and Lorenzo de Medici 23 Reasons that Great Britain may stand in competition for the primacy of Europe 50 Raphael Urbin design'd by Leo the tenth to be a Cardinal 37 Reasons why Great Britain cannot deserve the preheminence of other Countries 67 The Russe seldom travels abroad 2. in the Pro. Rodolphus the Emperours wise speech to a Traveller 6 The Rule of Providence not to powre down all blessings at once 8 Of Regiomontanus 10 A Remarkable passage of Everard Barbatus Duke of Wirtemberg 21 The Roman Emperours had a guard of Germans for their fidelity Of the Renowned Families of Germany and their antiquity and extent through all Europe 26 Rhodope a rich Courtisan built one of the Pyramids of Egypt 2 Rome in one Cense that was made had in her two millions and a half of soules 2 Rome when Pagan had above 400 Temples now Christian she hath scarce the 4th part 2 The sorry report the French gave of Poland at their return with Hen. 3 6 Rome often ravished 28 Rome shrunk into a Pigmey's skin from that Gigantick shape she was 34 The hugenesse of Rome conjectur'd by many arguments 34 S. SCotsmen Men-eaters 63 Spain first attempted and at last subdued by the Romans 2 Spain preferr'd before all countries by Charles the 5 1 Spain with her commodities laid opâ—… 2 Spain the fragrantst Country 2 In Spain Milk cannot turn to Whey in some places 2 Spain the Queen of horses 2 Of the chief Cities of Spain 3 Of the Mines of Spain 4 The site and form of Spain 4 Of the 150 Rivers that water Spain 4 Spain hath a bridge twenty miles long whereon cattle feed 4 Spanish Crown made of her own gold 4 Spain describ'd by Claudian 5 A Spanish Guard about Iulius Caesar Augustus had a Band of Biscainers 6 A notable example of the Spanish valour 6 The Spaniards right justified to the West Indies 7 The Spanish Discoverers of the West Indies the Discoverers of the East 7 Spaniards the sole Grandees of this Age 8 Spain hath bred notable Spirits 8 Of the Jesuits founded by a Spaniard 9 The Spanish Monarchy the vastest since the Creation 10 The Sun alwaies shines upon some part of the Philippian Monarchy 10 Sacriledge to dispute of the Emperours power 2. in the Pro. Spain taunted 6 Seneca's notable Speech against Forren Travell 6 Satan doth commonly set up his Chappel near Gods House 9 Scaligers witty saying of â—…lavius 12 Scaligers coÌ„parison 'twixt thunder canon 14 Scaligers witty saying of Printing of Canon Wheele-clocks 16 Scaligers Elogium of Antwerp 16 The Swisse scarce knew the use of Gold and Silver til the overthrow they gave the Duke of Burgundy near Granson 19 Spanish Souldiers made hilts of swords of massie Gold at the plundring of Antwerp 20 A notable speech of Philip the second when his Father resign'd him his dominions 22 The wondrous strength of Sigismund King of Poland who could crack a horshooe 8 Slavonique the most spacious Tongue 8 Strange examples of some learned men that lost their memory as not to remember their own names 34 Scaligers tart opinion of Rome 35 Sicily call'd by Gâ—…cero Romes Nurse and the peoples Pantry 35 Sannazarius writ three books of Jesus Christ and yet never names him 38 Spain hath afforded many brave Emperors 11 The Spanish Grandezas expressed and reasons alledged that the Spanish King is to be preferrred before all other Potentates 11 In Spain the Mule fares sometimes better than the Master 1â—… The sterillity of Spain discovered by a pleasant tale of the Count Palatin of the Rhine 15 Of the Spanish pride some examples 21 How Spain came to this greatness 22 A question whether the Spaniards were first discoverers of the East and West Indies 22 Of the Spanish cruelty in the Indies 23 Spanish King not so potent as we take him to be and the reasons 24 The Spanish valour question'd 26 Divers Spanish Rodomantadoes 26 The Spanish Fleet the highest Grandeza that ever was 27 The sharp sight of the Spaniard 27 A memorable story of a Spanish Captain in Flanderâ—… 27 Though the King of Spain be in perpetuall war and infinitely indebted yet there is no appearance at all in his Court 27 T A Traveller compar'd to a Horsleech and Paris of Troy 6 Tacitus his notable speech against Germany 7 Thuanus saith that Cambray makes 30000 linnen cloths yearly 13 Tacitus like to have been lost had he not been received in a monastery of Westphalia 15 Typography casts a bridle into times mouth 15 Typography Ars memoriae Mors oblivionis 15 Tacitus his opinion of Germany rectified 17 The Tower of Strasburg 574 foot high 17 Tacitus call'd