armoiries de guelues a vne nauire d'argent le chef d'azure semé de fleurs de lys d'or gaue them for Armes Gules a Ship Argent and a Cheefe seeded with Flower de Lys Or. Ye shall heare the French brag that their City hath bene besieged a hundred times by the enemy and yet was neuer taken since Caesars time The reason whereof one of their best Writers giues Because sayth he it is very weake and therefore alwayes compoundeth I compare Paris with London thus This is the greater the fairer built and the better scituate ours is the richer the more populous the more ancient For I hold antiquitie to be a great honour as well to great cities as to great Families Besides the Cities and Ports of France well fortified there be also infinite numbers of Castles and Cittadels which the people alwaies call Nids de Tyrans the nests of Tyrants and the Prince he calles them Chastivillains Of the Castels the number is therefore most great and as vncertaine by reason that euery Noble mans house of any age is built in defensible maner as you haue diuers times alreadie obserued An example of one for many hundreds ye may take that of Roch-fort belonging to the Seigneur de la Tremouuille which in these Ciuill wars endured a siege 5000. Canon shot yet was not takeÌ„ It is iudged by the wisest that in great kingdomes such as France no places should be fortified but the frontiers after the example of Nature who armeth the heads and heeles of Beasts but neuer the Bowels nor middle part For indeede the strength of a Countrey consists not in walled townes but in the vnited hearts of the people as Brutus proueth in Liuie and Dionysius Halicarnasseus to which purpose the Poet also saith Where there is concord among citizens Pulchrè munitam esse vrbem arbitâ—or I thinke that Towne excellently fortified But where discord reigneth centuplex murus vrbi non â—ufficit An hundreth fold wall is not sufficient Whereof it commeth that Histories report of the Tartarians Aethiopians and Arabians that they haue no fortified places and it is sayd of Preste Iehan the great king in Affricke that he hath but one in all his Empire and we in England except frontier places haue none but his Maiesties The reasons against them are these It makes the inhabitants cowards and therefore Licurgus forbad the walling and fortifying of Lacedemon Secondly lest the enemy being entred the Countrey should stay and possesse himselfe of some of these places whereas otherwise he onely forrageth and harrieth the Countrey and away againe Therefore Iohn Maria della Rouere Duke of Vrbin rased downe all his Castles finding himselfe too weake to resist his enemie and retired to Venice assuring himself that Duke Valentionis could not stay there long where there was no place to be kept which iudgement of his the euent well prou'd For this cause also they of Genoa after the battell of Pauia where the French King was taken prisoner hauing got the French Garison out of the Lauterne ruined it to the very foundation So did they of Siracuse cause the Cittadell of Arradine the only refuge of the tyrant Dionisius Lastly they giue occasions to the possessors to rebell and vsurpe whereof both all histories and among these our owne where if I be not mistaken in King Stephens time were rased eleuen hundred Castles and these fortie yeeres troubles in France do testifie There be some reasons for the hauing of these fortified places which I doe not conceiue so good as these except onely I should graunt them their Capitall Citie to bee fortified and none else For Bodin thinkes it great madnesse in a Prince to suffer his people to haue strong Townes especially as here in France where they will haue no Garison but of their owne Citizens the effect whereof was well seene in the losse of Amiens except the King haue therein a Cittadell to bridle them Against which many Cities in this Countrey pretend Priuiledges as that of Amiens and some haue bought the Cittadell of the King to the intent to demolish it as they of Lions such eye-sores they bee heere in France In such a Countrey as Italy where there bee diuers Princes fortified Townes are more needfull where notwithstanding ye shall note that no great Signore is euer made Captayne of the Cittadell nor hath any league with the Gouernour whome they there call The Podesta and therefore euery yere also these Offices are changed throughout the State of Venice which at this day is the most perfect Optimacy in the world and the rather because though the State be Aristocraticall yet the execution of the Gouernment is mixt Offices being conferred both vpon the one sort and other of the Citizens which makes that perfit harmony whereof the diuine Philosopher so much speaketh You must vnderstand that heere in France all Inhabitants of Cities are lyable to the common charges of the fortification of their City reparations of bridges fountaines highwayes and such like And because