father and of a good mother one whom the prophecies haue of long time destined to kingdomes and empires and haue surnamed you Pepin the short or curtalled You behold you vpon the poynt to be another great Charles the great your great great grandfather if the fayre or market hold But regard I pray you that you suffer not your selfe to bee deceiued These Messieurs of Spayne Spanyards paynted out although they be our very good friends good Catholikes be not merchants at one word and buy sell with no more and that is found true in them not at this time only for there are almost two thousand yeares since that they haue medled with more matters then they should and that men haue giuen them this name to bee fine and cunning in doubling of poynts They promise you this diuine damosel or daughter in mariage to make her a Queene in solidum that is altogether and wholly with you but take you heede that the Duke de Feria haue not filled his seates signed without charge He hath a boxe full of such things wherewith he serueth himselfe vpon all occurrences as of a last for euery shooe and as one saddle for all horses he dates them or he antedates them with his chamber pot when pleaseth him I haue feare something that he hath propounded vnto vs that this is nothing but arte and subtiltie to amaze vs withal when he hath seene that we will not vnderstand or be of minde to breake the law Salick If you haue but neuer so little nose you shall smell it For we knowe in good part that the marriage is alreadie accorded of her and of her cousin the Archduke Ernest Adde that is ioyne hereunto that those of the house of Austrich doe as the Iewes doe that doe not marrie but in their tribe or familie and hold one another by the tayle as hannekins and hannetons doe Leaue of therefore this vaine hope of Gynecocratie That is gouernment of women together and beleeue that little children mocke at it and goe from it to mustard I heard the other day one that comming verie brauely from the tauerne did sing these foure verses The League finding it selfe flat nosed And the Leaguers much without repose Aduised themselues of a fetch which is To make a King without a nose But if I had been able to haue made him to haue been caught by the commissarie Bazin who ranne after him he had had no lesse then the miller that mocked our Estates What wil you say to these impudent politikes that haue put you in a shape in a faire leafe of paper A prety deuise alreadie crowned as a king of the cardes by anticipation and in the same leafe haue also put the figure of the sayd infant or daughter crowned for Queene of France as you you regarding huze a huze one the other And in the neather part of the sayd painture haue placed these verses which I haue kept by heart because that therein it goeth as on your side The French Spanalized haue made a King of France To the daughter of Spayne they promised haue this King A royaltie very small and of slender importance For their France is comprised within Paris a strange thing O Hymen mariage god for this cold mariage Thy quiet torch I pray at this time doe not bring Of these disioyned corps men set out the image That make the loue of eyes both two within one thing It is a royaltie onely in shew most sure Deceit and not true loue hatched hath this mariage Good cause that being King of France in portraiture They cause him to espouse of a Queene the image If Monsieur of Orleans in the qualitie of Aduocate general would cause to be searched out these same wicked politike Printers it is his charge and they might bee knowne by their caracters and his good gossips Bichon N. Niuelle Chaudiere Morel and Thiere will discouer the matrice Touching my selfe I willingly forbeare it for these heretikes are euill speakers as diuels I should feare they would make some booke against me as they did against the Catholike Doctor and Lawyer Chopin vnder the name of Turlupin And neuer mend it is like lie Messieurs of the hall or place of hearing will therein doe their duetie more loco solitis after their wonted manner and place I will hold my selfe content to preach the word of God to maintaine my Beadles and carefully to solicite my pensions Let all this be spoken by a parenthesis But Monsieur de Guise my good child beleeue me and you shall beleeue a very foole stay no more vpon that Neuer better spoken it is not foode for our foules or birds Lift not vp your traine for all this we doe not inlarge or make longer your table by reason of this There is hay there are none but beasts that delight in it but doe better obtaine of the holie father a croisade or an expedition and voyage against the Turkes and goe and reconquer that goodly kingdome of Ierusalem which appertaineth to you by reason of Godfrey your great vncle euen as wel as that of Sicilie and the kingdome of Naples How many scepters and crownes are prepared for you if your horoscopus lie not as you your selfe are wont to say that you haue not a limited fortune Leaue this same wretched and miserable kingdome of France to him that will vouchsafe to take the burthen of it It is not fit that your spirit borne for Empires and the vniuersall monarchie of the habitable world should stoope to so small morsels or matters and vnworthie of you and of your late father A carefull caution whom God absolue if it be permitted to speake so of Saints And you Monsier the Lieutenant to whom I must needes now speake What thinke you to doe you are grosse and fully panched you are heauie and deformed you haue head big enough in deede to beare a crowne But what you say you will none of it and that it would too much ouer burthē you The politikes say that the foxe sayd so touching mulberies which he would faine haue had The foxe will eate no grapes You hinder vnder hād that your nephew shuld not be chosē you forbid the deputies that none of them bee so bold as to touch this great string of the royaltie or kingdom What shall we do then We must haue a King who as the politike doctors say is better takē thē sought You make the K. of Spaine beleeue that you keep the kingdom of Frāce for him for his daughter vnder this hope you sucke draw from the honest man all that that the Indies and Peru can send him he maintaineth vnto you your plate he sendeth you armor armies but not at your deuotion or disposition For he looketh to himselfe for all you and hee distrusteth you both one and other as though ye were blinde A iust iudgement and taketh you as
remember no more your ancestors nor them who haue inriched and inobled you To be briefe he that standeth well let him not remoue himselfe As touching you Messieurs the ecclesiasticall persons of a trueth I loose my Latin in speaking to you and I see very well that if the warre last there will be a shamefull number of poore priests but also hope not you for your recompence in this brittle and fraile world but in heauen where the crowne of eternall glorie waiteth for them that shall suffer and dye for the holie League What text sheweth that Let him saue himselfe that can As concerning my selfe I am capable enough to beare and weare a red hat but to remedie meete with the necessities and oppressions of the Clergie it is not in my power neither indeed will my gowtes giue me leaue or leisure to thinke thereupon Notwithstanding I feare one thing that is that if the King of Nauarre reuoke the passeports and striuings for benefices which he hath giuen to the Monasteries and Chapiters Prayer for their patrons there will be daunger lest ye all crie to the murther after the holie father and Monsieur the Legate and the most reuerend Cardinall here present that might well leaue the bootes in France if they did not in good time saue themselues beyond the mountaines I leaue it to my masters the preachers to holde alwaies in breath their deuout parishioners and to represse the insolencie of these demanders of bread or of peace They know the passages of scripture to accommodate them to their purpose and to turne them and to vse them to the occasions as they shall haue neede For it was neuer sayd for naught that the Gospell is A homely resemblance a foule abusing of scripture following a tripe wifes knife that cutteth on both sides according to that And out of his mouth there went a sword sharpened on either side And as the Apostle S. Paule saith The word of God is liuely and effectuall and more pearcing then a two edged sword Now that which for the present most importeth our affayres is to build and set vp a fundamentall lawe by which the French people shall be kept and held to suffer themselues to be coyffed biggened haltred and lead at the appetite of my masters that sit in chaires and pulpits yea they shall suffer themselues to be barked and pilled to the very bones and their purses to bee cleansed euen vnto the bottome without speaking a word or asking any cause why For you Messieurs know that we haue to doe with our pensions But aboue all cause oftentimes to bee renued the othes touching the vnion vpon the precious bodie of our Lord and