spirits intermingle and cast the thunder betweene and within the clowdes in which they make these straunge and fearfull fires that doe very farre and much passe the materiall and elementarie fire I will not say that you were he that chose particularly that wicked fellowe which hell created He meaneth Frier lames Clement to goe and giue that execrable blowe which the very furies of hell themselues would haue feared to haue done But it is very euident that before he went about this accursed enterprise Sometimes it is not amisie to be a blabbe of a mans tongue you saw him and I could well tell the places where and the times when if I would You incouraged him you promised him Abbeyes Bishoprickes mountaines and meruailes and ye left the rest to bee done to Madame your sister to the Iesuits and to the Prior of his order who passed somewhat further promised him nothing lesse thē a place in paradise aboue the Apostles if it fell out that he were martyred That it was so that ye were very well aduertised of all the mysterie or secret you caused the people that spake of yeelding themselues to be preached vnto and taught Good reason all lead by one murthering spirit that they would yet haue patience but seuen or eight daies and that before the ende of the weeke they should see some great matter that should set vs in our former rest and quietnes The preachers of Roan of Orleans and of Amiens preached it at the same time and in the same tearmes Afterwarde so soone as your Frier possessed with a diuell was departed you caused to bee arrested and apprehended for prisoners in this citie more than two hundred of the principall citizens and others whom yee thought to haue goods friends and to be of credit with them of the Kings side as a precaution or forewarning wherwith you purposed to serue your selues The name of some diuel signifying therby the murtherer Clement to redeeme that wicked Astaroth in case he were either taken before the facte or after the facte For hauing the pledge of so many honest men you supposed that they durst neuer put that murtherer to death because of the threatning which yee had giuen out that yee would cause to die in the way of change for him those whom you kept prisoners who in truth are much bound to them that in a headlong heate or choller slewe with the blowes of their rapiers that wicked wretch after hee had giuen his stroake And you your selfe ought not lesse to thanke them For had they suffred him to liue as they might haue done and put him into the hands of iustice It is almost as wel discouered now we had had the whole thread of the enterprise naturally and liuely deducted and you had beene there incouched in white clothes for a marke of your disloyaltie and felonie that neuer would haue beene blotted out But God did not so permit it and we know not yet the end wherto he keepeth you A very large assertion but yet for the most part true For if the examples of former times doe carrie with them any consequence to iudge of the affaires of the time present wee neuer sawe yet vassall or subiecte that enterprised to driue his Prince out of his kingdome to die in his bed I will not strengthen this maxime or rule by many histories nor resute those which our preachers alledge to defende and iustifie that horrible act I will speake of no more but two the one out of the Bible and the other out of the Romane histories You haue heard it may be some preach that those that slew Absalom though he were vp in armes against his father his King and his countrie were notwithstanding punished with death A man shall hardly see such justice in Frāce or Spaine by the commaundement of Dauid against whom hee made warre If you haue read the conflicts that were made between Galba Otho and Vitellius for the Empire of Rome you haue read found that Vitellius put to death more then sixe hundred men who bragged that they had slaine Galba his predecessor had presented a petition to be recompenced therfore It may be he meaneth Machiuel which he did not as saith the author who at this day serueth insteede of an Euangelist to many for the friendship that he caried to Galba nor for the honour that hee ment to doe him but to teach all princes to assure their life and their present estate and to cause them that shuld dare to attempt any thing against their persons to know vnderstand that an other prince their successor though perhaps their enemie after some one sort or other would reueng their death And this is the cause wherefore you Monsieur the Lieutenant had great wrong to make shew of so great ioy Woe to them that laugh now for they shal weepe hauing knowne the newes of that cruell accident that befel him by whose death you should enter into the waies of the kingdome You made bonfires or fires of reioycing where you should indeed haue obserued funerals you tooke indeed a greene scarfe in token of reioycing whereas ye ought to haue doubled and redoubled your blackes in signe of mourning Good imitable exāples You should haue imitated Dauid who caused Saules bones to be gathered together and to bee honorably buried although that by the meanes of his death he remained a peaceable King and lost thereby his greatest enemie Or to haue done as Alexander the great who caused sumptuous obsequies to bee made for Darius or as Iulius Caesar who wept with hotte and bitter teares vnderstanding of the death of Pompey his competitor and deadly aduersary and put them to death that had slaine him What could a man of a base and bad mind doe els But you cōtrarie to the practises of these great personages did laugh make feastes and bonfires and all sortes of ioy