Beare with bragging and lying a little cost him more than they are worth For aboue all nations hee feareth the French as that which he knoweth to be most noble and to haue the greatest valure and impatience against the rest and rule of a strange people And that is the cause why being wise prouident and well counselled as hee is since that hee was constrained to make that miserable peace which was sealed and signed by the death of our good King Henry the second Ah wilie foxe but yet well discouered subtiltie and not daring either openly to gainesay the same or beginne warre whilest that France was flourishing vnited agreed and of the same minde and will together hee indeuoured to sowe diuision and discord amongst vs our selues and so soone as hee sawe our princes to be miscontent or to iarre amongst themselues he did secretly and closely conueigh himselfe into the action and incouraged the one of the sides to nourish and foster our diuisions and to make them immortall and to busie our selues to quarrell and fight one with another yea to kill one another that whilest these troubles were amongst vs hee might bee left in peace and so long as we did inweaken our selues to grow increase without losse and lessening Plaine pregnant proofes This was the course and proceeding that hee held after that hee sawe the princes of Vendosme and of Condie malecontent who also drew and caried with them the house of Montmorencie and of Chastillon and to set themselues against the aduantageable aduancements and proceedings of your father Bleare eyed men and barbers as it is in the prouerbe are acquainted therewith and of your Vncles Monsieur Lieutenant who had inuaded and vsurped all authoritie and kingly power in the time of young King Frauncis their nephew I speake nothing but that all Fraunce euen to the smallest and basest of them yea that the whole worlde knoweth For all the bloudie tragedies which since that time haue been plaied vpon this pitifull scaffold of France haue all of them been borne and proceeded from these first quarrels and not from the diuersitie or difference of religions as without reason men doe yet to this day make the simple and idiots to beleeue I am old and haue seene the affayres of the world as much as another yea by the grace of God and the goodnes of my friends I haue been Sheriffe and prouost of the merchants also in this citie in the time that men proceeded thereunto by free election and that they did not constraine nor vse violence to men for their suffrages and voyces as you haue done Plaine speech and particular application Monsieur Lieutenant not long sithence minding and purposing to continue Monsieur Boucher at your deuotion But I remēber yet those old times as if it were but yesterday past or this day present I can remēber well from the beginning of the quarell that fell out betweene Monsieur your late father and late Monsieur the Constable which proceeded from no other cause but from the iealousie of one of them ouer another both of them being the great minions and fauourits of Henrie the second their master Figulus figulū odit as it is in the prouerbe as wee haue seene also Messieurs de Ioyeuse and d'Espernō vnder King Henrie the third his sonne Their first falling out was for the estate of great Master which the King had giuen to Monsieur your father when he made Monsieur of Montmorency Constable who had been great Master before and who had the Kings promise that the sayd estate should be reserued for his sonne Another cause of their ill husbandrie or bad carriage of themselues was the Countie de Dampmartin which both of them had gotten after diuers sorts Sum ego mihi metipsi proximus I loue my selfe best and being entred into suite about the same Monsieur the Constable got it by an arrest or decree This did so alter and chaunge them that either of them indeuored to east his cōpanion out of the saddle or as we say to set him beside the cushion And from thence proceeded the voyage that Monsieur your father made into Italie where he did no great matter because that Monsieur the Constable who caused him to bee sent thither that so he might the more quietly wholly and alone possesse the King it may be hindred or slacked the affayres but he remained not long vnpunished for it for he was taken afterwards on S. Laurence day while your father was absent who being returned did by a certaine good happe and the same indeed very wonderfull It was well done of the Guise to ouercome euil with well doing take againe the townes of Picardie which wee had lost and Calais besides And that he might the better reuenge himselfe of the euill dueties that he knew were done against him in his voyage caused also the imprisonment of Monsieur the Constable to bee prolonged and forgot no arte that might hinder or delay his deliuerance which gaue an occasion to my Lords of Chastillon to desire the ayde and to cast themselues into the armes and protection of the King of Nauarre this Kings father and of Monsieur the Prince of Conde his brother who had married their neece Also these two great houses fell into factions and partakings which were yet stirred vp and incensed by the contention begun betweene the Prince of Conde Monsieur d'Aumale your vncle for the office of the colonel of the light horse there was as yet no mētion of religion or Huguenots Hardly did any know what was the doctrine of Caluin and Luther A little fire maketh a great flame but by the death of them that we sawe burne stiffe in their opinions and yet notwithstanding the matter of the warres and of the enimities that we haue seene were then in preparing and hath continued vntill this present time But the trueth is that when my Lords of Chastillon very couragious men and not able to indure the iniuries offered them saw that the fauour of your house did ouertoppe theirs and that they had not any meane to finde credite and fauour about the King by reason of the lets that they of your race house cast in the way they were counselled to withdraw themselues from the Court and as they were in their retraite they shewed themselues but whether it were in good earnest or of policie and prudence I know not to fauour the new Lutherans who till then preached no where but in caues and dennes and by little and little ioyned themselues with them in faction and intelligence It is not good to fall into the clawes and pawes of vnreasonable men the rather to defend and keepe themselues from your father your vncle then to attempt any stirring or bringing in of noueltie except then when the King at the prouocation of your vncle who had made the Pope to write vnto him thereabout did himselfe take
seruing you as fencers to vphold your pride with killing our selues to shew you pleasure Let vs goe Messieurs of Lorraine with your great companie of princes wee hold you but for shadowes of protection defence the horseleaches of the bloud of the Princes of France hapelourdes little ships or foists without wares reliques of saints that haue neither force nor virtue They are but feare-bugges in such mens mouthes And let not Monsieur the Lieutenant thinke either to hinder vs or to backward vs by his threats we tell him aloude and plainly yea wee declare it to all you Messieurs his cousins and allies that we are Frenchmen and that wee will goe with the Frenchmen to hazard our life and that little that is yet left vnto vs to assist there with our King our good King our rightfull King who will also very quickly bring you vnto the same confession either by force or by some good counsell A necessarie addition which God will inspire into you if you be worthie of it I know very well that before I depart from this place you will either giue me some little pretie pill or it may be you will send me from hence to the Bastille where you will cause me to bee murthered as ye did Sacre-More S. Maigrin the Marques of Menelay and diuers others But I shall account it for a good peece of fauour if ye will cause me to dye quickly Feare cannot put out fidelitie to prince c. rather then to let me languish a long while in these anguishing and grieuous miseries And yet before I dye I will shut vp and finish my verie long oration with a poeticall epilogue or conclusion such as I haue made long agoe Messieurs the princes Lorraines You are full weake in your reines For the crowne thus to quarrell You cause your selues to be beate well You are valiant and strong amaine Yet your indeuours are all but vaine No force can be like in any thing To the puissance of a King And reason this is not indeede That on the children which succeede The seruants base should make warre Out of their land to driue them farre Great folly he doth performe and make That from his master ought doth take God against rebels and their maine Kings and their good causes will sustaine To the Nauarrias then leaue and lay downe Of our mightie Kings the noble crowne Wrongfully by your selues pretended So well haue you it molten and ended If any right you had had thereto You should not haue molten it as you doe Or els you must haue for name of renowne The title of Kings without a crowne Our Kings from God set vp renownd Are alwaies borne to vs well crownd The Frenchman true neuer doth range To King or prince that is but strange All the villaines or the greatest part Haue made you their head with all their hart They of the nobilitie that doe your part take Are such as with haste their owne wounds doe make But the very King of Frenchmen hard In steed of his poore and Scottish gard Is now assisted with none but great Princes Or els with Barons and Lords of Prouinces Wherefore then my friends let vs rise and goe Our blessed S. Denis all vnto There deuoutly to acknowledge and confesse This great King our master he is no lesse Let vs all goe together as thicke as the raine Of him to craue peace and the same to obtaine Vnto his table without feare we will goe A prince so familiar he is and gentle also All the princes of the Bourbon race Haue euer had in them this rare and good grace Very meeke for to be and gentle also And yet couragious in all whereabout they goe But ô you princes that to vs are strangers And daily vs thrust into thousands of dangers And with nothing but smoake still doe vs feede Keeping warre kindled and vpholding it indeede Get you soone packing into your owne land Very hatefull to vs here doe you stand And reckon your race from Charlemaigne pardie Vpon the bounds and borders of vpper Germanie Proue thee by your Romans or men of Rome That from Charles the great you descend and come That good people after the depth of their drinke Of that mysticall matter somewhat may thinke I haue sayd This oration being finished which indeede was beard with great silence and attention many people remained very flat nosed and much astonied Plain speeches hath good effects and a good while after there were no coughing hemming spitting nor any noise made as if the hearers had bin striken with a blow from heauen or brought into some deep dreame or drowsines of their spirite vntill a certaine Spaniard one of the mutinous crewe first rose vp and sayd with a very loud voice Let all of vs kill these villachoes Take a Spaniard without pride and mutinie and the diuel without a lye or villaines which when hee had sayd hee departed out of his place without shewing any reuerence to any man Where upon euery one was willing to arise to depart But the Admirall de Villaris the present newe King of Iuetot did beseech the estates in the name of the catholik cantons of the leaguers of Catillonnois Lipans The firebrand of contention Gualtiers other zealous communalties not to make peace with the heretikes vnlesse hemight remaine admirall of the East and of the West part and were paide his costs with the detaining of such benefites and fauours as hee thought belonged vnto him also that they would not chuse a King but such a one as shuld be a good cōpanion and a friende of the Cantons After wards there rose vp Ribault and Roland and besought the assembly Two honest men I warrāt you to frustrate and abrogate the law de Repetundis that is a lawe made against such as were accused of extortion or money vniustly taken in time of their office because this law as they tooke it was neither catholike nor fundamētall This being done euery one rose vp with a certaine marueilous stilnes in going out the herauld aduertised them at the gate as they went out to returne to the councell againe at two of the clocke in the after noone At which houre I that now speake ment not to faile Goodly things to be seene heard at Paris garden for the great desire that I had to see rare and singular things and the ceremonies that should bee kept there to the ende I might the better aduertise there of my master and the Princes of Italie which with an earnest desire waite for the proceeding and issue of these famous estates held against all order maner vsed and accustomed in France Wherefore I came againe to the Louvre after dinner and that in good time also You might do so for your fare was but short and offering my selfe to enter into the vppermost hall as I had done before in the morning the