by Budaeus the wickedest of all writers by Tertullian the lyingst by Orosius the flattringst 17 Tyrol abounds most with Mettals of any Country 17 The Turks call all Christians Freinks and the Abyssins call them Alfrangues 24 The Great Turk prefers the Christian Emperours Ambassador before all others 26 The temple of Ephesus 22 years a building 2 The Pope a great temporal Prince proud 33 A tart censure of the Italian 36 A tart saying touching Saints 37 V ULms excells in Drapery of all sorts 13 Utrecht stands betwixt 50 Cities whereof the remotest but a dayes journey 16 Vienna describ'd by Aeneas Sylvius 18 Vladislaus the perjur'd K. of Poland the horrid judgment that fell upon prince peeple 8 The Yew poysonous to those that sleep under it a brasse nayl beaten in takes away the poyson 40 The vertu of Iron 40 A strange vision Henry the 3 of France had before his death 56 How he was murther'd with his Epitaph ibid. Vulcan hath his chief forge and Mars his Armory in Bilbo 4 Of Viriatus the valiant Portuguez 6 A question discuss'd whither the old world got more by the new or the new by the old 8 The vanity of the Portuguais 20 Of the Spanish Inquisition 20 The three vowes of Solyman 29 W BOdin wittily taunted 53 A witty Epigram on Katherin de Medicis Q of France 54 A witty saying of Henry the 4. of France 57 A witty comparison touching Bodin 60 A witty character of the French by Pontumarinus 60 A witty Chronogram 12 Witty reparties 'twixt a German and a Dutchman touching their languages 61 A witty Epigram for drinking 38 A wise law of the Lacedemonians touching lascivious books 62 A witty saying touching the order of Knighthood in France 63 Two witty comparisons 64 A wise saying of an English Captain 57 A witty letter of Câ—…ligni to the French King 64 A witty Epigram upon Spain 24 A witty saying how Philip got the Kingdom of Portugaâ—…l 6 A wise saying of Philip the second 11 His wise speech at his death 11 A witty simile touching Spain 14 A witty speech of Henry the fourth touching Spain 14 The witty speech of King Iames touching the Spaniard 24 Whither the Indian gold hath done more hurt or good to Europe 24 Some witty sayings of the wild Indians reflecting upon the Spaniards 23 A witty saying of Robert Duke of Normandy 10 A witty speech of K. Iames touching Tobacco 5 A wise saying of Cosmo de Medici 27 Walloons that fled from the fury of the Duke of Alva in Flanders taught the English to make Bays and Serges 13 A witty character of a King 15 The Wines of Germany 18 Wine fo plentifull in Germany that in some places they macerat their lime and mingle their morter with it 18 The Walls of Babylon 200 foot high and 60 miles in compas 2 Of the seven wonders 2 Where the Turks horse sets his foot the grass never grows 4 A witty answer of Charles the sift 21 A wise saying of Scaurus 33 A wise saying of Sigismund the Emperor and of Aâ—…phonso of Aragon touching Learning 37 A witty Epigram upon Henry the 4 19 A wise speech of the Pontano Duke of Venice to the Popes Ambassadors 39 A wise sanction made at a Diet against the Popes power in the election of the Emp. 39 A wise saying of the Duke of Alva 24 Witty answers of som Emperors to the Pope 41 A witty saying of an Ambassadour 1 The witty answer of Hen. 4. to the Parisians 42 Of brave women 47 A witty saying of Hen. the 2. King of France 49 A witty saying of Lewis the 12 50 A witty saying of a Spanish Ambassadour 50 A witty Epigram upon Sir Francis Drake 42 Ward the English Pirat did a world of mischief to Christendom 36 A witty saying of a Spanish client to K. Phil. 26 A witty Pasquil against Spain when the Goletta was lost 26 A witty comparison of Europe 29 A witty Spanish Proverb 29 A Welch Prince freed England of Wolves 40 Why Woolsacks are in the House of Peers 40 The wise speech of King Canutus 43 A wise speech of Charles the 5 1 Of the 〈◊〉 of Wales 46 Women did ride astride til Queen Anne wife to Richard the second 54 Of Câ—…rdinal Wolsey 55 The weakness of the Empire 32 A witty Anagram 56 A witty comparison made to the French by Florus 66 A wise saying of the Emperour Frederique 46 Of the Warrs of the Low-Countries and the grounds of them 46 A wise answer of Tiberius 47 A wise answer of Q. Eliz. to the Hollanders 48 A witty comparison that Florus makes of the French valour 66 The witty saying of an Aethiop 67 Water in Moravia of great vertue 68 A witty saying of Henry the fourth 19 The wise speech of Paschasius against the Jesuits 19 A witty saying touching the Philosophers stone 20 A witty saying touching Portugall 20 A witty revenge of a Secretary 49 The witty answer of an Empress 36 A witty saying of Katharine de Medici 35 The woful catastrophe and last words of Henry the 8 58 To the Reader The plenâ—…y of matter wherewith this book doth swel might have made a larger Index but that the Authour had a regard to the Rule of Proportion viz. that the posterâ—…-gate should not prove too big for the Fabrique Errata Edw. the 6. for Hen. 6. pag. 38. best for left p. 31. Charls the first for fift p. 11.