continue the brotherhoods of the name of Iesus and of blessed S. Francis for these are good collers for the rascall people with which matter wee charge the honor and conscience of our good fathers the Iesuites and wee recommend also vnto them our spyes to the end that they continue to cause to be held surely our newes in Spayne and receiue also secret mandates from his Catholike maiestie for to cause them to be kept for Ambassadors Agents Curats Conuents Church-wardens and Masters of brotherhoods and that in their particular confessions they doe not forget to forbid vnder paine of eternall damnation to desire peace Counsell fit for one that should be a Cardinall to giue much more to speake of it but to instubborne and make stiffe the deuout Christians to sacking to bloud and to fire rather then to submit themselues to the Biarnois though indeed he should go to Masse as he hath giuen in charge to his Ambassadors thereof to assure the Pope But wee know well enough the counterpoyson if this should fall out we would giue good order that his holines should beleeue nothing of it and though he should beleeue yet he should doe nothing and though he should doe The end of all that we would receiue nothing of it if I be not Cardinall And why should not I be seeing Master Piere de Frontac Better a bad example then none being but a simple aduocate of Paris of the time of King Iohn was so well for hauing diligently defended the causes of the Church And me that haue forsaken my master and betrayed my countrie to vphold the greatnes of the holy Apostolike sea should not I be so And I wil bee so yea I assure you I will bee so or my friends shall faile me I haue spoken After that the sayd Lord Archbishop had finished his Epiphonema It was fit it should be so with great mouing of the bodie and contention of voyce he did very basely demaund permission of Madame de Montpensier to withdrawe himselfe to change his shirt because he had ouerheate himselfe in his harnesse The beadle of Monsieur the Rector which was at his feete caused the prease to be reffed into two afterwards sliding downe by the seates of the deputies my sayd Lord the Rector Roze cloathed with his Rectorall habit aboue his rochet and portable camail of a Bishop putting off his cap diuers times began thus The Oration of Monsieur the Rector Roze heretofore Bishop of Senlis MOst famous most noble As right as can be and most Catholike Synagogue euen as the virtue of Themistocles waxed hot by the consideration of the triumphs and trophees of Miltiades so doe I feele my selfe to haue my courage inwarmed in the contemplation of the braue discourses of this riuer of rhetorike and flood of eloquēce I meane Monsieur the Chancellor of the Lieutenancie who commeth to triumph in speech And after his example Oh what force thete is in eluish examples I am moued with an vntollerable ardure to set out my rhetorike and to set vpon a stall my merchandise in this place where oftentimes I haue made preachments that by the meanes of the late King haue made me of a miller to become a Bishop Great preferments as by your meanes I am of a Bishop become a miller But I thinke that I haue sufficiently declared by my passed actions that I am not ingrate and that I haue not done any thing but that which I haue seene to be done by diuers others of this noble assistāce who yet haue receiued more benefites then me of the dead King and haue notwithstanding brauely chased him out of his kingdome and caused him to bee murthered for the good of the Catholike faith vnder hope to haue much more as wee were gently promised Now I will not here rubbe againe the things passed It needeth not nor catch your beneuolence by a long exordium or entrance but summarily I wil tel you Messieurs that the eldest daughter of the King I say not of the King of Nauarre but of the King that we shall chuse here if God be pleased and waiting for that I will say the eldest daughter of Monsieur the Lieutenant of the Estate and crowne
beasts as hee hath done the shippe of Paris I will say that he hath skill to doe more than Master Mousche or flie These beastes forget some times their gouernours speciallie if they change their habite or attire hee shall not bee ill parted with if hee come to his pretentions whereto you Monsieur the Lieutenant and Monsieur of Lyons will doe him I beleeue very good offices The whole summe Messieurs you are too many dogges to gnawe one boane you are iealous and enuious one of another and you can neuer tell how to agree or liue without warre that would put vs into worse estate than before But I will tell you let vs doe Deepe counsell as they haue done in the consistorie for the election or choyse of a holy father when two Cardinals sued and laboured for the popedome the other Cardinals for feare they should incurre the hatred of the one or of the other chose one amongst themselues the weakest backed of them all and made him Pope Let vs doe so you are foure or fiue robbers in the realme all great Princes and such as haue no want of appetite and stomacke I am of aduise that not one of you should be king wherefore I giue my voyce to Guillot Fagotin the keeper of Gentilly a good vine dresser and an honest man who singeth well at the deske and knoweth all his office or seruice booke by heart A worthie example This will not be found without example in such times as this is witnesse the Harelle of Roane where they made king one named le Grasse or the fatte one as wee would say who was much worse aduised than Guillot And thus you see whereupon I founde and grounde mine aduise I haue read sometimes the great and diuine Philosopher Plato who saith that those realmes are happie where Philosophers are kings and where kings are Philosophers Now I know that it is little more than three yeares since that this good gardian of Gentilly and his familie together with his kine meditated day and night Philosophie in a hall of our colledge in which there is more than two hundred good yeares that men haue read and treated and disputed publikely philosophie and all Aristotle The place sanctifieth the person with these men in all matters and all sortes of good morall bookes It is not possible that this good man hauing raued slumbred and slept so many dayes and nights within these philosophicall walles where there haue been made so many skillfull lessons and disputes and so many goodly wordes vttered that there should not something thereof abide that hath entred pierced and penetrated into his braine as it did to the poet Hesiodus when hee had slept vpon mount Parnassus And this is the cause why I persist and meane that he may as well be king as another Now as Monsieur Roze ended these wordes there sprong out a great murmuring amongst the deputies some approuing other some reprouing his opinion and the princes and the princesses were seene to whisper in the eare one of another yea it was hard that Monsieur the Lieutenant saide very basely to the Legate this foole here will marre all our misterie A prophesie and no lie Notwithstanding the foresaid Roze would haue continued his speech but when hee sawe the noyse to begin againe with a certaine generall clacking of hands he rose vp in choler and cried with a very loude and outstretched voyce How now Messieurs Is it permitted here to speake what one thinketh Haue not I libertie to speake and conclude my arguments as Monsieur of Lyon hath done I know well that if I had been a courtier as he I should not haue named a person for he hath charge from the clergie to name Countie du Bouchage Frier Angell for the hope that this Prince louing change would change also our miseries into stroakes or blowes from heauen But I pray you keepe him to beare the golden torch in the battailes for it ought to be enough for him that he hath quite forsaken the bagge and the wallet At these wordes euery one began againe to crie to whistle to hisse and though the heraulds the vshers porters and all cried aloude Hush and be still the word peace is a bull-begger let euery man holde his tongue not dating to speake the worde peace there and that Monsieur the Lieutenant sundrie times commaunded them to make silence yet it was not possible to appease the bruite and noise in so much that the sayd Lord Rector sweate fret fomed and stroke with his foote and seeing that there was no more meane to take his theame againe cryed as loude as hee could Messieurs Messieurs I see well that you are in the Court of King Petault where eueryone is master I leaue it to you and you to your selues let another speake I haue spoken And thereupon he set himselfe downe againe mumbling very much and wiping the sweate from his forehead and there scaped from him as some say certaine odoriferant belchings of the stomacke that smelled of the perfume of his choller with certain words in a low note complaining that they had defrauded the assignation sent out of Spayne for my masters the Doctors Good stuffe but there can come nothing els from thēce and that others had made their