Protestants as to la Force in Bearne Desdeguiers and Boisse in Bresse Concerning the King himselfe hee is a person wonderfull both in War and Peace for his Acts in Warre hee hath manumized France from the Spaniard subdued the League being the most dangerous plot that hath bin layd weakening it by Armes but vtterly dissoluing it by wit that is by letting the Duke of Guise out of Prison and Capitulating with the heads of it euery one a part by which meanes hee hath yet left a continuall hatred among them because euery one sought by preuenting other to make his Conditions the better so that now there remaines little connexion of it amongst the Gentrie onely there continues some dregges still among the Priests and consequently the people especially when they are angred with the increase and prosperitie of the Protestants For his Acts of Peace hee hath enriched France with a greater proportion of Wooll and Silke erected goodly Buildings cut Passages betwixt Riuer and Riuer and is about to doe the same betwixt Sea and Sea redeemed much of the Mortgaged Demaynes of the Crowne better husbanded the Money which was wont to bee drunke vppe two parts of it in the Officers hands got aforehand in Treasure Armes and Munition increased the Infantrie and supprest the vnproportionable Caualry and left nothing vndone but the building of a Nauie And all this may bee attributed to himselfe onely because in a Monarchy Officers are accordingly actiue or carelesse as the Prince is able to Iudge and distinguish of their labours and withall to participate of them somewhat himselfe Sure it is that the Peace of France and somewhat that of Christendome it selfe is secured by this Princes life For all Titles and Discontents all factions of Religion there suppresse themselues till his Death but what will ensue after what the rest of the House of Bourbon will enterprise vpon the Kings Children what the House of Guise vpon the House of Bourbon what the League what the Protestants what the Kings of Spaine and England if they see a breach made by ciuill Dissention I chuse rather to expect then Coniecture because God hath so many wayes to turne aside from humaine fore-sight as hee gaue vs a testimony vpon the Death of our late Queene The Countrey of France considering the quantitie is the fairest and richest of all Christendome and containes in it most of the Countries adioyning For Picardie Normandie and Bretaigne resemble England Languedoc Spaine Province Italie and the rest is France Besides all the Riuers that passe through it end in it It abounds with Corne Wine and Salt and hath a Competency of Silke but is defectiue in Wooll Leather Mettals and Horses and hath but few very good Hauens especially on the North side Concerning the People Their Children at first sight seeme Men and their Men Children but who so in negotiating presumes vpon appearance shall bee deceiued Compassionate towards their owne Nation and Countrey louing to the Prince and so they may haue liberty in Ceremony and free accesse to him they will be the better content that hee shall be absolute in matter of substance impatient of Peace any longer then whiles they are in recouering the ruines of Warre the presentnesse of danger inflames their courage but any expectation makes it languish for the most they are all Imagination and no Iudgement but those that proue solid excell Their Gentlemen are all good outward men good Courtiers good Souldiers and knowing enough in Men and businesse but meerly ignorant in matters of Letters because at fifteene they quit bookes and begin to liue in the world when indeed a mediocritie betwixt their forme of education and ours would doe better then either No men stand more punctually vpon their Honours in matter of Valour and which is strange in nothing else for otherwise in their Conuersation the Custome and shifting and ouerspeaking hath quite ouercome the shame of it FINIS
most remarkable place in that side is Antwerp which rose vpon the fall of Bruges equally strong and beautifull remaining yet so vpon the strength of its former greatnesse twice spoyled by the Spaniard and the like attempted by the French The Cittadell was built there by the D. of Alva but renued by the Prince of Parma after his 18. moneths besieging it the Towne accepting a Castle rather then a Garrison to mingle among them There are yet in the Towne of Citizens 30000. fighting men 600. of which kept Watch nightly but they allowed neither Cannon vpon the Rampier nor Megazins of powder In the Castle are 200. peeces of Ordnance and commonly seuen or eight hundred Souldiers Flanders is the best of the seuenteene Provinces but the Havens thereof are naught Obseruations on the State of France 1609. vnder Henry the Fourth By Sir THOMAS OVERBVRY HAuing seene the forme of a Common-wealth and a Prouince with the different effects of Warres in them I entred France flourishing