familie are pressed sent foorth of the realme vnto the warres of forein parts contrary to the lawes of the coūtrie by the which it is prouyded that none ought to be pressed but only to defend the realme or to recouer some lost patrimony of the crowne whereof it is not knowne that either Spaine Portugall the lowe countries or the Indies euer were And yet so exceeding great haue bene the multytudes of men that by compulsiō haue these late yeares bene sent vnto those partes that being well employed they might haue conquered whole kingdome and not withstāding this great iniustice and iniury donne vnto them whē in these seruices and euill actions they haue lost their lyues they are rewarded with infamy after their deaths euen by those that constrained them thereunto and most contemptibly called the scum rascallitie of the countrie whereof it is happely deliuered And such as after the great miseries which comonly they do sustaine do returne home againe into England they haue by the very report of being Soldiers purchased the hatefull names of rogues vagabondes being for want of payment brought vnto pouertie nakednesse are made subiect vnto the conductiō and punishement of euery beadle catchpole and lastly euen for very trifles to the fynall dispatch of the hangman VVhat a most vile and hatefull vsage is this to men of any valor and how intolerable to be borne by any that beareth in his brest the harte and courage of a soldier or hathe euer bene conducted by a captaine in the feild what wrong and iniury can be greater to any one that retayneth the shape of a man or how is it possible for any English soldier to endure it or for any other to extend it vnto him except this only naturall enemy to all men of armes that could neuer abyde that euer any man of seruice capitaine soldier or person of braue spirite should be rewarded but with reproche misery whose condition and state of lyf is in all countries in the world most honorable and was neuer made slauish in England before England came vnto a Cecilian gouernment Thus rewardeth he those whome himself employeth to his owne purpose in the losse and hazarding of their lyues And yf we shall now consider what infynite numbers of the inhabitants of the land he hathe by one meanes or other cōsumed dayly entendeth to cōsume we might iustly feare that this his course continuing he would in tyme bring the realme to be a Republike of Amasones yf he had not alredy drawne into it treble as many strangers as King VVilliam the cōqueror planted therein after his subduing thesame wherewith himself as it seemeth doth meane to erect and fortify his new imagyned kingdome Let vs also consider the great decay of Trafike that of late yeares the countrie is brought vnto whereby not only many principall marchantes which were wont to transport great riches and comodities to the realme are become banckruptes and sundry of them enforced to turne their trade of marchandize into meere piracie but also diuers whole townes are decayed the people compelled to beg that before were honestly sustained by the trade of clothing VVhat should I speake of the generall abuses of the realme since they are so great and so infynite There were neuer somany sutes in lawe nor there was neuer lesse redresse of wronges The lawe is exempt from Iustice and all causes are gouerned by bribes and partialitie Conscyence is least accompted of and coosinage is in summo gradu The prisons were neuer in any princes daies so full of debtors and malefactors The highe wayes were neuer so replenished with thieues robbers yet were there neuer so many executed for stealing There were neuer such numbers of beggers in all partes of the realme and except lawyers vsurers very fewe mē are furnished with mony But it is a woonder to consider what great grieueous exactions haue from tyme to tyme bene generally emposed vpon the people as all the Lones the Lottery gathering for the steeple of Paules newe impostes and customes of wynes clothes and other marchandize forfaictures and confiscations of the goodes of Catholikes forced bene uolences for the sucouring of rebellious bretherē huge masses of mony raised by priuy seales and last of all the great number of subsidies which haue bene more in the tyme of this Queene thē those that haue beene leuyed by diuers of her predecessors and do amount to many millions of poundes yfall these do not lie hoorded vp in the Queenes cofers the Lord Trecherer I trust cāgiue her maiestie and the realme good accomptes of them in books and papers But in the meane while the comons are brought vnto comon beggery and by the continued and intended exactions they are lykely to be daily more oppressed then other Infynite are the domesticall miseries that he hathe deliuered the realme vnto most infamous hath he made the English name and nation abrode for vice for cruelty for vnfaithfulnesse and breach of all lawes with their freindes and confederates In Fraunce they are counted Churche-robbers bloody and vnmerciful in Portugall disordered and foole hardie of all nations in generall the pyrates of euery sea