when you vnderstoode of the cruell death of him from whome you held all that you and your predecessors had or haue of wealth of honour and of authoritie And not content with these common reioycings which did sufficiētly witnesse how much you approued this accursed acte you caused the murtherers picture to be made shewed it publikely abroad All this whatsoeuer is but the reward of iniquitie as if it had beene of a canonized saint You caused his mother and kinred to be sought out that you might enrich them with publike almes to the end that this might be a lure and a baite for others that would vndertake to giue yet such an other blowe to the King of Nauar vnder hope assurāce which they might receiue by the example of this new martyr that after their death they shuld be so sanctified their kinred wel recōpensed But I wil not further examine your conscience nor prognosticate vnto you A plaine and true speech that
of the goodliest mummeries that euer were feene 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 caufe to dye with the same death a hundred thousand soules within this citie of Paris yea to proceed so farre that the mothers should cate 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 vsto 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 Nanarre 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 Lions hath made and will make concerning that subiect or matter are not
most cleere sighted who make shewe to haue in horror As they should indeed this holy and miraculous chaunge For what is there in the world more admirable And what can God himselfe doe more strange then to see all turned vpside downe in a moment valets and varlets to become masters small ones made great ones the poore rich the humble insolent and proude to see them that obeyed to command those that borrowed to lend to vsurie those that iudged to bee iudged those that imprisoned to bee imprisoned and those that were faine to stande What man wither wilt thou to sit O meruailous case O great mysteries O the secrets of the profound casket of God vnknowne to mortall caytifes The yards elles of shoppes are turned into partisanes the penners into muskets the breuiaries or portuises into targets the copes into corselets and the hoods into beuers and salades Is it not another great and admirable conuersion of the greatest part of you Messieurs the zealous Catholikes among whom I will name for honours sake the Lords de Rosne de Mandreville la mothe Serand the cheualier Breton Mo then a good many and fiue hundred others of the most famous of our side which would make me make a hyperbaton and ouerlong parenthesis and that they whom I name not would not take it well at my hands Is not this I say a great matter that you were all not long sithence in Flaunders bearing armes politikely and imploying your persons and goods against the archicatholike Spanyards in the fauour of the heretikes of the Low Countries and that you are now so catholikely ranged euen all at once into the lap of the holie Romane league Fit fellowes for such seruice that so many good sots or fooles banquerouts saffron sellers desperate persons hault-gourdiers forgers or counterfeiters all people giuen to the spoyle and worthie of the rope should so couragiously set themselues forward and be of the first in this holie part to doe their affayres and should become Catholikes with double eares very long before others Very passionate exclamations O very patternes of the prodigall childe whereof the Gospell speaketh O deuoute children of the Masse at midnight O holy catholicon of Spayne that art the cause that the price of Masses is redoubled the holie candles and lights cherished againe and made more dead offerings augmented and saluez multiplied that art the cause that there are no more traitors robbers burners falsifiers cutthroates and theeues sith that by this holie conuersion they haue changed their name and haue taken this honorable title of zealous Catholigues Quid non mortalia pectora cogis auri sacrafames and of souldiers of the Church militant O deified double Duckets of Spayne that haue had this efficacie to make vs all young againe and to renue vs into another better life this is that which our good God speaking vnto his father sayth in S. Matthew the 11. Thou hast hid them from the prudent and wise and hast reuealed them to babes Certainly Messieurs me thinkes I see againe that good time in which the Christians to expiate and satisfie for their offences crossed themselues and went to make warre beyond the sea as pilgrims against the miscreants and infidels O holie pilgrims thou of Lansac and thy good brother the bastard Bishop of Comminges who haue caused to be inrolled by throngs and troupes in your quarters so many honest people who being like vnto minstrels had nothing in so great hate as their house I will not here comprehend many Gentlemen and others who are of the wood whereof some haue made them whatsoeuer it be and haue the shewe of it and shewe themselues valiant cockscombes vpon the pauement of Paris who hauing been pages on foote or seruing the Catholike princes If this bee not good tell vs what is or their adherents haue bound themselues in liuelines of heart to followe their parte yea if they should become Turkes liking better to bee traytors to their King and countrie then to fayle of their word to a master who is himselfe a seruant and subiect of a King In trueth we are greatly obliged to these people loe as well as to those who hauing receiued some storme or dammage of the tyrant or his followers haue thorough indignation and a spirite of reuenge turned towards vs and