him back his gifts againe In others they had good vse as when Fabius Maximus bestowed on Marsus a valiāt souldier no very great gifts to keep in very great spirits The antient boone of Leuidense none begs which was a warme but light yet cōmon garment Many now craue in many places not so much for want of sufficient as because though they know some haue more then inough yet they would bee loath to haue lesse then theyr fellowes striuing as Otacilius did to equall Torquatus of whom it is written that as the ox burst the toade so the one of them would split in emulation of the other vt bos ranam rumperat olim sic puto Torquatus rumpet Otacilium Milesius was wont to say there was no such way to make a man quietly suffer aduersity as the knowledge that his enemy was in worse prosperity and think you that emulatiō in this works not as much as in the other malice For this cause did the brethren of Ioseph sell the son of Iacob vnto the Arabian merchants For the other did Casselius find out that a Pyne tree nut was an apple if it were to be thrown at Vatinius his enimies head Horace bestoweth much description vpon those who wold haue none so great as thēselues and tels the tale of the toade vituli pede pressus who told her dam when she saw her swell to be as great as the calfe Non si te ruperis inquit Par eris But though it were vnfit in kings causes Martials counsell to Flaccus was vnhappy which aduised to keep that to himselfe which hee had purposed amongst others when as the offence of many who should not get was dangerous the bestowing vpon al burdensom Demeruisse duos votum est offendere plures vix tutum Cunctis mittere dona graue Our Soueraigne as his goodnesse is great so his rewards his gifts his aduancements haue not bin smal Tully had not so great cause to brag of his Quaestorship well discharged in Sicily when he came home to Rome as some giue shew of our Soueraigns bounty who passe from one of you to another Howsoeuer it may truly be said it hath rather bin a Royall king then an yeares Magistracy yet performed hath aduanced Tully to salute Roome so glorified from Sicily so enuyed at home Take it not ill then Tully if no body at Roome woulde talke to thee of thy Quaestorship of the news of thy cariage wherin thou thoughtst to haue found all men full And why should not such gifts as they cary be bestowed by him who hauing long staied for power ought now only to affect glory and good will Priùs said Antigonus mihi opus erat potentia nunc verò gloria et beneuolentia What other humane indeauour hath this worthy king more seriously taken in hand then the benifiting of his the countries friends the recōcilemēt agreemēt of the enemies of both whereof the one as they were made vp partely by his loue to his country his desire to honour it to aduāce hir faln nobility to requite such as had deserued best of her to giue many more then theyr own since the country had so gladly giuen him his own partly by those he brought with him who had some of them bin rescuers of his life som extraordinary assistants of his estate others such as he could not but reward here for seruices performed there where memory was the rewarde hee cold properly giue was all in their honors they would willingly take So enimies to kings do oftnest grow either by wāt of what ambition made them desire or for lacke of what expenses had drawn into waste Els some somtimes affect what blind zeal makes them think fit or fals iudgement rather false harts will not let them see pertinent proper But as his Maiesty hath no more then was fit rewarded the first vnlesse they can say to him as the yong man saith in Terence Nescis quid mihi obtigerit you cannot tell Sir what hath lighted vpon me So hath he mercifully spared the other insomuch that he hath neither cōfiscated them as Tiberius the Emperor did the kings of Spaine Sicily Greece ob leue impudensque calumniarū genus for any light or shamefull kind of slander nor fined them as Cassius did Sylla Calphurnius from one of whom he took quinquagies sestertiū frō the other sexagies Himselfe being for any riot he is addicted vnto as free frō wāt either of ought belonging to himself or for his couetousnes frō need of any thing others possesse But either at pe titions of faire Ladies none offenders or for som respects laid before him by his wiser Nobility either else for pure inclinatiō vnto mercy hath benefited Sylla been steward of his estate kept others vp who would haue kept others downe Thanks to so high discerning which found that when Soueraigntie could not represse liberty benefits could more strictly then treason take it prisoner Nor hath hee yet inflicted so much as exile vpon any of them knowing it a banishment that they forsooke his iustice And that he detaineth them is out of his mercy for boulder were they and of better countenāce could they be when each had his discontent then now when they haue proofe in themselues the world sees it apparātly how vnworthily they had placed it Marcellus the Ciuilian wrighting vpon a booke of the Digestes shewes three kindes of banishment either from certaine places or from al places besides certain either else a cōfining to some Iland And though all these be vpon them yet they had nothing of this punishment did not one certaine place restraine them may they be confined to an Ilād if further mercy shall deliuer further occasion shal not imploy them that Iland so prepared the one by their Soueraignes grace the other in his prudēce they are not only like to be inlarged to a country but find their country inlarged to them Touching whome pittie is it they rather were not free for this argument then bound by the other offēce There are of them whose births courages blouds experiences and conditions as they were noble before they lost them so nobly could they haue spoken of this argumēt I hope by this time haue found much cause to bee much forward hereabout Yet is there one of thē wold bring much griefe vnto me though I wish him all good in his weldoing if he or his abettor his Steward or Protector or his faction so many as are of the olde haunce for his cause should be able to preiudice me more for compassion then I could draw safegard to my selfe by refraining euill desart laboring good merit But howsoeuer these some of them much vnhappy before in this estate at this time haue all tryed the Kings Maiesties grace in their seuerall particulars in that notwithstanding they haue beene absent from the true ioyes of their Countrey and from the affaires in hand they may
