that is that an old enemy friend is no friend vvhich prouerb though in christian reformed men it may nowe and then be falsified yet do I not see but in men vnregenerate by the gospell it remaynes true and to beleue it false is perilous to prince or priuate person in choyse of friend or allie But if these perswaders vvyll needes haue thys paynted man to be a man and thys no frend to be a friend yet is he of necessity a most daungerous friend by reason of hys largely spred dominion vvhich makes hym esteeme himselfe as the iron pot and vs as the earthen crock vvith whom vvhen he floteth on the sea he weens he can dash vs into shards at hys pleasure according to that embleme of Alciat And though by the might of the hygh potter of mankind framer of kingdoms he hath found our sides as hard as yron and vve haue found hym as brickel in our hands as clay yet the pryde he conceiueth in his owne might vvil make thys dreadles enemy an intollerable and an insolent friend to vs onlesse he may find vs as seruiceable as he found his old friend Scot land vvherein his old rancour styll lurkes and vvyll prouoke him to take any occasion Thus vnder trust on our side shal be shrovv ded treason on theyr part vvhich could neuer haue hys effect yf vve vvere styll enemies standing on our own gard and in nothing trusting them Again a most vnsure and slippery frend he is for they that seke vtilem amicitiam as he now doth vvil also sodenly break friendship inhonestae vtilitatis causa vvherein he hath the start of vs be fore vve ioyne vvhile vve standing on our honor and Christian conscience as it vvere at the listes shall giue none offence but vvith much adoe take any giuen pretermitting the best occasion of resisting in time the beginnings he that hath made ship vvrack of honor and conscience shal make hys profit of our conscience and lye in vvait to fall out for aduantage and to break thorough euen vvhatsoeuer surest band of alliance Furthermore a needlesse friendship is it vvhich vve seeke For hetherto vvithout theyr helpe and in despight of their beard vve continually haue holden our ovvn and many times preuailed vp on theyrr hauing thereforh tryed theyr mallice of 500. yeeres to be contemptible let vs not vvithout any need in the vvorlde accept theyr friendship novv vvhen it is most doubtfull least the title of loue compasse that which hatred could neuer come neere Lastly as in common alliances it is no credit to entertain a reiec ted friendship so is thys french alliance dishonorable to vs in respect it is the refuse of Scotland vvho being vveary of their pride and vntruth haue cast them off novv a good whyle since and all ther old neere felovvship vvith resolute purpose so to continue because they find much more profit and safetie in these more estranged termes of neighbourhode vvherein they stand presently then in theyr false insolent former friendship And to speak truth the honest late dealings of French are such and they so renoumed for an hatefull seede of an hatefull house as I suppose they are not like to find friendship els vvhere vvith any Christian prince of Maiestie especially to ioyne vvith them in this friendship of mariage vvhich made theyr present king Henry the thyrd as haughty as he is to stoupe to a mean mans daughter a vassal of his own And what if it vvere possible to make some thing of this no friend to hold thys vvett Eele by the tayle as they say and to haue his friendship fast and that the same vvould be in any thing needfull profitable vvithout perill and not dishonorable which in no vvise I admit yet vvill our losse be otherwise far greater thē hys friendship can yeld For first this new found french friend of fraunce vvilpresently cost vs our old friend of Burgondy vvhich faythfull societie yf our vallant politîque auncesters preferred before that vntrusty alliance vvith Fraunce enen then vvhen it was not yet maryed to Austrich nor crovvned vvith Spayn vvhen it vvas not yet enlarged vvith hir Italian dominions and midsea Iles nor enriched vvith her golden Indians if also then it were more profitable to vs then Frannce hovv shall Fraunce be novv to be preferred before it or proue more profitable to vs novv then that And it is not onely for peace and vvarr that Burgondy hath ben entertayned before Fraunce but euen to this day the merchaunts vvyll tell you that the onely lovv countryes here at hand of that dominiō are more worth to vs for venting the surplusage and aboundance of our country commodities and for the transporting hither of the most necessary merchandise of forreign parts then is all Fraunce Secondly vve shall for thys ouerthvvart friend of Fraunce a professed enemy of religion vvhich onely knitts the trueloue knott cast of Scotlande a brother in christ vvhose profession as it hath made them nevv men in loue and loyallty to vs so do our deserts tovvard them hither vnto theyr need of our help henceforth make them vvholly ours vndoubtedly And if vve vvere in a brotherly perpetuall league vvith that state such as both our professions requires of vs both and such as our peculiar neighbourhode begs of vs who haue one bounds of the sea and but a small brooke that partes vs doubtles our mutual friendship vvould proue more mutually stronge and profitable then vvith any potentate seuered from vs by seas vvhose fayth if vve could assure our selues of yet can vve not haue it at all needes but must tary for the vvind and tyde All the religious states of Germany and other vvhosoeuer that haue gon from Rome vvill at once throvv avvay theyr Christen estimation of vs Those protestant princes vvho hauing tryed the faithlesnes of thys generation doe set their bodyes possessions and honors in the gappe for defence of Gods people in seuerall countryes from sclauery of conscience bodies goods vvyues and children vvyll in theyr lour lament our vnhappines that wil not not be vvarned by theyr harmes vvherein I merueil not a little at some vvho regarding neither modestie nor conscience for the aduauncing of thys mariage do sclaunder those religious princes as recommenders to vs of thys mariage agaynst vvhich their deedes doe speake and theyr vvords cry out And for all these losses I knovv not vvhat nevve friend comes in by thys house of Valoys in Fraunce oneles it be the house of Ottoman the great Turke vvith vvhom though Fraunce haue holden not a truce for a time but a continual amitie vvhich mought vvell ynongh be the cause vvhy the Pope decked hym vvith hys tytle of most christian king yet haue vve of England euer defyed hym vvith the rest of those kingdomes that beare the name of christ and it vvyll be for our Christian honor that no match vvorke the contrary
