some malevolent spirits reported afterwards that the next after his resignments was the first day of his repentance But now I will speak something of the heroik Valour and Fortitude of our Nation whereby Europe hath stood unshaken so many ages And truely to dilate this my words must needs com short of the matter and herein it was the disadvantage of Germany to be destitute of Writers for our Progenitors were more for the Pike then the Pen bipennem non pennam tractabant And it was enough for other Nations to extoll their own feats not ours so that it may be sayed of the Children of this Noble Continent Vixere Fortes ante Agamemnona Multi sed omnes illachrymabiles Urgentur ignotique longa Nocte Carent quia Vate sacro The memory of Dido had rotted with her body in her Grave had not Maro preservd it so had Ulisses without Homer Mecaenas had it not bin for Horace Lucilius without Seneca and divers other Heros whose names were made indelible and immortal by the quil Therefore as Bodin sayeth one of the greatest motives that inducd the Scythians and Goths to burn Libraries was because the fame of other Nations as well as their own reproaches might perish Yet those fragments of stones which are found up and down in our Archives shew well what heroique Spirits this Clime hath bredd and what Martiall men in comparison of whose Preliations and Fights those of the Greeks were but Combats twixt Froggs and Mice I will not go so far as Tuisco Mannus Ingavo Istaevon Hermion Marsus Gambrivius Suevus and Vandalus But I will come neerer our times it is enough we are Germans ergo All men and manfull according to the etymon of the word Tacitus sayeth it was an infamous Crime among us to leave our Colours behind in the field or to com thence alive the Prince being killd For it was held a kind of Religion to protect and defend his Person as also to assign the glory of all exploits to him So terrible we were to our Neighbours the Gaules that the very name of a German was a Scarecrow unto them for Gallia lay alwaies open to us though they never took foot of ground in Germany How did Andirestus trounce them making them flye to Iulius Caesar and implore ayd so pittifully or at least his intercession to make peace twixt them and the Teutoniques Hereupon Iulius Caesar employing some Ambassadours to Ariovistus then in Suabland that he would appoint an indifferent place for a Parley He answerd that if Caesar had any businesse with him he might com to him accordingly at he wold do if he had any businesse with Caesar Hereupon a War was denouncd but certain Travellers and Merchants telling the Gaules what huge mighty men both for stature and spirit the Germans were and how habituated to Armes being abroad in the fields without houses such apprehensions of fear and terror did seize upon that Army of Gaules which Caesar had levied against Ariovistus that they durst advance no further but retire such was the high valour of the Suevians at that time which made Caesar himself break out into this confession Suevis ne Deos quidem immortales pares esse posse reliquum quidem in Terris esse neminem quem non superare possint Galli vero paulatim assuefacti superari multisque victi praelijs ne se quidem ipsi cum Germanis virtute comparabant The immortall Gods are not like the Swablanders there are none upon earth but they are able to overcom them but the Gaules being accustomed to be beaten and discomfited in many Encounters did not hold themselfs by their own confession equall to the Germans When Iccius and Ambrogius came Ambassadors to Caesar among other things they told him that the Belgians were the valiantst of all the Gaules who were descended of the Germans who had crossd the Rhine to settle themselfs there for more commodiousnesse by the expulsion of the Gaules which Countrey was calld for distinction sake Ciâ—…-Rhenana Germania which is now calld the Netherlands or Belgium the Inhabitants wherof have Dutch for their naturall language therfore they were usd to call Germany Magnam patriam their Great Countrey Now as Cities use by degrees to grow greater and have outwalls and Suburbs and as great Rivers do not tie themselfs to one direct even Channell but oftentimes inound and gain ground so Kingdoms have their fate It is not therfore the Rhin the Danube and Vistula that confines Germany though they run like great veines of bloud through her body but beyond them she hath Belgium the Swisserland the Grisons and Alpes Styria Carniola Carinthia Austria a great part of Sarmatia Denmark Swethland Norway Finmark with other most potent and patent Regions who glory in the name and language of Germans Moreover touching the Gaules the Germans may be termd their Fathers as well as their Conquerors for Ammianus Marcellinus sayeth In Galliam vacuam populos quosdam ab insulis extremis tractibus trans-Rhenanis crebritate bellorum alluvione fervidi maris sedibus expulsos Som peeple from the outward Islands and Territories beyond the Rhin by the fury of Warr and the encroachments of the tumbling Sea were driven to Gallia and whence can this be but from Germany Nor was a great part of Gallia alone but Great Britany also was Colonizd by Germans wittnesse the words of Caesar who sayeth Germanos si non patres tamen Britannorum Avos esse The Germans if they were not the Fathers yet they were Grandfathers to the Britains And as the hither parts of Gallia so the southerly parts also towards the Pyreneys and Spain were Colonizd by Germans I mean Languedoc and this is plain argumento ducto ab Etymologia the word Languedoc being derivd from Langue de Goth though som would foolishly draw it from Langue d' ovg or Languedoc But let us go neerer to work and with more certainty I pray whence hath France her last and present appellation but from the Franconians in Germany Hear what a famous Author writes Francos Francos nostros sequamur Gentem omnium quotquot magna illa vasta Germania tulit generosissimam acerrimos libertatis propugnatores Let us follow the French the French one of the most generous peeple that huge Germany ever bore and the greatest propugnators of their liberties And this revolution or transmigration happend upon the decay of the Roman Empire in the time of Valerianus and Gallienus the one being taken Captif by the Persian the other eclipsing the Empire with Luxury and sloth so Pharamond the German rushd into France then Gallia and his Successor establishd there a Monarchy which hath continued in three races of Kings above these twelve hundred yeers T is tru the whole Countrey was not all reducd at once by the Franks but by degrees and being once settled nothing could resist their valour but they still got more ground Whence that Proverb hath its rise from Valentinianus Augustus
of learning who were marvellously famous for wisdom and knowledge This Iland doth partake with Creet now Candie in one property which is that she produceth no Venemous creature as Toads Vipers Snakes Spiders and the like and if any be brought thither they die It is wonderfull what huge confluences of birds do flutter about the shores of this Iland as also of Scotland which offuscate the broad face of Heaven sometimes and likewise such huge shoales of Fish A thousand things more might be spoken of these Ilands which are fitter for a Volume then a Panegyrical Oration I will end with the end of the World and that is the I le of Shetland which most of your great Geographers take to be that ultima Thule that terminates the Earth which lyeth under 63. degrees and the most Northern point of Scotland And now most Noble Princes since the most generous I le of Great Britain and her handmaid Ilands which indeed are without number doth as it were overflow with abundance of all commodities that conduce to the welfare and felicity of mankind and is able to afford her neighbours enough besides as the Hollander confesseth when he saith that he lives partly upon the Idlenesse and superfluity of the English Since the antient Britaines were the first displayers of Christianity in most part of the Western World Since of late years they have been such Navigators that they have swom like Leviathans to both the Indies yea to the other Hemisphere of the Earth among the Antipodes since that in the Newfound World they have so many Colonies Plantations and Ilands yea a good part of the Continent of America annexed to the Crown of England And since that Her inhabitants for Comelines and courage for arts and armes as the Romans themselves confessed whose conquests in other places had no horizon Invictos Romano Marte Britannos I say that all circumstances and advantages Maturely considered Great Britain may well be a Candidate and conte nd for priority and the Dictatorship with other Provinces of Europe For my part according to the motto upon Saint George his Garter Hony soit quimaly pense let him be beraid who thinks any hurt by holding this opinion which neverthelesse I most humbly submit to this Princely Tribunall ANOTHER ORATION OF THE Lord WOLF ANGUS BARON of STUBENBERG For GREAT BRITAIN Most Illustrious President and Princes MY most dear Lord and Cosen the Baron of Eubeswald hath made an Elogium of the noble I le of Great Britain as copious and as full of Eloquence as the I le itself is full of all things that are requisite for humane accommodation but most humbly under favour in this survey there are some things pretermitted which are peculiar to Great Britain and worthy the taking notice of one is the generous strong-bodied and dauntless race of Dogs which that I le produceth whereof Claudian makes mention Magnaque taurorum fracturi colla Britanni Britain hath Dogs that will break the huge necks of Buls I do not mean by these Buls those fierce and truculent White-buls which are found in the woody Caledonian hils of Scotland who are so wild that they will not touch any thing that men have handled or blown upon for they cannot only repell but they contemn the assaults of any Dog It was the custom of the Romans to bring in huge Irod Cages the British Dogges to Rome which in their Amphitheatres were put to tugge with huge wild beasts therefore there was an Officer call'd Procurator Cynegiâ—… in Britannis Ventensis The Keeper of the Dog-house among the Britains which Cuiacius would have to be Gynaecii not Cynegii viz. a Work-house for Women not a Kennell for Dogges And Pancirollus is of the same opinion when he saith Gynaecia illa constituta fuisse texendiâ—… principis militumque vestibus navium velis stragulis linteis aliis ad instruendas mansiones necessariis That those Gynecia or Female Work-houses were appointed to weave Garments for the Prince and Souldiery as also Sailes for Ships Beds Tents and other necessaries for furnishing of houses But Wolfangus Lazius holds to the first opinion Procuratorem illum canes Imperatoribus in illa Venta curavisse That the said Procurator did keep and provide Dogges for the Emperour Strabo saith further that Britanni canes erant milites the English Dogs were Souldiers and the old Gaules made use of them so accordingly in their Wars They are also rare Animals for Hunting and herein it is wonderfull what Balaeus hath upon record that two hundred and seventy years before the Incarnation Dordanilla King of Scotland did commit to writing certain precepts for Hunting and to be observed by his subjects which are yet in force Great Britain hath also the most generous and sprightfull Cocks of any Country and 't is a great pleasure to be in one of their Pits at that sport where one shall behold a Cock fight out his eyes and yet retain still his naturall vigour to destroy the other and if these brute Animals Beasts and Birds be thus extraordinary couragious we may well think the rational creatures may hold analogy with them THE ORATION OF THE LORD DANIEL VON WENSIN AGAINST GREAT BRITAIN Most Excellent Lord President and Princes NOw that I am to speak of the Britains I will begin my Oration with that of Ausonius Nemo bonus Britto est No good man is a Britain which ever since grew to be a Proverb God forbid this should be verified of all but I believe I shal rectify the judgment of those noble princes who spoak before me that as I observ'd when I sojourn'd there neither the Countrey of Great Britain nor her Inhabitants are generally so good as they by their perswasive and powerfull Oratory would induce you to give credit unto For as the English sea is unfaithfull and from Beerfleet in Normandy almost to the midst of the chanell is full of rocks and illfavourd ragged places wherin prince VVilliam son to Henry the first and Heir apparant to England and Normandy was cast away by shipwrack together with his sister and a great many noble personages besides so the nature of the Britains may be said to be full of craggs and shelfs of sands that vertue cannot sayle safely among them without hazarding a wreck England is not such a paradis nor the Angli such Angeli though styld so by a Popes mouth which you make them to be most Illustrious Baron of Ewbeswald First for the Countrey it self it is not sufficiently inhabited notwithstanding there be some Colonies of Walloons Hollanders among them The earth doth witnes this which wants culture and the sea is a greater witnes that wants fishermen Touching the first it is a meere desert in some places having no kind of agriculture though she be capable of it And for the other the Hollanders make more benefit upon their coasts then they themselves and which is a very reproachfull thing they use to buy their own fish