RAPTA TATIO THE Mirrour of his Maiesties present Gouernment tending to the Vnion of his whole Iland of Brittonie Martiall Rumpatur quisquis rumpitur inuidia AT LONDON Printed by W. W. for S. Waterson 1604. Ignibus vnionis arden S. To the Right Honorable and famous Cities London and Edenborough Yorke in the way not vnsaluted and to their Inhabitantes and Friendes of all conditions BEcause in you especially be the newses of all Common-wealthes causes I choose you to whom to dedicate the Discourses vpon the Vnion debated Of other natures are other Recordes likewise interserted as argumentes moderne in your dayly vses Bee you all strong Friendes to this great good of your estates and no partie shall be thought able to withstand you and your followers My selfe begge nothing of you nor seeke to borrow vpon credite though I know you trust much and in so doing giue it when you are not payde But if I once see Bonfiers in you for this new Coniunction yours wil be the Chiefest benefite mine a share of the Comfort That if it happen to be concluded burne my Bookes then as part of Ioyes Fewell If that misse good euent and mine affection shall be suspected or argumentes neglected a badde Birdes ill Egge I know will not haue worse fortune Howsoeuer my Zeale is such to you and to this Case as I referre it and my selfe humbly to your Censures willing to make my selfe better knowne then when I shal be assured I can deserue well of you till which time come gladdest if it were quickly I rest Euer at your commaunde Your Country-man and a Brittaine The explanation of the Title and application thereof WHEN the Romaines for continuance of their people and common-wealth made Vnion with their Neighbours the Sabines and the rest by taking their Daughters though against their willes at first to wiues whom afterwardes proofe shewed they could not better haue bestowed the chiefest of the rest was reserued for Tatius The credite of whose name was of such authoritie that not the very enemies would make resistaunce That if they then yeelded to for a Noble mans fancie in his affection let a generall good now be more powerfull for a Kinges desire of a Common-weale Hoc tantum inspice qui nobis paratur An possit fieri vetus sodalis The Title RAPTA TATIO Haec facies testatur amorem Anagram AT AT PATIOR Nec facies placet cui gelasinus abest Vpon both Praeda datur Tatio mea miles vulnera porto vt verè dicam dum potior patior Sed modicum patiar quia nisus nomine tanto et tanto fultus numine tutus ero Rapta Tatio HAuing you great Citties and your friendes and followers since I saw all vse of my poore endeuors spared or rather found disabilitie in them to afforde vse to the state or person of my dread Soueraigne or of his royall Queene or ishew sequestred my selfe from either sawcie intrusions or shamelesse suites I thought I should so haue been forgotten and might also haue been suffered without offence to forget But so full are all thinges euery where of his Maiestie as euen in my retiredest priuatenesse by Subiectes who could not iudge of ought but what the Subiect enabled them to neither take much ioy in any thing but in Haruestes Mariages and Holydayes nor speake for much more then Nature and the Countries vocation giues direction for I haue been assaulted with their welcome yet vehement endeuours of expressing their ioyes for him their comfortes in him their hopes from him their dueties to him in deed their admiration of not onely what they see but what they feele themselues euen warmed and comforted by not to all men in able Iudgement visible but euery where by some vertue or other sensible no lesse then they professe his Maiesties Proclamations to their vnderstandings notable his caryage and manage of himselfe and his iudgement in treasons so little deserued by Subiectes no whit iustly agreeued taken to mercy besides all law but that which his owne heart and vnderstanding inuentes and affoordes not a little rare yet very royall Aboue all it may be for being last in memorie they seeme full of a speech his Highnesse made in the beginning of the Parliament for place in such a session for vtteraunce so delyuered vpon further suite and neede thereof so reitterated the argumentes so gratious for vse so necessarie seene euen before proofe so iudiciall as when they of their kind could finde vnderstanding to commende fulnesse to vtter it so farre set on fire my spirit to giue my selfe satisfaction about as whether scorne to be ouermatched by those in that argument or new desire enflamed to apprehend so glorious a world gaue the instigation I know not vp rose againe those spirits which had faythfully borne zeale and that without fault otherways to his Highnesse when communitie knew him not in dayes when Nobilitie treated but sparingly of him and the time had kept him in breeding in a countrey fit to make him wise and hardy as any of his auncestours lesse soft and delicate then many of his progenitors Pardonable then I hope it shall be esteemed if to ioyne with the rest or salute their gratulations to him first what came from him comes for him the meditation of Subiectes wishes the vnderstanding of many their senses directed to acknowledge how vnworthy they are