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
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
had ordinarily incomparable processions who haue obscured the glittering and glorie of the goodliest mummeries that euer were seene Wee haue caused to bee sowen vnder hand and that throughout all France the Catholicon of Spayne yea some such Doublons or double Duckets as haue had meruailous effects euen to the blew politike cords What could I haue done more but to giue my selfe to the diuels for the pledge and aduancement of Hyrie as I haue done Reade Iosephus bookes touching the warres of the Iewes for that is as it were such another fact as ours is and iudge whether those hote fellowes Simon and Iohn haue had more inuentions and disguisements of their matters to make stiffe and obstinate the poore people of Ierusalem to dye thorowe the rage of famine then I haue had to cause to dye with the same death a hundred thousand soules within this citie of Paris yea to proceed so farre that the mothers should eate their owne children as they did in that holie citie Reade this historie I pray you and for the cause aboue specified and ye shall finde that I haue not spared any more then they did the most holie reliques and things of greatest vse in the Church that I could cause to bee molten for my affayres I haue a hundred times broken my faith particularly sworne to my friends kindred that I might come to that which I desired without making shewe of it and my cousin the Duke of Lorraine and the Duke of Sauoy knowe well what to say concerning this poynt whose affayres I haue alwayes set behinde the cause of the French Church and mine owne matters And as touching publique faith I haue alwayes supposed that the ranke or degree which I holde did sufficiently dispense with me therefore and the prisoners which I haue held with mee or caused to pay raunsome against my promise or against their composition that I made with them cannot any whit at all vpbrayd me because I haue absolution for it from my great amner and confessor I will not speake of the voyages which I haue caused to me made against the Biarnois to astonish and at once to amaze him where I neuer thought it The cunningest on my side haue been imbarqued therein and haue felt nothing thereof but the freshnes of the rasor Neither should this displease Ville-roy who went not thereto but in good faith as you may beleeue I haue indeede allured others that bragge not of it neither and who haue treated for me to two diuers ends or purposes as well to hasten forward our friends to succour vs as to astonish and amaze our enemies with mustard And if the Biarnois would haue beleeued some one or other of his Councell who haue a graine of this Catholicon vpon their tongue and who haue alwayes cryed out that they must make nothing more sharpe for feare of making all desperate wee should now haue faire play in stead that we see the people euen of themselues disposed to wish and demaund peace a thing that wee ought all of vs to feare more then death and I for my part would loue a hundred times better to become a Turke or a Iewe with the good grace and leaue of our holy father then to see these same relapsed heretikes to returne and to enioy their goods Long prescription which you and I now enioy and that by iust title and good faith a yeare and a day and aboue to O God my friends what will become of vs if we must render all back againe If I must returne to my old condition how shall I maintaine my plate and my gards Must I passe thorow the Secretaries and treasurers of the Exchequer and warriors altogether new fellowes wheras ours passe thorowe mine owne hands Let vs dye yea let vs dye rather then come there It is a braue buriall euen the ruine and destruction of so great a kingdome as this is vnder which it is better for vs to be buried if we be not able to graspe or catch that which is aboue There was neuer man that ascended so high as I am that would come downe but by hie force There are many gates to enter into the power which I haue but there is but one onely issue to get out of it and that is death This is the cause why I seeing that a heape of politikes that are amongst vs would offer vnto vs the head of their peace and of their French monarchie haue aduised my selfe to present vnto them a maske and mummerie of the Estates after that I had differred it as long as I could to illude and make to waxe cold the present pursuites of their deputies and I haue called you here together with you to giue order thereto to turne ouer together their quiers that so I may know where the disease holdeth them and who are our friends and who are our enemies But yet not to lye vnto you herein A mā of good conscience I doe it for no other purpose then to shut vp their beakes and bils and to make them beleeue that we trauaile very much for the publike good and minde very willingly to make an agreement for the good people notwithstanding all this shall not pisse much better contented I know there are none here but our friends no more thē there was in the Estates at Blois by cōsequent I assure my selfe that al of you would do as much for me as for euery one of you namely that I or some one Prince of our house might be King If you be not deceiued and you shall finde that the best for you Yet so it is that this cannot be done so soone and there is yet a Masse to bee sayd and there must be made a great breach in the kingdome because it will be conuenient that we giue a good part of it to them that should helpe vs in this busines On the other side you well foresee the daungers and inconueniences of peace which setteth