great preparatiues for war against him did make me stedfastly to belieue that hee could haue no means to kéep himselfe from vs wherevpon my selfe as well as many other did according to my duetie bring in whatsoeuer I was able togither with my own person and notwithstanding all our delaies and the lingering of our purposes yet did I not neuertheles dispaire of good successe but now am I forced to pluck my pin from the stake and earnestly to open mine eies to perceiue the causes of our misfortune togither with the necessitie of a farther cause of mischiefe wherof this late one is but the first or at the least the most apparant beginning Not my maisters that I will resemble those foules which so soone as colde weather commeth on doe habandon euerie climate by anie rash alteration of my wil which so long and resolutely I haue alwaies kept For I protest that of all the reasons that may bee imagined in this noueltie I do admit onely the same which setteth before me the preseruation of that estate for the which so farre I am from all feare of the losse of my first pretence that I wish rather to lose my selfe and in the name of God doo exhort you so wel to try my aduice that you may allow therof and ensuing the same shew so good an example to the rest of Frāce that sith your selues are the light that should lighten vs this estate may also by your meanes recouer her auncient brightnesse and this oppressed people perfect reliefe from all their afflictions To enter therefore into the matter my selfe haue alwaies béene through zeale to religiō thrust for ward whensoeuer there fell out any spéech of the defence thereof I came as hotely as might be desired Now this religion I alwaies held in such sort as I receiued of my predecessors and as I account it true saluation of my soule I preferred it before all other whatsoeuer worldly considerations Wherein I was confirmed not onely by this domesticall example but also by that doctrine which your selues haue alwaies deliuered vnto vs referring al that possibly I might vnto the authoritie which long you haue obteined and kept among our nation I will not bee ashamed to say that in this case I haue willingly reposed my selfe vpon you as imagining that you would not damme your selues in sport as also that in so good company I could not doo amisse In consideration wherof I neuer troubled my selfe much about the search into the depth of these misteries and difficulties wherein your schoole is as it were plunged leauing to you the arguing in words and reseruing to my selfe the decisions in action wherewith as néede required to yéeld authoritie to your decrées and for my part stoutly to oppose my selfe against all those that woulde withstand you howbeit vnder the authoritie of the soneraigne magistrate to whom I neuer doubted of my due obedience Hereupon I alwaies supposed that our warre was not lawful against al such as shot against you and sought to subuert your doctrine accounting them verie heretikes Apostataes from the Church with whom we were to striue euen for life considering that their opinions did for the most part kill vs by rauishing from vs through their frowardnesse that which I supposed you had imparted vnto vs in sincere and faithful consciences For this which I haue often heard you say did I take for an infalible principle that is to say That our Church can not erre also that to accuse you of error was such an error as deserued to be pursued with fire and sworde Thus was I neuer of any other mind but that we had a most firme and more than necessarie foundation euery way to persecute those whom men tearme Protestants So presumpteous a title could not I like of as in these latter ages Gods spirit threatneth vs with sundrie seducers so haue I alwaies accounted these men to be whereupon I haue detested their companies so farre haue I béene from sparing whatsoeuer I could possibly doe to vse against them all rigors whereby to roote them out For this cause doe I make great account of the deuotion which diuers of our kinges haue at sundrie times shewed But séeing that the more we striue the more this people increase the large expertence of these affaires maketh mee the more stacke in these matters and their late victorie which God hath giuen them causeth me to imagine that hee doth wholy fauor their cause also that whatsoeuer crosses hee doth by our hands lay vpon them hee doth neuerthelesse reserue vnto them a happie a comfortable end Disorder saith a certaine auncient breedeth good decrees and the reiteration of our transgressions when wee finde them doe worke vs to our knowledge wisedome yea the apprentiship of our owne losses is more strong and forceable then that which proceedeth of others harmes I doe therefore willingly suffer my selfe to bee carried away with that whose effects doe teach me to procéede further not that I will search out all the contentious pointes betwene the one and the other for as yet I haue not taken so much paines but onely in respect of the proceedings vsed against their persons and goods First you are all to debate in matter of religion you differ in sundrie articles and yet doe agrée in the ground which is one onely Iesus Christ mediator betwene God and man and sole head of the Chruch I pray you is this a matter to be decided by your murders is it such a controuersie as may bee so determined how can you graunt life to his soule whose bodely life you haue taken away how can you saue those to whom you graunt no time to belieue or how would you haue them to belieue without preaching vnto These be the ordinarie complaintes wherewith they vsually appeale from our pursutes which