vveaker the party to vvhom the match fell out so hurtful vvas a man and therefore stronger here the peril strenghtned for the party bringing the perill out of Fraunce is a man and the partie endaungered is a vvoman These thinges deserue vvell the vveighing and may not be passed ouer vpon euery lisping vvord and crouching curtesie of a French Ambassador or other flattering petie messenger And if our wise and renoumed forefathers of England passed vvithout stombling ouer the threshold of suspecting the french aliance euen then whā the french men professed held the lavves of atmes vvyth theyr enemies as soldiers let vs not be nicely fearefull to passe the boūds of honorable modestie in iudgeing of the present princes vvhich professe to deceiue and break fayth vvith such as vve are yea let vs boldly vvisely cast this doubt that they vvhose frendships vvhē they had not so il purposes but thought it their honor to match with vs wrought vs yet thys woemust nedes novv hurt vs according to their hateful falshod in dealing with vs whō they esteme according to their doctrin of Rome no better then dogs Novve as there is daunger on the parte of the French for great troubles to follovve by thys mariage as vvell for that they haue nevv fangled and stirring common wealth heads lusting after Innouations as also for the ielousie of tvvo so neere bordering kingdomes euen so vvill it be harder then yron for Englishmen to digest with quiet stomake the french insolencies and disdaynefull brauades For if the Spaniard comming in vppon hys honor and being an auncient friend at that tyme of one religion did neuertheles beare away harde intreadie for hys vnwonted pryde towards vs more danger vvill theyr be least these needie spent Frenchmen of Monsieurs traine being of contrary religion and who are the scome of the kings Court which is the scomme of all France vvhich is the scomme of Europe vvhen they seeke like horseleaches by sucking vpon vs to fill theyr beggerly purses to the satis fieng of theyr bottomlesse expence the poore playne and rude Englishman firste giue him the elbovve in the strete then the fist and so proceeding to farther bicquerings in pryuate quarrels great troubles ryse of small beginnings for as touchinge the humble mild persecuted and religious Frenchmen that we receiue him as a vvelbeloued brother and that our old grudging nature against the french in this respect is expelled as it wer vvith a fork that comes by the force of religion the Lord hauing wrought it in our heartes But against these irreligious haughtye and faithlesse frenchmen that bring in a religion contrarye to ours haue no cōscience nor loue to vse vs kindly our English nature vvil return a main to his own course which thinges also may euidtēly appeare to any mā that wold but mark how sadly heauily with hovv sorovvful coūtenances all the multitude of English both nobilitie comminaltye looke casting vp theyr hands eyes to heauen vvhen they doe but talke of the matter This stinging straunger of Fraunce muste vve keepe vvarme in our bosom at our ovvn intollerable charge which is another reason not to be neglected sith treasure is a principall sinevv of any state and therefore vvould not be wasted much lesse therevvyth to buye our own harme For they are ouer credulous to be beleeued vvho vvith the emptie name of Monsieur and of the French kings brother wold promise such other fooles as list credit them mountaines of golde and great gaine to thys royall state by hys vvorshipfull reuenues forsooth bringing in king Phillip vvho serues them in thys deuise for all in all for theyr example Fyrst vvho knowes not thys in generall that euery prince though neuer so rich will hoard vp hys owne treasure and spend of the straunge purse and it is a notable policie for our french enemye by this meanes to weaken the verye knees and hammes of our Realm Novv that vvhich other princes do of worldly vvisedom Monsieur must doe of meere necessitie for let his receiptes be great for a subiect yet shall they not be sufficient to maintain his mind in state of so great a priuce companiō to our Queen for euē alreadie his debtes expences are sayd to be farther at odds with his reuenues thē many yeres receipts can yeld the arerages But these perswaders as men hauing theyr eyes daseled vvyth the golden sun are ouer affectioned to thys match and can not see that Monsieur hath not moe countyes then king Phillip had archdukedomes nor so many dukedoms as king Phillip had kingdomes and that he is not able to dropp halfe testons for king Phillips pîstelas nor vvith siluer to weighdowne his gold as also that king Phillip for al those dominiōs mines of treasures was content to be pingling vvith our purses made Queene Mary to aske moe extraordinary and