into Italie to her kinsfolkes God pardon that good Ladie A deuout praier for a holie woman But for the apprehension and conceit that she had of these things I feare much that she was the cause of many euils that we saw in her time For vpon this matter she did so hate thē that she neuer ceased till she had destroyed them as she did the one of them in the battaile of Iarnac and the other at the massacre of S. Bartholomew where if all they of Montmorency had been found they had had no better market of it then the rest To which poynt Messieur your vncle did very nimbly put his hand and valiantly pushed or lifted at the wheele that so he might put fire in the head of that young King Charles without whose death wee neede not doubt but that he had had the like scorne that Monsieur the Mareschall of Montmorency gaue him and Monsieur your brother in this towne Doubtie Dukes and very cleanly whē he made them do all in their breeches because they bare weapons and armour forbidden them without his passeport and leaue But it seemeth that the sodaine death of these their Kings one after another did alwaies breake set out of square the goodly attempts of your house and saued or at the least prolonged the liues of your principall enemies Now let vs come to that which fell out afterwards for it is time to speak of you and of Monsieur your brother who began from that time forward to appeare in armes and to walke in the footsteps and tracts of your predecessors A fardle of frumps against Duke du Mayenne You haue alreadie caused your valours and valiances to appeare in the siege of Poictiers which you brauely defended contrarie to the aduise of the first husband of Madame la Lieutenant Monsieur of Montpezat your predecessor who counselled you to forsake all and to get you packing thence Afterwards you were at the battaile of Montcontour and after that at the iourney or exployt done vpon S. Bartholomews day where the companions on the other side were taken napping if not on sleepe and prouoked to say whence come you Cardinall of Lorraine And though Monsieur your vncle at that time was turning ouer his portuise in Italie yet the play was not performed without his intermedling and seeking to haue the King of Spaynes approbation of it the Popes absolution touching the marriage which seemed for a lure and a trappe also to the Huguenots Afterwards you continued your blowes at the siege of Rochel where mē did perceiue that he that is at this day the King of Nauarre and Monsieur your brother were but one heart one soule Men may maske but dissimulation wil break out and their great puritie and familiaritie ingendred ielousie and suspition in all the world But we must come to the matter When you sawe that King Charles was dead who otherwise did not loue you very much had sundrie times repeated the saying of the great King Francis For he had no cause so to do whereof he himselfe had made these foure verses now very rife and common in euery mans mouth King Francis was no whit beguiled When he foretold that the Guisian race Would spoyle his sonnes of all they had And leaue his subiects in worse case When you saw him A steppe to the scepter as they thought I say dead without children and the late King his brother married with your barren and vnfruitfull cousin you began Monsieur your brother and you I meane to attempt and assay many practises and plots which many people sayd were the cause of all our miseries I am not of that number which beleeue that Messieurs your father and vncle had from their time layd the foundation of the building that your brother you haue builded since though there bee that speake of the notes of Dauid and of Piles who haue better then Nostradamus prognosticated foretold all that which we haue seene since their death and though some assure ys that Monsieur your vncle Cardinall of Lotraine had framed a certaine forme of all the order that was to beheld therein But I cannot beleeue that he that had as much vnderstanding as a mā could haue could hope to make his nephewes kings of France seeing as yet three brethren children of the Kings house in the right line all of thē very puissant and in the floure of their age readie to be married and be could not diuine or gesse that they should dye without issue as they did afterwards Besides hee sawe a great number of the Princes of the royall bloud that kept not themselues warme with the robe of heretikes that should haue cut off all hope from his desires I knowe very well that in his time he was the author that the Archdeacon of Thoul writ this much A pedigree published but to small purpose that those of the house of Lorraine were descended from Charles the great by the males that is to say of Charles Duke of Lorraine to whom the kingdome appertained after the death of Lewes the fifth king of France and that Hugh Capet hauing taken him at Laon and brought him and his wife prisoner to Orleans he had a sonne or male child of whom he affirmed the Dukes of Lorraine are descended this was vnder hand cast amongst the people As all did well perceiue and you were neuer a whit grieued with it though that the common and true histories doe plainly enough shew and witnesse that there was an interruption breaking off of males in the race of Lorraine by two women and namely in the wife of Godfrey of Bouillon named Idain A worthie Archdeacon So the sayd Archdeacon made an honourable amends for it according to the arrest and sentence giuen against him and like a lewd fellowe and sloathfull or fainthearted man vnsayd that he had spoken But in fine there was small appearance that at that time my sayd Lord your vncle could aspire to the kingdome hauing so many hinderances and heads either to fight against Two worthie waies to work by or to cause to dye by the sword or by poyson It is very true that euen from his beginning he was very ambitious and desirous of greatnes and of the gouernment of the state more then any other of his age and I make no doubt of it but that he desired to possesse the Kings and to haue held them had hee been able in tutorship and vnder gouernment as in olde time the Maiors of the palace did that so he might dispose of all according to his pleasure and set vp or pull downe those whom hee had listed Wicked mens purposes and practises are vaine which is the thing whereto commonly the greatest aspire Notwithstanding being almost come thereunto while he was liuing he gathered together and prepared for you the materiall sluffe with which you haue built this proued
which may fall out vnto you for this fact But Gods word must needes be false and ful of lying which it is not nor cānot be if you do not very quickly receiue the wages hire that God promiseth to manquellers and murtherers as your brother did for hauing slaine the late Admirall But I will leaue this matter to the diuines to treate hereof that so I may come to put you in minde of a great and stale faulte which you committed at the very same time For sith you feared not in so many places to declare that your speciall marke was to raigne and be a King you had then and by reason of the blow a good occasion offered you to cause your selfe to be chosen King and you might better then haue attayned thereto than you can at this present when you sue Many deuises are in mans heart but the Lords purposes shall stand for euer ride runne corrupt and all to get it The Cardinall of Bourbon to whom vnaduisedly you gaue the title of the King was a prisoner Your nephew vpon whome they did bestowe all the commendations and glorie of his father was so likewise and neither the one nor the other could hurte you therein or hinder you as your nephew doth at this day you had yet the people hartned earnest and running after noueltie and change who had a great opinion of your valour from which you are much fallen since and I make no doubt but that you had caried it away thorow the hatred of the lawfull successor who was notoriouslie knowne to be a Huguenot And besides you had diuers preachers who had laide out a thousand reasons to perswade the people that the Crowne did belong rather to you than to him Nay foule and false The occasion for it was faire namely the changing of it from one line to another And although it bee all but one familie and of the same stalke as we may say notwithstāding the distāce of more than ten degrees in which the doctors say there ceaseth all the bond and right of consanguinitie made a goodly shew although that Doctor Baldus hath written that this rule faileth in the familie of the Bourbonians Wherunto adde that you had the force and the fauour of the time in your hand wherewith you could not serue your owne turne or helpe your selfe but rather thorough a certaine fainthartednes and very foule and grosse cowardise you would obserue forsooth some little modestie and forme of the ciuill lawe giuing the title of the King to a poore priest that was a prisoner The Cardinall of Bourbon although that in all other things you did shameleslie violate all the lawes of the realme and all lawe besides of God and of man whether it were naturall or ciuill You forgot all the maximaes and rules of our great masters touching the matter of enterprise vpon the estates of an other man euen that of Iulius Caesar which oftentimes for his excuse and defence spake these verses out of a certaine Greeke Poet. If that thou must needes wicked be be so a kingdome to obtaine But yet in other things be iust and eke the lawes maintaine You were afraide to take the title of a King Stumble at a straw and leap ouer a blocke and yet you were not afraide to vsurpe the power of it which you disguised and masked with a qualitie or esstate altogether new such a one as was neuer heard spoken of in Fraunce And I knowe not who was the author thereof yet some attribute it to the president Brisson or to Ianiu But whosoeuer inuented this expedient fayled in the termes of Grammer and of Estate also A fitte and good reason They might haue giuen you the name of Regent or of Lieutenant generall of the King as they haue done sometimes heretofore when the Kings were prisoners or absent off their kingdome and realme But Lieutenant of the estate and Crowne is a title vnheard of very strange which also hath too lōg a taile as it were a chimer or mōster against nature that maketh little children afraid Whosoeuer is a Lieutenant is Lieutenant to another whose place he holdeth who is not able to do his functiō or office by reason of his absence or some other hinderance or let and a Lieutenant is the Lieutenant of some other mā but to say that a man should be the Lieutenāt of a thing without life as the estate or crowne of a King is a very absurd thing such a one as cannot be mainteined And it had bin more tolerable to say Lieutenant in the estate and crowne of France than Lieutenāt of the estate But this is but a smal matter to faile in speech or words A true assertion in cōparison of failing in deeds When you were clothed and cloaked with this goodly qualitie you did so rudely roughly empty our purses that you had the meane to raise vp a great armie with the which you promised to pursue besiege take and bring prisoner He that reckoneth without his host must count againe this nowe successor to the crowne who did not call himself Lieutenant but in plaine termes King You had made vs then to gard and keep our places to hire shops in S. Anthonies street that we might see him passe in chaines whē ye brought him prisoner from Diepe what did yee withal this great armie very groffe indeed by al your strāge succours of Italie of Spaine of Germanie The horse and man are prepared against the day of battell but victorie is from the Lord. but to lay opē and cause to be knowne your own reachles weaknes vnorderly gouernment not so much as once daring with thirtie thousand mē to set vpon fiue or sixe thousand which gaue you the head at Arques and in the end constrained you shamefully to turne your backs you your selues to seeke surety safety in the riuer of Somme We were greatly deceiued when in steede of seeing this new King in the Bastile wee beheld him in our suburbs with his armie as a certaine lightning or clap of warre that preuented our thoughts yours also But you came and succoured vs A needlesse worke then when we were assured that he would do vs no hurt And we must confesse that without the resistance that one who is at this day his seruant made against him at the gate of Bussy he had taken vs before you arriued From that time hitherto you haue done nothing in your Lieutenancy worthy the remembrance If this be his commendation praise him for tyrannic but the establishment of your councell of fourtie persons and of sixteene which you haue since reuoked and scattered as much as you could And whilest that you laboured the aduancement and estate of your owne house and that you suffered your imagined King to wast weare away in prison without succouring him either with mony or with meanes to maintaine