Low-Countrey Opificers who brought whole Colonies into great Britain and made that Nation such able Workmen in this kind of comodity who were given altogether before to Agriculture and grasing of Cattle for the fury of the Duke of Alva drive many Families of Flemins thither where they peepled many Townes which were very thin of Inhabitauts before as Norwich Colchester Maidston Sandwich Canterbury Hampton and others teaching them the art of making Bayes and Serges with other such like woollen Manufactures yet the Belgians still florishd by this industry and the Drapers of Wooll began to lessen among them ther was a compensation made by making Linnen cloth wherin they are so exquisit and herin the Batavians or Hollanders bear the Bell who are arrivd to that perfection of making fine Cambricks and other Cloth that Holland hath given the name to the thing it self which is commonly calld Holland and their dexterity is such herin that their Loomes may be compard to Arachnes webb for finenesse as if they were woven by Pallas her own hand for they may be sayd to equall the Snow in whitenesse Lawne in thinnesse Silke in softnesse and value Cambray is also famous for this and growes rich from what it was beyond beliefe For Thuanus reports there are 30000. Clothes made in that Town alone every yeer which at four pound Sterling a peece come to a vast Somme Flanders also excels in woven Pictures specially Holst and Oudenard fit for the Pomp of Princes I know the Ancients have been Admirable for the Needle the Phrixian Gownes the Istrian Cadowes the Attalicall Hangings and the Babylonian Cutwork were very famous according to that of Martiall Non ego praetulerim Babylonica picta superbé Texta Semiran it quae variantur acu But all that Curiosity by a kind of transmigration is remov'd to Germany The thing exceeds faith no Colour is wanting here think upon what you will The Peacock is not adorn'd by nature with more gay colour'd Feathers then Art makes Tapistry here to delight the Optiques with such changable and various Objects insomuch that no Nation exceeds them herein or produceth more inventive Spirits Among others the Quintins the Florians the Brugelians the Clerians the Brillians the Mabuseans the Mores the Schoorelians the Hemskirkians the Pourbusians the Barensians the Winghians the Hofnalians are most famous specially Iohn Eckius who first found out the way of mingling Oyle with Colours And Albert Durer of Norimberg came to a wonderfull height of perfection herein which extorted a confession from the Italians themselves who using his name in vaine would father their workes upon him to make them more vendible And now let all those Limmers and Painters who have gain'd immortality by their rare peeces come and appeare let Apelles Zeuxis Protogenes Parrhasius and the Theban Aristides com let the most renowned Architects appeer let Ctesiphon Gnosius who erected the Ephesian Temple to the honour of Diana let Dinocrates who trac'd Alexandria let Philo the famous Athenian com let all the choicest Sculpters Leochares Alcamenes Briaxis Scopus Pythis com let the most celebrous Statuaries appeer as Polycletus Praxiteles Ctesias Lysippus Let the ablest Artificers and Opificers the World ever affoorded appeer and they shall find that Germany hath their equals and as great Masters as they in every thing But they will be transported with wonder when they meet our Albertus Magnus who made a Statue so neer the life that by the motion of certain wheels and ginns latent within made the tongue move prolate articular sounds which Statue when Albertus had got Tho Aquinas the Angelicall Doctor into a Chamber where it was and making it speak with an audible voice Aquinas being suddenly surpriz'd with amazement struck it with a stick and broak it whereupon Albertus in as great amazement sayed Ah Thomas what hast thou done Thou hast destroyed in a moment the work of thirty yeers Could any of these old Artists