notwithstanding they séeme iust yet doe we stop our eares against them as against the maremaids song But why doe you denie them all frienndly conference for the decision of your controuersies I know you will answere that it is a matter that hath already beene preferred and yet hath not profited But the Lawiers haue taught me that whatsoeuer hath béene fraudulently done is accounted as wonne for in all our assemblies our procéedings haue béene vnperfect for proofe whereof I referre my selfe to the acts of the Councel of Trent and lately to the parley at Poyssy Concerning the first there was neuer action more impertinent then that wherein they were condemned and yet neither were or could be heard considering that their aduersaries were also their iudges as also your selues doe know that the French Church did neuer in all and through all alow of it witnesse the appeales there against made albeit I say nothing of the opposition of our kings whereby this counsaile may not be admitted as irreuocable in Fraunce otherwise we shall reueale our partialitie in ruling their condemnation after our owne fantasies and not according to the
his purposes as easily as he would wish neither can he at this day desire or put in execution any thing whatsoeuer with greater honour hauing obteined such a braue victory against vs which is perfect in all notable parts The death and imprisonment of all the chiefe Captaines except the L. of Lauerdin who séeing our conflict a far off went to saue him selfe and few others the winning of the field the taking of the artillery the burning of our armies lodgings the chace pursued foure leagues and a thousand other particularities which I heere omit Concerning the king of Nauarre I haue heard credibly reported that hée was one of the sharpest in fight buckled earnestly yea so farre foorth as by force to cary away Chasteau-renauds Cornet also to haue receiued a taint in the necke with a speare other blowes that bruised his hands and face To be briefe that hee shewed himselfe a Captaine in ordering his battailes and a souldier in fight As for the Prince of Conde that hee fought valiantly had one horse killed vnder him also that being horsed againe he tooke the L. of S. Luc prisoner who had before borne him downe That the Earle of Soisons in this first reencounter shewed so good proofe of his courage that he greatly cōtented his partakers gaue them good hope of himselfe for he ioyned earnestly and with his owne handes tooke the Marquesse of Piennes prisoner so as these thrée Princes fighting with their enemies fought so reciprocally whose vertue should best appeare that they haue no cause one to enuy an other sith they all shewed all duetie according as the occurrences ministred occasiō Neither is it to be doubted but these so assured Captaines did greatly assure their members among whom the L. of Turenne also had his horse slaine in the battell and entered verie farre as also did the L. of Trimouille who was noted of great courage and assurance in the front of his light horsemen Finally that there was no troope in all their army but had a share in the glorie of our ouerthrow Herein haue wee cause to be sory sith the hurt that we do to them do but prouoke our men and that either early or late they will finde meanes to requite vs howbeit at this time it is much more then a requitall neither is there any comparison betwéene all the harme that we haue done them yea albeit you set togither all that haue happened since the beginning of the troubles and the same which wee haue receiued in this battell One onelie short day hath recompēced all that they haue lost in two yéeres and a halfe which is the time since the league was reuealed and as farre as I sée wee are yet farre in their debts We haue séene all the mightie armies which the king hath sent out of all the prouinces of the realme to make an ende But shew mee now what fruit hath come of them The taking of townes wee haue taken none but such as they made no great account to kéepe and all but loures which were neuer as a mā should say of any name but through mishap And how haue we gotten them with large time excessiue expences and a world of labor and pollicie which heeretofore would not haue béen practised at the siege of Metz S. Quintins and other good Townes in our daies What haue we gained we haue taken nothing by assault and all our sieges haue ended by profitable and honourable composition for the besieged Neither haue our sieges any whit diminished their number sith the lawes of warre haue freed them from the fury of our weapons And which is worse Castillon the Duke of Mayns proudest trophee the taking whereof cost sixe weekes worke and six hundred thousand francks hath the Lord of Turenne recouered in one houre without any expense The king of Nauarre hath in lesse then thrée wéekes taken Tallemōt S. Messan Fontenay Maillezay Mauleon fiue or sixe good Castles more The said D. of Ioyeuse came to recouer these losses but hee spent most of his time in preparatiues and in the end at the siege of S. Maissā was driuen to discharge 113. Cannon shot against the which it had not cost the said king two hundreth Harquebuze shot and had it not béene for the ouerthrow that the said D. of Ioyeuse gaue to the Mothe of his two regiments of Collters and Clounes togither with the controuersies among the besieged we had not had it so soone or so easily As for Maillezay which the said Duke of Ioyeuse also tooke he did rather suprize then take it besides that the smal number of souldiers therein feared his purposes But Fontenay was of ouer hard digestion the Catholike forces gaue place to the