so gratious so good a King who publikely professeth to thanke them for that for which God and he himselfe is to be thanked in that he was borne and refuseth not his ende for which who professeth peace feareth no warre standeth stifly to religion with a prudent discretion seekes vnions for vnitie giues his owne for the Common-wealthes cause the most and yet accomptes to it for what he giues doth all things as doubting which vpon tryall are surely placed And though my selfe be too vnworthy to explaine what his Maiesties hidden prouisions are of those which haue open shew for his Kingdomes good and know how neare flatterie and grosse adulation plaine deliuerie and trueth comes yet since they be good desires in others none ill in my selfe which haue stirred me vp to this presumption and Vertue may be as confident to challenge her owne as Vice is apt to borrow of insinuation I aske leaue that I represse not my thoughtes in silence neither spare to lay them downe so insufficiently in so able an age But yet daring no further you may be pleased as Dionisius made Aristippus beleeue that his eares were in his feete to heare with your heeles or if the worke be not worthy to be taken vp it can not be vile enough if it shall not be otherwise censured hauing loue duetie zeale and care of countrey therein to be trodden vpon And here in what I shall discourse as I haue caught it by vulgar relations and remember it happely but vnfittingly for the vse should be made of it so if either I had had direction to
can not be vnpleasing that Amasis King of Egypt made vti singuli apud praesides prouinciae ostenderent vnde viuerent That is in England on capitall head of many manifolde vices when men may liue by what meanes they can onely answearing vnto publicke accusations whereas how they get what they spende how they spende what they get how they outface meaner Magistracie how they blinde greater in causes of danger how they find many and the Common-wealth few friendes how they shift causes and the Iudge neuer heates of them for these how much God is angrie their courses how easie it is in beginngs to preuent if counsaile of Counsellours finde other thinges more vrgent to their wisedomes I remember what I wish the Common-wealth should haue cause to thanke them for These people will goe as neare Iustice and Lawes and scape them as Domitian could shoote neare through by a Boyes fingers and misse them This reuerend counsell for hauing liued in Coutts may they be more honored then to be reuiled in Woodes So let them know their seruices rewarded in lyuing that dead they be not abused by the lyuing And if they may be amongst vs who would be wise like them let vs not put them from amongst vs who haue more experience and haue had more priuitie then wee Zenophones Colophonius who was called Homeromastixe in lamentation of his pouertie told a King of Cecely that he was scarce able to keepe two Seruantes Yet quoth the King he whom you rayle vpon feedeth 10000. being dead so are worthy men by meane ones defaced so pratchantnesse knowes not it is sawcie so come faultie humours to be vnpunished because not seene and not seene because not regarded In Rome it is written Rutilius and Scaurus had petition for a Consulship and at last Rutilius gaue way to Scaurus Scaurus accused Rutilius of Canuace because in Rutilius his Tables was written A. F. P. R. which Scaurus did interpret as signifying done by the fayth of Publius Rutilius actum fide Publij Rutilij as if Rutilius had corrupted the voyces and Scaurus could not haue been made Consull without Rutilius had renounced vnto him But Rutilius made this interpretation ante factum postea relatum that first it was had afterwards restored as if Scaurus had by his name framed his Office and he had been but the pronouncer of his reputation Caius Caninius a Romaine Knight being on the part of Rufus notwithstanding held that neither interpretation was true vpon those Letters but that they imported Aemilius fecit plectitur Rutilius Aemilius did it and Rutilius suffered for it that was tooke the repulse But I thinke both then for neither are heere now In that time where was the curtesie passed betwixt Largius and Caelius when they two spent the day so in commending one another either for others worth to be elected Dictators that scarce either of them could be appoynted on the second day of their choyce Where was then that humanitie which Pompey shewed who being appoynted vnto Metellus his charge because Metellus was elder and more noble in glorie would not accept his preferment appoynted vnto him vnlesse Metellus would desire his companie in taking share of his care This case had much other pleading when it was and howsoeuer Rutilius was stucke vnto yet Cicero gaue not all to that speaker but in decision of the cause hauing iudicially delyuered turned his countenaunce vpon a worthy man of his fauour concluding directly in the behalfe of Scaurus More did not Tully in any day shew himselfe maister of his eares nor better at any time commaunde his tongue to vtter his iudgement Yet was that tryall onely brought in to take experience of duetie fully necessarie for greater causes soone after to be propounded This onely being like Alcibiades Dogge sent through the Cittie of Athens with his tayle cut off vpon purpose That as it was to try what woonderors were there in that body so this to discerne whether free tongues were walking or not walking in your free Cities But howsoeuer had Angustus his Iudgement been helde as good as Claudius his benefite the decision had found authoritie not the authoritie decision Then might the Souldier haue come to Caesar to aske his rewarde of pleasuring him in a fitter time then after he had lost one of his eyes at Munda But it may be in times foregoing it hath been thought that cleane obseruance was more worth then holy duetie to be