to feare if these Israelites feared so much at the building of an Altar vvhych vvas meant to the honour of God and onely contrary to the outward shevv of the vvordes of the lavve shall not vve tremble at thys Alter vvhich all the charity in the vvorld can not conceiue vvell of as that vvhich hath none vse but to serue the deuil good Nehemiah for one piece of thys our sin found in the people feared the wrath of God proclaymed publike fasting prayer Let vs folovv his example that the Lord may be still our God and remember vs to do vs good Much more haue vve to shake for that thys our turning frō God in straunge mariage and permitting strange Gods vvhich the liuing God turne from vs should be more foule and more grosse thenany of those former vvhiche neuerthelesse deserued and had such plagues For it cannot I dare say be shevved in all the holystory that those people of God in the vvorst mariage emōg them did yet euer make any precedent pact or articulat cōdition aforehand vvith the Idolaters that they should quietly agaynste the lavves of theyr holy land commit Idolatry but rather at firste the Idolaters dissembling theyr ovvne or making semblant of the true religiō fayre foftly vvan by little little through familiarity mutuall conuersation of lyfe after mariage by a stealing insinuation or flattery and creping persvvasion daungerous therefore to haue any sort of felovvship vvith the vvicked an open exercise of theyr paganisme But if any man perswade our Prince in vvhose handes the Lorde hath put and holden a soueraigne scepter of peace novv twenty yeeres and more and by vvhose handes the Lord hath quite expelled Idolatrye he make her and vs thankfull for it vppon cammunication of thys mariage to indent vvith man hovv farre God should be honoured vvhat is thys but to sinne more then the supposed sin of the Reubenites to excede the transgressions of Salomon or Iehoram euen to erecte an Idolatrous altar not in a corner of the Realme but on the hyghest hyll of the land in London vvhich is our Ierusalem and to make an open fault not of infirmitye but by addised composition agaynst the Lord and hys truth not in tvvo shires and a halfe but in the greatest part of the realme and head of the land our prince in so much as it should be safer to set vp a thousande hyll alters for hedgecreping Priestes other where rather then thys high Altar so neere the Court. The sinne of Achan though not in thys kind proues that the sin of one man and hym pryuate doen in secrete and buried close vnder the ground gaue forth such a stench in the Lords nostrels as was contagious to the vvhole host and hys garmente brought the plague emong them Much more shall the hygh sin of a highest magistrate doen and auoued in open son kindle the vvrath of God and set fire on church and common weale And this fire if it fasten on our church it is like wild fyre or fire from heauen that all the seas can not stoppe nor quench but the flakes thereof wyll flye ouer sea and keepe hauoke in the churches both on thys side and beyoind seas Our neighbour vvel builded church of Scotland must needes think hir selfe to haue some what in hand vvhen our wall is aburning The infant churches in the lovv countryes shall loose a nource of vs The elder churches in Garmani a sister of strength And vvhen I remember the poore orphane churches in france I must needes giue the pryce of godlesse impudencie to those vvhich vvyll needes forsooth mayntaine thys mariage as a mean to assure religion in fraunce and to preferue the professors there from more massacres These men haue lyke vnkind mothers put as it vvere theyr owne child the church of England to be nour sed of a french enemy and friend to Rome and novv very kindly they take in both armes the church of fraunce and giue it a priuy deadly nipp vnder colour of offering it their teates vvherein is nought but vvind if not poyson As therefore the ennemies to Gods truth seeke those churches ruin throug hatred to religion so should we who are members of one body vvith them haue a care of them as of our selues The enemies think there kingdom of Antichrist can not stand vnles Christ be put out of these churches let vs knovv as those reformed Churches next vnder God and theyr owne forces haue stoode by good neighbourhood euen so that there standing is our necessary strength Certainly the Pope seeth vvell that one great staye vvhy neyther the French King in Fraunce nor the Spanish king in the low countryes can destroy religion is the helpe and avve of other Princes confessing the gospell emong which our Queene is in regard with the chiefe A game he seeth as vvell that next vnder God one greate cause vvhy hys interdictions against vs take no place in England nor Ireland and that those kings to whom hee hath giuen our land as it vvere to vvhom soeuer occupanti can not come to take possession of vs is because that they of the reformed religion in both those countryes are as a brazen doore and an yron wall agaynst our popish enemies and therefore by thys match he seekes to sunder them from vs and vs from them and so by vnbarring our brazen doore and treading dovvne our vval to lay open hys passage to vs I vvill not therefore vouchsafe this straunge suppositon of these persvvaders the place of an obiection to be aunsvvered in the ende but vvill vse it for an other mayn reason of proofe in thys part that thys mariage is agaynst the church because it is agaynst the churches of Fraunce the vvhich it must needes kill in the place as they say and vvithall giue our church a deathes wound Here is therefore an imp of the crovvne of Fraunce to marye vvith the crovvned Nymphe of Englande It is proued alreadye that his comming shakes the church in Englande and hovv shall he stablish the religion in France VVhat is France to the church of God and to England for religions sake Fraunce is a house of crueltie especially against Christians a principll prop of the tottering house of Antichriste and vvithout vvhich our VVesterne Antichriste had bene ere this sent to his brother Mahomet into Greece vvhether he long sence sent his maisters the Emperoures of Rome The long and cruell persecutions in Fraunce the exquisite torments and infinite numbers there put to death doe vvitnes hovv worthy that throne is to be reckoned for one horn of that persecuting beast the primitiue Empire Thys man is a son of Henrye the second vvhose familie euer since he maryed vvith Catherine of Italie is fatal as it vvere to to resist the Gospell and haue bene euer oney after other as a domitian after Nero as a Traian after domitian and as Iulianus after Traian VVhose manifest cruelties and