the sowers of sedition in all countries the maintainers of all rebellions and the only Butchers persecutors of innocent priestes and Catholikes that peaceably liue vnder their subiection Behold then good reader into what condition the late so goodly and flowrishing estate of England in a fewe yeares is brought how iustly it may be said to be blessed with peace and tranquillitie in regard of former ages Call to remēbrance in what amitie that realme was with other countries at the Queenes entrāce to the crowne those likewise at the same tyme one with another which mighte happely haue continued for many yeares together yf the vnhappy enemy of Christian cōcord had not bene the only let and hindrance as neither the princes of Fraunce or Scotland notwithstanding their great molestatiōs by the English did neuer attempt any reuenge no more did the King of Spaine make any shewe of hostillitie against them albeit the iniuries don by them vnto him without intermissiō haue bene lōgest cōtynued insomuch that the English haue scarsly left him or his subiects any countrie of quiet habitation but disturbed thē in Spaine in Portugall in Italy and in the Indies letted not to robbe spoile them in all partes of the occean and mediteraneā seas And hauing for the space of twēty yeares together assisted the rebelles of the lowe countries and lastly in the open viewe of the world put thē selues in possessiō of diuers of the kinges townes and cities being parte of his patrimony he was in the end euē drawne by extreme violence to some attempt for the recouery of his right hauing before somany yeares together for borne the reuenge of all former wronges and now as it seemeth because he will not giue thē assurance
none haue beene condēned but for treasō as they say their enditementes do shew in the recordes VVhereas yf they had recorded no more then had beene prooued as in all law and iustice they were bound they should not finde any one priest Ballard only excepted that euer had any imagination of treason prooued against him And notwithstanding all the aforesaid enfarced treasons conspiracies it is cōmonly seene that almost at euery araignment and execution Catholikes are offred their liues liberties yf they will but go to the Churche which doubtlesse can-be no satisfactiō for any temporall treason but only for matters of religiō VVhereofno mā of any vnderstanding can remaine ignorant except such as was the wise gentleman that told a freind of his that he had seene a Priest executed that letted not at the very tyme of his death to cōmitt Highe treason and being asked what it was answered that he began to say his Pater noster in Latin Is it possible quoth the other I assure you quoth this partie it is out of all doute for he begā to say it before a multitude of witnesses and would haue said it vnto the end but that as hap was the hangman was redy to dispatche him before he had half donne This diepe conceited person and such as was his compagnion will without any great scruple belieue the proclamation in saying that none are put to death for religion but for treason And the aduersary in somuch labouring to detaine from Catholikes the deserued honor and glory of the cause for which they suffer dothe thereby proclame his owne iniquitie and iniustice to all the world making that to be new Treason which is nothing els but old faith and religiō A thing as repugnāt vnto common sence as yf the Pope should make murther thefte or extorsion to be Heresy Yet such is his great and absurd impudēce that there is no treason that seemeth greater nor no crime more vnpardonable in England then there to be a Catholike nor yet any offence so seuerely punished There was neuer Scythian nor sauage Tartar that could vse more inhumaine cruelty then to rip vp the bodies of innocent men being perfectly aliue to teare out their entrailes to be consumed with fyre There was neuer Turk nor Barbarian that imposed vpon Christians so great and continuall a tribute as twenty poundes for euery eight-and-twentie dayes absence from their Moskeyes Nor there were neuer Arrians or other ennemyes since the generall persecutions of the Romaine Emperors that more vexed spoiled imprisoned and tortured Catholikes then dothe now the state of England And thus haue I abreuiated vnto the reader a huge volume of the present lamentable state of religion TOuching rhe second point concerning the nūber of exterior enemyes how mighte the case be other with England then now it is seeing that during the continuance of thirtie and three yeares they neuer sent foorth any one soldier nor neuer drew swoord in any iust quarrel or honorable action They neuer sought to endomage the Turk the comon enemy of Christendome nor neuer defended any lawful prince or King in all the world But haue inuented prosecuted the most dishonorable inglorious vniust and tyranicall actions that euer were practized by any Christian state VVhen the Queene of Scotland was in her owne realme and they acknowleged her for the lawful prince of that countrie did they giue aid vnto her or vnto her rebells In the tymes of