the Purple Robe the Sponge a peice of his Shrowd the Napkin wherewith he was girt when he washed his Disciples feet the Rod of Moses the head of St. Blase St. Clement and St. Simeon and part of the head of John Baptist Immediately under this recital of these Reliques and venerable ones I durst say they were could I be perswaded there were no imposture in them there are set down a Prayer and an Antheme both in the same Table as followeth ORATIO Quaesumus Omnipotens Deus ut qui sacra sanctissimae redemptionis nostrae insignia temporaliter veneramur per haec indesinenter munite aeternitatis gloriam consequamur dominum nostrum c. De sacrosanctis Reliquiis Antiphonae Christo plebs debita tot Christi donis praedita Jucunderis hodie Tota sis devota Erumpens in Jubilum depone mentes nubilum Tempus est Laetitiae Cura sit summota Ecce Crux Lancea Ferrum Corona spine◠Arma Regis gloriae tibi offerantur Omnes terrae populi laudent actorem seculi Per quem tantis gratiae signis offererantur Amen Pretty divinity if one had time to examine it These Reliques as the Table enformeth us were given unto St. Lewis Anno 1247. By Baldwin the second the last King of the Latines in Constantinople to which place the Christians of Palaestine had brought them during the time that those parts were harrowed by the Turks and Saracens Certainly were they the same which they are said to be I see no harm in it if we should honour them The very reverence due to antiquity and a silver head could not but extort some acknowledgement of respect even from a heathen It was therefore commendably done by Pope Leo having received a parcel of the Cross from the Bishop of Hierusalem that he entertained it with respect Particulam Dominicae Crucis saith he in his 72. Epislte cum eulogiis dilectionis tuae Veneranter accepi To adore and worship that or any other Relique whatsoever with prayers and Anthems as the Papists you see do never came within the minds of the Ancients and therefore St. Ambrose calleth it Gentilis error vanitas impiorum This was also Hierom's religion as himself testifieth in his Epistle to Ruparius Nos faith he non dico martyrum reliquias sed ne Solem quidem Lunam non Angelos c. colimus adoramus Thus were those two Fathers minded towards such Reliques as were known to be no others than what they seemed Before too many Centuries of years had consumed the true ones and the imposture of the Priests had brought in the false Had they lived in our times and seen the supposed Reliques of the Saints not honoured onely but adored and worshipped by the blind and infatuated people what would they have said or rather what would they not have said Questionless the least they could do were to take up the complaint of Vigilantius the Papists reckon him for an Heretick saying Quid necesse est tanto honore non solum honorare sed etiam ador are illud nescio quid quod in vasculo transferendo colis Presently without the Chappel is the Burse la Gallerie des Merchands a rank of shops in shew but not in substance like to those in the Exchange at London It reacheth from the Chappel unto the great Hall of Parliament and is the common through-fare between them On the bottom of the stairs and round about the several houses consecrated to the execution of justice are sundry shops of the same nature meanly furnished if compared with ours yet I perswade my self the richest of this kind in Paris I should now go and take a view of the Parliament House but I will step a little out of the way to see the place Daulphin and the little Chastelet This last serveth now onely as the Gaole or common prison belonging to the Court of the Provost of the Merchants and it deserveth no other employment It is seated at the end of the bridge called Petit pont and was built by Hugh Aubriot once Provost of the Town to repress the fury and insolencies of the Scholars whose rudeness and misdemeanours can no way be better bridled Omnes eos qui nomen ipsum Academiae vel serio vel ioco nominassent haereticos pronunciavit saith Platina of Pope Paul the second I will say it of this wilderness that whosoever will account it as an Academy is an Heretick to Learning and Civility The place Daulphin is a beautiful heap of building scituate nigh unto the new bridge It was built at the encouragement of Henry the fourth and entituled according to the title of his Son The houses are all of brick high built uniform and indeed such as deserve and would exact a longer description were not the Parliament now ready to sit and my self summoned to make my appearance CHAP. VIII The Parliament of France when began Of whom it consisted The Dignity and esteem of it abroad made sedentary at Paris appropriated to the long Robe The Palais by whom built and converted to seats of Justice The seven Chambers of Parliament the great Chamber the number and dignity of the Presidents The Duke of Biron afraid of them The Kings seat in it The sitting of the Grandsigneur in the Divano The authority of the Court in causes of all kinds and over the affairs of the King This Court the main pillar of the liberty of France La Tournelle and the Judges of it The five Chambers of Enquests severally instituted and by whom In what causes it is decisive The form of admitting Advocates into the Court of Parliament The Chancellor of France and his authority The two Courts of Requests and Masters of them The vain envy of the English Clergy against the Lawyers THe Court of Parliament was at the first instituted by Charles Marcell Grandfather to Charlemaine at such time as he was Maior of the Palace unto the lazy and retchless Kings of France In the beginning of the French Empire their King did justice to the people in person Afterwards banishing themselves from all the affairs of State that burden was cast upon the shoulders of their Maires An Office much of the nature with the Praefesti Praetorio in the Roman Empire When this Office was bestowed upon the said Charles Marcell he partly weary of the trouble partly intent about a business of a higher nature which was the estating of the Crown in his own Posterity but principally to indear himself to the Common people ordained the Court of Parliament Anno 720. It consisted in the beginning of twelve Peers the Prelates and Noblemen of the best fashion together with some of the principallest of the Kings Houshold Other Courts are called the Parliament with the addition of place as of Paris at Roven c. This onely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Parliament It handled as well causes of State as those of private persons For hither did the Embassadours of mighty Princes
