Mundi tam in temporalibus quam in spiritualibus the King returned him an answer with an Epithite sutable to his arrogancy Sciat maxima tua fatuitas nos intemporalibus alicui non subesse c. The like answer though in modester termes was sent to another of the Popes by St. Lewis a man of a most mild and sweet disposition yet unwilling to forgoe his Royalties His spiritual power is almost as little in substance though more in shew for whereas the Councill of Trent hath been an especiall authorizer of the Popes spiritual supremacy the French Church never would receive it by this means the Bishops keep in their hands their own full authority whereof an obedience to the decrees of that Councill would deprive them It was truly said by St. Gregory and they well knew it Lib. 7. Epist 70. Si unus universalis est restat ut vos Episcopinon Sitis Further the Vniversity of Paris in their Declaration Anno 1610. above mentioned plainly affirme that it is directly opposite to the doctrine of the Church which the Vniversity of Paris hath alwaies maintained that the Pope hath power of a Monarch in the spiritual Government of the Church To look upon higher times when the Councill of Constance had submitted the authority of the Pope unto that of a Councill John Gerson Theologus Parisiensis magni nominis defended that deeree and entitleth them Perniciosos esse ad modum adulatores qui tyranidem istam in Ecclesia invexere quasi nullis Regum teneatur vinculis quasi neque parere debeat Concilio Pontifex nec ab eo judicare queat The Kings themselves also befreind their Clergy in this Cause and therefore not onely protested against the Council of Trent wherein the spiritual tyranny was generally consented to by the Catholike faction but Henry the second also would not acknowledge them to be a Council calling them in his Letters by no other name than Conventus Tridentinus An indignity which the Fathers took very offensively Put the principal thing in which it behooveth them not to acknowledge his spiritual supremacy is the Collation of Benefices and Bishopricks and the Annates and first fruits thence arising The first and greatest controversie between the Pope and Princes of Christendom was about the bestowing the Livings of the Church and giving the investiture unto Bishops The Popes had long thirsted after that authority as being a great meanes to advance their followers and establish their own greatness for which cause in divers petty Councels the receiving of any Ecclesiastical preferment of a Lay-man was decreed to be Simony But this did little edifie with such patrons as had good Livings As soon as ever Hiâ—el brand in the Catalogue of the Popes called Gregory the seventh came to the throne of Rome he set himself entirely to effect the business as well in Germany now he was Pope as he had done in France whilst he was Legate He commandeth therefore Henry the third Emperour Ne deinceps Episcopatus Beneficia they are Platina's own words per cupiditatem Simoniacam committat aliter se usurum in ipsum censuris Ecclesiasticis To this injustice when the Emperour would not yeild he called a solemn Council at the Lateran where the Emperour was pronounced to be Simoniacal and afterwards excommunicated Neither would this Tyrant ever leave persecuting of him till he had laid him in his grave After this followed great strugling between the Popes and the Emperours for this very matter but in the end the Popes got the victory In England here he that first bickered about it was William Rufus the controversie being whether he or Pope Vrban should invest Anselme Archbishop of Canterbury Anselme would receive his investiture of none but the Pope whereupon the King banished him the Realm into which he was not admitted till the raign of Henry the second He to endear himself with his Clergy relinquished his right to the Pope but afterwards repenting himself of it he revoked his grant Neither did the English Kings wholly loose it till the raign of that unfortunate Prince King John Edward the first again recovered it and his Successors kept it The Popes having with much violence and opposition wrested into their hands this Priviledge of nominating Priests and investing Bishops they spared not to lay on what taxes they pleased as on the Benefices First fruits Pensions Subsidies Fifteenths Tenths and on the Bishopricks for Palls Mitres Crosiers Rings and I know not what bables By these means the Churches were so impoverished that upon complaint made unto the Council of Basel all these cheating tricks these aucupia eapilandi rationes were abolished This Decree was called Pragmatica sanctio and was confirmed in France by Charles the seventh Anno 1438. An act of singular improvement to the Church and Kingdom of France which yearly before as the Court of Parliament manifested to Lewis the eleventh had drained the State of a million of Crowns Since which time the Kings of France have sometimes omitted the vigour of the Sanction and sometimes also exacted it according as their affairs with the Pope stood for which cause it was called fraenum pontificum At the last King Francis the first having conquered Millain fell unto this composition with his Holiness namely that upon the falling of any Abbacie or Bishoprick the King should have six moneths time to present a fit man unto him whom the Pope legally might invest If the King neglected his time limited the Pope might take the benefit of the relapse and institute whom he pleased So is it also with the inferior benifices between the Pope and the Patrons insomuch that any or every Lay-patron and Bishop together in England hath for ought I see at the least in this particular as great a spiritual supremacy as the Pope in France Nay to proceed further and to shew how meerly titular both his supremacies are as well the spiritual as the