de Luce was that of Charles the first of England with the Lady Henrietta Maria of Bourbon youngest Daughter to Henry the great of France In which Matches England hath had six Daughters of France and France two of England By the fourth Match twixt Ed. 2. and Isabel eldest Daughter to Philip le Bell Edward the third of England being her eldest son was Heir to the Crown of France and demanding his Right therunto he was answered La Couronne de France n'est pas lièe à la quenouille That the Crown of France was not tied to a Distaff wherunto he replyed That he would then tie it to his Sword and he was as good as his word But Henry the fifth some fourscore years after tied it faster for he reducd Charles the sixth to such terms that after his death he shold immediately possess the Crown and Kingdome of France and that in the interim the Dauphin his son afterwards Charles the seventh shold be disinherited That in the interim King Henry shold be Regent of France in regard the present King was sometimes crazd in his Intellectuals That he shold take to Wife the Lady Isabel Daughter to the said Charles All which Capitulations not onely the King but the chiefest Peers and Nobility of France did consent unto and ratifie by solemn Oath obliging themselfs further to uphold and assist Henry of England with his lawful Heirs and Successors against Charles the Dauphin whom his Father had legally disinherited Hereupon Henry the fifth dying in France a Death much too soon and immature for so brave a man his son Hen. 6. was proclaimd King of England and France in Paris In which publick Proclamation t is very observable how England had the precedence and therupon the chiefest of the Officers of the Crown and Nobles swore Fealty and Alleageance unto him divers of which Nobles grew afterwards Apostats and joynd with the Dauphin Against Edward the thirds Right the Salique Law was alledgd which they wold force and pin upon a Text of Scripture Lilia neque nent c. The Lilies neither spin c. But though King Edward had cut the Labels of that Law with a victorious sword yet it was not quite cancelld Nor indeed could it be possibly done for it was but a kind of Chymera a meer imaginary Law and one of the Authentiqust French Historians Du Haillan hath no better opinion of it They who are the greatest Champions of that Law acknowledg that it was at first a particular Topical Law made at Salem a place upon the Rhine but they have stretchd it since to all France As if the Law of Gavelkind which is peculiar to Kent and other distinct places shold be made to extend it self and be in force all England over But some ther are that will not allow any Essence at all to the Salique Law no not to be a Local restraining Law to the foresaid place neer the Rhine Therfore the same answer may be fit to be given un to the Assertors of It as was given by the Venetians to the Pope when ther happening a clash between them touching the Sea about Ancona which they alledgd belongd to the Venetian Gulf wherof they had the Dominion And the Pope demanding what warrant they had for it t was answered by a kinde of Sarcasine If your Holines please to produce the Instrument wherby the Emperour Constantine the Great passd over the City of Rome to your predecessors upon the back of that Grant your Holines will find Saint Marks Charter to the Souverainty of the Adriatique Gulph whence an Intimation was made that neither of the Charters had ever any being which may be justly applied to the Salique Law And besides that du Haillan though a French-man in the first Volume of his History confutes that Law It is confirmd also that ther never was any such Law in France by the testimony of the Duke of Burgundy who when Philippe le long was created King he openly cryed out against his Creation alledging that the Kingdom of France belonged then to Iane daughter unto Hutin King of France formerly but to stop his mouth Philip was forcd to make a Gift unto him of the Dukedom of Burgundy in dower with his eldest daughter But touching the Title of Henry the Fifth which was confirmed by Solemne Agreement and Sacramental Oaths the French found out another Evasion For it was avouchd That the Kingdom of France goeth not by Descent or Inheritance but by Succession which is grounded not upon a Law but upon Custom by vertu wherof the next of the Bloud Royal be He of the furthest degree that may be to the kindred succeedeth not as lawful Heir but as a Successor by Custom not newly invented but of long continuance even from the time of Pharamond But this new-devised Objection is refuted also by the foresaid Du Haillan one of the prime French Historiographers and a French-man born who reckons up a long Catalog of French Kings which did not succeed one another but were chosen one after another Another Objection was also suggested that Charles the sixth who made the foresaid Contract with Henry of England was no better then a Lunatique though he had somtimes Lucida Intervalla Wherunto it is