the richer sort should not leuy the money and then keepe it to themselues or employ as the list they must giue information to the Chaunceller of the necessity of the Leuy and procure Letters Patents for the same by authority whereof they gather the money and vse it yeelding after to the Kings Procureur their account And for their Watch and Ward it goes by course as in the Citie of Embden and diuers other in those Low Countries As for Castles the Seigneur or Captaine may not force Vassall faire leguet To watch and ward except in frontier places vpon forfayting of their estates After this generall Suruey of the Countrey it selfe we must obserue something of the Gouernment wherein I will not trouble you with fetching their first Pedegree from beyond the Moone as many of their Histories labour nor by disputing the matter whether it bee true or no that they came from Troy into the Marishes of Maeotis whence after some small abode they were chased by the Romane Emperour into Bauaria and after into Frankland in Germany It shall suffice that from hence this people came into France wherein all writers agree For after the declination of the Romane Empire when the Ostrogâ—thes conquered Italy the Visigâ—thes Spayne and the Vandalles Affricke then did the Burgondiens and Franconiens diuide this Countrey betweene them conquering it vpon the olde niquilines the Gaules who from Caesars time till then had not tasted the force of a forrayne power The Gouernement was vnder Dukes till the yeere 420. when as Pharamond caused himselfe to be entituled King In this race it remained till 751. when Pepin suppressed his Mr. Chilpericke and vsurped His line lasted till 988. when Hugh Capet gaue the checke to the succession of Charlemagnes line who was Pepins sonne and inuested himselfe with the Diademe From him it hath lineally descended by
one his portion of some foure and twenty Acres of our measure or as other reckon thirty He giues them also Wheat to seed their land vpon condition to pay him halfe the fruits of the seuenth yeere and halfe of the twelfth and when the party dies his goods goe to the Turke so that the parties casuelles casualties as they heere call them is a great reuenue to him So the Spanyard hath sent of his people into Peru there to inhabit much like this course the Turke takes and from thence yerely receyueth to the value of two millions that is the fift of such Gold and siluer and other commodities as are there found 3. For the third meanes it is now out of season it was vsed in that good olde world when on se mouchoit sur le manche Men wiped their nose on their sleeue as the French man sayes for now Princes are so farre from giuing as they hardly pay that they owe. Of these gifts yee shall reade in Polibius Florus and others As of the King of Aegypt who sent to the Citie of Rome when it was distressed by Hanniball the summe of 400000. Crownes And Hieron of Sicili sent them a Crowne of gold of three hundred poundes weight They of Rhodes had an olde ruinous Colosse fell downe which stood hard by the Key and in the fall brake three or foure Shippes to repayre which losse the King of Egypt sent them 1800000. Crownes in gold besides a great quantity of siluer and three thousand muyds of wheate Hieron sent them 60000. Crownes So did Ptolemey send great gifts to them of Ierusalem And ye shall reade of sixe kingdoms giuen to the Romanes by testament and the Dutchy of Guelderland giuen to the Duke of Burgogne not much aboue an hundred yeeres since 4 The fourth meanes also of Pension which Princes haue vpon some consideration of their Allies helpeth the French Kings Cosers nothing at all for they rather giue then take As for example to diuers cantons of the Swisses to whome at first they payd not aboue one hundred and twentie thousand liures yeerely but for these fifty yeeres they neuer pay lesse the yere then two millions For sayth Commines Lewes 11. entred league with the Swisses and they into his Pension to whom he yeerely gaue fortie thousand Flourins whereof twentie to the Cities and twentie to particular men vpon condition to haue a certayne proportion of their forces to serue him in his Warres vpon all occasions An aduantagious alliance for the Swisse in my opinion who by this meanes enrich themselues cleare their Countrey of many idle and bad members and lastly breede good Souldiers to serue themselues vpon need at another mans cost The Turke hath also a pension of the Emperour of Germany for certaine Lands he holdeth in Hungarie which he notwithstanding vanteth to be a Tribute Many examples might bee alleadged of this kinde as of Philip of Macedone that by pensions got all Greece partial on his side and the Kings of Persia by pension got euer the Forces of Asia diuerted 5 The fift which is of Trafficke auaileth nothing the French Kings for they holde it heere a base and sordid kind of profession for a Gentleman much more