profite of it but that this was the gold of Tholouze which should cost them very dearely At the last the rumour beginning a little to bee reappeased Monsieur du Rieu the younger Countie and gardien or keeper of Pierre-font deputie for the Nobilitie of France apparrelled with a little cape after the Spanish fashion and a certaine high coppin tancked hat lifted vp himselfe to speake and hauing twise or thrise put his hand to his throate which did itch he began in forme following Or Roration rather as you shall perceiue by the things contained herein and the manner of the handling thereof The Oration of the Lord of Rieu Lord of Perrierefont for the nobilitie of the vnion MEssieurs I knowe no cause why they haue deputed me to beare the word in so good a companie for all the Nobilitie on our side I must needes say that there is some diuine thing or matter in the holy vnion seeing that by the meanes thereof of a commissarie of the artillerie poore miserable enough I am become a gentleman and the gouernour of a very faire fortresse yea that I may equall my selfe to the greatest and am one day to mount very high either backward or otherwise I haue good occasion to followe you Monsieur the Lieutenant and to doe seruice to this noble assemblie by black or by white He dwelleth by euill neighbours by wrong or by right seeing that all the poure Priests Friers and good people deuout Catholikes I assure you doe bring mee candles and adore mee as a S. Maccabee of times passed This is the cause wherefore I giue my selfe to the liueliest and quickest of the diuels that
nor prognosticate vnto you A plaine and true speech that which may fall out vnto you for this fact But Gods word must needes be false and ful of lying which it is not nor cānot be if you do not very quickly receiue the wages hire that God promiseth to manquellers and murtherers as your brother did for hauing slaine the late Admirall But I will leaue this matter to the diuines to treate hereof that so I may come to put you in minde of a great and stale faulte which you committed at the very same time For sith you feared not in so many places to declare that your speciall marke was to raigne and be a King you had then and by reason of the blow a good occasion offered you to cause your selfe to be chosen King and you might better then haue attayned thereto than you can at this present when you sue Many deuises are in mans heart but the Lords purposes shall stand for euer ride runne corrupt and all to get it The Cardinall of Bourbon to whom vnaduisedly you gaue the title of the King was a prisoner Your nephew vpon whome they did bestowe all the commendations and glorie of his father was so likewise and neither the one nor the other could hurte you therein or hinder you as your nephew doth at this day you had yet the people harmed earnest and running after noueltie and change who had a great opinion of your valour from which you are much fallen since and I make no doubt but that you had caried it away thorow the hatred of the lawfull successor who was notoriouslie knowne to be a Hugue not And besides you had diuers preachers who had laide out a thousand reasons to perswade the people that the Crowne did belong rather to you than to him Nay foule and false The occasion for it was faire namely the changing of it from one line to another And although it bee all but one familie and of the same stalke as we may say notwithstāding the distāce of more than ten degrees in which the doctors say there ceaseth all the bond and right of consanguinitie made a goodly shew although that Doctor Baldus hath written that this rule faileth in the familie of the Bourbonians Wherunto adde that you had the force and the fauour of the time in your hand wherewith you could not serue your owne turne or helpe your selfe but rather thorough a certaine fainthartednes and very foule and grosse cowardise you would obserue forsooth some little modestie and forme of the ciuill lawe giuing the title of the King to a poore priest that was a prisoner The Cardinall of Bourbon although that in all other things you did shameleslie violate all the lawes of the realme and all lawe besides of God and of man whether it were naturall or ciuill You forgot all the maximaes and rules of our great masters touching the matter of enterprise vpon the estates of an other man euen that of Iulius Caesar which oftentimes for his excuse and defence spake these verses out of a certaine Greeke Poet. If that thou must needes wicked be be so a kingdome to obtaine But yet in other things be iust and eke the lawes maintaine You were afraide to take the title of a King Stumble at a straw and leap ouer a blocke and yet you were not afraide to vsurpe the power of it which you disguised and masked with a qualitie or estate altogether new such a one as was neuer heard spoken of in Fraunce And I knowe not who was the author thereof yet some attribute it to the president Brisson or to Ianin But whosoeuer inuented this expedient fayled in the termes of Grammer and of Estate also A fitte and good reason They might haue giuen you the name of Regent or of Lieutenant generall of the King as they haue done sometimes heretofore when the Kings were prisoners or absent off their kingdome and realme But Lieutenant of the estate and Crowne is a title vnheard of very strange which also hath too lōg a taile as it were a chimer or mōster against nature that maketh little children afraid Whosoeuer is a Lieutenant is Lieutenant to another whose place he holdeth who is not able to do his functiō or office by reason of his absence or some other hinderance or let and a Lieutenant is the Lieutenant of some other mā but to say that a man shuld be the Lieutenāt of a thing without life as the estate or crowne of a King is a very absurd thing such a one as cannot be mainteined And it had bin more tolerable to say Lieutenant in the estate and crowne of France than Lieutenāt of the estate But this is but a smal matter to faile in speech or words A true assertion in cōparison of failing in deeds When you were clothed and cloaked with this goodly qualitie you did so rudely roughly empty our purses that you had the meane to raise vp a great armie with the which you promised to pursue besiege take and bring prisoner He that reckoneth without his host must count againe this newe successor to the crowne who did not call himself Lieutenant but in plaine termes King You had made vs then to gard and keep our places to hire shops in S. Anthonies street that we might see him passe in chaines whē ye brought him prisoner from Diepe what did yee withal this great armie very grosse indeed by al your strāge succours of Italie of Spaine of Germanie The horse and man are prepared against the day of battell but victorie is from the Lord. but to lay opē and cause to be knowne your own reachles weaknes vnorderly gouernment not so much as once daring with thirtie thousand mē to set vpon fiue or sixe thousand which gaue you the head at Arques and in the end constrained you shamefully to turne your backs you your selues to seeke surety safety in the riuer of Somme We were greatly deceiued when in steede of seeing this new King in the Bastile wee beheld him in our suburbs with his armie as a certaine lightning or clap of warre that preuented our thoughts yours also But you came and succoured vs A needlesse worke then when we were assured that he would do vs no hurt And we must confesse that without the resistance that one who is at this day his seruant made against him at the gate of Bussy he had taken vs before you arriued From that time hitherto you haue done nothing in your Lieutenancy worthy the remembrance but the establishment of your councell of fourtie persons and of sixteene If this be his commendation praise him for tyrannie which you haue since reuoked and scattered as much as you could And whilest that you laboured the aduancement and estate of your owne house and that you suffered your imagined King to wast weare away in prison