all things in order and yeeldeth right to whom it appertaineth and therefore it is much better to hinder it then to thinke of it And concerning my selfe I sweare vnto you A holie and religious oath by the deare and welbeloued head of mine eldest sonne that I haue no veine that reacheth not thereto and I am as farre from that as the earth is from heauen for although I haue made shewe by my last declaration by my subsequent answer that I do desire the conuersion of the King of Nauarre I pray you to beleeue that I desire nothing lesse and that I loue rather to see my wife my nephew and all my cousins and kinsfolkes dead then to see this Biarnois at Masse that is not the place where I itch I haue not written and published it but with a purpose and deuise euen no otherwise then Monsieur the Legate maketh his exhortation to the French people And all those escripts or writings which Monsieur of
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
sole and the onely meane to make vs blessed The great difference betweene good gouernement and tyrannie But I cannot discourse vpon this poynte but with very great griefe to see things in the estate in which they are in comparison of that they were then At that time euery one had yet corne in his garner and wine in his seller euery one had his vessell of siluer or plate as we call it his tapistrie and his costly moueables the women had then their girdles halfe of siluer the reliques were hole and sound they had not so much as touched the iewels of the crowne But now who is there that can boast that he hath whereof to liue for three weekes vnles it be these theeues and robbers that haue made themselues fat with the wealth of the people and that haue on all hands pilled and polled the moueables both of present and absent Haue we not by little and little consumed all our prouisions sould our moueables molten our vessell and pledged all that wee haue to the garments on our backs to liue not onely poorely but verie wretchedly and caytife like Where are our halles and our chambers so well garnished and so decked with diaper and tapistrie Where are our feastes and bankets and our licorous and daintie tables Loe we are brought to milke and white cheese like the Swissers Our bankets are of a bitte of biefe yea the biefe of a cowe for all the messes and seruices wee were wont to haue and happie is he that hath not eaten the flesh of horses and of dogges and happie is hee that alwaies hath had oaten bread and coulde make a little paste of it with the broath of brawne sold at the corner of the streetes in the places where heretofore they did sell the delicious and daintie tongues young quailes and legges of mutton And it hath not been long of Monsieur the Legate and of the Embassador Mendoza that we haue not eaten our fathers bones as the sauage and wilde people of new Spayne doe If he can he is a man of no sense Can any man thinke of or remember all these things without teares and without horror And they that in their conscience knowe well inough that they are the cause thereof can they heare speake of these things without blushing and without apprehending the punishment that God reserueth for them for so many euils and mischiefes whereof they are authors Yea when they shall represent vnto themselues the images of so many poore citizens as they haue seene fallen in the streetes all starke and stone dead through famine the little infants and sucking babes to die at the breasts of their languishing mothers drawing the breast for nothing and not finding what to sucke the better sorte of the inhabitants and the souldiers to goe through the towne leaning vpon a staffe pale and feeble more white and more wanne than images of stone resembling rather ghosts than men If they be so good how bad are the rest and the inhumaine and discourteous answer of some euen of the Ecclesiasticall persons who accused them and threatned them in steed of succouring or comforting them Was there euer barbarousnes or crueltie like to that which we haue seene and indured Was there euer tyrannie and domination matchable to that which we see and indure Where is the honour of our vniuersitie Where are the colledges Where are the schollers Where are the publike readings and lectures to which people did run from all the partes of the world Bookes turned into blades a good change Where bee the religious students in the couents They haue all taken armes and beholde they are become all of them vnruly and wicked souldiers Where are our chaffes Where are our precious reliques Some of them are molten and eaten vp other some are buried in the grounde for feare of robbers and sacreligious persons Where is that reuerence that men caried once to the people of the Church or Clergie and to the sacred mysteries The diuell a lie it is Euery one now maketh a religion after his owne manner and diuine seruice serueth for no other vse but to deceiue the world through hypocrisie the priests and preachers haue so set themselues on sale and made themselues so contemptible by their offensiue life that men regarde them no more nor their sermons neither but when they are to be vsed to preach and spread abroade some false newes Where are the princes of the blood that haue been alwaies sacred persons euen as the pillars and staies of the crowne and of the French Monarchie Where are the Peeres of France that should be the first here to opē to to honor the Estates Al these names are no more but the names of porters wherof some make litter for the horses of the Messieurs of Spayne and of Lorraine Where is the Maiestie and grauitie of the Parliament heretofore the defender