Nature which injoynes mankind in generall to endeare themselves one to another by reciprocall Offices of benevolence and love of Charity and Compassion of comfort and mutual Commerce Such a dotage as this seem'd to have sez'd upon Lycurgus and Plato in point of Opinion The furr'd Muscovit and frozen Russe is possess'd also with it to this day But oh immortall Gods what Infatuation or Frenzy rather transports this people so far from the dictates of reason What a transcendent presumption is it in them to invade as it were the Capitoll of Heaven and violate the Decrees of the divine Providence For we well know that God Almighty himselfe by the mouth of his Chancellour Moses hath commanded Peregrinos non minui ac Cives benignè habendos esse That strangers should be as gently intreated as the Natives themselves Moreover there is a Sanction published by our Saviour love thy Neighbour as thy selfe Nay Nature her selfe doth dictate unto us that man hath the least share in his own Nativity but he is born to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a communicable Creature born to benefit others Therefore that Custome and Constitution of China is dissonant to the Law of the Creator the dictates of nature and disagreeable to humane reason Now whom shal we give credit unto the eternall word of God or the Policy of these men For if as the Canon goes de Imperatoris judicio disputare sacrilegij instar est If to dispute of the judgment of the Emperour be a kind of Sacriledge what Trespasse what Piacle what a flagitious Crime are they guilty of who doubt of the verity of divine Oracles It is the Imperiall Decree of Gratianus Valentinianus and Theodosius confirm'd by all their Successors Qui Divinae legis sanctitatem aut nesciendo â—…mittunt aut negligendo violant offendunt sacrilegium committunt Whosoever doth by ignorance omit or by negligence infringe or offend the Sanctity of the divine Law commits Sacriledge Therefore I may say that the Chineses are Sacrilegious that the Muscovits are likewise so with all their Adherents who unlesse they would go about to overthrow the Rights of the Rationall Creature unlesse they would extinguish all the sparkles of Charity would not put in practise so absurd a Law For it stops the Channels and choakes up the Cisternes of all Hospitality of all kind of Humanity it utterly subverts all increase of knowledge all mutuall Offices of love all Trade and Commerce all improvement of Wealth and plenty all intercourse of Kindnesse and Civility among the Children of Adam For in my judgment this whole Globe of the Earth is no other then the Native Country of all kind of men It is but one common City Domicile and Habitation Therefore that Saying of Socrates was a true Philosophicall one when being askt what Country-man he was he answer'd I am a Cosmopolite I am a Citizen or free Denizon of the World For what an Indignity is it to Captivate the mind of man which Heaven can scarce hold to one territory or clod of Earth What an injustice is it that the Volatils of the Aire should have such liberty to flye and the Fish of the Sea to swim where they please without controulement or interruption and that man who by divine Charter is Lord of all Elementary Creatures should be confin'd within the compasse of one poor tract of ground Therefore as those high Ethereall and heavenly bodies above delight in motion so among men all generous and noble Spirits should take pleasure in Peregrination they should make truce with their domestick Affaires ask their Parents blessing embrace their Kindred bid their Friends farewell and shake hands a while with their own Country to take a view of the World abroad to observe the Customes and Carriage of other people to pry into their Lawes and Government to their Policy and waies of preservation to attain unto the knowledge of their Language to convert every good thing they see into wholesome juice and blood and for the future benefit of their own Country to learn how to converse with all people For the French have no improper saying Un honneste homme est un homme mesle an honest or wise man is a mixt man that is one who hath something in him in point of knowledge of all Nations Truely that I may discover unto you the most Intrinsick thoughts of my Soule I am of Opinion that it is a kind of degenerous thing for any gentile Spirit to sit still at home as it were lurking in the Chimny corner be so indulgent of himselfe as never to see the World abroad Nay a noble mind should resolve with himselfe to undergo any injury of the Elements any roughnesse of waies any difficulty of passage to be acquainted with forreigne Nations he should presently get his Bills of exchange or Letters of credit settle his Servants call for his Boots and Spurs put his Sword by his side and mount a Horseback being invited thereunto by so many noble examples specially by yours most Illustrious Princes who have made such exuberant fruits of your Peregrinations whereof all Germany your deare Country is like to make such a mighty benefit For I know there is none of you here but as the Prince of Poets speakes of Ulisses 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 You have seen the manners of millions of men with so many magnificent Cities Castles Fortifications and Palaces Touching my selfe though I do not travell in body as I have done yet in a contemplative way and upon the wings of Fancy I daily passe through and measure with my thoughts all those most flourishing Kingdomes of Europe I once perlustrated with my eyes I travel still in my imagination and nothing is so delightfull unto me as the Ideas of those various Objects I have seen abroad I confesse there are some and they are too many who abuse this excellent benefit of forreigne Travell if they have but once saluted France they return altogether Frenchified If they have eaten their bread a while tother side the Alpes they come back altogether Italianated if they have cross'd the Pyrenies they return altogether Spanioliz'd They force themselves by affected and fanstastick postures and gestures to imitate forreigne Fashions by their Garb their Cloathes their Speech they would shew themselves Travellers in a kind of Histrionicall Mimick way like Actors or Comedians upon a Stage whose part is to represent others They seem to slight and some of them to scorn the Manners the Custome and Behaviour of their own Country Such a Caprichious Traveller or Stage Player Sir Thomas More that Golden English Knight hath accurately set forth in his own Colours in that witty facetious Epigram which I beleive is not unknown to any of this Illustrious Auditory Amicus sodalis est Lalus mihi c. In the person of Lalus this renowned Chancellor displayes a phantastick Travellor or Landloper rather who having breathed a while the ayre of France returned all
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Have the Frank or the Frenchman for thy friend not for thy Neighbour And the name of Frank or French grew so renownd that Iustinian the Emperour calld himselfe Francicum whereat Theudebert King of France took exception because he was neither born there nor gott one foot of the Countrey And now the fame of the Franks like a bright flame of fire flew higher and higher and at last it grew so high that in Charlemaynes time all Gallia and all Germany that extended from the Rhin to Illyrium was calld France nay the name of Freink or Frence came to be of such a huge extent and latitude that all Christians among the Turks and up and down Asia of what Nation soever they were were calld Freinks yea the Christian Affricans in Ethiopia calld the Habissines calld all the Europaeans Alfrangues and the Countrey Frankia Herby most noble Princes by our fortitude and constancy we became twise the Fathers of Gallia and so we may be sayed to be also twise the Fathers of the Britains For the Saxons which som wold derive from the Saci a renowned peeple in Asia but wrongfully being as Zosimus sayeth for their magnitude of spirit strength of body and patience in labour grown famous and feard by the Romans as Marcellinus hath it The Saxons I say were sent for by the Britons to help them against the incursions of the Picts and Scots where being arrivd after many vicissitudes they settled there a Monarchy so that by som it was calld Transmarina Saxonia nor have the ancient Britons Irish and Scotts any other name for an English man to this day but Sasson Nor was the English Language any thing else at first but a meer dialect of the German so that all their Townes terminant in Dutch either in Ham thorp wich burg berg sted heim stadt c. Now I pray were not the ancient Kings of Spain before the House of Austria all Germans with the principallst Families of Spain who to this day take it a glory to be descended of the Goths Now it is observd that whersoever the German and Goth took footing they never forsook the place but multiplied there exceedingly nor is there any Nation so fruitfull and prolificall as the Germans witnesse these examples though somthing prodigious Margaret Florence the fourth Count of Hollands Daughter and Wife to the Earl of Henneberg being about two and forty yeers old about nine a clock in the morning was brought to Bed of an Almanack of Children Viz. three hundred sixty five as many as there be dayes in the yeer whom Guido the Suffragan Bishop of Utrecht christned all alive being brought all to Church in a great Bason and being half Boyes and half Girls the Males were calld Iohns and the Females Elizabeths but they all expird with their Mother in one day which was Anno 1276. Another Margaret Wife to a Count of Holsten some thirty yeers after brought forth so many But these were unusuall abortive weak Issues Germany needs and daylie produceth stronger broods I pray observe that nere Tubinga ther is a Castle calld Entringh Castle which for the serenity of the ayr the sweetnesse of soyl and amaenity of walks is a place most delectable there livd within these few yeers in this Castle five Gentlemen with their Wifes in a rare harmony of affection who got a hundred Children who livd to be all Men and Women Consider the Countesse of Dalburg who saw her numerous Issue to the third degree of whom this Distic was made Mater ait natae dic natae filia natam Ut moneat natae plangere filiolam Rise up Daughter and go to thy Daughter for thy Daughters Daughter hath a Daughter The story is notable of Babo Count of Abeneberg who of Wifes had two and thirty Sonns and eight Daughters whom he gave the choicest education unto that could be this Count being invited one day to Hunt with the Emperour Hen the second took oportunity to bring his Troup of Sonns well horsd and in gallant Equippage and making a present of them to the Emperour he took them all with much grace and contentment to his service and married them very nobly insomuch that many Illustrious Families sprung from their loynes And the Emperour was bound to do this according to Law for whosoever in Germany getts seven Sonns together the Emperour is to maintain them all and though the German Continent be very vast yet is it full of people so that as Boterus hath it ther was a cense of ten Millions of soules who breathd ther at one time but he corrected himself afterward and averrs Veggo che quella amplissima provincia passa 19. millioni d'anime senza comprendervi I Regni di Danemarca di Boemia I find that that huge Province besides Denmark and Bohemia hath nineteen millions of soules within it Therfor though an Army of two hundred thousand Soldiers shold be carried out of Germany ther would be no misse at all of them What shall we say of the Normans in France who establishd a Monarchy both in England and Sicilie by their meer prowesse and having subjugated that fertile Province in France calld Normandy ever since they did so infest the rest of that spacious Kingdom that it was a part of their Letany a Furore Normanorum libera nos Domine From the Norman Fury the Lord deliver us At last Charles the simple was forcd to give Rollo their Duke his Daughter Gista to wife with that whole Province and when at that Ceremony Rollo was advisd by his Nobles to kisse the Kings foot answerd no by God which is the cause that the Normans are calld By-gods to this day Roger Hoveden speaks thus of the Normans Audax Francia Normannorum Militiam experta est ferox Anglia captiva succubuit dives Apulia sortit aestoruit Heirosolyma famosa insignis Antiochia se utraque suppoluit Bold France felt the Norman Disciplin fierce England yeelded her selfe as Captive rich Apulia receavd them and flourishd holy Ierusalem and famous Antioch subjected themselfs both unto him What a man of men was Tancred who going as a Martiall Adventurer abroad with many goodly young Princes his Sons did perform many exploits in Italy chasd the Saracens out of Sicilie and did sundry brave feats in the Holy-land And to this day the Sicilians acknowledg that it was by his valour they enjoy their own Country that they live free and became all Christians again Tacitus himself though no great Friend to our Nation confesseth that the Germans cut the Romans more work to do then either the Samnites the Carthaginians the Spaniards or French and Parthians For what can the Orient as he sayeth bragg of but that they conquerd and killd our Generall Crassus and Pacorus But the Germans did not onely rout five Roman Armies in the Consulship of Carbo Cassius Scaurus Aurelius Servilius Cepo and Manlius but they took away Varus with three Legions