answerd that at the time when that Agreement passd He had a lucid interval and was in his right wits and memory Besides the chiefest Nobility of the Realm were parties in ir and did not only consent but obligd themselfs by Oath to the performance of it Ther was a third Objection which kept a higher noise viz. That the King of France cannot alienate the Demeanes Rights Titles and Interests of the Crown without the consent and suffrage of the Assembly of Three Estates which was not had then because a great part of the Peers Nobles and others were then absent Whereunto t is answerd That in claims which go by plurality of voices it is not always necessary that all shold be present if the greater and better part of them be there specially if after Citation the rest absent themselfs For although the point that concerneth All shold be approvd by All yet as Civilians hold when some or all may approve or disallow the things which concern Them and They will not be present to shew their consent or dislike their Absence shall not prejudice the stipulation of the Contract And in this great business twixt two Kings those who were away were Traytors to Charles the sixth for they were in arms against him by taking part with the Dauphin who was in Rebellion against his Father at that time Therfore their absence could not in any respect prejudice the validity of so solemn a Contract wherupon depended Peace or War The fourth Objection carried more of pusillanimity with it then strength of proof viz. That when the foresaid Contract was made the English had almost over-run all France and that the King was coopd up in a corner of the country Therfore
the first Valour and Fortune may be said to contend which shold entitle him Henry the Great They both strivd for mastery in Him and which shold overcome He was Conqueror in four signal Battails In thirty five hot Skirmiges In above a hundred personal Encounters with the siege of about three hundred several places wherin He provd always Victorious which makes his memory to continue still fresh in France and makes new impressions from Fathers to Sons to render it eternal Ther is scarce any considerable Town but hath his Statue in Brass or Marble and Pictures innumerable insomuch that one said Una Henrici Oblivio erit occasus Humani generis The Oblivion of Henry alone will be the end of Mankind But for a tru Character of him I will insert here that which is engraven on the Cheval de bronze the Brasen Horse on the Pont-Neuf in sight of the Louvre his most Royal Castle in Paris which character runs thus Ie suis Henry grand Honneur de la Terre Astre de Paix Foudre de la Guerre L'Amour de Bons la Crainte de Pervers Dont les Vertus meritoient l'Univers Henry I am the Glory of Mankind The Star of Peace and Thunderbolt of War The spur of Vertu scourge of Vice A Mind That merited to sway more Scepters far Touching his Son and immediat Successor Lewis the Thirteenth he also did mighty things He began to bear Arms and wear Buff almost when he was no higher then a Sword at which height they say the Kings of France are out of their Minority but before he came out of His he repressd two ill-favourd Commotions in Poitou and Britany He continued Conqueror all his life-time nor did He know what it was to be beaten He bangd all his Neighbours round about him He clammerd twice with his Armies ore the Alps and came back again having done the business he went for He climd likewise with his Troops up the Pyreney Hills and establishd a Viceroy in the Kingdome of Catalonia He crossd ore the Meuse and made many deep Hacks in the Ragged Staff His Horses foorded ore the Rhine and helpd to cuff the Eagle ilfavouredly in the German Air. And lastly He foyld the English at the I le of Rhe. These were Exploits abroad At home also within his Kingdome He did marvailous things by suppressing so many Civil Insurrections and lastly by debelling the Hugonots which his five immediat Predecessors could not effect though they attempted it many ways Then which Action nothing could conduce more to the security and improvement of the power of the French Crown and the tranquillity of the Country The tenth and last Argument Ab Exemplo Authoritate Historicâ from Examples and Historical Authority THe Arguments which went before may be said to be Embroderies and Florishes of Reason yet those Florishes were wrought upon good Substantial stuff but this last Argument hath more of solidness legality and weight in it for it consists of Examples and Historical Authentik Proofs of Antiquity which the Logitian tells us is one of the strongest way of Argumentation We will not make such over-curious Retrospects as to look on the times before Charlemain though ther be divers examples that ever since the time of Clouis who was the first Christian King of France which was above 300 years before which prove that the Kings of France had Prerogatives of Session and Precedence both of Place and Person next to the Emperour But since