of Kings and the mediator betweene the people and the Prince A prison as we would say here the Fleete or Tower You haue caried it in triumph to the Bastille and authoritie and iustice ye haue led them captiue more insolently and more shameleslie than the Turkes woulde haue done You haue driuen away the best sorte of people and retained none but rascals or of scourings who are either full of passions or else base minded Besides euen of them that doe remaine ye will not suffer so few as foure or fiue to say what they thinke and you threaten them also Hee meaneth some kinde of torture or torment to giue them a billet as vnto heretikes or politikes And yet you would make men beleeue that that you doe is for no other respect but for the preseruation of religion and of the estate This is well said but let vs a little examine your actions and the cariage or behauiour of the King of Spayne towards vs and if I lie one word A fearefull execration let Monsieur Saint Denis and Madame Saint Genuiefue the great patrons of Fraunce neuer helpe me I studied a little while in the schooles and yet not so much as I desired but since I haue seene diuers countries and trauailed into Turkie and thorow out all Natolia and Sclauonia euen vnto Archipelagus and mare maior A good touchstone indeede and Tripoli of Syria where I found the saying of our Sauiour Christ to bee true By their fruites yee shall know them Men knowe sufficiently enough what are the intentions and inuentions of men by their works and by their effects First I will speake it and yet with an honorable preface that the King of Spayne A mannerly man is a great prince wise subtill and very aduised the most mightie and hauing the greatest territories of all Christian princes and that he should be yet so much the more if all his lands countries and kingdomes were sure and ioyned one of them to another But France which is betweene Spayne and 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
or leaue off till they had driuen her out of the realme and sent her into Italie to her kinsfolkes God pardon that good Ladie A deuout praier for a holie woman But for the apprehension and conceit that she had of these things I feare much that she was the cause of many euils that we saw in her time For vpon this matter she did so hate thē that she neuer ceased till she had destroyed them as she did the one of them in the battaile of Iarnac and the other at the massacre of S. Bartholomew where if all they of Montmorency had been found they had had no better market of it then the rest To which poynt Messieur your vncle did very nimbly put his hand and valiantly pushed or lifted at the wheele that so he might put fire in the head of that young King Charles without whose death wee neede not doubt but that he had had the like scorne that Monsieur the Mareschall of Montmorency gaue him and Monsieur your brother in this towne whē he made them do all in their breeches Doubtie Dukes and very cleanly because they bare weapons and armour forbidden them without his passeport and leaue But it seemeth that the sodaine death of these their Kings one after another did alwaies breake set out of square the goodly attempts of your house and saued or at the least prolonged the liues of your principall enemies Now let vs come to that which fell out afterwards for it is time to speak of you and of Monsieur your brother who began from that time forward to appeare in armes and to walke in the footsteps and tracts of your predecessors A fardle of frumps against Duke du Mayenne You haue alreadie caused your valours and valiances to appeare in the siege of Poictiers which you brauely defended contrarie to the aduise of the first husband of Madame la Lieutenant Monsieur of Montpezat your predecessor who counselled you to forsake all and to get you packing thence Afterwards you were at the battaile of Montcontour and after that at the iourney or exployt done vpon S. Bartholomews day where the companions on the other side were taken napping if not on sleepe and prouoked to say whence come you Cardinall of Lorraine And though Monsieur your vncle at that time was turning ouer his portuise in Italie yet the play was not performed without his intermedling and seeking to haue the King of Spaynes approbation of it the Popes absolution touching the marriage which seemed for a lure and a trappe also to the Huguenots Afterwards you continued your blowes at the siege of Rochel where mē did perceiue that he that is at this day the King of Nauarre and Monsieur your brother were but one heart one soule Men may maske but dissimulation wil break out and their great puritie and familiaritie ingendred ielousie and suspition in all the world But we must come to the matter When you sawe that King Charles was dead who otherwise did not loue you very much had sundrie times repeated the saying of the great King Francis For he had no cause so to do whereof he himselfe had made these foure verses now very rife and common in euery mans mouth King Francis was no whit beguiled When he foretold that the Guisian race Would spoyle his sonnes of all they had And leaue his subiects in worse case A steppe to the scepter as they thought When you saw him I say dead without children and the late King his brother married with your barren and vnfruitfull cousin you began Monsieur your brother and you I meane to attempt and assay many practises and plots which many people sayd were the cause of all our miseries I am not of that number which beleeue that Messieurs your father and vncle had from their time layd the foundation of the building that your brother you haue