heart courage continually preferred mine owne particular interest before the cause of God who knoweth wel inough to keepe himselfe and it without mee and to reuenge him of all his enemies Yea I can say further and that in trueth that the death of my brethren hath not so farre caused my passions to breake forth whatsoeuer goodly shew I made thereof as the desire I haue to walke in the waies and paths that my father and my good vncle the Cardinall had traced out before me and which my brother the Balafre was happily entred You knowe that vpon my returne from my expeditiō of Guyenne which the politikes call vp and downe vp and downe I did not effect in this citie that which I thought by reason of the traytors The Duke de Maynne was none who aduertised the tyrant their master and I receiued no other fruite by my voyage but the taking of the inheritresse of Caumont whom I did appoynt for wife vnto my sonne but the chaunging of my affayres haue made me at this presēt to dispose otherwise therof Moreouer you are not ignorant that I would not ingage mine armie to any great exployte or hard siege wherein notwithstanding Castillon deceiued mee which I thought to take and carrie away in three daies to the end that I might keepe my selfe more whole and sound and the better able to execute my Catholike purposes Concerning mine armie in Daulphin I caused it alwaies to stop and stay and I kept me on my skoutes to attend and waite whether in the Estates of Blois ye should haue neede of me But the matters there hauing taken the left foote and falling out crosse to our wishes and attempts you sawe with what great diligence I came to finde you in this citie and with what dexteritie my cousin the Constable d'Aumale here present So holy a man could not but giue so holie a thing caused likewise the holie spirit in haste to come downe vpon a great part or companie of my Masters of Sorbonne For as soone as it was said it was as soone done And frō thence haue proceeded all our goodly exployts of warre from that haue taken their first originall these hundred thousands of holie French Martyrs which are dead by the sword by famine by fire by rage by desperation and other violēce for the cause of the holie vnion from thence hath come the correction of so many braggers and boasters which would play the galants and compare themselues with Princes from thence hath proceeded the ruine and ouerthrow of so many Churches Monasteries which hurt the safetie of our good townes from this hath flowen such great sacke and pillage as our good souldiers free archers and nouices haue committed in many cities townes and villages who also haue serued in stead of a Curat for the faith to the deuout children of the Masse at midnight yea from hence hath it been that so many faire daughters and women without marriage and against their wils haue been filled with that which in marriage they loue best of all And God knoweth whether these young Monkes and Friers A great doubt their chastitie considered newly turned out of their frocks or gownes these disordered priests haue therein deuoutly turned the leaues of their portuise and gotten plenarie pardons To be short Ful cups make men of sharpe iudgement this is the onely cause of the prompt and zealous decree of my Masters of our mother Sorbonne after that they haue drunke wel which hath caused in the end many stroakes from heauen to clatter and sound And through our good diligence wee haue brought to passe that this kingdome which was nothing els but a pleasurefull garden of all pleasure and aboundance A very good change is now become a great and large vniuersall buriall place full of all violences faire painted crosses coffins gallowses and gibbets As soone then as I was arriued in this towne after that I had sent to heale the citie of Orleans of too much ease and to forbid the trade and traffique of the Loire The name of a ruine passing by it which maintained their delights I ment to doe as much in this towne also And it fell out well in which Madame my mother my sister my wife and cousin d'Aumale who are here to giue mee the lye for it if I doe not speake true did very catholikely assist me For they and I had no more great paine and care then to lay a ground worke for the warre and in so doing to comfort and discharge all the deuout habitants good Catholikes of the weight of their purses and to giue them leaue curiously to roue vp and downe with their feete and their hands to seeke and to seaze for vs the rich iewels of the Crowne belonging vnto vs in the collaterall line and by the forfeiture of Lord of the fee. We found much vnprofitable treasure we discouered with a little expence by the reuelation of a catholike mason and the holie innocencie of Monsieur Machaut whom I name here for honours sake the goodly and large muguot of Molan Because he serued your turne notwithstanding his diuels and familiar spirits that kept it whom the sayd Machaut knew powerfullie and skilfully to coniure secretly filling the bottome or soules of his host with crownes of the summe And without this diuine succour Messieurs you know that we knew not yet of what wood to make arrowes for which the holie vnion is greatly indebted to the painfull labour and great good husbandrie of the sayd Molan who did so honestly refuse his master and all his friends to aide them with money and to preserue it for vs A right recompense of treason namely idolatrous seruices Adde drunkēnes vnto thirst and glorie in your owne shame so fitly for our purpose And forget him not to cause to be sung to him a salue or good morrow whatsoeuer it be forget not to promise him a Masse to be sung with holding vp of hands when he shall bee constrained to make his will quite and cleane contrarie I will not forget the costly moueables of gold siluer tapistrie and other riches which wee made to bee taken sold yea to make port sale of them appertaining to these wicked politikes fauouring the King wherein my cousin d'Aumale did her dutie very well foyling her selfe in the coffers and caskets yea stouping so low that she went to the ditches and holes where she knewe that there was vessell of siluer hidden In so much that afterwards our dearly beloued cousin her husband she her selfe and her chiefe page did greatly performe their businesses and were healed of their catholike iaundise wherewith they were made yellow from the time of the warres that they had for their Countie of Boulongne catholikely lawfully deuolued vnto them by the merite of their Pater-nosters and deuout processions and not by vsurpation or domestical the euerie as these relapsed heretikes say This being done
prouinces the very wine lees of our gouernement A country metaphor which are come hither with so many trauailes some on foot some alone other some in the night and the greatest parte at your owne costs and charges Doe not you wonder at the heroicall actes of our Louchards Gentlemen of the new stampe Bussis Senaulds Oudineaux Morreliers Crucez Goudards and Drouarts who haue so well come by the feather What thinke you of so many Caboches as are found and God hath raised vp at Paris Roan Lions Orleans Troyes Toulouze Amiens where you see butchers taylors fillipers iuglers tumblers cutlers and other sortes of persons of the very drosse and scumme of the people to haue the first voyce in councell and assemblies of the estate and to giue lawe to them that before were great of race of riches and of qualitie who now dare not cough nor mutter before them Scripture rightly applied Is it not in this that the prophecie is accomplished which saith hee raiseth the poore out of the dungehil Should not this be a crime to passe ouer vnder silence that holy martyr fryer Iames Clement who hauing been the most vnorderly and wicked of all his couent as all the Iacobins of this citie knowe well inough and hauing many times had the chapter and the diffamatorie whip for his thieueries and wickednesses is notwithstanding sanctified at this daye and now is alofte to debate and dispute with S. Iago of Compostella Affections fit enough for such a fact and fellow who shall haue the first seate O blessed confessor and martyr of God How gladlie would I bee the paranimph and encomiast of thy praises if my eloquence could atâ—aine to thy merits But I loue better to holde my peace therein than to speake too little thereof And continuing my discourse I will speake of the strange conuersion of mine owne proper person although that Cato saith Nec te laudaris nec te culpaueris ipse A great clarke good latinist and singular versifier thou shalt neither praise thy selfe neither shalt thou blame thy selfe yet I will freely confesse vnto you that before this holy enterprise of the vnion I was no great deuourer of the crucifix and some very neare about me and that haunted me most familiarly haue had in opinion that I did a little smell of the faggot because that being a yong scholler I tooke pleasure in reading the bookes of Caluin and being at Tolouze I had mingled my selfe to preach and teach in the night with the new Lutherans and afterwardes made no great conscience nor difficultie to eate flesh in Lent nor to lie with my sister A beast for abusing thy sister and Gods word also following the examples of the holy patriarches of the Bible But since that I had signed the holy league and the fundamentall lawe of this estate accompanied with double duckets and of the hope that I had of a redde batte no man hath doubted touching my beliefe neither hath there any further inquirie been made touching either my conscience or my cariages Verily I confesse that I owe this grace of my conuersion next after God to Monsieur the Duke d'Espernon who hauing vpbraided me in the Councell with that whereof none doubted in Lions touching my sister in lawe was the cause that of a great politike and a very slender Caluinist that I was From euill to worse I became a great and coniured leaguer as I am at this present the director and ordainor of secret affaires and such as importe the