make an Eagle of wood such a one as Regiomontanus upon the Emperours entrance into Norimberg making her to flye in the Air and welcome him to Town But these are triviall things most Illustrious Auditors they are Stars of the least magnitude in comparison of others that shine in this Firmament What think you of the invention of Gunns and Printing the first for Mars the last for Mercury two mighty things worthy of German Inventors whereby Armes and Arts are so much advantag'd The Bow the sling the Roman Ramms the Scorpions and Engines of Battery were nothing compard to the Canon which doth such Execution and destroyes men and horses at such a distance If any thing can compare with Thunder t is the sound of a Culverin in noise and terriblenesse Witnesse when at the three yeers Siege of Osten the report of the Canon was heard at Lovain and when the Duke of Guyse surpriz'd and took Calis from the English the noise of the great Gunns reach'd as far as Antwerp having the wind favourable for its transport which made Scaliger say Pace tua dicam Iupiter fulmina nostra sunt terribiliora tuis Age coge nubes ut tonare queas nos etiam te tranquillo iratum Regnum tuum faciemus By your good leave oh Iove our Thunder-bolts are more terrible then yours Go gather Clouds that you may thunder and teare the Air when you are quiet we also can make your Kingdom angry And Berchtoldus Scharwarzius was the first Inventor of this Miracle a Franciscan Philosoper But the finder out of Typography or Printing was a German Knight Iohn Guttenberg of Mentz though Winphelingus sayeth he projected it first at Strasburg and perfected it in Mentz The greatest advantage that ever the Common-wealth of Learning receav'd which made Beroaldus the Italian break out into a kind of admiration and this lyric Verse O Germania muneris Repertrix Quo nil utilius dedit vetustas Libros scribere quae doces premendo What a toyl it was to exscribe Authors before and preserve them from the injury of time What a care the Emperour took to keep Tacitus commanding him to be written out ten times every yeer yet this Golden Author had been like to perish had he not been found in Corbe Monastery in Westphalia whence after many ages silence Tacitus was brought to speak again Besides the negligence of Scribes in former times used to fill the Books with errors as Cicero witnesseth in his time Viz. That Latin books were so falsly written in his time and adulterated that he knew not what to do whereupon Christian Authors thought it fitting that Booksellers shold be sworn to divulge none but tru examind Coppies which made Irenaeus in the end of his Worke to adjure the Transcriber by the name of Christ and the dreadfull day of Judgment that all coppies therof shold be examind and made concordant with the Originall Typography may be sayed to cast a Bridle in Times mouth that he may not devoure so much and bring things under
of their Princes are no better what I pray is the Gran Duke of Florence what are the Clarissimi of Venice what are the Senators of Genoa but all Marchants yet every broker and pedler is there termed by Vostra Signoria which is your Lordship The meanest Prince in Italy must be called Serenissimo a title used to be given only to the Archdukes of Austria they scorn to be call'd Excellentissimi or Illustrissimi Nay the Duke of Savoy return'd the Senats letters to Venice because mention being made in them of the Dukes children they termed them Excellentissimi not Serenissimi But learning and the sciences you say doe florish in Italy more then any where Indeed I confesse literature is a rare vertu it enables one for any profession and no profession unlesse it be mechanique can be without it The Emperour Sigismund did make high esteem of it in so much that he preferrâ—…d a Doctor before a Knight and his reason was that he could make twenty Knights in a day but not one Doctor You all know the famous apophthegm of Alphonso King of Aragon Rex illiteratus est Asinus coronatus an illiterat King is an Asse with a crown on his head The Genoa Lady was of another opinion who saied penna non facit Nobilem sed penis 'T is true we are beholden to Italy for learning and she to Greece But as poore Greece is now so degenerated in this point that she who call'd all the world Barbarians yea the Italians among others is now become Barbary Herself in point of literature and scientificall knowledge In Honorius time there dwelt but a few Marchants of honey in Athens And I wish the same fate