or leaue off till they had driuen her out of the realme and sent her into Italie to her kinsfolkes God pardon that good Ladie A deuout praier for a holie woman But for the apprehension and conceit that she had of these things I feare much that she was the cause of many euils that we saw in her time For vpon this matter she did so hate thē that she neuer ceased till she had destroyed them as she did the one of them in the battaile of Iarnac and the other at the massacre of S. Bartholomew where if all they of Montmorency had been found they had had no better market of it then the rest To which poynt Messieur your vncle did very nimbly put his hand and valiantly pushed or lifted at the wheele that so he might put fire in the head of that young King Charles without whose death wee neede not doubt but that he had had the like scorne that Monsieur the Mareschall of Montmorency gaue him and Monsieur your brother in this towne whē he made them do all in their breeches Doubtie Dukes and very cleanly because they bare weapons and armour forbidden them without his passeport and leaue But it seemeth that the sodaine death of these their Kings one after another did alwaies breake set out of square the goodly attempts of your house and saued or at the least prolonged the liues of your principall enemies Now let vs come to that which fell out afterwards for it is time to speak of you and of Monsieur your brother who began from that time forward to appeare in armes and to walke in the footsteps and tracts of your predecessors A fardle of frumps against Duke du Mayenne You haue alreadie caused your valours and valiances to appeare in the siege of Poictiers which you brauely defended contrarie to the aduise of the first husband of Madame la Lieutenant Monsieur of Montpezat your predecessor who counselled you to forsake all and to get you packing thence Afterwards you were at the battaile of Montcontour and after that at the iourney or exployt done vpon S. Bartholomews day where the companions on the other side were taken napping if not on sleepe and prouoked to say whence come you Cardinall of Lorraine And though Monsieur your vncle at that time was turning ouer his portuise in Italie yet the play was not performed without his intermedling and seeking to haue the King of Spaynes approbation of it the Popes absolution touching the marriage which seemed for a lure and a trappe also to the Huguenots Afterwards you continued your blowes at the siege of Rochel where mē did perceiue that he that is at this day the King of Nauarre and Monsieur your brother were but one heart one soule Men may maske but dissimulation wil break out and their great puritie and familiaritie ingendred ielousie and suspition in all the world But we must come to the matter When you sawe that King Charles was dead who otherwise did not loue you very much had sundrie times repeated the saying of the great King Francis For he had no cause so to do whereof he himselfe had made these foure verses now very rife and common in euery mans mouth King Francis was no whit beguiled When he foretold that the Guisian race Would spoyle his sonnes of all they had And leaue his subiects in worse case A steppe to the scepter as they thought When you saw him I say dead without children and the late King his brother married with your barren and vnfruitfull cousin you began Monsieur your brother and you I meane to attempt and assay many practises and plots which many people sayd were the cause of all our miseries I am not of that number which beleeue that Messieurs your father and vncle had from their time layd the foundation of the building that your brother you haue builded since though there bee that speake of the notes of Dauid and of Piles who haue better then Nostradamus prognosticated foretold all that which we haue seene since their death and though some assure vs that Monsieur your vncle Cardinall of Lorraine had framed a certaine forme of all the order that was to beheld therein But I cannot beleeue that he that had as much vnderstanding as a mā could haue could hope to make his nephewes kings of France seeing as yet three brethren children of the Kings house in the right line all of thē very puissant and in the floure of their age readie to be married and he could not diuine or gesse that they should dye without issue as they did afterwards Besides hee sawe a great number of the Princes of the royall bloud that kept not themselues warme with the robe of heretikes that should haue cut off all hope from his desires I knowe very well that in his time he was the author that the Archdeacon of Thoul writ this much that those of the house of Lorraine were descended from Charles the great by the males A pedigree published but to small purpose that is to say of Charles Duke of Lorraine to whom the kingdome appertained after the death of Lewes the fifth king of France and that Hugh Capet hauing taken him at Laon and brought him and his wife prisoner to Orleans he had a sonne or male child of whom he affirmed the Dukes of Lorraine are descended this was vnder hand cast amongst the people As all did well perceiue and you were neuer a whit grieued with it though that the common and true histories doe plainly enough shew and witnesse that there was an interruption breaking off of males in the race of Lorraine by two women and namely in the wife of Godfrey of Bouillon named Idain So the sayd Archdeacon made an honourable amends for it A worthie Archdeacon according to the arrest and sentence giuen against him and like a lewd fellowe and sloathfull or fainthearted man vnsayd that he had spoken But in fine there was small appearance that at that time my sayd Lord your vncle could aspire to the kingdome hauing so many hinderances and heads either to fight against Two worthie waies to work by or to cause to dye by the sword or by poyson It is very true that euen from his beginning he was very ambitious and desirous of greatnes and of the gouernment of the state more then any other of his age and I make no doubt of it but that he desired to possesse the Kings and to haue held them had hee been able in tutorship and vnder gouernment as in olde time the Maiors of the palace did that so he might dispose of all according to his pleasure and set vp or pull downe those whom hee had listed Wicked mens purposes and practises are vaine which is the thing whereto commonly the greatest aspire Notwithstanding being almost come thereunto while he was liuing he gathered together and
prepared for you the materiall stuffe with which you haue built this proued attempt with your foot to hold the crowne of France hauing left in your hand first great riches great estates the chiefe offices charges of the kingdome great gouernments many souldiers bound by good turnes done them many seruants also great intelligences with the Pope the King of Spayne and other Princes your kinsfolkes and allies and which is more a great opinion amongst the common people that you were good Catholikes and sworne enemies to the Huguenots You knew very well how to make great profite to your selues by these preparations and sundrie sorts of stuffe which ye found after his death all readie to bring vnto the worke When I say you I meane your self brethren and cousins After King Charles his death many things succeeded well to you one after another Diuers deuises to strengthen the Guisian faction and to very good purpose First the barrennes of the King or of your cousin his wife then the retraite and absence of the King of Nauarre of which you were in part a cause for the distrusts into which you brought him and after that the diuision and dissention between the King and Monsieur the Duke his brother whereof you were the onely authors and promoters vnder hand and closely sharpening the spirits of the one against the other and secretly promising them to ayd them Another thing wherewith you thought to strengthen your selues well was the assistance that Messieurs the Princes of Conty and of Soyssons yeelded for a time to the King of Nauarre their cousin germane when they sawe that the things you went about were directly against all their familie and that you boasted you would supplant or vndermine them for thereupon you vndertooke the matter which you haue neuer since forsaken or forgotten namely to cause to be comprehended by and vnder the Popes bull If Spayne play not a part in this pageant nothing can be done and by oths and protestations of the King of Spayne neuer to approue hereticall princes nor the children of heretikes and then ye found out and first deuised these goodly names of adherents and fautors of heretikes After all this ye made your practises with the King of Spayne more openly and assured your conditions and couenanted then for your pensions promising him the kingdome of Nauarre Bern for his share with the townes that should serue his turne in Picardie and Champagne and ye communed with him concerning the meanes that you would vse to get hold of the estate And the pretext that ye pretended thereto was the wicked gouernment of the king Good pretexts to countenaÌ„ce a bad cause the prodigalities which he bestowed vpon his two minions Esperon and Mercurie whereof you drew one to your owne line which was thought neuer a whit the better You imployed all your diligence to make the poore prince odious to his people you counselled him to raise the taxes to inuent new imposts to create newe officers by which you your selues profited for some did maintaine to Monsieur your brother at Chartres after the barricades that he had receiued halfe the money of three edicts made to fill the purse and which also were very pernicious or hurtfull Fine deuises to shred him of his kingâ—ome whereof notwithstanding you cast and layd the hatred vpon that poore king whom you made to muse vpon and dwell in ridiculous deuotions whilest you your selues sued for the good fauour of the people and contrarie to his liking tooke vpoÌ„ you the charge and conducting of great armies drawing vnto you the heads and captaines of warre courting and making much of in words the very simple and meane souldiers that ye might get them to bee on your side practising the townes buying the gouernmeÌ„ts and putting into the best places gouernours folke at your owne deuotion And this was then that you conceiued the kingdome present almost euen as the appetite commeth many times by eating when you sawe King Henry without hope of issue the chiefe Princes accounted for heretikes He must needs goe that the diuell driueth or fautors of heretikes the Consistorie of Rome to lay the raines or bridle in your necke and the King of Spayne to giue you the spurre You