Charlemain had the title of Christianissimus given him ther be divers cleer and convincing proofs how after the Empire was devolvd from Charlemains Race to the houses of Saxony Suevia and Austria nay since Austria came to the highest cumble of greatness and multitude of new Dominions the Kings of France have still had the Antecedence both in General Councils in assisting the holy Offices of the Church and in attending the Popes Person Now t is known that the Court of Rome with the Rules and practice therof is fittest to determine this Question of Precedence Mausonius and others have it upon good record how Anno 1564. Pope Pius the fourth passd a solemn Decree That the Kings of France ought to have the Precedence of any other King Nor indeed in former Ages did any King contend with him herabouts but the King of England The Spaniard did but of late years stand for it it is but since the Raign of Charles the fifth And as the Kings of France before claimd it as succeeding Charlemain so the Kings of Spain wold challenge it as succeeding Charles the Fifth Yet in the famous Treaty at Vervins 1598. after long Concertations and canvassing of the point Pro Con the Spanish Ambassadors made a Cession of Precedence to the French And Baldus the great Civilian as Purpuratus relates affirmeth categorically Nemo praesumat Honorem super vexilla Invictissimi Franciae Regis It is tru that some Writers rank Kings thus The King of Hierusalem the King of France the King of Sicily and the King of England which four are the only Anointed Kings And for this they shew an old Manuscript of the Church of Rome calld Provincialis Saint Gregory writes to Childebert Quanto caeteroâ—… homines Regia Dignitas antecellit tanto caeterarum gentium Regna Regni vestri culmen excellit As far as Royal Dignity excels all other men so far doth the glory of your Kingdome excel others Hâ—…norius the third says Reges Gallorum opposuerum se tanquam marus inexpugnabilis pro populo Christiano The Kings of France opposd themselfs as an inexpugnable Wall for the Christian People Gregory the ninth saith Regnum Galliae est quasi Phaâ—…etra quam Christus sibi circa femur accinxit ex qua sagittas electaâ—… extrâ—…hens 〈◊〉 â—…t sibi gentes Regna subjiciat in arcum brachii potentis emâ—… France is a Quiver which Christ tied to his thigh whence he draws Arrows for the subduing of Nations and Kingdomes c. Now touching the point of Precedence the notablest Contests that France hath had have been with Spain in the Council of Trent which lasted so many long years by intermissions the relations wherof lie scatterd up and down in divers Histories but we shall endeavour to give here a distinct and uninterrupted Narration thereof but first we will speak of a signal Contest in Venice The famous Contest twixt the most Christian and Catholique Kings in Venice as also in the Council of Trent IT is well known how that before the rearing up of that huge Colosse of the House of Austria which was Anno 1516. when Ferdinand of Aragon died Charles rendred himself very potent both in Italy as well as in Spain But he encreasd more strength after the death of Maximilian being chosen Emperour in his place at which time he was mounted to the highest pitch of sublimity and power I say t is well known how till that time the Kings of France were acknowledged the
meum apponerem consuetum Testes qui fuerunt praesentes ad ista unà mecum sunt Dom. frater Martinus Lupi Magister Militiae Domus de Alcantara Ordinis Cistern Rogerus Dom. de la Wara Gomeicus dicti Dom. Regis Magister Paulus Gabrielis Civis Ispalensis Iohannes Guttern Decanus Ecclesiae Segobien Magister Robertus Fregand Notarius Cancellarius Domini Principis Aquitaniae Walliae supradicti Then the Great Seal of Castile and Leon was affixd By vertue of this Charter legally made to King Edward and the Prince his Son and to their Heirs and Successors Kings and Princes of England for ever it is therby granted that whensoever it shold please them to be in person in the Wars with any King of Castile against the King of Granada or any other Enemy of the Christian Faith They shold have the First place in the Vangard above all other Princes of Christendom and although neither of them were present yet ther shold be always provided by the Kings of Castile and their Successors a Standard of the Arms of England to be born in the same place This Instrument was made after that the Black Prince had done the Work and restord Don Pedro to his Kingdom therfore he passd it as a Monument of eternal Gratitude unto him But before the Prince uudertook the business ther was also a Bond from the King to pay so much money for defraying the Princes Army and in consideration also of this undertaking it was legally agreed that the Prince shold have the Castle of Vermeo de la Quet Bilbo Biscay and the Castle of Ordials A tenir perpetuellement à li ses Heirs Successeurs pour doner là où luy plerrà to be held perpetually by Him and his Heirs and Successors and