builded since though there bee that speake of the notes of Dauid and of Piles who haue better then Nostradamus prognosticated foretold all that which we haue seene since their death and though some assure vs that Monsieur your vncle Cardinall of Lorraine had framed a certaine forme of all the order that was to beheld therein But I cannot beleeue that he that had as much vnderstanding as a mā could haue could hope to make his nephewes kings of France seeing as yet three brethren children of the Kings house in the right line all of thē very puissant and in the floure of their age readie to be married and he could not diuine or gesse that they should dye without issue as they did afterwards Besides hee sawe a great number of the Princes of the royall bloud that kept not themselues warme with the robe of heretikes that should haue cut off all hope from his desires I knowe very well that in his time he was the author that the Archdeacon of Thoul writ this much that those of the house of Lorraine were descended from Charles the great by the males A pedigree published but to small purpose that is to say of Charles Duke of Lorraine to whom the kingdome appertained after the death of Lewes the fifth king of France and that Hugh Capet hauing taken him at Laon and brought him and his wife prisoner to Orleans he had a sonne or male child of whom he affirmed the Dukes of Lorraine are descended this was vnder hand cast amongst the people As all did well perceiue and you were neuer a whit grieued with it though that the common and true histories doe plainly enough shew and witnesse that there was an interruption breaking off of males in the race of Lorraine by two women and namely in the wife of Godfrey of Bouillon named Idain So the sayd Archdeacon made an honourable amends for it A worthie Archdeacon according to the arrest and sentence giuen against him and like a lewd fellowe and sloathfull or fainthearted man vnsayd that he had spoken But in fine there was small appearance that at that time my sayd Lord your vncle could aspire to the kingdome hauing so many hinderances and heads either to fight against Two worthie waies to work by or to cause to dye by the sword or by poyson It is very true that euen from his beginning he was very ambitious and desirous of greatnes and of the gouernment of the state more then any other of his age and I make no doubt of it but that he desired to possesse the Kings and to haue held them had hee been able in tutorship and vnder gouernment as in olde time the Maiors of the palace did that so he might dispose of all according to his pleasure and set vp or pull downe those whom hee had listed Wicked mens purposes and practises are vaine which is the thing whereto commonly the greatest aspire Notwithstanding being almost come thereunto while he was liuing he gathered together and
regarde or rather his naturall goodnes together with the impressions that his mother and his traiterous counsellors had wrought in him hindred him from vsing the aduantage which hee had in his hand or power causing all his men of warre to be forbidden to strike or hurt any person and to keep themselues quiet without enterprising any thing or offering violence to any of the inhabitants which was the cause that the mutinous taking heart and courage vpon the waies of their plotted enterprise had leasure to arme themselues and to shut vp as it were betweene two gulfes or streames those that before they durst not looke in the face And your brother also seeing that they were so slow to come to take him there came vnto him and that from all quarâ—ers people in armes whome those of the Kings side did let freelie passe because they had no charge giuen them to looke to him and knowing that they of his part began to acknowledge him and to make head in the quarters A dastard in the faint hartednes of his foe gathereth strength according to the order that they had before plotted of a desperate man that he was he became fully assured and resolute and sent his appoynted gentlemen through the streetes and quarters of the citie to assist and encourage the inhabitants to take the gates and places For his part after that he was hartened by a great number of men of armes who had their meeting at his lodging he went out of his house about tenne or an eleuen of the clocke that he might be seene in the streetes and by his presence giue them the signe of a generall reuolt which presently set fire in the head of all the conspirators who as madde and furious people fell vpon the Kings Swissers and cut them all in peeces and the other men of warre seeing themselues shut vp betweene two barricadoes They that spare others are smitten themselues before and behinde without daring to defend themselues because that the King had forbidden it them yeelded themselues to the mercie of your brother Crueltie couered with clemencie who caused them to bee conducted in safetie out of the towne which hee did not so much of clemencie and gentlenes that was naturall in him as by sleight and subtiltie the better to come to his last but which was to seize himselfe of the King whom he sawe to be in armes and vpoÌ„ his guardes in the house of Louvre hardly to be forced so readily without great murther His cuÌ„ning therfore was to spin gently to counterfeite a man of poore estate saying that he was greatly grieued with that that had fallen out in the meane season he visited the streetes to incourage the inhabitants hee assured himselfe of the strong places hee made himselfe master of the arsenac where he had good intelligence with Selincourt Who it should seeme was as it were the master of the