had no more to hinder you but the late Monsieur who was a shrewd hollow dreamer and who vnderstood well with what wood you warmed your selues He must be dispatched out of the way and Salcede his testament discouered vnto vs the meanes of it Who can staÌ„d against such deadly atteÌ„pts but force preuailing not poyson did the deede All your seruants foretold this his death more then three moneths before it came to passe Afterwards ye made no more small mouths or spake closely for the dissembling of your purpose you went no more creeping as cunnies nor in secret but you plainly layd open your selues And yet notwithstanding the better to set forward your affayres you would make honest people beleeue that this was for the publique benefite and for the defence of the Catholique religion Catholike religion a fayre pretext which is a pretext and cloake that seditious persons and stirrers vp of nouelties haue alwaies taken to couer themselues withall Into this insensible net you drew that good man Monsieur the Cardinall of Bourbon a prince without malice and ye were able so cunningly to turne and wind him that yee seized him with a foolish and vndiscreet ambition that in the end ye might deale with him as the cat doth with the mouse that is to say after ye had plaied with him to eate him vp No vnapt coÌ„parison No vntrue exposition You drew thereunto sundry Lordes of the Realme diuers gentlemen and captaines many cities townes and communalties and amongst others this miserable citie which suffered it selfe to bee taken as it were with birde lime partly by reason of the hatred that they had against the misdemeanours of the late King partly also by reason of the impression which you put into them that the Catholike religion would vtterly be ouerthrowne if the King did die without childreÌ„ the succession of the kingdom shuld come to the King of Nauar who called himself the first prince of the blood Hereupon you forged framed your first declaration or manifestatioÌ„ that had not in it so much as one only word of religioÌ„ but you did indeed demaund therein They will hardly agree with others that dissent froÌ„ themselues that al the states gouernments of this kingdome shuld be taken from them that possessed them and were not at your deuotion which escape you amended in your second declaration by the counsell of Rosne who to the end hee might set al on a fire said that there needed nothing else but the setting out of religion and then you preached vnto vs of a Synod at Montauban A fine deuise to foster the fire of faction in Fraunce and of
power of God intermingled therewith as some say that the spirits intermingle and cast the thunder betweene and within the clowdes in which they make these straunge and fearfull fires that doe very farre and much passe the materiall and elementarie fire I will not say that you were he that chose particularly that wicked fellowe which hell created He meaneth Frier Iames Clement to goe and giue that execrable blowe which the very furies of hell themselues would haue feared to haue done But it is very evident that before he went about this accursed enterprise Sometimes it is not amisse to be a blabbe of a mans tongue you saw him and I could well tell the places where and the times when if I would You incouraged him you promised him Abbeyes Bishoprickes mountaines and meruailes and ye left the rest to bee done to Madame your sister to the Iesuits and to the Prior of his order who passed some what further promised him nothing lesse thē a place in paradise aboue the Apostles if it fell out that he were martyred That it was so that ye were very well aduertised of all the mysterie or secret you caused the people that spake of yeelding themselues to be preached vnto and taught that they would yet haue patience but seuen or eight daies Good reason all lead by one murthering spirit and that before the ende of the weeke they should see some great matter that should set vs in our former rest and quietnes The preachers of Roan of Orleans and of Amiens preached it at the same time and in the same tearmes Afterwarde so soone as your Frier possessed with a diuell was departed you caused to bee arrested and apprehended for prisoners in this citie more than two hundred of the principall citizens and others whom yee thought to haue goods friends and to be of credit with them of the Kings side as a precaution or forewarning wherwith you purposed to serue your selues The name of some diuel signifying therby the murtherer Clement to redeeme that wicked Astaroth in case he were either taken before the facte or after the facte For hauing the pledge of so many honest men you supposed that they durst neuer put that murtherer to death because of the threatning which yee had giuen out that yee would cause to die in the way of change for him those whom you kept prisoners who in truth are much bound to them that in a headlong heate or choller slewe with the blowes of their rapiers that wicked wretch after hee had giuen his stroake And you your selfe ought not lesse to thanke them For had they suffred him to liue as they might haue done and put him into the hands of iustice It is almost as wel discouered now we had had the whole thread of the enterprise naturally and liuely deducted and you had beene there incouched in white clothes for a marke of your disloyaltie and felonie that neuer would haue beene blotted out But God did no so permit it and we know not yet the end wherto he keepeth you For if the examples of former times doe carrie with them any consequence A very large assertion but yet for the most part true to iudge of the affaires of the time present wee neuer sawe yet vassall or subiecte that enterprised to driue his Prince out of his kingdome to die in his bed I will not strengthen this maxime or rule by many histories nor resute those which our preachers alledge to defende and iustifie that horrible act I will speake of no more but two the one out of the Bible and the other out of the Romane histories You haue heard it may be some preach that those that slew Absalom though he were vp in armes against his father his King and his countrie were notwithstanding punished with death A man shall hardly see such iustice in Frāce or Spaine by the commaundement of Dauid against whom hee made warre If you haue read the conflicts that were made between Galba Otho and Vitellius for the Empire of Rome you haue read found that Vitellius put to death more then sixe hundred men who bragged that they had slaine Galba his predecessor had presented a petition to be recompenced therfore It may be he meaneth Machiuel which he did not as saith the author who at this day serueth insteede of an Euangelist to many for the friendship that he caried to Galba nor for the honour that hee ment to doe him but to teach all princes to assure their life and their present estate and to cause them that shuld dare to attempt any thing against their persons to know vnderstand that an other prince their successor though perhaps their enemie after some one sort or other would reueng their death And this is the cause wherefore you Monsieur the Lieutenant had great wrong to make shew of so great ioy Woe to them that laugh now for they shal weepe hauing knowne the newes of that cruell accident that befel him by whose death you should enter into the waies of the kingdome You made bonfires or fires of reioycing where you should indeed haue obserued funerals you tooke indeed a greene scarfe in token of reioycing whereas ye ought to haue doubled and redoubled your blackes in signe of mourning Good imitable exāples You should haue imitated Dauid who caused Saules bones to be gathered together and to bee honorably buried although that by the meanes of his death he remained a peaceable King and lost thereby his greatest enemie Or to haue done as Alexander the great who caused sumptuous obsequies to bee made for Darius or as Iulius Caesar who wept with hotte and bitter reares vnderstanding of the death of Pompey his competitor and deadly aduersary and put them to death that had slaine him What could a man of a base and bad mind doe els But you cōtrarie to the practises of these great personages did laugh make feastes and bonfires and all fortes of ioy when you vnderstoode of the cruell death of him from whome you held all that you and your predecessors had or haue of wealth of honour and of authoritie And not content with these common reioycings which did sufficiētly witnesse how much you approued this accursed acte you caused the murtherers picture to be made shewed it publikely abroad All this whatsoeuer is but the reward of iniquitie as if it had beene of a canonized saint You caused his mother and kinred to be sought out that you might enrich them with publike almes to the end that this might be a lure and a baite for others that would vndertake to giue yet such an other blowe to the King of Nauar vnder hope assurāce which they might receiue by the example of this new martyr that after their death they shuld be so sanctified their kinred wel recōpensed But I wil not further examine your conscience