frequent subsides and taskes then had bene seene in so short a raigne further causing her to borow more loanes of hundred powndes forty pounds tvventy pounds and ten poundes of her subiects then vvere euer payd agayn by a great sort thus gleaning the monie from the subiects by armefuls lading out of the eschequer that both the land and the Eschequer was left as empty to the Queenes maiestie that novv is as it vvas many a daye The very bodyes of our men vvere fayne to be employed in hys seruice and forraigne warres there to abide the formost force and to be as a vvall betvvene the honorable Spainard and the Canon vvhich vvars nothing in our ovvne quarrell besides the present losse of noble men and good soldiars there at the place cost vs in a backe reckoning the richest and strongest towne of vvar that the Queene then had And yet must vve haue king Phillip broughte in for example of a gainefull mariage to England In dede vve had great cause to thank the Lords mercy vvho deliuered vs from that king his power as vve had to thank our sins that vve vvere giuen into hys hand but vve may say vve scaped a scouring for but that he vvas newly setled in his owne kingdome and could not tary to be warme in his bedd here the end vvould haue ben vvorse then the beginning he wold haue holdē hard if not for the soile of the kingdom yet for the nauie for the ordinance and other chiefe moueable treasures and reall Ievvels of the land All vvhich thinges come in a more daunger with thys Prince because if he be king of fraunce he shal be neerer and readier by colorable polices to vvythdravv by little and little all thinges from hence in her Maiesties lysr by force to chalenge them if VVhich God say nay to she shoulde be hys vvife and dye before hym There is another daungerous daunger in thys forreine french match that aryseth yet far higher in that he is the brother of childles Fraunce So as if Henry the thyrd novv king should dye
to feare if these Israelites feared so much at the building of an Altar vvhych vvas meant to the honour of God and onely contrary to the outward shevv of the vvordes of the lavve shall not vve tremble at thys Alter vvhich all the charity in the vvorld can not conceiue vvell of as that vvhich hath none vse but to serue the deuil good Nehemiah for one piece of thys our sin found in the people feared the wrath of God proclaymed publike fasting prayer Let vs folovv his example that the Lord may be still our God and remember vs to do vs good Much more haue vve to shake for that thys our turning frō God in straunge mariage and permitting strange Gods vvhich the liuing God turne from vs should be more foule and more grosse thenany of those former vvhiche neuerthelesse deserued and had such plagues For it cannot I dare say be shevved in all the holystory that those people of God in the vvorst mariage emōg them did yet euer make any precedent pact or articulat cōdition aforehand vvith the Idolaters that they should quietly agaynste the lavves of theyr holy land commit Idolatry but rather at firste the Idolaters dissembling theyr ovvne or making semblant of the true religiō fayre foftly vvan by little little through familiarity mutuall conuersation of lyfe after mariage by a stealing insinuation or flattery and creping persvvasion daungerous therefore to haue any sort of felovvship vvith the vvicked an open exercise of theyr paganisme But if any man perswade our Prince in vvhose handes the Lorde hath put and holden a soueraigne scepter of peace novv twenty yeeres and more and by vvhose handes the Lord hath quite expelled Idolatrye he make her and vs thankfull for it vppon cammunication of thys mariage to indent vvith man hovv farre God should be honoured vvhat is thys but to sinne more then the supposed sin of the Reubenites to excede the transgressions of Salomon or Iehoram euen to erecte an Idolatrous altar not in a corner of the Realme but on the hyghest hyll of the land in London vvhich is our Ierusalem and to make an open fault not of infirmitye but by addised composition agaynst the Lord and hys truth not in tvvo shires and a halfe but in the greatest part of the realme and head of the land our prince in so much as it should be safer to set vp a thousande hyll alters for hedgecreping Priestes other where rather then thys high Altar so neere the Court. The sinne of Achan though not in thys kind proues that the sin of one man and hym pryuate doen in secrete and buried close vnder the ground gaue forth such a stench in the Lords nostrels as was contagious to the vvhole host and hys garmente brought the plague emong them Much more shall the hygh sin of a highest magistrate doen and auoued in open son kindle the vvrath of God and set fire on church and common weale And this fire if