trade vpon him take Notwithstanding if any are to be found that at the beginning suffered themselues to be caried away with the flood of the League whether it were for feare to forgoe their religion or for some particular affection that they bare to the heads of that side or for some displeasure and hatred that they had conceiued against the late King they are they themselues that submitted themselues to and that acknowledged the present King so soone as they saw him to become a catholike and haue brought into his power the places that they helde without marchandise or entring into composition with their master and these are more excusable for their first error or fault than the other yea they deserue recommendation and praise and to be put in our chronicles for that they haue deliuered their countrie from the Spanish crueltie as we see to haue bin done to them that haue freed France from the English men Frō whence haue proceeded so manie goodly priuiledges to families to townes and to communalties who of themselues did shake off the strange yoke that they might the better submit themselues to the sweet power of their naturall Kings But that which most grieueth all honest and virtuous people is to see that they that haue not done it but by force and necessitie are yet notwithstanding ioyfully entertained receiued and welcommed and boast that they are the cause that the King is conuerted These men cause mee to remember a certaine answer that Fabius the great gaue to a Romane captaine gouernor of Tarentum who after that hee had suffered the towne to bee lost by the treason of the citizens bragged of this that hee was the cause that Fabius tooke it againe Truely sayd Fabius I had not taken or recouered the towne if thou hadst not lost it euen so may these people bragge and boast here that they are the cause of so many Trophees triumphes as the King hath atchieued in conquering his realme againe for without their treason and rebellion he had not gained so much honour as he hath done by bringing them vnder and ranging them to reason I saw also others that haue not so much as stirred out of their houses and from their quiet rest to rent and teare the name of the King and of the princes of the blood of France as much as they were able who also not being able any longer to withstand by reasō of the great necessitie that pressed them because they had two or three daies before the reducing of their towne to the Kings obedience some good sighing and sense to doe better and yet notwithstanding at this day those that speake most loftily and haue great estates offices and recompences and bragge that they haue done more seruice to the King to Frāce it self thā those that forsooke their houses their goods and offices for to follow their prince and who did willingly indure all maner of needs rather than so much as to winke at the tyrannie of these strangers whether they bee Lorraines that is of the Guysian faction or Spaniards But this complaint deserueth an other Satyre Menippized But for this time I will tell you no more but two small quartains or verses which two of our good countrie men made by the way or vpon the sodaine as wee say at a certaine time when we discoursed vpon this matter If French men Lewd in Fraunce recompensed bee And the best men aduanced to no degree Let vs somewhat be lewd men will forget the offence He that hath not done ill shall haue no recompence The other euen at that very instant time also pursued the selfe same matter and to no lesse purpose than the former verses were To be welcome indeed and our affaires well to do During this tedious time and miserable to Agnoste my friend canst tell what way we shall take Some place le ts surprise and then our peace we will make I know very wel that there are many people that take no delight to heare men speake and write thus freely and are offended at the first worde that any man mentioneth our afflictiōs alreadie past as though after so many great losses they would take away from vs our feeling and our tongue our speech and libertie giuen vs to complaine withall But herein they should doe worse vnto vs than Phalaris did vnto them whom he stifled and choaked in his brasen bull for hee did not hinder them from crying but this rather that he would not heare their cries as the cries of men lest he might haue pittie vpon them but as the bellowings of bullockes and buls the better to disguise the sound of mans voice This is a hard case that they that haue beene pilled robbed imprisoned in the Bastile ransomed and driuen from their townes from their charges should not cast out some euill speech against them when at their returne they find their houses voide forsaken ruinated wherein there is nothing but the bare wals whereas they left them richly stored with moueables and handsomely trimmed vp with all maner of things Who can euer stop the mouth of the posterity and hinder them from speaking of the third part and of them that haue brought it out nursed it which keep it yet shut vp in a chamber nourishing it and sustaining it with good meate one day to bring it forth vnto light and to cause it to be seene well sauoured and very great when they shall see time and commoditie fit for it It was neuer yet heard of neither shall it euer bee what lawes or ordinances soeuer men may make therefore that euill speech should not be better receiued than praise specially when it is drawn from the trueth it selfe and that there is not a hundred times more pleasure to speake euill of some slothfull person than to praise an honest man This is the punishment that wicked men cannot escape and though they haue all their pleasures beside yet at the least must they haue this dipleasure this worme about their hearts to know that the people teareth them in pieces secretly curseth them and that writers wil not spare them after their death Thanks be to God we are not vnder any Tiberius that spied out the speeches of his subiectes or that made of all offences newe articles of high treason against the Prince He giueth to honest people as much libertie as they should desire hee knoweth the naturall disposition of French men as one that cannot indure neither all bondage nor all libertie Likewise it were not reasonable continually and for euer to stirre vp our olde quarrels and to vse iniurious fashions that might hinder the kitting together againe of his people in one and the same deuotion vnder his obedience For it were better to endeuour to sweeten our euils than to make them more sharpe to the ende that we may all of vs range our selues to the ancient fidelitie and humilitie which wee owe vnto our
enough to couer the doore of the entrie or cōming in there was tacked vnto it halfe a peece of the Apotheosis or canonization of the foure Euangelists and Martyrs Saints Louchard Ameline Anroux and Aymonnot making a long letter or writing at their feet was writtē these 4. verses You crack ropes lewd wicked mē that Iudges hang on hie Impunitie vnto your selues you doe pretend thereby But you ought cleane the cōtrarie attēd wait again Awicked wretch neuer yet could put his righteous Iudge to pain The twelfth and the last neere vnto the windowes did containe at length and that very well drawne the portraiture of Monsieur the Lieutenant attired as Hercules Gallicus holding in his hand innumerable bridles wherwith also there were haltered mousled calues colts without number Ouer his head as if it had bin a clowd there was anymph which had a writing cōtaining these words Looke that you play the calfe A goodly poesie promise And from the mouth of the said Lord Lieutenant there issued another wherein were written these proper termes I will doe it And this is that as neere as I was able to obserue and marke it which was in the sayd tapistrie As concerning the benches seates where Messieurs or my Lords the Estates should sit they were couered al with tapistrie be sprinkled with little crosses of the Lorraines some blacke and some red and with armes parted in two of true and false argent the whole being more emptie then full for the honour of the feast Touching the order held and obserued for their seates or places AFter that the assembly was entred somewhat forward within the great hall drawing neere vnto the steps where the cloath or chaire of estate was exalted and the chaires were prepared there was place assigned to euerie one by a Herault of armes intituled Courte ioy A fine fiction for the same or as we say short ioy S. Denis who called them very lowd three times together after this manner Monsieur the Lieutenant Monsieur the Lieutenant Monsieur the Lieutenant of the estate and Crowne of France come vp on high into this kingly throane in the place of your master Monsieur the Legate place your selfe at his side Madame representing the Queene Mother or the grandmother set your selfe on the other side Monsieur the Duke of Guise Peere of the Lieutenancie of the estate and Crowne of France place your selfe very finely the first for this time without preiudice or dammage of your right to come It may be it shall neuer be so againe Monsieur the most reuerend Cardinal of Pelue Peere though but for a while of the Lieutenancie place your selfe right ouer against him but at no hand forget your Calepin or Dictionarie Madame the Dowager of Montpensier as a Princeste of your estate seate your selfe vnder your nephew Madame the Lieutenant of the Lieutenancie of the estate without preiudice of your pretenses claimes set your selfe ouer against her Monsieur d'Aumale Constable Peere of the Lieutenancie aduaunced into Peereship by reason of your Countie of Boulongne place your selfe side to side by the most reuerend Cardinall but beware that you rend not his cope with your great spurres High and mightie Countie of Chaligny that haue this honour to haue Monsieur the Lieutenant for your younger brother take your place and feare no more Chiquot that is dead Monsieur the Primat of Lyons and without doubt he that shal be Cardinall of the vnion and now is Peere Chancellor of the Lieutenancie He kept her as his concubine leaue your sister there and come hither to take your place in order Monsieur de Bussie the Clerke heretofore the great penitentiarie of the Parliament and now the great Steward spirituall of the towne and castle of Paris set your selfe at the feete of Monsieur that Lieutenant as the great Chamberlaine of the Lieutenancie Monsieur de Saulsay Peere and great Master of the Lieutenancie Yea of a better for default of another take this staffe and goe very gently to sit in this soft seate prepared for you And you Messieurs the Marshals of the Lieutenancie de Rosne Dom Diego Bois-daulphin and Seignior Cornelio loe here is a bench for you foure sauing that you may bee augmented or diminished if the case so fall out and require the same Messieurs the Secretaries of the Estate Marteau Pericard de Pottes and Nicolas