October Anno 1603. They not onely gave audience to Ambassadours and received Letters from forrain Princes but also importuned his Majesty to have a general liberty of going into any other Countreys and assigning at their Counsel a matter of especial importance And therefore the King upon a foresight of the dangers wisely prohibited them to go to any Assemblies without a particular licence upon pain to be declared Traytors Since that time growing into greater strength whensoever they had occasion of business with King Lewis they would never treat with him but by their Embassadors and upon especial Articles An ambition above the quality of those that profess themselves Sorbonets and the onely way as Du Seirres noteth to make an estate in the State but the answers made unto the King by those of Alerack and Montanbon are pregnant proofs of their intent and meaning in this kind The first being summoned by the King and his Army the 22. of July Anno 1621. returned thus that the King should suffer them to enjoy their liberties and leave their fortifications as they were for them of their lives and so they would declare themselves to be his subjects They of Montanbon made a fuller expression of the general design Disobedience which was that they were resolved to live and die in the Vnion of the Churches had they said for the Service of the King it had been spoken bravely but now rebelliously This union and confederacy of theirs King Lewis used to call the Common-wealth of Rochell for the overthrow of which he alwayes protested that he had onely taken Arms and if we compare circumstances we shall find it to be no other In the second of April before he had as yet advanced into the Feild he published a Declaration in favour of all those of the Religion which would contain themselves within duty and obedience And whereas some of Tours at the beginning of the warrs had tumultuously molested the Protestants at the burial of one of their dead five of them by the Kings especial commandement were openly executed When the warr was hottest abroad those of the Gospel at Paris lived as securely as ever and had their accustomed meetings at Charentan So had those also of other places Moreover when tidings came to Paris of the Duke of Mayens death slain before Montanbon the Rascal French according to their hot headed dispositions breathed out nothing but ruine to the Hugonots the Duke of Montbazon Governour of the City commanded their houses and the streets to be safely guarded After when this Rabble had burnt down their Temple at Charentan the Court of Parliament on the day following ordained that it should be built up again in a more beautiful manner and that at the Kings charge Add to this that since the ending of the warrs and the reduction of almost all their Towns we have not seen the least alteration of Religion Besides that they have been permitted to hold a National Synod at Clarenton for establishing the truth of their doctrine against the errors of Arminius Professor of Leiden in Holland All things thus considered in their true being I cannot see for what cause our late Soveraign should suffer so much envy as he did for not giving them assistance I cannot but say that my self hath too often condemned his remissness in that cause which upon better consideration I cannot tell how he should have dealt in Had he been a meddler in it further than he was he had not so much preserved Religion as supported rebellion besides the consequence of the example To have assisted the disobedient French under the colour of the liberty of Conscience had been onely to have taught that King a way into England upon the same pretence and to have troad the path of his own hazard Further he had not long before denyed succor to his own children when he might have given upon a better ground and for a fairer purpose and could not now in honour countenance the like action in another For that other denial of his helping hand I much doubt how farre posterity will acquit him though certainly he was a good Prince and had been an happy instrument of the peace of Christendom had not the later part of his raign happened in a time so full of troubles So that betwixt the quietness of his nature and the turbulencies of his later dayes he fell into that miserable exigent mentioned in the Historian Miserrimum est cum alicui aut natura sua excedenda est aut minuenda dignitas Add to this that the French had first been abandoned at home by their own friends of seven Generals whom they had appointed for the seven circles into which they divided all France four of them never giving them incouragement The three which accepted of those inordinate Governments were the Duke of Rohan his Brother Mr. Sonbise and the Marquess la Force the four others being the Duke of Tremoville the Earl of Chastillon the Duke of Lesdiguier and the Duke of Bovillon who should have commanded in cheif So that the French Protestants cannot say that he was first wanting unto them but they to themselves If we demand what should move the French Protestants to this rebellious contradiction of his Majesties commandements we must answer that it was too much happiness Causa hujus belli eadem quae omnium nimid faelicitas as Florus of the Civil warrs between Caesar and Pompey Before the year 1620. when they fell first into the Kings dis-favour they were possessed of almost an hundred good Towns well fortified for their safety besides beautiful houses and ample possessions in the Villages They slept every man under his own Vine and his own Fig-tree neither fearing nor needing to fear the least disturbance with those of the Catholike party they were grown so intimate and entire by reason of their inter-marriages that a very few years would have made them incorporated if not into one faith yet into one family For their better satisfaction in matters of Justice it pleased King Henry the fourth to erect a chamber in the Court of Parliament of Paris purposely for them It consisted of one President and sixteen Counsellors their office to take knowledge of all the Causes and Suits of them of the Reformed Religion as well within the jurisdiction of the Parliament of Paris as also in Normandy and Brittain till there should be a Chamber erected in either of them There were appointed also two Chambers in the Parliament of Bourdeaux and Grenoble and one at Chasters for the Parliament at Tholoza These Chambers were called Les Chambres de l' Edict because they were established by a special Edict at the Town of Nantes in Brittain April the eighth Anno 1598. In a word they lived so secure and happy that one would have thought their felicities had been immortal O faciles dare summa Deos eademque tuerâ— Difficiles And yet they are not brought so low but that they may
granted to Sir Giles Mompesson was just one of the French Offices As for Monopolies they are here so common that the Subject taketh no notice of it not a scurvy petty book being printed but it hath its priviledge affixed ad imprimendum solum These being granted by the King are carried to the Parliament by them formally perused and finally verified after which they are in force and vertue against all opposition It is said in France that Mr. Luines had obtained a Patent of the King for a quart d' Escu to be paid unto him for the Christning of every Child throughout the Kingdom A very unjust and unconscionable extortion Had he lived to have presented it to the Court I much doubt of their denial though the onely cause of bringing before them such Patents is onely intended that they should discuss the justice and convenience of them As the Parliament hath a formality of power left in them of verifying the Kings Edicts his grants of Offices and Monopolies so hath the Chamber of Accompts a superficial survey of his gifts and expences For his expences they are thought to be as great now as ever by reason of the several retinues of Himself his Mother his Queen and the Monsieur Neither are his gifts lessened The late warrs which he mannaged against the Protestants cost him dear he being fain to bind unto him most of his Princes by money and Pensions As the expences of the King are brought unto this Court to be examined so are also the gifts and pensions by him granted to be ratified The titulary power given to this Chamber is to cut off all