it fasten on our church it is like wild fyre or fire from heauen that all the seas can not stoppe nor quench but the flakes thereof wyll flye ouer sea and keepe hauoke in the churches both on thys side and beyoind seas Our neighbour vvel builded church of Scotland must needes think hir selfe to haue some what in hand vvhen our wall is aburning The infant churches in the lovv countryes shall loose a nource of vs The elder churches in Garmani a sister of strength And vvhen I remember the poore orphane churches in france I must needes giue the pryce of godlesse impudencie to those vvhich vvyll needes forsooth mayntaine thys mariage as a mean to assure religion in fraunce and to preferue the professors there from more massacres These men haue lyke vnkind mothers put as it vvere theyr owne child the church of England to be nour sed of a french enemy and friend to Rome and novv very kindly they take in both armes the church of fraunce and giue it a priuy deadly nipp vnder colour of offering it their teates vvherein is nought but vvind if not poyson As therefore the ennemies to Gods truth seeke those churches ruin throug hatred to religion so should we who are members of one body vvith them haue a care of them as of our selues The enemies think there kingdom of Antichrist can not stand vnles Christ be put out of these churches let vs knovv as those reformed Churches next vnder God and theyr owne forces haue stoode by good neighbourhood euen so that there standing is our necessary strength Certainly the Pope seeth vvell that one great staye vvhy neyther the French King in Fraunce nor the Spanish king in the low countryes can destroy religion is the helpe and avve of other Princes confessing the gospell emong which our Queene is in regard with the chiefe A game he seeth as vvell that next vnder God one greate cause vvhy hys interdictions against vs take no place in England nor Ireland and that those kings to whom hee hath giuen our land as it vvere to vvhom soeuer occupanti can not come to take possession of vs is because that they of the reformed religion in both those countryes are as a brazen doore and an yron wall agaynst our popish enemies and therefore by thys match he seekes to sunder them from vs and vs from them and so by vnbarring our brazen doore and treading dovvne our vval to lay open hys passage to vs I vvill not therefore vouchsafe this straunge suppositon of these persvvaders the place of an obiection to be aunsvvered in the ende but vvill vse it for an other mayn reason of proofe in thys part that thys mariage is agaynst the church because it is agaynst the churches of Fraunce the vvhich it must needes kill in the place as they say and vvithall giue our church a deathes wound Here is therefore an imp of the crovvne of Fraunce to marye vvith the crovvned Nymphe of Englande It is proued alreadye that his comming shakes the church in Englande and hovv shall he stablish the religion in France VVhat is France to the church of God and to England for religions sake Fraunce is a house of crueltie especially against Christians a principll prop of the tottering house of Antichriste and vvithout vvhich our VVesterne Antichriste had bene ere this sent to his brother Mahomet into Greece vvhether he long sence sent his maisters the Emperoures of Rome The long and cruell persecutions in Fraunce the exquisite torments and infinite numbers there put to death doe vvitnes hovv worthy that throne is to be reckoned for one horn of that persecuting beast the primitiue Empire Thys man is a son of Henrye the second vvhose familie euer since he maryed vvith Catherine of Italie is fatal as it vvere to to resist the Gospell and haue bene euer oney after other as a domitian after Nero as a Traian after domitian and as Iulianus after Traian VVhose manifest cruelties and
that is that an old enemy friend is no friend vvhich prouerb though in christian reformed men it may nowe and then be falsified yet do I not see but in men vnregenerate by the gospell it remaynes true and to beleue it false is perilous to prince or priuate person in choyse of friend or allie But if these perswaders vvyll needes haue thys paynted man to be a man and thys no frend to be a friend yet is he of necessity a most daungerous friend by reason of hys largely spred dominion vvhich makes hym esteeme himselfe as the iron pot and vs as the earthen crock vvith whom vvhen he floteth on the sea he weens he can dash vs into shards at hys pleasure according to that embleme of Alciat And though by the might of the hygh potter of mankind framer of kingdoms he hath found our sides as hard as yron and vve haue found hym as brickel in our hands as clay yet the pryde he conceiueth in his owne might vvil make thys dreadles enemy an