Frauncis Charles and Henry the late Kinges of Fraunce was their assistance giuē to thē whome they knew to be lawful Kinges or to their rebells and as for the succour they do now giue vnto Nauarr his Huguenotes it is no otherwise then it was before when they acknowledged thē to be rebells In this long rebellion in the low countries whether haue they taken parte with the King their old cōfederate or with Orange the other rebells whē Sebastian king of Portugal warred with the Mahometaines of Africa gaue they ayd vnto the Christiās or vnto the infidells And since in the realme of Portugall gaue they help vnto the lawfull prince or to the bastard his rebell In the warres of Colen did the English succur the lawfull Bishop or the vnlawfull deposed apostata And yf we shal looke into sea matters see who it is that hathe set vp a publike piracie to spare neither freind nor foe Aske the Spanish the Frēch the Scottish the Flemish the Haūce townes yea the Indies and further partes of the earth who they are that do so cōtinually robbe and spoile thē Yf the English had but only procured the king of Spaine to be their enemy they needed not to haue soughte any others for neither England nor any other Christian country els hathe euer had any so great And as they haue made espetiall choise of the enmitie of the greatest so haue they employed the tyme of 33 yeares to deserue it And as for the King of Scotland albeit he do dissemble amōg many lesse iniuries one so great as the cutting of of his owne mothers head yet some of his owne nation being of good intelligence haue said vnto straungers in defence of their Kinges honor that albeit they of England haue cut of the head of his mother he must not therefore by vn-tymely reuenge cut him-self from the possibilitie of that crowne But hauing once obtained thesame he will then fall to the cutting of of the heades of those that assented to that action and to the confiscatiō of their landes and goodes therewith to reward his freindes followers and so demonstrate vnto the world that he could politikely chuse a tyme conueniēt to discharge such duty as is incident vnto the honor and reputation of a King And touching Fraunce albeit that by the death of the three late Kinges the iniuries dōne vnto them cannot be by them remembred yet the people of the realme that were participāt of the wrōges are still lyuing in whome the desyre of reuenge is of late newly reuyued throughe the assisting of the Huguenote of Nauarr their capitall enemy but not their lawfull King And last of all which of al other is the greatest there extreme enmitie with the chief Bishop pastor of Gods Churche VVhereof ensueth their general discord with all the Catholike Christiās of the world Thus the realme of England being brought into breach of amitie not only with the Churche of God but with all their old alies and freindes yf we now consider with whome they are ioyned in true freindship we shal fynde them to be so fewe as none at all since they haue neither spared to offend freind nor foe But yf we looke what new confederates they haue chosen in stede of the old we shall see them to be the great Turk the kinges of Fesse Marocco and Algiers or other Mahometains and Moores of Barbarie all professed enemies to Christ. Against whome some of the most noble and famous kinges of England went
to remit all iniuries past and to put vp as many as hereafter they may do vnto him and quietly lett them continew their wrongfull possession of his righte M. Cecill is become so mad and angry with him that he raileth vpon him in open proclamation wherein I suppose I mistake not the person for albeit the proclamatioÌ„ be published in the name of the Queene yet must it needes be written by the directioÌ„ of him which is Domine fac totum who as it seemeth being in some great choler was ouer hasty in the choise of his Scribe or somuch ouer-weened in his owne wisdome that he thought no one of his fond impertineÌ„t and friuolous reasons could be controled And therefore with much impudeÌ„cie he saith that the king of Spaine hathe continually disturbed the state of England 33. yeares together and he greatly laboreth to make the world belieue that either the king did neuer know or els had vtterly forgotten whether the English had euer don vnto him any iniuries at all and therefore could neuer think vpon any meanes of remedy or reuenge yf he were not vrged forward and put in memorie of them by a fewe priestes and Iesuites He accuseth the Pope of exhausting the treasure of the Churche without consent of the college of Cardinalles VVherein he seemeth as thoughe he pitied the wasting of the Churches treasure who could wish in his harte that the. Pope and all his Cardinalles were as poore as euer was Iobe He would make it seeme an iniury that this treasure is employed in the warres of Fraunce because that realme hathe bene a defender of the Romaine Churche in all their oppressioÌ„s where as it rather might seeme an iniury yf the Pope should not now relieue them that had assisted the Church in former oppressions who I think he cannot meane to