to give to whom he pleasd All which was ratified under the Great Seal of Castile and confirmd by Oath upon the holy Sacrament in the great Church of Burgos The Original of which Instrument remains yet in Thes. Regio apud Westm. We will pass over the Exploits done in Armorica or Little Britany and cross over to a tougher Peeple the Scot who though Conterranean and our neer Neighbours yet they did always confederat with the French against England and England still boar up single and victoriously against both of them For when Scotland was at the highest pitch of power when she had active and boysterous Kings to her Generals and the French for her Coadjutors and Auxiliaries as also the Danes in Ages past yet the English carried away many fair Victories with divers of their Kings Prisoners As will appear by a short Survay we shall take of such Battails and Warlike Encounters which intervend from time to time twixt the two Nations We will begin with that famous Battail twixt King Athelstan and them when they had a great Army of Danes joynd with them and being twice in number more then the English yet King Athelstan obtaind a signal Victory both by Prowess and Policy for the two Armies being ready to joyn the English made semblance to flee away leaving their Bagage behind which as the Scot and Dane were a sharing the English did suddenly wheele about by the advantage of a Woody Hill and finding them in disarray and laden with Booty they rushd upon them with such a Resolution that above 40 thousand of them and as Buchanan their chief Chronologer hath it the flower of their Nobility perishd there at that time The first Fire-ball of War which was thrown twixt both the Nations since the Norman Invasion was in William Rufus his Raign when the Scot having made divers Incursions into the English Borders Moubray Earl of Northumberland was sent against them who incountring their King Malcolm with his eldest Son in the Field they were both slain and the whole Army overthrown In King Stephens days Thurston then Archbishop of York was sent with an Army against the Scot who meeting the King himself in the head of his Forces utterly routed him with the death of above 10000 of his Men. Henry the second employd only the Knights of Yorkshire as Humphry-vile Scuttvil and Vescy to make head against the Scot which they did with such Valour and Success that they took the King in the Field and as a Trophy of their good Service and Victory they presented him Prisoner to the King at Northampton whence he carried him along to attend him in his French VVars William the Scots King attended Richard the Lion-hearted at his second Coronation when he returned from the Holy Land and carried the Sword before him bare-headed Edward the first calld in story and as his Tomb in Westminster tells us Scotorum Malleus the Hammer of the Scots summond King Baliol to Newcastle to swear Fealty unto him but fleeing afterwards to the French King at his return King Edward summons him again to Berwick where he re-submitted himself with all his Nobles in open Parlement which King Edward held there and for Caution brought Baliol along with him leaving the Earl of Surrey Warden of Scotland Then started up a notable Blade one Wallis who notwithstanding that King Baliol was Prisoner in England gatherd such a strength that causd King Edward to go again in person and at Fonkirk Battail killd outright 200 of their Nobles and Gentry with about forty thousand Common soldiers Then he summons a Parlement at Edinburgh where all the Scots Nobles swore Fealty to him and then he carried away thence their Great Charter calld the Ragman-Roll the Black-Cross and the Stone wherein they believe the Fate of Scotland is fixd Then ther was a third Provocation offer'd for le Bruce was crownd King of Scotland wherupon the Earl of Pembrook was sent against him who utterly defeated him at Iohnston yet all was not quiet but King Edward was forcd to make a fourth expedition thither in person when he constraind le Bruce to flee away to Norway where he blew on his Nayls while King Edward liv'd But Bruce being come back and Usurping during Edward the seconds time who we read was so infirm and infortunat a King his Father Edward the third restord Baliol by force of Arms and made him swear Fealty to England again But some yeers after King Edward being deeply engagd in the French Wars David the next Scots King rush'd into England with about sixty thousand men being confederat with the French King to divert the War there But Queen Philippa with the Archbishop of York and the Lords and Knights of the North encounterd this huge Army and utterly defeated it one Copland taking the Scots King Prisoner whom he he reservd for a present to give King Edward when he came from France and to keep company with Iohn the French King who also was taken Prisoner by the Black Prince And there were but six weeks difference of time twixt both Victories In Richard the seconds Raign the French King sent his High Admiral with a thousand