for a King to trade by Marchandize And by the Lawes of England France and Germany hee loseth the qualitie of a Nobleman that doth trafficke The Law Clodia forbad a Romane Senatour to trade or haue Shippe of burthen Quaestus omnis patribus indecorus visus est The Senatours esteemed any kinde of trade or trafficke vnworthy of their ranke And the Emperours Law forbad all Gentlemen and Churchmen to vse it Notwithstanding these Lawes and the disparagement that it brings to Nobilitie for saith Tully Mercatores sunt sordidum genus hominum Marchants are a base kinde of people yet so sweete is the sauour of gaine that many haue vsed this as no small meanes to encrease their Finances The great Duke of Tuscaine present gaines infinitely this way and the more by his most vnlawfull and tyrannous Monopolies for hee commonly buyeth vp all the graine of his owne Countrie at his owne price yea and that which commeth from other places also and then sendeth out a Bando or Proclamation that no man shall sell any Corne throughout his State till his owne be solde forcing also all Bakers and other people to buy thereof This maner of engrossing Alphonsus of Arragon also vsed by the testimonie of Bodin The Kings of Portugall also and the Seignoria of Venice haue bene great traders by Marchandise but it hath beene in an honester fashion at Sea and not to the grinding of their poore Subiects The Nobilitie also of Italy in all Cities except Naples holde it no dishonour to trafficke in grosse as yee shall generally obserue when yee come into that Countrie 6 The sixt meanes of raising money vpon all wares and Marchandise that come in goe out of the Countrie is the most ancient and best agreeing with reason and vsed by all Princes in the world The late troubles haue made the benefit hereof very small to the Crowne of France for these many yeeres past The particulars comprised vnder this branch are these Le haut passage ou Domaine foraine and La traicte foraine Customes inward and outward By these the Prince is to haue Impost Cinq pour cent fiue in the hundred so much iust had the Romanes Teste Cicerone in Praetura Siciliensi As Cicero witnesseth in his Pretorship of Sicilia The Turke takes Dix â—our cent Ten in the hundred of the stranger and cinq fiue of the Subiect the French quite contrary You must obserue that that which here I call the Domaine foraine is generally called the Aides first graunted by the Estates to Charles Duke of Normandie when Iohn his Father was prisoner in England which was the paiment of 12. Deniers the liure sur toutes les merchandises et denrees qui seroyent venduës en ce royaume excepte sur le vin lebled le sel et autres breuuages mais depuis il s' est faict perpetuel et augmente par l' imposition du vin vendu en gros par tout en Normandie en detaille VpoÌ„ all marchaÌ„dizes and wares which should be sold in this Kingdome except vpon Wine Corne Salt and all maner of drinke but since it hath beene made perpetuall and augmented by the imposition vpon Wine solde euery where and in Normandie by retaile This is like the Gabel vpon all maner of foode which the Princes take of their Subiects through Italy or the Assise vpon bread and beere which the States haue in the Low countryes a grieuance whereof we smart not in England as also we are free froÌ„ many other burthens which the people of these Countries are forced to beare and yet yee shall heare our people therefore ignorant of their owne happinesse which they enioy vnder the blessed
neuer made his great banquets of Fish but when he was farthest from Sea and Aesope the Tragicke that spent 15000. crownes at a feast bestowed it all in birdes tongues as of Linnets Nightingales and such others as had beene taught to sing that the price might be the greater Giue me for all this the good old Bishop of Toledo his Capon who vpon a fasting day would needs make the companie at table beleeue that by the force of certaine wordes of consecration he had transsubstantiate this fat Fowle into fish and that there onely remained the outward forme as Poggio the Florentine reports of him This Country must needs be wel stored with fish for besides the benefit of the sea the lakes and ponds belonging only to the Clergie which at the most haue but one third of France are reported to be 135. thousand The riuers also of France are so many as Boterus reporteth of the Queene Mother she should say heere were more then in all Christendome but we hold her for no good Cosmographer shee had her other qualities which shall not be forgotten in their fit place True it is that the riuers here are many and very faire and so fitly seruing one the other al the whole as it seemeth naâ—ure in the framing of our bodies did not shew more wonderfull prouidence in disposing veines and arteries throughout the bodie for their apt conueyance of the blood and spirit from the liuer and heart to each part thereof then shee hath