haue preferred their particular wrong to all other duetie and we ought also as much to thanke them who hauing committed some murther or notable wickednes and robberie on the enemies side haue catholikely cast themselues into our armes to escape the punishment of iustice and to finde amongst vs all freedome and impietie Hee would haue saide impunitie for these more than none other are bounde to holde good and that euen vnto death for the holy vnion And this is the cause why you must not distrust the baron d'Alegree nor of Hacquiville gardien of Ponteau on the sea nor of the Iailor of Vienne and others who haue giuen so faire blowes and stroakes to gaine paradise with the dispensation of their oath nor likewise those which haue couragiouslie put their hand to blood and to the imprisonment of politike magistrates in which Monsieur the Lieutenant hath a great deale of dexteritie to ingage them and to cause them to doe things irremissible and which deserue not euer to haue any pardon no more than that which he hath done Cursed counsell But let vs take heede of those nobles that say they are good Frenchmen and that refuse to take pensions and double ducketts of Spaine and haue conscience to make warre against merchants and labourers these are dangerous people I cannot tell you and are able to make vs false sleuces For they brag that if the Biarnois would goe to Masse their swordes should neuer cut against him or his Remember you the enteruiewes and parlements which some make so often at Saint Denis and of the passeports that they receiue and that they send so easilie on the one side and on the other These people A heinous offence Messieures heare not masse but on one knee neither take they holy water in entring into the church but in their bodie forbidding it O would to God that they were all like to that holie pilgrime confessor and catholike zealous martyr Monsieur de la Mothe Serrand who being in the prisons at Tours for yeelding testimonie to his faith refused to dine and take his refection of porridge vpon a friday Stumble at a straw leap ouer a blocke fearing least they had put some fatte in his soppe and this champion of the faith this Macabee this deuoute martyr protested to suffer death rather than to eate any other soppe than that which was catholike O famous assistants chosen and tried at all aduentures for the dignitie of this notable assembly the very pure creame of our prouinces A country metaphor the very wine lees of our gouernement which
it did belong to none but to him to speake that day of the barricades and that they were neuer accustomed in Fraunce to make more than three estates and so hee let that the deputie of the new nobilitie was heard as being but a dependence and a member of the saide third estate The said Lord of Angouleuent disputed long time on his part saying that euery one was there for his money and began againe sundry times these three wordes Monsieur the twelfth and at euery time he was interrupted At the last as the rumor increased and the factions for the one and the other were alreadie heate so farre as to come for it to the blowes of the fist the aduocate of Orleans remonstrated that it was no more time now to rest vpon the auncient formes which were but for shoemakers and coblers nor yet vpon the ceremonies of times past saue onely in the fact of faith and religion A strong exception or else that will down also and that the assembly of the said estates should be vnprofitable if they did not all things therein after the new manner And as for him that hee had seene the remembrances and instructions of the new nobility which deserued very well to bee considered of Notwithstanding considering now that it was some what late and that Monsieur the Lieutenant was fresh and fasting and the houre of Monsieur the Legates dinner was past hee required Well added for it is not easilie done that the said Lord of Angouleuent should put his speech in writing and deliuer it vp and should holde his tongue if he could otherwise and for defaulte thereof he should be sent to the Countie de Choysie which thing Monsieur the Lieutenant approued with his head And the rumor being by little and little ceased and the foresaide d'Angouleuent hardly set downe againe the saide Lorde d'Aubray deputie of the third estate hauing laid aside his sword spake his oration very nigh after this manner The oration of Monsieur d'Aubray for the third Estate BY our Ladie Messieurs A patheticall exordium you haue giuen vs a goodly speech There is no neede now that our Curats should preach vnto vs that we ought to drawe our selues out of the mudde and to make our selues cleane As touching that which I see by your discourse It is a maruaile if euer they can come out the poore Parisiens haue enough of it already within their bootes and it will be very hard to pull them out of the mudde and mire From hence forth it is time for vs to perceiue that the false Catholicon of Spayne is a drugge that taketh men by the nose and that it is not without cause that other nations call vs little quailes because that as poore quailes that are hooded and very credulous the preachers and Sorbonists No vnfit resemblance by their inchaunting quaile pipes haue caused vs euen to giue our selues into the nettes of tyrants who haue afterwards put vs into a cage and shut vs vp within our walles to teach vs to sing wee cannot but confesse that wee are at this time taken and made greater seruants and slaues than the Christians in Turkie or the Iewes in Auignon We haue no more either will or voyce in the chapiter or assembly We haue no more any thing proper or that