IO ACHIM ERNEST Heir of Norway Duke of Sleswik c. For France Most Heroique Princes THe Emperour Maximilian the first who may be said to have deserved that name for the magnitude of his merits his singular wisedom his incomparable spirit as well as from the sacred Font of Regeneration in some familiar discourses with his Domestique Lords about the Kingdom of France is said to have broken out into this high commendation thereof If it could stand with the order of Nature that any mortal man might be a God here among the Elements and I were Hee I would so dispose in my Will quantum ad familiae herciscundae judicium touching the division of my estate that my eldest son should be God after me absit proptana mens but my second should be King of France This saying or excesse of speech must be interpreted with a sane judgment for hereby the noble Emperour meant nothing els then to intimate his opinion touching that potent populous and opulent Kingdom of France and that no one Countrey under the Sun is preferrable to it I use this preface most excellent Princes for preparing your attentions and if peradventure I be transported too far with the elogie of France I may have the suffrage of so noble an Emperour and a Countrey-man of our own to apologize for me And truly though I owe my vitals to Germany and all that I have being my most dear native soyl yet let me not be thought to degenerate a jot from the nature of a German if in my subsequent discourse I hold France to have the advantage of Germany in divers things as also of any Europaean Country besides which while I endeavour to assert and prove I humbly desire this most Noble Auditory that the same gale of favor and candor may blow upon me all along as I go which did on that Illustrious Prince who spoke before me And now will I endeavour to take a survey of France which noble Monarchy whosoever will behold with a judicious and impartial eye will acknowledg that first for her position and site she hath the advantage of any other Countrey being placed in the Center of Europe having Italy Spain Germany and Great Britain round about Her She enjoyes a most delicate temper of clime for she needs not either the stoves of Germany to preserve her children from the inclemency of the Heavens in point of cold or the subterranean caves in other Countries to refresh her in point of heat nor is she much infected with unwholsom aguish and infectious aires which in other Countreys produce such a legion of diseases Now that which adds much to the advantage of her situation is that she lieth accessible and open to all mankind for Commerce and negotiation both by Land and Sea and being seated so in the midst she is the fittest to be Arbitresse and to give law to the rest of Christendom as being able to divide hinder or unite the Forces of Europe when she pleaseth She stands commodiously to restrain the growing and unproportionable greatnes of some as also to releeve the weaker that they be not oppressed by the stronger She bridles Great Britany backward On the right hand she checks Spain on the left hand Germany both high and low The Ocean and Mediterranean wash both her sides the Alps fence her from Italy and the Pyrenean Mountains from Spain those huge hills serving her as trenches of Circumvallations against both And where nature fayles she secures her self by art by Fortresses Cittadels and Castles To this Strength of hers may be added her plenty and indeed she may be call'd a Copia Cornu or a Pandora's box of all things for necessity or pleasure and she useth to give such largesse of her luxuriant fortune abroad that she is a Creditor to all other peeple but a Debtor to none Those commodities which use to enrich other Countreys singly are here all conjunct and what is exotique or strange in other Countreys is here domestique common Which Italy who useth to be sparing of other's praises and prodigal of her own doth acknowledg for Boterus saith that those things which are found but in some places of Italy are found every where in France Therefore the character which Pliny gave in times past to Province and Salvianus gave to Aquitania in particular may be applyed to France in general Narbonensis Provincia agrorum cultu c. The Countrey of Narbon saith Pliny is not to be postpos'd to any other either for Agriculture for foecundity of soyl for universality of wealth for Nobles and Gentry c. And Salvianus saith that Aquitania is not only a fat Countrey and full of marrow but she hath as much jucundity as fertility as much real pleasure as outward beauty Nam Illic omnis admodum Regio aut intertexta est Vineis aut florulenta pratis aut irrigata fontibus aut interfusa fluminibus aut distincta culturis aut consita pomis aut amaenata lucis aut crinita messibus Ut verè possessores ac Domini illius terrae non tam soli istius portionem quà m Paradisi imaginem possidere Videantur There every place is either interwoven with Vines or flowr'd with Medowes or set with Orchards or cut by Corn fields or peepled with Trees and Woods or refresh'd with Fountains or inchanel'd with Rivers or periwigg'd with all sorts of grain In so much that the Inhabitants of that Countrey may be sayed to have a peece of Paradise rather then a portion of the Common Earth But the four Cardinal Commodities of France may be said to be Corn Wine Hemp and Salt which Boterus calls Galliae Magnetes the four Loadstones of France For as the loadstone especially the blew and Ethiopian is more precious in weight then silver and hath an attractive Vertu to draw and embrace iron with other mettals so these French Loadstones which are so far more noble then the Ethiopians as the climes are in temper and noblenesse do draw unto them all the silver and gold of their neighbours so that France may be call'd the Exchequer of Europe Touching French Corn ther 's no question but it is the perfect'st of all other Solinus and Pomponius Mela expatiate themselves very far in the French fields and speak much of their fatnesse and foecundity Nor was Cicero himself silent but he speaks of vast proportions of Corn which were exported from the Gaules of France And Pliny one of Natures Protonotaries bears witnesse that the Gallic corn was nitidissimi grani plus panis reddere quà m far aliud it was of a neat grain and yeelded more bread then other Wheat Who knowes not but Spain might starve without French Corn which is transmuted to Indian silver and gold Insomuch that the Spaniard may be said to have the dominion of the Mines of Mexico but the French reap the benefit thereof Now touching the French Wines we may well say they need no bush for by bartring of
slave whom he had bought in Spain the slave being told of the Constitutions of France came and told his Master Sir I have serv'd you hitherto in quality of a slave but I am now a Freeeman yet I am content to serve you still but as a free attendant according to the custome of this noble Countrey The like thing happen'd at the siege of Mets where a servant had play'd the fugitive and ran away with his Master Don Luis de Avila's horse who was Master of the horse to the Emperour Don Luis sent to the Duke of Guyse a Trompetor for his man and his horse The Duke understanding that the horse was sold caus'd the money to be sent the Spaniard but for the servant he sent him word That his servant had enter'd into the inner parts of France where the Law is that if any of a servile condition puts his foot once he instantly recovers his liberty which custom being so consonant to reason and agreeable to Christianity he could not nor would not violat Touching the magnanimity and valour of the French ther are infinit Examples all the World over Alexander the great hearing of their valour sent to know of them what they fear'd most They answer'd Ne coelum rueret Least the heaven should fall 'T is tru Gallia became a Province to the Romanes but presently after the death of Iulius Caesar she was declared free And Rome call'd the Gaules in their publique writings by the appellation of frends 'T is well known what footing the Gaules took in Italy for the best part of Lombardy was call'd Gallia Cisalpina We read in Caesar that the time was cum Germanos Galli virtute superarent that the Gaules were superior to the Germans in valour that they had conquer'd much of the Countrey about the Hercynian Forest Are not the Britains of the Gaulic or Wallic race are not divers Provinces in Spain and Portingal descended from Them Afterward in revolution of time the German Franconians and Gaules being neighbours came by coalition to be one Nation and they have continued so above these 12 Ages The Kings of Sicily descend from Tanered the Norman so do the Kings of England from William the Conqueror and the Plantagenets The Kings of Cyprus Syria and Greece com from Guy of Lusignan nay Constantinople was held awhile by Gallic Emperours What glorious Expeditions have bin made to the Holy Land by 5. French Kings in person Me thinks I see Godefroy of Bâ—…llion having sold his Duchy to that purpose marching with a huge Army through Germany Hungary and Greece and so passing to Asia and Syria to encounter the Forces of Soliman the Ottoman Emperour and Chalypha the Soldan of Egipt with other Barbarian Kings whom he put all to flight making himself Master of Nice of Antioch and Hieresulam her self with the holy Sepulcher of Christ Me thinks I see him when he was to be crown'd King of Hierusalem throwing away a Crown of gold and taking one of thorns in imitation of his Saviour Me thinks I see all the tributary Princes therabouts bringing offrings unto him and he clad in the habit of a common Gregarian Soldier wherat they being astonished som of them as the Archbishop of Tyre said How is it that so great a King so admirable a Conqueror who coming from the West hath shaken all the Eastern World shold go so plain and homely But to step back a little look upon Brennus ransacking Rome with an Army of Gaules look upon Charles Martel who was call'd Conservator of the Christian World which was then upon point of ruine and to fall under the yoke of Infidels and Saracens Look upon Pepin who chas'd the Longâ—…bards out of Italy upon Bertrand who depriv'd Peter King of Castile of his Kingdom for his tyranny I could instance in a great nomber who have their names engraven and their Ensigns hung up in the Temple of immortality Moreover for Cavalleers and horsemen it is granted by all Nations that the French are the prime It is recorded in good how in the African Warr 30. French repuls'd 2000. Moors But to come neerer home In the siege of Mets where the fifth himself commanded in chief What resolute Sallies did the French make out of the Town causing the Emperour at last to trusse up his bagg and baggage and go away by torchlight Inso much that the Town of Mets being then kept by a French Garrison put the last bounds to the Conquests of that Great Captain as a Poet could tell him Si metam nescis Urls est quae Meta vocatur Now to go from the Sword to the Crosier What brave Prelats and Champions against haeresie hath France bred St. Hilary the queller of the Arrian heresie St. Hierom Pontius Paulinus Bishop of Nola Rusticus Phaebadius Prosper â—…cditius Avitus Mamertus Archbishop of Vienna Sidonius Apollinaris Lupus Germanus Salvianus Remigius Archbishop of Rheims with multitudes more all of them most pioâ—…s and learned Prelats whose Monuments shew them to be so to this day And so well devoted were the French alwayes to the Church of God that they thought nothing too dear and precious to endow her withall witnesse those mighty revenues the Gallican Church possesseth For in the late Raign of Charles the 9. ther was a cense brought in of the demains of the Church and they amounted to 12 millions and 300. thousand Franks in annual rent besides voluntary oblations Now touching Learning and Eloquence Lucius Plotius a Gaul was the first began to read Latin Lectures at Rome and Cicero being then a boy and finding such a great confluence of Auditors to flock ev'ry day to hear him he griev'd that he could not do the like as Suetonius hath left it upon record Marcus Antonius Gnipho a Gaul did then florish also at Rome a man of singular Elocution and a prodigious Memory he delivered praecepts in Greek and Latin and among others Cicero himself when he was Praetor us'd to be his Auditor Marseilles was very renowned for great learned men having bin so many ages a Greek Colony so was Lions also a special seat of the Muses as it is now for Marchants of all Nations of whom the Kings of France have borrow'd Millions of money to supply their sudden necessities Valence was also famous for Philosophers and Poets witnesse Athenaeus as also Vienne where Latin was so vulgar according to that signal Epigram of Martial Fertur habere meos si vera est fama 〈◊〉 Inter delicias pulchra Vienna suas Me legit omnis ibi Senior Iuvenisque puerque Et coram tetrico cast a puella viro Hoc ego maluerim quà m si mea carmina cantent Qui nilum ex ipso protinus ore bibunt Quà m Meus Hispano si me Tagus impleat auro Pascat et Hybla meas pascat Hymettos apes c. And questionlesse no Countrey florish'd with Learning more then France in those daies witnesse St. Hierom when he writ Sola Gallia monstra