with Peace and of Monarchies the most absolute because the King there not only makes Peace and Warres Calls and dissolues Parliaments Pardoneth naturalizeth Innobleth Names the value of Money Presseth to the Warre but euen makes Lawes and imposes Taxes at his pleasure And all this he doth alone for as for that forme that his Edicts must be authorized by the next Court of Parliament that is the next Court of soueraigne Iustice first the Presidents thereof are to be chosen by him and to bee put out by him and secondly when they concurre not with the King he passeth any thing without them as he did the last Edict for the Protestants And for the assembly of the three Estates it is growne now almost as extraordinary as a generall Counsell with the losse of which their Liberty fell and when occasion vrgeth it is possible for the King to procure that all those that shall bee sent thither shall be his Instruments for the Duke of Guise effected as much at the assembly of Bloys The occasion that first procured the King that Supremacie that his Edicts should be Lawes was the last Inuasion of the English for at that time they possessing two parts of France the three Estates could not assemble whereupon they did then grant that power vnto Charles the Seuenth during the Warre And that which made it easie for Lewis the Eleuenth and his Successors to continue the same the occsion ceasing was that the Clergie and Gentrie did not runne the same fortune with the people there as in England for most of the Taxes falling only vpon the people the Clergie aud Gentrie being forborne were easily induced to leaue them to the Kings mercy But the King hauing got strength vpon the Pesants hath beene since the bolder to inuade part of both their liberties For the succession of this Monarchie it hath subsisted without intermission these 1200. yeares vnder three Races of Kings No Nation hath heretofore done greater things abroad in Palestine and Egipt besides all parts of Europe but for these last 400. yeares they haue only made Sallies into Italie and often suffered at home Three hundred yeares the English afflicted them making two firme Inuasions vpon them and taking their King prisoner the second greatnesse of Christendome next the Emperour being then in competition betwixt vs and them And to secure themselues against vs rather then the House of Austria as it then stood they chose to marry the Heire of Bretaigne before that of Burgundy And for this last hundred yeares the Spantard vndertaking them hath eaten them out of all but France and endangered that too But for this present France had neuer as France a more entire greatnesse though it hath often beene richer For since the Warre the King is only got afore hand the Country is but yet in recouering the War hauing lasted by spaces 32. yeares and so generally that no man but had an Enemie within three miles and so the Countrey became Frontier all ouer Now that which hath made them at this time so largely great at home is their adopting into themselues the lesser adioyning Nations without destruction or leauing any marke of strangenesse vpon them as the Bretons Gascoignes Provincalls and others which are not French towards the which Vnions their nature which is easie and harborous to strangers hath done more then any Lawes could haue effected but with long time The King as I said enioying what Lewis the 11. did gaine hath the entire Soueraigntie in himselfe because hee can make the Parliament doe what he please or else doe what he please without them For the other three Estates The Church is there very rich being estimated to enioy the third part of the Reuenew of France but otherwise nothing so potent as else-where partly because the Inquisition is not admitted in France but principally because the Popes ordinary power is much restrayned there by the Liberties which the French Church claymeth Which Liberties doe not so much ensranchize the Church it selfe as conferre the Authoritie the Pope looseth vpon the King as first fruites and the disposing of all Spirituall preferments And by reason of this neutralitie of Authoritie the Church-men suffer more there then either in England where they wholly depend vpon the King or in Spaine and Italie where they wholly subsist by the Pope because the Pope is not able totally to support them and the King takes occasion euer to suppresse them as beeing not entirely his Subiects and to him they pay yearely both the tenth of all their Tithe and of all their Temporall land The Gentrie are the onely entire Body there which participate with the Prerogatiues of the Crowne for from it they receiue Priuiledges aboue all other men and a kinde of limited Regality vpon their Tenants besides reall supply to their estates by Gouernments and Pensions and freedome from Tallies vpon their owne Lands that is vpon their Demaines and whatsoeuer else they manure