whether he be suche a one or no and so without racking wresting and tormenting the deede maye be founde But in deede at these dayes it is growen to great corruptiō and that thorow one speciall meanes or two which be these If there be any noble man dwellinge in the countrey either a Duke a Marques an Earle or Baron The iuries and quests corrupted He shall lyghtlye haue in his retynewe all the cobbes in the countrey whiche be the questmōgers and if any matter be touchinge him his man or his frende whether it bee a cryme capitall or Nisi prius sent downe for landes the case shal wey as he wil. The freholders reteinours to great men For his deteynors must nedes haue an eye to my lorde though they should go to the deuill for it and so be some innocentes knyt vp and some offenders delyuered some titles of inheritaūce lost agaīst al iustice and right Another is if my lord wyll not offend the Statute of retynewe then must the hyghe Shrife be his frende And the vnder thefe vndershrise I should saye his man He empaneleth the quest either suche as dare not displease my lorde or for good will will not And so that way betwixt the highe these and vnderthese my L. and the curstmongers The corruption of the Sherifs poore mē are out weyed This corruption if it be not loked to wil not make this order whiche was the best that could be to be the wickedst that can be But as I sayde in it selfe me thinke it hath much more iustice equytie and indifferencie then the cyuill or rather cruel rack hath If I should peruse and compare all poyntes wherein ours differ from the cyuill and shewe that for our countrey it is muche meeter I should neuer make an ende VVherfore these shal be sufficient to shewe that you must brynge our owne weyghtes to weye our matters by and not straungers or els we must take you for an euell Clarke of the markett Therfore if you will iudge well of our municipall matters you muste let vs alone with our own coate and geue the great boye his Nowe I passe to certen inconueniences whiche are thought to come of womens rule The incōueniences that folovve vvo mens rule The first Many inconueniences do commonly followe the rule of women and their enheritinge of kyngdomes as the losse of holdes and auncient possessions as experience teacheth of late daies by the departing from Hams Guisnes and Calyce with all that we hadde in Fraunce besides the daungeringe of the realme to be gouerned by straūgers which thing of late was muche feared and not vnlyke to happen For the first it is to trewe that in that womās reigne Englande was put to a sore plunge through hir wylfulnes which wold moue warre when she might haue bene at peax vpon no iust cause but because as you wold haue her she wold shew her a louing worme and an obediente wife rather then a catefull gouernes That follye was accidente to her person England hath hitherto taken greater losse by mens rule then by vvomens and not proper to her sexe But admit it to be throughe the fault of a woman haue we not had as greate and greater by men who loste olde Brytaine to Iulius and the Romaines men Vvho loste it againe to the Saxons men Of whom wone it VVilliam conquerour of men who lost it to the Danes mē who lost Normandie Brytanie Gascoigne and Guine and al our right in Fraunce men who lost Bulloigne Bullenois and all the rest a man VVho killed the Scottish King when Henry 8. was in Fraunce a woman or at the least her army who brought in the light of gods worde into Englande a woman who lighteth now again the candle after it was put oute a woman whereby it is euident that we haue not yet so muche cause to complaine of losse by them as by men And in oure histories whiche we haue before cited wee maye see manye common welthes by women enlarged or at the leaste well preserued but fewe ey ther muche weakened or vtterlye destroyed Onles you tell me of the destruction of Troye which notwithstandinge was rather thorowe the follie of Paris then anye rule of Helena and as for thys losse we haue nowe I doubte not but as the olde fathers are wonte to saye that as by a woman came death so by a woman was broughte fourthe life In like manner as bi a womans whether negligence or misfortune I wote not we haue taken this woūd so bi anothers diligence and felicitie we shal haue it againe healed If euerye man coulde perswade him selfe of as good successe by her as I do my selfe I doubte not but the Frenche and the Scottes bothe shoulde haue theyr handes full I praye God oure vnthanckfulnes make vs not to fare the worse The .2 inconuenience The next and greatest incōuenience and daunger to be feared is that if a woman inherit the realm by mariage shall be transserred to straungers A greate matter I confesse if it so bee yet GOD maye do with his owne what he liste Scitote saith the Prophet quia deus est dominator in regno hominum et ipsius regnum est cuicunque vult dabit illud if he will