shewed in the placing of these waters for the transporting of all her commodities to all her seuerall Prouinces Of all those these are the principall the Seine vpon which standeth the Citie of Paris Rouen and many other It hath his head a little aboue Chatillon in the northwest of Lingonois and receyueth nine Riuers of name whereof the Yonne the Marne the Oyse are nauigable that is doe carrie boats with sayle The Some whereupon standeth the Citie of Amyens Abbeuile and many other It hath his head aboue S. Quentin diuideth Picardie from Artois and receyueth eight lesser Riuers The Loire hath standing vpon it the Cities of Orleans Nantes and many other his head is in Auuergne it parteth the middle of France his course is almost two hundred Leagues it receyueth 72. Riuers whereof the chiefe are Allier Cher Mayne Creuse Vienne all nauigable The Garond vpon which standeth Bourdeaux Thoulouse and other Cities it hath his head in the Pyreney mountaines it diuideth Languedocke from Gascoine it receyueth sixteene riuers whereof Iarne Lot Bayze Dordonne and Lisle are chiefest And lastly the Rhosne vpon which standeth the Citie of Lions Auignon and diuers others it hath his head in the mountaines Alpes deuideth Sauoy from Lyonnois and Dolpheine from Languedocke it receyueth thirteene riuers whereof the Soane the Doue Ledra and Durance are the chiefest All the other Riuers carrie their streames into the Ocean Some at Saint Vallery Seine at Newhauen Loyre beneath Nantes and Garond at Blay onely the Riuer of Rhosne payeth his tribute to the Mediterranean at Arles The Seine is counted the richest the Rhosne the swiftest the Garond the greatest the Loyre the sweetest for the difference which Boterus makes of them where he omits the Garond and makes the Soane a principall Riuer is generally reiected When we rightly consider the happie fruitfulnesse of this soyle and the exceeding benefit of these riuers I know not what wee should say is wanting vnlesse yee will say Animus qui his vtatur deest wit to vse them for in deede the French hath these eight and thirtie yeeres abused them with their ciuill and intestine warres Doe but conceyt in your imagination the faire Townes of Italy heere seated and in them the English Nation planted and in my opinion ye haue the right Idea of Platoes happy State O vtinam O si But I must remember one inconuenience and discommodity it hath I haue heard some poore Countrey-man say He loues not to haue his house too neere a Lawyer It should seeme they bee ill Neighbours and it may be that Themistocles roued at some such matter when hee caused the Sergeant to cry in publike place that besides all the good properties which his Farme had that hee set to sale Qu'il auoit bon voisin That he had a good neighbour This is the mischiefe that faire France hath about her so many bad neyghbours as Lorraine Sauoy and Spayne of whose good affection to this Countrey wee may say with the Poet Vnum cognoris omnes noris Knowe one and knowe them all Neyther of them wish her better then other as hath well appeared in the late ciuill warres wherein eche thought to haue had his share howsoeuer now they loue no Grapes The Ports and passages into France where Custome is payd to the King were in times past more then they be now the names of them at this present are these In Picardy Calais Bologne S. Vallery In Normandy Diepe Le Haure de Grace Honnefleux Caen Cherbrouge In Bretaigne S. Malo S. Brieu Brest Quimpercorentine Vannes Nants In Poictowe Lusson les sables d'Olonne In Rochellois Rochelle In Xantogne Zoubisse In Guyenne Bourdeux Blay Bayonne In Languedocke Narbonne Agde Beucaire Maugueil In Prouence Arles Marseilles Fransts In Lionnois Lions In Burgogne Ausonne Langres In Champagne Chaumont Chalons Trois In the Territory Metzin Metz Toul Verdun In all thirty seuen Of all these Lions is reputed to be the most aduantageous to the Kings Finances as being the key for all silks clothes of gold and siluer and other marchandise whatsoeuer which come or goe from Italy Swisserland and all those Southeast Countreyes into France which are brought to this Towne by the two faire Riuers of Rhosne and Soan the one comming from Sauoy the other from Burgundy and heere meeting where by the way me thinks I may fitly compare these two Waters to two great Princes of these two great Countries comming to be maried at this great City which within the walles is within ten Toyses as large as Paris In which allusion I make the Rhosne which in the French toung is of the masculine gender the Sauoyard Prince and the Soane which is likewise in this language the feminine the Princesse of Burgundy which conceit is the better warranted because le Rhosne is a very swift and furious Riuer which well agreeth with the nature and condition of the man and la Sona a still and sweet water which rightly symbolizeth with the quality of a woman I would our Poet that made a marriage betweene the Medun and Thames at Rochester had the handling of this matter for it becomes a Poeme better then a Relation For profit next to Lions are Bourdeaux Rochell Marseilles Nantes Newhauen But for capability of shipping I haue heard that Brest excelleth and for strength Calais especially as it is now lately fortified by the Spanyard which was not