wee may well say this is mine You Messieurs that set your foote vpon our throate and fill our houses with garnisons haue and possesse all Our priuiledges franchises freedomes and auncient liberties are ouerthrowne and taken away Our towne house which I haue seene to bee the sure refuge of the succors of our kings in their vrgent and weightie affaires A sore change is become a but cherie our court of Parliament is none at all our Sorbonne is a brothell house and the vniuersitie become sauage or wilde And yet the extremitie of our miseries is this that in the middest of so many mischiefes and needes it is not permitted vs to complaine nor to demaunde succor and hauing death as it were betweene our teeth we must of necessitie say that we are in good health A pitifull and iust complaint and that we are very happie to be so wretched for so good a cause O Paris that art no more Paris but a denne of outragious beasts and a citadell of Spaniards Wallons and Neapolitanes a sanctuarie and sure retrait of robbers murtherers and killers Wilt thou neuer thinke againe of thy dignities and remember thy selfe what thou hast been in comparison of that thou art Wilt thou neuer cure thy selfe of this frensie that for a lawfull and gracious king hast begotten vnto thy selfe fiftie little kings or wrens rather and yet fiftie tyrants Beholde thou art in irons The spanish Inquisition beholde thou art in the inquisition of Spayne more intollerable a thousand folde and more hard to bee borne and indured of spirits that are borne liberall and free as French men are than the most cruell deaths that Spaniards can deuise Thou wast not able to beare a small augmentation and increase of taxes and offices or some new edicts The fruites of senseles treason that did not much import thee and yet now thou indurest men to poll thy houses to pill and to sacke thee euen vnto blood to imprison the Senators to driue away and banish thy good citizens and counsellors yea to hang and to murther thy principall magistrates Thou seest this thou indurest this yea thou doest not onely indure it but thou doest approue it and praise it and thou darest not neither canst thou tell how to doe otherwise Thou couldest not support and beare with thy king so gracious so gentle so easie so familiar that made himselfe a fellow citizen with thee and burgesse of thy towne that hee inriched thee that he hath garnished thee with glorious and sumptuous buildings increased thy forts and stately ramperts and adorned thee with honorable priuiledges and immunities What say I couldest not support and beare with It is much worse Kindenes rendred for good Thou hast chased him out of his owne towne out of his owne house out of his owne bed What say I chased him thou hast pursued him what pursued thou hast murthered him and canonized the murtherer for a saint and made bonfires for his death And now thou seest how much that death of his hath profited thee For that is the cause why another is ascended into his place much more watchfull much more laborious and a far better warriour that knoweth better to keepe thee in somewhat more straitely as to thy damage and hurt thou hast alreadie proued I pray you Messieurs if it were permitted to cast yet these last abois in libertie let vs a little consider what good or what profit hath come vnto vs by this detestable death which our preachers did make vs beleeue was the sole and the onely meane to make vs blessed The great difference betweene good gouernement
Monsieur d'Andelot at Crecy and sent him prisoner to Melun After this imprisonment and that also of the Vidame of Chartres and of certaine counsellors of parliament fell out the violent and miraculous death of the King Whē the wicked rise vp mē hide themselues which exalted your house to the soueraigne degree of power neere about the young King Francis and on the other side did abate and almost altogether beate downe the house of Monsieur the Constable and of all those that did belong vnto him And this was then when his kindred voyde of all hope of ordinarie meanes because that all was executed vnder the fauour of your allies ioyned themselues in secrete intelligence with the Lutherans here and there scattered in diuers corners of the kingdom And though they had as yet but little credit with them as who were people vnknowne vnto them and had not partaked neither in the Supper nor in Synode or Consistorie notwithstanding by the meanes of their agents well skilled and practised in secrets they made that memorable enterprise of Amboyse and assembled from all the quarters of the world Taciturnitie a good virtue and that with meruailous silence such a great number of people that they were readie at the day named to accomplish a cruell execution vpon your side vnder this pretext to deliuer the King out of the captiuitie A Iudas amongst the twelue wherein your fathers and your vncles held him But these good people could not keep themselues from traitors whereupon followed the execution done at Amboise which discouered also the authors of the faction And thereupon insued the rigorous commaundement which they gaue to the King of Nauarre and the imprisonment of Monsieur the Prince of Conde in the estates at Orleans and sundrie other heauie accidents too long now to recite Mens malice ouerthrowne when God will which had continued and increased farre worse if the sodaine death of the young King had not altered the course and broken the blow which some went about to cause to light vpon these chiefest princes of the bloud royall and vpon the familie of Monsieur the Constable and of the Chastillons A man may easily iudge