honored rather skilfully then deuoutly coli scite quam sancte Yet doubt I that word Cleane had drunke too lately in the Low Countries and signified rather litle in the scite then mannerly in the obseruaunce Or else as it befell Martiall would haue his rule of louing accept Familiaritie but admit no reuerence Tu vis coli Sexte volebam amore Sed si te colo Sexte non amabo If otherwise which I well beleeue and you great Cities may happely heare of that not want of particuler duetie but care of generall good makes refusall of that for the Countries cause wherein a Kinges commaund had otherwise readely preuayled ouer his Subiectes while the euent of the ones desire the others refusall stood vpon vncertaine successes and the fathers care might be thought impartiall touching his owne lawfull Children though issued from diuers venters what Vigil could not scite Virgill what Watchman could not discerne day then in view then to follow his collours with Nil desperandum Teucro duce et auspice Teucro Nor could it be sayd O socij neque enim ignari sumus ante malorum for of the contrarie wee haue had experience lamentable of this which would haue yeelded comfort such hath been our vnhappinesse though the Histories can tell you how sought neuer occasion to any could wee take Better directions then happie directions men can not receaue such as either are affected to be followed for loue by hope or men are wonne to imbrace by reason vpon ground Him examine by his owne remember his life past so blessedly runne through so mischieffously attempted take view of his estate present of our hopes of blessednesse by him and thereby frame coniecture how fortunate his Highnesse may be in these his desires not withstood but submitted to by those who must leese liberties as deare as life thereby And should you not take him Kingly but Philosophically the rule for his condition fittes him as his Scepter for a King becomes him A body strong fortunes ritch the heart stoute and braines learned Milesius thought to be the seate of happinesse Plato he platted fiue kindes of Felicities good Counsell good Health good Fortune good Reputation good and falsely esteemed but neuer before other louers of Wisedome loued them better then Philosophers aboue all Goodes Goodes I might add to make these goodes better as greater for their qualitie maketh not their price more then their quantitie aduaunceth their reputation euen goodes hanging vpon Ropes Of which kinde to leaue the Kinges Maritine riches
in like whereof no Prince in the world is knowne to equall him I may truely say as he is farre from taking aduantages vpon those from whose indiscreete and vnworthy vsages the haynousnesse of their crimes haue giuen their states and safeties away so might so much moderation in cause of iust anger haue giuen true tryall of none ouer great violence in matter of affection And were it not for the good of eyther since hee hath charge of both it would neither bee the draught of the one to what they seeke not nor of the other to what they like not that would make either Fancies seeme Faces or Reasons almost Treasons Nor can I gesse whence no better satisfaction groweth vnlesse Opinion may be helde of the highest estate to be as Pliny writeth of Fortune that shee is the Goddesse who in the whole world in all places at all howers with all voyces alone is called out vpon alone is named alone is accused who hath the onely guylt the onely estimation the onely prayse the onely blame and with inuectiues is worshipped with slaunder cherished in inconstancie thought constant to whose charge is layde the maintayning the vnworthiest the accompt of all expences the catalogue of all receites and the filling vp of each Leaues either part in the blottes of all reckonings and the setting vpon all Audits If not so with reuerence and loue may I speake it to your Cittie-assemblies Tables as you may thinke priuate and secure be too little prouident no lesse was the Frenches confidence who to shew their not fearing Alexander could instaunce in nothing to giue them doubt but in the heuens falling Yet certainely as Abimelech being hurt by a Stone from the Castle whereinto the Israelites fledde throwne downe by a Womans hand desired rather that a Souldier would kill him then that by so weake an hand he should perish So is it euer to be feared that greatnesse can no where suffer contradiction with content where the cause is reasonable and affection Royall in the vnderstanding It may be neuerthelesse that Pompilius thought a Circle scoared by a Rod could giue lymits to consultation as Intra hunc consule The intendment of such Circles were to combine mens seates and endeuours by freedomes to assist euery one the most he could not with liberties to forestall singular men peremprorily those propositions which come but newly into consultation being neither rashly nor meanely commended Those ends had no Celticke boldnesse appoynted to them they were not to be ioyned with contempt of safetie There was not intended that with the blood of Hanniball should be made strong the league with Rome There was no Priuiledge to engadge that offence which no memory could euer remit if the after successes should accuse the then resolued iudgements The Scottish in this age nor in those to come shall in this Kingdome get the best offices alone feare ye not nor let others affright you therewith But as the Kinges Maiestie contendes to haue the State generall and publique weale of the whole Iland to which he is equally by God appoynted in best order so propounds he that it may be free for the best man of those who are his natiue Subiectes borne and inhabiting within the same continent and none otherwise deuided by Tweede then others of his Subiectes are by Trent may haue place for his goodnesse to serue the Common-wealth in Such is his Maiesties royall disposition to