temporal you may plainly see in the case of the Jesuites which was thus In the year 1609. the Jesuites had obtained of King Henry the fourth license to read again in their Colledge of Paris but when their Letters Patents came to be verified in the Court of Parliament the Rector and Vniversity opposed them On the seventeenth of December Anno 1611. both parties came to have an hearing and the Vniversity got the day unless the Jesuits would subscribe unto these four points Viz. First that the Council was above the Pope Secondly that the Pope had not temporal power over Kings and could not by Excommunication deprive them of their Realms and Estates Thirdly that Clergy men having heard of any attempt or conspiracy against the King or his Realm or any matter of treason in Confession they were bound to reveal it And fourthly that Clergy men were subject to the Secular Prince or Politick Magistrate It appeared by our former discourse what title or no power they had left the Pope over the estates
the Purple Robe the Sponge a peice of his Shrowd the Napkin wherewith he was girt when he washed his Disciples feet the Rod of Moses the head of St. Blase St. Clement and St. Simeon and part of the head of John Baptist Immediately under this recital of these Reliques and venerable ones I durst say they were could I be perswaded there were no imposture in them there are set down a Prayer and an Antheme both in the same Table as followeth ORATIO Quaesumus Omnipotens Deus ut qui sacra sanctissimae redemptionis nostrae insignia temporaliter veneramur per haec indesinenter munite aeternitatis gloriam consequamur dominum nostrum c. De sacrosanctis Reliquiis Antiphonae Christo plebs debita tot Christi donis praedita Jucunderis hodie Tota sis devota Erumpens in Jubilum depone mentes nubilum Tempus est Laetitiae Cura sit summota Ecce Crux Lancea Ferrum Corona spine◠Arma Regis gloriae tibi offerantur Omnes terrae populi laudent actorem seculi Per quem tantis gratiae signis offererantur Amen Pretty divinity if one had time to examine it These Reliques as the Table enformeth us were given unto St. Lewis Anno 1247. By Baldwin the second the last King of the Latines in Constantinople to which place the Christians of Palaestine had brought them during the time that those parts were harrowed by the Turks and Saracens Certainly were they the same which they are said to be I see no harm in it if we should honour them The very reverence due to antiquity and a silver head could not but extort some acknowledgement of respect even from a heathen It was therefore commendably done by Pope Leo having received a parcel of the Cross from the Bishop of Hierusalem that he entertained it with respect Particulam Dominicae Crucis saith he in his 72. Epislte cum eulogiis dilectionis tuae Veneranter accepi To adore and worship that or any other Relique whatsoever with prayers and Anthems as the Papists you see do never came within the minds of the Ancients and therefore St. Ambrose calleth it Gentilis error vanitas impiorum This was also Hierom's religion as himself testifieth in his Epistle to Ruparius Nos faith he non dico martyrum reliquias sed ne Solem quidem Lunam non Angelos c. colimus adoramus Thus were those two Fathers minded towards such Reliques as were known to be no others than what they seemed Before too many Centuries of years had consumed the true ones and the imposture of the Priests had brought in the false Had they lived in our times and seen the supposed Reliques of the Saints not honoured onely but adored and worshipped by the blind and infatuated people what would they have said or rather what would they not have said Questionless the least they could do were to take up the complaint of Vigilantius the Papists reckon him for an Heretick saying Quid necesse est tanto honore non solum honorare sed etiam ador are illud nescio quid quod in vasculo transferendo colis Presently without the Chappel is the Burse la Gallerie des Merchands a rank of shops in shew but not in substance like to those in the Exchange at London It reacheth from the Chappel unto the great Hall of Parliament and is the common through-fare between them On the bottom of the stairs and round about the several houses consecrated to the execution of justice are sundry shops of the same nature meanly furnished if compared with ours yet I perswade my self the richest of this kind in Paris I should now go and take a view of the Parliament House but I will step a little out of the way to see the place Daulphin and the little Chastelet This last serveth now onely as the Gaole or common prison belonging to the Court of the Provost of the Merchants and it deserveth no other employment It is seated at the end of the bridge called Petit pont and was built by Hugh Aubriot once Provost of the Town to repress the fury and insolencies of the Scholars whose rudeness and misdemeanours can no way be better bridled Omnes eos qui nomen ipsum Academiae vel serio vel ioco nominassent haereticos pronunciavit saith Platina of Pope Paul the second I will say it of this wilderness that whosoever will account it as an Academy is an Heretick to Learning and Civility The place Daulphin is a beautiful heap of building scituate nigh unto the new bridge It was built at the encouragement of Henry the fourth and entituled according to the title of his Son The houses are all of brick high built uniform and indeed such as deserve and would exact a longer description were not the Parliament now ready to sit and my self summoned to make my appearance CHAP. VIII The Parliament of France when began Of whom it consisted The Dignity and esteem of it abroad made sedentary at Paris appropriated to the long Robe The Palais by whom built and converted to seats of Justice The seven Chambers of Parliament the great Chamber the