whatsoever He did being done by fear duresse and compulsion was of no better force then a Covenant extorted by violence or made in prison by a private man which when he is at liberty he is not bound by Law to perform if it tend to his damage To this t is answerd That the case is far different twixt Souverain Princes and privat men for between the one ther fall out but Processes and Suits in law if they disagree or not perform what is a greed upon But between Princes bloud and Wars fire and Sword death and destruction somtimes of whole Countries and millions of human soules do Ensue Therfore when a King by the propitiousness of Heven and his own prowess by the hazard of his life loss of his peeple with infinit pains and expence of Tresure hath gaind a Victory by the justness of his Cause and Divine decree or reduâ—…d his Enemy to a streight All the Civilians concur in one unanimous opinion that he may make the best advantage he can of his good successes and reduce his Enemy to what terms he please And the Articles which shall then be capitulated consented and sworn unto are to be exactly performd otherwise there wold be no end of any War Now rhe French Chroniclers themselfs acknowledg that Henry the 5. might at that conjuncture of time and fortune have destroyed the whole Realm of France and taken the King prisoner or driven him quite out But he was so far from doing so that he sufferd him to enjoy the Kingdom while he livd and by taking his daughter to wife made her Issue therby capable not only of the French but also of the English Crown with all the Dominions thereunto annexed Whence some Authors observ that the English have bin usd in all Treaties and Stipulations to be over-reasonable merciful plain and downright But the French crafty double minded inhumane high and subdolous upon all advantages Insomuch that t is a question which was sharper the English blade or the French brain I will conclude this digressive discours with another argument of the French viz. That Charles the sixth could not legally disinherit his eldest son being Heiâ—… apparent to the Crown of France To this may be answerd that neither Charles the sixth was rightful King nor consequently his son heir apparent for since Edward the third of England all the French Kings were but Usurpers they were Kings de facto not de jure Moreover ther are many Examples how the eldest sons of the Kings of France have bin disinherited We read that Robert made his second son Henry King of France by disinheriting Robert his eldest who for compensation was made Duke of Burgundy Lewis le Gros with the consent of all the Peers and Estats of France made also Lewis his second son King and gave Robert his eldest the Earldom of Dreux Dagobert made Clouis his second son King of France by putting by Sigisbert his eldest son I have bin somwhat long in discours of this great Transaction twixt England and France because the chief aim of this Work being at Precedence the discerning Reader may regulat his judgment accordingly We will now go on to conclude this Paragraph the main scope wherof being Antiquity and continuance of Royal Bloud The Genealogical Tree of the Kings of this Iland as all other Countries hath had various Stems the first were Britains now calld Welsh who may contend for Antiquity and may be said to be coetaneous with the Iland it self yea before it was an Iland for ther want not some who hold that it was at first a continent or a peninsula tied to Gallia by an Isthmos or neck of land stretching from Dover to Bullen for the Rocks on both coasts being of a colour and shape look as if they were slented one out of the other Before the Romans took footing here which was neer upon 200 yeers before they could do it peaceably the Britains did still so bear up against them wheras Gallia or France was fully conquerd in less then 10 yeers I say before the Roman Eagle fixd his talons here ther had bin 65 Kings of the British Bloud But then that Race being interrupted by the Romans for above 400 yeers the Iland being freed of Them some of the old British Bloud came to be Kings again among whom some were very famous as 〈◊〉 and Arthur his son the chief Christian Worthy who was the first Founder of Warlike honour conferrd upon his Knights of the Round Table And this Race of the old British Kings lasted till the raign of Cadwallader Anno 689 yet ther were Welsh Princes that swayd still as among other Howel Dha the Great Legislator and stood stoutly for their Liberty until the raign of Edw. 1. in whose raign Leolâ—… the last Prince of the British Bloud being slain in battel his head was brought to King Edward who commanded it to be crownd with Iâ—…ie confessing that he had met with more valour in the Welsh then the Scots for he had fierce Wars with both But Cadwallader being dead the British Race was interrupted again till Owea Tewdors time who descended from Cadwallader as shall be shewd by a Gâ—…rman peeple inhabiting the