haue bene Nauarr and his Huguenotes And verely it seemeth that this mannes great prosperitie do the make him to forget himself dothe bereaue him of his iudgement For who may els imagyne that his vanitie should be so great or his lack of wiser matter so litle as to set foorth in proclamation that the King of Spaine did practize with men of base birth of the English nation who giueth credit vnto none but vnto such as to whome all ChristeÌ„dome yeildeth honor for their knowne vertue and wisdome being also of honorable or very honest pareÌ„tage and therefore not base of birth Neither seemeth he to remeÌ„ber with what woorshipful squyres he practizeth withall against the King in Holland and Zealand nor yet what Sir walter Rawleghe dreamed of himself how King Henry the eighte told him that he did very much wooÌ„der that one Cecill was now come to beare so great sway in the courte whose name in his tyme was so obscure in the countri Neither coÌ„sidereth he that albeit by his owne pareÌ„tage he is but meane that he hath litle betred himself by his matches his first wyf being but the sister of a PedaÌ„te and his later so lately come out of the kitchin that her posteritie for some discents must nedes smell of the fat of the frying pan which were nedelesse here to be aleaged were it not to manifest his Lordshipes insolent vanitie in standing vpon such toyes as with wisemen are esteemed as fethers in the ayre who in respect of meane parentage do neuer accompt the lesse of wise or woorthy mennes qualities It is also a lyke matter of moment that he speaketh of the Kinges charges for the maintenaÌ„ce of students vnlesse it be to insinuate coÌ„passion aswell of his as of the Popes expences but his saying that they are a number of dissolute yong men is an exceeding shamefull malitious flaunder He would proue that none are put to deathe for religion because as he saith numbers of men of welth of contrary religion are not touched in their lyves landes goodes or liberties but with the paymeÌ„t of a pecuniary somme which being but a trifle of 20. pounde the moneth he nameth not and yet many haue scarsly the libertie of their prisons while theire landes and goodes are seazed on for this pecuniary trifle And yf any fewe for some colour of clemencie be set at liberty their licence comonly excedeth not aboue 20. dayes and it is bothe vnder bondes suretiâ—es with limitation of their residence And because these numbers are not put to death for religion he seeketh to proue that none are put to death for religion which he thinketh he may the rather auouch for that neither Iesuites Seminary priestes nor other Catholikes are expresly coÌ„demned to death for saying or hearing Masse or the lyke but the one is condemned and put to death because he is a priest and the other for receyuing him VVhereby the world may vnderstand that no Catholike should be put death for any exercise of his religion so he would not come in the company of priestes nor priestes yf they would remaine and vse their functins in Italy or other countries should not be put to death for treason in England It is no lesse ridiculous to call the Lord Cardinall a scholer who being now threescore yeares of age hathe bene chosen to be a head and gouernour of colleges and schollers bothe in England in other countries aboue 36. yeares past And hathe professed in diuers famous vniuersities and written so many excellent bookes as the aduersarie will neuer be able to answere and in the opinion of the best and wisest of Christendome was woorthely chosen vnto his present dignitie was of late in very neere electioÌ„ to haue bene preferred vnto the highest estate of all others in the world And it is a parsonall ly to say that F. Parsons dothe arrogate vnto himself the name of the King Catholikes confessor whose iust credit and reputatioÌ„ for his knowne wisdome and vertue bothe with this King and many other noble princes no English proclamation can be able to diminish If M. Cecill himself had obtayned his estemation for vertue and honest endeuours so had bene the beginer of his house it had bene far greater honor and comendation for him then by the ruyne of somany bothe honorable vertuous the consuming and oppressing of the people the hazard of the destructioÌ„ of the realme so arrogantly to aduaunce himself and to extole his owne glory in painted pedegrees borrowed and farr fetched and his posteritie might then more longer haue retained their honor and renowne then perhappes they are now lyke to do because great treasure heaped together by rapyne wrong and violeÌ„ce is neuer enioyed with long felicitie For De male quaesitis vix gaudet tertius haeres And yf the feares that he dothe faine be true it is not impossible but his house as it hathe begun so it may end with himself And this perhaps he somwhat suspecteth and therefore as all tyrantes are woont dothe seeke to fortify himself by the effusion of innocent blood as thoughe that were the only