A tall man belike this fourme below is for you foure if Monsieur Nicolas buttocks or breech can reach so high Monsieur de S. Paul Countie of Rethelois but yet vnder the title of hiring it and hauing it at a price come not so nigh Monsieur de Guise least you ouetheate him but keepe your selfe nigh to the Lord de Rieux Messieurs the Ambassadors of Spayne Naples Lorraine and Countie of Bourgongne this bench on the lest hand is for you and the bench on the right hand appoynted for the Ambassadors of England Portugall Venice the Lords Counties and Princes of Germanie Suisserland and Italie and are absent or appeare not shall be for the Ladies and Damosels according to the date of their impression Furthermore let all the deputies take place according to their pensions And this was almost the sitting of Messieurs the Estates all without disputation or debating Churchmen striue for high places by reason of the great presences sauing that the warden of the Franciscane Friers and the Prior of the Iacobins made some small protestation which of them should goe formost but Madame de Montpensier rising vp A goodly drudge and a worthie reason of conclusion gaue the first place to the Prior of the Iacobins for remembrance as she sayd of S. Iaques Clement There was also a little garboyle betweene my Ladies of Belin and of Bussie by reason that the one of them hauing let goe a certaine euil pseudcatholike winde Madame de Belin spake very loudly and loftily to Ladie Bussie Let vs go Mistris Proctoresse the taile doth befume vs you come hither belike to perfume the crosses of Lorraine But Monsieur the great Master of Saulsay hearing this noyse knowing the cause thereof cried vnto them holding his staffe in his hand Good words Mesdames ye come not hither to trouble and disquiet our estates It is an euill bird that defileth his owne neast as mine owne sister not long time since daunced the galliard of the late king in this very hall it selfe The noise being pacified and the ill sent or sauour past Monsieur the Lieutenant began to speake after this manner with the great silence and attention of Messieurs the Estates The speech of Monsieur the Lieutenant MEssieurs you shall all be witnesses that since I haue taken armes for the holy League I haue alwayes had mine owne preseruation in such great recommendation and respect No lye that I haue with a very good heart courage continually preferred mine owne particular interest
before the cause of God who knoweth wel inough to keepe himselfe and it without mee and to reuenge him of all his enemies Yea I can say further and that in trueth that the death of my brethren hath not so farre caused my passions to breake forth whatsoeuer goodly shew I made thereof as the desire I haue to walke in the waies and paths that my father and my good vncle the Cardinall had traced out before me and which my brother the Balafre was happily entred You knowe that vpon my returne from my expeditiō of Guyenne which the politikes call vp and downe vp and downe I did not effect in this citie that which I thought by reason of the traytors The Duke de Maynne was none who aduertised the tyrant their master and I receiued no other fruite by my voyage but the taking of the inheritresse of Caumont whom I did appoynt for wife vnto my sonne but the chaunging of my affayres haue made me at this presēt to dispose otherwise therof Moreouer you are not ignorant that I would not ingage mine armie to any great exployte or hard siege wherein notwithstanding Castillon deceiued mee which I thought to take and carrie away in three daies to the end that I might keepe my selfe more whole and sound and the better able to execute my Catholike purposes Concerning mine armie in Daulphin I caused it alwaies to stop and stay and I kept me on my skoutes to attend and waite whether in the Estates of Blois ye should haue neede of me But the matters there hauing taken the left foote and falling out crosse to our wishes and attempts you sawe with what great diligence I came to finde you in this citie and with what dexteritie my cousin the Constable d'Aumale here present So holy a man could not but giue so holie a thing caused likewise the holie spirit in haste to come downe vpon a great part or companie of my Masters of Sorbonne For as soone as it was said it was as soone done And frō thence haue proceeded all our goodly exployts of warre from that haue taken their first originall these hundred thousands of holie French Martyrs which are dead by the sword by famine by fire by rage by desperation and other violēce for the cause of the holie vnion from thence hath come the correction of so many braggers and boasters which would play the galants and compare themselues with Princes from thence hath proceeded the ruine and ouerthrow of so many Churches Monasteries which hurt the safetie of our good townes from this hath flowen such great sacke and pillage as our good souldiers free archers and nouices haue committed in many cities townes and villages who also haue serued in stead of a Curat for the faith to the deuout children of the Masse at midnight yea from hence hath it been that so many faire daughters and women without marriage and against their wils haue been filled with that which in marriage they loue best of all And God knoweth whether these young Monkes and Friers A great doubt their chastitie considered newly turned out of their frocks or gownes these disordered priests haue therein deuoutly turned the leaues of their portuise and gotten plenarie pardons To be short this is the onely cause of the prompt and zealous decree of my Masters of our mother Sorbonne Ful cups make men of sharpe iudgement after that they haue drunke wel which hath caused in the end many stroakes from heauen to clatter and sound And through our good diligence wee haue brought to passe that this kingdome which was nothing els but a pleasurefull garden of all pleasure and aboundance A very good change is now become a great and large vniuersall buriall place full of all violences faire painted crosses coffins gallowses and gibbets As soone then as I was arriued in this towne after that I had sent to heale the citie of Orleans of too much ease and to forbid the trade and traffique of the Loire The name of a ruine passing by it which maintained their delights I ment to doe as much in this towne also And it fell out well in which Madame my mother my sister my wife and cousin d'Aumale who are here to giue mee the lye for it if I doe not speake true did very catholikely assist me For they and I had no more great paine and care then to lay a groundworke for the warre and in so doing to comfort and discharge all the deuout habitants good Catholikes of the weight of their purses and to giue them leaue curiously to roue vp and downe with their feete and their hands to seeke and to seaze for vs the rich iewels of the Crowne belonging vnto vs in the collaterall line and by the forfeiture of Lord of the fee. We found much vnprofitable treasure we discouered with a little expence by the reuelation of a catholike mason and the holie innocencie of Monsieur Machaut whom I name here for honours sake the goodly and large muguot of Molan Because he serued your turne notwithstanding his diuels and familiar spirits that kept it whom the sayd Machaut knew powerfullie and skilfully to coniure secretly filling the bottome or soules of his host with crownes of the summe And without this diuine succour Messieurs you know that we knew not yet of what wood to make arrowes for which the holie vnion is greatly indebted to the painfull labour and great good husbandrie of the sayd Molan who did so honestly refuse his master and all his friends to aide them with money and to preserue it for vs A right recompense of treason namely idolatrous seruices Adde drunkēnes vnto thirst and glorie in your owne 〈◊〉 so fitly for our purpose And forget him not to cause to be sung to him a salue or good morrow whatsoeuer it be forget not to promise him a Masse to be sung with holding vp of hands when he shall bee constrained to make his will quite and cleane contrarie I will not forget the costly moueables of gold siluer tapistrie and other riches which wee made to bee taken sold yea to make port sale of them appertaining to these wicked politikes fauouring the King wherein my cousin d'Aumale did her dutie very well foyling her selfe in the coffers and caskets yea stouping so low that she went to the ditches and holes where she knewe that there was vessell of siluer hidden In so much that afterwards our dearly beloued cousin her husband she her selfe and her chiefe page did greatly performe their businesses and were healed of their catholike iaundise wherewith they were made yellow from the time of the warres that they had for their Countie of Boulongne catholikely lawfully deuolued vnto them by the merite of their Pater-nosters and deuout processions and not by vsurpation or domestical theeuerie as these relapsed heretikes say This being done to declare my liberalitie and magnificence after that I was assured
great and holy things that of my faith credit and honestie it is a pleasant sight for you yea Monsieur Lieutenant it is a pleasant sight for you to bee seene sit there where you are ye haue a goodly shew ye fit your place well and it will not be euill for you to bee made the King and you lacke nothing but a good pegge or pinne to hold you well therein You haue euen the very selfe same fashion and manner I alwaies reserue and except the honour which I owe to the Church that some Saint Nâ—colas of a countrie towne or village hath By the faith that I owe to God me thinketh that we celebrate here the feast of Innocents or els the day of the three Kings of Colen If you had now a full glasse of good wine TheÌ„ he might be Hugo bon compaignion and that it would please the maiestie of your Lieutenantship to drinke to all the companie wee would all crie the King drinketh euen as well that it is not long sithence that the * He meaneth the twelfth day Kings are passed where we did very much let that they should not make a king of the beane for feare of inconuenience and of euill prefage or prediction but if ye were here in the midst of this Lent comming wee would ride all with you about the streetes and would keepe there midde Lent on horsebacke if wee could retaine vntill then all this Catholigue assemblie to which I will now addresse my speech in generall A sore protestation and a great losse if he should sorgoe it and that all the world may vnderstand me Messieurs hold me not for an honest man and a good Catholike if the maladie of France I minde not to speake of the French disease I would say your miseries and pouerties haue not caused me to come this farre where I haue carried my self as a very hypocrite Correct it not for it is no lie I would haue sayd Hypocrate but my tongue hath made me to trippe This great Phisitian seeing his countrie afflicted with a certaine epidemicall disease and cruell pestilence that did roote out all the people counselled them to cause to be lighted great store of fires throughout all the countries to purge and driue away the euill ayre And me altogether of the same manner A medicine to expell poyson to the end I might come to the butte of all my Catholigue deuises and purposes and for an antidote to our holie vnion which is smitten with the plague I haue been one of the principall authors I speake it without vaunting of all these fires and flames Neither neede you boast of that that breake foorth and burne now all France and which haue euen alreadie brought and consumed into ashes the brauest and best that the Goths and Visigoths left therein If the late Cardinall of Lorraine my good master were aliue he would giue you a good testimonie therof for hauing drawne me from the great pot of the hooded Friers of Montague and afterwards placed me in the Court of Parliament where I well discouered the colledge or tolde tales out of the schoole where he made me Bishop afterwards Archbishop and in the end Cardinall and this was alwaies vpon this expresse and plaine condition that I should bring this busines to his perfection and should obliege my selfe my soule for the aduancement of the greatnes of Lorraine and the detriment of the house of the Valois and of the Bourbons whereunto I haue not