number and dignity of the Presidents The Duke of Biron afraid of them The Kings seat in it The sitting of the Grandsigneur in the Divano The authority of the Court in causes of all kinds and over the affairs of the King This Court the main pillar of the liberty of France La Tournelle and the Judges of it The five Chambers of Enquests severally instituted and by whom In what causes it is decisive The form of admitting Advocates into the Court of Parliament The Chancellor of France and his authority The two Courts of Requests and Masters of them The vain envy of the English Clergy against the Lawyers THe Court of Parliament was at the first instituted by Charles Marcell Grandfather to Charlemaine at such time as he was Maior of the Palace unto the lazy and retchless Kings of France In the beginning of the French Empire their King did justice to the people in person Afterwards banishing themselves from all the affairs of State that burden was cast upon the shoulders of their Maires An Office much of the nature with the Praefesti Praetorio in the Roman Empire When this Office was bestowed upon the said Charles Marcell he partly weary of the trouble partly intent about a business of a higher nature which was the estating of the Crown in his own Posterity but principally to indear himself to the Common people ordained the Court of Parliament Anno 720. It consisted in the beginning of twelve Peers the Prelates and Noblemen of the best fashion together with some of the principallest of the Kings Houshold Other Courts are called the Parliament with the addition of place as of Paris at Roven c. This onely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Parliament It handled as well causes of State as those of private persons For hither did the Embassadours of mighty Princes
repair to have their audience and dispatch and hither were the Articles agreed upon in the National Synods of France sent to be confirmed and verified Here did the Subjects tender in their homages and oaths of fidelity to the King And here were the Appeals heard of all such as had complained against Comtes at that time the Governors and Judges in their several Counties Being furnished thus with the prime and choisest Nobles of the Land it grew into great estimation abroad in the world insomuch that the Kings of Sicily Cyprus Scotland Bohemia Portugal and Navarre have thought it no disparagement unto them to sit in it And which is more when Frederick the second had spent so much time in quarrels with Pope Innocent the fourth he submitted himself and the rightness of his cause to be examined by this Noble Court of Parliament At the first institution of this Court it had no settled place of residence being sometimes kept at Tholoza sometimes at Aix la Chapelle sometimes in other places according as the Kings pleasure and the case of the people did require During the time of its peregrination it was called Ambulatorie following for the most part the Kings Court as the lower Sphears do the motin of the Primum Mobile But Philip le Belle he began his raign An. 1280. being to take a journey into Flanders and to stay there a long space of time for the settling of his affairs in that Countrey took order that his Court of Parliament should stay behind him at Paris where ever since it hath continued Now began it to be called Sedentary or settled and also peu a pen by little and little to loose much of its lustre For the Cheif Princes and Nobles of the Kings retinue not able to live out of the air of the Court withdrew themselves from the troubles of it by which means it came at last to be appropriated to those of the long Robe as they term them both Bishops and Lawyers In the year 1463. the Prelates also were removed by the Command of Lewis the eleventh an utter enemy to the great ones of his Kingdom onely the Bishop of Paris and the Abbot of St. Denis being permitted their place in it Since which time the Professors of the Civil Law have had all the swaying in it cedeunt arma togae as Tully The place in which this Sedentary Court of Parliament is now kept is called the Palaâ—e being built by Philip le Belle and intended to be his Mansion or dwelling house He began it in the first year of his reign Viz. Anno 1286. and afterwards assigned a part of it to his Judges of the Parliament it being not totally and absolutely quitted unto them till the dayes of King Luwis the tenth In this the French Subjects are beholding to the English by whose good example they got the ease of a Sedentary Court Our Law Courts also removing with the King till the year 1224. when by a Statute in the Magna Charta it was appointed to be fixt and a part of the Kings Pallace in Westminster allotted for that purpose Within the Virge of this Pallace are contained the seven Chambers the Parliament That called le grand Chambre five Chambers of Inquisition or des Enquests and one other called la Tournelle There are moreover the Chambers des aides des accompts de l'ediect des Monnoyes and one called la Chambre Royal of all which we shall have occasion to speak in their proper places these not concerning the common Government of the People but onely the Kings Revenues Of these seven Chambers of Parliaments le grand Chambre is most famous and at the building of this House by Philip le belle was intended for the Kings bed It is no such beautiful place as the French make it that at Roven being farre beyond it although indeed it much excells the fairest room of Justice in Westminster So that it standeth in a middle rank between them and almost in the same proportion as Virgil between Homer and Ovid. Quantum Virgilius magno concessit Homero Tantum ego Virgilio Naso Poeta mâ—o It consisteth of seven Presidents Councellers the Kings Atturney and as many Advocates and Proctors as the Court will please to give admission