chuse the best from the most and to get it enacted that the left hād though not so much heretofore vsed shall now bee knowne to bee a parte of the same body receiue the same nourishmēt by the same passages and do naturall seruices as none artificiall member But why we should so much doubt them see I not so much cause In all men now liuing is not the appetite of Diogenes deceased he being asked what kinde of wine he wold gladliest drinke of answered of another mans for of those there are many wil not change their own setlings too many who haue pensions elswhere already some are going further for better profits all of whome great offices in this kingdome doe not expect nor wold they euer be suters for them to sit about them Yet do you thinke it better and lesse dāgerous to admit too great hopes at home then safe for a common wealth to permitte too much certaintie of engagement abroad This was it of which Horace said that the hornes had hey vpon them flie those beastes Foenum habet in cornu longè fuge This Frenchman is black Hunc tu Britāne caueto Nay I may tell you that this nation is so well traueld hath so much addiction to see further as it wil well ioin to draw your looser abroad by encrease of strength your richer home with support of wealth And whether such dispositions are likely to hold they who haue traueiled can best discern who haue seen vs foraignly loue take parte against all natiōs ech with other when we liued domestickly scarce friends daily occasions giuen why we shold be more disjoyned Too much occasion hath ben geuē why secret remēbrances might hold some in act some in fact but so blessing of vs is God so gracious to vs is our King so prouidēt are they cā forsee this as the storye moderne may now be corrected as Martials epigrams might be amēded which whē many interlineations many scorings could not perfit vna litura potest spongia sola potest many apologies many periuries many simple denials many beings out of the way many facings to the teeth many accusatiōs of his better subjects many combinations of packes together though all these shold be many more can neuer or not alwaies hold all in or all men only this asks pardō saies nothing this takes reuenge doth good together Now let vs haue none aliens none attainders be al free as wee may bee noble as wee shold be Let the same hād which endeuored hurt or was mistaken heal be rightly vnderstood If there be impedimēts outward remooue them if imward aduise them Licurgus being demaunded how the enemies forces might be abādoned answered if they would continue poore which this age yeelds no disposition to if they woulde lay by ciuill dissentiōs which is best done where singuralities are auoided good only affected But if the best should come to the eagerest satisfaction yet it is lesse valew to defend then assault lesse hability to deny then to proue that very to do good is more suspected then ill doing deemed faulty the wisdome of Pisistratus must yeeld to the wilfulnesse of his childrē or else others must take aduātage by their debate The story saith that whē as Pisistratus had giuen right aduise vnto his children could not get theyr cōsent vnto it therby was vrged to stād in some question with them for their disobediēce finding his enimies reioiced therat as hopeful that frō that dissētion som
as Tubero the Pretors Pye did which came strangely to his hand and of which the Southsayers foretolde that much good would come with her were shee accepted if otherwise much ill to the Pretor her hee pulled in peeces but not without his owne mischiefe In Phrigia and Silenus was a great earthquake which consumed many houses and mortalles The Oracle saide some rich thing must bee throwne into it Death of a Kinges Sonne onely stopped the gaping of the earth in those places Here is no earth-quake but heauens shine here is life and renowne to our Kings Sonne our worthy Prince ours and many more kingdoms hope The Oracle sayes not dye sonne but liue all friendly together Tully in the dreame of Scipio saith that all they who haue saued their Countrey haue helped their Countrey haue encreased their countrey haue in heauen a place appointed them where euerlastingly they shall ioy That was the cause why the Ambassadors of the Carthagenians and the Sirenenses were contented to make the condition of being buried quicke where they challengd their bounds So great was their loue to the inlargement of their Countrey a desire euer prosecuted and neuer but weakely by Darius in Quintus Curtius his time only gaine-said that a kingdome might be too great On the other side remember but how Themistocles dealt with Zerxes for the ouerthrow of al Greece because his countrey had ingratefully respected him And had not Artaxerxes hung vp my Hamon Mardocheus had beene betrayed in his owne Countrey beyond the Kings disposition but that did I beare though it cost me deare As I forgiue so I forget and returne to this If the English haue not generall peace which they shall not till they bee knowne generally strong for yet forreiners may bee suspected but to prye into our state to breake or holde resoluing neither but by the first instructions they will ere long grow so vnanswerable of Taskes and Subsidies that the Collectors shall finde them as in another common-wealth was seene playing in the streetes a shrewd signe that they be no money keepers But if they once see our fortune sitting they will then thinke she will so finde the benefit of her ease as shee will euer be knowne where to bee found Now is our ground ready what seede wee sow we shall reape This cause talkes nothing of inconuenience yet the man though good though iust though innocent is feared vir bonus iustus innocens timetur pouertie is pretended saith Martiall it is not pouertie to haue nothing Non est paupertas Nestor habere nihil The fault sure is this the poore seekes