been wanting in all that was possible to me and that my braine or skonse could stretch vnto And in these latter daies the presidents Vetus and Ianin haue ayded me with notes Like will to like quoth the diuell to the collier remembrances and practises and haue as it were vpheld my credit with their foote and somewhat before them my collegues Dauid and Piles could not haue done any great matter without me He meaneth their practises nor I without them Poore Salcede knewe somewhat of our secrets but not all and he had not a good bill or beake for he discouered the pot with the roses whereupon he missed but a little to destroy vs together with himselfe notwithstanding wee haue well had reason from all these Valesiens and shall haue God helping vs from these Bourbonists if euery one of you will play the gallant man As for me Messieurs behold me at your commandement to set and to sell to spend and dispend so that as good zealous Catholikes you subiect your selues to the Archcatholikes Princes Lorraines This eloqueÌ„ce almost passeth intelligence to the supercatholikes the Spanyards who do so greatly loue France and doe so much desire your soules health that euen of catholike charitie they would therefore lose their owne whereof there is great pitie and I pray you in good time to aduise lest this Biarnois doe not play vs or giue vs a tricke or a badge of his occupation For if he should go to conuert himselfe and heare a wicked Masse onely ah ha ah ha we should be striken downe and we should euen at one blow haue lost all both our double Duckers and our paines or trauaile also But though these honest people of Luxenburgh and Pisani doe promise it to our holy father it may bee that there will no such thing fall out This is the reason wherfore in doubt He would or should haue sayd without doubt ye ought to make hasse to put your selues into the hands of Phisitians these good Christians of Castile who are skilled in your sicknes and know the cause thereof and by consequent are so much the more proper to heale it if you will beleeue them for they which say Phisitians dealing by practise rather then skill that the Spanyards are dangerous empirikes and do as the wolfe that promised the sheepe to heale her of her cough that is false they are all heretikes that say it and euery good Catholike ought to beleeue vnder paine of excommunication and the censure of the Church that the faithfull and valiant King of Spayne would haue lost his kingdomes of Naples Portugall and Nauarre And why not the Indies and all as well as these yea his Dutchie of Millan and the Countie of Roussillon all the rights and titles that he hath in the Low Countries which the Estates keepe for him and that all the Frenchmen should be good Catholikes and would willingly and in haste receiue his garrisons together with the holy Inquisition which is the true and only touchstone to know the good Christians and zealous Catholikes children of humilitie and obedience Beleeue not then that this good King sendeth you so many Ambassadors and causeth to bee sent vnto you these good persons the Legats of the holie father of any other intention but to make you to beleeue that he loueth you aboue all nothings As right as can be Can you thinke rightly that he that
are come hither with so many trauailes some on foot some alone other some in the night and the greatest parte at your owne costs and charges Doe not you wonder at the heroicall actes of our Louchards Gentlemen of the new stampe Bussis Senaulds Oudineaux Morreliers Crucez Goudards and Drouarts who haue so well come by the feather What thinke you of so many Caboches as are found and God hath raised vp at Paris Roan Lions Orleans Troyes Toulouze Amiens where you see butchers taylors fillipers iuglers tumblers cutlers and other sortes of persons of the very drosse and scumme of the people to haue the first voyce in councell and assemblies of the estate and to giue lawe to them that before were great of race of riches and of qualitie who now dare not cough nor mutter before them Scripture rightly applied Is it not in this that the prophecie is accomplished which saith hee raiseth the poore out of the dungehil Should not this be a crime to passe ouer vnder silence that holy martyrfryer Iames Clement who hauing been the most vnorderly and wicked of all his couent as all the Iacobins of this citie knowe well inough and hauing many times had the chapter and the diffamatorie whip for his thieueries and wickednesses is notwithstanding sanctified at this daye and now is alofte to debate and dispute with S. Iago of Compostella Affections fit enough for such a fact and fellow who shall haue the first seate O blessed confessor and martyr of God How gladlie would I bee the paranimph and encomiast of thy praises if my eloquence could attaine to thy merits But I loue better to holde my peace therein than to speake too littlethereof And continuing my discourse I will speake of the strange conuersion of mine owne proper person although that Cato saith Nec telaudaris nec te culpaueris ipse A great clarke good latinist and singulat versifier thou shalt neither praise thy selfe neither shalt thou blame thy selfe yet I will freely confesse vnto you that before this holy enterprise of the vnion I was no great deuourer of the crucifix and some very neare about me and that haunted me most familiarly haue had in opinion that I did a little smell of the faggot because that being a yong scholler I tooke pleasure in reading the bookes of Caluin and being at Tolouze I had mingled my selfe to preach and teach in the night with the new Lutherans and afterwardes made no great conscience nor difficultie to eate flesh in Lent nor to he with my sister A beast for abusing thy sister and Gods word also following the examples of the holy patriarches of the Bible Bur since that I had signed the holy league and the fundamentall lawe of this estate accompanied with double duckets and of the hope that I had of a redde hatte no man hath doubted touching my beliefe neither hath there any further inquirie been made touching either my conscience or my cariages Verily I confesse that I owe this grace of my conuersion next after God to Monsieur the Duke d'Espernon who hauing vpbraided me in the Councell with that whereof none doubted in Lions touching my sister in lawe was the cause that of a great politike and a very slender Caluinist that I was From euill to worse I became a great and coniuredleaguer as I am at this present the director and ordainor of secret affaires and such as importe the estate of the holy vnion neither more nor lesse than blessed Saint Paul who of a persecutor of christians was made the vessell of election This is the cause wherefore hee faith where sinne hath abounded there shall grace also abounde Doubte not then any more to continue firme and constant in this holy partie full of so many miracles and of strokes from heauen of which you must needes make a fundamentall lawe As touching the necessities and oppressions of the clergie you shall or may aduise thereof if it please you for for my regarde I will put paine that my great pot bee not ouerthrowne and I shall alwaies haue credite with Roland and Ribault that will not fayle to pay mee my pensions from whatsoeuer part siluer come Euery one will aduise to prouide for himselfe if he thinke it so good and for my patte I desire not peace vnlesse first I may be a Cardinal as they haue promised mee If thou maiest be iudge and as I my selfe haue well deserued For without mee Monsieur the Lieutenant could not be in the degree where he is because it was me my selfe that retained the late Duke of Guise his brother who woulde willinglie haue gone from the estates of Bloys distrusting of some deafe deuise and ambushment of the tirant but I caused him to remaine and to waite for a dispatch from Rome which should be brought me within three dayes and that was the cause why Madame his mother here present hath many times reproached me that I was the cause of his death whereof Monsieur the Lieutenant and all his ought to yeelde mee thankes because that vpon this pretext and to reuenge this goodly death of his Whot passions and bad perswasions we haue stirred vp the people and taken occasion to make another King Courage therefore courage I say my friends feare not to expose your liues and that which remaineth of your goods for Monsieur the Lieutenant and for them of his house These are good princes and good Catholikes who loue you to the full and on the ridge Speake not here of abrogating from him his power which some murmur and mutter that it was not giuen him but vntil some next holding or assembly of the Estates but these are the accountes of the Storke They that haue tasted this morsell they will neuer bite Would you demaund a more goodly and braue king and one that is more grosse and more grasse or fattie than he is Good parts to commend to a kingdome Hee is by S. Iames a faire peece of flesh and I thinke you cannot finde one that ouerweigheth him Messieurs of the nobilitie that keepe the townes and castles in the name of the holy vnion are you not very glad to leuie and gather vp all the taxes tenths aydes shoppes fortificatious watches imposts and that which is giuen for all wares as well by water as by land and to take your rights and customes vpon all prices ransomes and pillages without being bound to make an account thereof to any man Vnder what King would you finde a better condition You are Barons you are Counties and Dukes in the proprietie of all the places and prouinces which you hold You command absolutely therein Right as can be of clubbes spades and all saue the harts and as it were kings of the cardes What would you haue better Leaue and forget these glorious names of French monarchie and remember no more your ancestors nor them who haue inriched and inobled you To be briefe
from her very swadling cloutes and first beginnings she hath not been so well nurtured mannered modest and peaceable as she is now by the grace and fauour of you the rest Messieurs For in steed that we were wont to see so many men and women sellers of old apparell sellers also of old mantles pattins great pots other sorts of wicked people to runne vp and downe the streetes Notable orders to haunt brothell houses to draw wooll and to braule with the cookes of the little bridge you see no more a man of such people throughout al the colledges All the supposts of the faculties and nations that made hurlie burlie for the suites of licenses appeare no more they play no more these scandalous playes and biting satyres vpon the scaffolds of colledges and ye see there a goodly reformation all these same young regents being retired that in disdaine would she we it that they knew more Greeke and Latine then other men These factions amongst the master of artes wherein they did beate one another with the blowes of their cappes and their hoods are ceased all these schollers of great or good house little and great haue giuen vs the slippe The booke sellers printers binders guilders and other people of paper and parchment to the number of more than 30000. haue charitably deuided the wind in a 100. quarters to liue thereof and haue yet left sufficient for them that haue remained behinde them The publike professors who were all royall and politikes come not any more to breake our heads and trouble our braines with their orations and with their congregations in the three Bishops Spoken cunningly like an Alchymist they haue put themselues to doe Alchymie euery one by himselfe Briefelie all is quiet and peacefull and I will say much more vnto you Heretofore in the time of the politikes and heretikes Ramus Galandius and Turnebus no man made profession of letters vnles he had with a long hand and great charges studied and gotten artes and sciences in our colledges and passed thorough all the degrees of the scholasticall discipline But now by the meane of you the rest Messieurs and the virtue of the holy vnion and principallie by your blowes from heauen Monsieur the Lieutenant the butter men and butter wiues of Vanues the ruffians of Mont-rouge and of Vaugirard the vine dressers of Saint Cloud coblers of Villejuifue A monstrous change and other catholike cantons are become Masters in artes bachelors principals prefidents and bousiers of