may not befall Italy for her nefandous crimes which are rife there but touching learning I pray heare what Muretus speaks In media Italia in medio Latio in media Magna Graecia vix centisimum quemque invenias qui Latinè aut Graecè loqui sciat In the midst of Italy in the midst of Latium in the midâ—…t of Magna Graecia you shall not find the hundreth man that can understand Greek or Latin or any kind of letters And I pray how doth Italy use to encourage and reward learned men Look upon Philelphus the leaâ—…nedst man of his time yet they were forc'd to sell his books to bury him in Bolonia And who would have thought that Aeneas Sylvius or Pope Pins the second who was beholden to the Muses for all his fortunes and promotion I say who would have thought that being congratulated by sundry peeces of Poetry when he came to be Pope in lieu of reward he put them off with this distic Pro numeris numeros a me sperate Poetae Carminaque est animus reddere non emere O Poets expect numbers for numbers I use to return not buy verses But it seems that Homers fate of inevitable poverty is devolv'd by way of inheritance to all poets Paul the second next successor to Aeneas had a mischievous designe to demolish all learning in so much that he esteemed students and philosophers no other then Heretiques or Conjurers And now that I have fallen among the Popes I beleeve you have heard of the common saying amongst them Nos accipimus pecuniam mittimus asinos in Germaniam We receive money and send Asses to Germany There were two Popes I know not who was the wiser who was the simpler of the two viz. Iohn the eighth or Calixtus the third The first sold the Crown of France to Charles the bald for a vast summe of money depriving the right heirs The other put Edmund of England and Vincent of Spain into the catalogue of Saints whereupon when Cardinall Bessarion heard of it Novi hi sancti de veteribus mihi dubium movent These new saints puts me in some doubt of the old Alexander the sixt scrap'd up so much treasure by the nundination and sale of Indulgences that Caesar Borgia his son loosing a hundred thousand crownes one night at dice sayed Germanorum tantum haec peccata sunt These are onely the sinns of Germany Iulius the third intending to advance Montanus to a Cardinalship and the consistory disswading his holines from it because he was of very meane birth and no parts answered no lesse modestly then wittily Then what thinke you I pray of me whom you have constituted Prince of the Christian Commonwealth Leo the tenth had a purpose to creat Raphael Urbinus a meer painter to be a Cardinall if he had liv'd to it But touching the strange humors and extravagancies of some Popes I put you over to Platina who was secretary to so many of them But to revert a little touching the older sect of Italians Authors there is more vice then vertu to be found in most of them witnes those triumvirs of wanton love Catullus Tibullus and Propertius Ovid might be called a pander to Venus in some of his works what spurcidicall and obscene things doe we read in Martiall and Iuvenall what a foolish humor was that in Persius to study obscurity so much And in Virgil whom we cry up so highly what was he but a meere Ape to Homer Theocritus and other Greek Poets I have seene Homer's picture in a posture of vomiting and all the Latin poets about him licking up what he had spewd but Virgil lapp'd up more then all the rest Now Cicero whom we magnifie above all if we well observe him we shall find that he sate often upon two stooles Petrus Bembus was such a slave to Cicero and so sworn to his words that he infected Longolius with the same humor who would use no other Latin words but what he found in Cicero Therefore the Senat of Venice is alwayes call'd by him Patres Conscripti Dukes and Dukedoms Reges Regna The sophy of Persia and Gran Turk Reges Armeniae Thracum Faith is call'd by him persuasion Excommunication Interdiction of fire and water Nunns are call'd Vestalls The Pope Pontifex Maximus The Emperour Caesar c. In so much that he holds any word barbarous that is not found in Cicero But touching learning and eloquence we well know that Greece hath been the true source of both whence the Romans have fill'd their cisterns Nay for the Latin toung herself we know she is two thirds Greek all her scientificall words and tearms of art are deriv'd from the Greek In so much that it is impossible for any to be a perfect Latinist unlesse he understand the Greek also I will go a little back to Bembo again who as you have heard was so fantasticall that he would use no words but pure Ciceronian but this fancy drew him to a pure prophanes for it brought him to contemne the Epistles of S. Paul and in a kind of slighting way to call them Epistolaccias disswading his friends from reading them least they should corrupt their eloquence What shall I say of Sanazarius that in three books he writ of Jesus Christ he hath not