by their Seruants but so much as they let to Tenants is presently Tallie-able which causeth proportionable abatement in the Rent and in recompence of this they owe to the King the Ban and the Arriereban that is to serue him and his Lieutenant three Moneths within the Land at their owne Charges And as in Warre they vndergoe the greatest part of the danger so then is their power most perremptorie aboue the rest whereas in time of Peace the King is ready to support inferiour persons against them and is glad to see them to waste one another by Contention in Law for feare they grow rich because hee fore-sees that as the Nobilitie onely can doe him seruice so they onely misapplyed can doe him harme The auntient Gentrie of France was most of it consumed in the Warres of Godfrey of Bulloigne and some in those of Saint Lewis because vpon their setting out they pawned all their Feifs to the Church and few of them were after redeemed by reason whereof the Church possesseth at
this day the third part of the best Feifs in France and that Gentrie was after made vp by Aduocates Financiers and Merchants innobled which now are reputed auntient and are dayly eaten out againe and repayred by the same kinde of men For the people All those that haue any kinde of profession or Trade liue well but for the meere Peasants that labour the ground they are onely Spunges to the King to the Church and the Nobitie hauing nothing to their owne but to the vse of them and are scarce allowed as Beasts enough to keepe them able to doe seruice for besides their Rent they pay vsually two thirds to the King The manner of Gouernment in France is mixt betwixt Peace and Warre being composed as well of Military Discipline as Ciuill Iustice because hauing open Frontiers and strong Neighbours and therefore obnoxious to sodaine Inuasions they cannot as in England ioyne euer Peace security together For the Military part there is euer a Constable and a Marshall in being Troupes of Horse and Regiments of Foot in pay and in all Prouinces and places of strength Gouernours and Garrisons distributed all which are meanes for the preferment of the Gentry But those as they giue security against the enemy so when there is none they disturbe the enioying of Peace by making the Countries taste somewhat of a Prouince For the Gentry finde a difference betwixt the Gouernours fauour disfauor and the souldiers commit often Insolencies vpon the people The Gouernments there are so well disposed by the King as no Gouernour hath meanes to giue ouer a Prouince into the Enemies hand the Commands thereof are so scattered for the Gouernour Commands the Country and for the most part the chiefe Towne then is there a Lieutenant to the King not to him of the same and betwixt these two there is euer Iealousie nourished then hath euery Towne and Fortresse particular Gouernours which are not subalterne to that of the Prouince but hold imediately from the Prince and many times the towne hath one Gouernour and the Castle another The aduantages of Gouernours besides their pay from the King are Presents from the Country dead payes making their Megazins of Come and powder more then they need at the Kings price and where they stand vpon the Sea ouerseeing of vnlawfull goods Thus much in Peace In Warre they are worth as much as they will exact Languedoc is the best then Bretaigne Prouince is worth by all these means to the D. of Guise 20000. Crownes a yeare but Prouince only he holds without a Lieutenant Concerning the Ciuill Iustice there it is no where more Corrupt nor expencefull The Corruptnesse of it proceeds first by reason that the King sells the places of Iustice at as high a rate as can bee honestly made of them so that all thriuing is left to Corruption and the gaine the King hath that wayes tempts him to make a multitude of Officers which is another burthen to the Subiect Secondly the Presidents are not bound to judge according to the written Law but according to the Equitie drawne out of it which Libertie doth not so much admit Conscience as leaue wit without limits The expencefulnesse of it ariseth from the multitude of Lawes and multiplicitie of formes of Processes the which two both beget doubt and make them long in resoluing And all this Chiquanerey as they call it is brought into France from Rome vpon the Popes comming to reside at Avignion For the strength of France It is at this day the greatest Vnited force of Christendome The particulars in which it consists are these The shape of the Countrey which beeing round no one part is farre from succouring another The multitude of good Townes and places of strength therein are able to stay an Army if not to waste it as Metz did the Emperours the masse of Treasure which the King hath in the Bastile The number of Arsenals distributed vpon the Frontiers besides that of Paris all which are full of good Armes and Artillerie