Earth to Mount Adrian Nor doth this huge Mote give security alone to the Inhabitants but it brings them many other inestimable benefits it animates by vertue of the salt-waters the heat of the contiguous Earth it nourisheth the air with pregnant vapours to make wholsom showres for the irrigation and refreshment of the Earth it takes in and lets out many brave Rivers for navigation which are replenished with all store of Fish Among other kind the benefit that is made of Herrings is beyond belief which swimme in huge shoales like Mountains about the Iland Towards the Summer Solstice they seek the Coasts of Scotland then towards Autumne they retire to the English and it is incredible what huge quantities are taken twixt Scarborough and the Thames mouth from the month of August to September then they move more Southward to the British Sea and find matter for fishing till Christmas then having as it were fetch'd a compasse about Britain they seek the Western Sea and the Irish Coast where they keep till Iune and then set forward for Britain again when they are grown fat and numerous by multiplication Thus Britany like a Microcosm of her selfe is seated in the midst of a turbulent and working Sea yet she within is still quiet serene and safe And now I will take a survay of this Noble Iland as one would doe of some stately Castle and to do that exactly one must not onely view the Trenches and outworks which are about but pry into the recesses and roomes within and observe what fashion of men they are that keep it therefore I will make a progresse into the Center and bowells of Britain Touching the people who inhabit Her they are the wellfavourdest and best complexion'd people of any upon the surface of the Earth they have excellent Intellectuals sucking Capacities and spacious Understandings they add unto and perfect any invention that is brought them And truly wee Germans should be very ingrateful unlesse we should acknowledge to have receiv'd great benefit by them for in point of Religion and literature they have been Doctors and Parents unto us They brought Christ and the Standard of the Crosse first amongst us they dispell'd the black clouds of Faganism and ignorance from amongst us and let in the sweet raies of piety and knowledge to enlighten us This unlesse wee brand our selfs with the ugly mark of ingratitude we must ingeniously confesse Now it is observ'd that the Britans were alwaies by a special instinct very much addicted to Religion And as in the Discipline of the Druyds whose founders they are held to be they antecell'd all others for Caesar records that the Gaules went over to be instructed by the British Druyds so when the name of Christ was known among them with flagrant desires and fervent affections they embrac'd that beliefe with a wonderful ready devotion and as the glorious Sun when he culminates and appears in the East doth as it were in a moment illustrate the whole Hemisphear so the beames of Christianity displayed themselves with marvellous celerity all the Hand over But this had very good helps to advance this work for in the infancy of the Church as Baronius doth assert Ioseph of Arimathea a Noble Decurion arrived there and Claudia Rufina Wife to Aulus Pudens the Roman of whom the Poet Martial nay Saint Paul himself makes honorable mention Simon Zelotes having made a hot progresse through Barbary died in Britain Nay some say that Saint Paul being freed from Nero's shackles encreas'd the propagation of grace there Hereupon the Britains having had the advantage of such great lights applyed themselves to erect Oratories and Churches for the publique exercise of devotion wherein they grew so zealous that Lucius a British King left his Crown with all earthly pomp and made a spontaneous pilgrimage to Rome in the time of Eleutherius the year 150. after the Incarnation and spent the rest of his life in holy Meditations and practices of piety Now what a glory it is for Britain to have had the first Christian King that ever was Nay the first Christian Emperor Constantine the Great And to speak truth no Region produc'd more constant professors of Christianity then Britain did and more fincere Propagators thereof which will appear if we look into the Catologe of Saints Martyrs and Confessors In so much that in lieu of that malitious character which Porphyrie gives of her who hated her for being such a zealous Christian by calling her feracem tyrannorum provinciam a Country fruitful for Tyrants she may more deservedly be call'd Regio sanctorum faecundissima a Region most abounding with Saints Nor were the Britans such Zelots only at home but they cross'd the Seas to disperse the beams of Christian Knowledge abroad and their paines prov'd very successful herein Germany was beholden to Winfridus and Willebrod that she was converted France was beholden to Alcuin for establishing the Academy of Paris though Paschasius a cavilling Author denies it Touching us Germans among other testimonies of gratitude to Britain let this of an excellent Almain Poet serve for one Haec tamen Arctois laus est eterna Britannis Quod post Pannonicis vastatum incursibus Orbem Illa bonas Artes Graiae munera linguae Stellarumque vias magni sidera caeli Observans iterum turbatis intulit oris Quin se Relligio multùm debere Britannis Servata latè circum dispersa fatetur Quis nomen Winfride tuum quis munera nesâ—…cit Te Duce Germanis pietas se vera Fidesque Infinuans caepit ritus abolere prophanos Quid non Alcuino facunda Lutetia debet Instaurare bonas ibi qui faeliciter Artes Barbariemque procul solus dispellere caepit To these British Champions of Christianity we may add Bede who hath the Epithet by the consent of the universall Christian Church of Venerable given him I will bring upon the stage next Io. Dunscotus who was so supereminent in Divinity and the spiny art of Logique that he was call'd by the whole commonwealth of learning Subtilis Doctor and he was a man of such large esteem that he founded a sect who are call'd Scotistae to this day he also was call'd lima veritatis the file of truth He was so great a man that as many Cities contended for the Nativity of Homer so did many Kingdoms strive for him Ireland Scotland England and France yet what a strange destiny befell this famous Doctor for being surpriz'd by an apoplexy and given for dead he was buried alive for it was found that he breath'd his last in the Grave After him I may instance in Iohn Wicklif a great Artist and Theolog next to him I rank William Ockam patrem Nominalium who establishd a sect calld the Nominalls but both these were strong enemies to Rome as appeers yet by their penns There was another great Doctor calld Doctor Resolutus by the Italians for his acute way of disputation and he was Io Baconthorp
Glocester built first by Claudius Caesar doth stand with divers other very jolly rich Towns as Worcester Shrewsbury Bridgnorth Teuxbury and that Noble River of Severn doth part England from the antient Country of Wales In so much that He who is master of the Severn may be said to be master of the 3d. part of England in point of Power I have a great mind now to come to Oxford a little Earthly Paradise for situation salubrity of air and sweetnesse of soyl most daintily watered and crested about with hills a convenient distance off because she might have a freer respiration But the prime thing which graceth this delightful City is that renowned University which is founded there she is rank'd among the 4. principal Academies of Europe for antiquity for number of Colledges for large exhibitions to students for a Library they may compare with the Vatican The story relates that in the reign of Edward the first there were thirty thousand students in Oxford which did homage to the Muses Hear what Lipsius saith Unum Oxoniense Collegium decem Belgica One Oxford Colledge is worth ten Flemish Richard the first call'd the Lionhearted for the vastnesse of his spirit was born here He who built the walls of Vienna at his Victorious return from Palestine It is a great pleasure to passe from Oxford to Buckinghamshire to see those numerous heards of sheep which graze there and bear excellent Wooll Bedfordshire among other things hath such large fieldes of Beanes and Pease that it is a great delight to behold them for they make the very air redolent and perfume it with a kind of fragrancy The County of Hartford hath all Commodities in it Verolam stands there famous for the Protomartyr of Britany Saint Albons Middlesex comes next wherein there are many memorable places but that which illustrates all the rest and indeed the whole Iland is the potent and populous vast city of London Englands Imperial Chamber one of the greatest eyes of Christendom There you have as proud and as deep a Navigable River as ever made her bed between banks you have an antient inexpugnable Tower you have two exchanges old and new of most curious structure you have the largest Hall at Westminster for tribunals of Justice of any in the World The King hath divers Royal Palaces there There is a Bridge of ninteen large high Arches over the rapid profound River of Thames which would astonish you to behold and indeed it may be called one of the wonders of the World all circumstances considered you have in the heart of the City and the highest peece of ground the antient Church of Saint Paul one of the stateliest piles of stone that ever was reard this stately Temple is founded upon Faith for underneath there is another subterranean Parish Church which is a rarity that no other I know of hath through all the Christian World There is Westward a large Abbey the sight whereof would strike devotion into the beholder and a most curious Chappel annexed thereunto call'd Henry the sevenths Chappel which as Leland saith may be call'd Orbis miraculum And judge you if London in the time of William the Conqueror could send out forty thousand foot and twenty thousand horse as the Annals have it how many would she be able to set forth now that she is more opulent more peopled and greater in all dimensions by the 6d. part for her Suburbs are of more extent then her self so that some have compar'd her to a narrow crown'd hat with broad brimms There are more parish Churches there then in Rome viz. 122. There are divers Hospitals both for Orphans which come to above 600. and other poor people of both sexes above 1200. in so much that one may say that poverty is no where better hous'd and fed then there I goe now from London to Essex a most fruitfull and well hedg'd Country among other things she is famous for Iohn Hawknood whom the Italians among whom he was so well known call Aucutho nor was he more known than honour'd by them for in regard of the rare documents he gave for Military discipline the Senate of Florence rays'd a Statue and Tomb for him There is old Walden in that Country where excellent Saffron growes there is Colchester where the best Oysters are and Dunmow which hath the proverb for the best Bacon I pass to Suffolk a spritefull pleasant Country and Doctor Despotino an Italian Physitian affirm'd that the healthfullest air under heaven is that which moves over Saint Edmondsberry That famous Navigator Sir Thomas Cavendish