whereof the noble Baron hath spoken so much they were very valiant indeed when a silly Shepheardesse Anne d' Arc did beat them away from before Orleans pursued them to Paris and so drive them over the Seine to Normandy and when they could not be reveng'd of this Mayd in the Field being taken by a Stratageme they cut her off by a forged accusation that she was a Sorceresse forsooth Then was the time if the English had comported themselves like men of prowesse and policy to have reduc'd all France under a perpetuall subjection King Charles the seventh being driven to such streights that he was constrain'd to fly to Bourges and so for the time was in a jeering way call'd King of Berry But that notable mayd at her execution being tied to the stake was nothing daunted but left prosperity and victory for a legacy to her Countrey men till the English should be beaten quite out of France as they were afterwards for being driven and dogg'd as far as Calais they kept that a while but afterwards they were by a writ of ejectment publish'd by sound of drum and trumpet as also by the Canon Musket of the Duke of Guise thrust out of Calais and so casheer'd quite out of France which sunck so deep and made such black impressions of sorrow upon the heart of Queen Mary of England that she would often say if she were open'd after death the town of Calais would be found Engraven in her heart Now for the piety goodnes and vertu of the English which the noble Baron did so much magnifie you may judge what it was in those dayes by the ingenuous confession of an English Captain who when he had truss'd up his bagg and bagage to go for England as he was going out of the gate he in a geering way was ask'd O Englishmen when will you back again to France The Captain with a sad serious countenance answer'd When the sinns of France are greater then the sinns of England then will the English return to France Nor indeed had the French much cause to affect the English in regard of their insolence and cruelty wherof there be divers examples for in some good successes they had the victory was more bloody then the battaill cutting of prisoners off in cold blood for their greater security But the English must needs be cruell in a Forren Countrey when they use to be so in their own What a barbarous act was that of Edward the fourth to clapp up his own brother George Duke of Clarence in prison and afterwards to drown him in a butt of Muscadin by a new invention of death But to descend to neerer times what an act of immanity and ignoblenes was that in Queen Elizabeth when she promis'd safety welcom to Mary Queen of Scotts and Dowager of France if she came to England for preventing the machinations of her rebellious subjects against her and afterwards to suffer her to be hurried from one prison to another for twenty yeares and then to suffer her head to be chop'd off and by a cunning kind of dissimulation to lay the fault upon Davison her secretary and throw the bloud into his face under pretence that he sent the warrant for her execution without her knowledge Truly this was a most inglorious act and the reproach of it will never be worn out but will stick as a black spot to England while she is an Iland nor can all the water of the Sea about her wash off the stain but it wil continue still indelible But 't is the more strange that Queen Elizabeth should doe this a Queen that had been herself bred up a good while in the school of affliction and might be said to have come from the Scaffold to the Throne I say 't is strange that she should not be more sensible of anothers calamity Dido the Pagan Queen out of a sweet tendernes could say Non ignara mali miseris succurrere disco and it had more becom'd Queen Elizabeth to have said so being a Christian Queen That Queen Elizabeth should do this to her own Cosen and sister Queen one as good as herself who after an invitation to England would never suffer her to have the comfort of her presence all the while That Queen Elizabeth who was cryed up and down the world to be so just so