so presumptuous so bolde and so hie That with his lift vp head he thought to touch the skie Is fallen and that into a grieuous ruine and decay Whither Gods wrath did carrie him and harry him away God is known by executing iudgement the wicked is snared in the workes of his owne hands Higgaion Selah At S. Denis he is founde starke and stone dead Fallen also into the snares that for others himselfe spread For his pride there fell vpon him this grieuous wrath and vengeance Neare vnto the tombes of the auncient Kings of France Whose brused and broken bones in that same place doe rest And seeme Gods iustice therein religiously to haue blest Who for the truth and faith that this wretch did violate Would haue this sacrifice to the Kings there to be immolate As Hatto the Archbishop of Mentz was deuoured with rattes while he liued And that his bodie with mise eaten vp should be As great a wanton of the dames of Paris as was he Before that to iust buriall men could in season bring His bodie full of filth and rottennes stinking To cause the greatest of the leaguers to vnderstand That thus dooing still they shall be punished by his hand Another touching the same matter written in Latine and translated out of the same Two examples as before applied As the virgine of Priamus did fall vpon the Phrygiā shore And at the marble of her foes tombe was constrained to dye therefore And as Caesar with many wounds at his son in lawes picture Hauing conquered others for all that fell at the feete of the conquered sure So at the tombe of his own Kings a foe to Kings in breath Falles dead and imbloodeth the ground with a iust deserued death Wherfore ye godly men euen now reioyce for why this offring odde Both at kingly tombes is punished sheweth there is a God Against the same Cheualier d'Aumale This man by mightie guile did take S. Denis towne of fame Oh how vnsearchable are Gods waies and his iudgements past finding out But takes he in taken towne was caught and perished in the same A Sonnet vpon the retiring of the Duke of Parma But where is now this power so huge so mightie so great An abrupt patheticall exordiū but fitte for the purpose That when it came to vs it seemed all the Gods themselues to threat And that promised to it selfe to breake and downe to the ground to fling The famous french nobility with their armed prince or king This preparation great proud to smoke or winde is turnd And that great Duke that thought himselfe So God confoundeth pride of hart all the worlde to haue burnd Without dooing ought constrained is into Flanders to retire Hauing lost his people his time his fame that hee did desire Henrie our great king as a hunter good doth him pursue and chase He presseth him he followeth him and the fox flieth apace With his nose to the ground ashamd despised and blamed brought to danger Yee Spaniards proude learne this of mee Spaniards learne in time neuer yet did any stranger Intrap or take a Frenchman but with losse dāger shame The Frenchman is not vanquished but by one of the same name A Sonnet to all them of the League To all French generally O ye vnnaturall Frenchmen and bastards of this land That tamed cannot be but by your owne force and hand Now put ye off this courage inhumane and vnnaturall That pufs you vp with pride by ignorāce destroyes you all To the Lorrainists He meaneth the Pope or the Spanyard or both To the Parisiens Ye pettie princes of Lorraine shake off your hope therefore The error of that Cumane asse follow ye not any more Who clothed with the skinne of the Romane lion great Seeing the very lion stout doth hart and hope forget And you ô ye Parisiens recourse whither will you haue You must needs whether you will or no voyd of hope your selues to saue Subiect your selues to that dutie to which the laws you bind But if against your selues you stirre your king that is so kind Chastened you shall sure be for on babes and fooles we spend Some chastisement or els indeed they will neuer sure amend Touching the Lords of Vitry and of Villeroy who haue acknowledged the King The vnion her selfe her force doth still vntie Vitry and Villeroy witnesse doe this thing To God therefore alone be infinite glorie Praise vnto them honour to the King This Lieutenant in false conceit This great piller sweld with wind and no more That thought the King to counterfeit The Duke du Mayne Shall be grosse Iohn euen as before The League it selfe to destroy goes about Wherewith confounded are the wicked race A house diuided in it selfe cannot stand The seede thereof shall sure be put out By torture sharpe swords or some other strange case Ye people of bloud of spoyle and the rope And still will be named zealous as yet The Leaguers Cry the King mercie so may you haue hope Or els from hence ye shall goe to the gibbet Ye sixteene Mount falcon calleth for you The sixteene appointed to gouerne Paris To morrow the crowes will crie very lowd The sixteene pillers of his chappell new Shall be your tombes wherein you shall be shrowd To the King concerning his very great clemencie Amongst the goodly virtues this is one very excellent Pitifull to be to the vanquisht and to pardon all But take heed of too much chiefly to rebels impenitent Too much pitie spoyleth a citie yea a kingdome For Caesar as great a prince as your selfe did thereby fall Concerning the same matter in Latin and turned into English Pitie in a great prince is a great virtue indeed A good thing can hardly be too oftē repeated And to be willing alwaies his enemies to spare But yet too much pitie is not safe as we may reade By the bloudie death of Caesar a prince very rare Vpon the same matter Heretofore it was a virtue fit for a couragious king To the greatest of his foes grace and pardon to show But sith Caesar was murthered and that for this thing From a virtue to a vice it is become as many moe In Latin but translated out of it In former time for captains great pity was a virtuous trade But sith that Caesar was destroied this virtue a vice is made To the King O thou victorious prince and now the best of all that liue God out of his hand into thine two scepters great doth giue France Nauarre And in a throne of long'st indure hath placed thee againe In spite of all the sore attempts of that coniured Spayne The wishes of all Frenchmen good are heard yet at the last Thou race of Lewes S. shalt reigne in peace and sit full fast That which the heauens giue thee sure no man can take frō thee Though voyd
some secret matters in vs that women should not vnderstand I wil therefore that you know and yet let these things be spoken to godly eares alone that there hath gone out an edict or if you will rather a rescript from our Lord the Pope by which it is permitted vs to choose create sacrate and annoynt a new King what a one shall please you so that he be of the stocke of Austria or Guise A shrewd limitation You haue therefore to prouide a Prince of whether nation you will for of these Bourbonians there are no speeches nor words how much lesse of this heretike relapsed whom the same our Lord the Pope by the foresayd rescript affirmeth to bee euen now damned in hell and that his soule shall shortly serue Lucifer for an afternoones beuer A sober iudgement So it appeareth Indeede I am a Frenchman neither will I denie my countrie but if this choise might goe according to my liking verily for my good and the good of mine yea and for your good to I would willingly pray you that you would giue your voyces to some of the Lotharen familie whom you knowe to haue done so well in the Catholike common-wealth and Church of Rome But peraduenture my Lord Legate hath another intent Who doubteâ—h of that to please the Spanyards but he speaketh not all the things hee hath in the ambrey or chest of his breast In the meane while hold you this firme An egge not 〈…〉 an 〈◊〉 then this leâ—â— fellow like the Legat. that you must at no hand speake or heare concerning making of peace with these damned politikes but rather arme your selues and prepare your selfe to suffer all extremities yea euen death famine sire and the ruine of the whole citie or kingdome For ye can doe nothing more gratefull and acceptable to God and to Philip our most Catholike King I know well enough that Luxenburgh and Cardinall Gondiu and the Marquis Pisantis are gone to Rome to prepare the minde of our Lord the Pope to heare the legation of this Biarnois treating of his conuersion But looke how safe the Moone is from the monkies or woolues Speake again and speake better if can be so much auerse is the heart of our Lord the Pope from such businesses Bee strong and secure euen as I so I bee within the Parisiens walles Verily I had prepared some good thing to say vnto you concerning the blessed Paul whose conuersion was yesterday celebrated because I did hope that yesterday it should bee my good happe to speake in my order But the ouer long oration of my Lord de Mania A right name â—â—t be well vnderstood deceiued me and therefore I am constrained to put vp the sword of my good Latin into the sheath or scabberd which I would haue whet and sharpened against this conuersion concerning which sundrie politicians sowe I cannot tell what into the common people which notwithstanding I neither beleeue nor desire For blessed Paul did much differ from this Nauarre for he was noble a citizen of Rome that he was noble descended of a noble race appeareth by this that at Rome he had his head cut off Belike none be beheaded but noble personages But this fellowe is infamous for heresie and all the familie of the Bourbonians doth descend from a poultrer or if you had rather haue it so from a butcher that solde flesh in the butcherie of Parisijs as affirmeth a certaine Poet greatly a friend of the holie Apostolike sea and therfore because he would not lye Thou art iudged by thine owne mouth vnthriftie seruant Paul also was conuerted with a miracle but this not vnles some would say that he did by besieging inclose this citie about some foure moneths with sixe thousand men whilest there were within more then a hundred thousand and that this is a miracle that he tooke so many cities and strong holds without the subuersion of walles but by place without wayes by holes and straight caues that could scarcely bee pearced by one onely souldier Adde ye that Paul feared and was affected with great feare by lightning from heauen but this man is feareles neither is afrayd of any thing neither thunder nor lightning nor flashings nor showres nor winter and yce or heate no not our set battailes nor our armies so well furnished and ordered as they are More miracles yet which hee dare expect and come before with a handfull and small force and either ouerthrow them or put them to flight Let this swift and vnsleeping diuell perish ill which doth so labouriously wearie vs and letteth vs from sleeping as much as we list But this much concerning Paul least Policarpus whose feast is kept this daye may perhappes enuie whom yet I will pretermit Vnskilfull in vitas patrum because I haue foreseene or premeditated nothing concerning him I remember indeede when I was at Rome in the time of Pope Gregorie that I propounded in the Consistorie fiue protests or problemes to bee disputed of which all respected this most holie congregation concerning the choosing of a King of France For from that time wherein this dead Henry the fauâ—or of heretikes spoyled mee of my Bishopricke of Senon and put my rents and benefices which I had in his kingdome in in his owne hand and purse I alwayes had a minde and intention of reuenging my selfe A holy prelate ouercome euill with well doing and did all that I could and will doe for euer though I should giue my soule to the diuell that this most notable iniurie might fall vpon the head of all the French that suffered it neither did oppose themselues against my shame opprobrie which when I had often protested I did at the last effectuall and you knew well what to say But these men Princes and these women A notable beholder of formes and a singular flatterer the famous pearles and meruailous gems of all the world call me else whether to whom both men and women now the matter requireth that I should speake as also to the rest of the troupe of deputies deputing for whom it is behouefull that they should vnderstand mee disputing and reasoning in the French tongue which I haue almost vnlearned to speake I haue so greatly forgotten mine owne countrie Then I will returne to you Monsieur the Lieutenant and I will tell you that if I had found in France the affayres to haue passed according to the practises and intelligeÌ„ces which I haue managed for these fiue and twentie yeares space with the Spanyards at Rome A good FreÌ„ch man I should now see the late Monsieur your brother in this royall throane and wee might haue occasion to sing with that good Patriarch Nunc dimittis But sith that this was not the will of God that it should be so patience perforce he goeth farre enough that passeth beyond fortune Yet by the way I will tell you