translate it Ecclesi 10. who can let it Yea in another King Henries daies And some translation and ioigning of realmes maye turne to muche good and the wealth and tranquilitie of many As if we had had a Kinge for your Quene or you a King for oures it had bene a goodly translacion to haue vnited bothe realmes in dominion regiment and law as thei be in nature lāguage ād maners I suppose a great dele better for your coūtry thē as it is now thus to be matched yea subiected and slaued to the proudest vntruest and the mooste tirannicall nacion The heny yokes of the french vnder the sonne I except not the Spaniardes whose dominion the Italians in Millane Naples Scicilie and elsse where can muche better brouke and abide then the light and inconstant French Caesar in comment as Cesar calleth them If you and we had ioigned together it had made no great matter on which side the kinge had bene so he had bene religious I graunte if all thinges answer it is better ioignynge at home then chusing abrode As if he be no verye base or meane person if he loue and feare God if he be of the same religion The orna mentes of an honieborie ma. indued with good and commendable qualities of wisdome Iustice Manhode Temperaunce giftes of languages knowledge of Countries pitifull mercifull constaunte sobre no hearer of flatterers continent not prodigal but liberal no extorcioner c. Such a one if God shoulde lot any Quene were to be preserred to any abrode Onles all these myght be found in a straunger and therto iouned nobilitie and auncientnes of lynage and the nation beyng such as vse not to rule
matter for euery vvoorke Preseruid he not mankinde and the state of al other lyuing creatures by one shippe vvherin if a mā vvil search by reason and not by Gods omnipotencie Gen. 7.8 hovve one vessell coulde holde so many couples of beastes foules vvormes c. And if it could hovv so many straūge diuers and contrary natures should agree together pynned vp in one corner it shall appere not only vvonderfull but also inpossible VVhat helpe vvas in a sorte of pore men compassed aboute vvith enemies mountaynes Exod. 14. and seas to make the vvater contrary to nature to leaue his course and as it vvere vvith a certain choise and iudgement to giue passage and safetie to the stressed and cōfusion and destructiō to the proude prince and his company Num. 20. Exod. 17. Psalm 77.15.104 he forsed the harde rocke to yelde vvater as a moste plētiful vvel at the tycke of a vvande He saued his people by the hande of a vvoman poore Deborah He aduaunced them and ouerthrevve the enemies by a poore shepherde and his sling Iud. 5. He cut of the head of the proude captayne Olophernes by the hande of avveake vvoman Sam. 17. It vvas Iudith 13. in reason a poore helpe to Sampsons strengthe Iud. 16. a nōber of heares grovving vpon his hed or an Asses iavve bone in his hande to destroye so many enemies and bring the people to libertie Iud. 15. The breaking of .300 earthen pottes Iud. 20. vvas a sclender pollycie to make so many Myriades to flee and one to kille another And to come to the greatest of al it semed to the eye of the vvorlde and the vvisdome of the fleshe very vnlyke that a poore abiect cōdempned for a traytour hanged among thefes vpō a crosse moste vylie Math. 24. gronyng and morning at the panges of death should robbe Sathan of his kyngdom restore man to the fauour of God vvynne the victory of death and make a conquest of hel and synne This cōsidered in it selfe and not taught by the spirite invvardly made the Ievves to counte it madnes and the Greekes mere folishnes 1. Cor. 〈◊〉 VVhat shoulde I saye of the meanes vvhereby as by conduites this vvater of liyfe this doctrine of Gods sonne vvas caried about the vvhole vvorlde against all reason and pollycie by idiotes to confounde the learned by symplicite all the vvisdome of the vvorlde by fysshers the fyne Philosophers the proude Pharises the myghty princes and monarkes of the earth And to come to our dayes vvhen the lyght of this Gospell vvas put out Luther and Antechrist ruled and reueled in the temple of God vvhich is mens hartes and cōsciēce armed and garded vvith the povver of Emperours Sledanus Kynges Prynces and Lavves beyond all mens expectations contrary to hope a poore frier one man at that time not the best learned through the mighty hande of God according to his vnsearcheable decree vvas able not vvith svvoorde and armour not vvith bandes of men and povver not vvith fauour of princes and prelates not vvith any helpe of man or fauour of the vvorlde to set vp the crosse of Christ to pull dovvne the chaire of Antechriste to restore Gods vvorde to banyshe the deuels Sophistrie to make of darknes lyght of lyes truthe of playne folyshnes trevve vvisdome and as it vvere an other Helena to finde out the crosse of Christ hiddē in the dungeon of deuelishe doctrine Eccle. hist li. 10. ca. 7. couered vvith