whyle that these lesse iniuries were continued a matter of farr greater mischief was practized to witt the rebellion of the kinges naturall subiectes of his Netherlandes VVhere the people by reason of their great welth were brought vnto pride the nobillitie throughe ouer-lauish expences declyned vnto pouerty and the newnesse libertie of heresy redy to fynde acceptance with either party they were the sooner and more easely seduced by the English The first attēpt being begū by certaine rogues vagabōdes appointed to the spoiling of Churches lefte the name of Gheuses to those rebelles euer after and these Gheuses being thus stirred vp there was to begin withall 60 thousād poūd sterling sent ouer vnto the prince of Orange for the leuying of those Ryters that he broughte against the duke of Alua. The which somme of mony was paide by sir Thomas Gressam in Antwerp By these attemptes and practizes the king was cōstreyned to withdrawe the forces that he had intended bent against infidells to employ them in his owne countries against his owne subiects VVith whome being nowe enbranled in warres there was sent by sea from Spaine for the paymēt of his soldiers aboute the somme of 600. thovvsand ducats the which mony was ceased vpō in the west partes of Englād notwithstāding the Q. had giuen her pasporte for the saf passage thereof by which meanes the kinges affaires were greatly let and hindred and thereupon followed a generall arrest of all marchants shippes and goodes in the lowe countries And this action tending to some further great inconueniēce the councell assembled at Hampton court and consulted at sundries tymes in the Queenes presence whether it were best openly to breake with the king of Spaine or not and after long deliberation the whole bodie of the councell concluded not to breake with him in any vvise But to make present restitution of the said mony for diuers causes and the rather for that they had but late before displeased the French king in assisting his Huguenotes and taking his townes and might not vvithout imminent perill incurr the enmitie of two such potēt princes But notvvithstanding this their generall resolution being also consented vnto by the Queene M. Cecill did aftervvardes secretly persvvade her vnto the cōtrarie whereby the decree made by the vvhole body of the councell was brokē contrarie to the prerogatiue of the councell of Englād which is knovvne to be greater thē the auctoritie of any kinges councell els in Europe And hereupon was the arrest of marchants goodes continued and a stay of trafyke betwene Spaine England and the lovv countries for three yeares together to the vndoing and detriment asvvell of many of the subiects of England as of sundrie the marchantes of the other countries But in the meane vvhile al such fugitiues and traitors as had in the lovve countries cōmitted any enormious crimes or could pilfer or violētly robbe or take away any thing from the king or his other subiects were receyued and harbored in England which vvas novv become the open receptacle of churchrobbers and priest-kilers Yea the very belles of the steeples of Churches vvere caried into England and there cast into artillery And one called Monsieur de Lumay being also fled thether receyued there such instructions that he came ouer into Holland surprised the tovvne of Briell vvhich vvas the first tovvne in all those partes rhat vvas possessed by manifest rebelliō and the presidēt that Flushing and diuers other townes shortly after followed And to assist them in these proceedinges there were sent ouer with troopes of English forces Morgan Sir Humfrey Gilbert and Chester And then followed North Cotton Candish and Norris all being Coronells coming the therwith whole regiments And albeit these supplies were still continued and men mustred and pressed perforce to go ouer vnto this seruice yet was it colourably shadowed to be don without cōsent of superior aucthoritie and the sending of thē thereby dis-auowed But on the other syde when any English for their encreasse of knowlege in military affaires did come ouer or did intēd to come ouet to serue the king of Spaine they were either before their departure or vpon their returne imprisoned and punished I may not heere omitt that after the warres of Barbarie made by Sebastian king of Portugall wherein the Mahometaines were assisted with munitiō against the Christians by the English and thesaid King was slaine the nobillitie and people of the realme of Portugall hauing according to their lawes and customes receyued the Cardinall as the eldest of the blood royal to be their king and he being very aged and not lykely to marry and haue issue were entred into consultation about the succession of the crowne which being vnderstood in England and also that the Cardinall was enclyned vnto the king of Spaine as his next heire there was an Embassador forth-vvith sent ouer from England to offer the Portugales assistance for the exclusion of the king of Spaine But this and the former practizes being cloked vvith much conning vvere either deemed able to passe vnespied or els these kyndes of molestatiōs vvere not thought sufficient And therefore it vvas held necessary to attēpt the robbing of the