who sailed about the World makes this Country famous for his Nativity there Norfolk lies next a County full of acute wits and abounding with Lawyers Norwich is the Metropolis a large City and full of Artisans for there are hardly found so many Loomes any where Now comes in Cambridgeshire a self-sufficient County where the antient Academy of Cambridge stands still flourishing with scientificall wits and rare acute capacities in all professions in all faculties and knowledge and reputed all the world over for a most learned University and she must needs be so being so near allyed to Oxford as to be her only Sister and having such stately seats for the Muses though the circumjacent soyl and site on Camus banks be not so pleasant as that which stands on Isis. Huntingdonshire her neighbour is famous for rurall Philosophy upon a time the Town of Gormonchester entertain'd the King in a kinde of pomp with ninescore Ploughs Northampton is full of noble Townes Villages and Churches whereof most are of a Danish built for you shall behold at once in some places thirty holy Pyramids or Steeples as you pass along and the field cover'd all over with sheep Leicestershire doth benefit all her neighbours and warm them with her Cole-mines which she distributes up and down Lincoln was us'd to be a well devoted County for in her chief Town there are half a hundred of Churches wherof the Minster or Cathedrall Church is one of the most conspicuous and visiblest Church in the World Notingham for delightfull prospects hath not her fellow there you have true Troglodits as on the Mountaines of the Moon in Ethiopia that hew their houses out of Rocks This Country is singular for Liquorish Derby lies next famous for the best Ale on the West parts her bowels are pregnant with excellent lead in somuch that the Chymists say that the Planet Saturn who presides over Lead is more benign to the English than to the French Warwick excels for Fabrarian inventions for Smiths work Worcester for Salt-pits and delicate Sider for Pears and Apples grow there as also in Gloucestershire up and down the Hedges and Highwayes Among other Fish which the Severn which waters her soyl doth afford Salmon is one and 't is the best in the world which the Romans confessed The Trent called so for thirty species of Fishes that shee breeds doth make Staffordshire of extraordinary
account others will have that River called so because that thirty other Rivers do pay her tribute and disemboke into her There is in this County a Lake of an admirable nature that no beast will enter into though pursued never so close by dogges for they will rather dye than goe in and as Necham hath it this Lake is Prophetique for when her waters roare it is a presage of some ill Rugitu lacus est eventus praeco futuri Cujus aquis fera se credere nulla solet Instet odora canum virtus mors instet acerba Non tamen intrabit exagitata lacum Shropshire for amenity of soyl and neatnesse of well pav'd streets yeelds to none She is a Peninsula compassed about every where with the Severn except one little neck of land so that she beares the form of a horshooe Cheshire her neighbour is the Shire of men she affords also good store of salt there is no Shire that is fuller of Gentry Hereford is a delicate little County very frugiferous for passengers as they goe along the highwayes may pluck Apples Peares and Plums off the trees without offence she hath good store of Marble and her Lemsters ore or wool yeelds nothing in finess to the Spanish or that of Apulia and Tarentum and judge you of the salubrity and wholsomnesse of this County when in the Town of Hereford there was a Morris-dance of tenne men taken up on the Welsh side that made above a thousand years betwixt them the one supplying what the other wanted of a hundred and one Philip Squire the Tabourer and Bess Gwin the Maidmarian were above a hundred a peece Caermarthan old Maridunum the Court of the British Kings is a gentile County Giraldus speakes of a Well there that in imitation of the sea doth ebbe and flow every four and twenty houres Then you have Pembrockshire where there are many Families of the Flemish race that were sent to colonize there by King Henry for bridling of the Welsh This Country is call'd little England beyond Wales because the English tongue is so frequent among them This County is also celebrous for Milford Haven the most comodious and capacious Port in the world for a thousand sayles of Ships may ride at Anchor there in severall Creeks and one not in sight of the other and from hence she takes her denomination She hath also an ancient stately Temple at Saint Davids call'd Menevia the seat of an Archbishop in times past it stands in a solitary by-corner of the whole Isle a place fittest for contemplation and for sequestring the spirits for holy exercises of any upon the earth Next is Cardiganshire which hath the River Towy that affords rare Salmon which fish thirsting after fresh water doth use to put himself in a circle and by a naturall slight taking his tayle in his mouth will spring and leap up three cubits high over Wears into the fresh water whence he cannot goe back as Ausonius hath very elegantly Nec te puniceo rutilantem visâ—…cre salmo Transierim latae cujus vaga verbera caudae Gurgite de medio summas referuntur in undas Mâ—…n gomery shire hath good Horses Merioneth shire hath a famous Lake call'd Pimble meare which the River Deva runnes through and goes out of the same bignesse as she enters but that which is wonderfull is that there is a Fish call'd Guiniad which the Lake breeds and cannot abide the river and the river hath Salmons that cannot abide the Lake water which Leland describes very hansomly Illud habet certè lacus admirabile dictu Quantumvis magna pluvia non aestuat atqui Aere turbato si ventus murmura tollat Excrescit subitò rapidis violentior undis Et tumido superat contemptas flumine ripas The River Conow makes Arvon pretious where there are Musles bred wherin there are plenty of pearl found insomuch that I had it from a good hand that one of those pearles was sold for two hundred and fifty Crownes Denbigh and Flintshire are wholsome high crested Countreyes Now for the County of York it may be called a little Kingdome of it self for the spaciousness of it being halfe as bigge as all the fix United Provinces in the Netherlands There is a famous Quarrey there whence is digged a Free-stone which is soft at first but receives hardness and incrustation by the air There is also a rare Well called Dropping Well which transmutes wood into stone there is Mougrave Castle where there is good store of Rozin with Jet and Agat stones which is ranked among Jewels as Marbodaeus sings wittily Nascitur in Lycia lapis prope gemma Gagates Sed genus eximium faecunda Britannia mittit Lucidus niger est levis levissimus idem Vicinas paleas tâ—…ahit attritu calefactus Ardet aqua lotus restinguitur unctus olivo Among other properties of this Stone it burns in water and that burning is extinguished onely by oyl In this Province stands Scarborough Castle highly mounted the Sea underneath is almost as full of fish as of water and this the Hollanders know well when they fish there for Herring with the leave of the Castle not otherwise so that it may be said the English doe reserve the honour to themselves but pass over the profit to others There is Rippon Temple famous for Saint VVilfrids Needle which is a hole to try the chastity of woemen and onely the honest can passe through it There is Halifax who hath a peculiar mode of punishment which is an axe tied to a pulley which falls down upon the neck of the Malefactor and chops it off in a trice and heretofore they were us'd to punish first and examine the cause afterward In this County there is a jolley Port Town call'd Kingston upon Hull which hath the true resemblance of a Low-country Town for she lies so low and flat that she can inound and overwhelm the Country four miles land-ward The Metropolis of this County is Eboracum called York where a high Provinciall Magistrate was used to keep Court to determine all causes from Trent to Tweed This City hath been famous for the residence of Emperours for Severus had his Palace here Antoninus Augustus died here and breathing his last he sayd Turbatam Rempublicam ubique accepi pacatam Britannis relinquo I found the Commonwealth full of troubles I leave it peaceable A hundred yeares after Severus Flavius Valerius Constantinus having got Constantin the Great by his former Wife Helene a British Lady kept his Court here I will now to Richmondshire whose Mountaines swell with three severall Commodities with Brasse Lead and Cole The River Swale runnes hard by celebrous and sacred in regard the story speakes of ten thousand Pagans that were baptised and regenerated there in one day by Paulinus Here dwels the fruitful race of the Metcalfs whereof one of them being Sherif brought three hundred of his own name in Blew-coats to wait on the Itinerant Judges at the Grand
whereof the noble Baron hath spoken so much they were very valiant indeed when a silly Shepheardesse Anne d' Arc did beat them away from before Orleans pursued them to Paris and so drive them over the Seine to Normandy and when they could not be reveng'd of this Mayd in the Field being taken by a Stratageme they cut her off by a forged accusation that she was a Sorceresse forsooth Then was the time if the English had comported themselves like men of prowesse and policy to have reduc'd all France under a perpetuall subjection King Charles the seventh being driven to such streights that he was constrain'd to fly to Bourges and so for the time was in a jeering way call'd King of Berry But that notable mayd at her execution being tied to the stake was nothing daunted but left prosperity and victory for a legacy to her Countrey men till the English should be beaten quite out of France as they were afterwards for being driven and dogg'd as far as Calais they kept that a while but afterwards they were by a writ of ejectment publish'd by sound of drum and trumpet as also by the Canon Musket of the Duke of Guise thrust out of Calais and so casheer'd quite out of France which sunck so deep and made such black impressions of sorrow upon the heart of Queen Mary of England that she would often say if she were open'd after death the town of Calais would be found Engraven in her heart Now for the piety goodnes and vertu of the English which the noble Baron did so much magnifie you may judge what it was in those dayes by the ingenuous confession of an English Captain who when he had truss'd up his bagg and bagage to go for England as he was going out of the gate he in a geering way was ask'd O Englishmen when will you back again to France The Captain with a sad serious countenance answer'd When the sinns of France are greater then the sinns of England then will the English return to France Nor indeed had the French much cause to affect the English in regard of their insolence and cruelty wherof there be divers examples for in some good successes they had the victory was more bloody then the battaill cutting of prisoners off in cold blood for their greater security But the English must needs be cruell in a Forren Countrey when they use to be so in their own What a barbarous act was that of Edward the fourth to clapp up his own brother George Duke of Clarence in prison and afterwards to drown him in a butt of Muscadin by a new invention of death But to descend to neerer times what an act of immanity and ignoblenes was that in Queen Elizabeth when she promis'd safety welcom to Mary Queen of Scotts and Dowager of France if she came to England for preventing the machinations of her rebellious subjects against her and afterwards to suffer her to be hurried from one prison to another for twenty yeares and then to suffer her head to be chop'd off and by a cunning kind of dissimulation to lay the fault upon Davison her secretary and throw the bloud into his face under pretence that he sent the warrant for her execution without her knowledge Truly this was a most inglorious act and the reproach of it will never be worn out but will stick as a black spot to England while she is an Iland nor can all the water of the Sea about her wash off the stain but it wil continue still indelible But 't is the more strange that Queen Elizabeth should doe this a Queen that had been herself bred up a good while in the school of affliction and might be said to have come from the Scaffold to the Throne I say 't is strange that she should not be more sensible of anothers calamity Dido the Pagan Queen out of a sweet tendernes could say Non ignara mali miseris succurrere disco and it had more becom'd Queen Elizabeth to have said so being a Christian Queen That Queen Elizabeth should do this to her own Cosen and sister Queen one as good as herself who after