the rotten bones of Romy she Martirs synfull Sayntes and cōtersaited Confessores And as vve began vvith the matter of vvomen so to returne thither againe vvith the example of a vvoman Quene Anne the instrumēt of reuiuig the gospel King Hēry VVas not Quene Anne the mother of this blessed vvoman the chief first and only cause of bany shing the beast of Rome vvith all his beggerly baggage vvas there euer in Englande a greater feate vvrought by any mā then this vvas by a vvoman I take not from kyng Henry the due praise of broching it nor from that lambe of God king Edvvard the finishing and perfighting of that vvas begon Kyng Edvvard though I giue hir hir due cōmendacion I knovv that that blessid martir of God Thomas Cranmer Byshop of Cāterbury The Bysshop of Canterbury did much trauaile in it and furthered it but if God had not gyuen Quene Anne fauour in the sight of the kynge as he gaue to Hester in the sight of Nabucadnezar Hamā and his company The Cardinall VVynchester More Rochest and other vvold sone haue trised vp Mardocheus vvith al the rest that leaned to that side VVherfore though many deserued muche praise for the helping forvvarde of it yet the croppe and roote vvas the Quene God vvorketh oft by contraries vvhiche God had endevved vvith vvisdome that she coulde and gyuen hir the minde that she vvould do it Seing then that in al ages God hath vvroughte his moste vvonderfull vvorkes by moste base meanes and shevved his strengthe by vveakenes his vvisdome by folyshnes and his exceding greatnes by mans exceding feblenes VVhat doubt vve of his povver vvhen vve lacke pollycie or mistrust his helpe vvhiche hath vvrought suche vvounders VVho is placed aboue him saieth Iob Iob. 36. to teach him vvhat he shuld do Or vvho can say to him thou hast not don iustly He sendeth a vvomā by birth vve may not refuse hir by violence He stablissheth hir by lavve vve may not remoue hir by vvronge He maketh hir a head vve may not make hir a hande or foote Nunquid contendere cum deo est eruditio saieth Iob is it vvysdome to comptrolle Gods doynges or to breake that he hath made Iob. 39. or to pulle dovvne that he hath set vp If vve vveye our ovvne vvisdome vvhat folishnes it is and considre our ovvne pollycie hovve feable it is vve shall sone leaue this quarell and yelde our selues to his vvill The children of Israels pollycie vvas to haue a king 1 Sam. 8. a iolie fellovve to rule them vvith pompe as other nacions had and not a poore Prophet for that vvas to base I doubte not they had these consideracions that our polytikes haue He must be a man of courage that the forren enemy may feare him to maynteine that vve haue and recouer that vve loste to be vvith his souldiars abroade and sitte vvith his coūsell at home But vvhat folovved this their godlie pollycie Marry non reiecerunt te sed me dicit dominus They vvould not haue the Prophet apoynted them by God as these men vvill not haue a vvoman ordeyned by nature Therfore they had akyng at their ovvne asking to their owne vndoinge If an Ape should take vpon him to comptrolle a man Man gods ape he wold not suffer it thoughe it can somwhat countrefayte mens doing No more wyll God be taughte or corrected by man though he haue a shadowe of his similitude But lest
Deuels blessinge The receiuing of the Popes absolutiō in the Parliament brought vnto them by satans Apostle the Cardinal God forgeue him for the doing and them for obeying But to what purpose is all this To declare that it is not in England so daungerous a matter to haue a woman ruler as men take it to be For first it is not she that ruleth but the lawes the executors whereof be her iudges appoynted bi her her iustices of peace and such other officers but she may erre in chusing such so may a Kinge and therfore they haue theyr counsel at their elbow which by trauail abrod know men howe fit or vnfit they be for suche offices 2. she maketh no statutes or lawes but the honerable court of Parliament she breaketh none but it must be she and they together or els not 3. If she shuld iudge in capitall crimes what daunger were there in her womannishe nature none at all For the veredict is the 12. mennes whiche passe vppon life and deathe and not hers Onlye this belongeth to her mynisterie that when they haue founde treason murdre or felonie she vtter the paine limited in the lawe for that kind of trespasse Yea but this she can not do because a womā is not learned in the lawes No more is your kinge and therefore haue they their ministers whiche can skill if they be cruell wicked handmakers and bribers it is their faulte and not the Princes onles he know them to be such and winke at it VVhat maye she doe alone wherein is pearill She maye graunte pardon to an offender that is her prerogatiue wherein if she erre it is a tollerable and pityfull error to saue life She maye mispende the reuenues ōf the crowne wantonlye so can kings