prouinces the very wine lees of our gouernement A country metaphor which are come hither with so many trauailes some on foot some alone other some in the night and the greatest parte at your owne costs and charges Doe not you wonder at the heroicall actes of our Louchards Gentlemen of the new stampe Bussis Senaulds Oudineaux Morreliers Crucez Goudards and Drouarts who haue so well come by the feather What thinke you of so many Caboches as are found and God hath raised vp at Paris Roan Lions Orleans Troyes Toulouze Amiens where you see butchers taylors fillipers iuglers tumblers cutlers and other sortes of persons of the very drosse and scumme of the people to haue the first voyce in councell and assemblies of the estate and to giue lawe to them that before were great of race of riches and of qualitie who now dare not cough nor mutter before them Scripture rightly applied Is it not in this that the prophecie is accomplished which saith hee raiseth the poore out of the dungehil Should not this be a crime to passe ouer vnder silence that holy martyr fryer Iames Clement who hauing been the most vnorderly and wicked of all his couent as all the Iacobins of this citie knowe well inough and hauing many times had the chapter and the diffamatorie whip for his thieueries and wickednesses is notwithstanding sanctified at this daye and now is alofte to debate and dispute with S. Iago of Compostella Affections fit enough for such a fact and fellow who shall haue the first seate O blessed confessor and martyr of God How gladlie would I bee the paranimph and encomiast of thy praises if my eloquence could atâ—aine to thy merits But I loue better to holde my peace therein than to speake too little thereof And continuing my discourse I will speake of the strange conuersion of mine owne proper person although that Cato saith Nec te laudaris nec te culpaueris ipse A great clarke good latinist and singular versifier thou shalt neither praise thy selfe neither shalt thou blame thy selfe yet I will freely confesse vnto you that before this holy enterprise of the vnion I was no great deuourer of the crucifix and some very neare about me and that haunted me most familiarly haue had in opinion that I did a little smell of the faggot because that being a yong scholler I tooke pleasure in reading the bookes of Caluin and being at Tolouze I had mingled my selfe to preach and teach in the night with the new Lutherans and afterwardes made no great conscience nor difficultie to eate flesh in Lent nor to lie with my sister A beast for abusing thy sister and Gods word also following the examples of the holy patriarches of the Bible But since that I had signed the holy league and the fundamentall lawe of this estate accompanied with double duckets and of the hope that I had of a redde batte no man hath doubted touching my beliefe neither hath there any further inquirie been made touching either my conscience or my cariages Verily I confesse that I owe this grace of my conuersion next after God to Monsieur the Duke d'Espernon who hauing vpbraided me in the Councell with that whereof none doubted in Lions touching my sister in lawe was the cause that of a great politike and a very slender Caluinist that I was From euill to worse I became a great and coniured leaguer as I am at this present the director and ordainor of secret affaires and such as importe the estate of the holy vnion neither more nor lesse than blessed Saint Paul who of a persecutor of christians was made the vessell of election This is the cause wherefore hee saith where sinne hath abounded there shall grace also abounde Doubte not then any more to continue firme and constant in this holy partie full of so many miracles and of strokes from heauen of which you must needes make a fundamentall lawe As touching the necessities and oppressions of the clergie you shall or may aduise thereof if it please you for for my regarde I will put paine that my great pot bee not ouerthrowne and I shall alwaies haue credite with Roland and Ribault that will not fayle to pay mee my pensions from whatsoeuer part siluer come Euery one will aduise to prouide for himselfe if he thinke it so good and for my parte I desire not peace vnlesse first I may be a Cardinal as they haue promised mee and as I my selfe haue well deserued If thou maiest be iudge For without mee Monsieur the Lieutenant could not be in the degree where he is because it was me my selfe that retained the late Duke of Guise his brother who woulde willinglie haue gone from the estates of Bloys distrusting of some deafe deuise and ambushment of the tirant but I caused him to remaine and to waite for a dispatch from Rome which should be brought me within three dayes and that was the cause why Madame his mother here present hath many times reproached me that I was the cause of his death whereof Monsieur the Lieutenant and all his ought to yeelde mee thankes because that vpon this pretext and to reuenge this goodly death of his Whot passions and bad perswasions we haue stirred vp the people and taken occasion to make another King Courage therefore courage I say my friends feare not to expose your liues and that which remaineth of your goods for Monsieur the Lieutenant and for them of his house These are good princes and good Catholikes who loue you to the full and on the ridge Speake not here of abrogating from him his power which some murmur and mutter that it was not giuen him but vntil some next holding or assembly of the Estates but these are the accountes of the Storke They that haue tasted this morsell they will neuer bite Would you demaund a more goodly and braue king and one that is more grosse and more grasse or fattie than he is Good parts to commend to a kingdome Hee is by S. Iames a faire peece of flesh and I thinke you cannot finde one that ouerweigheth him Messieurs of the nobilitie that keepe the townes and castles in the name of the holy vnion are you not very glad to leuie and gather vp all the taxes tenths aydes shoppes fortifications watches imposts and that which is giuen for all wares as well by water as by land and to take your rights and customes vpon all prices ransomes and pillages without being bound to make an account thereof to any man Vnder what King would you finde a better condition You are Barons you are Counties and Dukes in the proprietie of all the places and prouinces which you hold You command absolutely therein Right as can be of clubbes spades and all saue the harts and as it were kings of the cardes What would you haue better Leaue and forget these glorious names of French monarchie and
lowe countries is the cause that his separaâ—e and disioyned Lordships cost him more than they are worth For aboue all nations hee feareth the French No lie surely Beare with bragging and lying a little as that which he knoweth to be most noble and to haue the greatest valure and impatience against the rest and rule of a strange people And that is the cause why being wise prouident and well counselled as hee is since that hee was constrained to make that miserable peace which was sealed and signed by the death of our good King Henry the second Ah wilie foxe but yet well discouered subtiltie and not daring either openly to gainesay the same or beginne waire whilest that France was flourishing vnited agreed and of the same minde and will together hee indeuoured to sowe diuision and discord amongst vs our selues and so soone as hee sawe our princes to be miscontent or to iarre amongst themselues he did secretly and closely conueigh himselfe into the action and incouraged the one of the sides to nourish and foster our diuisions and to make them immortall and to busie our selues to quarrell and fight one with another yea to kill one another that whilest these troubles were amongst vs hee might bee left in peace and so long as we did inweaken our selues to grow increase without losse and lessening Plaine pregnant proofes This was the course and proceeding that hee held after that hee sawe the princes of Vendosme and of Condie malecontent who also drew and caried with them the house of Montmorencie and of Chastillon and to set themselues against the aduantageable aduancements and proceedings of your father and of your Vncles Monsieur Lieutenant who had inuaded and vsurped all authoritie and kingly power Bleare eyed men and barbers as it is in the prouerbe are acquainted therewith in the time of young King Frauncis their nephew I speake nothing but that all Fraunce euen to the smallest and basest of them yea that the whole worlde knoweth For all the bloudie tragedies which since that time haue been plaied vpon this pitifull scaffold of France haue all of them been borne and proceeded from these first quarrels and not from the diuersitie or difference of religions as without reason men doe yet to this day make the simple and idiots to beleeue I am old and haue seene the affayres of the world as much as another yea by the grace of God and the goodnes of my friends I haue been Sheriffe and prouost of the merchants also in this citie in the time that men proceeded thereunto by free election and that they did not constraine nor vse violence to men for their suffrages and voyces as you haue done Plaine speech and particular application Monsieur Lieutenant not long sithence minding and purposing to continue Monsieur Boucher at your deuotion But I remeÌ„ber yet those old times as if it were but yesterday past or this day present I can remeÌ„ber well from the beginning of the quarell that fell out betweene Monsieur your late father and late Monsieur the Constable which proceeded from no other cause but from the iealousie of one of them ouer another both of them being the great minions and fauourits of Henrie the second their master Figulus figuluÌ„â—dit as it is in the prouerbe as wee haue seene also Messieurs de Ioyeuse and d'EspernoÌ„ vnder King Henrie the third his sonne Their