colledges regents of classes and so sharpe subtill and argute Philosophers that better than Cicero now they dispute de inuentione Or rather Assodidactos that is of inuention and learne euery day to be aftodidactos that is teachers of themselues without any other Master than you Monsieur the Lieutenant they learne I say to dye of famine perregulas that is to say by rules Also now you heare no more in the classes that clamorment and brawling of latine amongst the regents that did batter and beate the eares of all the world in steede of this bablerie and pedlers French you heare euery houre of the daye the Argentine harmonie Meruailous Metaphors and the very idiome and proper speech of kine and weaned calues and the sweete singing of asses and of swine as if it were of the nightingales that stand vs in steede of clockes or belles for the first second and third Sometimes heretofore wee were wonderous desirous to learne and to haue the Hebrew Greeke and Latine tongues but at this present wee haue more neede of an oxe or neats tongue salted and poudred that would bee a good commentarie I can tell you after our oaten bread But le Mains and Laual and these infallible weigh Masters of Anger 's with their Capons of high grease and their wonderfull fatte hennes haue deceiued vs as well as the tongues and we haue no more but a sower and bitter remembrie of these same academicall messengers that came downe or lighted at the crosse and other famous Innes in the harpe streete and that at the daye and very poynte of time named to the great contentment of the schollers waiting for them and of their regents felling olde garments You Monsieur Lieutenant are the cause of all this and all these miracles and monstrous things are the workes of your hands A high commendation and yet it is true that our predications preachments and decrees haue not hurt or hindred them but yet for all that you were the principall motiue and instrument thereof and to speake to you in one worde you haue vndone vs and more than vndone vs Excuse me if I speake so I will say with the Prophet Dauid Loquebar in conspecturegum Such as you Monsieur are non confundebar I did speake in the sight of Kings and I was not confounded nay I did not blush no more than a blacke dogge Whether wilt thou Rector You haue I say so defiled and defamed this faire eldest daughter this shamefaste virgin this flourishing damsell the onely pearle of the world the diamond of this Fraunce the carbuncle of the Kingdome and one of the most white floure deluces of Paris that forraine and strange vniuersities make Greeke and Latin sonnets thereof Et versa est in opprobrium gentium And it is turned into the shame of the nations In the meane while my masters our doctors finde nothing therein but to laugh for they haue not the quodlibetarie questions so frequent He would haue sayd proceede there passe out no more Bachelers Licenciats nor Doctors where they were wont to haue their banquets drinkings one to another and feasts and did crambe themselues vp to the throate the wine of Orleans commeth no more here much lesse that of Gascoigne so that all ergoes are ceased and layd aside And though some one of these that are most Spaniolized by meanes of some double Duckets and doe receiue some pension of the Legate closely or secretly yet that is not as much to say that the others feele it Moreouer Monsieur the Lieutenant you haue caused Louchard And why not for of like there should be the like cōsideration your steward or pursebearer and a very zealous man to be hanged and haue by consequēt declared to be hangable all they that haue been present at the ceremonie of the order of the vnion which hath been giuen to the president Brisson Now so it is that all the young Curats Priests and Friers of our vniuersitie and our other Doctors for the most part That is we are caught in the lime twigge we haue all been promoters of this tragedie therefore gluc And I tell you that if you had not basted your selfe to come wee had indeede serued our turnes with others and wee had not remayned in so faire a way and such speech at this day is very high to them whose teeth could haue done no euill if you had yet lingered but
and tyrannie But I cannot discourse vpon this poynte but with very great griese to see things in the estate in which they are in comparison of that they were then At that time euery one had yet corne in his garner and wine in his seller euery one had his vessell of siluer or plate as we call it his tapistrie and his costly moueables the women had then their girdles halfe of siluer the reliques were hole and sound they had not so much as touched the iewels of the crowne But now who is there that can boast that he hath whereof to liue for three weekes vnles it be these the eues and robbers that haue made themselues fat with the wealth of the people and that haue on all hands pilled and polled the moueables both of present and absent Haue we not by little and little consumed all our prouisions sould our moueables molten our vessell and pledged all that wee haue to the garments on our backs to liue not onely poorely but verie wretchedly and caytife like Where are our halles and our chambers so well garnished and so decked with diaper and tapistrie Where are our feastes and bankets and our licorous and daintie tables Loe we are brought to milke and white cheese like the Swissers Our bankets are of a bitte of biefe yea the biefe of a cowe for all the messes and seruices wee were wont to haue and happie is he that hath not eaten the flesh of horses and of dogges and happie is hee that alwaies hath had oaten bread and coulde make a little paste of it with the broath of brawne sold at the corner of the streetes in the places where heretofore they did sell the delicious and daintie tongues young quailes and legges of mutton And it hath not been long of Monsieur the Legate and of the Embassador Mendoza that we haue not eaten our fathers bones as the sauage and wilde people of new Spayne doe If he can he is a man of no sense Can any man thinke of or remember all these things without teares and without horror And they that in their conscience knowe well inough that they are the cause thereof can they heare speake of these things without blushing and without apprehending the punishment that God reserueth for them for so many euils and mischiefes whereof they are authors Yea when they shall represent vnto themselues the images of so many poore citizens as they haue seene fallen in the streetes all starke and stone dead through famine the little infants and sucking babes to die at the breasts of their languishing mothers drawing the breast for nothing and not finding what to sucke the better sorte of the inhabitants and the souldiers to goe through the towne leaning vpon a staffe pale and feeble more white and more wanne than images of stone resembling rather ghosts than men If they be so good how bad are the rest and the inhumaine and discourteous answer of some euen of the Ecclesiasticall persons who accused them and threatned them in steed of succouring or comforting them Was there euer barbarousnes or crueltie like to that which we haue seene and indured Was there euer tyrannie and domination matchable to that which we see and indure Where is the honour of our vniuersitie Where are the colledges Where are the schollers Where are the publike readings and lectures to which people did run from all the partes of the world Bookes turned into blades a good change Where bee the religious students in the couents They haue all taken armes and beholde they are become all of them vnruly and wicked souldiers Where are our chasses Where are our precious reliques Some of them are molten and eaten vp other some are buried in the grounde for feare of robbers and sacreligious persons Where is that reuerence that men caried once to the people of the Church or Clergie and to the sacred mysteries The diuell a lie it is Euery one now maketh a religion after his owne manner and diuine seruice serueth for no other vse but to deceiue the world through hypocrisie the priests and preachers haue so set themselues on sale and made themselues so contemptible by their offensiue life that men regarde them no more nor their sermons neither but when they are to be vsed to preach and spread abroade some false newes Where are the princes of the blood that haue been alwaies sacred persons euen as the pillars and staies of the crowne and of the French Monarchie Where are the Peeres of France that should be the first here to opē to to honor the Estates Al these names are no more but the names of porters wherof some make litter for the horses of the Messieurs of Spayne and of Lorraine Where is the Maiestie and grauitie of the Parliament heretofore the defender of Kings and the mediator betweene the people and the Prince A prison as we would say here the Fleete or Tower You haue caried it in triumph to the Bastille and authoritie and iustice ye haue led them captiue more insolently and more shameleslie than the Turkes woulde haue done You haue driuen away the best sorte of people and retained none but rascals or of scourings who are either full of passions or else base minded Besides euen of them that doe remaine ye will not suffer so few as foure or fiue to say what they thinke and you threaten them also Hee meaneth some kinde of torture or torment to giue them a billet as vnto heretikes or politikes And yet you would make men beleeue that that you doe is for no other respect but for the preseruation of religion and of the estate This is well said but let vs a little examine your actions and the cariage or behauiour of the King of Spayne towards vs and if I lie one word A fearefull execration let Monsieur Saint Denis and Madame Saint Genuiefue the great patrons of Fraunce neuer helpe me I studied a little while in the schooles and yet not so much as I desired but since I haue seene diuers countries and trauailed into Turkie and thorow out all Natolia and Sclauonia euen vnto Archipelagus and mare maior A good touchstone indeede and Tripoli of Syria where I found the saying of our Sauiour Christ to bee true By their fruites yee shall know them Men knowe sufficiently enough what are the intentions and inuentions of men by their works and by their effects First I will speake it and yet with an honorable preface that the King of Spayne A mannerly man is a great prince wise subtill and very aduised the most mightie and hauing the greatest territories of all Christian princes and that he should be yet so much the more if all his lands countries and kingdomes were sure and ioyned one of them to another But France which is betweene Spayne and the Iowe countries is the cause that his separate and disioyned Lordships No lie surely