kinges treasure els vvhere the better therevvith to maintaine his rebelles against him in the lovve countries And albeit M. Haukins and some others had had but ill successe in such attemptes before there vvas novv one Franncis Drake sent foorthe vnto the VVest Indies vvhere in the streight of Darien vnderstanding of certaine mules that vvere to passe laden vvith gold and siluer from Panama to Nombre de Dios he put himself in ambuscade vvith an hundred shot and sett vppon tvvo vvhole companies of mules vvhich came only vvith their driuers and there very resolutely tooke avvay their gold not being able to cary the siluer vvith him throughe the mountaines And coming tvvo dayes after to the house of Crosses he slevv 6. or 7. marchantes and valiantly sett the house on fyre vvherin vvas burnt the value of 200. thovvsand ducats in marchandize And so he retyred home againe tovvardes England vvhere not longe after for that he had giuē such good proof of his dexteritie it vvas determyned that he should be employed againe as being the fitest man to atchiue an enterprize of stealing And therefore vvith shippes vvel furnished and prouided for his purpose he vvas sent foorth to attēd lie in vvaite for more of the Kinges his subiects treasure And in the southe seas on the back-syde of America vvhere no pirates had bene before him and therefore the lesse prouision made to vvithstand them there he and his company met vvith a ship in the porte of Valparizo vvherin vvere but 8. Spaniardes vvho taking the English for freindes receyued them on boord vvhere being once entred they couragiously tooke out of it 37. thousand ducats in gold And at another place called Taurapaza they boldly ventred on shore vnto a Spaniard that
in person with great armies obtained such victories as will for euer recomend their glorie to all posterities They are also in league with a fewe Bere-bruers and Basketmakers of Holland and Zealand with a company of Apostataes and Huguenotes of Fraunce with their feed pēsioner the Chaūcelor of Scotlād who by abusing of the King hathe gottē credit to woork his ruyne And the English thus leagued with infidells heretikes and rebells cannot yet presume of any true frindship of them in their hartes For the French albeit they be Huguenotes yet are they still French vnto the English and as heretofore so euen of late they have shewed themselues vnto such as were sent from England to assist them The states of Holland and Zealand yf they could possibly thurst out the Englishe they would not let to do it And it is well knowne that some of them of chiefest auctoritie haue secretly concluded and resolued either presently vpon the Queenes deceasse or so soone as any oportunitie serueth to bring all their forces together to attempt it The freindship of Scotland although it haue cost many Englishe angels yet will it prove Scotish in the end And the great Turk and his consorts may be by the English excited to inuade some partes of Christendome neere vnto them adioyning as alredy vpon such perswasiō they haue attempted but good vnto England they can do none albeit the English would exchāge their Geneua Bible for the Turkish Alcorā because their situations are to farr distant But how so euer their new freindes may congratulate with them their old alies may rather reioyce in hauing their enmitie then their amitie For that by the vnhappy and mischieuous endes of somany of their late confederates it is obserued that to be in league with Englād is malū omē Et for proof thereof I will aleadge some examples First the Earle of Arren in Scotland after that he had by the espetiall suggestion of the English prosecuted the rebellions and dissentions in his countrie became distracted of the vse of reason and hathe these 30. yeares remayned madd The Earle of Murray bastard brother to the Scotish Queene was slaine with an harquebushe in the towne of Lythquo The Earle of Lenox was stabbed with daggers The Earle of Marr was poysoned The Earle of Murton behedded All which were regents and gouernours of the realme and sett vp by the English For I will omit recytall of diuers other Lordes and gentlemen that folowed their factions whose endes also were violēt Besydes the great nūbers that haue perished in diuers battailes In Fraunce the Prince of Coundie was slaine at the battaile of Iarnac The Admirall Shatilian massacred at Parris with mumbers of his consorts The Cardinall of Shatilian his brother was poysoned in England The Counte of Mountgomery behedded Monsieur the Duke of Aniow brother to the late King died of an extraordinary sicknesse supposed to be poysoned And what end the last French King came vnto is manifest enough As also that Lanowe being ioyned with the English forces in Britany was there slaine And to what end Nauarr shall come being as firmly leagued with the English as were the others is yet to be expected In the low Countries the Counte of Lumay before mentioned that surprised the towne of Briel and had bene the murtherer of some hundteths of Priests being bitten in the arme by an English dogg of his owne died mad raging