detected trecheries against Gods church haue bene seuerally sealed with his visible markes of vengeaunce vvritten not vpon the vvall but successiuely on theyr carcasses vvith a heauēly fingar not by torch light but at noone day in the eyes and eares of the vvorld in so much as Baltazar the father had hys Maneh grauen in the apple of hys eye and that in the eysight of Anne du Bourg vvhose death for professing Christ he had voued to see His first son had his Tekel told in his eare vvhych rotted hym vvhyle he was yet aliue And his next sonn had his Phares marked in euery vent of hys body that as he had shed Christian blood vvith Iulianus so he mighte take of hys owne blood in his hand and saye with Iulianus Vicisti Galiaeè VVho vvould not tremble to come nere this kindred so vvrathfully marked of God vvho vvould become one vvith thys generation so hatefull to men let vs bost in this Galilean and defie Iulian. let vs vvith confidence glory in the crosse of Christ and not vouchsafe to ioine vvith these apostate princes This present king besides the sinnes of his auncesters haue giuen the Lorde cause enowgh of personall actious by hys owne excesses VVhich though the Lord doe not yet bring in vppon hym thorough hys long suffering yet assuredly there is a measure of hys wickednes measured out and a tyme for his iudgements vvhensoeuer the Saintes of God haue filled his bottle vvith teares The plague common to the house he hath That is he vvants one of his loins to sit vpon his seate So that vve see by proofe in three brothers that the Lord wyll not leaue one of Ahabs house An ill disposed body he hath a suspitious and fearefull mynde euen of hys friendes Touching thys prynce novv offered to thys church in mariage if he be behynd in mischiefes remember he is younger in yeeres and neuer came to that hability by myght of a kingdome to performe his inborne malice to the church and the discredit of hys brethern haue notably hindred hym that vvay Neuerthelesse so farre as his place vvould suffer he hath bene vsed to doe that seruice to Rome and damage to the church that he vvas fit for At the mas sacring mariage he vvas not old ynough to execute any thing but vvas set by hys mother to cry and vveepe at the cruelties that so shevving some misliking of them hys credit might be saued for such another desperate match all the rest of the credites of the king then and hys mother brother and sister being lyttle enough to colour that mischiefe since that tyme he hath bene set a vvorke in Fraunce and Flaunders diuers counterfeit fallings out betvveene hym and his brother and suddein appeasings VVhen he fled from the Court to Dreux declaring hymselfe protector of common liberty he quickly made first a truce and then a peace vvhereby to frustrate the gathering and keeping together of that great armie of protestants If hys meaning had bene but indifferent to religion he vvould not haue bene at that stately assembly and signed with them the abolishing of religion in Fraunce He vvas content to be vsed to pull townes out of the protestantes hands and in warres agaynst them namely La charite Issoire where after hys reuolt he committed such abominable cruelties and beastly disorders as if he novv meant neuer so good fayth had neuer so honest a mynd in these matters yet is it not lyke that this mans foule hands should lay one stone of Gods church Yea so farre is the Lord from blessing such a disloyall hand in his publicke seruice to the saluation of others that he curseth hym in publick and priuate in towne and field euen in hys ovvn soule and body to euerlasting death vnlesse he make open acknovvledgement of so open and shamefull outrages and perseuer in vvell doing After thys he leapes ouer Paris vvalles as fleeing frō the Court and tooke on hym the voyage into Flaunders vvyth shew of some tollerable mind to religion or at least to helpe the oppressed professors vouing vvith diuers solemne othes and making others to sweare that they vvould neuer come at the court againe and yet presently vpon his retorne he left his poore court all amased at Alencon and vvith tvvo or three gentilmen onely posted to yeeld himselfe into the kings hands vvith these words Syr I yeeld my selfe to you to dye at your feete in your seruice assuring you that neuer vvill I be estranged from you vvith moe lyke vvords such as detect greatly the French lightnes and french falshood in hym generall to all papistes of that nation The king vvith many embrasings and caresses gaue hym the best vvelcome in the vvorlde On vvhich day also came to the Court the Duke Guise the great ennemy to the church of God vvith fiue or sixe hundred horses vvith vvhom vvhatsoeuer vnkindnesses he had seemed before to haue he novv entered into a present familiariaritie and open kindnes VVhen vve speake therefore of Fraunce and of the practises there against the church of their some time mitigated nature tovvards Religion or of dissentions in apparance and bruites of ielousie vvhich the Queene mother puts as visarde vpon her practises vve must cast our eye wholly to her as the very soule whereby the bodies of the king of Mousieur of theyr sister Marguerit and of al the great ones in Fraunce do moue as a hundred hands to effect hyr purposes And vvhen we speake of Queene mother vve muste straightvvayes present before vs but a body or tronk vvherein the Pope moueth as hyr soule to deuise and haue executed vvhatsoeuer for the appetit of that sea euen as Necromancers are sayde to cary about a dead body by the motion of some vncleane spirit And thys soule of Fraunce as it hath bene moste eager and obstinately bent against Christes church in all thinges vvherein she entermedled so aboue the rest hath she bene a dāgerous practiser in mariages For to begin vvith the mariage of her other daughter into Spayne in the lyfe of her husband vvhat tyme a sister of hys vvas maryed into Piemont so three greate princes linked in a threefold cord as it vvere by that alliaunce all the world knoweth that the capital capitulation and article of inprimis as I may say in that threefold mariage was against God and his annoynted which strong cord though the Lorde vvhich is in heauen laughed to scorne and turned to the strangling of the tvvisters thereof insomuch as the father dyed presently and the daughter liued but a shorte tyme after and with small ioy yet hath not thys spyder left to twist once more And albeit in the mariage of the first daughter she spedde not so well by reason there was no sin of the church in it for they yoked themselues asses to asses yet in ioyning thys latter sister vvith the king of Nauarre she had better luck