let long since to bee called La plus belle Capitainezie du monde au moins de la Chrestiente The goodlyest gouernment in the world at least in Christendome There are requisite in all Ports to make them perfit these foure things 1. Magnarum multarum NauiuÌ„ capabilitas 2. Nauibus tutissima statio 3. Ad hostilem vim coercendam habilitas 4. Mercatorum frequentatio 1. Roome to receiue many and great Ships 2. Safe riding 3. Facility of repelling forraine force 4. Concourse of Marchants The most of these French Ports haue all foure properties except onely the last which in the time of these ciuill broyles haue discontinued and except that we will also graunt that Calais fayles in the first The Cities in France if ye will count none Cities but where is a Bishops Sea are onely one hundred foure There be so many Archbishops and Bishops in all as shall in more fit place be shewed But after the French rekoning calling euery Ville a City which is not eyther a Burgade or a Village we shall finde that their number is infinite and indeed vncertaine as is also the number of the townes in generall Some say there bee one million and seuen hundred thousand but they are of all wise men reprooued Others say sixe hundred thousand but this is also too great to be true The Cabinet rateth them at one hundred thirty two thousand of Parish Churches Hamlets and Villages of all sorts Bodin sayth there be twenty seuen thousand and foure hundred counting only euery City for a Parish which will very neere agree with that of the Cabinet and therefore I embrace it as the truest By the reckoning before set downe of two hundred leagues square which France almost yeeldeth we must compute that here is in all forty thousand leagues in square and in euery league fiue thousand Arpens of ground which in all amounteth to two hundred millions of Arpens which summe being deuided by the number of the Parishes sheweth that one with another eche Village hath one thousand fiue hundred and fifteene Arpens which measure is bigger then our Acre Wee may if wee will abstract a third because Bodin will not admit France to be square but as a Lozenge For in matter of such generality as this men doe alwayes set downe suppositions not certaynties Of all these Cities and great Townes I will omit to speake in particular though a Stranger must very precisely obserue whatsoeuer he sees in his trauayle affying in La Noue his censure for their maner of Fortification Sion veut sayth hee regarder par toute la France ie cuyde qu'on n'y trouuera horsmis quelques chasteux aucune ville qui soit à demy parfaite sâ—lon les regles des ingenieures If a man will looke throughout all France I thinke that some Castles excepted hee shall not finde any Towne halfe perfectly fortifyed according to the rules of Ingeners Onely I must adde that since his time which is now aboue twenty yeeres many Townes also haue bettered their maner of fortifying amongst which none more by report then that of Rochell and lately that of Amiens of which wee might last yeere while the Spanyard held it say as is sayd of Decelea in the Territory of Athens which Alcibiades counselled the Lacedemonians to take and fortify namely that it did consumet et mettre a bas la puissance de la France autant et plus que nulle autre chose Consume and bring low the power of France as much as any thing else whatsoeuer And that it kept and scowred all the passages from Paris to Rouen like that other from Athens to Eleusina But as the losse of this Towne wounded the whole body of France so the regayning of it was not onely the healing of the hurt receyued wherin it was better then the Pelias Hasta but also the raysing of it to these happy tearmes wherein it now stands This Towne would giue mee good occasion to speake of the last yeeres siege the Cardinalles comming and the Cittyes yeelding with many other accidents very memorable and worthy the recounting wherein I had rather spend an howres time in talking then any Paper in writing for that to pen it asketh the iudgement of a Soldier of which honour I am most vnworthy Neyther will I also spend time in the discoursing of other Cities which we haue seene heere in France as of their situation building wealth and fortification saue onely of Paris because the French say this is a world no City After that I will breefly relate of the Castles in France and of some reasons why it is preiudiciall to the quiet of a State to haue many of them except they all belong to the Prince who ought to haue of them in his frontier places and Lymitrophes