first falling out was for the estate of great Master which the King had giuen to Monsieur your father when he made Monsieur of Montmorency Constable who had been great Master before and who had the Kings promise that the sayd estate should be reserued for his sonne Another cause of their ill husbandrie or bad carriage of themselues was the Countie de Dampmartin which both of them had gotten after diuers sorts Sum ego mihi metipsi proximus I loue my selfe best and being entred into suite about the same Monsieur the Constable got it by an arrest or decree This did so alter and chaunge them that either of them indeuored to cast his coÌ„panion out of the saddle or as we say to set him beside the cushion And from thence proceeded the voyage that Monsieur your father made into Italie where he did no great matter because that Monsieur the Constable who caused him to bee sent thither that so he might the more quietly wholly and alone possesse the King it may be hindred or slacked the affayres but he remained not long vnpunished for it for he was taken afterwards on S. Laurence day while your father was absent who being returned did by a certaine good happe and the same indeed very wonderfull It was well done of the Guise to ouercome euil with well doing take againe the townes of Picardie which wee had lost and Calais besides And that he might the better reuenge himselfe of the euill dueties that he knew were done against him in his voyage caused also the imprisonment of Monsieur the Constable to bee prolonged and forgot no arte that might hinder or delay his deliuerance which gaue an occasion to my Lords of Chastillon to desire the ayde and to cast themselues into the armes and protection of the King of Nauarre this Kings father and of Monsieur the Prince of Conde his brother who had married their neece Also these two great houses fell into factions and partakings which were yet stirred vp and incensed by the contention begun betweene the Prince of Conde Monsieur d'Aumale your vncle for the office of the colonel of the light horse there was as yet no meÌ„tion of religion or Huguenots Hardly did any know what was the doctrine of Caluin and Luther A little fire maketh a great flame but by the death of them that we sawe burne stiffe in their opinions and yet notwithstanding the matter of the warres and of the enimities that we haue seene were then in preparing and hath continued vntill this present time But the trueth is that when my Lords of Chastillon very couragious men and not able to indure the iniuries offered them saw that the fauour of your house did ouertoppe theirs and that they had not any meane to finde credite and fauour about the King by reason of the lets that they of your race house cast in the way they were counselled to withdraw themselues from the Court and as they were in their retraite they shewed themselues but whether it were in good earnest or of policie and prudence I know not to fauour the new Lutherans who till then preached no where but in caues and dennes and by little and little ioyned themselues with them in faction and intelligence It is not good to fall into the clawes and pawes of vnreasonable men the rather to defend and keepe themselues from your father your vncle then to attempt any stirring or bringing in of noueltie except then when the King at the prouocation of your
vncle who had made the Pope to write vnto him thereabout did himselfe take Monsieur d'Andelot at Crecy and sent him prisoner to Melun After this imprisonment and that also of the Vidame of Chartres and of certaine counsellors of parliament fell out the violent and miraculous death of the King Whē the wicked rise vp mē hide themselues which exalted your house to the soueraigne degree of power neere about the young King Francis and on the other side did abate and almost altogether beate downe the house of Monsieur the Constable and of all those that did belong vnto him And this was then when his kindred voyde of all hope of ordinarie meanes because that all was executed vnder the fauour of your allies ioyned themselues in secrete intelligence with the Lutherans here and there scattered in diuers corners of the kingdom And though they had as yet but little credit with them as who were people vnknowne vnto them and had not partaked neither in the Supper nor in Synode or Consistorie notwithstanding by the meanes of their agents well skilled and practised in secrets they made that memorable enterprise of Amboyse and assembled from all the quarters of the world Taciturnitie a good virtue and that with meruailous silence such a great number of people that they were readie at the day named to accomplish a cruell execution vpon your side vnder this pretext to deliuer the King out of the captiuitie A Iudas amongst the twelue wherein your fathers and your vncles held him But these good people could not keep themselues from traitors whereupon followed the execution done at Amboise which discouered also the authors of the faction And thereupon insued the rigorous commaundement which they gaue to the King of Nauarre and the imprisonment of Monsieur the Prince of Conde in the estates at Orleans and sundrie other heauie accidents too long now to recite Mens malice ouerthrowne when God will which had continued and increased farre worse if the sodaine death of the young King had not altered the course and broken the blow which some went about to cause to light vpon these chiefest princes of the bloud royall and vpon the familie of Monsieur the Constable and of the Chastillons A man may easily iudge how much your house was shaken and tossed as it were by this vnlooked for death and you may beleeue Monsieur Lieutenant that Monsieur your father and Messieurs your vncles played all at one time at one kinde of game or blushing A fit comparison as you might do if a man should bring you newes of the death of your two brethren But they lost not their courage no more then you doe and had afterwards very good counsels and consolations from the King of Spayne of whom we will speake by and by who during these first dissentions was vpon the skoutes and watched to whom hee might offer his fauour and how he might blow and stirre the fire on the one side on the other to make it to increase to that power and greatnes in which we haue seene it Holy purposes for so catholike a prince and doe yet now see it burne and consume all France which is the finall but of his pretensions Vpon hope then of the support of so great a prince which would not spare to promise men money your father without being astonished with so lumpish a fall perceiuing the King of Nauarre to be placed in his ranke of the first prince of the bloud for the sauegard of young king Charles and Monsieur the Constable put in his charge or office againe knew so well rightly to play his ball that he practised them both and drew them to his lure against their owne brethren The recouerie of Nauarre some such conceits and against their owne kinsmen feeding one of them with a hope that I dare not speake of and flattering the other by submissions and honors that he bestowed vpon him And this he did so artificially and wel that entring againe into the paths and waies that he had forsaken and taking his old aduantage after that Monsieur the Prince of Conde was set at libertie who had fairely preuented him but two or three daies onely he went with a number of men of warre and in great troupes to seize the young King and the Queene his mother at Fountainebleau brought them to Melun And this was then when my sayd Lord the Prince and Messieurs of Chastillon perceiuing themselues neither by their head nor by their houses strong enough to resist so puissant enemies couered with kingly authoritie and power became Lutherans at one clap and declared themselues to be heads protectors of the new heretikes whom they called to their succour and by their meanes did in open warre seaze and take many great townes of the kingdome without making yet any mention of their religion but onely for the defence of the King and of his mother and to deliuer them out of the captiuitie bondage wherein Monsieur your father held them And you Monsieur Lieutenant know that these people alwaies boasted that what they did as in this behalfe it was at the request and commandement of the Queene Mother whose letters written and sent by her to them for that purpose they haue caused to be published and imprinted You are not ignorant of that which passed in this warre and how afterwards the King of Spayne sent your father succour but yet the same such Fit fellowes to fight a field as I am ashamed to speake of it al labourers and handicrafts men gathered together who would neuer fight at the battaile of Dreux but couered themselues with the wagons and carriages appoynted for the baggage Notwithstanding this was a baite to inkindle the courage of the partakers and to cause them to hope that they should indeed some other time doe some aduantageable thing if they would yet once again come to fight together But afterwards the diuers changings and alterations of our affayres did indeed offer vnto the Spanyard another sport For your father being dead and peace being made knowing notwithstanding these mightie families animated and stifly set one of them against another and that without hope of reconciliation When a bad cannot preuaile a worse will be prouided he practised Monsieur the Cardinall your vncle which on his behalfe did not sleepe to maintaine the troubles and diuisions in this realme vnder the beautifull name of religion of which in former time mē made little or no account Monsieur your vncle Cardinall of Lorraine commended being as he was indeed wittie and pleasing whom he would had skill in such sort to gaine the heart of the Queene Mother and the Queene Mother the heart of the King her sonne that he perswaded them specially the Queene mother that Messieurs the Princes of Bourbon ayded by them of Montmorency and Chastillon sought nothing but her ruine and would neuer bee quiet