an invitation to England would never suffer her to have the comfort of her presence all the while That Queen Elizabeth who was cryed up and down the world to be so just so vertuous so full of clemency should do this it doth aggravat the fact much more then if another had done it I must confesse she lost much repute abroad for it Satyres pasquills and invectives being made in every corner of Christendom among others I will recite unto you one that was belch'd out in France which was thus Anglois vous dites qu'entre vous Un seul loup vivant on ne trouve Non mais vous avez une Louve Pire qu'un million de loups No Wolfs ye Englishmen do say Live in your Ile or beasts of prey No but a Wolfesse you have one Worse then a thousand Wolfs alone Among other Kings and Queens of England the example of this Queen and her Father may serve to verifie the saying of Porphyrius which you alledg'd most noble Baron Britannia fertilis Provincia Tyrannorum That Great Britanny is a province fruitfull for Tyrants Now Nimrod was call'd the Robustus Venator the strong Hunter which the Divines do interpret to be a mighty Tyrant And certainly the chasing and hunting of beasts the killing of them the washing of the Kings hands in their blood and feasting with them afterwards must needs make the minds of princes more ferocious and lesse inclinable to clemency wherefore they have a wholsom law in England that no Butcher who is habituated to blood may be capable to be a Juryman to give verdit upon any mans life The Nobles of England may in some kind be call'd Carnificers of some sorts of beasts as the buck and the doe with other such poor harmeles creatures whereof some have no gall in them for having wounded them first and then worried them down with their doggs at last as a signall of victory they bath their fingers in the blood of the poor animall which they call to take the essay but certainly this must conduce to obdurat human hearts and as it were flesh them in blood Now 't is well known there are no Kings on earth such great hunters as the English and who have more of variety of sport in that kind then any for there are more Forests Chaces and Parks besides variety of Royall palaces annexed to the Crown of England then to any other of Europe which might make the Countrey far more copious of corn fuller of cattle and have fewer beggars if they were made arable grounds or turn'd to pasturage Moreover the English Kings may not improperly be call'd Nimrods as Bodin hath it herein considering what rigorous punishments use to be inflicted upon the poor peeple by vertu of the Forest lawes In the book call'd Liber Rufus there
his hunting venery and pleasure But the judgements of Heaven fell visibly upon his Children for Richard his second Son died of a Pestilential air in the same Forest. William Rufus another Son of his succeeding him in the Kingdome was kill'd there also by the glance of an arrow from Sir Walter Terrell Henry also his Granchild Sonne to Robert his first begotten breath'd his last there like Absolon hanging at a bow while he was a hunting 'T is true that Barkshire hath one goodly structure which is Winsor Castle but most of the Country about is inhabited by savage beasts who may be said to live better then the people thereabouts For Surrey you should have remembred what a perfidious act Godwin Earl of Kent perform'd at Guilford who betraying to Harald the Dane a young Prince that was sent from Normandy to receive the Crown of England was delivered to Harald the Dane Sussex is infamous for the murther of King Sigebert by a Swineheard And the Province of Kent will never wash away the foul stain she received for the sacrilegious murther of Thomas Becket a Saintlike man which assassinate was perpetrated in the very Church near the high Altar for which crying and flagitious deed they say that the race of the murtherers have ever have since a white tuffe of hair in their heads and the wind blowing in their faces whersoever they go For Glocestershire her inhabitants there are worthy of reproach that by idlenesse and ignorance they would suffer the Vineyards there to decay utterly and in lieu of Wine be content with windy Sider In Oxfordshire was that lustful Labarynth made at Woodstock where Henry the second kept Rosamond his Concubine whom the revengful Queen poysoned Now touching the City of London the Metropolis of Great Britain she may be well call'd a Monster for she being the head bears no proportion with the rest of the body but is farre too bigge for it and might serve a Kingdom thrice as bigge but what Saint Hierom spoake of Constantinople Eam nuditate omnium civitatum constructam fuisse that she was made up of the nakednesse and ruine of other Cities so may London be said to grow rich out of the poverty of other Towns She is like the Spleen in the natural body by whose swelling the rest of the members pine away And herein let me observe the poor policy of the fatheaded English who suffer this one Town to be pamperd up while other places though situated in as convenient places for Navigation are ready to starve for want of trade 'T is true that Queen Elizabeth King Iames and King Charles his Son did put forth Proclamations for restraint of building in London and that all the gentry should retire to their Country dwellings in the Vacation time and at Christmas but these Proclamations were like a fire put under a green wood which did flash a little but suffer'd presently to go again so those Royal Proclamations were put in hot execution for a while yet they quickly grew cold again But indeed such is the crossgrain'd and contumacious perverse nature of the Londoners specially the schismatical part that they suspect or repine at any new command that comes from authority For whereas there was a secure and comely durable way of structure inordred them that every one should build for the future with stone or brick and not with lath and wood and that they should build regularly for the beauty prospect and evennesse of the streets as also that the Houses might not be subject to firing Yet this obstinate selfwitted people do stand still in their own light and fall againe to build with lath and lime notwithstanding that they know well enough the great advantages that would redound to the City by the other mode of Edifice In so much that in England ther 's not near that Elegance of building generally as in other Cities nor are their streetes so streight and lightsome by reason the Houses paunch out and are not so uniform as else where I could condescend to the praises you give of Essex Suffolk were it not that in the one at Saint Edmunds Berry there have happened so many popular tumults twixt the Monks and Citizens And were it not for a sordid tenure that lands are held by them of Hemingstone where Baldwin call'd le Petteur held lands from the Crown by sarieanty pro quibus debuit Die Natali Domini singulis annis coram Domino Rege Angliae unum saltum unum suflatum unum bumbulum for which lands he was to pay one leap one puff and one crack of the taile before the King upon Christmas day every yeare under paine of forfeiting his Tenure O brave Knight service O Noble homage O brave devotion upon the birth day of Christ. Touching the Norfolk men they are naturally wranglers and Cavillers The Fenny situation of Cambridge is such that I cannot wonder sufficiently how that place should be chosen out to be made a seat for the Muses Huntingtonshire Countrymen have such a rustiquenesse that hardly admits any civility Northhampton and Leicestershire are so bald that you can hardly see a tree as you passe through them The people of Lincolnshire are infested with the affrightments of Crowlands Daemonical spirits Notinghamshire doth delude the labour of the husbandman with the Sandinesse of their soyl God deliver us from the Devills Posteriors at the Peak in Darbishire Warwik is choaked up with wood there as well as in Lincolnshire The Ordure of the Sow and Cow Doth make them fire and Sope enough I should like Worcester but for cold flatulent Perry Stafford relates many odde fables of her Lake and the River of Trent In Shropshire the sweating sicknesse took its first rise which dispers'd it self not onely all England over but cross'd the Seas found out and infested English bodies in other Regions Chester complaines for want of corn to make her bread In Herefordshire there are walking Mountains for in the year 1571. about 6. of the clock in the evening there was a hill with a Rock underneath did rise up as if she were awaken out of a long sleep and changing her old bed did remove herself to a higher place carrying with her trees and folds of sheep she left a gap behinde of forty foot broad and eighty ells long the whole peece of earth was above twenty Acres and the motion lasted above a natural day that the sayd Moantain was in travell Radnor with her crags would frighten one for the rest of Wales though the inhabitants be courteous and antient yet the country swels with such a conglobation of Mountains that strangers would be hardly invited to visit her which Mountaines in some places are so high and yet so near one to another that Shepheards may talk one to another from the tops of them and not be able to meet one another in a whole day by traversing from one Mountain to the other through the valley and precipices
underneath Touching the large Province of York whereas you averre that Constantine and his Mother Helen were Britaines and born there Nicephorus makes a question of it and would have them to be of Bithynia Towards Richmond there are such squalid uncouth places and horrid Mountaines that the English themselves call them the Northern Alpes and there be such roaring streames of water which rush out of them that the inhabitants name them Hell-becks that is Infernal or Stygian Rivers Now for Scotland Good Lord what a pittifull poor Country is it It were no petty kinde of punishment to be banisht thither for it is a Country onely for those to dwell in that want a Country and have no part of the earth besides to dwell upon In some parts the soyl is such that it turns trees to stones and wheat to oats apples to crabbs and melons to pumpions In some places as you pass along you shall see neither bird in the aire nor beast on the earth or worm creeping on the ground nor scarce any vegetall but a black gorsie soyl a raw rheumatique air or some craggy and squalid wild disconselate hils And touching Woods Groves or Trees as Stephen might have scap'd stoning in Holland for want of stones so if Iudas had betrayed Christ in Scotland he might as one sayd have repented before he could have found out a tree to have hang'd himself upon And most noble Auditors you may make easie conjectures of the poverty of Scotland by the demeans of the Crown which scarce amount to a hundred thousand Dollars a year which you know is the ordinary Income of a German Prince and this both Boterus and Bodin do testifie who were Eagle-ey'd Inspectors into the Revenues of all Kingdomes and States And the answer which the Duke of Norfolk made Queen Elizabeth when she reprehended him for his presumption to marry the Queen of Scots doth verifie this Madam said he it is no great presumption in me to attempt this for my Revenues are not much inferiour to the King of Scotlands This induced the Queen Elizabeth to give King Iames her Godsonne and Successor a Pension every year Nor were the Revenues of the Crown of England any thing considerable till of late years that Trade began to encrease so infinitely and consequently the Customes with Suits in Law since the demolition of Abbeyes and the alienation of Church-Lands to the Crowne with the First-fruits Fines and other perquisites by Offices and Courts of Justice I say before these additions to the Crown the Revenue of the Crown of England was but very contemptible in comparison of other Princes I must confesse indeed that in these late Wars the Wealth of England as well as the Strength thereof hath wonderfully appear'd for I believe on both sides there hath been above two hundred Millions consum'd And there is now coming into this new Republique I beleeve above twelve Millions of Crownes every year And for her Strength one may say England was like a Horse she knew not her own strength till now for who would have thought that England could have put forth a hundred thousand foot and forty thousand horse all arm'd besides her power at Sea I say who could have thought it Yet there were so many in number at least betwixt King and Parliament at one time But to reflect again upon Scotland as the Country is pittifully barren insomuch that long Keale and short Keale which is a kind of Cabbidge that they can dress twenty sorts of wayes is one of their principall food besides fish and some odde fowle as the Solan Goose which is their greatest Regalo yet the Eater must stop