to The Advocates have no settled studies within the Pallace but at the Barre but the Procureurs or Atturneys have their several Pewes in a great Hall which is without this Grand Chambre in such manner as I have before described at Roven A large building it is faire and high roofed not long since ruined by casualty of fire and not yet fully finished The names of the Presidents are 1. Mr. Verdun the first President or by way of excellencie le President being the secâ—nd man of the long Robe in France 2. Mr. Sequer lately dead and likely to have his Son succeed him as well in his Office as his Lands 3. Mr. Leiger 4. Mr. Dosammoi 5. Mr. Sevin 6. Mr. Baillure and 7. Mr. Maisme None of these neither Presidents nor Councellers can goe out of Paris when the Lawes are open without leave of the Court It was ordained so by Lewis the twelfth Anno 1499. and that with good judgement Sentences being given with greater awe and business managed with greater Majesty when the Bench is full and it seemeth indeed that they carry with them a great terrour For the Duke of Biron a man of as uncontrolled a spirit as any in France being called to answer for himself in this Court protested that those scarlet Robes did more amaze him than all the red Cassocks of Spain At the left hand of this Grand Chambre or golden Chamber as they call it is a Throne or Seate Royall reserved for the King when he shall please to come and see the administration of Justice amongst his people At common times it is naked and plain but when the King is expected it is clothed with blew purple Velvet semied with Flowers de lys On each side of it are two forms or benches where the Peers of both habits both Ecclesiastcal and Secular use to fit and accompany the King but this is little to the ease or benefit of the Subject and as little available to try the integrity of the Judges his presence being alwayes fore-known and so they accordingly prâ—pared Farre better then is it in the Court of the Grand Signeur where the Divano or Counsell of the Turkish Affaires holden by the Bassa's is hard by his bed Chamber which looketh into it The window which giveth him this enterveiwe is perpetually hidden with a curtaine on that side of the partition which is towards the Divano so that the Bassa's and other Judges cannot at any time tell that the Emperour is not listening to their Sentences An action in which nothing is Turkish or Mahometan The authority of this Court extendeth it self to all Causes within the Jurisdiction of it not being meerly Ecclesiastical It is a Law
apparent being the Kings eldest Son living This limited to the Heir apparent being the Kings eldest Brother surviving if there be neither Son nor Brother then the next Heir apparent is stiled onely Le primier Prince du sang The first Prince of the bloud This title of Monsieur answereth to that of the Despote in the Greek Empire and in imitation of that it is thought to have been instituted Others of the French Princes are called Monsieurs also but with some addition of place or honour the Kings eldest Brother onely is called Monsieur sans quene as the French use to say that is simply Monsieur This young Prince is as yet unmarried but destinate to the bed of the young Dutchess of Mont-pensier whose Father died in the time of Henry the fourth Had the Duke of Orleance lived he had espoused her long ere this but it is generally beleived that this Prince is so affected He seeth his elder Brother as yet childless himself the next Heir to the Crown and it is likely he will look on a while and expect the issue of his fortune Some that speak of the affairs of the Court hold her to be a fit match for the young Count of Soisons a Prince of the bloud and a Gentleman of a fine temper The Lady her self is said not to be averse from the Match neither will the King not be inclinable unto him as hoping therein to give him some satisfaction for not performing a Court promise made unto him about marrying him to the young Madame now Queen of England As for the Count it cannot but be advantagious to him divers wayes partly to joyn together the two Families of Mont pensier and Soisons both issuing from the house of Burbon partly to enrich himself by adding unto his inheritance so fair an estate and partly by gaining all the Freinds and Allies of the Ladies kinred unto him the better to enable his opposition against the Prince of Conde The difference between them standeth thus Lewis the first Prince of Conde had by two Wives amongst other Children two Sons by his first Wife Henry Prince of Conde by the second Charles Count of Soisons Henry Prince of Conde had to his first Wife Mary of Cleve Daughter to the Duke of Nevers by whom he had no Children to his second Wife he took the Lady Katherine of Tremoville Sister to the Duke of Thovars Anno 1586. two years after his marriage he died of an old greif took from a poysoned cup which was given him Anno 1552. and partly from a blow given him with a Lance at the battel of Contras Anno 1587. In the eleventh moneth after his decease his young Princess was brought to bed of a young Son which is now Prince of Conde Charles Count of Soisons in the raign of Henry the fourth began to question the Princes legitimation whereupon the King dealt with the Parliament of Paris to declare the place of the first Prince of the bloud to belong to the Prince of Conde And for the clearer and more evident proof of the title twenty four physitians of good faith and skill made an open protestation of oath in the Coutt that it was not onely possible but common for Women to be delivered in the eleventh moneth On this it was awarded to the Prince This decree of Parliament notwithstanding if ever the King and his Brother should die childless it is said that the young Count of Soisons his Father died Anno 1614. will not