thing Afterwards you ceased not to practise and solicite all the world They will prophecie for old shoes euen openly and principally the preachers and curates vpon whom you bestowed some small part of your double duckets you sent another armie into Guyenne whereof you made great account and which you thought should either haue shut vp or taken the King of Nauarre Oh goodly things you went and thrust headlong euen into death and destruction that yong Lord being ouer presumptuous of the hopes that you had giuen him that he should be the King of Tholoze Your brother had other forces on foote that stood him in good steed to beaâ—e backe the Reisters Pride goetâ— before shame that came to the succour of the Huguenots of Guyenne and you Monsieur the Lieutenant must needs goe thither in person and yet you were not able to hinder their passage And if he had had no more but you and yours who would needs meddle therewithall whatsoeuer thing ye would make men beleeue to the contrary they had come to drinke our wine euen at our gates and you had beene brought to a marueilous exigent And yet forsooth you would haue all the glory of their ouerthrow giuen to you and robbe therof the King and his good seruants who temporizing therein and setting themselues against their passage ouer the riuer Seyne brought and wrought the greatest effects thereof Some grow great by other mens actions that indeed got you a great deale of honor and fauour amongst the Parisiens the greatest part whereof knewe not as yet at what you aimed but they that were partakers of your secretes and that then first tooke the name of zealous catholikes made alreadie a God of your brother called vpon him in their affliction and had recourse vnto him when men did threaten them with the King iustice Whereupon he became so proud rash and headie that he durst enter into this citie with eight horse only and that against the very expresse forbidding that the King had giuen him concerning the same although we know well enough that hee had appointed fiue or sixe hundred horsemen No pageant without the Pope play a part that should the same day approch draw nigh vnto him Pope Xistus the fifth could well declare what punishment that deserued when he vnderstood the newes of it and would not haue failed to haue done and executed the same had such a thing fallen out to him But the good mother and the counsellors made by her hand It is vnnatural to be for others against her sonne and according to her humor of whom wee haue yet too many remaining were able so aptly to staÌ„pe and imprint feare in the feeble spirit of this poore prince that he durst enterprise nothing lest hee should exasperate the Parisiens and lest he might yet bring againe the troubles and miseries of warre into his kingdome For albeit he loued not the Huguenots more than you yet so it fell out that hauing a long time tried their selfe willednes and stubbornes and seeing that to no purpose they went about to ouercome them and to carry them to reason by the violence of warre hee resolued with himselfe no more to assay or vse forcible meanes or waies Or rather lesse crueltie but by a more gracious remedie began to drawe them vnto his obedience and to the acknowledgement of their former faultes depriuing them of his court and of his company of honours charges gouernements offices and benefices from which the greatest part of them were grieued to see themselues excluded which fell out so prosperously Mischieuous policie that I cannot but aduow that their forces were lesse earnest and more diminished by fiue or sixe yeeres of peace than by tenne yeeres of open warre And there sprong vp no new Huguenots the old waxing colde and wearie also of the length of their troubles and the greatest number of them permitting their children to become catholikes that so they might bee made partakers of honors and benefits or good turnes as well as others But you and yours being impatient of peace and hauing alwaies small regard of religion so that you might come to your attempts and purposes would not suffer this traÌ„quillitie Fit similitude which was not healthfull or good for you You had learned that fishing was the best when the water was most troubled so that indeede you neuer had had rest had you not seene borne this goodly day of the barricades which hath ruinated and ouerthrowne both vs to you and you to vs. Albeit it bee notorious and euident enough and your brother were he liuing would not deny it and all they that were of the enterprise or attempt and are here present will confesse it with mee that if the King would haue vsed his power and authoritie wee had beene that day all cast away he being very certaine that you were preuented and ouertaken three whole dayes and that the day of the exploit which should haue been done was not appointed but vpon the Sunday So well that the King When men will not take opportunitie and vse the meanes God hath giuen them good reason they should smart who knew all the enterprise though those that came neerest vnto his persoÌ„ indeuoured to disswade him and to turne him away from beleeuing the reportes which wee made vnto him thereof had his Swissers and his gards and other men of warre all readie before day who had alreadie taken the places foure corner streetes or wayes and quarters of the citie the morninge before that your brother or any of his enterprisers or accomplices were awake who as you know vnderstanding vpon his awaking that which was passed thought himselfe so surprised ouertaken and vndone that hee expected nothing else but that they would come to besiege and take or kill him in the house of Guise where he was resolute to defend himselfe with his sworde onely hauing for that purpose as yet made no preparation of any armour or weapons least they should come thither to search and to take away al suspition concerning him After the same manner the sixteene and the most mutinous of the faction hid themselues in caues and holes and in their friends and neighbours houses looking for nothing but present death Euery one that euill dooth hateth the light yea there was none of them so hardie as that he durst be seene or appeare in the streete except it were more than eyght or nine of the clocke at night So that the King was able enough and that without any resistance to haue seized vpon them and vpon your brother also and absolutely to haue established his authoritie againe if hee would haue suffered his men of warre to haue laide about them with their hands and to haue charged the first that aduanced themselues to make the barricadoes and to stoppe the passages of the streetes But his fearefulnes A mitigation but how true let meÌ„
furnished with siluer New baptisms in poperie besides them that are done at the font whom they baptized with and called by the names of politikes or adherents and fauourers of heretikes And vpon this speech there was made a pleasant rime of that time which I thinke worthie to bee inserted into the registers and quiets of our estates To know them that are politikes Adherents or fauourers of heretikes Let them be close and hid as you can You neede little more but these verses to scan He that of times or men doth complaine In this golden world wherein we remaine He that all his goods will not freely bring To vphold this cause is iust worth nothing He that is slow to the vnion to sweare He that his well furred gowne daily doth weare In steed of putting on his harnois He that saith not the Biarnois But saith the King and him doth allow And at the sixteene doth mocke and mow Thinking them men farre from all credit still That murmureth at them or of them speaketh ill That by the fourtie a figge doth not set That hath not his beard after the League very net That hath seene letters from the other side of the land Trust you not in all this beware at any hand That with the Princes and states doth not goe That at Easter heareth Masses two and no moe That hath not his beades about his big necke Deserueth therefore a halter rather then a checke That is greatly grieued when they him call out To watch at the gate or by night to be a skout To be called to the trenches or to the rampart He is none of the right side he hath no good hart He that speakes of peace or conceiues thereof hope Shall be sure to feele the fagot or the rope He that much trusteth in his odde deuotions And runneth vp and downe in all processions Vsing many prayers and often pilgrimages If therewith he intermingle in his suffrages A poore sigh and say Lord some peace doe vs giue He is at the least an adherent not worthie to liue And though that he make a faire shewe euery houre Take heed he white you not with meale or with flowre He that loueth not these men preach to heare Commelet Guincestre and Bouchar the Friar Or that willingly doth not bid God speede To Louchard Morliere or la Rue indeede He is a Maheutre and a very sorie man Worse by much then a Turke or a Mahometan He that honoureth not the Lordship say I Of Baston Machault and of Acarie And that hath sayd at any time or place That the law will not goe vpright in any case Who askes at his window by night or day Of his next neighbours what this meane may By so many alarmes and Toxsains also That all the saints doth not feare on a row That the good and renowmed feast pardie Of Barricades the blest hath not kept holie He that reuerently hath not spoken or ment Of the bloudie knife of Frier Iames Clement Who then when Bichon or els Niuell Some newes did print or began to tell Doubteth thereof and enquireth of the author I will pawne my credit he is sure a fautor Some others there are that men marke full well With a more sure marke then any we doe tell S. Cosme Oliuier and the Clerke Bussy Lay hands on these galants and bring them to me They are so and why so this is most sure The money they haue in their purse you cannot indure I haue kept these verses by heart or in memorie because they are so common that women and little children haue learned them and because there can bee nothing more naturally put downe to expresse our proceedings It commeth now well in to lay open their sinne and the manner that wee haue vsed to finde out money and siluer But they had forgotten to set in order therein the gold of Molan and the treasure of the great Prior of Champagne who holpe vs to set forward your voyage to Tours which indeede was neither long nor of great effect For after that you had brought I knowe not what troupe gathered together of people mislead thorow error and with a loue and desire of noueltie that you had put into their heads to braue your master whom you thought to take vnprouided or els in hope that they of Tours would make some tumult to deliuer him into your hands so soone as you saw that they spake vnto you with cannon shot that the King of Nauarre was come to assist and succour his brother hauing a notable interest and care indeede that hee might not fall into your hands The vngodly flieth when no maÌ„ almost pursueth feare at the shew sight of the white scarfes did so seize and take hold of you that you must needes retire with diligence and that by wandring waies where there were no stones And this your foule flying you would haue couered with the request that we made vnto you to succour vs against the courses of Messieurs de Longueville Better a bad excuse then none