intollerable and an insolent friend to vs onlesse he may find vs as seruiceable as he found his old friend Scot land vvherein his old rancour styll lurkes and vvyll prouoke him to take any occasion Thus vnder trust on our side shal be shrovv ded treason on theyr part vvhich could neuer haue hys effect yf vve vvere styll enemies standing on our own gard and in nothing trusting them Again a most vnsure and slippery frend he is for they that seke vtilem amicitiam as he now doth vvil also sodenly break friendship inhonestae vtilitatis causa vvherein he hath the start of vs be fore vve ioyne vvhile vve standing on our honor and Christian conscience as it vvere at the listes shall giue none offence but vvith much adoe take any giuen pretermitting the best occasion of resisting in time the beginnings he that hath made ship vvrack of honor and conscience shal make hys profit of our conscience and lye in vvait to fall out for aduantage and to break thorough euen vvhatsoeuer surest band of alliance Furthermore a needlesse friendship is it vvhich vve seeke For hetherto vvithout theyr helpe and in despight of their beard vve continually haue holden our ovvn and many times preuailed vp on theyrr hauing thereforh tryed theyr mallice of 500. yeeres to be contemptible let vs not vvithout any need in the vvorlde accept theyr friendship novv vvhen it is most doubtfull least the title of loue compasse that which hatred could neuer come neere Lastly as in common alliances it is no credit to entertain a reiec ted friendship so is thys french alliance dishonorable to vs in respect it is the refuse of Scotland vvho being vveary of their pride and vntruth haue cast them off novv a good whyle since and all ther old neere felovvship vvith resolute purpose so to continue because they find much more profit and safetie in these more estranged termes of neighbourhode vvherein they stand presently then in theyr false insolent former friendship And to speak truth the honest late dealings of French are such and they so renoumed for an hatefull seede of an hatefull house as I suppose they are not like to find friendship els vvhere vvith any Christian prince of Maiestie especially to ioyne vvith them in this friendship of mariage vvhich made theyr present king Henry the thyrd as haughty as he is to stoupe to a mean mans daughter a vassal of his own And what if it vvere possible to make some thing of this no friend to hold thys vvett Eele by the tayle as they say and to haue his friendship fast and that the same vvould be in any thing needfull profitable vvithout perill and not dishonorable which in no vvise I admit yet vvill our losse be otherwise far greater thē hys friendship can yeld For first this new found french friend of fraunce vvilpresently cost vs our old friend of Burgondy vvhich faythfull societie yf our vallant politîque auncesters preferred before that vntrusty alliance vvith Fraunce enen then vvhen it was not yet maryed to Austrich nor crovvned vvith Spayn vvhen it vvas not yet enlarged vvith hir Italian dominions and midsea Iles nor enriched vvith her golden Indians if also then it were more profitable to vs then Frannce hovv shall Fraunce be novv to be preferred before it or proue more profitable to vs novv then that And it is not onely for peace and vvarr that Burgondy hath ben entertayned before Fraunce but euen to this day the merchaunts vvyll tell you that the onely lovv countryes here at hand of that dominiō are more worth to vs for venting the surplusage and aboundance of our country commodities and for the transporting hither of the most necessary merchandise of forreign parts then is all Fraunce Secondly vve shall for thys ouerthvvart friend of Fraunce a professed enemy of religion vvhich onely knitts the trueloue knott cast of Scotlande a brother in christ vvhose profession as it hath made them nevv men in loue and loyallty to vs so do our deserts tovvard them hither vnto theyr need of our help henceforth make them vvholly ours vndoubtedly And if vve vvere in a brotherly perpetuall league vvith that state such as both our professions requires of vs both and such as our peculiar neighbourhode begs of vs who haue one bounds of the sea and but a small brooke that partes vs doubtles our mutual friendship vvould proue more mutually stronge and profitable then vvith any potentate seuered from vs by seas vvhose fayth if vve could assure our selues of yet can vve not haue it at all needes but must tary for the vvind and tyde All the religious states of Germany and other vvhosoeuer that haue gon from Rome vvill at once throvv avvay theyr Christen estimation of vs Those protestant princes vvho hauing tryed the faithlesnes of thys generation doe set their bodyes possessions and honors in the gappe for