so give over his title He is Steward of the Kings House as his Father also was before him a place of good credit and in which he hath demeaned himself very plausibly In case it should come to a tryal 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which God forbid he is like to make a great party both within the Realm and without it without it by means of the House of Savoy having married his eldest Sister unto Don Thomazo the second Son of that Dukedom now living A brave man at armes and indeed the fairest fruit that ever grew on that tree next Heir of his Father after the death of Don Amadeo yet childless within the Realm the Lords have already declared themselves which happened on this occasion In the year 1620. the moneth of March the King being to wash the Prince of Conde laid hold on the towel chalenging that honour as first Prince of the bloud and on the other side the Count of Soisons seized on it as appertaining to his office of Steward and Prince of the bloud also The King to decide the controversie for the present commanded it to be given to Monsieur his Brother yet did not this satisfie For in the morning the Friends of both Princes came to offer their service in the cause To the Count came in general all the opposites of the Prince of Conde and of the Duke of Luines and Guise in particular the Duke of Maien the Duke of Vendosme the Dukes of Longueville Espernon Nemours the Grand Prior the Dukes of Thovars Retz and Rohan the Viscount of Aubetene c. who all withdrew themselves from the Court made themselves Masters of the best places in their Governments and were united presently into an open faction of which the Queen Mother declared her self head As for the Commons without whom the Nobility may well quarrel but not fight they are more zealous in behalf of the Count as being brought up alwayes a Papist and born of a Catholike kinred whereas the Prince though at this instant he be a Catholike yet non fuit sic ab initio he was born they say and brought up an Hugonot and perchance the alteration is but dissembled Concerning the Prince of Conde he hath a sentence of Parliament on his side and a verdict of Physitians both weak helps to a soveraignty unless well backed by the Sword And for the verdict of the Physitians thus the case is stated by the Doctors of that faculty Laurentius a Professor of Mâ—nt-pellier in Languedoc in his excellent Treatise of Anatomy maketh three terms of a Womans delivery Primus intermedius ultimus The first the seventh and eighth moneth after conception in each of which the Child is vital and may live if it be born To this also consenteth the Dr. of their Chair Hippocrates saying 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that a Child born in the seventh moneth if it be well looked to may live We read also how in Spain the Women are oftentimes lightned in the end of the seventh moneth and commonly in the end of the eighth and further that Sempronius and Corbula both Roman Consuls were born in the seventh moneth Plinie in his natural History reporteth it as a truth though perhaps the Women that told him either misreckoned their time or else dissembled it to conceal their honesties The middle time terminus intermedius is the ninth and tenth moneths at which time Children do seldom miscarry In the former two moneths they had gathered life
break off the Assembly Upon the receit of this Letter those of the Assembly published a Declaration wherein they verified the meeting to be lawful and their purpose not to dismiss themselves till their desires were granted This affront done to the King made him gather together his forces yet at the Duke of Lesdiguiers request he allowed them twenty four dayes respite before his Armies should march towards them He offered them also very fair and reasonable conditions such almost as their Deputies had sollicited but far better than those which they were glad to accept when all their Towns were taken from them Profectâ— meluctabilis fatorum vis cujus fortunam mutare constituit ejus corrumpit consilia It holds very rightly in this people who turned a deaf ear to all good advise and were resolved it seemeth not to hear the voice of the charmer charmed he never so sweetly In their Assembly therefore they make Laws and Orders to regulate their disobedience as that no peace should be made without the consent of the general Convocation about paying of the Souldiers wages for the detaining of the Revenues of the King and the Clergy and the like They also have divided France into seven circles or parts assigning over every circle several Generals and Lieutenants and prescribed Orders how those Generals should proceed in the warr Thus we see the Kings Army levied upon no sleight grounds His regal authority was neglected his especial Edicts violated his gratious proffers slighted his revenues forbidden him and his Realm divided before his face and alotted unto Officers not of his own election Had the prosecution of his action been as fair as the cause was just and legal the Protestants onely had deserved the infamy But hinc illae lachrymae the King so behaved himself in it that he suffered the sword to walk at randome as if his main design had been not to correct his people but to ruine them I will instance onely in the tyrannical slaughter which he permitted at the taking of Nigrepelisse a Town of Queren where indeed the Souldiers shewed the very rigor of severity which either a barbarous Victor could inflict or a vanquished people suffer Nec ullum saevitiae genus omisit ira Victoria as Tacitus of the angred Romans For they spared neither man nor woman nor child all equally subject to the cruelty of the Sword and the Conqueror the streets paved with dead carcasses the channels running with the bloud of Christians no noise in the streets but of such as