forcible meanes of that holy leage of hostility decreed in the last Tridentine session doth novv remeÌ„ber an older Canon of constance vvhich is that fayth may not be holden vvith such as he takes for heritikes And therefore as one at his vvits end resolueth vpon thys conclusion slily to styr vp one of hys honourable sonnes to ioyne in mariage with our eldest daughter vvhich before hand he meanes though it be agaynst his ovvne savv to dispence vvith knovving assuredly by the experience of that old false prophet that vvheÌ„ the Lords long suffering had passed by many of the Israelites sins yet so soone as they vvere won in to mary vvith the Moabites the vvrath of God vvould forthvvith breake out vpon them the Lord graunte vs to bevvayle this sin and to preuent this iudgement Hovv are vve blinded that since the Lord spared not the whole vvorld but couered it vvith vvaters from heauen yet Englande thinkes to be somevvhat in Gods sight a poore Ilande surrounded already vvyth the Occean seas vvhich can if the Lorde doe but vvhistle come tombling in and deuour vs vp he brake in vpon his own people vvhom he had hedged in vvith priuiledges yet vve that vvere as other nations presume to sin and hope to escape his hand he found away out of his gracious promises in iustice to plague Salomon the king of his ovvne holy mountain to vvhose person also he had so bound himselfe and yet vve that are but maisters of a molehyll in the vvorlde excedinglye defiled thorough our many transgressioÌ„s think not to bear our own sins Salomon for these very sins lost ten partes of his ovvne kingdom vvhich he had in quiet possession and had lost the vvhole but in regard of the holy promises to Iudah and vve leape at a kingdome yet in the hands of our enemies and thinke to gaine another kingdome to vs or our heyres by displeasing vvith the selfe same sins the same reuenging lord Noe noe thys counsel is not of the Lord because it is a vvisedom agaynst his church and if he be against vs who shall be for vs Novv as this counsail for so much of it as toucheth the church can not proceede but out of the mouth of some hyred or at the least at the best some blinded Balaam euen so for those particulars thereof vvhich concerne the comon vveale and our Queene it might vvell enough come from rash Rehoboams â—oung counsailors vvhom there lustes vvill euer keepe young â—hatsoeuer yeeres and experience they beare on theyr backs 〈◊〉 not from that remnant of Salomons sages vvhom the feare of God makes vvisely old betimes Hauing therefore thus farre sayd of the church Let vs see vvhether theyr country loue by not as little as their religious conscience so as a man may not say such sayth suche fruites The daunger therefore of a foraigne match is not so apparant or so light as it can be easily espied or prouided for by any assurances And if vvisedome might foresee the many lurking perils yet this may vve vvell looke for that such a kinde of mariage being already proued to be a high breach of Gods lavv the same Lord vvyl iustly take avvay all vvisedome from our vvise men and courage from our valiant men I humbly therefore besech the Queene and alher wise valiaunt and good men rather to keepe avvay the cause of this danger then to trouble themselues vvith prouision that in comming he should not hurt It is naturall to all men to abhor forreigne rule as a burden of Egypt and to vs of England if to any other nation vnder the son First it agreeth not vvith thys state or frame of gouernment to deliuer any trust of vnder gouernment to an alien but is a poyson to it when vve receiue any such for a gouernour And that is euident by our lavves and auncient customs of the lande disabling any alien to inherite the highest gouernement of vs vpon this reason no doubt because a senceles and careles forreiner cannot haue the naturall and brotherlike bovvels of tender loue tovvardes this people vvhich is required in a gouernor which is by birth bredd dravven out from the teates of a mans ovvn mother country according to the vvisedom of that high politic call lavv of God Chuse a king from emong thyne ovvne brethren and if thee vvant of an English hart doth disable any from ruling the ship of our Realm shall a French hart be kindlike ynough to rule our Queene vvhich is the sterne of our shyp no the place of an alien is far from such truste by the iudgement of our naturall lavves vvhich appeares in considering theÌ„ by the 〈…〉 seuerall degrees First for an alien vvhich is an alian enemy 〈◊〉 lavve doth not so much as protect his lyfe a thing other 〈…〉 highly and deerly regarded in our lawes if in any other 〈◊〉 but makes him all in one predicament vvith the case of premuniri and though the lavv of armes bid him be raunsomed yet our peacible lawes aske no subiects blood for arresting suche a prisoner and killing hym in cheapeside And let thys alien be an alien friend yet if he be not denized the lavves can not abide him to be mayster of one foote of ground within the Realme the reason vvherof is they are not inheritable to the lavves of our land or answerable or able to demaund by the lavves any thyng from the meanest subiect Yea vvhen they haue theyr best footing here and are accompted members vvith vs of thys body by endenization or enfraunchisment yet haue those our vvise forefathers that haue left vs England to rule and dvvell in had euer such a vvatchfull eye to straungers as they vvould not in theyr dayes of peaceable gouernements and vve according to theyr custome doe not in these dayes suffer any straunger though denized to beare any office touching the peace and ordering of the lande he is not trusted vvith a iustiship of peace or petie constableship much lesse vvould they make hym Admirall of the nauie Constable of the tower or Gardian of any castel or peice of strength In tyme of poperye vvhen the Romane prelate vsurped vpon our prince for conferring benefices Abbeis and such liuings here to Italians French and other alians at hys pleasure yet vvould the kings of those blindest dayes suspect treachery in these holy Abbots and Priors whom othervvise they made theyr Goddes vvould vvithout feare of sacriledge sequester theyr profites vnto the kings cofers and seize the lande of those holye alians leaste they might perhaps vvage foreigne soldiar vvith English pay agaynst the king of England vvhereof they gaue manifest experience to king Henrye the fift vvho hauing founded an Abbay vvherein he put French fryers and in a visitation as theyr founder fynding them negligent in theyr deuotions he asked the good father of the house vvhat vvas the cause vvho ansvvered flatlye that they could not naturally pray for him