in the towne of Liege The Prince of Orange that could neither be warned by the infortunate endes of three of his owne bretheren Henry Adolf Lodowick nor by one or two attēpts made vpon his owne person was lastly slaine with a pistol in the towne of Delf in Holland THe third calamitie whereunto England is brought is of the vulgar multytude vnsene because it is yet of them vnfelt And that is the great confusion of somany competitors to the crowne bothe within without the realme VVhich must nedes prognosticate such slaughter cruell murthers as neuer were in that nor in any other country for such quarrell VVhen the crowne of England was in contention only betweene the two howses of Yorck and Lancaster how lōg it lasted how many of the bloud Royal Nobilitie lost their lyues and what great nūbers of thowsandes were slaine the histories of those dayes can declare But farr greater extremities are we now to expect among somany do mesticall and some externe competitors Euery one of which thinking himself to be iustly the first cā aleage many causes for the exclusion of the others And therefore in all lykely hoode each one of those that liue within the realme Ile will not forbeare hereafter to attempt by what meanes he may to preferr himself and to depresse the others For the crowne remayning among so many in equall ballance and each almost in lyke possibilitie who of them is it that will not dare to aduenture the vttermost of his meanes for the gayning of no lesse a thing then is the kingdome of England And what aucthoritie of any dissolued councel shal prohibite any of the competitors to attempt the same vpō the dereasse of the Queene VVhat great apparēce is there then of the effusion of the blood of many thowsands to what desolation is the realme lyke to be brought how fayned will then this present seeming peace be foūde whē it shall conclude in such intricate mortall warres And how infinite wilbe the cursinges and maledictions of all sortes of people vpon him that hathe caused it whē it shall appere vnto thē that as he neuer sought to cōserue thē in peace during the Queenes lyf so he neuer mēt but to leave thē in warres after her death At what tyme he may reioyce as once did the tyrāt Nero to see the citie burne which himself had set on fyre And how soone this great quarrel shalbe begun is as vncertaine as the thing that each howre is to be expected Seeing it dependeth vpō the only lyf of the Queene wherof there is as litle assurance as of the lyf of any other mortall creature and her deceasse so-much the nearer in that she is now declyning in age TO come vnto the fourth last parte cōcerning the ouer-throwe of the Nobilitie and the great and generall oppression of the people it is first to be considered that albeit the vniust molestations of other comon-wealths and the oppressions and cruelties vsed within the realme were bothe by M. Cecill begū prosecuted yet hathe he so cuningly disposed very many of his affaires into the handes of other principall actors espetially since the death of his brother Bacon that very oftē tymes his owne plottes inuentions have seemed the practizes of others Of these his actors the late Earle of Leicester the secretary VValsingham were the chiefest The former of the twaine for that he had in his youth by ouermuch attending his pleasures neglected the obseruation of many secretes which M. Cecill practized
out of Machiauill yet in the end he did in fewe yeares profit somuch and so recouer his negligences past as that he soone grewe old in iniquitie and lefte no mischief vnattempted how abhominable so euer And at the last as it seemeth euen by the iust iudgement of God the same day seuē night that he had caused diuers Priestes and other Catholikes to be cruelly murthered in diuers places within and with out the citie of London he sickned and as it is thoughte was poisoned and preuented by one whome himself had thought by such meanes to have dispatched he died without any signes of a Christian more lyke a dogg then a man being dead was as vgly a corse as he was filthy in manners in his lyf and in his stomack were great holes eaten throughe with the poyson His lādes were presently ceased vpon for his debtes vnto the Queene whereby he was as much disgraced as yf he had rather bene hated then fauoured of her And he that but late before seemed to cary in himself the very glory of the realme and that in his lyf tyme was feared of many thoughe loued of none was no sooner dead but iustly condēned of all Yea exclamed on cursed and banned to all mischief by all the people of the land who generally reioysed that so wicked a monster was dead And albeit that toward his later dayes hee became the only patrone of the purest professors of the Gospell yet immediatly after his death a freind of his bestowed vpon him this Epitaphe Heere lies the woorthy warrier That neuer bloodied swoord Heere lies the loyall courtier That neuer kept his woord Heere lies his noble excellence That ruled all the states Heere lies the Earle of Leicester VVhome earth and heauen hates The Secretary Walsingham a most