those of the Kings grants which have no good ground and foundation the Officers being solemnly at the least formally sworn not to suffer any thing to pass them to the detriment of the Kingdom whatsoever Letters of Command they have to the contrary But with this Oath they do oftentimes dispense To this Court also belongeth the Enfranchisement or Naturalization of Aliens Anciently certain Lords Officers of the Crown and of the Privie Council were appointed to look into the Accompts now it is made an ordinary and soveraign Court consisting of two Presidents and divers Auditors and after under Officers The Chamber wherein it is kept is called La Chambre des Comptes it is the beautifullest piece of the whole Palace the great Chamber it self not being worthy to be named in the same day with it It was built by Charles the eighth Anno 1485. afterwards adorned and beautified by Lewis the twelfth whose Statua is there standing in his Royal Robes and the Scepter in his hand he is accompanied by the four Cardinal-Virtues expressed by way of Hieroglychick very properly and cunning each of them have in them its particular Motto to declare its being The Kings Portraicture also as if he were the fifth Virtue had its word under-written and contained in a couple of verses which let all that love the Muses skip them in the reading are these Quatuor has comites fowro caelestia dona Innocuae pacis prospera sceptra gerens From the King descend we to the Subjects ab equis quod aiunt ad asinos and the phrase is not much improper the French Commonalty being called the Kings Asses These are divided into three ranks or Classes the Clergy the Nobless the Paisants out of which certain Delegates or Committees chosen upon an occasion and sent to the King did anciently concurre to the making of the supreme Court for justice in France it was called the Assembly of the three Estates or Conventus Ordinum and was just like the Parliament of England but these meetings are now forgotten or out of use neither indeed as this time goeth can they any way advantage the State For whereas there are three principal if not sole causes of these Conventions which are the disposing of the Regency during the non-age or sickness of a King the granting aids or subsidies and the redressing of grievances there is now another course taken in them The Parliament of Paris which speaketh as it is prompted by power and greatness appointeth the Regent the Kings themselves with their Officers determine of the taxes and as concerning their grievances the Kings ear is open to private Petitions Thus is that title of a Common-wealth which went to the making up of this Monarchy escheated or rather devoured by the King that name alone containing in it both Clergy Princes and People so that some of the French Counsellors may say with Tully in his Oration for Marcellus unto Caesar Doleoque cum Respublica immortalis esse debeat eam unius mortalis anima consistere yet I cannot but withal affirm that the Princes and Nobles of France do for as much as concerneth themselves upon all advantages fly off from the Kings obedience but all this while the poor Paisant is ruined Let the poor Tennant starve or eat the bread of carefulness it matters not so they may have their pleasure and be accompted firm Zealots of the Common liberty and certainly this is the issue of it the Farmer liveth the life of a slave to maintain his Lord in pride and laziness the Lord leadeth the life of a King to oppress his Tennant by fines and exactions An equality little answerable to the old platforms of Republicks Aristotle genius ille naturae as a learned man calleth him in his fourth book of Politicks hath an excellent discourse concerning this disproportion In that chapter his project is to have a correspondency so far between Subjects under the King or people of the same City that neither the one might be over rich nor the other too miserably poor They saith he which are too happy strong or rich or greatly favoured and the like cannot nor will not obey with which evil they are infected from their infancy The other through want of these things are too abjectly minded and base for that the one cannot but command and the other but serve and this he calleth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a City inhabited onely by slaves and tyrants That questionless is the most perfect and compleat form of Government Vbi veneratur potentem humilis non timet antecedit non contemnit humiliorem potens as Velleius But this is an happiness whereof France is not capable their Lords being Kings and their Commons Villains And to say no less of them than in truth they are the Princes of this Country are little inferior in matters of Royalty to any King abroad and by consequence little respective in matter of obedience to their own King at home Upon the least discontent they will draw themselves from the Court or put themselves into Arms and of all other comforts are ever sure of this that they shall never want partizans neither do they use to stand off from him fearfully and at distance but justifie their revolt by publike declaration and think the King much indebted to them if upon fair terms and an
established by Charles the first Anno 1537. For the levying and gathering up of rhese taxes you must know that the whole Country of France is divided into twenty three generalities and Counties as it were and these again into divers Eslections which are much like unto our Hundreds In every of the Generalities there are ten or twelve Treasurers nine Receivers for the Generality and as many Controulers besides all under Officers which are thought to amount in all to thirty thousand men When the King levieth his taxes he sendeth his Letters Patents to the principal Officers of every Generality whom they call Les genereaux des Aides and they dispatch their warrant to the Ezlenzor Commissioners These taxing every one of the Parishes and Villages within their several divisions at a certain rate send their Receivers to collect it who account for it to their Controulers by them it ascendeth Ezleie from him to the Receiver general of that Generality next to the Controuler then to the Treasurer afterwards to the General des Aides and so Per varios cesus per tot discrimina rerum Tendimus in Latium By all these hands it is at last conveyed into the Kings purse in which several passage necesse est ut aliquid haereat it cannot be but it must needs have many a shrewd snatch Insomuch that I was told by a Gentleman of good credence in France that there could not be gathered by the several exactions above specified anâ— other devices of prowling which I have omitted less than eighty five millions a year whereof the King receiveth fifteen onely A report not altogether to be sleâ—ghted considering that a President of the Court of Accompts made it evident to the Assembly at Blois in the time of King Henry the fourth that by the time that every one of the Officers had had his share of it there came not to the Kings Coffers one teston which is one shilling four pence of a Crown So that by reckoning five testons to a Crown or Escue as it is but two pence over these Officers must collect five times the money which they pay to the King which amouteth to seventy five millions and is not much short of that proportion which before I spake of The Kings revenues then notwithstanding this infinite oppression of his people amounteth to fifteen millions some would have it eighteen