defence of Gods people in seuerall countryes from sclauery of conscience bodies goods vvyues and children vvyll in theyr lour lament our vnhappines that wil not not be vvarned by theyr harmes vvherein I merueil not a little at some vvho regarding neither modestie nor conscience for the aduauncing of thys mariage do sclaunder those religious princes as recommenders to vs of thys mariage agaynst vvhich their deedes doe speake and theyr vvords cry out And for all these losses I knovv not vvhat nevve friend comes in by thys house of Valoys in Fraunce oneles it be the house of Ottoman the great Turke vvith vvhom though Fraunce haue holden not a truce for a time but a continual amitie vvhich mought vvell ynongh be the cause vvhy the Pope decked hym vvith hys tytle of most christian king yet haue vve of England euer defyed hym vvith the rest of those kingdomes that beare the name of christ and it vvyll be for our Christian honor that no match vvorke the contrary
but that in thys poynt vve may styll hold vvyth them as vvell in respect of our common detestation to hys blasphemous Mahomet as for that of all other christians vve least need to feare hys might being so farr separate as Europe is large If any man think that vve may hold al these old latter friendships and that thembracing vvith Fraunce is not streightwayes an vnfolding vvith all the rest he neyther considers the differēce in religion betvvene Scotland and Fraunce nor the diffidence betvven Fraunce and Spayn for the lovv countryes the vvhich as Spayn hath in possession so doth Fraunce many tymes mut-ter a title thereto This vniuersall perswader I say of all friendships and especially with Fraunce forgets hovv in times passed our king Henry the eyght could not be at once friend vvith the Emperor and the french king but the league vvith one vvas present diffiance to the other and that Scotland so long as they held Fraunce vvas euer at deadly foode vvith England and since they clapped hand with England they haue not missed al most enemy lyke attempts of Fraunce And to put hym out of doubt hovv odious all Germanny will hold vs for our felovvship sake vvith Monsieur let hym remēber hovv farr from the dignity of a prince they enterteyned Henry then not single Monsieur and onely a brothrr of Fraunce as is our Monsieur Fraunces but elect king of Poland a piece of Germany vvhen to take reall possession thereof he passed thorough theyr territories some of them vvith much ado and after many reproches for his cruell falshods sending him onely a bare pasport which the deuil might haue had to be quickly packing as did the duke of Saxony to his vvorthy and princely prayse Some of them graunting hym a more free saufconduit yet vvould not vouchsafe to see thys great French prince as the prince Palatine that good man vvhose blame vvas more in that action for hys ouermuch mildnes then vvas hys prayse for curtesie Other of those states as Spire bending turning the mouthes of al theyr great ordinauce vppon him on vvhich side of the city or streets soeuer he vvent as it had ben at a common enemy of mankind Other as in Franckford saluting hym by the vnkingly name of the king of butchers in fraunce vvhich though it vvere by the mouth of one principall man among them yet vvas it ratified by the vvhole state vvhen he complayning to the Burgmaisters of thys reproch as of a high vvrong they thought it not cryminall nor to be pursued Exofficio against the accused but onely at the cōplaynants pryuate action vvherin he fearing euidēce enough so proue the saying true durst not put in cautiō but departed with shame enough and bare the reproch avvay on his backe In all those states and cities hys welcome vvas such as vvhen he came againe stealing out of Poland he would not come back that vvay to thank them or to haue the like but chused rather to goe about by sea and land the farther and more daungerous vvay The smal reckoning vvhich that man like nation makes of Fraunce appeares by the many happy aydes from thence vvhich haue bidden base to Valols at his owne gole in hys own field and at the gates of hys strongest vvalles hunting the French vvolfe in defence and reliefe of the french oppressed lambs A vvise man vvithout descending into these sensible particulars vvould in his vnderstanding see the very generall nature of suspitious frendship betvvene neighbour kings hovv lyke it is to the loue betwene a iealous man and his wyfe in this one poynt they be both of them feareful and iealous of theyr ovvn states can not patiently endure that theyr ally should be any thyng great vvith an other confine gouernment but streightvvay euery countenance breedes a suspition and euery suspition a restraint of entercourse and trafique or open vvar I might fetch examples