sity school. Three years later, in 1569, he was elected (under the system of open choice which commenced in that year, and continued until the better system of rotation was introduced by the Laudian statutes) one of the university proctors, and afterwards, to use his own words, * supplied the place of the university orator,' that is, acted as deputy for one of his co-fellows of Merton, Arthur Atye, the actual public orator and principal of Alban Hall. With this his public employment in the university ceased, but not his own private study. He seems then to have specially devoted himself to Hebrew (probably under the eminent scholar, J. Drusms, who at that time lived for some few years in Merton College, and became intimate with Bodley and his brothers), and is said to have equalled, or even surpassed, most of his contemporaries in his knowledge of that language. Then, for the sake of acquiring modern languages and political knowledge, he obtained from his college and the crown in 1570 a license to travel, which was extended in 1578. By spending nearly four years in Italy, France, and Germany, he became a proficient in various languages, and particularly in Italian, French, and Spanish. Shortly after his return he was appointed a gentleman usher to the queen, but how he had gained her notice does not appear. His first attempt to enter into public life seems to have been unsuccessfully made in 1584, when he was recommended by Sir Francis Cobham for election to parliament as member for Hythe (Fourth Report of Hist, MSS. Commission, p. 430). In April of the next year, however, he received hisnrst diplomatic commission, being then despatched to Denmark, chiefly with the view of engaging King Frederick II in a league with the Duke of Brunswick, the Landgrave of Hesse, and other protestant German princes (to whom he was next sent), to help Henry, king of Navarre, and the French Huguenots. A confidential mission to Henry III of France followed, when that sovereign fled from Paris to escape from the Duke of Guise in May 1588; upon this errand Bodley went in great secrecy, entirely unaccompanied, and having only autograph letters from the queen, the purport of which does not seem to be known, save only that the effect of the message 'tended greatly to the advantage . . . of all the protestants in France.' His marriage to a rich widow, named Ann Ball, daughter of a Mr. Carew of Bristol, appears to have taken place in the preceding year, 1587, since on the monument which he erected to her memory in the church of St. Bartholomew the Less, Smithfield, after her death in June 1611, he says that they had lived together for twenty-four years. This proves Anthony à Wood to be mistaken in saying that the marriage took place about 1585. That he had shown great ability in the conduct of these several embassies is proved by his being despatched to the Hague very soon after his return from France as the queen's permanent resident in the United Provinces, a mission then of paramount importance, when the Netherlands were the continental field in which the power of Spain was to be met and worsted. Here, according to stipulations made with the queen, he was admitted as a member of the council of state, taking place next to Count Maurice of Nassau, and having the right of voting on all questions — privileges which were retained, as Clarendon tells us (Hist Reb. bk. i.), until the commencement of the reign of Charles I, Sir Dudley Carleton being the last English representative to whom they were accorded. In this difficult post he remained for seven years, from 1589 to 1596, and in his autobiography he takes great credit to himself for the stdll and circumspection with which he composed dangerous jealousies and discontents, chiefly caused by ' the insolent demeanour of some of her highness's ministers' (amongst whom he, no doubt, specially refers to the Earl of Leicester), and he avers that, in consequence, he seldom afterwards received any set instructions, but was left to his own discretion in the management of affairs. But as early as 1592 he began to grow weary of the work, and begged to be recalled, only, however, obtaining a short respite in 1593. In 1594 his brother Miles, who had for five years conducted business for him in England (for his wife appears to have joined him abroad in 1589, when a ship was provided for her passage), died suddenly, and he renewed his application and obtained again a short leave of absence, returning in January 1595. In June and July he was again in England, and in August was back at his post. But it appears from several printed letters that the queen expressed dissatisfaction at some of his recommendations ; indeed, he heard one day, 'for his comfort,' that she had wished, in her wonted Tudor fashion, 'that he were hanged ; 'and abroad the Dutch were dilatory and difficult to persuade, and so he pressed again and again for a recall. Burghley and Essex both were urging at home that he should be made secretary of state, although their mutual ill will and opposition resulted in Burghley's at last hindering what he found Essex recommending. So at length Bodley obtained the welcome recall, and made his final return to England in the summer of 1596, weary of statecraft and diplomacy, which he never resumed. In 1598, indeed,