as they call them and vpon Cities which are strong to keepe theÌ„ in awe not else and as that of S. Katherines which you sawe at Rouen now rased and then I will end the first branch of this Relation namely of the Topography of this Countrey The City of Paris seated in a very fruitful and pleasant part of the I le of France vpon the Riuer of Sein is by the same deuided into three parts that on the North towards S. Denis is called the Burge that on the South toward the Fauxbourges of S. Germaines is called the Vniuersity and that in the little I le which the Riuer there makes by deuiding it selfe is called the Ville This part no doubt is the most ancient for saith my Authour Lutece est vne ville des Parisiens assisse en vne Isle de Seine Lutecia is a City of the Parisians seated in an I le of the Seine We may distinguish it thus into Transequana Cifequana and Interamnis The part beyond the Seine that on this side the Seine and that in the I le encompast with the Riuer It is reputed not onely the capitall City of France but also the greatest in all Europe It is about the walls some ten English miles these are not very thicke the want whereof is recompenced with the depth of the ditch and goodnes of the Rampart which is thicke and defensible saue on the South side which no doubt is the weakest part of the Towne on which side it is reported that the L. Willoughby offred the King in foure dayes to enter at such time as he besieged it Wherevnto the King condescended not by the counsell of the olde Marshall Biron who told him It was no policy to take the Bird naked when he may haue her feathers and all On the other side especially towards the East it is very well fortified with Bulwarke and Ditch fayre and moderne Les Rampars furent faictes es portes S. Antoine S. Michel et S. Iaques et ailleurs 1544. The Ramparts of the Gates S. Anthony S. Michel and S. Iames and elsewhere were made 1544. This
the East end this towne is full in so much as ye may say of the French Noblesse as is elsewhere said of the Agrigentines They build as if they should liue euer and feede as if they should dye to morrow But among all these there is none sayth this Author that exceed more then the Lawyers Les gens de Iustice et sur tout les Tresoriers ont augmente aux seigneurs l' ardeur de bastir The Lawyers and especially the Officers of the Kings money haue enflamed in the Nobilitie the desire of building I haue heard a tale of a President of Parliament whose friends comming on a time to see him at his new house began exceedingly to commend it as indeed it deserued as well for the rarenesse of the workmanship as the goodnesse of the Stone Timber Marble and such like No quoth he ye mistake the stuffe whereof it is made this house is onely built de testes des fols of fooles heads I thinke many of our newe buildings in England are made of the same stuffe Ye must note it is not yet one hundred yeeres since this stately kind of building or I should rather say beautifull for still the most stately is the most ancient came first in request La Noüe sayth Il n'y a gueres plus de soixants ans que l'architecture a este restablié en France et au parauant on se logoit asses grossierement It is not much more then threescore yeeres since Architecture was reestablished in France and before that time men were housed but homely Hee there seemes to commend it as a great grace to his Countrey Marry saith he Si on coâ—te aussi combien telles magnificensez ont enuoyé de gens au bissae on dira que la marchandise est bien chere If we reckon withall how many such magnificence hath sent to the we may say t is very deare marchaÌ„dize I am for my part of Frier Iohn of Antomaure his mind who seeing in a great Palace such stately Halls such goodly Galleries such fayre Chambers such well contriued Offices and on the other side the Kitchin so leane the Chimneyes so cold and the Cellars so dry Vn beau Chasteu dit-il a faire de belles promenades et me câ—rez mes dens a ieun a la Napolitaine A faire Castle said he to walke faire turnes in and picke my teeth fasting after the Neapolitane fashion The Vniuersities wherein in times past were wont to bee by report aboue thirty thousand of all sorts are now by reason of the warres reduced to a fourth part and many of these children such as our petty schooles in the Countries are furnished withall The streets both in the City Vniuersity and Suburbs are very faire straight and long very many of them the shops thick but nothing so full of wares nor so rich as they of London in comparison whereof these seeme rather Pedlers then otherwise But for number I suppose there be three for two of those The Faulxbourges are round about the City ruined and vtterly desolate except those of Saynt Germaynes which was very fayrely builded and was very neere as great as the faire Towne of Cambridge The benefit of this Towne is very great which it hath by the Riuer