estate of the holy vnion neither more nor lesse than blessed Saint Paul who of a persecutor of christians was made the vessell of election This is the cause wherefore hee saith where sinne hath abounded there shall grace also abounde Doubte not then any more to continue firme and constant in this holy partie full of so many miracles and of strokes from heauen of which you must needes make a fundamentall lawe As touching the necessities and oppressions of the clergie you shall or may aduise thereof if it please you for for my regarde I will put paine that my great pot bee not ouerthrowne and I shall alwaies haue credite with Roland and Ribault that will not fayle to pay mee my pensions from whatsoeuer part siluer come Euery one will aduise to prouide for himselfe if he thinke it so good and for my parte I desire not peace vnlesse first I may be a Cardinal as they haue promised mee and as I my selfe haue well deserued If thou maiest be iudge For without mee Monsieur the Lieutenant could not be in the degree where he is because it was me my selfe that retained the late Duke of Guise his brother who woulde willinglie haue gone from the estates of Bloys distrusting of some deafe deuise and ambushment of the tirant but I caused him to remaine and to waite for a dispatch from Rome which should be brought me within three dayes and that was the cause why Madame his mother here present hath many times reproached me that I was the cause of his death whereof Monsieur the Lieutenant and all his ought to yeelde mee thankes because that vpon this pretext and to reuenge this goodly death of his Whot passions and bad perswasions we haue stirred vp the people and taken occasion to make another King Courage therefore courage I say my friends feare not to expose your liues and that which remaineth of your goods for Monsieur the Lieutenant and for them of his house These are good princes and good Catholikes who loue you to the full and on the ridge Speake not here of abrogating from him his power which some murmur and mutter that it was not giuen him but vntil some next holding or assembly of the Estates but these are the accountes of the Storke They that haue tasted this morsell they will neuer bite Would you demaund a more goodly and braue king and one that is more grosse and more grasse or fattie than he is Good parts to commend to a kingdome Hee is by S. Iames a faire peece of flesh and I thinke you cannot finde one that ouerweigheth him Messieurs of the nobilitie that keepe the townes and castles in the name of the holy vnion are you not very glad to leuie and gather vp all the taxes tenths aydes shoppes fortifications watches imposts and that which is giuen for all wares as well by water as by land and to take your rights and customes vpon all prices ransomes and pillages without being bound to make an account thereof to any man Vnder what King would you finde a better condition You are Barons you are Counties and Dukes in the proprietie of all the places and prouinces which you hold You command absolutely therein Right as can be of clubbes spades and all saue the harts and as it were kings of the cardes What would you haue better Leaue and forget these glorious names of French monarchie and
of Aubray which had in charge to speake for the third estate and contested that it did belong to none but to him to speake that day of the barricades and that they were neuer accustomed in Fraunce to make more than three estates and so hee let that the deputie of the new nobilitie was heard as being but a dependence and a member of the saide third estate The said Lord of Angouleuent disputed long time on his part saying that euery one was there for his money and began againe sundry times these three wordes Monsieur the twelfth and at euery time he was interrupted At the last as the rumor increased and this factions for the one and the other were alreadie heate so farre as to come for it to the blowes of the fist the aduocate of Orleans remonstrated that it was no more time now to rest vpon the auncient formes which were but for shoe makers and coblers nor yet vpon the ceremonies of times past saue onely in the fact of faith and religion A strong exception or else that will down also and that the assembly of the said estates should be vnprofitable if they did not all things therein after the new manner And as for him that hee had seene the remembrances and instructions of the new nobility which deserued very well to bee considered of Notwithstanding considering now that it was somewhat late and that Monsieur the Lieutenant was fresh and fasting and the houre of Monsieur the Legates dinner was past hee required Well added for it is not easilie done that the said Lord of Angouleuent should put his speech in writing and deliuer it vp and should holde his tongue if he could otherwise and for defaulte thereof he should be sent to the Countie de Choysie which thing Monsieur the Lieutenant approued with his head And the rumor being by 〈◊〉 and little ceased and the foresaide d' Angouleuent hardly set downe againe the saide Lorde d' Aubray deputie of the third estate hauing laid aside his sword spake his oration very nigh after this manner The oration of Monsieur d' Aubray for the third Estate BY our Ladie Messieurs A patheticall exordium you haue giuen vs a goodly speech There is no neede now that our Curats should preach vnto vs that we ought to drawe our selues out of the mudde and to make our selues cleane As touching that which I see by your discourse It is a maruaile if euer they can come out the poore Parisiens haue enough of it already within their bootes and it will bee very hard to pull them out of the mudde and mire From henceforth it is time for vs to perceiue that the false Catholicon of Spayne is a drugge that taketh men by the nose and that it is not without cause that other nations call vs little quailes because that as poore quailes that are hooded and very credulous the preachers and Sorbonists No vnfit resemblance by their inchaunting quaile pipes haue caused vs euen to giue our selues into the nettes of tyrants who haue afterwards put vs into a cage and shut vs vp within our walles to teach vs to sing wee cannot but confesse that wee are at this time taken and made greater seruants and slaues than the Christians in Turkie or the Iewes in Auignon We haue no more either will or voyce in the chapiter or assembly We haue no more any thing proper or that wee may well say this is mine You Messieurs that set your foote vpon our throate and fill our houses with garnisons haue and possesse all Our priuiledges franchises freedomes and auncient liberties are ouerthrowne and taken away Our towne house which I haue seene to bee the sure refuge of the succors of our kings in their vrgent and weightie affaires A sore change is become a butcherie our court of Parliament is none at all our Sorbonne is a brothell house and the vniuersitie become sauage or wilde And yet the extremitie of our miseries is this that in the middest of so many mischiefes and needes it is not permitted vs to complaine nor to demaunde succor and hauing death as it were betweene our teeth we must of necessitie say that we are in good health A pittifull and iust complaint and that we are very happie to be so wretched for so good a cause O Paris that art no more Paris but a denne of outragious beasts and a citadell of Spaniards Wallons and Neapolitanes a sanctuarie and sure retrait of robbers murtherers and killers Wilt thou neuer thinke againe of thy dignities and remember thy selfe what thou hast been in comparison of that thou art Wilt thou neuer cure thy selfe of this frensie that for a lawfull and gracious king hast begotten vnto thy selfe fiftie little kings or wrens rather and yet fiftie tyrants Beholde thou art in irons The spanish Inquisition beholde thou art in the inquisition of Spayne more intollerable a thousand folde and more hard to bee borne and indured of spirits that are borne liberall and free as French men are than the most cruell deaths that Spaniards can deuise Thou wast not able to beare a small augmentation and increase of taxes and offices or some new edicts The fruites of senseles treason that did not much import thee and yet now thou indurest men to poll thy houses to pill and to sacke thee euen vnto blood to imprison the Senators to driue away and banish thy good citizens and counsellors yea to hang and to murther thy principall magistrates Thou seest this thou indurest this yea thou doest not onely indure it but thou doest approue it and praise it and thou darest not neither canst thou tell how to doe otherwise Thou couldest not support and beare with thy king so gracious so gentle so easie so familiar that made himselfe a fellow citizen with thee and burgesse of thy towne that hee inriched thee that he hath garnished thee with glorious and sumptuous buildings increased thy forts and stately ramperts and adorned thee with honorable priuiledges and immunities What say I couldest not support and beare with It is much worse Kindenes rendred for good Thou hast chased him out of his owne towne out of his owne house out of his owne bed What say I chased him thou hast pursued him what pursued thou hast murthered him and canonized the murtherer for a saint and made bonfires for his death And now thou seest how much that death of his hath profited thee For that is the cause why another is ascended into his place much more watchfull much more laborious and a far better warriour that knoweth better to keepe thee in somewhat more straitely as to thy damage and hurt thou hast alreadie proued I pray you Messieurs if it were permitted to cast yet these last abois in libertie let vs a little consider what good or what profit hath come vnto vs by this detestable death which our preachers did make vs beleeue was the