his nose when he takes a bit into his mouth the smell is so rank and strong I say as the Country is so steril so is the people sordid and subject to vermine Good Lord what nasty little huts and holes shall you finde there up and down what dirty courts and stables above the anckle deep cramm'd with dung The sight of an ordinary Scots woman is a remedy against Lust for they are as big as Cows in the middle Nature seems to make no distinction there between the two sexes but the women commonly are as bigge limb'd as the men These short commons at home drive the men commonly abroad to seek their fortunes in Swethland Denmark and Poland where they are in such multitudes that in case of necessity the King of Poland might put in the field thirty thousand Scots Pedlars though they passe by the name of Merchants for if one can come up to a horse and a pair of panniers he presently assumes that name unto him Now though abroad the Scots are kept under a strict discipline that they cannot steal yet at home they are notable theeves and indeed the Caledonians were ever so to a proverb they goe now under the names of Mossetroupers Hear I pray what their own Country man Iohn Lesley the Bishop of Rosse speaks of them Noctu turmatim per invia loca perque multos maeandros è suis finibus exeunt interdiu in prostitutis latibulis equos viresque suas recreant donec eò tandem per tenebras quo volunt perveniant Arrepta praeda similiter noctu per circuitus devia loca dunt axat ad sua redeunt Quò quisque peritior Dux per illas solitudines anfractus praecipitia media caligine tenebris esse potest is ut ingeniâ—… excellens majore in honore habetur tanta calliditate hi valeut ut rarissimè praedam sibi eripi sinant nifi canum odoratu quorum ductu rectis semper vestigiis insequentium ab adversariis non nunquam capiantur In the night time the Scots doe use to steal forth by troups through odde invious places and divers Meanders and windings they bait in the way in some odde nook or cave where they refresh themselves and their horses untill they come unto the places they aime at where they had intelligence there was booty for them which when they have got they return by some other devious passage wheeling about until they are come to their own home He who is the most cunning conductor through these unfrequented and craggy by-places in the dark is cried up to be a very knowing man and consequently he is held in greatest esteem And so cautious crafty they are in their art this way that their prey is seldome or never taken away from them unlesse they be pursued with Dogs But these Borderers or Mossetroopers which this description aimes at are far inferiour to the Highlanders or Redshankes who sojourne 'twixt craggs and rocks who in the art of Robbery go much beyond all other insomuch that it is a Law in Scotland St quis ex aliqua illorum gente damna intulerit quicunque captus fuerit aut damna resarciat aut capite luat When any of the Highlanders commit any Robbery let the next that is taken repair the losse or suffer death I
Country is full of boggs of squalid and unfrequented places of loughs and rude Fenns of huge craggs and stony fruitlesse hills the air is rhumatique and the Inhabitants odiously nasty sluggish and lowsie Nay some of them are Pagans to this day and worship the new moon for the kerns will pray unto her that she would be pleas'd to leave them in as good health as she found them For all the paines the English have taken to civilize them yet they have many savage customes among them to this day they plow their ground by tying their tacklings to â—…he horses taile which is much more painful to the poor beast then if they were before his breast and on his back They burn their corn in the husk in stead of threshing it which out of meer sloth they will not do for preserving the Straw But to set forth the Irish in their own colours I pray hear how Saint Barnard describeth them when he speakes of Saint Malachias a holy Irish Bishop of a place call'd then Conereth a man that had no more of his Country rudenesse in him then a fish hath saltnesse of the Sea Malachias inquit Barnardus tricesimo ferme aetatis suae anno consecratus Episcopus introducitur Conereth hoc enim nomen Civitatis Cum autem caepisset pro officio suo agere tunâ—… intellexit homo Dei non ad homines se sed ad bestias destinatum Nusquam adhuc tales expertus fuer at in quantacunque barbarie nusquam repererat sic protervos ad mores sic ferales ad ritus sic ad fidem impios ad leges barbaros cervicosos ad disciplinam spurcos ad vitam Christiani erant nomine Re Pagani Non decimas non primitias dare nec legitima inire conjugia non facere confessiones paenitentias nec qni peteret neâ—… qui daret penitus inveniri Ministri altaris pauci admodum erant sed enim quid opus pluribus ubi ipsa paucitas inter Laicos propemodum otiosa vacaret Non erat quod de suis frâ—…ctificarent officiis in populo nequam Nec enim in Ecolesâ—…iis aut praeâ—…icantis vox aut cantant is audiebatur Quid faceret Athleta Domini aut turpiter cedendum an t periculosè certandum sed qui se pastorem non mercenarium agnoscebat elegit stare potius quam fugere paratus animam suam dare pro ovibus si oportuerit Et quanquam omnes lupi Oves nullae stetit in medio luporum pastor intrepidus omnimodo argumentosus quomodo faceret oves de lupis Malachias saith Saint Barnard in the 33. year of his age was consecrated Bishop of Conereth but when he began to officiate and to exercise his holy function he found that he had to deal with beasts rather then with men for he never met with the like among any Barbarians He never found any so indocil for manners so savage in customes so impious in their faith so barbarous in their lawes so stiffnecked for discipline so sordid in their carriage They were Christians in name but Pagans in deed There were none found that would pay tiths or first fruits that would confine themselves to lawfull wedlock that would confesse or doe any acts of penitence For there were very few Ministers of the altar and those few did live licentiously among the Laiques Neither the voice of the Preacher or singing man was heard in the Church Now what should the Champion of God do He must recede with shame or strive with danger but knowing that he was a true Pastor and not a hireling he chose to stay rather then flye being ready to sacrifice his life for his sheep And though they were all Wolfs and no sheep yet the faithful shepheard stood fearlesse in the midst of them debating with himself how he might turn them from Wolfes to sheep It seems this holy Father S. Bernard was well acquainted with Ireland by this relation for ther 's no Countrey so wolvish they are in up and down heards in some places and devoure multitudes not only of cattle but men In deed of late yeers Ireland I must confesse was much improv'd both in point of civility as also in wealth and commerce Their mud cottages up and down specially in Dublin where the Court was turnd to fair brick or free-stone-houses Ireland was made to stand upon her own leggs and not onely to pay the standing English army which was there and us'd to be payd out of the Exchequer at Westminster but to maintain the Vice-Roy with all the Officers besides of her self and to affoord the King of England a considerable revenu every yeer and this was done by the management and activity of the last Lord Deputy after whose arrivall the Countrey did thrive wonderfully in traffic which is the great artery of every â—…land and in all bravery besides In so much that the Court of Dublin in point of splendidnes might compare with that of England But that refractory haf-witted peeple did not know when they were well But now I will leave the Irish to his Bony clabber and the Scot to his long Keall and short Keall being loth to make your eares do penance in listning to so harsh discourses Therefore to conclude most noble Princes I conceave it a high presumption in Great Britain to stand for the principality of Europe considering how many inconveniences attend her for first though she be most of all potent at sea yet she cannot set a ship under sayle in perfect equipage without the help of other Countreys she hath her cordage pitch and tarr she hath her masts and brasse Canons from abroad onely she hath indeed incomparable Oke and knee timber of her own she abounds 't is true with many commodities but they are rustic and coorse things in comparison of other Kingdoms who have silk for her wooll wine for her beer gold and silver for lead and tinne For arts and sciences for invention and all kind of civilities she hath it from the Continent Nay the language she speaks her very accents and words she borroweth els where being but a dialect of ours She hath a vast quantity of wast grounds she hath barren bad mountains uncouth uncomfortable heaths she hath many places subject to Agues and diseases witnes your Kentish and Essex Agues what a base jeer as their own Poet Skelton hath it have other Nations of the English by calling them Stert men with long tailes according to the verse Anglicus a tergo caudam gerit ergo caveto What huge proportions of good ground lieth untill'd in regard of the sloth of her Inhabitants she suffers her neighbours to eat her out of trade in her own commodities she buyeth her own fish of them They carry away her gammons of bacon and by their art having made it harder and blacker they sell it her againe for Westphalia at thrice the rate she hath affronted imprisond deposd and destroyd many of her Kings of late yeers
breviterque una cunctarum Gentium in toto or be patria fieret Italy is the nurse and Parent of all things she is the Elect of the Gods as she who should make the Heavens more clear who should congregate scatter'd Empires and mollifie their customes 't is she that 's cut out by nature to draw unto her by sweet comerce of language the most discordant and fiercest people yea to give humanity to man And lastly 't is she who is fittest to be the common Country of all Nations Therefore I cannot choose but wonder and not injustly that she should be pretermitted all this while in so Judicious an assembly but the same fortune befalls Italy here as doth commonly fall upon the most precious jewells expos'd in some Cabinet to be sold where the richest are shewn last For if the praises of Italy had been first dilated the elogiums of all other Countries had prov'd insipid and tedious Now as the glorious Sun when he culminates and toucheth the Meridian Circle doth cast a lesser shadow then when he declines towards our horizon Westward so the perfections of Italy which are so high that they may be said to be in the Zenith and the Verticall point over all other Nations If I should undertake to speake of them and draw them down to the horizon of humane understanding I should shadow and obscure them the more There is in Italy such an harmonious concent of all creatures that the Elements can afford and those in such a perfection that as Pliny saith again quicquid est quo carere vita non debeat nusquam est praestantius Whatsoever is that life ought not to want is no where more excelling The terroir or soil is gentle copious and cheerfull it returnes more profit to the husbandman then he sometimes expects being at no great charge of culture for the land doth not struggle there with her Lord but is gentle and complying with his desires The Italian Wheat for whitenesse and weight is distinguish'd from any other Countries the Boetian is next then Sicily and the African Wheat is the fourth in goodnesse Here I pray what an Emperor Constanstin Paleologus speakes of her Nisi scirem a sanctissimis viris in Oriente Paradisum esse meo judicio non alibi posse reperiri quam in persuavi Patavina amaenitate If I did not know saith the Emperor by the affirmation of most Holy men that Paradise were Eastward it could be found no where else but in the most sweet amaenities of Padua whence sprung the proverb Bologna la grassa Padoua la passa There be some soyles in Italy that afford four lattermaths of Hay grass there are Cheeses made there in many places of a hundred poundweight Nor doth Italy feed the eye onely as you passe with delectable prospects farre and near but it feeds the smelling also with the most aromatical odors of her fruit witness Apulia with many other places which would make you think you passe through the Elysian fields as you journey along her territories For Vineyards she may be call'd Bacchus his Inner Cellar where the most generous sweetest Wines are kept And whereas Pliny who had survaid so much of the Earth doth enumerate fourscore kinds of Wines the one half of them may be appropriated to Italy Who hath not heard of the Greek Wine that growes hard by Naples on that part of ground were the fierie Mountain Vesuvius is superincumbent the Set in Wine which Augustus Caesar preferr'd before all others the