were welcoming death or suing for life The Churches which the Gothes spared in the sack of Rome were at this place made the Theaters of lust and bloud neither priviledge of Sanctuary nor fear of God in whose House they were qualifying their outrage Thus in the Common places At domus interior gemitu miseroque tumultu Miscetur Penitusque eavae clangoribus aedes Faeminiis ululant As Virgill in the ruine of Troy But the calamities which befel the men were merciful and sparing if compared with those which the women suffered when the Souldiers had made them the Subjects of their lust they made them after the subjects of their fury in that onely pittiful to that poor and distressed Sex that they did not let them survive their honours Such of them who out of fear and faintness had made but little resistance had the favour to be stabbed but those whose virtue and courage maintained their bodies valiantly from the rape of those villains had the secrets of Nature Procul hinc este cast ae misericordes aures filled with Gun-powder and so blown into ashes Whether O Ye Divine Powers is humanity fled when it is not to be found in Christians or where shall we find the effects of a pittiful nature when men are become so unnatural It is said that the King was ignorant of this barbarousness and offended at it Offended I perswade my self he could not but be unless he had totally put off himself and degenerated into a Tyger but for his ignorance I dare not conceive it to be any other than that of Nero an ignorance rather in his eye than in his understanding Subduxit oculos Nero saith Tacitus jussitque scelera non spectavit Though the Protestants deserved affliction for their disobedience yet this was an execution above the nature of a punishment a misery beyond the condition of the crime True it is and I shall never acquit them of it that in the time of their prosperity they had done the King many affronts and committed many acts of disobedience and insolency which justly occasioned the warr against them For besides those already recited they themselves first brake those Edicts the due execution whereof seemed to have been their onely petition The King by his Edict of Pacification had licensed the free exercise of both Religions and thereupon permitted the Priests and Jesuites to preach in the Towns of Caution being then in the hands of the Protestants On the other side the Protestants assembled at Loudan straitly commanded all their Governours Mayors and Sheriffs not to suffer any Jesuits or any of any other Order to preach in their Towns although licensed by the Bishop of the Diocess When upon dislike of their proceedings in that Assembly the King had declared their meetings to be unlawful and contrary to his peace and this Declaration was verified against them by the Parliament they notwithstanding would not separate themselves but stood still upon terms of capitulation and the justifiableness of their action Again whereas it happened that the Lord of Privas Town full of those of the Religion dyed in the year 1620. and left his Daughter and Heir in the bed and marriage of the Viscount of Cheylane a Catholike this new Lord according to law and right in his own Town changed the former Garrison putting his own servants and dependants in their places Upon this the Protestants of the Town and Country about it draw themselves in Troops surprize many of the Towns about it and at the last compelled the young Gentleman to fly from his inheritance an action which jumping even with the time of the Assembly at Rochell made the King more doubtful of their sincerity I could add to these divers others of their undutiful practises being the effects of too much felicity and of a fortune which they could not govern Atqui animus meminisse horret luctuque refuget These their insolencies and unruly acts of disobedience made the King and his Council suspect that their designs tended further than Religion and that their purpose might be to make themselves a free Estate after the example of Geneva and the Low Country-men The late power which they had taken of calling their own Synods and Convocations was a strong argument of their purpose so also was the intelligence which they held with those of their faith at the Synod at Sappe called by the permission of Henry the fourth on the first of
of all the City to be made one of the next yeares Eschevins Of the two Wenches one so extremely impudent that even an immodest â—are would have abhorred her language and of such a shamelesse deportment that her very behaviour would have frighted Lust out of the most incontinent man living Since I first knew mankinde and the world I never observed so much impudency in the generall as I did then in her particular and I hope shall never be so miserable as to suffer two dayes more the torment of her and of her conversation In a word she was a wench borne to shame all the Friers with whom she had traffiqued for she would not be Casta and could not be Cauta and so I leave her A creature extremely bold because extremely faulty and yet having no good property to redeem both these and other unlovely qualities but as Sir Philip Sidney saith of the strumpet Baccha in the Arcadia a little counterfeit Beauty disgraced with wandring eyes and unweighed speeches The other of the young females for as yet I am doubfull whether I may call any of them women is of the same profession also but not halfe so rampant as her companion Haec habitu casto cum non sit casta videtur as Ausâ—nius giveth it of one of the two wanton Sisters by her carriage a charitable stranger would have thought her honest and to that favourable opinion had my self been inclinable if a French Monsieur had not given me her Character at Orleans besides there was an odde twinkling of her eye which spoyled the composednesse of her