at all de la Nouë and d'Givry after the shamefull leuie of the siege of Senlis And being here you distrusted your selfe that they would not long delay to followe you at your heeles hauing two so mightie whelps at your taile Whereupon you gaue some order for the defence of Paris 〈…〉 such Phiâ—â—â—ns but it was by a medicine against poyson worse if wee had taken it then the disease it selfe would or could haue been And this was then when the Parisiens began to perceiue and see guests liuing at their owne discretion and pleasure in their houses contrary to all the ancient priuiledges granted them by the former Kings but these were but little fleurets or filips in comparison of that which wee suffered afterwards and yet notwithstanding you suffered them to take euen before and vnder your nose Estampes and Pontoise without succouring of theÌ„ And you seeing that they returned vpon you minding either to draw you foorth to the field or to shut you vp within our walles you I say did then well perceiue by the proceeding of the Kings affayres that yours went continually to ruine Neede made them monkes or to vse moÌ„ks and that there was now no more meane to saue deliuer you but a blow or stroake from heauen which was by the death of your master your benefactor your prince your king I say your king for I perceiue emphasis or force in this word which importeth a person consecrated annoynted highly esteemed of God as a mean betwixt angels men or as a man may say mingled or made of theÌ„ both For how shuld it be possible that one man alone weake naked vnarmed could command so many hundred thousand men A reasonable good speech and make himselfe to be feared followed and obeyed in all his pleasures if he had not as wee may say some diuinitie or some part or parcell of the
continually full of people whereas now we see none but idle loyterers walking vp downe at large and greene grasse grow there where men had hardly roome or space to stirre themselues the shops of our streetes had been garnished with artisans and handicrafts men whereas now they are emptie and shut vp We should haue had presse and multitude of carres chariots and coches vpon our bridges whereas now in eight daies space we saw but one onely passe and that was the Popes Legates Mischiefs foreseene and not remedied increase griefe Our storehouses market places should haue been couered with beasts full of corne of wine of hay and of wood Our places appoynted for selling of victuals and our markets had been thronged with the prease and multitude of merchants and of victuals where now they are all voyd and emptie and we haue nothing but at the mercie of the souldiers of S. Denis of the fort de Gournay Chevreuse and Corbeil Ha Monsieur the Lieutenant suffer mee as in this regard to vse one exclamation by the way of some short digression besides the course I confesse and order of my oration that I may bewaile the pitiful estate of this citie the Queene of cities of this little world and the abridgment of the world it selfe Ha ye my masters the deputies of Lions Happie is he who is warned by other mens harmes Tholouze RoaÌ„ Amiens Troies Orleans look vpon vs take example by vs. Let our miseries make you wise by our losses You all know well enough what we haue been now ye see what we are All of you know in what a gulfe bottomles pit of desolation we haue been thorow this long and miserable siege if you do not know it reade the historie of Iosephus touchiâ—g the wars of the Iewes Former examples and ours alike in many things the besieging of IerusaleÌ„ by Titus which doth naturally liuely expresse this of our citie There is nothing in the world that may be so well compared one with another as Ierusalem and Paris excepting the issue and end of the siege Ierusalem was the greatest the richest and the best peopled citie of the world so was Paris Which did her head lift vp as farre aboue all other townes As the firre tree aboue the furze or briers that vse doe clownes Ierusalem could not indure the holy Prophets All that haue grace may profite by this comparison as well as Paris that laid before them their errors and idolatries Paris could not suffer her Pastors Curats that blamed accused her superstitious foolish vanities and the ambition of her princes We made warre against the Curats of S. Eustachius and of S. Mederic because they told vs our faults did foretell the miseries and mischiefe that should come vpon vs therefore Ierusalem put to death her King her annoynted one of the race and stock of Dauid caused him to be betraied by one of his disciples of his owne nation Paris hath chased driuen away her prince her king her natural annointed one afterwards caused him to be betraied murthered by one of her Friers The doctors of IerusaleÌ„ gaue the people to vnderstand that their king had a diuel within him God will cut out destroy lying tongues but they regard not that in whose name he wrought his miracles Our preachers and doctors haue they not preached this vnto vs that our late king was a sorcerer that he worshipped the diuel in whose name he did al his deuotions Yea some haue bin so impudent shameles to shewe in the pulpit publikely to their hearers certaine shapes or images made according to their own pleasure fantasie which they did sweare was the idoll of the diuel that that tyrant did worship so lewdly did they speak of their master and of their king These same doctors of Ierusalem proued by the scriptures that Iesus Christ deserued to dye and cryed with a lowd voyce Wee haue a lawe and according to the lawe he ought to dye And haue not our preachers and Sorbonists proued and approued The diuel will alleadge scripture but yet not rightly by their texts applied according to their owne fantasie that it was permitted yea praise worthie and meritorious to kill the King and haue they not yet preached it after his death Within Ierusalem there were three factions which caused themselues to be called by diuerse names but the most wicked of them called themselues zealous and were assisted with the Idumeans that were strangers Paris hath been tossed and vexed altogether in the selfe same sorte with three factions that is of Lorraine Spayne and the sixteene participating of both the other two vnder the same name of zealous who haue their Eleazars A pretie allusion and yet no illusion and their Zacharies Acaries and more Iohns than there were in Ierusalem Ierusalem was besieged by Titus a Prince of diuers religioÌ„ from the Iewes he going at that time to the hazards and dangers of the assault as a simple souldier and yet so gentle and gracious was he that he procured himselfe thereby to be called the delights of mankinde Paris was besieged by a Prince of a differing religion but yet more courteous and gentle more bolde also and readie to goe to the blowes Would to God he had neuer streÌ„gthned your hope or heart that way than euer was Titus Besides Titus would not innouate or change any thing in the religion of the Iewes no more doth this prince in ours but contrariwise giueth vs hope that one daye hee will imbrace it and that very shortly Ierusalem suffered all extremitie before it would acknowledge a fault and acknowledging it had no more power to redresse it and was hindred from it by the heads of the faction How much haue we suffered before we would know our selues And since our sufferings how often haue we desired that wee might yeelde if wee had not beene hindred therefrom by them that holde vs vnder the yoke Ierusalem had the fort of Anthonia the temple and the fort of Sion that bridled the people and let them that they could not stirre nor complaine We haue the forte of S. Anthonie the temple the Louvre as it were the forte of Sion Comparisons fitte enough that serue vs for snaffles and for bittes to holde vs in and to bring vs to the appetite of the gouernours Iosephus of the same nation and religion that the Iewes were exhorted them to preuent the wrath of God and made them vnderstand that they themselues destroyed their temples their sacrifices and their religion for which they sayd they fought and yet for it would doe nothing Good counsell not regarded bringeth sundrie mischiefs We haue had in the middest of vs many good French citizens and catholikes euen as our selues that haue giuen vs the like exhortations and declared by good reasons that our selfe-willednes and
them better shall returne to the right way We will haue no more of these horseleaches exacters and greedie guttes we will remoue these foule and shamefull imposts which they haue deuised in the towne house set vpoÌ„ the moueables and free marchandise that come into the good townes where there are committed a thousand abuses and disorders the profite whereof redoundeth not to the publik good but vnto them that manage the money and giue it away cheek by iole as we say and without discretion Wee will haue no more of these caterpillers that sucke gnaw the fairest floures of the garden of France Notable comparisons and resemblances and paint themselues with diuers colours and become in a moment of little wormes that creepe vpon the ground great butterflies flying painted with gold and azure wee will cut off the shamelesse number of treasurers that make their owne benefite of the taxes of the people and turne to their owne vse the best and the last pennie of the treasure and with the rest cut and lash out at their pleasure to distribute it to them onely from whoÌ„ they hope to receiue the like and inuent a thousand elegant and fine termes to shew the neede of the state It is not alone in France but it may be fouÌ„d elswhere and to refuse to shew curtesie or fauour to an honorable person We will haue no more so many gouernours that play the little Kinges or wrens rather and boast that they are rich enough when they haue a peece of a riuer of sixe foote long and large at their commaundement We wil be exempted from their tyrannies and exactions and we wil bee no more subiect to watchings and wardings and night scouts in which we lose the halfe of our time and consume our best age and get nothing but catarrhes reumes and diseases that ouerthrow our health Do it and doe wel We wil haue a King who shall giue order to all shal keep all these pettie tyrants in fear duetie that shal chastice the violeÌ„t that shal punish the stubborne that shal roote out thieues and robbers that shall cut off the winges of the ambitious that shall cause these spunges and thieues of the common treasures to cast their gorge that shal make euery one to remaine in the boundes of his office and shall keepe all the worlde in peace and tranquillitie To be short wee will haue a King A fable but yet applied to good purpose that