ordinance that he might haue the Cannon the pouder bullets at his deuotion He besotted with faire words the poore knight that kept the watch who yeelded him the Bastille because he lacked good furniture for defence of it He lacked nothing but the Louvre He had the palace but that was no hard thing because it held not the master who had a backe gate to withdrawe himselfe And this was the cause why step by step they aduanced the barricades that so they might gaine the new gate that also of S. Honorus He was sure in a pittifull taking But the poore prince well aduertised of that which they purposed to do that they ment nothing against others but him neither daring to trust his mother neither the gouernour of Paris that then was that intertained him with speech with agreement tooke a couragious resolutioÌ„ and such a one as was approoued by many good people which was to flie away and to leaue the place and al with which your brother thought himselfe much astonished Some mens feare spoyles other of their hope A vehement exclamation and worthie wish doubtles seeing the praye that hee supposed hee had in his snares was escaped from him O memorable feaste of the barricades Let thy eeuens and thy octaues be long From that time hitherto what haue wee had but wretchednes and pouertie But anguishes feares tremblings onsets ouerthrowes defiances and all sortes of miseries These were nothing else but subtilties craftes dissimulations and counterfeitings on the one side and on the other practised and managed by him that could best take it and that could deceiue his companion yea began to goe cheeke by â—ole with your master and because you were not able to take him by open force you tooke counsell to set vpon him by crafte and subtiltie You made shew as though you had been heauie and sad for that which fell out The Crocodiles teares specially to theÌ„ whom you sent vnto him but to straungers you braued it and vaunted your selues Out of ore fountain commeth sweet sowre water that you were masters of all and that there was no let but in your selues that you were not Kings and that in that day of the barricadoes you had gotten more then if you had gained three battailes or foughten fields Concerning which matter your owne letters and those of your agents giue large credit You sent diuers times sundrie sorts of Ambassadors to the King as well to Roan as to Chartres to make him beleeue that the people of Paris were then more at his deuotion then euer and that they did desire to see him and to welcome him into his good citie and you indeuoured nothing but to draw him thither that so you might perfit the busines begun But he would doe nothing in that matter and so he did well In fine after manifold declarations which you drew from him whereof he was no niggard in which was shewed how he did forget and remit all that was past wherein you would neuer suffer to bee vsed the word of pardoning you went and carried your selues very churlishly and vnciuilly in the promoting of the Estates The more the wicked are forborne the worse they are wherein you promised vnto your selues that all should passe at your pleasure by the meanes of your running vp and downe and suites that you made in the election of the deputies of the prouinces In which neuer did any man see such shamelesnes as you vsed that sent from citie to citie and from towne to towne to cause men of your faction to bee chosen Fie vpon such free election that they might come to the foresayd estates prepared with notes and furnished with remembrances fit for your purpose whereof some were chosen by violence othersome by corruption of money or briberie and othersome thorowe feare and threatnings Amongst others from this towne you sent the president de Nully la Chapelle Marteau Compan Rowland and the aduocate of Orleans who were euen in open shewe
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
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
therewithall doe sell their honor and their life Yet neuer did honest man this trade vpon him take Notwithstanding if any are to be found that at the beginning suffered themselues to be caried away with the flood of the League whether it were for feare to forgoe their religion or for some particular affection that they bare to the heads of that side or for some displeasure and hatred that they had conceiued against the late King they are they themselues that submitted themselues to and that acknowledged the present King so soone as they saw him to become a catholike and haue brought into his power the places that they helde without marchandise or entring into composition with their master and these are more excusable for their first error or fault than the other yea they deserue recommendation and praise and to be put in our chronicles for that they haue deliuered their countrie from the Spanish crueltie as we see to haue bin done to them that haue freed France from the English men Frō whence haue proceeded so manie goodly priuiledges to families to townes and to communalties who of themselues did shake off the strange yoke that they might the better submit themselues to the sweet power of their naturall Kings But that which most grieueth all honest and virtuous people is to see that they that haue not done it but by force and necessitie are yet notwithstanding ioyfully entertained receiued and welcommed and boast that they are the cause that the King is conuerted These men cause mee to remember a certaine answer that Fabius the great gaue to a Romane captaine gouernor of Tarentum who after that hee had suffered the towne to bee lost by the treason of the