vertuous so full of clemency should do this it doth aggravat the fact much more then if another had done it I must confesse she lost much repute abroad for it Satyres pasquills and invectives being made in every corner of Christendom among others I will recite unto you one that was belch'd out in France which was thus Anglois vous dites qu'entre vous Un seul loup vivant on ne trouve Non mais vous avez une Louve Pire qu'un million de loups No Wolfs ye Englishmen do say Live in your Ile or beasts of prey No but a Wolfesse you have one Worse then a thousand Wolfs alone Among other Kings and Queens of England the example of this Queen and her Father may serve to verifie the saying of Porphyrius which you alledg'd most noble Baron Britannia fertilis Provincia Tyrannorum That Great Britanny is a province fruitfull for Tyrants Now Nimrod was call'd the Robustus Venator the strong Hunter which the Divines do interpret to be a mighty Tyrant And certainly the chasing and hunting of beasts the killing of them the washing of the Kings hands in their blood and feasting with them afterwards must needs make the minds of princes more ferocious and lesse inclinable to clemency wherefore they have a wholsom law in England that no Butcher who is habituated to blood may be capable to be a Juryman to give verdit upon any mans life The Nobles of England may in some kind be call'd Carnificers of some sorts of beasts as the buck and the doe with other such poor harmeles creatures whereof some have no gall in them for having wounded them first and then worried them down with their doggs at last as a signall of victory they bath their fingers in the blood of the poor animall which they call to take the essay but certainly this must conduce to obdurat human hearts and as it were flesh them in blood Now 't is well known there are no Kings on earth such great hunters as the English and who have more of variety of sport in that kind then any for there are more Forests Chaces and Parks besides variety of Royall palaces annexed to the Crown of England then to any other of Europe which might make the Countrey far more copious of corn fuller of cattle and have fewer beggars if they were made arable grounds or turn'd to pasturage Moreover the English Kings may not improperly be call'd Nimrods as Bodin hath it herein considering what rigorous punishments use to be inflicted upon the poor peeple by vertu of the Forest lawes In the book call'd Liber Rufus there
the Name of Iesus or Christ through the whole work and the reason one gave was that they were not Latin words he puts the Sibylls works in the blessed Virgins hands and making no use of Esay or David he makes use of pagan prophets to prove the coming of Christ. But to leave these santastiques I will now be more serious and pry a little into the Canon-law which hath such a vogue in Italy It makes the Crown a slave to the Miter and the scepter to the crosier and the Emperours throne to the Popes chair Nay it lessens and distracts the allegeance of the subject to his natural rightfull prince For it is the concordant opinion of all the Canonists Imperij vasallos criminis Rebellionis Majestatis haud esse reos si pro Pontifice Romano adversus Imperatorem ipsum pugnent The vassalls of the Empire cannot be guilty of the crime of Rebellion if they take armes for the Roman Bishop against the Emperour And Bartolus himself who by Schurfius is called Magister veritatis the Master of truth by Menochius Iurisconsultorum signifer the standard-bearer of Reason by Natta Excellentissimus Doctor by others the Lantern of the Law the Guide of the Blind the Mirroir and Father of verity holding that his works are worthy to be bound with the Sacred Code averres the same in favour of the Pope though he poorely excuseth it that he held these tenets when he was engaged in the Roman Court. Moreover these Canonists are not only content to give his Holines the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven but also of the Kingdoms of Spain of Great Britain of France and indeed of all the Kingdoms upon earth There are some think there are Kingdoms likewise in the Air and he may as well pretend a power paramount over them also But let us see how the Pope came to this transcendency to this cumble and height of greatnes His first rise was when Constantin gave him Rome and it was a notable rise yet all others the Canonists excepted do question the validity of this donation and Aeneas Sylvius himself did so before he was