And for ready men the 5. Regiments bestowed vp down in Garrisons together with the 2000. of the Guard the Troupes of ordinary and light Horse all euer in pay besides their Gentrie all bred Souldiers and of which they thinke there are at this present 50000. fit to beare Armes And to Command all these they haue at this day the best Generalls of Christendome which is the only commodity the Ciuill wars did leaue them The weaknesse of it are first the want of a sufficient Infantry which proceeds from the ill distribution of their wealth for the Peysant which containes the greatest part of the people hauing no share allowed him is heartlesse and feeble and consequently vnseruiceable for all Military vses by reason of which they are first forced to borrow ayde of the Swissers at a great Charge and secondly to compose their Armies for the most part of Gentlemen which makes the losse of a battaile there almost irrecouerable The second is the vnproportionable part of the land which the Church holds all which is likewise dead to Militarie vses For as they say there The Church will loose nothing nor defend nothing The third is the want of a Competent number of Ships and Gallies by reason of which defect first the Spaniard ouermasters them vpon the Mediterranian and the English and Hollander vpon the Ocean and secondly it renders them poore in forraine Trade so that all the great actions of Christendome for these fifty yeares hauing beene bent vpon the Indies they only haue sate idle The fourth is the weaknesse of their Frontiers which is so much the more dangerous because they are possessed all but the Ocean by the Spaniard for Savoy hath beene alwaies as his owne for all vses against France The last is the difference of Religion among themselues which will euer yeeld matter of ciuill dissention and consequently cause the weaker to stand in neede of forraigne succours The ordinarie Reuenew of the King is as they say now some 14. Millions of Crowns which arise principally from the Demaines of the Crowne the gabell of Salt tallies vpon the Countrie Customes vpon the Merchandize sale of Offices the yearely Tithe of all that belongs to the Church the rising and falling of Money Fines and Confiscations cast vpon him by the Law but as for Wardships they are only knowne in Normandy His expence is chiefely Ambassadours Munition Building Fortifying and maintaining of Gallies As for Ships when he needs them he makes an Embarque In Pay for Souldiers Wages for Officers Pentions at home abroad vpon the entertaining his House his State and his priuate pleasures And all the first but the Demaynes were granted in the beginning vpon some vrgent occasion and after by Kings made perpetuall the occasion ceasing and the Demaynes it selfe granted because the King should liue vpon their owne without oppressing their Subiects But at this day though the Reuenew bee thus great and the
taxes vnsupportable yet doe they little more then serue for necessary publike vses For the King of Spains greatnes Neighbourhood forceth the King there to liue continually vpon his Guard and the treasure which the Spaniard receiues from his Indies constraines him to raise his Reuenew thus by Taxes so to be able in some proportion to beare vp against him for feare else he should be bought out of all his Confederates and seruants For the Relation of this State to others It is first to be considered that this part of Christendome is ballanced betwixt the three Kings of Spaine France and England as the other part betwixt the Russian the Kings of Poland Sweden and Denmarke For as for Germany which if it were entirely subiect to one Monarchy would be terrible to all the rest so being deuided betwixt so many Princes and those of so equall power it serues only to ballance it selfe and entertaine easie Warre with the Turke while the Persian with-holds him in a greater And euery one of those first three hath his particular strength and his particular weakenesse Spaine hath the aduantage of both the rest in Treasure but is defectiue in Men his Dominions are scattered and the conueyance of his Treasure from the Indies lyes obnoxious to the power of any Nation that is stronger by Sea France abounds with Men lyes close together and hath Money sufficiently England beeing an Iland is hard to be Inuaded abounds with Men but wants Money to imploy them For their particular weaknesse Spaine is to be kept busie in the Low-Countries France is to bee afflicted with Protestants and England in Ireland England is not able to subsist against any of the other hand to hand but ioyned with the lowe-Lowe-Countries it can giue Lawe to both by Sea and ioyned with either of them two it is able to oppresse the third as Henry the Eight did Now the only entire body in Christendome that makes head against the Spanish Monarchy is France and therefore they say in France that the day of the ruine of