farther of and ovvt of tholder storyes of Grecians and others vvhere euer the societye withone neigh bor was enemity with another state according to that one great social lavv emong others vvhich is that frends and enemies must be common But it is more then manifest hereby hovv vngodly and dangerous how incertain needles hovv dishonorable vnprofitable thys neer French coniunction is in it selfe again it is detected as euidently hovv many friends in Christ hovv many confederacies in old frend ship how many alliances in blood and hovv many sworn brotherhoods in vvars this one forsworn brotherhode of Fraunce vvil loose vs. It followeth then necessarily vpon that vvhich hath ben sayd that we who already beare the floure delice quartarly receiue no honor by ioyning with it Par pale And sith our Queen rightfully beares it as king of Fraunce and he occupieth it as actuall french king I beleeue it will pose the king of Heraltes of eyther realm to make alouing agreement and in one Eschocheon vvell to marshal according to theyr rules the selfe same cote of the vsurper vvith the selfe same kingly cote of the right heire hauing no difference For though it may be in other noble gentlemens cotes it vvyll hardly be don in kings cotes For Heraltes vvhych are vpright iudges in these causes must imagin but one king in a land as but one son in the heauens perhappes to salue this sore they vvill take vp the old french coate of crawling Toades But the noble Lyon vvill chuse him no such feere hys nature is to abide no venemous thing in hys denn hovv should he then embrace a Toade for his make This difficultye of Heraltes is the least of a thousand might soone be dispatched vvere not those other great ones vvhich euen by this small difficulty also in that kind are bevvrayed that is that thys mariage seemes to striue vvithall lavves that of armes and al. Those therefore that persvvade this band of strange alliance must needs be such Englishmen as find themselues not aduanced in thys state according to that desert vvhich they conceiue in thē selues and therefore disdeyn at others good estate or els such as are past hope heare and hauing nothing knovve they can loose nothing what change or tombling soeuer come but these be degenerate dangerous Englishmen vvho for the satisfieng of theyr disdainful or hongry humor care not to let the common vveale blood euen in her Basilica vaine vvho hauing now liued by Gods grace and through the great loue of hir subiects tovvards hir many yeeres in a miraculous peace and ben a beholder and iudge of other lands troubles should now by thys mariage throw as it vvere into the sea not her ring vvith Policrates but hir precious selfe and putting hir prosperitye to the plunge send it to flote or sinck by dravving into England a great spark of that family which hath ben a fyre brand in Europe VVe can not hold this fire in our bosome and not be burned therevvith Novv that
sister as neere to him as this brother is to the novv king These tymes haue nevv falshodes vvhich vve must encounter by nevv foreseeing vvysedomes nevv diseases haue taught phisitians to find nevv medicines and sith false frenchmen vvyll doe that which theyr forefathers vvould neuer do let honest English men suspect that which theyr auncesters could neeuer misdeeme Especially in those matters wher popery comes betwene as the motif and the french ben the instruments For to do that Roman sinagogue seruice the french doe accompt as fayre vertues all foule lyes treasons poysonings massacres and turning of realms vpside down And for recompence of theyr braue nighte xploit at Paris they were brought immediately as it vvere in a carte of tryumphe in at Rome gates where the world is vvitnes of the panegyricall prayses and solemne orations pronounced in theyr perpetuall fame with many ioyfull fyres in honor of that barbarous vnmanlike and treasonable victory vpon the noble Admiral that slept in the oth of hys king But though the hope of lyke commendation may make these men attempt the lyke fact yet are these wicked praysings of the pope but a shadow of praysings and make as much to the true honor of the french as theyr paper excommunication and burning by image at Rome doe hurt the good Christian in body or soule Now the Spanish genet wil soone champ thys cakebread snaffle a sunder for thys great feate that should be don in bringing K. Phillip to some reasonable conditions of peace vvith his subiects and hyr maiestie to haue some maritime part to hir own behofe hovv shall it be wrought by french forces onely They vvyll not doe it they can not doe it ▪ and if they would or could why is it not don already if by french and English forces ioyned vvhy then doth he not ioyne and conferr with vs all thys whyle rather then