which is also a good improvement in respect of what they were in times afore Lewis the eleventh as good a Husband of his Crown as ever any was in France gathering but one and an half onely but as you count the flow so also if you reckon the ebb of his treasures you will find much wanting of a full sea in his Coffers it being generally known that the Fees of Officers Pensions Garrisons and the men of Arms draw from him yearly no fewer than six of his fifteen millions True it is that his Treasure hath many good helps by way of Escheat and that most frequently when he cometh to take an account of his Treasurers and other Officers An action so abominable full of base and unmannly villanies in their several charges that the Publicans of old Rome were milk and white broth to them For so miserably do they abuse the poor Paisant that if he hath in all the world but eight Sols it shall go hard but he will extort from him five of them Non missura cutim nisi plena cruoris hirudo He is just of the nature of the Horsleach when he hath once gotten hold of you he will never let you go till he be filled and which is most strange he thinks it a greater clemency that he hath left the poor man some of his money than the cruelty was in wresting from him the rest Nay they will brag of it when they have taken but five of the eight Sols that they have given him three and expect thanks for it A kindness of a very theevish nature it being the condition of Robbers as Tully hath observed Vt commemorent iis se dedisse vitam quibus non ademerint Were the people but so happy as to have a certain rate set upon their miseries it could not but be a great ease to them and would well defend them from the tyranny of these theeves but which is not the least part of their wretchedness their taxings and assemblings are left arbitrary and are exacted according as these Publicans will give out of the Kings necessities So that the Country man hath no other remedy than to give Cerberus a crust as the saying is and to kiss his rod and hug his punishment By this meanes the Quaestors thrive abundantly it being commonly said of them Fari bouvier au jourd huy Cheualier to day a Swineheard to morrow a Gentleman and certainly they grow into great riches Mr. Beaumarchais one of the Treasurers Mr. de Viâ—â—ry who slew the Marquess de Ancri married his onely Daughter having raked unto himself by the vâ—lâ—ainous abuse of his place no less than twenty two millions of Liures as it is commonly reported but he is not like to carry it to his grave the King having seised upon a good part of it and himself being condemned to the Gallows by the grand Chamber of Parliament though as yet he cannot be apprehended advanced to the ladder And this hath been the end of many of them since the raign of this present King whom it may be for this cause they call Lewis the Just This fashion of affixing Epithites to the names of their Kings was in great use heretofore with this Nation Carolus the Son of Pipin was by them surnamed Le magne Lewis his Son Le Debonaire and so of the rest since the time of Charles the sixth who was by them surnamed the Beloved it was discontinued and new revived again in the persons of King Henry the fourth and his Son King Lewis but this by the way It may be also he is called the Just by way of negation because he hath yet committed no notable act of injustice for I wink at his cruel and unjust slaughter at Nigrepelisse It may be also to keep him continually in mind of his duty that he may make himself worthy of that attribute Vere Imperator sui nominis as one said of Severus Let us add one more misery to the State and Commonalty of France and that is the base and corrupt money in it for besides the Sol which is made of Tin they have the Double made of Brass where of six make a Sol and the Deneir whereof two make a Double a Coin so vile base of value that one hundred and twenty of them go to our English Shilling These are the common Coins of the Country Silver and Gold not being to be seen but upon holy-dayes As for their Silver it is most of it of their new coining but all exceedingly clipt and shorn their Gold being most of it Spanish In my little being in
repair to have their audience and dispatch and hither were the Articles agreed upon in the National Synods of France sent to be confirmed and verified Here did the Subjects tender in their homages and oaths of fidelity to the King And here were the Appeals heard of all such as had complained against Comtes at that time the Governors and Judges in their several Counties Being furnished thus with the prime and choisest Nobles of the Land it grew into great estimation abroad in the world insomuch that the Kings of Sicily Cyprus Scotland Bohemia Portugal and Navarre have thought it no disparagement unto them to sit in it And which is more when Frederick the second had spent so much time in quarrels with Pope Innocent the fourth he submitted himself and the rightness of his cause to be examined by this Noble Court of Parliament At the first institution of this Court it had no settled place of residence being sometimes kept at Tholoza sometimes at Aix la Chapelle sometimes in other places according as the Kings pleasure and the case of the people did require During the time of its peregrination it was called Ambulatorie following for the most part the Kings Court as the lower Sphears do the motin of the Primum Mobile But Philip le Belle he began his raign An. 1280. being to take a journey into Flanders and to stay there a long space of time for the settling of his affairs in that Countrey took order that his Court of Parliament should stay behind him at Paris where ever since it hath continued Now began it to be called Sedentary or settled and also peu a pen by little and little to loose much of its lustre For the Cheif Princes and Nobles of the Kings retinue not able to live out of the air of the Court withdrew themselves from the troubles of it by which means it came at last to be appropriated to those of the long Robe as they term them both Bishops and Lawyers In the year 1463. the Prelates also were removed by the Command of Lewis the eleventh an utter enemy to the great ones of his Kingdom onely the Bishop of Paris and the Abbot of St. Denis being permitted their place in it Since which time the Professors of the Civil Law have had all the swaying in it cedeunt arma togae as Tully The place in which this Sedentary Court of Parliament is now kept is called the Palaâ—e being built by Philip le Belle and intended to be his Mansion or dwelling house He began it in the first year of his reign Viz. Anno 1286. and afterwards assigned a part of it to his Judges of the Parliament it being not totally and absolutely quitted unto them till the dayes of King Luwis the tenth In this the French Subjects are beholding to the English by whose good example they got the ease of a Sedentary Court Our Law Courts also removing with the King till the year 1224. when by a Statute in the Magna Charta it was appointed to be fixt and a part of the Kings Pallace in Westminster allotted for that purpose Within the Virge of this Pallace are contained the seven Chambers the Parliament That called le grand Chambre five Chambers of Inquisition or des Enquests and one other called la Tournelle There are moreover the Chambers des aides des accompts de l'ediect des Monnoyes and one called la Chambre Royal of all which we shall have occasion to speak in their