Protestants of whom wée made so small account And whereas there died a good number of them as could not be otherwise chosen so if wée peruse the rowles of our army we shal find the the rule of substraction may séem sufficient to finde out our accounts The swoord the bad weather pouertie pestilence or other diseases haue taken away so many that wee haue but fewe left to habandon to the like mishappes and the woorst is wee neuer séeke to spare but rather doo séeme to practise this detestable saying Let our friends perish so as our enemies may perish also Moreouer wherein are their affaires empaired Wee haue kept the field but how For the most part in such seasons as the retraite into the Townes had béene more fit and safe against the iniuries of wind and snow in such a season I say as albeit they had béene as well able to haue kept the field as we yet had it béen wisedome to to habandon it vnto vs so to suffer vs to consume our selues with a million of inconueniences which fought against vs although they meddle not at all Likewise when the time fauoured our voyages besides that the same was but ouer short we haue found such resistāce in them they haue giuen vs so small hold that our selues haue beaten our selues with our owne paines and haue reaped but the dishonour of doing nothing and blame for working too much mischiefe and to be briefe all our fires are in the ende conuerted into smoake which hath choked vs. The raising vp of our bucklers were haughtie but when we came to the matter to take hold wee brought foorth nothing but confusion disorder wherein the king of Nauarres part hath béene rather vpheld then shaken so as we séeme to bee but the winds which breake vpon their constancy or magnanimitie Twentie yeares ago more might I haue learned how hard a matter it was vtterly to ouerthrow him but I neuer thought it vnpossible vntill these our last trials wherein he hath taught vs that hée either is a greater one then wée or else that he hath more supporters then wée haue force or both I will not be ashamed to confesse that at the beginning of these troubles our
nullitie of the iudgement which vndoubtedly is generall vntill by the reformation of those articles which we allow not there can bee no fault found therein For otherwise by taking and leauing what wee list wee shoulde play too open Such also the like priuiledge groweth of the same reason why will you not suffer the professors of the pretended reformed religion to enioy the like libertie of iudgement as your selues As for the parley at Poyssy I remember that the chiefe controuersie which concerned the sacrament of the altar was in a manner agréed also that looking into our owne consciences wee shall finde that our owne partakers vpon a politike discretion interrupted it lest the ouerthrow of that foundation shoulde haue pulled downe the whole building Euer since that time I imagined that it was well doone to sticke to antiquitie but since calling to mind that the ministers pleaded their cause out of the holy scriptures and the auncient Doctors conformable thereto I can not thinke but that except in respect of the time in case they verifie their allegations they can not be but well grounded and contrariwise that if wee speake but of the opinion of our Popes only who besides for the most part haue not béene the honestest men in the world we shall lose our cause outright But when I doe more nearely consider of your selues I doe runne into some further mistrust for can you that professe the vnderstanding and teaching of the scriptures want iudgement to comprehend them or fidelitie to deliuer them Shall these reformed persons haue that priuiledge aboue you to whome it hath béene purchased so long agoe Are you learned like to those high priestes mentioned in the holy scriptures among whom Gods law was perished Will God conceale his mysteries from your greatnes and reueale them to their basenes Can you forge vnto your selues anie Cabal in lew of the doctrine of Gods spirite Haue the subtilties of the serpent made you to rebell against your creator I dare not imagine thus much of you albeit your aduersaries doe sufficiently cast it in your téeth But I coulde rather wish them to abstaine from iniuring of you and to bee content simply to expound their owne sayings as also that you did the like by them howbeit you haue growne so far into wordes with them that we haue beene at handiblowes for your sakes whereby these braules doe séeme to bee the more irreconciliable wherein I said that hetherto we haue taken a verie wrong course in ministring a corsiue to the wound before we tryed such suppliant ointments as might peraduenture haue yéelded some ease The mischiefe was but in bréeding but we through our hastie and headlong procéedings haue sodenly brought it to extremitie so that in lew of appeasing these troubles of the Church wee haue also brought in the troubles of the Estate as if our peace depended onely vpon confusion yea we haue so shusled the Cardes that we can not finde againe the principall We all haue beene forced to grow so obstinate in your obstinacies that for the preseruing of you some haue hazarded and others quite lost them selues for the maintaining of your rents we haue spent our owne for your amitie we haue entred enmitie with our owne kinsmen vnder the pretence of the honour of God men haue shamefully entreated men to be briefe Religion hath caused vs in the insolencies of our warres to treade all religion vnder foote also whereas it had béene more méete and profitable gently to haue reduced those that were strayed to the folde wee haue beene their butchers In lew of shewing the