Pope for said he Callidè id provisum a Pontifice It was cautiously provided by the Bishop of Rome that this should be alwayes under controversy whether that donation of Constantine was valid or not valid that such a donation might be presumed still to have been so the Popes are not much displeased that another question should be still litigated and that the Schools should ring with the debate Whether that power which the Bishop of Rome hath over Princes in temporalibus be directly or indirectly for the stating of the question it self presupposeth that he hath a power But many Princes not only those who have quite shaken off his yoke but others who still adhere to Rome have quite freed themselves of this servitude France did it long since in the clash that happen'd 'twixt Philip le bell and Boniface the eighth claiming a jurisdiction in Gallia over Temporals but the King wrote to him in these tart words Que ta tres-grande sottise scache Let thy great foolishnes know that in Temporals we are subject to none but to God himself and they who think otherwise are sots And Monsieur Nogaret going afterwards to Rome in quality of Ambassador and using some bold termes at his Audience the Pope upbraided him that his Father had been burnt for a Heretique thereupon Nogaret tooke him with a Gantlet which hee had on his hand such a cuffe under the eare that fell'd him It is memorable also in what termes the Greek Churches writ to Iohn the third who demanding plenitude of power over the Church universall sent him word Potentiam tuam summam circa tuos subditos firmiter credimus superbiam tuam summam tollerare non possumus avaritiam satiare non valemus Diabolus tecum Dominus nobiscum We firmely beleeve thy supreme power over thy own subjects but we cannot endure thy pride nor are we able to satiate thy covetousnesse The Devill be with thee and God with us It was an odde farewell Nor of late years touching the right to the Crown of Portugal would Philip the second though extremely devoted to the See of Rome stand to the decision of the Pope after the death of Henry of whom it is very memorable that he died the Moon being in an Eclipse and the very same day and hour that he had been born 68 years before No King Philip thought that the Sword was fittest to be Umpire in that business which he made accordingly Of such an opinion was Paul the third also for maintainance of his power for he was us'd to laugh at those who would make use of arguments to maintain the Pontifical power no he was us'd to say It is not the Word only but the Sword which must defend that good Garrisons Castles and Bastions must do it as well as Excomunications and Buls The Venetians of late years gave a shrewd wound to the Papal power through the sides of Paul the fifth when he had threatned them with spiritual Armes Nicolao Pontano the Doge or Duke a man of a free soul answered the Nuncio That if Rome would dart her thunderbolts so rashly verendum esse ne qui Graeci olim fuissent è Latio in Graeciam migrâssent it was to be feared that they who were Greeks of old might goe again from Italy to Greece meaning to the Greek Church In this quarrel the Pope had recourse to Spain for to appear in it and thereupon did much complement with the Duke of Lerma but a little under the dignity of a Pope He termed him Basin Hispanicae coronae super qua acquiescat Monarchia Catholica unicum Ecclesiae fundamentum He writ that Lerma was the support of the Spanish Crown upon which the Catholique Monarchy did rest the onely prop of the Church In the year 1337. Lodovicus Bavarus being Emperour there happen'd some contrasts 'twixt the Emperour and the Pope who alledged that the Electors made him King onely but he made him Emperour Hereupon at a solemn Diet this notable Sanction was enacted Sacrosanctum Imperium summa in terris potestas coeleste donum est Imperator enim primus ante omnes secundus post Deum est per quem leges jura regna humanae genti largitur aeterna Majestas tam grande nomen à solo Deo traditur cui soli me Reipub administrandae rationē reddendam habet A curiatis igitur Heptarchis rebus impositus continuò more Majorum atque jure gentium Rex est vocatur ipsum contra majestatem Reipub. decus Imperii legatos ad sacerdotem Romanum ut Author fiat copiam administrandi concedat mittere eidem jurejurando fidem astringere atque petere ab ipso usum regii diadematis Religio est Nullum harum rerum sus omnino est pastori qui servus ovium est in consecrando domino gregi servit quippe