how much your house was shaken and tossed as it were by this vnlooked for death and you may beleeue Monsieur Lieutenant that Monsieur your father and Messieurs your vncles played all at one time A fit comparison at one kinde of game or blushing as you might do if a man should bring you newes of the death of your two brethren But they lost not their courage no more then you doe and had afterwards very good counsels and consolations from the King of Spayne of whom we will speake by and by who during these first dissentions was vpon the skoutes and watched to whom hee might offer his fauour and how he might blow and stirre the fire on the one side on the other to make it to increase to that power and greatnes in which we haue seene it Holy purposes for so catholike a prince and doe yet now see it burne and consume all France which is the finall but of his pretensions Vpon hope then of the support of so great a prince which would not spare to promise men money your father without being astonished with so lumpish a fall perceiuing the King of Nauarre to be placed in his ranke of the first prince of the bloud for the sauegard of young king Charles and Monsieur the Constable put in his charge or office againe knew so well rightly to play his ball that he practised them both The recouerie of Nauarre some such conceits and drew them to his lure against their owne brethren and against their owne kinsmen feeding one of them with a hope that I dare not speake of and flattering the other by submissions and honors that he bestowed vpon him And this he did so artificially and wel that entring againe into the paths and waies that he had forsaken and taking his old aduantage after that Monsieur the Prince of Conde was set at libertie who had fairely preuented him but two or three daies onely he went with a number of men of warre and in great troupes to seize the young King and the Queene his mother at Fountainebleau brought them to Melun And this was then when my sayd Lord the Prince and Messieurs of Chastillon perceiuing themselues neither by their head nor by their houses strong enough to resist so puissant enemies couered with kingly authoritie and power became Lutherans at one clap and declared themselues to be heads protectors of the new heretikes whom they called to their succour and by their meanes did in open warre seaze and take many great townes of the kingdome without making yet any mention of their religion but onely for the defence of the King and of his mother and to deliuer them out of the captiuitie bondage wherein Monsieur your father held them And you Monsieur Lieutenant know that these people alwaies boasted that what they did as in this behalfe it was at the request and commandement of the Queene Mother whose letters written and sent by her to them for that purpose they haue caused to be published and imprinted You are not ignorant of that which passed in this warre and how afterwards the King of Spayne sent your father succour but yet the same such Fit fellowes to fight a field as I am ashamed to speake of it al labourers and handicrafts men gathered together who would neuer fight at the battaile of Dreux but couered themselues with the wagons and carriages appoynted for the baggage Notwithstanding this was a baite to inkindle the courage of the partakers and to cause them to hope that they should indeed some other time doe some aduantageable thing if they would yet once again come to fight together But afterwards the diuers changings and alterations of our affayres did indeed offer vnto the Spanyard another sport For your father being dead and peace being made knowing notwithstanding these mightie families animated and stifly set one of them against another and that without hope of reconciliation When a bad cannot preuaile a worse will be prouided he practised Monsieur the Cardinall your vncle which on his behalfe did not sleepe to maintaine the troubles and diuisions in this realme vnder the beautifull name of religion of which in former time mē made little or no account Monsieur your vncle Cardinall of Lorraine commended being as he was indeed wittie and pleasing whom he would had skill in such sort to gaine the heart of the Queene Mother and the Queene Mother the heart of the King her sonne that he perswaded them specially the Queene mother that Messieurs the Princes of Bourbon ayded by them of Montmorency and Chastillon sought nothing but her ruine and would neuer bee quiet or leaue off till they had driuen her out of the realme and sent her
attempt with your foot to hold the crowne of France hauing left in your hand first great riches great estates the chiefe offices charges of the kingdome great gouernments many souldiers bound by good turnes done them many seruants also great intelligences with the Pope the King of Spayne and other Princes your kinsfolkes and allies and which is more a great opinion amongst the common people that you were good Catholikes and sworne enemies to the Huguenots You knew very well how to make great profite to your selues by these preparations and sundrie sorts of stuffe which ye found after his death all readie to bring vnto the worke When I say you I meane your self brethren and cousins After King Charles his death many things succeeded well to you one after another Diuers deuises to strengthen the Guisian faction and to very good purpose First the barrennes of the King or of your cousin his wife then the retraite and absence of the King of Nauarre of which you were in part a cause for the distrusts into which you brought him and after that the diuision and dissention between the King and