citizens bragged of this that hee was the cause that Fabius tooke it againe Truely sayd Fabius I had not taken or recouered the towne if thou hadst not lost it euen so may these people bragge and boast here that they are the cause of so many Trophees triumphes as the King hath atchieued in conquering his realme againe for without their treason and rebellion he had not gained so much honour as he hath done by bringing them vnder and ranging them to reason I saw also others that haue not so much as stirred out of their houses and from their quiet rest to rent and teare the name of the King and of the princes of the blood of France as much as they were able who also not being able any longer to withstand by reasō of the great necessitie that pressed them because they had two or three daies before the reducing of their towne to the Kings obedience some good sighing and sense to doe better and yet notwithstanding at this day those that speake most loftily and haue great estates offices and recompences and bragge that they haue done more seruice to the King to Frāce it self thā those that forsooke their houses their goods and offices for to follow their prince and who did willingly indure all maner of needs rather than so much as to winke at the tyrannie of these strangers whether they bee Lorraines that is of the Guysian faction or Spaniards But this complaint deserueth an other Satyre Menippized But for this time I will tell you no more but two small quartains or verses which two of our good countrie men made by the way or vpon the sodaine as wee say at a certaine time when we discoursed vpon this matter If French men lewd in Fraunce recompensed bee And the best men aduanced to no degree Let vs somewhat be lewd men will forget the offence He that hath not done ill shall haue no recompence The other euen at that very instant time also pursued the selfe same matter and to no lesse purpose than the former verses were To be welcome indeed and our affaires well to do During this tedious time and miserable to Agnoste my friend canst tell what way we shall take Some place le ts surprise and then our peace we will make I know very wel that there are many people that take no delight to heare men speake and write thus freely and are offended at the first worde that any man mentioneth our afflictiōs alreadie past as though after so many great losses they would take away from vs our feeling and our tongue our speech and libertie giuen vs to complaine withall But herein they should doe worse vnto vs than Phalaris did vnto them whom he stifled and choaked in his brasen bull for hee did not hinder them from crying but this rather that he would not heare their cries as the cries of men lest he might haue pittie vpon them but as the bellowings of bullockes and buls the better to disguise the sound of mans voice This is a hard case that they that haue beene pilled robbed imprisoned in the Bastile ransomed and driuen from their townes from their charges should not cast out some euill speech against them when at their returne they find their houses voide forsaken ruinated wherein there is nothing but the bare wals whereas they left them richly stored with moueables and handsomely trimmed vp with all maner of things Who can euer stop the mouth of the posterity and hinder them from speaking of the third part and of them that haue brought it out nursed it which keep it yet shut vp in a chamber nourishing it and sustaining it with good meate one day to bring it forth vnto light and to cause it to be seene well fauoured and very great when they shall see time and commoditie fit for it It was neuer yet heard of neither shall it euer bee what lawes or ordinances soeuer men may make therefore that euill speech should not be better receiued than praise specially when it is drawn from the trueth it selfe and that there is not a hundred times more pleasure to speake euill of some slothfull person than to praise an honest man This is the punishment that wicked men cannot escape and though they haue all their pleasures beside yet at the least must they haue this dipleasure this worme about their hearts to know that the people teareth them in pieces secretly curseth them and that writers wil not spare them after their death Thanks be to God we are not vnder any Tiberius that spied out the speeches of his subiectes or that made of all offences newe articles of high treason against the Prince He giueth to honest people as much libertie as they should desire hee knoweth the naturall disposition of French men as one that cannot indure neither all bondage nor all libertie Likewise it were not reasonable continually and for euer to stirre vp our olde quarrels and to vse iniurious fashions that might hinder the kitting together againe of his people in one and the same deuotion vnder his obedience For it were better to endeuour to sweeten our euils than to make them more sharpe to the ende that we may all of