friendships vnworthy affections quòd colit ingratas pauper amicitias Nay they haue their peculiar riches where they are in as large a maner as we make account of ours here But this is to tennice freely but not to denise kindly Many I see knowe how to counsell few finde I who can tell how to make the Consull The King should haue long hands as farre reaching as Kent and Kentile and would you haue the King feed with one gloue on another off It would be said of him Totus in toto per totum totus omnis Esse omnis dū vis incipis esse tuus that he then beginneth to be his owne when he will be all and in all and by all and all euery where And though some pretend fables how the Wolfe by at the first getting an house to breede in at the last hauing many litters helde it by strength against the owner Yet what can these things moue in ordered cōmon wealthes where no more interest is attained then the lawes admit right to Tully in his pleading for Roscius shewes how many wayes the lawes punish those whose demaundes are greater then the lawes doe allow The like doth Crassus in Tully Our lawes will maintaine vs in our owne well enough though our conditions I hope will not make them pay so deare as the English did when they went to fetch the King and Queene from Scotland This may be giuen to the King for them indeede to them for vs the rest they shall enioy as the lawe will for what they buy by the law they may call their owne Demurre then no longer my great and deare friendes vpon this argument but returne this aunsweare that Neptune did by the Raine-bowe Terram esse communem Which though he durst not defend against Iupiter yet you haue Iupiter on your side against whome to contend were madnesse as with an equall doubtfull with an inferiour base Seneca sayth of power that if it inuite to any thing nay if it intreate ought it compelles it Easie it is not to write against him in his gouernment who can score a man out of his gouernment Non facile est in eum scribere qui potest proscribere Fauorinus the Philosopher admitteth Hadrian the better iudgement because he commaunded thirtie Legions The matter then being euen let vs not contend vnequally for had not nature seated this kingdom within you you might well haue helde it without you Well had Scipio Emilian discharged this Censorship had the Quirites giuen him a fellow Pretoorr not giuē him one Think not vpō what Cato saith that it is not to be marueiled at if what a man thinkes an excellent good he be loath to share with another But let Plutarch teach you to gaine authoritie and power with expedition so neither smoake shall make the fire vnpleasant in the kindling nor enuie lay snares to impeach glorie by in the framing If longer you stay vpon further deliberation this businesse hauing beene determined by the Comittee in heauen Scipio Emilian must nedes tell the Senate that neither of the Consules is fit for the seruice of the Common-Wealth For Seruius Sulpitius Galba was poore and had nothing and Valerius could neuer thinke he had enough Yet since the men on both sides are seruiceable make their conditions as agreeing amongst themselues so fit for the Common-Wealth let the one inioy more the other couet lesse so shall both encrease apace and Rome be well serued If any obiect their affections bee vnlike ours that comes not out of nature but custome As the Ayre is tempered sayeth Tully in his Diuination so are the children spirited their wittes formed their maners their minds their bodies and the actions of their life Looke in the English and Scotchmens faces see whether Caucasus haue begot them vpon hard rockes Our climate is the same our temperatures alike if any thing within our gouernment make vs differ it is but custome They haue not so many Cities as we they followe feeds which we do not yet finde I not but we are prickers as well as they and if it be obserued what store of Ritters we haue got it may be feared that two Cheuallers being not Castor and Pollux may be driuen to one Chiual to ride on besides the saddle But let Herodotus write as much as he will of the kingdom of custome
for though Darius could not get the Grecians to eate their dead Fathers for any golde nor the Indians to burne theirs for any iron because of the contrarieties of their vses in both yet assure I my selfe this Nation honours the King with so much zeale he is able to teach thē with so much skill embrace vs with so much affection especially if wee bee once vnited in indissoluble bounds as I knowe not any custome may be fit for them to leaue shall not be discontinued nor any new lawe to be put in vse to which the first day shall not finde them accordant Si fingere me putas istud salutemus They do many of them vnderstand what was Cyrus his counsell to leaue those mountaines Countries and descend into the plaines there with the times to change the manners as Tully writes to Atticus where as the seedes are like the plants the liues of men are like the countries There shal they best learne to obey where the King sits highest to rule there shall they heare him clearely where Ille regit dictis animos pector a mulcet For this deede done none shall need to looke backe into his conscience with affrightment For this name taken none shall need to vnderstand the Nation to be embased For this kingdome inlarged none shall finde their owne states impaired As touching vnion with others and their abbetments ye may there iudge of your aduices among those who haue learnedly and grauely refuted that fourth question of the booke intituled Vindictae contra tyrannos Wherein is discoursed whether one Prince may ioyne with the subiects of an other who take vpon them armes for defence of defending religion My purpose being to be short shall rather insinuate my zealous wish of home-combining then forraine vses the one naturall and politique the other politique alone if so much