all ecclesiasticall order causing the priests religious men and religious women and all to fall to wicked life wasting benefices and abolishing Gods seruice throughout all the plaine countrie and notwithstanding we persisted as before without hauing any pitie of so many desolate and straying soules forsaken also of their pastors which languished and pined away without religiō without feeding and without administration of any Sacrament In fine sith we agree together Like sinnes like punishments and are like in so many meetings of things to the citie of Ierusalem what other thing can we look for than a whole ruine and vtter desolation as theirs was vnles God by an extraordinarie miracle giue vs againe our right wit and sense For it is impossible that wee can any longer time indure thus being alreadie so beatē down fainting sluggish with lōg ficknes that the very sighs and groanes which we fetch are nothing els but the very hickcockes or pangs going before death We are shut vp pressed inuaded And that is not very good cōpassed in on all sides and wee take not the ayre but the stinking ayre that is within our walles from our myres and sinkes for all the rest of the ayre from the libertie of the fields is withheld from vs. Wherfore ye free cities learne learne I say by our damage and losse to gouerne your selues from this time forward after another fashion suffer not your selues to be mislead and haltred as you haue been by the charmes and inchauntments of the preachers who are corrupted with money with some hope which some princes giue thē who aspire nothing but to ingage you and to make you so weake so souple easie to bee bent that they may play with and enioy at their own pleasure your selues your riches your libertie and all For concerning that which they would make you beleeue touching religion An apt comparision it is but a maske or visor wherewith they busie the simple as the foxes couer their footing with their long tailes that so they might catch them eate them vp at their pleasure A common vse indeede Haue you euer seene any other respects in them that haue aspired after tyrannous gouernment ouer the people than this that they haue alwaies made taken and vsed some goodly title and shew of the common wealth or of religion And yet when question hath been of comming to some agreement their particular interest and profit hath alwaies been in the vantgard and they haue set the benefit and good of the people behinde as a matter that did not touch them Or else if they were victors and did ouercome their end was alwaies to bring vnder and churlishly to vse the people by whome they were ayded and assisted to come to the very top of their desires But so are not they that defend such things And I am abashed seeing that all histories as well olde as new are full of such examples to behold that yet there are found men so poore in vnderstanding as to rush vpon and to flie vnto this false lure The historie of the ciuill warres and of the reuolt which was made against Lewis the eleuenth is yet fresh and as wee say bleeding new An example The Duke of Berry his brother and certaine Princes of Fraunce raised vp and hartened by the King of England and yet somewhat more encouraged by the Countie of Charolois vsed no other colour for leuying of their armies than the benefite and comfort of the people and kingdome But in the ende when they were to come to composition or agreement they intreated of nothing but to increase to one his yearely pension and to giue offices and friendly conditions of agreement to all those that had assisted them without any more mention of the commō wealth than of the Turke If you will wade somewhat higher in the French Chronicles you shall see that the factions of Bourgongne and of Orleans were alwaies coloured with the comforting or easing of the taxes or of the euill gouernment of the affaires and yet notwithstanding the intent of the principall heads thereof was nothing else but to keepe vnder the authoritie of the kingdome and to giue one house aduātage against another as the issue hath alwaies made plaine proof of it Though hee should haue done it did it indeed sometimes yet of late you haue vniustly detayned the same For in the end the King of Englād caried alwaies away some part of it for his share the Duke of Bourgongne did neuer depart without some citie or countrie which he tooke for his bootie Whosoeuer will finde leasure to reade this historie shall finde therein our miserable age naturally and liuely set out vnto vs. He shal see our preachers the blowfires and bellowes of contention that ceased not to intermeddle therein as they doe at this daye though at no hand there was then question touching religion they preached against their King they caused him to bee excommunicated as they doe at this present They set vp propositions and vsed disputations in Sorbonne against the good citizens and common wealths men as they doe now A man might haue behelde then murders and slaughters of innocent people and of furies and outrages committed by the people themselues euen as ours doe Our mynion the late Duke of Guise is there represented and set out in the person of the Duke of Bourgongue False and speken like a Frenchman for our Kings had and haue a lawfull right and our good protector the King of Spaine in that of the King of England You therein see our easines to beleeue and simplicitie accompanied with ruiues desolations sackings burnings of townes and suburbes such as we haue seene and see continuallie vpon vs and vpon our neighbours The common good was the charme or witcherie that stopped vp our predecessors eares but indeede the ambition and the reuengement of these two great houses was the true and first cause as the ende discouered it And thus haue I deducted and laide out vnto you that first the iealousie and enuie of those two houses of Bourbon and of Lorraine and since the onely ambition and couetousnes of these of Guyse haue bin and are the only cause of all our mischiefes miseries It is the cup of fornication mentioned in the Apocalyps But as for the catholike Romane religion it is the drinke wherewith they haue infatuated vs and caused vs to fall on sleep and a poyson wel sweetned with sugar and which serueth for an obstupatiue or benumming medicine to astonish or benumme all our members which whilest we are on sleepe wee feele not when they cut away now one piece then an other euen one after an other and that which remaineth be but as a truncke which very quickly will leese all the blood and the heate and the very life it selfe thorow ouermuch euacuation In the same historie doe yee not find also as it were
them to content there withall their owne bad spirit of euill speaking which some of them thought to bee the chiefe goodnes And there are great numbers of them found in our countrie of Parresie who loue rather to lose a good friend then a good word or a merrie iest applied well to the purpose Wherfore it is not without cause that they haue intituled this little discourse by the name Satyre though that it be written in prose being yet notwithstanding stuffed and stored with gallant Ironies pricking notwithstanding and biting the very bottome of the consciences of them that feele themselues nipped therewithall concerning whom it speaketh nothing but trueth but on the other side making those to burst with laughter that haue innocent hearts and are well assured that they haue not strayed from the good right way As concerning the adiectiue Menippized it is not new or vnusuall for it is more then sixteene hundred yeares agoe that Varro called by Quintillian and by S. Augustine the most skilfull amongst the Romanes made Satyres of this name also which Macrobius sayth were called Cyniquized and Menippized to which he gaue that name because of Menippus the Cynicall Philosopher who also had made the like before him al ful of salted iestings poudred merie conceits of good words to make men to laugh and to discouer the vicious mē of his time And Varro imitating him did the like in prose as since his time there hath done the like Petronius Arbiter Luciā in the Greek tongue since his time Apuleius and in our age that good fellow Rabelaiz who hath passed all other men in contradicting others and pleasant conceits if hee would cut off from them some quodlibetarie speeches in tauernes and his salt and biting words in alehouses Wherefore I cannot tell what manner of men these daintie ones are that thinke some doe euill that according to the example of these great personages ment to giue vnto a like worke a like title vnto that of theirs which is now become common and as we say appellatiue whereas before it was proper and particular as not long time since a learned Flemming and a good Antiquarian hath vsed the same And this is al that I can tell you in this respect If you desire any other thing I will tell you my aduise or opinion Then sayd I vnto him I am sufficiently satisfied as touching the title but there is very great disputation amongst some what the author should meane by these tearmes Higuiero of hell for there are very many persons that knowe not what it meaneth and make thereof sundrie horned and ill fauoured interpretations such as in my minde the author himselfe neuer thought of I knowe very well sayd he that there are diuers that desire to play about the affinitie of the words some to make themselues merrie therewith and others to draw the author into enuie but there is much oddes betweene eight and eighteene and a great difference betweene breathing and whistling I haue heard my cousin a hundred times say and I knowe it also as well as hee that Higuiero of hell signifieth no other thing in the Castillian or Spanish tongue but the Figge tree of hell For the Spanyards as also the Gascoignes turne the F into H as hazer harina hijo hogo higo for faire that is to do farine meale fils a sonne feu fire figue a figge And this at this time is but too common in Paris where the women haue learned to speake as well as to doe after the Spanish manner Where he sayth then that the drugge of the Spanish Iugler or Apothecarie was called Higuiero of hell it is for diuers reasons First because the figge tree is a wicked and an infamous tree the leaues whereof as we may see in the Bible haue serued heretofore to couer the priuie parts of our first parents after that they had sinned and committed high treason against their God their father and creator euen as the Leaguers to couer their disobedience and ingratitude against their King and him that hath done thē all good haue taken the Catholigue Apostoligue and Romane religion and thinke therewith to hide their shame and sinne This is the cause also why the Catholicon of Spayne that is to say the pretext which the King of Spayne and the Iesuites and other preachers wonne by the double duckets of Spayne haue giuen to the seditious and ambitious Leaguers to rebell against their naturall and lawfull King and to fall away from him and to make in their owne countrie warre more dangerous than ciuill may very properly bee called the Figge tree of hell in steed that that wherewith Adam and Eue did couer their open sinne was the Figge tree of Paradise And euer since that time this tree hath alwaies been accursed and of euill name amongst men bearing neither flowers nor any buddes nor any thing els to garnish it withall and the very fruite it selfe hath from thence been drawne to name the most dishonest part of women and the most filthie and foule disease that breedeth in the parts that wee cannot well name You are not ignorant of this also that the ancient people did account this tree amongst the gibbets or gallowses as for example whē Timon the Athenian would haue plucked vp one of them that did him some anoyance in his garden and whereupon sundrie had in former time been hanged he caused to bee proclaimed with the sound of a trumpet that if any were willing to be hanged he should dispatch and come thither quickly because he ment to cause it to bee pulled vp by the rootes Plinie teacheth vs that this tree hath not any sent or sauor no more hath the League Againe that it easily casteth her fruite and so hath the League done that it receiueth all manner of corruptions as the League hath receiued all sortes of people and that it doth not last or liue long no more hath the League done and that the greatest part of the fruite which appeareth at the beginning neuer commeth to ripenes no more hath that of the League But that which yet better agreeth with it and hath many more conformities with the League than S. Frauncis hath with our Lord is the Figge tree of the Indies which the very Spanyards themselues haue named the Figge tree of hell Concerning which Mathiolus sayth thus much for truth that if a man cut but onely one leafe from it and set but the one halfe thereof within the ground it will take roote there and afterwards vpon that leafe there will growe an other leafe and so leaues growing vpon leaues this plant becommeth hie as it were a tree without bodie stalke branches and as it were without rootes in so much that we may reckon it amongst the miracles of nature Is there any thing so like and so much resembling the League which of one leafe that is to say of a very small beginning is become by little and little from one