if any of my gouernment thrust in himselfe to speak of peace I runne vpon him as a grey or russet woolfe Let warre liue there is nothing but to haue it of what part soeuer it befall I see I cannot tell what nicenes of our nobilitie that speake of preseruing religion and the estate altogether and that the Spanyards shall lose in the ende the one and the other if we suffer them to doe it Touching my selfe I meane nothing of all this prouided that I leuie taxes daily and that they pay me my appointmēts I care not what betide the Pope or the pretie wench his wife Wel and wisely added I am after my intelligences to take Noyon if I can bring it about to effect I shall be Bishop of the towne and of the fields to and shall make a mouth at them of Compeigne In the meane while I chase the cowe and the inhabitant also as much as I can and there shall not be peasant husbandman or merchant round about me and within tenne miles compasse that shall not passe by my hands and that shall not pay me custome and raunsome I know inuentions to make them come to reason I giue them whipcordes or the ends of cordes tyed with knots vpon them A right comparison after the fashion of the Franciscane Friers girdle I hang them vp by the arme holes I heate their feete with a red hot frying pan I put them in yrons and in the stockes I shut them vp in an ouen in a chest that is powred full of water I hang them as a capon to be rosted I beate them with stirrop leathers I salt them I make them to fast I tye thē being stretched out within a fanne Briefly If crueltie be gentlenes I haue a thousand gentle meanes to draw out the quintessence of their purses and to haue their substance and to make them beggers and vagabonds for euer they and all their race What care I for that so I haue it Let no man speake to me hereupon touching the poynt of honor I know not what it meaneth There are that boast they are descended of these olde Knights of France that chased the Sarasins out of Spayne and put King Peter againe into his kingdome Othersome say that they are of the race that went to conquer the holie land with S. Lewis Others that they are come downe from them that haue sundrie times placed the Popes againe in their seates or that haue driuen the Englishman out of France and the Bourguignons out of Picardie or that haue passed the mountaines for the conquests of Naples and of Millan Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh which the King of Spayne hath vsurped against vs. I care not for all these titles and goodly conueiances nor for armes whether they were timbred or not timbred I would be a villaine of foure descents or races so that alwaies I may receiue taxes without yeelding an account I haue not read neither the bookes nor the histories and Annales of France I haue nothing to do with this to know whether it be true that there were Paladins and Knights of the round table that made profession of nothing but of honor and to defend their King and their countrie and would rather bee dead then receiue a reproach or suffer that one should doe iniurie to an other I haue heard reckoned vp by my grandmother in carrying her butter to market to sell that there had been sometimes one Gaston de Fois one Countie de Dunois one la Hire one Poton one captaine Bayart others who became inraged for this poynt of honor and to get glorie to the Frenchmen But I take my leaue of their good graces as in this regard An example or description of a lustie cutter such a one as was Kain Lamech or Nimrod I haue a good rapier and a good pistolet and there is neither Sergeant nor Prouost of merchants that dare summon or arrest me Fall out what may it is sufficient for me that I am a good Catholike Iustice was neuer made for gentlemen such a one as I my selfe am I will take the kine and the cocks and hennes of my neighbour when it shall please me I will raise vp the rents of his lands I will take them away againe and shut them vp with mine owne within my inclosure and yet he shall not dare to mumble or grumble at it All shall be for my good comelines I will not suffer my subiects to pay taxes or toles but to my selfe and I counsell you Messieurs the nobles to doe euen so And so indeede there shall be no neede of treasurers and financiers or receiuers of reuenues that may make themselues fat with and vse the substance of the people as the coleworts of their garden Ill sworne and like a new vpstart gentlemā By the death of God if I finde either sergeant or receiuer or man of iustice doing exployt vpon my lands without demaunding leaue of me therefore I wil make them eate their parchemine we haue indured enough are we not free Monsieur Lieutenant haue not you giuen vs license to doe all things and Monsieur the Legate hath not he layd the bridle in our neckes Good counsel of a ghostly father to take all the goods of the politikes to kill and to murther kinsfolkes friends neighbours father and mother prouided that therein we doe our owne businesses and that we be good Catholikes without euer speaking either of truce or of peace I for my part will doe so and I pray you also to do the like But I haue yet another thing to remonstrate vnto you that is not to speake any more of this Salique law I know not what it is He meaneth double duckets but Seigneur Diego hath giuen it mee by memorie with some round peeces that will doe me great good This in the whole is the matter that wee must goe sacke these same furred hoods of the court of Parliament that play the galants and meddle with the affaires of the estate where they haue nothing to doe but to see and behold O that you would giue them me but a little to manage neuer did Bussie the clerke doe his worke so well If Monsieur the Legate commaund me only to goe to them and put my hand on their necke or breast there is not either square cappe or hood that I will not make flye about if they heare mine eares ouer much yea to this Monsieur Maistre and to this du Vayr that set all the rest in traine Monsieur Lieutenant why giue you not order for it Know you not wel that the president de Nully hath told you named by name by surname all they that haue spoken for this wicked lawe Why doe you not send for them and throw them into the riuer as he hath counselled you And this goodly fellowe Marillac that was so much heate at the beginning