lower Circuit of Saxony and so calld Saxons by the Welsh and Irish to this day They had a 〈◊〉 a long time but Egbert by conquest reduâ—…d them to a Monarchy and he was the first who calld himself King of England Then that English Race alâ—…o of Kings had two short Interruptions one by the Danes wherof ther raigned here three Kings but all their raigns extended not to â—…5 yeers Then by William of Normandy and that Interruption â—…asted about 40 yeers till Henry the first married the lady Matilda daughter to Malcolme King of Scotland by the Lady Margaret sister to Edgar Athelâ—…g wherby the English Bloud Royal was restord Then by a marvellous providence the British Royal Bloud after about 800 yeers Interruption was restoâ—…d by Owen Tewdor who married the Queen Dowager Katherine and so was Granfather to Hen. 7. which Tewdor by an exact 〈◊〉 that was made by the British Bards and confirmed by the English Heralds came lineally from the foresaid King Cadwallader and Leolin so ther were three Kings viz. Hen. 7. Hen. 8. Edw. 6. with two Queens viz. Mary and Elizabeth all Tewdors Then came in the Royal Race of Scotland by the Lady Margaret Tewdor eldest daughter to Hen. 7. and first branch of the two Roses Now by a due computation made of the premises it will be found that take British or English the source and series of the Bloud Royal of England is above a thousand yeers since And if from Cadwallader you go to the British Kings before the Romans interrupted the Royal succession therof it will be neer upon 3000 yeers which no kingdom â—…ls can say Moreover the Bloud Royal of Scotland some hundreds of yeers before was incorporated in the British for the mother of the first
small and great It reacheth to all the Military strengths both by Land and Sea to all tenable places as Castles Forts Bulwarks within and about the whole Iland The Kings of England have had the sole power of this Sword and the Law gives it them by vertue of their Royal Signory from all times The very Law doth gird it to their sides They employ it for repelling all Forren force For vindicating all Forren wrongs and affronts For suppressing all intestine Tumults and Rebellions And to protect and secure the weal of the whole Body politick The peeple of England represented in Parlement were never capable to manage this Sword the Fundamental Constitutions of the Country flatly denieth it them This Sword is fit only to hang at the Kings side as the Great Seal hangs at his girdle being as it were the key of the whole Kingdom and it is recorded of the Emperour Charlemain that he carried his Great Seal always embossd upon the pommel of his Sword which signified that he was ready to make good and maintain what he had Seald Now to let the Peeple have the Sword is to put it into a Mad-mans hand And one of the pregnantst Forren examples to prove this is that notorious Popular insurrection in France calld La Iaquerie de Beauvoisin when the Peasans and Mechanicks had a designe to wrest it out of the Kings hand for to depress all the Peers and Noblesse of the Kingdom and the Rebellion had grown to such a strength that it was like to take effect had not the Prelats and Churchmen stuck close to the King and the Nobility but afterwards poor hare-braind things they desired the King upon bended knee to take the Sword again The Civilians who in all points are not so great frends to Royalty as the Common Law is assert That ther are six Praerogatives which belong to a Souvrain Prince 1. Armamenta Army 2. Potestas Iudicatoria power of Judicature 3. Potestas vitae necis power of life and death 4. Bona adespota masterless goods 5. Census the numbring of the people 6. Monetarum valor the raising or abating the value of the publick Coyn. Among these Regalias we finde that Arming which in effect is nothing els but the Kings Sword is one and as I said before t is as proper and peculiar to his Person and to be soly on his side as the Crown on his Head or the Scepter in his hand and of greater importance then either For by those two he draws only a voluntary love and an opinion from his Subjects but by the Sword as threed thorow a Needles eye he draws a Reverential Fear and aw Now these two mixd with the other are the best Ingredients of Government With the Sword he confers Honors as dubbing of Knights c. From this Sword all the chiefest Magistrates have their authority The Lord Deputy of Ireland the Lords Mayors of London and York have their Swords by deputation from Him and when he entreth any place Corporat the first thing which is presented unto him is the Sword Nor doth the point of this Sword pass thorow the diameter and reach only to evry corner of his own Dominions but it extends beyond the Seas as well to preserve his Subjects from oppression and denial of Justice as to vindicat publike wrongs and affronts to make good the Interests of his Crown as also to assist his Confederats and friends And this publick Sword is so inseparable from him that by the Law of