than Master Mousche or flie These beastes forget some times their gouernours speciallie if they change their habite or attire hee shall not bee ill parted with if hee come to his pretentions whereto you Monsieur the Lieutenant and Monsieur of Lyons will doe him I beleeue very good offices The whole summe Messieurs you are too many dogges to gnawe one boane you are iealous and enuious one of another and you can neuer tell how to agree or liue without warre that would put vs into worse estate than before But I will tell you let vs doe Deepe counsell as they haue done in the consistorie for the election or choyse of a holy father when two Cardinals sued and laboured for the popedome the other Cardinals for feare they should incurre the hatred of the one or of the other chose one amongst themselues the weakest backed of them all and made him Pope Let vs doe so you are foure or fiue robbers in the realme all great Princes and such as haue no want of appetite and stomacke I am of aduise that not one of you should be king wherefore I giue my voyce to Guillot Fagotin the keeper of Gentilly a good vine dresser and an honest man who singeth well at the deske A worthie example and knoweth all his office or seruice booke by heart This will not be found without example in such times as this is witnesse the Harelle of Roane where they made king one named le Grasse or the fatte one as wee would say who was much worse aduised than Guillot And thus you see whereupon I founde and grounde mine aduise I haue read sometimes the great and diuine Philosopher Plato who saith that those realmes are happie where Philosophers are kings and where kings are Philosophers Now I know that it is little more than three yeares since that this good gardian of Gentilly and his familie together with his kine meditated day and night Philosophie in a ball of our colledge in which there is more than two hundred good yeares that men haue read and treated and disputed publikely philosophie and all Aristotle The place sanctifieth the person with these men in all matters and all fortes of good morall bookes It is not possible that this good man hauing raued slumbred and slept so many dayes and nights within these philosophicall walles where there haue been made so many skillfull lessons and disputes and so many goodly wordes vttered that there should not something thereof abide that hath entred pierced and penetrated into his braine as it did to the poet Hesiodus when hee had slept vpon mount Parnassus And this is the cause why I persist and meane that he may as well be king as another Now as Monsieur Roze ended these wordes there sprong out a great murmuring amongst the deputies some approuing other some reprouing his opinion and the princes and the princesses were seene to whisper in the eare one of another yea it was hard that Monsieur the Lieutenant saide very basely to the Legate A prophesie and no lie this foole here will marre all our misterie Notwithstanding the foresaid Roze would haue continued his speech but when hee sawe the noyse to begin againe with a certaine generall clacking of hands he rose vp in choler and cried with a very loude and outstretched voyce How now Messieurs Is it permitted here to speake what one thinketh Haue not I libertie to speake and conclude my arguments as Monsieur of Lyon hath done I know well that if I had been a courtier as he I should not haue named a person for he hath charge from the clergie to name Countie du Bouchage Frier Angell for the hope that this Prince louing change would change also our miseries into stroakes or blowes from heauen But I pray you keepe him to be are the golden torch in the battailes for it ought to be enough for him that he hath quite forsaken the bagge and the wallet At these wordes euery one began againe to crie to whistle to hisse and though the heraulds the vshers porters and all cried aloude Hush and be still the word peace is a bull-begger let euery man holde his tongue not daring to speake the worde peace there and that Monsieur the Lieutenant sundrie times commaunded them to make silence yet it was not possible to appease the bruite and noise in so much that the sayd Lord Rector sweate fret fomed and stroke with his foote and seeing that there was no more meane to take his theame againe cryed as loude as hee could Messieurs Messieurs I see well that you are in the Court of King Petault where euery one is master I leaue it to you and you to your selues let another speake I haue spoken And thereupon he set himselfe downe againe mumbling very much and wiping the sweate from his forehead and there scaped from him as some say certaine odoriferant belchings of the stomacke that smelled of the perfume of his choller with certain words in a low note Good stuffe but there can come nothing els from thece complaining that they had defrauded the assignation sent out of Spayne for my masters the Doctors and that others had made their profite of it but that this was the gold of Tholouze which should cost them very dearely At the last the rumour beginning a little to bee reappeased Monsieur du Rieu the younger Countie and gardien or keeper of Pierre-font deputie for the Nobilitie of France apparrelled with a little cape after the Spanish fashion and a certaine high coppin tancked hat lifted vp himselfe to speake and hauing twise or thrise put his hand to his throate which did itch he began in forme following The Oration of the Lord of Rieu Lord of Perrierefont for the nobilitie of the vnion Or Roration rather as you shall perceiue by the things contained herein and the manner of the handling thereof MEssieurs I knowe no cause why they haue deputed me to beare the word in so good a companie for all the Nobilitie on our side I must needes say that there is some diuine thing or matter in the holy vnion seeing that by the meanes thereof of a commissarie of the artillerie poore miserable enough I am become a gentleman and the gouernour of a very faire fortressc yea that I may equall my selfe to the greatest and am one day to mount very high either backward or otherwise I haue good occasion to followe you Monsieur the Lieutenant and to doe seruice to this noble assemblie by black or by white He dwelleth by euill neighbours by wrong or by right seeing that all the poore Priests Friers and good people deuout Catholikes I assure you doe bring mee candles and adore mee as a S. Maccabee of times passed This is the cause wherefore I giue my selfe to the liueliest and quickest of the diuels that if any of my gouernment thrust in himselfe to speak of peace I runne vpon him as
a grey or russet woolfe Let warre liue there is nothing but to haue it of what part soeuer it befall I see I cannot tell what nicenes of our nobilitie that speake of preseruing religion and the estate altogether and that the Spanyards shall lose in the ende the one and the other if we suffer them to doe it Touching my selfe I meane nothing of all this prouided that I leuie taxes daily and that they pay me my appointmēts I care not what betide the Pope Wel and wisely added or the pretie wench his wise I am after my intelligences to take Noyon if I can bring it about to effect I shall be Bishop of the towne and of the fields to and shall make a mouth at them of Compeigne In the meane while I chase the cowe and the inhabitant also as much as I can and there shall not be peasant husbandman or merchant round about me and within tenne miles compasse that shall not passe by my hands and that shall not pay me custome and raunsome I know inuentions to make them come to reason I giue them whipcordes A right comparison or the ends of cordes tyed with knots vpon them after the fashion of the Franciscane Friers girdle I hang them vp by the arme holes I heate their feete with a red hot frying pan I put them in yrons and in the stockes I shut them vp in an ouen in a chest that is powred full of water I hang them as a capon to be rosted I beate them with stirrop leathers I salt them I make them to fast I tye thē being stretched out within a fanne Briefly If crueltie be gentlenes I haue a thousand gentle meanes to draw out the quintessence of their purses and to haue their substance and to make them beggers and vagabonds for euer they and all their race What care I for that so I haue it Let no man speake to me hereupon touching the poynt of honor I know not what it meaneth There are that boast they are descended of these olde Knights of France that chased the Sarasins out of Spayne and put King Peter againe into his kingdome Othersome say that they are of the race that went to conquer the holie land with S. Lewis Others that they are come downe from them that haue sundrie times placed the Popes againe in their seates or that haue driuen the Englishman out of France and the Bourguignons out of Picardie or that haue passed the mountaines for the conquests of Naples and of Millan Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh which the King of Spayne hath vsurped against vs. I care not for all these titles and goodly conueiances nor for armes whether they were timbred or not timbred I would be a villaine of foure descents or races so that alwaies I may receiue taxes without yeelding an account I haue not read neither the bookes nor the histories and Annales of France I haue nothing to do with this to know whether it be true that there were Paladins and Knights of the round table that made profession of nothing but of honor and to defend their King and their countrie and would rather bee dead then receiue a reproach or suffer that one should doe iniurie to an other I haue heard reckoned vp by my grandmother in carrying her butter to market to sell that there had been sometimes one Gaston de Fois one Countie de Dunois one la Hire one Poton one captaine Bayart others who became inraged for this poynt of honor and to get glorie to the Frenchmen But I take my leaue of their good graces as in this regard An example or description of a lustie cutter such a one as was Kain Lamech or Nimrod I haue a good rapier and a good pistolet and there is neither Sergeant nor Prouost of merchants that dare summon or arrest me Fall out what may it is sufficient for me that I am a good Catholike Iustice was neuer made for gentlemen such a one as I my felse am I will take the kine and the cocks and hennes of my neighbour when it shall please me I will raise vp the rents of his lands I will take them away againe and shut them vp with mine owne within my inclofure and yet he shall not dare to mumble or grumble at it All shall be for my good comelines I will not suffer my subiects to pay taxes or toles but to my selfe and I counsell you Messieurs the nobles to doe euen so And so indeede there shall be no neede of treasurers and financiers or recesuers of reuenues that may make themselues fat with and vse the substance of the people as the coleworts of their garden Ill sworne and like a new vpstart gentlemā By the death of God if I finde either sergeant or receiuer or man of iustice doing exployt vpon my lands without demaunding leaue of me therefore I wil make them eate their parchemine we haue indured enough are we not free Monsieur Lieutenant haue not you giuen vs license to doe all things and Monsieur the Legate hath not he layd the bridle in our neckes Good counsel of a ghostly father to take all the goods of the politikes to kill and to murther kinsfolkes friends neighbours father and mother prouided that therein we doe our owne businesses and that we be good Catholikes without euer speaking either of truce or of peace I for my part will doe so and I pray you also to do the like But I haue yet another thing to remonstrate vnto you that is not to speake any more of this Salique law I know not what it is He meaneth double duckets but Seigneur Diego hath giuen it mee by memorie with some round peeces that will doe me great good This in the whole is the matter that wee must goe sacke these same furred hoods of the court of Parliament that play the galants and meddle with the affaires of the estate where they haue nothing to doe but to see and behold O that you would giue them me but a little to manage neuer did Bussie the clerke doe his worke so well If Monsieur the Legate commaund me only to goe to them and put my hand on their necke or breast there is not either square cappe or hood that I will not make flye about if they heate mine eares ouer much yea to this Monsieur Maistre and to this du Vayr that set all the rest in traine Monsieur Lieutenant why giue you not order for it Know you not wel that the president de Nully hath told you named by name by surname all they that haue spoken for this wicked lawe Why doe you not send for them and throw them into the riuer as he hath counselled you And this goodly fellowe Marillac that was so much heate at the beginning Crueltie causeth it and spake of nothing but fire and bloud I feare at the