as by which all the Commodities of the Countrey are conueyed Wherevpon Monsieur d' Argenton reports of it C'est la ville que iamais ie veisse â—nuironeâ— de milleux païs et plantureux Of all the Townes that euer I sawe it is enuironed with the best and fertilest Countrey And he there reports that for twenty moneths that he was Prisoner he saw such an infinite company of Boates passe and repasse as but that he was an eye-witnesse he would haue thought incredible which he also after proues by the mayntenance of the three Armies of the three Dukes of Burgundy Guyenne and Bretaigne which consisted of an hundred thousand men against the Cittie of Paris wherein they had besieged Lewes the eleuenth and yet neyther the Campe nor Towne had any want of victualls Faut bien dire qu'en ceste Isle de France est bien assise cette ville de Paris de pouuoir fournir deux si puissans hosts car iamais nous n'auions faute de viures et dedans Paris à grand penie s'apperceuoient ils qu'ily eust iamais bien enchery que le pain sealement d'un denier It must needs be graunted that this Towne of Paris is excellently seated in the I le of France to be able to furnish two so great Armies for we neuer wanted victuals and they within Paris hardly found any thing the dearer but onely bread a denier vpon a loafe The Sea floweth no neerer this City then Pont de Larche some 25. leagues off Some say this Towne was builded in the times of Amasias King of Iuda by some reliques of the Troian warre and that it was called Lutece a Luto because the soyle in this place is very fatte which is of such nature as ye cannot wel get it out it doth so staine whereof they haue a By-word Il gaste comme la fange de Paris It stayneth like the durt of Paris Other say it was called Paris of Parresia a Greeke word which signifieth saith this Authour hardiesse ou ferocite valour or fiercenesse alleadging this verse Et se Parrisios dixerunt nomine Franci Quod sonat audaces c. And the Franks called themselues Parrisians which signifieth valiant And by this Etymologie would inferre that the French is a warlike Nation But he is much mistaken in the word for it signifieth onely a boldnes or liberty of speach which whether they better deserue or to be accounted valiant you shall see when I come to speake of the Frenchmans humour and nature in generall As for the nature of the people of this Towne their Histories taxe it of infinite mutinies and Seditions matchable to the two most rebellious Townes of Europe Liege and Gant and yet this last is praysed in one thing Qu à la personne de leur Prince ils ne touchent iamais That they neuer harme their Princes Person Whereof the Barricades make Paris vnworthy And du Haillan sayth of them wheÌ„ they stood fast to Lewes the eleuenth against the three Dukes abouenamed Iamais les Parrisiens ne tindrent vn bon parti n'y ne firent rien qui vallut que ceste fois-la The Parrisians neuer held good side nor neuer shewed any honesty but then onely But I can reade no such matter in Commines for I well remember that euen then diuers of the chiefe of the Towne had practized secretly with the enemy and were vpon tearmes of concluding when by the Kings wisdome they were preuented The Armes of this City were giuen them Anno. 1190. by Philip le Bel who creating them a Preuost and Escheuins like Office as our Maior and Aldermen Leur donnoit les
the chiefe Gamesters had their heeles blowne vp the Duke of Guise stabbed at Bloies the Cardinall strangled in the Castle the Duke of Parma poysoned at Arras the Duke Ioyense slayne at Coutras the Duke de Mayenne ruyned at Iuery the Duke de Mercaeure come in this March who lately marched afore his troupes in Bretaigne a capalto with an erected countenance now walketh vp and downe Paris like Dionisius in Corinth Capo chino hanging the head This was iust such an Hexarchie as Charles Duke of Burgogne wished in France who had hee liued till now had seene what hee wished When Mons. Durfé charged him that he loued not France but sought by all meanes possible to disturbe the State thereof â—ush sir saith he you are deceiued l' ayme mieux le bien du royaume que vous ne pensez car pour vn roy qu'il y a ie y en voudroy siâ— I wish better to the Kingdom then you imagine for one King that there is nowe I would there were halfe a dozen All these forsooth agreed that the Common-wealth was sicke and out of temper ech one pretended with his Phisicke to cure her The D. of Guise to ease the paine which was at the hart ment as he doth that giues the best remedy for the tooth-ake to pull them all out to strike off the head To which purpose at the Barucadoes of Paris hee had the King fast in the Castle of the Louure but yet most vnwisely hauing the bird in the cage let him flye away The Cardinall that should by his calling haue ministred the most gentle and lenitiue kind of Phisicke and if it had beene possible haue cured France with