do to VVhere mistreies be vvomens gouernment cannot be dangerus and cōmonlye do and yet may they be kings if on thother part the regiment were such as all hanged vppon the Kinges or Quenes wil and not vpon the lawes wrytē if she might decre and make lawes alone without her senate If she iudged offences accordinge to her wisdome and not by limitation of statutes and laws if she might dispose alone of war and peace if to be short she wer a mere monark and not a mixte ruler you might peraduētute make me to feare the matter the more and the les to defend the cause But the state being as it is or ought to be if men wer wurth theyr eares I can se no cause of feare nor good reason why Saint Paule forbiddinge her to preache shoulde be thoughte to forbidde her to rule nether Saint Chrisost Amb. li. q vet no. test hētr 33. q. ◠Amb. Theoph. or Primassius writinge vppon that place gather anye suche thinge as you strain out of it I knowe verye well that Ambrose saithe they maye not teache be witnesses nor iudge and Aug. in li. 2. gen et hab 23. q. s. Est ordo saith he It is a naturall order in men that the women shuld obey theyr husbandes and children their parents Saint Hierom thought them vnmete to iudge alone by their discretion Ergo to beare rule and conserre in pollitike matters with other Nay it is a fallax adicto secundum quid ad simpliciter for he forbiddeth them to iudge in a respect neither hauinge rule by enheritaunce nor iudging and conferring with other and you therfore gather that simplie they are forbidden Deborah iudged and that lawfully which cam not to it by enheritaunce but by extraordinarye callinge Muche more may she that to Gods callinge hathe ioygned thordinarie meanes of enheritaunce her commons consent Ansvvere to the fathers and confirmaciō of lawes To Saynt Austen and all the rest which wolde haue women in the subiection of their husbandes is to be answered as before that their meaning and speaking was of euery priuate woman in the bonds of mariage And not of those which God by birth hath called to the gouernments of realmes Neither is it to be thought that any of thold fathers wold be so iniurious to any heirs female as to take frō thē their fathers patrimony or that wold that al other mēs daughters shuld haue ād enioy their right and kings daughters shuld be put frō their righte Either so seuer thinheritaunce from the dominion Vvomans inheritāce linked vvith the dominiō Nu. 27. that they maye haue th one withoute the other whiche wil be harde for you to do or els graunt them both as you oughte to do The daughters of Silphad by the iudgement of God and not of man were enhabled to their enheritaunce And shall we take vppon vs to iudge in our pollicie otherwise then God did in his Againe Saint Augustine Hierome the Cannon law and Arist meddle not wyth those rules and gouernmentes whiche come by lyneall discentes coincydent and linked with the inheritaunce but with such as stand in election VVherfore it is to be noted Thediuer sities of Magistrates that there be .iii. maner of Magistrates One chosen by lotte as was the house of Saul A nother by Suffrages and election as in Venice Polonia the fre Cities of Germany and thempire And the thirde prouided of God by lineall succession as in Fraunce England and other Kingdōs if any were to be chosen by lotte or suffrage I would not in dede that any woman should stand in the election but men only for I say with Aristotle that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the male is by all ly kelihod meter to rule then the womā in many respectes And vndoubtedly in the whole number of men might be founde some one that shoulde in all respectes passe the beste among women in wisdome grauite learning vnderstanding sobrietie temperauncie hablenes to take paines warly kenes iustice fortitude c. But when it standeth in no mans election but in his hande that shapeth male or female in the wombe of the mother at his pleasure In Englād God hath al the voices in his ovvn hād Then hath mans voyce no authoritie by cause he hath gyuen ouer his right in chusing by cōmon consent vnto God That he according to his inscrutable wysdome may chuse and dispose as he pleaseth This being doone shall man pull back his graunt or call God to accompt and say Nay when we agreed the matter should be referred to your iudgemēt we ment not that you should send vs a woman to rule ouer vs or we had forgottē to put that in the cōdicions and therfote you must geue vs leaue to reuoke our graūt for we can prouide better then thus our selfes VVere not this a foly she plea thinke you and a mad enterprise wold he not sone aunswer vs. Oh you presumptuous fooles Gods aunsvver to mens soly that haue suche opinion of your own wyt who made empires and kyngdomes dominions and rules who preserueth and mainteineth them whose be they yours or myne must you haue the orderyng or I If they bee myne