way to those that went amisse wee haue thrust them into the mire in lew of presenting Ioseph vnto Iacob wee haue shewed onely his garment tainted in bloud whiles him selfe mourned in the pitte in lew of receyuing the angels with the conuersion of these miserable persons we haue made them sorrowfull through their deathes neuerthelesse God desireth not the death of a sinner but rather that he may bee conuerted and liue The holy Ghost speaketh of the spirituall death whereof we are the cause when we preuent their repentance with their destructions What profit haue you found in giuing vs counsell euen from the beginning to take arme against the pretended reformed Did you not meane that they should haue béene rooted out and we preserued haue yee your desires Are not you I pray you guiltie of the deathes of so many as vpon simplicitie haue followed your counsels with what consciences doe you staye vs to kill others are not you the executioners to both parties sée you not that in lew of diminishing their number you lessen ours that wee lose as many friendes on our owne partes as enimies of theirs that we can not weaken them without weakening of our selues what profit is there in this equalitie They render you blow for blow assault for assault battell for battell victorie for victorie and in the end you are alwaies forced to accept of their conditions of peace yet is there nothing that can make vs giue ouer We still play the kites with their bowels which neuerthelesse doe dayly grow vp againe we ordinarily draw away their bloud which neuer dryeth vp and which is worse we still incurre as much losse as we procure them and consuming our enimies doe wast our owne bloud and yet can not perceiue that you be any whit moued at our miseries as if our labours were your rest and our sorrowes your contentation you laugh when others wéepe and neuer cease thrusting forward the wheele of these calamities whereby to assure your felicitie But I can not finde that we haue any profit in all this and I wonder that our long expence which we haue had these twentie or twentie and fiue yeares can not instruct vs in our lesson This is the seuenth ciuill warre that wee haue leagued against these reformed and yet we are now to beginne True it is that we haue wun some victories but all is but vanitie if we haue gotten the field alas wee haue séene it couered likewise with a great part of our owne men and returning into our tents wee haue heard the mournings at our owne families At our departure thence what haue we done but made warre to the end to purchase peace what is become of all our purposes to roote out this people whom wee haue found so resolute in their defence we haue returned thence into our closets then with shame and misfortune then haue we sodden them againe but they that haue endeuoured to digest them haue found them to bee but fish And yet are wee so farre bewitched as among all these diseases to thinke that we be in health still there are some firebrands readie to kindle our dissentions and they that shoulde cast on water doe poure on oyle brimstone and pitch least the fire should goe out When I examine all these procéedings I leaue to the persecuted and in my doubt of religion I doe the more
the world whē the head of the Church shall holde his last Councell Not that I would at euerie word so trouble the Bishops or for the least ache that may happen to our fingers end but when the mischief is vniuersall we must séeke the like remedie The Gréeke and Latine Church met fouretéene or fiftéene times to conclude vpon an agréement and albeit there rested some difficultie as yet there is they neuerthelesse neuer denounced warre each to other There are nous but these reformed who haue swallowed vp all iniurie in being debarred this soueraigne salue of reunion by a Councell I saie by one onely Councell so farre are wee from graunting them many vpon necessitie What can you terme this refusall but stomake and iniury I would neuer haue thought they had had so much reason on their side Wee haue wished to arme the king of Nauarre yea euen by force to compell him rather then to straine our selues to cōdiscend to so iust a demand Touch me hath he said to you if I be ignorant and ye haue beaten him hee hath harkened to you and ye haue stopped your mouthes hée hath asked you the way to heauen and yee haue stopped your eares Your voice hath béen like to the voice of the Edomites at the taking of Hierusalem and all men haue heard you cry on sacke blood and fire Out of your schooles as out of the Troyan horse haue sodenly stepped forth these armies wherewith ye haue threatened this prince yea they haue béen almost vpon his armie before he hath béen readie to beate them of This is a matter in fresh remembrance and euery man can beare me witnesse of the truth the more I consider it the better ground doe I And for their taking of armes yea there was neuer thing more iust then their procéedings He defendeth himselfe but being assailed He pursueth vs but after he had reculed hée taketh reuenge but being iniured He calleth the stranger but when his haue driuen him away Who then can mislike his resolution after so long patience Wee shoote at him who can then blame him for looking to himselfe Wee vndermine his honours and dignities why then shall not hee rampier them vp againe Oh how deare will these brawles bee to France all the forces of the world doe séeme on euerie side to fall vpon vs for our confusion and dissipation And albeit I can comprehend the domesticall yet doe I more feare the forrein namely the Spanish who by little and little groweth licorous of the delicaties of our country