proper places these not concerning the common Government of the People but onely the Kings Revenues Of these seven Chambers of Parliaments le grand Chambre is most famous and at the building of this House by Philip le belle was intended for the Kings bed It is no such beautiful place as the French make it that at Roven being farre beyond it although indeed it much excells the fairest room of Justice in Westminster So that it standeth in a middle rank between them and almost in the same proportion as Virgil between Homer and Ovid. Quantum Virgilius magno concessit Homero Tantum ego Virgilio Naso Poeta mâ—o It consisteth of seven Presidents Councellers the Kings Atturney and as many Advocates and Proctors as the Court will please to give admission to The Advocates have no settled studies within the Pallace but at the Barre but the Procureurs or Atturneys have their several Pewes in a great Hall which is without this Grand Chambre in such manner as I have before described at Roven A large building it is faire and high roofed not long since ruined by casualty of fire and not yet fully finished The names of the Presidents are 1. Mr. Verdun the first President or by way of excellencie le President being the secâ—nd man of the long Robe in France 2. Mr. Sequer lately dead and likely to have his Son succeed him as well in his Office as his Lands 3. Mr. Leiger 4. Mr. Dosammoi 5. Mr. Sevin 6. Mr. Baillure and 7. Mr. Maisme None of these neither Presidents nor Councellers can goe out of Paris when the Lawes are open without leave of the Court It was ordained so by Lewis the twelfth Anno 1499. and that with good judgement Sentences being given with greater awe and business managed with greater Majesty when the Bench is full and it seemeth indeed that they carry with them a great terrour For the Duke of Biron a man of as uncontrolled a spirit as any in France being called to answer for himself in this Court protested that those scarlet Robes did more amaze him than all the red Cassocks of Spain At the left hand of this Grand Chambre or golden Chamber as they call it is a Throne or Seate Royall reserved for the King when he shall please to come and see the administration of Justice amongst his people At common times it is naked and plain but when the King is expected it is clothed with blew purple Velvet semied with Flowers de lys On each side of it are two forms or benches where the Peers of both habits both Ecclesiastcal and Secular use to fit and accompany the King but this is little to the ease or benefit of the Subject and as little available to try the integrity of the Judges his presence being alwayes fore-known and so they accordingly prâ—pared Farre better then is it in the Court of the Grand Signeur where the Divano or Counsell of the Turkish Affaires holden by the Bassa's is hard by his bed Chamber which looketh into it The window which giveth him this enterveiwe is perpetually hidden with a curtaine on that side of the partition which is towards the Divano so that the Bassa's and other Judges cannot at any time tell that the Emperour is not listening to their Sentences An action in which nothing is Turkish or Mahometan The authority of this Court extendeth it self to all Causes within the Jurisdiction of it not being meerly Ecclesiastical It is a Law
more graceful and would be pleasing at the entrance were the Gaurd Chamber reformed Some Hugonot Architect which were not in love with the errours of Antiquity might make a pretty room of it a Catholick Carpenter would never get credit by it for whereas the provident thrift of our fore fathers intended it for the House would else be too narrow for the Kings retinue both for a room of safety and of pleasure both for Bellmen and Dancers and for that cause made up some six ranks of seats on each side That sparingness in the more curious eyes of this time is little King like Country wenches might with an indifferent stomack abuse a Galliard in it or it might perhaps serve with a Stage at one end to entertain the Parisiens at a Play or with a partition in the middle it might be divided into pretty plausible Cockpits But to be employed in the nature it is now either to solace the King and Lords in a dance or to give any forraign Ambassadour his welcome in a Masque is little sutable with the majesty of a King of France The Chambers of it are well built but ill furnished the hangings of them being somewhat below a meanness and yet of these here is no small scarcity for as it is said of the Gymnosophists of India that Vnadomus et mansioni sufficit et sepulturae so may we of this Prince The same Chamber serveth for to Iodge him feed him also to confer discourse with his Nobility But like enough it is that this want may proceed from the several Courts of the King the Monsieur the Queene Mother and the Queene Regnant being all kept within it Proceed we now to the two Galleries whereof the first is that of the Queene Mother as being beautified and adorned exceedingly by Catherine de Medices Mother to Henry the third and Charles the ninth It containeth the Pictures of all the Kings of France and the most loved of their Queens since the time of St. Lewis They stand each King opposite to his Queen she being that of his Wives which either brought him most estate or his Successor The tables are all of a just length very fair and according to my little acquaintance with the Painter of a most excellent workmanship And which addeth more grace to it they are in a manner a perfect history of the State and Court of France in their several times For under each of the Kings pictures they have drawn the potraitures of most of their Lords whom valour and true courage in the field ennobled beyond their births Under each of the Queens the lively shapes of the most principal Ladies whose beauty and vertue had honoured the Court. A dainty invention and happily expressed At the further end of it stand the last King and the present Queen Mother who fill up the whole room The succeeding Princes if they mean to live in their pictures must either build new places for them or else make use of the Long Gallery built by Henry the fourth and which openeth in to that of the Queen Mother A Gallery it is of an incredible length as being above 500. yards long and of a breadth and height not unproportionable A room built rather for oftentation than use and such as hath more in it of the Majesty of ist Founder than the Grace It is said to have been erected purposely to joyn the Louure unto the house and garden of the Tuilleries an unlikely matter that such a stupendious building should be designed onely for a cleanly conveyance into a Summer-house Others are of opinion that he had a resolution to have the House quadrangular every side being correspondent to this which should have been the common Gallery to the rest which design had it taken effect this Palace would at once have been the wonder of the world and the envy of it For my part I dare be of the last mind as well because the second is in part begun as also considering how infinitely this King was affected to building The place Daulphin and the place Royal two of the finest piles of Paris were erected partly by his purse but principally by his encouragement The new Bridge in Paris was meerly his work so was also the new Palace and the most admirable Water-Works of St. Germanenlay this long Gallery and the Pesthouse owe themselves wholly unto him and the house of Fountain bleau which is