I aske your body but within your girdle your head couered onely with your hat your garment to be grauer then partie-coloured and offer you Fraunce and Spaine for examples limited by those bounds nature her selfe hath appointed vnto them the Montes Perrenaei the Sea the Alpes with the rest Nor is it constantly held that our name of Britans should bee deriued of Brutus rather some hold we are called Prittons of a word which signifies a Marte or Fayre of stuffe for which this whole Island as well al parts as any one part Wales and Cornwall as England and Scotland is in one kinde or other replenished Nor ought that worde of Marte seeme to haue lesse boundes then Ciuitas which as Aristotle writeth signifieth a whole Common wealth As for our priuate goods thogh I could answere Publica priuatis sunt anteponenda yet let the stories bee but searched how our forteine conquestes haue bene hindred by the opportunities the Scots haue taken in our absences and how iealousies haue onely made vs diuersely combine our selues they with Fraunce wee with the house of Burgondie they shall finde how likely it is that priuate mens marchandize may be lost in the wracke of the generall fleete Other obiections should I goe about to frame such as pride or curiositie might suggest vnto me as much as I haue heard should I endeuour to answere the necessary themes of some mens seeming wise I doubt much how I could swim from out their deluge Noahs Arke or Chawcers Trough being vnbuilt against such an inundation Steeples stand not vp here as in the drownd countries of our lowe neighbours There are no sea-markes appearing to direct no castles no forts no citties to protect hilles and mountaines are here ouerwhelmed and the solutions of these following would be the dissolution of the time spent about them and no resolution of any thing for the applying of Gods blessings to our vses Animo volenti nihil difficile while we say all will be subuerted the lawes ouerthrowne mens states taken away the nations honor lost and our dish well serued in sliced into a gallemawfrey ouerpeppered and salt buttered wee spread feares doubtes God grant not hatreds largely but discusse vpon inconueniences slowly If to forward accordes the debate of this question happen you will finde that neither the number of the Scottishmen forreiners from their countrey nor the ambition of the Nobles though by some thought to challenge antiquitie before ours neither the customes of the Nation differing from ours in whatsoeuer wil debarre this proceeding or not admit time and will for fitnesse The like said of our auncient statutes of the stories auncient of vs of our reasonable affections as wee now stand for our goods and I dare boldly say eyther their intendmēts lesse needfull or their applications more profitable or alterations more beneficial will make vs more enioy this mornings breakfast then all last weekes dyet For neither doth the King affect other then our goods or is himselfe vnable to iudge of them nor doubteth but that there ought much deliberation to bee taken in a cause so important much circumspection touching the proportioning out the particulars These reasons haue moued me seeing that the King is to be defended in his desire as a good father of the Common-wealth hath spared the bloud of our good countreymen turned ill hath incouraged the seruices of the well deseruing shewes himselfe wise in his gouernment louing in his affection and industriously carefull of the weale publike to take vpon me this license in writing this zeale to my countrey in perswading Which if it happen to mindes affected to let Lucilii pecus esse liberum qua velit pasci I hope with them mine endeuour shall finde fauour for the rest as it no waies becomes me to be vnciuill as Democrates was to Philip so if they shall thinke it rather an impotencie in me not to spare mine affection to this argument then in themselues to afflict me by whatsoeuer meanes their wisdomes are of force to giue themselues content and this being out and past from me and dislikte shall make me not like to passe out more to be submitted to censure To conclude long liue yee right honourable Citties keeping peace in you fiers from you and traffique with you so may you build your houses faire keepe them neate haue good store of money and bonds in your chestes your Prentices grow free your liueries Aldermand your wiues Ladies your children made Gentlefolkes and your Cittie commodities be exchanged into the Courtiers reuenewes as at this marriage if you will daunce you make the contract sure and till death depart For though they and you lye in one an other of your houses nay should they and you lye with one an other of your wiues and daughters beleeue me non concubitus sed consensus facit Matrimonium say the Ciuilians Marry them and make the bond holy and vnuiolable or expect no securitie that the grand-children in time to come shall alwaies proue comfortable to the old folkes Catullus Hymen ô Hymenaee Hymen adest ô Hymenaee Sir Philip Sidney God Hymen long your coupled ioyes maintaine FINIS