Caecubum and Falernian Wine the Albanian the Surrentin the Massican the Statan the Calenâ—… Fundani and Veliternian Wines with the Rhetican which growes near Verona and is of a royall tast which Theodoric King of the Ostrogoths while he did signorize over Italy caus'd to be brought to Rome for his own palate the Ligustic and Tabian Wine and lastly the Wine about Monte Fiascone call'd Lachrymae Christi the tears of Christ for the suavity thereof which when one of our Countrymen had tasted he fetch'd a sigh saying O Domine quare non lachrymâsti in nostris Terris O Lord why didst thou not shed some teares in our Country At Papia there grow most fragrant Grapes which perfume one's mouth as he eates them The licor of these grapes is better then any Hellebor against melancholy it expells corroding cares and wonderfully elevates the languishing spirits It is recorded that the Famous Boetius Severinus a Patrician of Rome being in Prison and but half alive the sence of his Captivity having sunk so deep into him was so reviv'd by this Wineâ—… that it begat new spirits in him O faelicia vina quae labantem mâ—…rore animum curisque depressum modico haustu erigunt firmantque nutantem O happy Wines which elevate the mind depress'd with cares and crestfaln with grief bearing it up from going down though he drink but a modicum of it Hereupon his strength and spirits being restor'd and instaurated by this Wine he fell to write his book de Consolatione Who doubts but Oenotria receiv'd her old denomination for the goodnesse of the Wine that is gathered there Italy also excells for rare large cattle whence she haply may receive her name from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is a Calf The fame of the Neapolitan Coursier runs all the World over And for heards of sheep she hath had alwaies great numbers according to Martial Velleribus primis Appulia Parma secundis Nobilis Altinum tertia laudat Ovis Apulia hath the first fleeces Parma the second and Altinum the third For Volatills and Aquatique creatures Italy also abounds with variety For all sorts of metalls Italy also vailes to no Country there is a Mine of Quicksilver hard by the River Hydra For Allum also in Toscany and the territories of the Church there is great store and it may be call'd now one of Romes Staple Commodities whereof there are mighty proportions carried away and to encourage the Merchant to come thither the Pope hath long since publish'd a Manifesto that if any shipp be taken by Pyrates or cast away by storm being laden with Roman Allum when he comes again he shall have it at halfe the rate he payed for it before 't is thought that France vents of this Commodity above a Million of Duckets every year There is most excellent Salt made in Italy she hath excellent Alablaster and Marble She hath Manna which no Kingdome of Europe hath besides her She hath store of Corral and Porphyrie she hath Ophits Agats and Chalcedeny shee hath the hard Azur and the Lazul stones the grain for Purple dies with innumerable other rich Commodities O precious Italy and among other territories of thine O luxurious Campania which Florus doth describe thus very elegantly Omnium non modo Italia sed toto terrarum orbe pulcherrima Campaniae plaga est nihil mollius caelo nihil uberius solo bis floribus vernat Ideo Liberi Cererisque certamen dicitur nihil
and Lorenzo de Medici 23 Reasons that Great Britain may stand in competition for the primacy of Europe 50 Raphael Urbin design'd by Leo the tenth to be a Cardinal 37 Reasons why Great Britain cannot deserve the preheminence of other Countries 67 The Russe seldom travels abroad 2. in the Pro. Rodolphus the Emperours wise speech to a Traveller 6 The Rule of Providence not to powre down all blessings at once 8 Of Regiomontanus 10 A Remarkable passage of Everard Barbatus Duke of Wirtemberg 21 The Roman Emperours had a guard of Germans for their fidelity Of the Renowned Families of Germany and their antiquity and extent through all Europe 26 Rhodope a rich Courtisan built one of the Pyramids of Egypt 2 Rome in one Cense that was made had in her two millions and a half of soules 2 Rome when Pagan had above 400 Temples now Christian she hath scarce the 4th part 2 The sorry report the French gave of Poland at their return with Hen. 3 6 Rome often ravished 28 Rome shrunk into a Pigmey's skin from that Gigantick shape she was 34 The hugenesse of Rome conjectur'd by many arguments 34 S. SCotsmen Men-eaters 63 Spain first attempted and at last subdued by the Romans 2 Spain preferr'd before all countries by Charles the 5 1 Spain with her commodities laid opâ—… 2 Spain the fragrantst Country 2 In Spain Milk cannot turn to Whey in some places 2 Spain the Queen of horses 2 Of the chief Cities of Spain 3 Of the Mines of Spain 4 The site and form of Spain 4 Of the 150 Rivers that water Spain 4 Spain hath a bridge twenty miles long whereon cattle feed 4 Spanish Crown made of her own gold 4 Spain describ'd by Claudian 5 A Spanish Guard about Iulius Caesar Augustus had a Band of Biscainers 6 A notable example of the Spanish valour 6 The Spaniards right justified to the West Indies 7 The Spanish Discoverers of the West Indies the Discoverers of the East 7 Spaniards the sole Grandees of this Age 8 Spain hath bred notable Spirits 8 Of the Jesuits founded by a Spaniard 9 The Spanish Monarchy the vastest since the Creation 10 The Sun alwaies shines upon some part of the Philippian Monarchy 10 Sacriledge to dispute of the Emperours power 2. in the Pro. Spain taunted 6 Seneca's notable Speech against Forren Travell 6 Satan doth commonly set up his Chappel near Gods House 9 Scaligers witty saying of â—…lavius 12 Scaligers coÌ„parison 'twixt thunder canon 14 Scaligers witty saying of Printing of Canon Wheele-clocks 16 Scaligers Elogium of Antwerp 16 The Swisse scarce knew the use of Gold and Silver til the overthrow they gave the Duke of Burgundy near Granson 19 Spanish Souldiers made hilts of swords of massie Gold at the plundring of Antwerp 20 A notable speech of Philip the second when his Father resign'd him his dominions 22 The wondrous strength of Sigismund King of Poland who could crack a horshooe 8 Slavonique the most spacious Tongue 8 Strange examples of some learned men that lost their memory as not to remember their own names 34 Scaligers tart opinion of Rome 35 Sicily call'd by Gâ—…cero Romes Nurse and the peoples Pantry 35 Sannazarius writ three books of Jesus Christ and yet never names him 38 Spain hath afforded many brave Emperors 11 The Spanish Grandezas expressed and reasons alledged that the Spanish King is to be preferrred before all other Potentates 11 In Spain the Mule fares sometimes better than the Master 1â—… The sterillity of Spain discovered by a pleasant tale of the Count Palatin of the Rhine 15 Of the Spanish pride some examples 21 How Spain came to this greatness 22 A question whether the Spaniards were first discoverers of the East and West Indies 22 Of the Spanish cruelty in the Indies 23 Spanish King not so potent as we take him to be and the reasons 24 The Spanish valour question'd 26 Divers Spanish Rodomantadoes 26 The Spanish Fleet the highest Grandeza that ever was 27 The sharp sight of the Spaniard 27 A memorable story of a Spanish Captain in Flanderâ—… 27 Though the King of Spain be in perpetuall war and infinitely indebted yet there is no appearance at all in his Court 27 T A Traveller compar'd to a Horsleech and Paris of Troy 6 Tacitus his notable speech against Germany 7 Thuanus saith that Cambray makes 30000 linnen cloths yearly 13 Tacitus like to have been lost had he not been received in a monastery of Westphalia 15 Typography casts a bridle into times mouth 15 Typography Ars memoriae Mors oblivionis 15 Tacitus his opinion of Germany rectified 17 The Tower of Strasburg 574 foot high 17 Tacitus call'd by Budaeus the wickedest of all writers by Tertullian the lyingst by Orosius the flattringst 17 Tyrol abounds most with Mettals of any Country 17 The Turks call all Christians Freinks and the Abyssins call them Alfrangues 24 The Great Turk prefers the Christian Emperours Ambassador before all others 26 The temple of Ephesus 22 years a building 2 The Pope a great temporal Prince proud 33 A tart censure of the Italian 36 A tart saying touching Saints 37 V ULms excells in Drapery of all sorts 13 Utrecht stands betwixt 50 Cities whereof the remotest but a dayes journey 16 Vienna describ'd by Aeneas Sylvius 18 Vladislaus the perjur'd K. of Poland the horrid judgment that fell upon prince peeple 8 The Yew poysonous to those that sleep under it a brasse nayl beaten in takes away the poyson 40 The vertu of Iron 40 A strange vision Henry the 3 of France had before his death 56 How he was murther'd with his Epitaph ibid. Vulcan hath his chief forge and Mars his Armory in Bilbo 4 Of Viriatus the valiant Portuguez 6 A question discuss'd whither the old world got more by the new or the new by the old 8 The vanity of the Portuguais 20 Of the Spanish Inquisition 20 The three vowes of Solyman 29 W BOdin wittily taunted 53 A witty Epigram on Katherin de Medicis Q of France 54 A witty saying of Henry the 4. of France 57 A witty comparison touching Bodin 60 A witty character of the French by Pontumarinus 60 A witty Chronogram 12 Witty reparties 'twixt a German and a Dutchman touching their languages 61 A witty Epigram for drinking 38 A wise law of the Lacedemonians touching lascivious books 62 A witty saying touching the order of Knighthood in France 63 Two witty comparisons 64 A wise saying of an English Captain 57 A witty letter of Câ—…ligni to the French King 64 A witty Epigram upon Spain 24 A witty saying how Philip got the Kingdom of Portugaâ—…l 6 A wise saying of Philip the second 11 His wise speech at his death 11 A witty simile touching Spain 14 A witty speech of Henry the fourth touching Spain 14 The witty speech of King Iames touching the Spaniard 24 Whither the Indian gold hath done more hurt or good to Europe 24 Some witty sayings of the wild Indians reflecting upon the Spaniards 23 A witty saying of Robert Duke of Normandy 10 A witty speech of K. Iames touching Tobacco 5 A wise saying of Cosmo de Medici 27 Walloons that fled from the fury of the Duke of Alva in Flanders taught the English to make Bays and Serges 13 A witty character of a King 15 The Wines of Germany 18 Wine fo plentifull in Germany that in some places they macerat their lime and mingle their morter with it 18 The Walls of Babylon 200 foot high and 60 miles in compas 2 Of the seven wonders 2 Where the Turks horse sets his foot the grass never grows 4 A witty answer of Charles the sift 21 A wise saying of Scaurus 33 A wise saying of Sigismund the Emperor and of Aâ—…phonso of Aragon touching Learning 37 A witty Epigram upon Henry the 4 19 A wise speech of the Pontano Duke of Venice to the Popes Ambassadors 39 A wise sanction made at a Diet against the Popes power in the election of the Emp. 39 A wise saying of the Duke of Alva 24 Witty answers of som Emperors to the Pope 41 A witty saying of an Ambassadour 1 The witty answer of Hen. 4. to the Parisians 42 Of brave women 47 A witty saying of Hen. the 2. King of France 49 A witty saying of Lewis the 12 50 A witty saying of a Spanish Ambassadour 50 A witty Epigram upon Sir Francis Drake 42 Ward the English Pirat did a world of mischief to Christendom 36 A witty saying of a Spanish client to K. Phil. 26 A witty Pasquil against Spain when the Goletta was lost 26 A witty comparison of Europe 29 A witty Spanish Proverb 29 A Welch Prince freed England of Wolves 40 Why Woolsacks are in the House of Peers 40 The wise speech of King Canutus 43 A wise speech of Charles the 5 1 Of the 〈◊〉 of Wales 46 Women did ride astride til Queen Anne wife to Richard the second 54 Of Câ—…rdinal Wolsey 55 The weakness of the Empire 32 A witty Anagram 56 A witty comparison made to the French by Florus 66 A wise saying of the Emperour Frederique 46 Of the Warrs of the Low-Countries and the grounds of them 46 A wise answer of Tiberius 47 A wise answer of Q. Eliz. to the Hollanders 48 A witty comparison that Florus makes of the French valour 66 The witty saying of an Aethiop 67 Water in Moravia of great vertue 68 A witty saying of Henry the fourth 19 The wise speech of Paschasius against the Jesuits 19 A witty saying touching the Philosophers stone 20 A witty saying touching Portugall 20 A witty revenge of a Secretary 49 The witty answer of an Empress 36 A witty saying of Katharine de Medici 35 The woful catastrophe and last words of Henry the 8 58 To the Reader The plenâ—…y of matter wherewith this book doth swel might have made a larger Index but that the Authour had a regard to the Rule of Proportion viz. that the posterâ—…-gate should not prove too big for the Fabrique Errata Edw. the 6. for Hen. 6. pag. 38. best for left p. 31. Charls the first for fift p. 11.