good counsell prescribing a good diet ministred nothing but corrasiues and bitter pilles of disdaine among the Nobles The Duke of Parma like a Doctor of good practise brings with him a whole shop ful of Phisicke inough to purge all France hee applieth his receipt of the Low-Countrey Souldiers to ease her of her malady but the weake stomacke of this Countrey could not brooke so strong an ingrediens and therefore shee vomited them out againe before they had done the deed The Duke Ioyeuse like a desperate young Doctor that would get credit in his trade vpon his first patient by putting all to the hazard without vsing any preparatiues or obseruation of criticke dayes giues the potion before Monsieur Matignon could come at him who came with other good phisicke to assist him in this practise but at that time they say that Mars a maleuolent Planet was retrograde in Aries or entring into Taurus and so it should seeme for one of the King of Nauarres troupes called Monsr Taurin as they say gaue him a Pistolade in the head Ioyeuse was not so precipitate to breake the Impostume before it was ripe but the Duke de Mayenne was as much a dreamer to forslow the occasion for wheÌ„ his brother Guise was stabbed and all the great Cities reuolted to him Ioe then was she sicke at the hart he should then haue plyed to haue applyed his medicines but then had he his Phisicke to seeke And after when the party was pretily recouered began to refuse Phisick hauing a little relished the wholesome diet of good counsell then comes he in such haste that hee brake his bottels by the way and so was a loser by the bargayne As for Monsieur de Mercaeure hee playd the good Kitchin Doctor of whome Rablais speaketh who gaue his patient the necke and bones to tyre vpon and kept the wings himselfe for he left them all France tyred and tewed as bare as a birdes bone and kept Bretaigne one of the fattest wings of the Countrey to himselfe purposing to haue entituled himselfe Duke thereof But these were all pretended Phisicians the poore King Henry the third ment wel indeed but wanted skill who found by experience after hee had slaine the Guise and left the rest of his house that were then in action how dangerous a thing it is in matter of execution to doe it to the halfe and that in ministring phisicke a violent potion is not so dangerous as one that is too weake which onely stirreth the humors and is not able to expell them Among so many Phisicians we must needes haue one woman to looke to the patient this was the Queene Mother of whom and her Sonne Charles 9. that consented to the Massacre of Paris we may say with the Poet Crudelis mater magis an puer improbus ille Improbus ille puer crudelis tu quoque mater Which hath poore France more ruinde and vndone The cruell Mother or her wicked Sonne A wicked Sonne was he A cruell Mother she This Queene who with the two other Queenes with whom she is before compared may be called the Alecto Tesiphone and Megera the three Furies of France in stead of being a Nurse and cherisher of her Infants and family which shee should haue bene by all law of reason became a Stepdame as shee was by nature being an Italian Who for more as it is thought then honest loue to the Guisard Doctors desired still to haue her people kept lowe and sickely that they might be aduanced by their practise These were they that left France in such pitifull taking vnder a false pretext of reformation of the State as we might well say of it as is said of the abandoned French Constable in Lewes 11. his time Il ne sçauoit à quel Saint se vouÄ›r se tenoit comme pour perdu He knew not to what Saint to vow himselfe but held himselfe for a lost man or as their prouerbe is here Il ne sçauoit de quel bois faire ses flesches He knewe not of what wood to make his arrowes But leauing France for a while in this grieuous sicknesse till the Hercules that now reignes conquered this monstrous Hidra and like a skilfull Esculapius recouered her of this pestilent feuer ye may obserue this one Epiphonema heere necessarily imployed namely That Diuision in an Estate is the most compendious way to her downefall Discordia res magnae dilabuntur By discord great matters melt away to nothing as hath well appeared by this great State of France Here is also a good lesson for other to beware by Tum tua res agitur paries cum proximus ardet The burning of your neighbours Towers Concernes you neere next turne is yours And as Rablaies saith Vn fol enseigne bien vn sage A foole may teach a wise man wit And if you would haue yet more instances of the miserable effects of Factions read Guicciardine and you shall bee plentifully furnished as with the Colonni and Vrsini in Rome the Bianchi and Neri in Florence the Adorni and Fregosi in Genoa and so almost through euery particular Citie and in generall ouer all Italy the Guelphi and Ghibellini Here was also one here in France about no greater cause