lowe countries is the cause that his separaâ—e and disioyned Lordships cost him more than they are worth For aboue all nations hee feareth the French No lie surely Beare with bragging and lying a little as that which he knoweth to be most noble and to haue the greatest valure and impatience against the rest and rule of a strange people And that is the cause why being wise prouident and well counselled as hee is since that hee was constrained to make that miserable peace which was sealed and signed by the death of our good King Henry the second Ah wilie foxe but yet well discouered subtiltie and not daring either openly to gainesay the same or beginne waire whilest that France was flourishing vnited agreed and of the same minde and will together hee indeuoured to sowe diuision and discord amongst vs our selues and so soone as hee sawe our princes to be miscontent or to iarre amongst themselues he did secretly and closely conueigh himselfe into the action and incouraged the one of the sides to nourish and foster our diuisions and to make them immortall and to busie our selues to quarrell and fight one with another yea to kill one another that whilest these troubles were amongst vs hee might bee left in peace and so long as we did inweaken our selues to grow increase without losse and lessening Plaine pregnant proofes This was the course and proceeding that hee held after that hee sawe the princes of Vendosme and of Condie malecontent who also drew and caried with them the house of Montmorencie and of Chastillon and to set themselues against the aduantageable aduancements and proceedings of your father and of your Vncles Monsieur Lieutenant who had inuaded and vsurped all authoritie and kingly power Bleare eyed men and barbers as it is in the prouerbe are acquainted therewith in the time of young King Frauncis their nephew I speake nothing but that all Fraunce euen to the smallest and basest of them yea that the whole worlde knoweth For all the bloudie tragedies which since that time haue been plaied vpon this pitifull scaffold of France haue all of them been borne and proceeded from these first quarrels and not from the diuersitie or difference of religions as without reason men doe yet to this day make the simple and idiots to beleeue I am old and haue seene the affayres of the world as much as another yea by the grace of God and the goodnes of my friends I haue been Sheriffe and prouost of the merchants also in this citie in the time that men proceeded thereunto by free election and that they did not constraine nor vse violence to men for their suffrages and voyces as you haue done Plaine speech and particular application Monsieur Lieutenant not long sithence minding and purposing to continue Monsieur Boucher at your deuotion But I remeÌ„ber yet those old times as if it were but yesterday past or this day present I can remeÌ„ber well from the beginning of the quarell that fell out betweene Monsieur your late father and late Monsieur the Constable which proceeded from no other cause but from the iealousie of one of them ouer another both of them being the great minions and fauourits of Henrie the second their master Figulus figuluÌ„â—dit as it is in the prouerbe as wee haue seene also Messieurs de Ioyeuse and d'EspernoÌ„ vnder King Henrie the third his sonne Their first falling out was for the estate of great Master which the King had giuen to Monsieur your father when he made Monsieur of Montmorency Constable who had been great Master before and who had the Kings promise that the sayd estate should be reserued for his sonne Another cause of their ill husbandrie or bad carriage of themselues was the Countie de Dampmartin which both of them had gotten after diuers sorts Sum ego mihi metipsi proximus I loue my selfe best and being entred into suite about the same Monsieur the Constable got it by an arrest or decree This did so alter and chaunge them that either of them indeuored to cast his coÌ„panion out of the saddle or as we say to set him beside the cushion And from thence proceeded the voyage that Monsieur your father made into Italie where he did no great matter because that Monsieur the Constable who caused him to bee sent thither that so he might the more quietly wholly and alone possesse the King it may be hindred or slacked the affayres but he remained not long vnpunished for it for he was taken afterwards on S. Laurence day while your father was absent who being returned did by a certaine good happe and the same indeed very wonderfull It was well done of the Guise to ouercome euil with well doing take againe the townes of Picardie which wee had lost and Calais besides And that he might the better reuenge himselfe of the euill dueties that he knew were done against him in his voyage caused also the imprisonment of Monsieur the Constable to bee prolonged and forgot no arte that might hinder or delay his deliuerance which gaue an occasion to my Lords of Chastillon to desire the ayde and to cast themselues into the armes and protection of the King of Nauarre this Kings father and of Monsieur the Prince of Conde his brother who had married their neece Also these two great houses fell into factions and partakings which were yet stirred vp and incensed by the contention begun betweene the Prince of Conde Monsieur d'Aumale your vncle for the office of the colonel of the light horse there was as yet no meÌ„tion of religion or Huguenots Hardly did any know what was the doctrine of Caluin and Luther A little fire maketh a great flame but by the death of them that we sawe burne stiffe in their opinions and yet notwithstanding the matter of the warres and of the enimities that we haue seene were then in preparing and hath continued vntill this present time But the trueth is that when my Lords of Chastillon very couragious men and not able to indure the iniuries offered them saw that the fauour of your house did ouertoppe theirs and that they had not any meane to finde credite and fauour about the King by reason of the lets that they of your race house cast in the way they were counselled to withdraw themselues from the Court and as they were in their retraite they shewed themselues but whether it were in good earnest or of policie and prudence I know not to fauour the new Lutherans who till then preached no where but in caues and dennes and by little and little ioyned themselues with them in faction and intelligence It is not good to fall into the clawes and pawes of vnreasonable men the rather to defend and keepe themselues from your father your vncle then to attempt any stirring or bringing in of noueltie except then when the King at the prouocation of your
furnished with siluer New baptisms in poperie besides them that are done at the font whom they baptized with and called by the names of politikes or adherents and fauourers of heretikes And vpon this speech there was made a pleasant rime of that time which I thinke worthie to bee inserted into the registers and quiets of our estates To know them that are politikes Adherents or fauourers of heretikes Let them be close and hid as you can You neede little more but these verses to scan He that of times or men doth complaine In this golden world wherein we remaine He that all his goods will not freely bring To vphold this cause is iust worth nothing He that is slow to the vnion to sweare He that his well furred gowne daily doth weare In steed of putting on his harnois He that saith not the Biarnois But saith the King and him doth allow And at the sixteene doth mocke and mow Thinking them men farre from all credit still That murmureth at them or of them speaketh ill That by the fourtie a figge doth not set That hath not his beard after the League very net That hath seene letters from the other side of the land Trust you not in all this beware at any hand That with the Princes and states doth not goe That at Easter heareth Masses two and no moe That hath not his beades about his big necke Deserueth therefore a halter rather then a checke That is greatly grieued when they him call out To watch at the gate or by night to be a skout To be called to the trenches or to the rampart He is none of the