so wee may haue peace but yet we will not doe as the frogges did that waxing weary of their peaceable King chose the storke who deuoured them all We demaund a King and a naturall head not an artificiall a King alreadie made and not to be made If you doe wo to you and therein we will not take the counsell of the Spaniards our olde and ancient enemies who by force would become our tutors and teach vs to beleeue in God and in the christian faith in which they are not baptized and haue not known it past three daies We will not haue for Counsellors and Phisitians those of Lorraine who of a long time haue breathed and thirst after our death The King that wee demaund is alreadie made by nature borne in the very plot of ground of the floure deluce of Fraunce a right branch and flourishing and springing from the right stalke of Saint Lewes They that speake of making an other deceiue themselues know not therein how to come to an end Men may make scepters and crownes but not Kings to weare them and beare them Men may make an house but not a tree or a greene bough Nature must needes bring it foorth in time out of the iuice and marrowe of the earth that maintaineth the stalke in her bloud and vigor A man may make a legge of wood an arme of yron a nose of siluer but yet not a head So we may make Marshals Peeres Admirals Secretaries and Counsellors of estate and that in grosse also and many at one time as wee say but yet not a King He alone must spring onely from himself that so he may haue life and lustines in him That one eyed fellowe Bourcher A familiar example and â—et from a bad person the pettie schoolemaster of the most wicked and lewd people of this citie and land wil confesse vnto you that his eye enammeled with the gold of Spayne seeth not any thing Euen so an elected and artificiall King should neuer bee able to see vs and so he should bee not onely blind in our affayres but also deafe insensible vnmoueable in our complaints And this is the cause why wee will not heare speech neither of the daughter of Spayne whom we leaue to her father If he can doe any thing against them nor of the Archduke Ernestus whom wee recommend to the Turkes and to Duke Maurice nor of the Duke of Lorraine or of his eldest sonne whom wee will leaue to treate of the matter with the Duke of Bouillon and with them of Strausbourgh nor of the Duke of Sauoy Yea shame him also in the warres against him whoÌ„ we put ouer to the Lord of Diguieres that doth not much helpe him That fellowe should bee content with this that by fraude and treason he hath taken from vs the Marquesdome of Saluces in danger to yeeld it very quickly and that twise told if we may haue but a little time to take our breathe in In the meane season he shall haue this fauour to call himselfe King of Cypres and to draw his antiquitie out of Saxonie A fine â—rump but France is not a morsell for his mouth how double footed and large mouthed soeuer he be no more then Geneua Genes Finall Monaco and the Figons which haue alwaies giuen him the figge or garbumble as we say Besides he will make a goodly molehill and a braue shew indeed He meaneth King Philips daughter with the disdainfull highnes of the daughter he hath maried who will serue rather to ouerthrowe him with expence and sumptuous pride theÌ„ to make him waxe great Concerning the Duke de Nemours for whom the Baron of Tenecay hath remembrances and instructions by which he mindes to make him more worthie to bee preferred then the Duke of Guise we would counsell him for the good he hath done vs by freeing vs from warre and for his valiant deedes Scoffe on and that drily standing I tell you vpon very good proofe if he be well there where he is that he hold him there and keepe him from the beast I will say nothing touching the Duke of Guise Monsieur the Lieutenant shall speake for himselfe You may trust him therein but in nothing els and he will commend himselfe to his sister But so it is that these robbers and theeues of the kingdome are neither fit nor sufficient nor seruing for our taste to command vs besides we minde to keepe our ancient lawes
to say of a very small beginning is become by little and little from one person to an other to this great height wherein we haue seene it and yet notwithstanding because it wanteth a good foote or a good stalke to beare it vp it withered and decayed at the first blast But this is not all This Figge of the Indies called as you haue heard the Figge tree of hell bringeth foorth fruite like vnto the common figges but yet somewhat more grosse and great finishing by the forepart in a crowne these are the proper tearmes of Mathiolus and are of colour betweene greene and purple within there is nothing sauing a certaine kinde of puffed matter as in our figges but yet so full with a certaine red kind of iuyce that it tainteth mens hands as the mulberies or blacke beries do and causeth them that receiue it to make vrine as red as bloud wherof many people are greatly afraid Haue you not seene that the League hath had the very same effects The fruites thereof haue been great and more puffed vp and swollen than common fruites and their end was a crowne that is to fay the crowne of France to which it tended the colour of the League was greene and red greene for the ioy that they had of the death of the late king whereof they did a long while weare the scarfe and red as well that they might bee knowne in the liueries of the Spanyards as for the bloud of the good Frenchmen that they ment to shed This Figge tree of hell is so common in the Iland of Hispaniola newly discouered in the Indies that a certaine Italian author sayth that the whole countrie is full thereof and that there it commeth as it were in despite euen vnto the courts of their houses There is also an other Spanish Phisition named Iohn Fragosus that writeth of the propertie of a certaine oyle which they call the oyle of the Figge tree of hell in these tearmes Some late men that write of the things of the West Indies haue a peculiar chapter of a certaine oyle that they call the oyle of the Figge tree of hell and they say that it commeth from Gelisco a prouince in newe Spayne And a little after hee sayth It is the same that they account Cherua or Catapucia maior which the Italians call Palma Christi or Mira solis All which plainlie declareth that that which the Italians call fico d'inferno that is the Figge tree of hell it is called by the Spanyards Higuera d'inferno or in the Castillian tongue Higuiero d'infierno that is as before the Figge tree of hell These then are the reasons that haue moued my cousin to name the Catholicon of Spayne the Figge tree of hell because that the Spanyards so call that Figge tree of the Indies that beareth her fruite full of bloud as indeed the League hath done And if a man would proceede yet further and say that that Figge tree is the Palmar you shall finde therein a thousand other conformities or agreements which it would be too long to discourse vpon and amongst other that which a certaine Phisition of Africa hath written that of the tree Palmar alone a man might make all manner of tooles and prouisions for a shippe yea the very shippe it selfe and that the fruite thereof may be applied to all vses and serueth for bread for wine for linnen cloth for vessell for table for couering of houses and in a worde for all that a man would haue as the League at the beginning of it serued for all sortes of people for all sortes of hopes and for all meanes to couer all sortes of passions as of hatred of couetousnes of ambition of reuengement and of ingratitude There is indeede another tree which Baptista Ramusius calleth Higuero and saith that it must be pronounced by foure sillables but I am sure it was not the purpose of my cousin to speake thereof An herbe of the kinde of spourge A kinde of spourge with a leafe like purselane no more than of Lathyris or of Helioscopion which the grammarian Nebrissensis calleth also Higuera del infierno that is the figge tree of hell because hee witches and shee witches commonly vse it to worke their charmes and inchauntments by as the Leaguers haue vsed the name of Catholike religion to charme and inchant the people withall And this as I take it may suffise or satisfie them that would diuine or dispute concerning this terme Some haue tolde my cousin that diuers thought hardly of it that hee hath expressed the proper names of some of the seditious and principall authors of all the miserie and mischiefe of France But I haue heard him say that hee was of such a countrey where they vsed to call bread bread figges figges Those that for money had deliuered their owne citie to Phillip King of Macedonia complained indeede that his souldiers after the yeelding of it called them traitors and vpbraided them with their treason I knowe not said the King how to doe you any helpe in this for my souldiers are grosse and lumpish fellowes and call things by their owne names Those who after they had caused sundry townes to reuolt against the King had as much as they could maintayned warre and exercised al manner of tyrannies against the poore people and hauing ruinated all their neighbours and who seeing themselues no longer able to holde out and that there was no more to catch or take did very dearely sell those places to the King and deliuered vp the poore inhabitants to his mercy shall those I say be angry if men call thē traytors But it were a hard matter that no one word should scape the Parresiens euen against them that haue taken golde and siluer and that haue merchandized bought and solde to come to a certaine price I wil haue so much for doing it For though that they had done that which they should haue done as Iudges that execute iustice which they are bounde to doe yet for all that in taking money they haue marred all and ought not any longer to receiue honor for their good doing They cannot saue themselues from this that men should not call them traitors troublers of the state merchants and sellers of their countrie and there is none but God alone that can bring to passe that things alreadie done should not bee done neither can hee bring to passe vnles it bee by a certaine kinde of grosse forgetfulnes which hee can bring vpon our spirites or vnderstandings that wee should not remember any more that which is alreadie past And concerning this matter one of our poets whereof our town Eleuthere is very well furnished hath spoken not many dayes since in sixe small verses Those that thorow ciuill warres for gold and siluer told Vnto the King doe sell places and townes of hold Though in my minde good markets they doe make For for some small coyne they expose thēselues to strife And