the fairest in France is beholding to him for most of its beauty Adde to this his fortifications bestowed on the Bastile and his purpose to have strengthened Paris according to the modern art of Towns and you will find the attribute of Parietaria or Wall-floure which Constantine scoffingly gave unto Trajane for his great humour of building to be due unto this King but seriously and with reverence Besides the general love he had to building hâ— had also an ambition to go beyond ensample which also induceth me further to beleive his intent of making that large and admirable quadrangle above spoken of to have been serious and real For to omit others certain it is that he had a project of great spirit and difficulty which was to joyn the Mediterranean Sea and the Ocean together and to make the navigation from the one to the other through France and not to pass by the straight of Gibraltare It came into counsel Anno 1604. and was resolved to be done by this meanes The River of Garond is navigable from the Ocean almost to Tholoza and the Mediterranean openeth it self into the land by a little River whose name I know not as high as Narbonne Betwixt these two places was there a navigable channel to have been digged and it proceeded so far towards being actuated that a workman had undertaken it and the price was agreed upon But there arising some discontents between the Kings of France and Spain about the building of the Fort Fuentis in the Countrey of the Grisons the King not knowing what use he might have of treasure in that quarrel commanded the work not to go forward However it is to be commended in the attempt which was indeed Kingly and worthy his spirit and praise him in his heroick purpose and design Quem si non tenuit magnis tamen excidit ausis But the principal beauty if I may judge of this so much admired Palace of the Louure is a low plain room paved under foot with brick and without any hangings or tapestry on the sides yet being the best set out and furnished to my content of any in France It is called La salle des Antiques and hath in it five of the ancientest and venerablest pieces of all the Kingdom For the Nation generally is regardless of antiquity both in the monuments and in the study of it so that you shall hardly find any ancient inscription or any famous ruine snatched from the hand of time in the best of their Cities and Churches In the Church
Quilleboeuse and other places of importance but upon his death they were all razed What were his projects in it they know best which were acquainted with his ambition Certainly the jarrs which he had sown among the Princes one with the other and between them and the King shew that they were not intended for nothing There are in Roven thirty two Parish Churches besides those which belong to Abbeys and Religious Houses of which the most beautiful is that of St. Audom or Owen once Arch-bishop of this City The seat and Church of the Arch-bishop is that of Nostre-dame a building far more gorgeous in the outside than within It presents it self to you with a very gracious and majestical front decked with most curious imagery and adorned with three stately Towers The first called La tour St. Romain the second La tour de beaurre because it was built with that money which was raised by Cardinal D' Amboyse for granting a dispensation to eat butter in the Lent and a third built over the Porch or great Door wherein is the great Bell so much talked of Within it is but plain and ordinary such as common Cathedral Churches usually are so big so fashioned Behind the high Altar at a pillar on the left hand is the remainder of the Duke of Bedford's Tomb which for ought I could discern was nothing but an Epitaph some three yeards high in the Pillar I saw nothing in it which might move the envy of any Courtier to have it defaced unless it were the title of Regent du Rojaume de France which is the least he merited Somewhat Eastward beyond this is our Ladies Chappel a pretty neat piece and daintily set out There standeth on the top of the Screen the Image of the Virgin her self between two Angels They have attired her in a red Mantle laced with two gold laces a handsom ruffe about her neck a vail of fine lawn hanging down her back and to shew that she was the Queen of Heaven a Crown upon her head In her left arm she holds her Son in his side coat a black hat and a golden hat-band A jolly plump Lady she seemeth to be of a flaxen hair a ruddy lip and a chearful complexion 'T were well the Painters would agree about the limming of her otherwise we are like to have as many Ladies as Churches At Nostre dame in Paris she is taught us to be brown and seemeth somewhat inclin'd to melancholy I speak not of her different habit for I envy her not her changes of apparel Onely I could not but observe how those of St. Sepulchres Church en la rue St. Denis hath placed her on the top of their Screen in a Coape as if she had taken on her the zeal of Abraham and were going to make a bloudy sacrifice of her Son They of Nostre-dame in Amiens have erected her Statue all in gold with her Son also of the same mettal in her arms casting beams of gold round about her as the Sun is painted in its full glory Strange Idolatries On the contrary in the parish Church of Tury in la Beause she is to be seen in a plain petticoat of red and her other garments correspondent In my mind this holdeth most proportion to her estate and will but serve to free their irreligion from an absurdity If they will worship her as a Nurse with her Child in her arms or at her breast let them array her in such apparel as might beseem a Carpenters Wife such as she might be supposed to have worn before the world had taken notice that she was the Mother of her Saviour If they must needs have her in her estate of glory as at Amiens or of honour being now publikely acknowledged to be the blessedness among Women as at Paris let them disburden her of her Child To clap them thus both together is a folly equally worthy of scorn laughter Certainly had she but so much liberty as to make choice of her own clothes I doubt not but she would observe a greater decorum And therefore I commend the Capouchins of Boulogne who in a little side Chappel consecrated unto her have placed onely an handsom fair looking-glass upon her Altar the best ornament of a Female Closet Why they placed it there I cannot say onely I conceive it was that she might there see how to dress her self This Church is said to have been built I should rather think repaired by Raoul or Rollo the first Duke of Normandy Since it hath been much beautified by the English when they were Lords of this Province It is the seat of an Arch-bishop a Dean and fifty Canons The Arch-bishoprick was instituted by the authority of Constantine the Great during the sitting of the Council of Arles Anidian who was there present being consecrated the first Arch-bishop The Bishops of Seas Aurenches Constances Beaux Lysieaux and Eureux were appointed for his Diocesans The now Arch-bishop is said to be an able Schollar and a sound States-man his name I enquired not The Revenues of his Chair are said to be ten thousand Crowns More they would amount to were the Country any way fruitful of Vines out of which the other Prelates of France draw no small part of their Intrado The Parliament of this Country was established here by Lewis the twelfth who also built that fair Palace wherein Justice is administred Anno 1501. At that time he divided