France is the Eue of the ruine of England And thereupon England hath euer since the Spanish greatnesse enclined rather to maintaine France rather then to ruine it as when King Francis was taken prisoner the King of England lent Money towards the payment of his Ransome And the late Queene when the Leagers after the Duke of Guise his death had a designe to Cantonize France though offered a part would not consent So then this reason of State of mutuall preseruation conioyning them England may be accounted a sure Confederate of France and Holland by reason it partly subsists by it the Protestant Princes of Germany because they haue Countenance from it against the house of Austria the Protestant Swissers for Religion and Money the Venetians for protection against the Spaniard in Italy So that all their friends are either Protestants or enclyning and whosoeuer is extreme Catholike is their enemie and Factors for the Spanish Monarchy as the Pope the Cardinalls for the most part and totally the Iesuites the Catholike Princes of Germany and the Catholicks of England and Ireland For the Iesuites which are the Ecclesiasticall strength of Christendome France notwithstanding the many late Obligations hath cause to despaire of them for they intending as one Pope so one King to suppresse the Protestants and for the better support of Christendome against the Turke and seeing Spaine the likelier to bring this to passe they follow the neerer probability of effecting their end No addition could make France so dangerous to vs as that of our lowe-Lowe-Countries for so it were worse then if the Spaniard himselfe had them entirely As for their hopes of regaining Italie it concernes the Spaniard immediatly rather then vs. Concerning the state of the Protestants in France during Peace they are protected by their Edict For their two Agents at Court defend the Generall from wrong and their Chambres-impartyes euery particular person And if troubles should arise some scattered particulars might be in danger but the maine body is safe safe to defend themselues though all France ioyne against them and if it breake out into Factions the safest because they are both ready and vnited The particulars of their strength are first their Townes of surety two of which command the Riuer of Loyre Secondly their Scituation the greatest part of them lying neere together as Poictou Zanningtonge High Gascoigne Languedoc and Daulphin neere the Sea so consequently fit to receiue succours from abroad and remote from Paris so that the qualitie of an Armie is much wasted before it can approach them The third is the sufficiency of their present Gouernours Bulloigne and Desdeguiers and other second Commanders And for the Princes of the Blood whom the rest may in shew without emulation obey when they come once to open action those which want a party will quickly seeke them The last is the ayde they are sure of from forraine Princes For whosoeuer are friends to France in generall are more particularly their friends And besides the Protestant partie being growne stronger of late as the Low-Countries and more vnited as England and Scotland part of that strength reflects vpon them and euen the King of Spaine himselfe which is Enemie to France in generall would rather giue them succour then see them vtterly extirpated And yet no Forraine Prince can euer make further vse of them then to disturbe France not to inuade it himselfe For as soone as they get an Edict with better Conditions they turne head against him that now succoured them as they did against vs at New-haven Concerning the proportion of their number they are not aboue the seuenteene or eighteenth part of the people but of the Gentlemen there are 6000. of the Religion but since the Peace they haue increased in people as principally in Paris Normandy and Daulphin but lost in the Gentrie which losse commeth to passe by reason that the King when he findes any Gent. that will but hearken tempts him with preferment and those he findes vtterly obstinate suppresseth And by such meanes hee hath done them more harme in Peace then both his Predecessors in Warre For in all their assemblies hee corrupts some of their Ministers to betray their Counsell in hand and of the 100 6000. Crowns a yeare which he paies the Protestants to entertaine their Ministers and pay their Garrisons hee hath gotten the bestowing of 16000. of them vpon what Gentleman of the Religion he pleaseth when by that meanes he moderates if not gaines and besides they were wont to impose vpon him their two Deputies which are to stay at Court but now he makes them propose sixe out of which he chuseth the two and by that obligeth those yet notwithstanding all this in some occasions hee makes good vse of them too For as towards England he placeth none in any place of strength but firme Catholikes so towards Spaine and Sauoy he often giues charge to