countenance otherwise she might have passed for currant so that I may safely say of her in respect of her fellow-harlot what Tacitus doth of Pompey in reference to Caesar viz. Secretior Pompeius Caesare non melior they were both equally guilty of the same sin though this last had the more cunning to dissemble it and avoyd the infamy and censure due unto it And so I am come to the old Woman which was the last of our goodly companions A woman so old that I am not at this day fully resolved whether she were ever young or no 't was well I had read the Scriptures otherwise I might have been prone to have thought her one of the first pieces of the Creation and that by some mischance she had escaped the Floud her face was for all the world like unto that of Sybilla Erythraea in some old print or that of one of Solomons two Harlots in the painted cloth you would not but have imagined her one of the Relikes of the first age after the building of Babel for her very complexion was a confusion more dreadfull than that of Languages as yet I am uncertain whether the Poem of our Arch-Poet Spencer entituled was not purposely intended on her sure I am it is very appliable in the Title but I might have saved all this labour Ovid in his description of Fames hath most exactly given us her Portraiture and out of him and the eighth book of the Metamorphosis you may take this view of her Nullus erat crinis cava lumina pallor in ore Labra incana situ scabri rubigine dentes Dura cutis per quaÌ„ spectari viscera possent Ventris erat pro ventre locus peÌ„dere putares Pectus a spinae tantummodo crate teneri Unhair'd pale-fac'd her eyes sunk in her head Lips hoary-white and teeth most rusty red Through her course skin her guts you might espie In what estate and posture they did lie Belly she had none onely there was seen The place where her belly should have been And with her Hips her body did agree As if 't were fastned by Geometry But of this our Companion as also of the rest of the Coach full Sunday-night and our arrival at Paris hath at the last delivered us Ablessing for which â— can never be sufficiently thankfull and thus Dedit Deus his quoque finem The Fourth Book Or PICARDY CHAP. I Our return towards England more of the Hugonots hate unto Crosses The Towns of Luzarch and St. Lowp The Country of Picardy and People The Picts of Brittain not of this Country Mr. Lesdiguier Governour of Picardy The Office of Constable what it is in France By whom the place supplied in England The Marble Table in France and Causes there handled Clermont and the Castle there The Warrs raised by the Princes against D' Ancre What his Designs might tend to c. IVly the twenty seventh having dispatched that business which brought us into France and surveyed as much of the Country as that opportunity would permit us we began our journey towards England in a Coach of Amiens better accompanied we were than when we came from Orleans for here we had Gentlemen of the choisest fashion very ingenuous and in mine opinion finer conditioned than any I had met withal in all my acquaintance with that Nation and which appeared to me somewhat marvellous we had no vexation with us in the shape of a French-woman to torment our ears with her discourse or punish our eyes with her complexion Thus associated we began to wag on towards St. Lowp where that night we were to be lodged The Country such as already I have described it in the Isle of France save that beyond St Denis it began to be somewhat more hilly by the way I observed those little cressets erected in the memory of St. Denis as being vainly supposed to be his resting places when he ran from Mountmartyr with his head in his hand which the zealous madness of the Hugonots had thrown down and were now reedifyed by King Lewis It could not but call to mind the hate of that Nation unto that harmless monument of Christs suffering the Cross which is grown it seemeth so exorbitant that the Papists make use of it to discover an Hugonot I remember that as we passed by water from Amiens to Abbeville we met in the boat with a berry of French Gentlewomen To one of them with that little French which I had I applied my self and she perceiving me to be English questioned my Religion I answered as I safely might that I was a Catholike and she for her better satisfaction proffered me the little cross which was on the toâ— of her beads to kiss I kissed it and ratheâ— should I desire to kiss it than many of their lip thereupon the rest of the company gave â—ome this verdict that I was un urai Christien et 〈◊〉 point un Hugonet But to proceed to our jourâ—ey The same day we parted from Paris we passed through the Town of Luzarch and came to that of St. Lowp The first famous onely in its owner which is the Count of Soisons the second in an Abbey there scituate built in memory of St. Lupus Bishop of Troyes in Campagne These Towns passed we entred into Picardy Picardy is divided into the higher which containeth the territories of Calais and Burlogne