vveaker the party to vvhom the match fell out so hurtful vvas a man and therefore stronger here the peril strenghtned for the party bringing the perill out of Fraunce is a man and the partie endaungered is a vvoman These thinges deserue vvell the vveighing and may not be passed ouer vpon euery lisping vvord and crouching curtesie of a French Ambassador or other flattering petie messenger And if our wise and renoumed forefathers of England passed vvithout stombling ouer the threshold of suspecting the french aliance euen then whā the french men professed held the lavves of atmes vvyth theyr enemies as soldiers let vs not be nicely fearefull to passe the boūds of honorable modestie in iudgeing of the present princes vvhich professe to deceiue and break fayth vvith such as vve are yea let vs boldly vvisely cast this doubt that they vvhose frendships vvhē they had not so il purposes but thought it their honor to match with vs wrought vs yet thys woemust nedes novv hurt vs according to their hateful falshod in dealing with vs whō they esteme according to their doctrin of Rome no better then dogs Novve as there is daunger on the parte of the French for great troubles to follovve by thys mariage as vvell for that they haue nevv fangled and stirring common wealth heads lusting after Innouations as also for the ielousie of tvvo so neere bordering kingdomes euen so vvill it be harder then yron for Englishmen to digest with quiet stomake the french insolencies and disdaynefull brauades For if the Spaniard comming in vppon hys honor and being an auncient friend at that tyme of one religion did neuertheles beare away harde intreadie for hys vnwonted pryde towards vs more danger vvill theyr be least these needie spent Frenchmen of Monsieurs traine being of contrary religion and who are the scome of the kings Court which is the scomme of all France vvhich is the scomme of Europe vvhen they seeke like horseleaches by sucking vpon vs to fill theyr beggerly purses to the satis fieng of theyr bottomlesse expence the poore playne and rude Englishman firste giue him the elbovve in the strete then the fist and so proceeding to farther bicquerings in pryuate quarrels great troubles ryse of small beginnings for as touchinge the humble mild persecuted and religious Frenchmen that we receiue him as a vvelbeloued brother and that our old grudging nature against the french in this respect is expelled as it wer vvith a fork that comes by the force of religion the Lord hauing wrought it in our heartes But against these irreligious haughtye and faithlesse frenchmen that bring in a religion contrarye to ours haue no cōscience nor loue to vse vs kindly our English nature vvil return a main to his own course which thinges also may euidtēly appeare to any mā that wold but mark how sadly heauily with hovv sorovvful coūtenances all the multitude of English both nobilitie comminaltye looke casting vp theyr hands eyes to heauen vvhen they doe but talke of the matter This stinging straunger of Fraunce muste vve keepe vvarme in our bosom at our ovvn intollerable charge which is another reason not to be neglected sith treasure is a principall sinevv of any state and therefore vvould not be wasted much lesse therevvyth to buye our own harme For they are ouer credulous to be beleeued vvho vvith the emptie name of Monsieur and of the French kings brother wold promise such other fooles as list credit them mountaines of golde and great gaine to thys royall state by hys vvorshipfull reuenues forsooth bringing in king Phillip vvho serues them in thys deuise for all in all for theyr example Fyrst vvho knowes not thys in generall that euery prince though neuer so rich will hoard vp hys owne treasure and spend of the straunge purse and it is a notable policie for our french enemye by this meanes to weaken the verye knees and hammes of our Realm Novv that vvhich other princes do of worldly vvisedom Monsieur must doe of meere necessitie for let his receiptes be great for a subiect yet shall they not be sufficient to maintain his mind in state of so great a priuce companiō to our Queen for euē alreadie his debtes expences are sayd to be farther at odds with his reuenues thē many yeres receipts can yeld the arerages But these perswaders as men hauing theyr eyes daseled vvyth the golden sun are ouer affectioned to thys match and can not see that Monsieur hath not moe countyes then king Phillip had archdukedomes nor so many dukedoms as king Phillip had kingdomes and that he is not able to dropp halfe testons for king Phillips pîstelas nor vvith siluer to weighdowne his gold as also that king Phillip for al those dominiōs mines of treasures was content to be pingling vvith our purses made Queene Mary to aske moe extraordinary and frequent subsides and taskes then had bene seene in so short a raigne further causing her to borow more loanes of hundred powndes forty pounds tvventy pounds and ten poundes of her subiects then vvere euer payd agayn by a great sort thus gleaning the monie from the subiects by armefuls lading out of the eschequer that both the land and the Eschequer was left as empty to the Queenes maiestie that novv is as it vvas many a daye The very bodyes of our men vvere fayne to be employed in hys seruice and forraigne warres there to abide the formost force and to be as a vvall betvvene the honorable Spainard and the Canon vvhich vvars nothing in our ovvne quarrell besides the present losse of noble men and good soldiars there at the place cost vs in a backe reckoning the richest and strongest towne of vvar that the Queene then had And yet must vve haue king Phillip broughte in for example of a gainefull mariage to England In dede vve had great cause to thank the Lords mercy vvho deliuered vs from that king his power as vve had to thank our sins that vve vvere giuen into hys hand but vve may say vve scaped a scouring for but that he vvas newly setled in his owne kingdome and could not tary to be warme in his bedd here the end vvould haue ben vvorse then the beginning he wold haue holdē hard if not for the soile of the kingdom yet for the nauie for the ordinance and other chiefe moueable treasures and reall Ievvels of the land All vvhich thinges come in a more daunger with thys Prince because if he be king of fraunce he shal be neerer and readier by colorable polices to vvythdravv by little and little all thinges from hence in her Maiesties lysr by force to chalenge them if VVhich God say nay to she shoulde be hys vvife and dye before hym There is another daungerous daunger in thys forreine french match that aryseth yet far higher in that he is the brother of childles Fraunce So as if Henry the thyrd novv king should dye
