectful remembrance of posterity. This
merchant was Thomas Gresham. Born of a family at once enlightened,
wealthy and commercial, he had shared the advantage of an education at
the university of Cambridge previously to his entrance on the walk of
life to which he was destined, and which, fortunately for himself, his
superior acquirements did not tempt him to desert or to despise.

His father, sir Richard Gresham, had been agent to Henry VIII. for the
negotiation of loans with the merchants of Antwerp, and in 1552 he
himself was nominated to act in a similar capacity to Edward VI., when
he was eminently serviceable in redeeming the credit of the king, sunk
to the lowest ebb by the mismanagement of his father's immediate
successor in the agency. Under Elizabeth he enjoyed the same
appointment, to which was added that of queen's merchant; and it appears
by the official letters of the time, that political as well as pecuniary
affairs were often intrust