so I leave the Constable to take a veiw of his Province A man at this time beloved of neither parties hated by the Protestants as an Apostata and suspected by the Papists not to be entire To proceed July the twenty eighth we came unto Clermont the first Town of any note that we met with in Picardy A pretty nea Town and finely seated on the rising of an hill For the defence of it it hath on the upper side of it an indifferent large Castle and such as were the scituations of it somewhat helped by the strengths of Art might be brought to good service Towards the Town it is of an easie access to the fieldward more difficult as being built on the pendicular fall of a Rock In the year 1615. it was made good by Mr. Haroncourt with the Regiment of eight Companies who kept it in the name of the Prince of Conde and the rest of that Confederacy but it held not long For at the Marshal d' Ancres coming before it with his Army and artillery it was presently yeilded This warr which was the second Civil warr that had happened in the reign of King Lewis was undertaken by the Princes chiefly to thwart the designes of the Queen Mother and to crush the powerableness of her grand favourite the Marshall The pretence as in such cases commonly is was the good of the Common-wealth the occasion the cross Marriages then consummated by the Marshal between the Kings of France and Spain For by those marriages they seemed to fear the augmentation of the Spaniards greatness the alienation of the affections of their ancient Allies and by consequence the ruine of the French Empire But it was not the fate of D' Ancre to perish two years more of Command and insolencies his destinies allowed and then he tumbled This opportunity of his death ending the third Civil war each of which his faulty greatness had occasioned What the ambition of his designs did tend to I dare not absolutely determine though like enough it is that they aimed further than at a private or personal potency for having under the favour and countenance of the Queen Mother made himself Master of the Kings ear and of his counsels he made a shift to get into his own hands an authority almost as unlimitted as that of the old Mayre of the Palace for he had suppressed the liberty of the general Estates and of the Soveraign Court removed all the Officers and Counsellors of the last King ravished one of the Presidents of the great Chamber by name Mr. Le Jay out of the Parliament into the Prison and planted Garrisons of his own in most of the good Towns of Normandy of which Province he was Governour Add to this that he had caused the Prince of Conde being acknowledged the first Prince of the bloud to be imprisoned in the Bastile and had searched into the continuance of the lives of the King and his Brother by the help of sorcery and witchcraft Besides he was suspected to have had secret intelligence with some forrain Princes ill-willers to the State and had disgraced some and neglected others of the Kings Confederates And certainly those actions seem to import some project beyond a private and obedient greatness though I can hardly beleive that he durst be ambitious of the Crown for being a fellow of a low birth his heart could not but be too narrow for such an hope and having no party amongst the Nobility and being less gratious among the people he was altogether destitute of means to compass it I therefore am of opinion that the Spanish gold had corrupted him to some project concerning the enlargement of that Empire upon the French dominions which the cross Marriages whereof he was the contriver and which seemed so full of danger to all the best Patriots of France may seem to demonstrate And again at that time when he had put the Realm into this third combustion the King of Spain had an Army on foot against the Duke of Savoy and another in the Countries of Cleive and Juliers which had not the timely fall of this Monsieur and the peace ensuing prevented it might both perhaps have met together in the midst of France but this is onely conjectural CHAP. II. The fair City of Amiens and greatness of it The English feasted within it and the error of that action The Town how built seated and fortified The Cittadel of it thought to be impregnable not permitted to be veiwed The over-much openness of the English in discovering their strengths The watch and form of government in the Town Amiens a Visedamate and to whom it pertaineth What that honour is in France and how many there enjoy it c. THat night we went from Clermont to a Town called Bâ—etaul where we were harboured being from Clermont six French Leagues and from Paris twenty Our entertainment there such as in other places as sluttish and as inconvenient The next day being the twenty ninth about ten of the clock we had a sight of the goodly and fair City of Amiens A City of some English miles circuit within the wals which is all the greatness of it for without the wals it hath houses few or none A City very capacious and for that cause hath been many times honoured with the persons and trains of many great Princes Besides that once it entertained almost a whole Army of the English For King Lewis the eleventh having made an advantagious peace with our Edward and perceiving how ingrateful it was amongst the military men he intended also to give them some manner of satisfaction he sent therefore unto them three hundred Carts laden with the best Wines and seeing how acceptable a present that had proved he intended also to feast them in Amiens within half a league of which their Camp was lodged This entertainment lasted four dayes each street having in it two long tables and each table being furnished with very plentiful provision Neither were they denied entrance into any of the Taverns or Victualling-houses or therein stinted either in meats or drinks whatsoever was called for was defraied by King Lewis An action wherein if my opinion might carry it there was little of the Politician for there were permitted to enter into the Town so many of the English-men at once that had they been but so minded they might easily have made themselves as well Masters of the place as of the Kings person nine thousand are reckoned by Comminees to have been within together and most of them armed so that they might very easily have surprised the Gates and let in the rest of the Army Those of the French Kings Council feared it much and therefore informed both Princes the one of his Town the other of his honour But this jealousie was but a French distrust and might well have been spared the English being of that Generals mind that scorned to steal a Victory and of that generous