but that in thys poynt vve may styll hold vvyth them as vvell in respect of our common detestation to hys blasphemous Mahomet as for that of all other christians vve least need to feare hys might being so farr separate as Europe is large If any man think that vve may hold al these old latter friendships and that thembracing vvith Fraunce is not streightwayes an vnfolding vvith all the rest he neyther considers the differēce in religion betvvene Scotland and Fraunce nor the diffidence betvven Fraunce and Spayn for the lovv countryes the vvhich as Spayn hath in possession so doth Fraunce many tymes mut-ter a title thereto This vniuersall perswader I say of all friendships and especially with Fraunce forgets hovv in times passed our king Henry the eyght could not be at once friend vvith the Emperor and the french king but the league vvith one vvas present diffiance to the other and that Scotland so long as they held Fraunce vvas euer at deadly foode vvith England and since they clapped hand with England they haue not missed al most enemy lyke attempts of Fraunce And to put hym out of doubt hovv odious all Germanny will hold vs for our felovvship sake vvith Monsieur let hym remēber hovv farr from the dignity of a prince they enterteyned Henry then not single Monsieur and onely a brothrr of Fraunce as is our Monsieur Fraunces but elect king of Poland a piece of Germany vvhen to take reall possession thereof he passed thorough theyr territories some of them vvith much ado and after many reproches for his cruell falshods sending him onely a bare pasport which the deuil might haue had to be quickly packing as did the duke of Saxony to his vvorthy and princely prayse Some of them graunting hym a more free saufconduit yet vvould not vouchsafe to see thys great French prince as the prince Palatine that good man vvhose blame vvas more in that action for hys ouermuch mildnes then vvas hys prayse for curtesie Other of those states as Spire bending turning the mouthes of al theyr great ordinauce vppon him on vvhich side of the city or streets soeuer he vvent as it had ben at a common enemy of mankind Other as in Franckford saluting hym by the vnkingly name of the king of butchers in fraunce vvhich though it vvere by the mouth of one principall man among them yet vvas it ratified by the vvhole state vvhen he complayning to the Burgmaisters of thys reproch as of a high vvrong they thought it not cryminall nor to be pursued Exofficio against the accused but onely at the cōplaynants pryuate action vvherin he fearing euidēce enough so proue the saying true durst not put in cautiō but departed with shame enough and bare the reproch avvay on his backe In all those states and cities hys welcome vvas such as vvhen he came againe stealing out of Poland he would not come back that vvay to thank them or to haue the like but chused rather to goe about by sea and land the farther and more daungerous vvay The smal reckoning vvhich that man like nation makes of Fraunce appeares by the many happy aydes from thence vvhich haue bidden base to Valols at his owne gole in hys own field and at the gates of hys strongest vvalles hunting the French vvolfe in defence and reliefe of the french oppressed lambs A vvise man vvithout descending into these sensible particulars vvould in his vnderstanding see the very generall nature of suspitious frendship betvvene neighbour kings hovv lyke it is to the loue betwene a iealous man and his wyfe in this one poynt they be both of them feareful and iealous of theyr ovvn states can not patiently endure that theyr ally should be any thyng great vvith an other confine gouernment but streightvvay euery countenance breedes a suspition and euery suspition a restraint of entercourse and trafique or open vvar I might fetch examples farther of and ovvt of tholder storyes of Grecians and others vvhere euer the societye withone neigh bor was enemity with another state according to that one great social lavv emong others vvhich is that frends and enemies must be common But it is more then manifest hereby hovv vngodly and dangerous how incertain needles hovv dishonorable vnprofitable thys neer French coniunction is in it selfe again it is detected as euidently hovv many friends in Christ hovv many confederacies in old frend ship how many alliances in blood and hovv many sworn brotherhoods in vvars this one forsworn brotherhode of Fraunce vvil loose vs. It followeth then necessarily vpon that vvhich hath ben sayd that we who already beare the floure delice quartarly receiue no honor by ioyning with it Par pale And sith our Queen rightfully beares it as king of Fraunce and he occupieth it as actuall french king I beleeue it will pose the king of Heraltes of eyther realm to make alouing agreement and in one Eschocheon vvell to marshal according to theyr rules the selfe same cote of the vsurper vvith the selfe same kingly cote of the right heire hauing no difference For though it may be in other noble gentlemens cotes it vvyll hardly be don in kings cotes For Heraltes vvhych are vpright iudges in these causes must imagin but one king in a land as but one son in the heauens perhappes to salue this sore they vvill take vp the old french coate of crawling Toades But the noble Lyon vvill chuse him no such feere hys nature is to abide no venemous thing in hys denn hovv should he then embrace a Toade for his make This difficultye of Heraltes is the least of a thousand might soone be dispatched vvere not those other great ones vvhich euen by this small difficulty also in that kind are bevvrayed that is that thys mariage seemes to striue vvithall lavves that of armes and al. Those therefore that persvvade this band of strange alliance must needs be such Englishmen as find themselues not aduanced in thys state according to that desert vvhich they conceiue in thē selues and therefore disdeyn at others good estate or els such as are past hope heare and hauing nothing knovve they can loose nothing what change or tombling soeuer come but these be degenerate dangerous Englishmen vvho for the satisfieng of theyr disdainful or hongry humor care not to let the common vveale blood euen in her Basilica vaine vvho hauing now liued by Gods grace and through the great loue of hir subiects tovvards hir many yeeres in a miraculous peace and ben a beholder and iudge of other lands troubles should now by thys mariage throw as it vvere into the sea not her ring vvith Policrates but hir precious selfe and putting hir prosperitye to the plunge send it to flote or sinck by dravving into England a great spark of that family which hath ben a fyre brand in Europe VVe can not hold this fire in our bosome and not be burned therevvith Novv that