Long haue they enuied vs neither wil they obserue the league vntill their enuy be contented For these enemies of the peace of France where they can by nothing but by vniustice violence will make a good peniworth of so much as shall be at their discretions to cast it into the throates of these Marans in hope still to retaine the superioritie But that nation is subtill enough to vse this meane to their owne aduantage and as within these fewe yéeres while they haue had a faire wind they haue not accustomed themselues to serue so wil it be hard for the French men to escape their dominion vnlesse they looke the sooner to it And this is it that king Philip barketh at this it is that he wanteth to accomplish his most large conquests this is the floure that hee wanteth in his nosegaie hee hath long since cast an eie at it and now is the time that hée will stretch foorth his hand to take it And indéed France is now but an Antes nest of Espaniolized persons that is to say of Traitors and periures to France their cofers doe swel with Spanish Duccats and these wretches are not ashamed for readie mony to sell the libertie which our Fathers so painfully purchased yea vnles God breake off the purposes of these corrupt persons we shal in the end find our selues the Turkes Ienissaries and this Pirats slaues If it were as easie to shake off the yoake as to take it I could wish these goodly perturbers a while to try the tiranny of these Busires and so I hope we should soone sée them runne back to their franchize but it lieth is vpon to kéep them from that yea from making euen the least motion that may be for these Foxes wil easily set fast wheresoeuer they can but reach their nailes all the bodie where they set their féete And sith part of vs do alreadie stoope vnder the burthen I hope that God will so strengthen the king of Nauar and all the princes of the blood the these staruelings shall loose but their longing Also if the princes do but continue their braue exploits I wold wish these pernitious Counsailors of that state to put vp their pipes sounde their retrait betimes lest the night of our common mishaps ouertake them And as for you my maisters I doe once againe beséech you to take pitie of this miserable realme Consider of what importance it is to kéepe a stranger armed about you giue eare to the wofull cries of so many widowes Orphanes and friendles laide desolate by the warres Measure not others mishappes by your ease neither vnder the pretence that the blowes touch you not thinke that those of your neighbors should not moue you to compassion If euer you loued this realme in her greatest eminency alas cherish those small beames that yet remaine Reare vp the old walles of this building with all your power suffer not these Erostrates to waxe noble in our ashes And behold the king of Nauarre watcheth vpon the conseruation therof beware ye sléepe not in your miseries when carefully you should looke for the meanes to make vs all to take rest in the swéetnes of peace Otherwise my masters looke for nothing but Gods iudgemēts against your hardned harts and for the fire of your seditions which you haue kindled the flame of condemnation which neuer will be quenched also the like punishment as Chore Dathan and Abiram for going about to diuide the Lords Tabernacle For my part I will get mée to my owne home as into a safe port from whence I may behold your shipwracke and if in short space I can not sée you disposed to your safetie and that by your industry these warres do continue I protest to yéeld my selfe to these princes to encurre like fortune as they vntill they haue reaped the fruits of those labors which you laie vpon them which shal be a peace crowned with contentation by the helpe of God whom I beséech my maisters to enspire you with his grace and generallie to take pitie of his Church The King of Nauars song after his victorie SInce that my hands in victorie thy puissance Lord did know My toong shall not in silence rest till glory thine it show That forces theirs did not abate our courage ought at all Did shew that thou didst vs protect whereby their strength was small Their numbers great like dust in skie which winde driues here and there Thine Angell did disperse abroad so that we nought did feare And those who did their honour build vpon my fall whose pride All men adored I soone beheld distressed far and wide Which wonder strange to conquere those before I seemed to fight Doth shew that all our conquests comes through thy great power and might For as the rage of furious waues against the Rocke do breake So did their forces through thy helpe gainst ours sustaine the wreake Their courage great puft vp with hope exceedingly did swell Their pride did mount vnto the heauens from whence their ruine fell The eye which blood and murther sought and throat which open laie To blasphemy full gorged is with venome for their paie My heart O Lord full ioyfull is to see thy foes downe cast Who laide the giunes wherein them selues were game and praie at last They me pursued without a cause but they ouertaken were The knots of their deuises cut and iust rewards did beare So to represse the like outrage the Lords strong arme we neede Who faileth none which do him trust but paies the bad their meede The lēgth of time which brought our weale through our desert made short And God our cries did not neglect though we did his in sport Wherefore O Lord cry still and pearce mine eares vntill thy voice I heare and learne thee to obey in whom I may reioice Giue strength that in like dangers we amazed may not go And as thou hast begun so ende each worke the end doth show FINIS