Normandy into seven Cathes Rapes or Baliwicks viz. Roven Caux Constentin Caen Eureux Gisors and Alenzon This Court hath supreme power to enquire into and give sentence of all causes within the limits of Normandy It receiveth appeals from the inferiour Courts of the Dutchy unto it but admitteth none from it Here is also Cour des Esleuz a Court of the general Commissioners for taxes and la Chambre des aides instituted by Charles the seventh for the receiving of his subsidies Gabels Imposts c. The house of Parliament is in form quadrangular a very graceful and delectable building That of Paris is but a Chaos or a Babel to it In the great Hall into which you ascend by some thirty steps or upwards are the seats and desks of the Procurators every ones name being written in Capital letters over his head These Procurators are like our Attourneys to prepare causes and make them ready for the Advocates In this Hall do suitors use either to attend or walk up and down and confer with their pleaders Within this Hall is the great Chamber the Tribunal or Seat of Justice both in Causes Criminal and Civil At domus interior regali splendida luxu Instruitur As Virgil of Queen Dido's dining room A Chamber so gallantly and richly built that I must confess it far supasseth all the rooms that ever I saw in my life The Palace of the Lou're hath nothing in it comparable The seiling all inlaid with gold and yet did the workmanship exceed the matter This Court
unto it self following no Rule written in their Sentences but judging according to equity and conscience In matters criminal of greater consequence the process is here immediately examined without any preparation of it from the inferiour Courts as at the araignment of the Duke of Biron and divers times also in matter personall But their power is most eminent in disposing the affaires of State and of the Kingdome for such prerogatives have the French Kings given hereunto that they can neither denounce Warre nor conclude Peace without the consent a formall one at the least of this Chamber An Alieniation of the least of the Lands of the Crown is not any whit valued unless confirmed by this Court neither are his Edicts in force till they are here verified nor his Letters Pattents for the creating of a Peere till they are here allowed of Most of these I confess are little more than matters of form the Kings power and pleasure being become boundless yet sufficient to shew the body of Authority which they once had and the shaddow of it which they still keep yet of late they have got into their disposing one priviledge belonging formerly to the Conventus Ordinum or the Assembly of the three Estates which is the conferring of the Regency or protection of their Kings during their minority That the Assembly of the three Estates formerly had this priviledge is evident by their stories Thus we find them to have made Queene Blanche Regent of the Realm during the non-age of her Son St. Lewiis Anno 1227. that they declared Phillip le Valois successor to the Crowne in case that the widdow of Charles de belle was not delivered of a Son Anno 1328. That they made Charles the Daulphin Regent of France during the imprisonment of King John his Father Anno 1357. As also Phillip of Burgony during the Lunary Charles the sixth Anno 1394 with divers others On the other side we have a late example of the power of the Parliament of Paris in this very case for the same day that Henry the fourth was slain by Raviliae the Parliament met and after a short consultation declared Mary de Medices Mother to the King Regent in France for the Government of the State during the minority of her Son with all power and authority such are the words of the Instrument dated the 14. of May 1610. It cannot be said but this Court deserveth not onely this but any other indulgence whereof any one member of the Common-wealth is capable So watchful are they over the health of the State and so tenderly do they take the least danger threatned to the liberties of that Kingdome that they may not unjustly be called Patres Patriae In the year 1614. they seazed upon a discourse written by Suarez a Jesuite entitled Adversus Anglicanae sectae errores wherein the Popes temporal power over Kings and Princes is averred which they sentenced to be burnt in the Pallace yard by the publick Hangman The yeare before they inflicted the same punishment upon a vain and blasplemous discourse penned by Gasper Niopins a fellow of a most desperate brain and a very incendiary Neither hath Bellarmine himself that great Atlas of the Roman Church escaped much better for writing a Book concerning the temporal power of his Holiness it had the ill luck to come into Paris where the Parliament finding it to thwart the Liberty and Royalty of the King and Country gave it over to the Hangman and he to the Fire Thus it is evident that the titles which the French writers gave it as the true Temple of the French justice the Buttresse of Equity the Guardian of the Rights of France and the like are abundantly deserved of it The next Chamber in esteem is the Tournelle which handleth all matters Criminal It is so called from Tourner which signifieth to change or alter because the Judges of the other several Chambers give sentence in this according to their several turnes The reason of which Institution is said to be least a continual custome of condemning should make the Judges less merciful and more prodigall of blood An order full of health and providence it was instituted by the above named Phillip le Belle at the same time when he made the Parliament sedentary at Paris and besides its particular and original employment it receiveth Appeals from and redresseth the errours of the Provost of Paris The other five Chambers are called des Enquests or Camerae Inquasitionum the first and ancientest of them was erected also by Phillip le Belle and afterwards divided into two by Charles the seventh Afterwards of Processes being greater than could be dispatched in these Courts there was added a third Francis the first established the fourth for the better raising of a sum of money which then he wanted every one of the new Counsellers paying right dearly for his place The fifth and last was founded in the year 1568. In each of these severall Chambers there be two Presidents and twenty Counsellers beside Advocates and Proctors ad placitum In the Tournelle which is the aggregation of all the other Courts there are supposed to be no fewer than two hundred Officers of all sorts which is no great number considering the many Causes there handled In the Tournelle the Iudges sit on matters of life and death in the Chambers of Enquests they examine onely civil Affairs of estate title debts and the like The Pleaders in these Courts are called Advocates and must be at the least Licentiats in the study of the Law At the Parliaments of Tholoza and Burdeaux they admit of none but Doctors now the form of admitting them is this In an open and frequent Court one of the agedest of the Long Robe presenteth the party which desireth admission to the Kings Atturney General saying with a loud voice Paisse a Cour recevoir N. N. Licencie or Docteur en droict civil a l'office d' Advocate This said the Kings Atturney biddeth him hold up his hand and saith to him in Latine Tu jurabis observare omnes Reges Consuetudines he answereth Iuro and departeth At the Chamber door of the Court whereof he is now sworne an Advocate he payeth two Crownes which is forthwith put into the common Treasury appointed for the relief of the distressed-Widdows of ruined Advocates and Proctors Hanc veniam petimusque damusque It may be their own cases and therefore it is paid willingly The highest preferment of which these Advocates are capable is that of Chauncellor an Office of great power and profit The present Chauncellor is named Mr. d' Allegre by birth of Chartres he hath no settled Court wherein to exercise his authority but hath in all the Courts of France the supream place whensoever he will vouchsafe to visit them He is also President of the Councill of Estate by his place and on him dependeth the making of good and sacred Lawes the administration of Justice the reformation of