to thyrd and fourth generation as I vvould my poore lyfe might redeeme the ioyning of Queene ELIZABETH to such one in that neer knot vvhich must needes make hir halfe in the punishments of those his sinnes Hir Maiesties father had a law passed by parliament in his tyme that whoso had vnlawfully knovven that vvoman with vvhom the king was to mary and did not before mariage come in and bevvray it shold vpon the matter aftervvard detected be holden litle better then a traytor Hys care to haue a good woman vvas Christian and royall he vvyst vvell as the preambles of those statutes purport beside the pryuate contentation to him selfe that as vvel the sinnes of father mother as the plague of theyr sins descends to the children and considering hys chyldren were to be left gouernours of the land which mightso also haue part in these punishments his care vvas so much more to be approued because it vvas also for the common vveale The same reason is to moue in vs all a harty desire thas hir Maiesty should mary vvith such a house and such a person as had not prouoked the great vengeance of the lord And surely considering the haynousnes of the sin in euery person with the concurrant circuÌ„stances in this case of a prince the law was a iust law vve can haue no such law against strangers therfore in hir Maiesties name I require at the hands of al English Ambassadors other trauayling EnglishmeÌ„ abrod of all vvise men at home that they vvilbe hir diligent espialls herein geuing faithful aduertisement not of such seldome or small fautes as men corruptly call tryckes and pranks of a young gentilman but vvhither hys lyfe hath ben so monstrously wicked as is reported for it is no small matter for a Queene the head of the lande to ioyne in any maner with that person ouer vvhom the ineuitable plages of the most true Lord do hang. This is to approch to the plague when it commeth and not as Salomons wise man doth to withdrawe hymselfe when he seeth it His youth of yeeres is an apparant inequalitie of this match a secret discouery of his mynd not singlie affected vvith true and simple loue to that he should chiefely seeke for emong vs of the meaner sort not one in a thousand of those younger men that seke ther elder matches but doth it in side respects and hovv can vve thinke other wise in a young prince heire apparant of france It is quite contrary to his young appeties which vvyll otherwise haue theyr desire It is therefore eyther for want of liuing and mayntenance to hys mynd and then is he not fit for this realme or els is it certenly for some other notable practise vvhich muste needes be dangerous because so great a man must be the instrument and because it is not disclosed He is differing from hir Maiestie in religion thagreement wher in as it worketh by Gods blessing a most neer knot of good vvill and perfect liking in all things euen emong straungers so by the vvords of Christ a disagrement in this kind brings the svvord betvvene father and children brethern and sisters betvvene a man and hys vvife Yea vve haue seene in our dayes parentes and husbands being papistes thorough the vnnaturall cruelty of that Italian heresie vpon the least occasion and vvithall gredinesse to haue deliuered vp to death their children vvife And if al bands be little enough to hold loue and to worke a comfortable lyfe here in earth against the many miseryes of this noysome pilgrimage let vs not dispise that vvhich is the chiefest and strongest And which I may not forget who so marieth with any popevvorshipper can not tell vvhen to be sure of him for they haue one knife to vnloose all alliances vvith kingdoms and fayth giueÌ„ to princes that is the popes dispensation vvhich is so iust in it self as vvhither it bynd or loose it may not be examined if therefore after our mariage vvhich God first let the changeable decree of a pope vvill pronounce the mariage no mariage eyther vpon some nevv aduantage to the church of Rome either els because Monsieur could haue no children by our Queen for that there must of necessity sit vpon that throne some of the blessed seed of Medices vvhich vvas sent into Fraunce from a pope no doubt this son of the pope in Fraunce is as much bound by popish obedience to leaue against Gods lavv his vvife as his son of Spayne vvas to take against Gods forbodd his own sisters dauâ—â—ter And as much conscience vvill the holy father make to breake a lavvfull mariage for his aduauntage as to licence a lavvles vvhat a feare of dishonor vvorse then the dishonor vvere this to depend vpon the incertain pope vvhither vve shall at any time hereafter be decreed to haue liued in vnlavvfull mariage yea or no. If any man anusvver hereto that this doubte is too farre fetched and hath no reason to be conceiued let him at once take this replye for maintenance of thys and diuers other like reasons that are may be made That vvhosoeuer is carefull of the life and honour of a prince casts more doubts then for a common person In theyr palaces they must haue more gards for night and day more porters more hus shirs and more doers to come to them euen in time of peace then common persons haue But vvhen the enemy of a prince comes to be considered of then princes will vse theyr longest hands of strength theyr tendred nosed couÌ„sailors most percing sight of theyr vvise and faythfull seruants and who wold not suspecte any trechery from that Roman ennemy of enemyes vvhich like a iugling Aegiptian playes fast and loose with all the vvorld and is singularly a deuowed enemy to our Queene as he vvas lately to hir Maiesties father because he refused and reiected one of his like godlesse dispensations for a lyke lawles mariage An other reason might be made a gainst thys mariage that if thorough his ambitious mind not so blamevvorthy in such a prince as hurtfull to such as should chuse him during the life of his brother he should be chosen king elsvvhere it might cause his absence litle to hir maiesties comfort But this reason I bring not for the force of it or for vvant of other for I suppose the late honorable leauing of Poleland vvilbe a lesson to any kingdome or state of free election how they shall chuse this brother If therefore as Qu. Maries counsailors had that respect to hir high honor that they did not mary hir to K. Phillip till he â–ª was a king in the lyfe of his father so likewise these men vvould not talke of Monsieur til he were hir maiesties peere by being chosen king by the franke election of any â–ª state I vvould not feare thys matter The onely cause therefore vvhy I thought this reason worth any meÌ„tion is by that