vnder hand seeke to trump both them of the religion there and the malcontent If it should be don by English forces onelye as it must be indeede for he hath none to command oneles they saye that hys brother vvyll both man him and money hym and then they forgette that vvhyche they sayde of being a brydle to Fraunce If I saye Englyshe money and Englyshmen must do thys enterpryse it may be much better achiued now while we haue the lavv in our own hands and may command then when vve shall be couert baron and haue put our sword into an other hand vve haue not so much neede of hym for a captayne as he hath of our strength to serue hym Neyther doe I thinke more truth in any of these theyr reasons then that vve should serue to vvorke theyr vvill in those lovv countryes and if any thing vvere gotten that should vvholy goe to Fraunce but our butin in England should be euen as good in these vvars to be taken for france agaynst Spayn as it vvas vnder Queene Mary in the vvarres for Spayn agaynst Fraunce at vvhat tyme the vvhole losse euen a greeuous losse to any Englishman that shall looke from Douer castle ouer to the other side fell on our part But in deede if it please hyr maiestye to ayde those lovv countryes as it vvyll be most for our honor in the enterpryse and for our gayne in atchieuing to doe it of our selues vvhyle uve are at lybertye and not vnder straunge restraint so is it novve high time for the neede they haue vvho by these delayes shal be soone past helpe and so the king of Spayne haue hys vvyll And in truth the best vvelcome force and of most profit to those countryes must be the English vvithout french for the popish party of Arthois and Henault neuer loued the french and novv dare not trust thē and those of Gaunt hate them tvvyse Fyrst for religion and then for the cause common to them vvyth the VVallon vvhich is theyr ouermuch intelligence vvith the cōmon enemy the Spaynard vvhatsoeuer perill therefore out of those countries from king Phillip by reason of hys pease there is spoken of by these perswaders thereby alluring vs vnto thys match vvyth Fraunce is easely mett vvythall by our ovvn forces in tyme vvhych vvyll be much more vvyllyngly receiued of them then the French for all the late foolish and levvd pamflettes there spred by the french in theyr ovvne fauoer and our disgrace And it is more absurd that Fraunce vvoulde consent to send hither a brydle for himself those that are of this mind presuppose a ielousie betweene the French king and Monsieur vvhych vve must first graunt them or els they fayle to proue thys in the begynning Now albeit I thinke that the best fayth can not be meant but betvvene the best men yet may we be assured that hovve soeuer they stande betvvene themselues for Fraunce they vvyll styll agree to anoy England and hold togither lyke brethren the change of that ayre for thys and hys comming ouer sea vvyll not change that mind and styll shall he be hys brother and son of his mother vvho seeing that both of them doe follow this mariage no doubt they wyll prouide agaynst theyr ovvne brydeling And it is lyke ynough though Monsieur knowes a peice of theyr purpose yet knowes he not the depth of thys mischieuous practise For they doe not vse to impart more to him then falles to hys part to play The king remembers that he hymselfe when he vvas Monsieur being made priuie to the thē purposed horrible massacre had like to haue marred al by lauishing out a word here of to one of hys deerelyngs had not Lignerolls mouth ben stopped with papp and the hatchet as they say Besides that Monsieur vvas neuer admitted so farr in connsail as the present king nor esteemed so stanche And if a man may guesse sometime what a thing is by reckoning vp vvhat it is not we shall not find in the king nor his bro ther nor mother any louing cause to bring this nevve loue in theyr mind They neuer bare fauour to hir maiesties person they neuer shewed themselues louers to the quiet of thys state they account not themseldes any vvay beholden to prince or state Euery vvord or deed of ours shewing neuer so litle compassiō tovvards their murthered or mislike of the murderers is depely layd vp of them for so many vvrongs Much lesse vvyll any man think she sends hir son hyther to schoole for our religion It is farr from probabilitie to thinke that the king sends him hither because he vvould be rid of hym as though he stoode in fearefull doubte of hys greatnes vvhyle he vvere in fraunce It is sufficiently proued othervvhere that he is not followed nor esteemed generally in Fraunce by papist or protestant And if there vvere any such ielousie in the kings head thys vvere no vvisedome by aduauncing his brother to so puissant a kingdom to make him more dread And in Monsieur vvhat doe we find