learned so much of her kinswoman as to permit this Son of hers also to spend his time in his Garden amongst his play fellows and his Birds that she may the more securely mannage the State at her discretion And to say nothing of her untrue or misbecoming her vertue she harh notably well discharged her ambition the Realm of France being never more quietly and evenly Governed theâ—n first during her Regencie and now during the time of her favour with the King For during his minority she carryed her self so fairly between the Factions of the Court that she was of all sides honoured the time of Marquessd ' Ancre onely excepted And for the differences in Religion her most earnest desire was not to oppress the Protestants insomuch that the warre raised against them during the Command of Mr. Luines was presently after his death and her restoring to grace ended An heroical Lady and worthy of the best report of posterity the frailty and weekness of her as being a woman not being to be accounted hers but her Sexes CHAP. II. The Religions struggling in France like the two Twins in the womb of Rebecca The comparison between them two and those in general A more peculiar Survey of the Papists Church in France In Policie Priviledge and Revenue The Complaint of the Clergie to the King The acknowledgement of the French Church to the Pope meerly titular The pragmatick Sanction Maxima tua fatuitas et Conventui Tridentino severally written to the Pope and the Trent Councill The tedious quarrels about Investitures Four things propounded by the Parliament to the Jesuit's The French Bishops not to meddle with Friers Their lives and Land The ignorance of the French Priests The Chanoins Latine in Orleans The French not hard to be converted if plausibly humoured c. FRom the Court of the King of France I cannot better provide for my self than to have recourse unto the Court of the King of Heaven and though the Poet meant not Exeat aulâ qui vult esse pius in that sense yet will it be no treason for me to apply it so And even in this Court the Church which should be like the Coat of its Redeemer without seam do I find rents and sactions and of the two these in the Church more dangerous than those in the Louure I know the story of Rebecca and the Children struggling in her is generally applyed to the births and contentions of the Law and the Gospell In particular we may make use of it in the present estate of the Church and Religions in France for certain it is that there were divers pangs in the womb of the French Church before it was delivered and first she was delivered of Esau the Popish faith being first after the struggling countenaaced by authority and he came out red all over like a hairy Garment saith the text which very oppositely expresseth the bloody and rough condition of the French Papist at the birth of the Reformation before experience and long acquaintance had bred a liking between them And after came his Brother out which laid hold on Esaus heel and his name was called Jacob wherein is described the quality of the Protestant party which though confirmed by publick Edict after the other yet hath it divers times endeavoured and will perchance one day effect the tripping up of the others heeles And Esau saith Moses was a cunning hunter a man of the field but Jacob was a plain man dwelling in Tents In which words the comparison is most exact A cunning Archer in the Scriptures signifieth a man of Art and Power mingled as when Nimrod in the 10th of Geneses is termed A mighty Hunter Such is the Papist a side of greater strength and subtilty a side of warre and of the field On the other side the Protestants are a plain race of men simple in their actions without craft and fraudulent behahaviour and dwelling in Tents that is having no certain abiding place no one Province which they can call theirs but living dispersed and scatterred over the Country which in the phrase of Scripture is dwelling in Tents As for the other words differencing the two Brethren and the elder shall serve the younger they are rather to be accounted a Prophesie than a Character we must therefore leave the Analogie it holds with the Rebecca of France and her two Sons to the event and prayer For a more particular insight into the strength and subtilty of this Esau we must consider it in the three main particular strengths of it Its policy priviledge revenue For the first so it is that the Popish Church in France is governed like those of the first and purer times by Arch-bishops and Bishops Archibishops it comprehendeth twelve and of Bishops an hundred and four Of these the Metropolitan is he of Rhemes who useth to annoint the Kings which office and preheminence hath been annexed to this seat ever since the time of St. Remegius Bishop hereof who converted Clovis King of the Franks unto the Gospel The present Primate is Son to the Duke of Guise by name Henry de Lorrein of the age of fourteen yeares or thereabouts a burden too unweildy for his shoulders Et quae non viribus istis Munera conveniunt nec tam puerilibus annis For the better government therefore of a charge so weighty they have appointed him a Coadjutor to discharge that great function till he come to age to take Orders His name is Gifford an English fugitive said to be a man worthy of a great fortune and able to bear it The revenues of this Arch-bishoprick are somewhat of the meanest not amouting yearly to above 10000. Crowns whereof Doctor Gifford receiveth onely two thousand the remainder going to the Cadet of Lorreine This trick the French learnt of the Protestants in Germany where the Princes after the reformation began by Luther took in the power and Lordships of the Bishops which together with their functions they divided into two parts The Lands they bestowed upon some of their younger Sons or Kinsmen with the title of Administrator the office and power of it they conferred with some annual pension on one of their Chaplains whom they stiled the Superintendent of the Bishoprick This Archbishop together with the rest of the Bishops have under them their several Chancellors Commissaries Archdeacons and other Officers attending in their Courts in which their power is not so general as with us in England Matters of Testament never trouble them as belonging to the Court of Parliament who also have wrested into their own hands almost all the business of importance sure I am all the causes of profit originally belonging to the Church The affairs meerly Episcopal and Spiritual are left unto them as granting licence for marriages punishing whoredom by way of pennance and the like To go beyond this were Vltra crepidam and they should be sure to have a prohibition from the Parliament Of their Priviledges the