This sister of Alexanders is not sought without leaue is not defiled without vertue hath her louer no lesse comely in parts and features In Aegypt it is written were great store of Crocodiles there the dogges for thirst driuen to drink did euer so lap in Nilus as they were euer remouing This iest was brokē vpō Anthony after the Mu tine flight that he caried himself like the dogs of Egypt Shal we then haue receiued this Nation with applause honored thē in our high Counsell of the Kings estate and of the estate of the Kingdome admitted them dignities admitted them honours in titles in possessions receiued them with loue into our houses crepte at their knees in the English Court haue put our money into their pockets put them into our fortes strengthes Castles and shall wee now make meū and tun̄ the Scottish the English our selues thēselues Nay rather let vs speake as heartily as the kinde man did in Terence Hos nisi mors nobis adimet nemo Let vs in name and vertue be the same let the good of both ioyne together and the good of both put downe the ill of either Some who neuer iudged aright what it was to liue so vnited may rashly say they had rather dye then bee vnited He was but an young man in Terence who vsed that perswasion for his affection onely emori malim but an olde man gaue this counsell out of long experience First learne what it is to liue if then that life displease when thou knowest it thou mayest bestowe this on thy selfe which thou now chusest Plato framed a definition of a man that he was a liuing creature going vpon two feete and without feathers which definition was mocked by shewe of a Cocke his feathers pulled off But the Authour of the tractate of the vnion hath giuen this man if you will hence deriue him foure legges to walke on So strongly therefore vnderset hee aduentured that discourse knowing belike that the perswasion of iust thinges pleased the Gods and that the people of Athens would not kill Phocion if they repented a little Mildly they yet proceed for they cal his iudgemēt his wit rather giuing a backward commendation of his labour spent then the cause vse of his arguments in behalfe thereof Sure hee was some great Councellor who gaue the King that aduice that he should not liue out of his Countrey wherein he was borne and from it that was not to let his Numen be felt in it together What though hee hath pleasured many of that Nation ought the well doing of a few be his onely care Is the rewarding of his seruants all that falles into a Kings studie for his cōmon wealthes good haue we had so much benefit by their comming and shall we deny them share of that we enioy by them They haue bred vs a King they haue brought him safe they haue brought him euery way perfect of nature good learning great vertues many of issue fruitfull and on his head a Crowne before he came here Matched most royally for the qualitie of her bloud gallantly for her person and aboue all for the goodnesse residing in her royal self her happines in her sweet issue descended from her And shall we now vse Scotland as an olde scabbard or a Kings cradle Vmditius a bond slaue in Rome for preuenting only by relation vnto a Cōsul the treasons of the sons of Treuitelij and of Brutus was not onely made free but a law made for the freedome of all bondslaues called Lex vindicia by which euer afterwards none of them could be taken by force or haue violence offered to them by allowance How much rather ought we to enact some memorable record vnto posteritie whereby this great blessing from that Nation may be acknowledged vnto it the rather they hauing demeaned themselues so honorably as to giue vs iust satisfaction of their valours An excellent cause now God will haue vs friends why we should loue entirely This is a course fitter for vs to embrace then our strengths refused by other aduersities to hope of our succours But now rather to speake a little in behalfe and for vse of our owne cōmon-wealth then to perswade their particular good in it As our lawes are the best or we must say so of them who liue vnder them of all Nations whereby our kingdome is gouerned so the ciuill lawes being no such strangers vnto them somewhat would soone be established whereby we might get the benefit of theirs by the assent of ours to the cōsent of both Which while it is in indeuor they by precise looking into ours wil get reformed some abuses crept in by time custome or misse-interpretation such as my Lord Chancellor in his integritie shewed daily and diuers of the graue Iudges and chiefely the chiefest of them as oportunities serue for conscience sake do amend as they apply them and but by such an occasion as this will hardly euer be moted vpon Of this argument for agreement of both lawes except I be deceiued a friend of mine and worthie to bee yours hath very lately verie shortly written comparing the Grandes the Titles the rules and right vse of both as his occasion led him so learnedly so fully and so experiencedly together as the two common Wealthes may soone bee taught that there is nothing disagreeing in essence betweene them nothing of the ones substance wanting to the other the termes and practises onely hauing giuen the shewe of difference hitherto But I cannot iudge whether hee will bee iudged woorthie any great imployments since Hanno was but vnthankfully dealt withall who first tamed a Lion It were pitie a Common-Wealthes man should haue more encouragement in his trauell then his conscience of well doing To returne to my purpose if for many seene benefits which wee cannot chuse but reape besides the satisfaction of our Soueraigne no way were motiue to a heartie Subiect there should ingrowe any inconueniences the Kinges desire standing in heede of the Acte Trimolius the true Corinth would take part against his owne brother for the good of the Common-Wealth But these doubtes stands like the Mountaines Anaxagoras was asked whether at the last they would not bee water whose aunswere was in time they would Tempus edax rerum c. Time doth worke what no man knoweth in the faithfull Turtle Doue Martial was very angrie with a fellowe who would needes knowe thinges vppon supposalles as how hee would behaue himselfe if hee were rich and shutting him off with this aunsweare if men can foretell how thinges shall succeede how wilt thou behaue thy selfe if thou becommest a Lion Quenquam posse putas c. Isocrates was troubled with the vncertaintie of the time how hee might behaue himselfe when hee might haue a boxe on the eare for then and not else hee would weare a Helmet This cause great Cities and your friendes from Story writers flying away so wilde sits now as gently by vs