Monsieur the Duke his brother whereof you were the onely authors and promoters vnder hand and closely sharpening the spirits of the one against the other and secretly promising them to ayd them Another thing wherewith you thought to strengthen your selues well was the assistance that Messieurs the Princes of Conty and of Soyssons yeelded for a time to the King of Nauarre their cousin germane when they sawe that the things you went about were directly against all their familie and that you boasted you would supplant or vndermine them for thereupon you vndertooke the matter which you haue neuer since forsaken or forgotten namely to cause to be comprehended by and vnder the Popes bull If Spayne play not a part in this pageant nothing can be done and by oths and protestations of the King of Spayne neuer to approue hereticall princes nor the children of heretikes and then ye found out and first deuised these goodly names of adherents and fautors of heretikes After all this ye made your practises with the King of Spayne more openly and assured your conditions and couenanted then for your pensions promising him the kingdome of Nauarre Bern for his share with the townes that should serue his turne in Picardie and Champagne and ye communed with him concerning the meanes that you would vse to get hold of the estate And the pretext that ye pretended thereto was the wicked gouernment of the king Good pretexts to countenāce a bad cause the prodigalities which he bestowed vpon his two minions Esperon and Mercurie whereof you drew one to your owne line which was thought neuer a whit the better You imployed all your diligence to make the poore prince odious to his people you counselled him to raise the taxes to inuent new imposts to create newe officers by which you your felues profited for some did maintaine to Monsieur your brother at Chartres after the barricades that he had receiued halfe the money of three edicts made to fill the purse Fine deuises to shred him of his kingdome and which also were very pernicious or hurtfull whereof notwithstanding you cast and layd the hatred vpon that poore king whom you made to muse vpon and dwell in ridiculous deuotions whilest you your selues sued for the good fauour of the people and contrarie to his liking tooke vpō you the charge and conducting of great armies drawing vnto you the heads and captaines of warre courting and making much of in words the very simple and meane souldiers that ye might get them to bee on your side practising the townes buying the gouernmēts and putting into the best places gouernours folke at your owne deuotion And this was then that you conceiued the kingdome present almost euen as the appetite commeth many times by eating when you sawe King Henry without hope of issue He must needs goe that the diuell driueth the chiefe Princes accounted for heretikes or fautors of heretikes the Consistorie of Rome to lay the raines or bridle in your necke and the King of Spayne to giue you the spurre You had no more to hinder you but the late Monsieur who was a shrewd hollow dreamer and who vnderstood well with what wood you warmed your selues He must be dispatched out of the way and Salcede his testament discouered vnto vs the meanes of it Who can stād against such deadly attēpts but force preuailing not poyson did the deede All your seruants foretold this his death more then three moneths before it came to passe Afterwards ye made no more small mouths or spake closely for the dissembling of your purpose you went no more creeping as cunnies nor in secret but you plainly layd open your selues And yet notwithstanding the better to set forward your affayres you would make honest people beleeue that this was for the publique benefite and for the defence of the Catholique religion Catholike religion a fayre pretext which is a pretext and cloake that seditious persons and stirrers vp of nouelties haue alwaies taken to couer themselues withall Into this insensible net you drew that good man Monsieur the Cardinall of Bourbon a prince without malice and ye were able so cunningly to turne and wind him that yee seized him with a foolish and vndiscreet ambition that in the end ye might deale with him as the eat doth with the mouse that is to say after ye had plaied with him to eate him vp No vnapt cōparison No vntrue exposition You drew thereunto sundry Lordes of the Realme diuers gentlemen and captaines many cities townes and communalties and amongst others this miserable citie which suffered it selfe to bee taken as it were with birde lime partly by reason of the hatred that they had against the misdemeanours of the late King partly also by reason of the impression which you put into them that the Catholike religion would vtterly be ouerthrowne if the King did die without childrē the succession of the kingdom shuld come to the King of Nauar who called himself the first prince of the blood Hereupon you forged framed your first declaration or manifestatiō that had not in it so much as one only word of religiō but you did indeed demaund therein They will hardly agree with others that diffent frō themselues that althe states gouernments of this kingdome shuld be taken from them that possessed them and were not at your deuotion which escape you amended in your second declaration by the counsell of Rosne who to the end hee might set alon a fire said that there needed nothing else but the setting out of religion and then you preached vnto vs of a Synod at Montauban A fine deuise to foster the fire of faction in Fraunce and of a diet in Germanie where you saide that all the Huguenots of the worlde had