right side he hath no good hart He that speakes of peace or conceiues thereof hope Shall be sure to feele the fagot or the rope He that much trusteth in his odde deuotions And runneth vp and downe in all processions Vsing many prayers and often pilgrimages If therewith he intermingle in his suffrages A poore sigh and say Lord some peace doe vs giue He is at the least an adherent not worthie to liue And though that he make a faire shewe euery houre Take heed he white you not with meale or with flowre He that loueth not these men preach to heare Commelet Guincestre and Bouchar the Friar Or that willingly doth not bid God speede To Louchard Morliere or la Rue indeede He is a Maheutre and a very sorie man Worse by much then a Turke or a Mahometan He that honoureth not the Lordship say I Of Baston Machault and of Acarie And that hath sayd at any time or place That the law will not goe vpright in any case Who askes at his window by night or day Of his next neighbours what this meane may By so many alarmes and Toxsains also That all the saints doth not feare on a row That the good and renowmed feast pardie Of Barricades the blest hath not kept holie He that reuerently hath not spoken or ment Of the bloudie knife of Frier Iames Clement Who then when Bichon or els Niuell Some newes did print or began to tell Doubteth thereof and enquireth of the author I will pawne my credit he is sure a fautor Some others there are that men marke full well With a more sure marke then any we doe tell S. Cosme Oliuier and the Clerke Bussy Lay hands on these galants and bring them to me They are so and why so this is most sure The money they haue in their purse you cannot indure I haue kept these verses by heart or in memorie because they are so common that women and little children haue learned them and because there can bee nothing more naturally put downe to expresse our proceedings It commeth now well in to lay open their sinne and the manner that wee haue vsed to finde out money and siluer But they had forgotten to set in order therein the gold of Molan and the treasure of the great Prior of Champagne who holpe vs to set forward your voyage to Tours which indeede was neither long nor of great effect For after that you had brought I knowe not what troupe gathered together of people mislead thorow error and with a loue and desire of noueltie that you had put into their heads to braue your master whom you thought to take vnprouided or els in hope that they of Tours would make some tumult to deliuer him into your hands so soone as you saw that they spake vnto you with cannon shot that the King of Nauarre was come to assist and succour his brother hauing a notable interest and care indeede that hee might not fall into your hands The vngodly flieth when no maÌ„ almost pursueth feare at the shew sight of the white scarfes did so seize and take hold of you that you must needes retire with diligence and that by wandring waies where there were no stones And this your foule flying you would haue couered with the request that we made vnto you to succour vs against the courses of Messieurs de Longueville Better a bad excuse then none at all de la Nouë and d'Givry after the shamefull leuie of the siege of Senlis And being here you distrusted your selfe that they would not long delay to followe you at your heeles hauing two so mightie whelps at your taile Whereupon you gaue some order for the defence of Paris 〈…〉 such Phiâ—â—â—ns but it was by a medicine against poyson worse if wee had taken it then the disease it selfe would or could haue been And this was then when the Parisiens began to perceiue and see guests liuing at their owne discretion and pleasure in their houses contrary to all the ancient priuiledges granted them by the former Kings but these were but little fleurets or filips in comparison of that which wee suffered afterwards and yet notwithstanding you suffered them to take euen before and vnder your nose Estampes and Pontoise without succouring of theÌ„ And you seeing that they returned vpon you minding either to draw you foorth to the field or to shut you vp within our walles you I say did then well perceiue by the proceeding of the Kings affayres that yours went continually to ruine Neede made them monkes or to vse moÌ„ks and that there was now no more meane to saue deliuer you but a blow or stroake from heauen which was by the death of your master your benefactor your prince your king I say your king for I perceiue emphasis or force in this word which importeth a person consecrated annoynted highly esteemed of God as a mean betwixt angels men or as a man may say mingled or made of theÌ„ both For how shuld it be possible that one man alone weake naked vnarmed could command so many hundred thousand men A reasonable good speech and make himselfe to be feared followed and obeyed in all his pleasures if he had not as wee may say some diuinitie or some part or parcell of the
power of God intermingled therewith as some say that the spirits intermingle and cast the thunder betweene and within the clowdes in which they make these straunge and fearfull fires that doe very farre and much passe the materiall and elementarie fire I will not say that you were he that chose particularly that wicked fellowe which hell created He meaneth Frier Iames Clement to goe and giue that execrable blowe which the very furies of hell themselues would haue feared to haue done But it is very evident that before he went about this accursed enterprise Sometimes it is not amisse to be a blabbe of a mans tongue you saw him and I could well tell the places where and the times when if I would You incouraged him you promised him Abbeyes Bishoprickes mountaines and meruailes and ye left the rest to bee done to Madame your sister to the Iesuits and to the Prior of his order who passed some what further promised him nothing lesse thē a place in paradise aboue the Apostles if it fell out that he were martyred That it was so that ye were very well aduertised of all the mysterie or secret you caused the people that spake of yeelding themselues to be preached vnto and taught that they would yet haue patience but seuen or eight daies Good reason all lead by one murthering spirit and that before the ende of the weeke they should see some great matter that should set vs in our former rest and quietnes The preachers of Roan of Orleans and of Amiens preached it at the same time and in the same tearmes Afterwarde so soone as your Frier possessed with a diuell was departed you caused to bee arrested and apprehended for prisoners in this citie more than two hundred of the principall citizens and others whom yee thought to haue goods friends and to be of credit with them of the Kings side as a precaution or forewarning wherwith you purposed to serue your selues The name of some diuel signifying therby the murtherer Clement to redeeme that wicked Astaroth in case he were either taken before the facte or after the facte For hauing the pledge of so many honest men you supposed that they durst neuer put that murtherer to death because of the threatning which yee had giuen out that yee would cause to die in the way of change for him those whom you kept prisoners who in truth are much bound to them that in a headlong heate or choller slewe with the blowes of their rapiers that wicked wretch after hee had giuen his stroake And you your selfe ought not lesse to thanke them For had they suffred him to liue as they might haue done and put him into the hands of iustice It is almost as wel discouered now we had had the whole thread of the enterprise naturally and liuely deducted and you had beene there incouched in white clothes for a marke of your disloyaltie and felonie that neuer would haue beene blotted out But God did no so permit it and we know not yet the end wherto he keepeth you For if the examples of former times doe carrie with them any consequence A very large assertion but yet for the most part true to iudge of the affaires of the time present wee neuer sawe yet vassall or subiecte that enterprised to driue his Prince out of his kingdome to die in his bed I will not strengthen this maxime or rule by many histories nor resute those which our preachers alledge to defende and iustifie that horrible act I will speake of no more but two the one out of the Bible and the other out of the Romane histories You haue heard it may be some preach that those that slew Absalom though he were vp in armes against his father his King and his countrie were notwithstanding punished with death A man shall hardly see such iustice in Frāce or Spaine by the commaundement of Dauid against whom hee made warre If you haue read the conflicts that were made between Galba Otho and Vitellius for the Empire of Rome you haue read found that Vitellius put to death more then sixe hundred men who bragged that they had slaine Galba his predecessor had presented a petition to be recompenced therfore It may be he meaneth Machiuel which he did not as saith the