the Land he cannot ungird himself of it or transfer it to any other for that were to desert the protection of his peeple which is point blank against his Coronation-Oath and Office Therfore the very Proposition it self that the Long Parlement made to his late Majesty to have the Militia passd over unto them was no less then High Treason for nothing could be more derogatory to his Kingly Honor which they had protested so solemnly to maintain by their so many publick Instruments and Oaths We proceed now from the Rural Power or Country-campane of the King of Great Britain to his Oppidan Strength And first of his Court at Westminster where ther are 200 goodly tall men of his Gard Then he hath a Band of Pensioners who are Gentlemen of quality and wealth Moreover he hath 3000 Foot and 1000 Horse for his Life-Gard besides divers Garisons in sundry Towns And now we make our entrance into the City of London that huge Magazin of Men and Might A City that may well compare with any in France or Spain not only for Power but for any thing els and in some particulars may haply go beyond them and deserve a Precedence as shall be shewd Nor doth this Power extend only to her own Self-protection but it may be made use of for any part of the Kingdome upon any Civil Insurrection or otherwise as it shall please the Sovrain Prince and no other whatsoever to employ it The City of London is like a fair Quiver of keen strong Arrows for the King to draw forth upon all occasions for his own and his peeples preservation For besides twelve thousand choice gallant Citizens in London and Westminster with the Hamlets of the Tower who are enrolld and always ready and have their Arms fixd for Honor and Defence ther may be as appears by divers Censes and Computations which have bin made about two hundred thousand choice able men raisd for service if necessity requires and the City will scarce sensibly miss them nor are Seamen Mariners and Water-men meant to be of this number The Kings of France and Spain I may well avouch have not any such Town or City That which is most capable of comparison with London is Paris for which she hath many advantages for she is a Cité Ville and Université she is a City a Town and an University as also the chiefest Residence of the French King But le ts go a little to particulars and first to the Populousness of both Cities They say that the Parishes of St. Eustace and St. Innocent which lie about the centre of Paris have above one hundred thousand Communicants in them alone and that by the last Cense which was made ther were neer upon a million of humane Souls in City and Suburbs wherof the sixth part are made up of Strangers and Church-men which the King cannot make use of upon Military occasions But look a little forward it will appeer that London hath above a Million of souls For largeness and magnitude t is tru that Paris hath the advantage of an Orbicular Figure which is most capacious of any But by the judgment of those Mathematicians who have taken a survay of both Cities if London were cast into a Circle she wold be altogether as big as Paris Touching publick Buildings t is tru that the Louvre is a vast Fabrick and the like is not found in London but t is the only Court the French King hath in
Crown and Alliance but also for neerness in Blood Your Message in the first part is a Ceremony sutable to the affections and obligations of Princes to express the sense they have of the mortality of their Frends which Office is best performd by a person of noble rank capable of the impression wrought in noble hearts But the substance of your Ambassage is for the publik Peace and the interest of our Brother the Palsgrave and our dear Sister depending therupon To advance this great work you must with convenient speed fit your self for your journey and pass the Seas in a ship appointed to transport you to the Sound or the River of Elve as by the way you shall learn where our Uncle the King doth now reside When you are landed you shall forthwith give notice of your coming that your Reception may be with honor due to our Ambassador of your rank Then after your coming to Court you shall in our name demand Audience and then attend the Kings plesure for your access but you shall not visit any other until you have had the honor of his presence to whom you are employd At your first audience you shall deliver our Letter of Credence to our Uncle and then with a significant expression of our entire and cordial affection proceeding from the obligations of frendship you shall tell him what great sorrow we have conceavd together with him for the death of our dear Granmother the late Queen his Mother whose memory you must adorn with her stile and due Praises enlargd as the information of her Life and Death and your own Judgment will best direct This Office being performd with the King without any mention of other business at that time you shall address your self to the Prince if he be present or otherwise by special