violent persecutor of Catholikes died almost in lyke manner neuer somuch as naming God in his last extremities and yet he had bothe speech and memorie as he shewed by telling the preacher that he heard him and therefore hee needed not to crie so loude and these were his last woordes and in the end his vryne came foorth at his mouth and nose with so odious a stench that none could endure to come neere him And not withstanding his great credit and aucthoritie he died a begger and more indebted then his landes could satisfy and hathe lefte no fame of vertue behynde him These twaine and sundry other inferior instrumentes being gon to render an accompt of their infynite euills the same impious course of proceeding stil continued daily encreasing from ill to woors dothe plainly manifest vnto the world who it is that hathe bene the author and supporter of all mischief consequētly the direct occasioner of whatsoeuer inconueniēces the realme of England dothe presently sustaine and what distresses miseries perills or dangers it is threatned hereafter to suffer VVhereunto it seemerh he is bent with a very full resolution to hazard and bring it And touching the present estate of the Nobilitie wherewith the stately courtes of former princes were adorned their armies in the feild conducted the comons of the countrie by their great hospitalitie relieued look whether they are not brought vnto that seruilitie that yf they apply not themselues to Cecils humour they must not liue in their countries but be tyed vnto the courte or alotted their dwelling as yf they were his perpetuall wardes yea rather as pupils that are kept vnder with roddes not daring to speake what they think and know but are set to be ayme-giuers while others do hitt their marckes Some of them he hathe vnde seruedly brought into the disfauor of the prince Sundry he hathe drawne vpon fained fauours of the courte to consume themselues to beggery Others he hathe sent foorth to become pirates and sea-rouers And the lyues of some of the principall by guylefull pretended crymes he hathe taken away by one meanes or other he hathe brought such as be yet lyuing into those termes that none may be permitted to cary any credit in the comon-welth except it be some very fewe whose wisdomes he can easely ouerrule By which meanes there is no subiect in England of more opulence none of more aucthoritie nor none of more power then himself and therefore none to withstand his entended matche betweene the Lady Arbella and his grandchild VVhereby England may happen to haue a King Cecill the first that is suddainly meta morphosed frō a grome of the wardrobe to the wearing of the best robe within the wardrobe Concerning the generall oppression of the people it is no lesse but rather more lamentable thē the ouerthrowe of the nobilitie in asmuch as it tendeth to an vniuersall distruction of the whole body of the realme The Lyftenantes and Iustices of shires who are reputed to liue in best credit in their countries are no more but the subiects of pursuiuants catchpoles promoters and must night and day be redy to waite and attend at euery call of this vile and abiect sorte of people But the meaner gentlemen and comons are brought vnto the greatest slauishnesse and misery that euer any free borne people haue liued in VVhich whoso shall rightly cōsider shall easely perceaue whether England hathe these 33. yeares enioyed peace and tranquillitie as it is impudently reported to haue dō For yf we first look what often generall musters haue bene made what pressinges and sending foorthe of men what prouision chopping changing consuming of armour munitiō artillery pouder since the first yeare of the Queenes raigne we shall fynde it to giue small proof of a continuall peace Let vs call to remembrance what troopes of men haue at sundry tymes beene sent into Scotland what forces almost yearely into Ireland what infynite numbers into the low countries and continued with dayly supplies how many thousandes into Fraunce and Britany what an huge army into Portugall besydes all the braue men and mariners consumed in sundry voyages or piracies by sea sent foorth to seeke new habitations in Virginia and by one such meanes or other made away and we shall fynde the number to be farr greater then any King of England hathe employed within or without the realme in any his honorable watres And yf any man should think that al these troopes haue bene but set forthe in May-games he may call to memorie that their coming home againe declared it not Let vs also cōsider what great numbers of pore women are often tymes lefte in misery with their childrē to pyne at home in famyne whyle their husbandes are sent foorth in forreyne warres how-many by this meanes are become widowes and their childeren fatherlesse And further what great trooble and vexatiō generally all artificers farmers and husbandmen are put vnto by attending and following so many generall musters wherein are also diuers great and foule abuses comitted VVhat infinite numbers of freholders yeomen and others diuers of thē being charged with wyf and