author who at this day serueth insteede of an Euangelist to many for the friendship that he caried to Galba nor for the honour that hee ment to doe him but to teach all princes to assure their life and their present estate and to cause them that shuld dare to attempt any thing against their persons to know vnderstand that an other prince their successor though perhaps their enemie after some one sort or other would reueng their death And this is the cause wherefore you Monsieur the Lieutenant had great wrong to make shew of so great ioy Woe to them that laugh now for they shal weepe hauing knowne the newes of that cruell accident that befel him by whose death you should enter into the waies of the kingdome You made bonfires or fires of reioycing where you should indeed haue obserued funerals you tooke indeed a greene scarfe in token of reioycing whereas ye ought to haue doubled and redoubled your blackes in signe of mourning Good imitable exāples You should haue imitated Dauid who caused Saules bones to be gathered together and to bee honorably buried although that by the meanes of his death he remained a peaceable King and lost thereby his greatest enemie Or to haue done as Alexander the great who caused sumptuous obsequies to bee made for Darius or as Iulius Caesar who wept with hotte and bitter reares vnderstanding of the death of Pompey his competitor and deadly aduersary and put them to death that had slaine him What could a man of a base and bad mind doe els But you cōtrarie to the practises of these great personages did laugh make feastes and bonfires and all fortes of ioy when you vnderstoode of the cruell death of him from whome you held all that you and your predecessors had or haue of wealth of honour and of authoritie And not content with these common reioycings which did sufficiētly witnesse how much you approued this accursed acte you caused the murtherers picture to be made shewed it publikely abroad All this whatsoeuer is but the reward of iniquitie as if it had beene of a canonized saint You caused his mother and kinred to be sought out that you might enrich them with publike almes to the end that this might be a lure and a baite for others that would vndertake to giue yet such an other blowe to the King of Nauar vnder hope assurāce which they might receiue by the example of this new martyr that after their death they shuld be so sanctified their kinred wel recōpensed But I wil not further examine your conscience
euacuation In the same historie doe yee not find also as it were the very type of our goodly estates here assembled That remaineth yet to be proued Those that were held at Troies in which they disinherited the true and the lawfull heire of the crowne as an excommunicated and reagrauated person are they not altogether like these of ours God knoweth what manner of people were in those estates Doubt yee not that they were all such as you here my maisters chosen out of the dregges of the people openly mutinous and seditious corrupted by money and all pretending and aiming at some one particular profite by change and by noueltie as you my masters doe For I assure my selfe that there is not one of you Notable men and very fit for such an assemblie that hath not herein some speciall interest and who desireth not that the affaires may remaine in the same troublous estate wherein they are There is not one of you but he occupieth and enioyeth the benefice or the office or the house of his neighbour or that hath not taken their moueables from them or raised any reuenewes thereof or committed some thieuerie and murther thorow reuengment wherof hee is afraid lest he should be tried if peace were once made Notwithstanding at the last after so many murthers and penuries these wicked and ill disposed persons must needs come and acknowledge Charles the seuenth for their King and throwing themselues downe at his feete demaund pardon for their rebellion though that before that they had excommunicated him and declared him vncapable to be their King A good and right application as now appeareth by the successe As who seeth not and may easily iudge by the bad course that wee take that wee euen in the same sort must doe as much as that commeth vnto though it bee foreslowed for a while and that in short space wee shall bee constrained thereto by fine force of necessitie which hath neither lawe nor respecte nor shamefastnes If I sawe here some of the princes of the blood of Fraunce and of the peeres of the crowne who are the principall persons and without the which cannot assemble nor holde iust and lawfull estates If I sawe here the Constable the Chauncellour the Mareschals of Fraunce that are the very officers indeede to authorize the assembly If I sawe here the presidents of the soueraigne courts the proctors generall of the King in his parliament and a number of men of qualitie and reputation knowne a long time to haue loued the good of the people and their owne honour ha in trueth I should hope that this gathering together and assembly should bring vs much fruite Good reason fo◠there were some probability at the least and I would be contented simply to declare the charge that I haue of the third estate which is to represent and set out the great desire that euery one hath to haue peace and the great benefite or profite that shall come thereby But I see here none but strangers full of passion in thirsting after vs and altered from our blood and from our substance I see here none but ambicious women and such as are giuen to reuengement A worthy cōpanie to b◠the assēbly of the estates I see none but corrupted and wicked priests and such as are full of foolish hopes All the rest is nothing els but light chaffe full of necessitie that loue war trouble because they liue of other good mens goods and know not how to liue of their own nor to maintaine their traine in time of peace All the gentlemen of noble race and valour are on the other side neere vnto their King And so would euery honest man and standing for him and their countrie I should be ashamed to speake the words for them or in the name of them that are here for the third estate if I were not indeed aduowed and allowed by other honest people that will not meddle with this rascall sort that are come scatteringlie out of the Prouinces as the Franciscane Friers doe to a prouinciall chapiter What doth Monsieur the Legate here Plaine particular dealing but to hinder the libertie of our free speech and to incourage them that haue promised to doe meruailous things for the affayres of Rome and of Spayne He that is an Italian and the vassall of a strange prince ought not here to haue either order or place Here are to be handled the affayres of Frenchmen yea such as touch them very nigh and not those of Italie and of Spayne From whence should he haue this curiositie if it be not to profit thereby with our hurt A Frenchman Italianated Spaniolized Lorainized And you Monsieur de Pelue doe not you make a goodly shew in this companie to pleade the cause of the King of Spayne and the right or title of Lorraine You I say which are a Frenchman and who we know was borne in Frāce to haue proceeded so farre as to haue renounced your chrisme your nation to serue the idols of Lorraine Spanyards wel set out and the southernly diuels you should yet haue brought and caused to sit here euen aboue the flouredeluce the Duke of Feria and Mendoza Don Diego to take their counsell how France ought to be gouerned for they haue interest in it and you haue wrong Monsieur the Lieutenant that haue not admitted them thereto Spanyards will seeke and aske enough as they did impudently demaund the same But indeede their presence should haue been vnprofitable seeing that they haue here their agents aduocates that haue spoken so worthilie for them and besides you will not forget to communicate vnto them euery thing of the issue of our consultations But I would willingly demaund of you Monsieur the Lieutenant to what end or purpose haue you assembled these good and honest people here Are these those noble estates in which you promised vs to giue such good order to our affayres and to make vs all blessed I cannot much meruaile that you haue so much reculed to be found here so long delayed Meet men to attend such a master and made the poore masters of the deputies to trot so much vp and downe after you For you doubted much that here would be found some blunt fellow that would tell you your owne and would scratch you where you did not itch You alwaies had a minde to draw out your Lieutenancie to the length and to continue this soueraigne power which you haue vsurped that so you might also continue the way without which you could not be so well intreated nor so well followed and obeyed as you are But now we will put an end thereto If you doe so it is well and in so doing put an end to our miseries also We neuer bestowed vpon you this goodly and new deuised qualitie of the Lieutenant of the Estates which in trueth sauoureth rather the stile