sister as neere to him as this brother is to the novv king These tymes haue nevv falshodes vvhich vve must encounter by nevv foreseeing vvysedomes nevv diseases haue taught phisitians to find nevv medicines and sith false frenchmen vvyll doe that which theyr forefathers vvould neuer do let honest English men suspect that which theyr auncesters could neeuer misdeeme Especially in those matters wher popery comes betwene as the motif and the french ben the instruments For to do that Roman sinagogue seruice the french doe accompt as fayre vertues all foule lyes treasons poysonings massacres and turning of realms vpside down And for recompence of theyr braue nighte xploit at Paris they were brought immediately as it vvere in a carte of tryumphe in at Rome gates where the world is vvitnes of the panegyricall prayses and solemne orations pronounced in theyr perpetuall fame with many ioyfull fyres in honor of that barbarous vnmanlike and treasonable victory vpon the noble Admiral that slept in the oth of hys king But though the hope of lyke commendation may make these men attempt the lyke fact yet are these wicked praysings of the pope but a shadow of praysings and make as much to the true honor of the french as theyr paper excommunication and burning by image at Rome doe hurt the good Christian in body or soule Now the Spanish genet wil soone champ thys cakebread snaffle a sunder for thys great feate that should be don in bringing K. Phillip to some reasonable conditions of peace vvith his subiects and hyr maiestie to haue some maritime part to hir own behofe hovv shall it be wrought by french forces onely They vvyll not doe it they can not doe it ▪ and if they would or could why is it not don already if by french and English forces ioyned vvhy then doth he not ioyne and conferr with vs all thys whyle rather then vnder hand seeke to trump both them of the religion there and the malcontent If it should be don by English forces onelye as it must be indeede for he hath none to command oneles they saye that hys brother vvyll both man him and money hym and then they forgette that vvhyche they sayde of being a brydle to Fraunce If I saye Englyshe money and Englyshmen must do thys enterpryse it may be much better achiued now while we haue the lavv in our own hands and may command then when vve shall be couert baron and haue put our sword into an other hand vve haue not so much neede of hym for a captayne as he hath of our strength to serue hym Neyther doe I thinke more truth in any of these theyr reasons then that vve should serue to vvorke theyr vvill in those lovv countryes and if any thing vvere gotten that should vvholy goe to Fraunce but our butin in England should be euen as good in these vvars to be taken for france agaynst Spayn as it vvas vnder Queene Mary in the vvarres for Spayn agaynst Fraunce at vvhat tyme the vvhole losse euen a greeuous losse to any Englishman that shall looke from Douer castle ouer to the other side fell on our part But in deede if it please hyr maiestye to ayde those lovv countryes as it vvyll be most for our honor in the enterpryse and for our gayne in atchieuing to doe it of our selues vvhyle uve are at lybertye and not vnder straunge restraint so is it novve high time for the neede they haue vvho by these delayes shal be soone past helpe and so the king of Spayne haue hys vvyll And in truth the best vvelcome force and of most profit to those countryes must be the English vvithout french for the popish party of Arthois and Henault neuer loued the french and novv dare not trust thē and those of Gaunt hate them tvvyse Fyrst for religion and then for the cause common to them vvyth the VVallon vvhich is theyr ouermuch intelligence vvith the cōmon enemy the Spaynard vvhatsoeuer perill therefore out of those countries from king Phillip by reason of hys pease there is spoken of by these perswaders thereby alluring vs vnto thys match vvyth Fraunce is easely mett vvythall by our ovvn forces in tyme vvhych vvyll be much more vvyllyngly receiued of them then the French for all the late foolish and levvd pamflettes there spred by the french in theyr ovvne fauoer and our disgrace And it is more absurd that Fraunce vvoulde consent to send hither a brydle for himself those that are of this mind presuppose a ielousie betweene the French king and Monsieur vvhych vve must first graunt them or els they fayle to proue thys in the begynning Now albeit I thinke that the best fayth can not be meant but betvvene the best men yet may we be assured that hovve soeuer they stande betvvene themselues for Fraunce they vvyll styll agree to anoy England and hold togither lyke brethren the change of that ayre for thys and hys comming ouer sea vvyll not change that mind and styll shall he be hys brother and son of his mother vvho seeing that both of them doe follow this mariage no doubt they wyll prouide agaynst theyr ovvne brydeling And it is lyke ynough though Monsieur knowes a peice of theyr purpose yet knowes he not the depth of thys mischieuous practise For they doe not vse to impart more to him then falles to hys part to play The king remembers that he hymselfe when he vvas Monsieur being made priuie to the thē purposed horrible massacre had like to haue marred al by lauishing out a word here of to one of hys deerelyngs had not Lignerolls mouth ben stopped with papp and the hatchet as they say Besides that Monsieur vvas neuer admitted so farr in connsail as the present king nor esteemed so stanche And if a man may guesse sometime what a thing is by reckoning vp vvhat it is not we shall not find in the king nor his bro ther nor mother any louing cause to bring this nevve loue in theyr mind They neuer bare fauour to hir maiesties person they neuer shewed themselues louers to the quiet of thys state they account not themseldes any vvay beholden to prince or state Euery vvord or deed of ours shewing neuer so litle compassiō tovvards their murthered or mislike of the murderers is depely layd vp of them for so many vvrongs Much lesse vvyll any man think she sends hir son hyther to schoole for our religion It is farr from probabilitie to thinke that the king sends him hither because he vvould be rid of hym as though he stoode in fearefull doubte of hys greatnes vvhyle he vvere in fraunce It is sufficiently proued othervvhere that he is not followed nor esteemed generally in Fraunce by papist or protestant And if there vvere any such ielousie in the kings head thys vvere no vvisedome by aduauncing his brother to so puissant a kingdom to make him more dread And in Monsieur vvhat doe we find