audience and deliver with our Letter of Credence our like condoleance with expression of our hearty affection as to a Kinsman whose prosperity and inward frendship we very much desire Our Letters to our Aunts the Kings Sisters you shall deliver afterwards with signification of our condoleance and of our love to either of them and if more of our Cosens be there you shall pass like Offices with them all Whilst you attend this Ceremony you are to inform your self by Avery who hath the charge of our affairs at Hamborough and is also chosen Commissioner for our sister what is done concerning that Portion of our Granmothers personal Estate which is due unto Us as by our Uncles own Letters now to be deliverd unto you may appeer Which Portion we have given entirely to our said Sister with order to her Commissioners to sollicit for the same at the appointed time and in case you find performance to our Sisters satisfaction according to our former Letters sent on her behalf you shall take notice of it and give our Uncle hearty thanks for his just favor and expedition But if you find refusal or delay for the discounting of such debt as upon former Treties and by his last Letters our Uncle doth demand you shall assure him that before the receit of those Letters which mention the compensation of such Debts We had conveyd by Deed of Gift to our Sister all our interest in the Goods and given warrant to her Commissioners to attend the division and we hope our good Uncle in his Royal justice and favor to our Sister his Neece and her many distressed children will not add affliction to affliction but rather give them help by his forwardness in this our gift which we can no more revoke If this prevail not you shall modestly demand what those Debts are wherof he expecteth compensation and therin to clear all misunderstanding you are thus to distinguish The Debts to which our Uncle pretendeth are of two kinds all contracted by our Father of blessed memory and not by us First our Father after that our Uncle had undertaken the German War sent Sir Robert Anstruther with an advance of forty six thousand pounds present moneys and promised to pay thirty thousand pounds monthly so our Uncle wold maintain one thousand horse and four thousand foot for restoring our Brother and Sister to all their Patrimonial Dignities and Estates If then our Uncle shall declare that this is the debt he pretendeth to defalque out of the divided Goods you shall with due respects and as it were unwillingly call unto his mind what manner of performance was found on his part and how little those designes have bin advanced for which our Father expressed his Royal affection by so large an offer which caused us at our coming to the Crown to send the Duke of Buckingham and Earl of Holland to meet our Uncles Ambassadors at the Hague to qualifie those indigested assumptions made de bene esse for the present without debate of Articles indifferent for both parts And then as our Uncle well knoweth we setled the accompt upon a new foot and therfore ought no more to be called back to those exorbitant demands which notwithstanding upon due calculation of all our disbursements in money and in charges of our Auxiliary aids and diversions we have so much exceeded That laying a side all exception for not performing conditions we have just cause to claim retribution or at least acknowledgment of well-deserved thanks and not to be now strained for compensation of those Debts Of our â—…ast expences ther hath bin a List transmitted to Avery from Sir Henry Vane wherof you may make use by a Copy to be now delivered unto you to acquit Us of those debts But ther is another debt for money borrowed by our Father which we do acknowledg both principal and interest and for liquidation therof have given former directions to our Ambassador Sir Henry Vane who is to meet the Kings Ministers at the Hague in his return out of Germany and to consider of a cours for our Uncles satisfaction according to his expectation and our desire Upon this meeting if otherwise you cannot you must discharge your self and having setled the division of the Portion and put off the accompts in this manner you shall afterwards proceed as you find time and opportunity to your more weighty negotiation concerning the common cause representing to that King our Uncle the present state of Christendome specially of Germany the seat of the War that upon a mature consideration therof both he and we may best advise how to govern our Proceedings as well for our safety as for our interests with others and chiefly for the obtaining of a sure peace which is to be desired for the common good To this purpose you shall move him to cast his eyes upon that progress the King of Sweden his Neighbour hath already made by his sword almost through the Empire beyond all mens expectation and to foresee in his great wisdome what the consequence will be if by victorious Arms he shall obtain power to give the Princes and States on both