our deceased king to haue bene such a one that God who is all good yea the fountaine of all goodnes hath caused the throat of his annointed to be cut euen his who vpon his head did beare the chiefe crowne of all the nations that are baptized in his name So that a petty forrein Prince the vsurper of Saint Peters patrimony is not onely compared with the king of France with the king of the Flower de Luce but is also magnified by the same tongue that blasphemeth against the memory of our deceased king Yet were this tongue spanish in sound as it is in affection it were the more tollerable but a french tongue to be polluted with such impure speaches Oh what an indignity what a sorrow The reason of these so contrarie speaches is very apparant The death of this Farnese who signed no otherwise but Alexander haue giuen a great blow at the affaires of this warre as finding no successor that can approch to his reputation so that for want of all others Don Philip hath bene constrained to set in such a Captaine as is not otherwise knowne but onely that he hath bene the chiefe executioner of the poore Indians by him murdred without resistance whome also the inhabitants of the country will not receiue as fearing his extreame cruelty On the other side the Guysardes imagined that the death of the late king should haue brought them to the royalty and that by their pollicies they should soone disunite vs each from other making vs to beleeue that no man can be a good Catholicke vnlesse he be a spanyard or a Lorraine vnlesse he weare the red crosse or the duble crosse They haue aboue two yeares deteyned the people in Paris vpon an opinion that there was no masse said at Tours and haue drowned those that durst testefy y e contrary But sith all their purposes are grounded vpō falshood they be to be excused for the cruell punishmēt by them inflicted vpon those that testifie the trueth their capitall ennemy Many who since the death of our late king neuer liued in this city of Paris may perhaps geue credite to this declaration by them published namely that they haue labored to bring his Maiesty now raigning into the bosome of the Church But we who for these foure yeares haue continually heard their Sermons doe know the contrary also that they neuer preached vnto vs any thing so much as that albeit hee should become as good a Catholike as S. Lewes these bee their very woordes the Curate of S. Bennets saide in S. Mederickes as good a Catholicke as I take him to be yet is hee by no meanes to be receiued as being a Relaps and impenitent Such as would seeme the mildest said that hee might be admitted into the Church but it was requisite for pennance of his fault that he should resigne his crowne to those that had reclaimed him That hee might bee a Catholicke but no king Thirty thousand persons not onely haue heard but do daily heare these speeches from the mouthes of Boucher and Comolet the Ieswistes and yet would they faine perswade the rest of all France y t they haue endeuoured to conuert him O ye hipocrites as you are know you not in your consciences that you neuer desired his conuersion but his estate that you care not whether he haue a crowne in heauen so you may get y t which he hath vpon earth do not your consciences beare you witnesse that you could wish that tumulteously at his returne from some warlike exploit he should enter into our church to the end for euer hereafter he might be though an Atheist vsing religion as a cloake to play his personage in and so lose his credit with all Christian people In your consciences doe you not know that of all things in this world you must feare least in some lawfull counsell by the working of the holy ghost his errors should be laid open before him If you stand not in wonderfull feare therof why do you so shrinke away why had you rather see all France on a flame and shortly brought into combustion and so many miserable persons ouerwhelmed with the intollerable burden of these tedious warres and brought into such pouerty that their misery hath farre surmounted the misery of their frendes deceased why I say had you not rather trie this remedie which only is proper and hath bene practised by the ancient fathers in the cure of such diseazes A remedy often times reiterated for one selfe error for the truth which is alwaies like it selfe in all places and at all times is neuer tyed to one onely counsell A remedy that might serue not him onely but all other of his religion Why I say had you not rather vse this gentle and holesome medecine then fire and sworde whereto mans conscience is no way subiect weapons doe neuer breed any conuerts but rather deniers of their faith To bodely vlcers bodely matters and to the wounds of the spirite spirituall remedies doe agree To seeke by maine force to plucke vp error in religion is to seeke to cure the soule by the body nay rather to kil then to cure by darkenesse to shew light and by cruelty to teach clemency If yee list to destroy error it is requisite you should instruct the man and the way to instruct is in a free counsell to heare his reasons and to let him vnderstand yours Yet if God by the successe of your armies would declare y e same to be acceptable in his sight If he would graunt you great aduantages ouer our king and minister hope to force so many mightie townes which do daily encrease and fortefie with the ruine and spoyles of our poore Paris your heat to prosecute your warres might some way be excusable But hauing vtterly lost a great and notable battaile euen when yee were assisted with the power of Spaine Germany Switzerland Lorraine yea the selfe same day as it were miraculosly hauing also lost a second battaile in Anuergne Againe this last yeare the Duke of Ioieuse one of the principall pillers of the Spanish faction beeing defeated and slaine in a pitched field with the losse of three thousand men either drowned or left dead in the field among whome were found all the Capteines of the rebells throughout the whole country wherevpon they were forced to vncoule frier Angell who in the end shall receiue like recompence for breaking his vowe solemnly made vnto God as his brother had for violating his faith to his king who had so highly cherished and exalted his ingratefull famely Likewise in the same moneth of October the generall of the armie of Lorraine hauing lost both his owne life and his masters armie who were ouercome by a handfull of men who for 10000 accompted the Duke of Bouillon for their head of whose good fortune and aduancement I meruel not though the Duke of Lorraine his neighbour maketh so many complaints considering that in so short
space he hath already defeated him of two strong townes cut in peeces the flower of his men of war who now might haue stood him in some steed for the defence of other his strong holds against 12000 men and 20 canons that doe lay sore to them After I say so many great losses and all your great townes so straightly beseeged what hope can there remaine especially this Alexander of Parma being no longer a worlds man True it is that hereafter we may peraduenture haue some succour from the Sauoyan who will bring his great forces to assist his cunning to bee crowned in our citie of Paris for he hath maryed one of the daughters of Spaine and sith that by the aduice of the Doctors of Millan the Salicke law ought to surcease he hath no doubt a part in the succession for at Paris there is no prerogatiue of Eldership amonge the daughters and therefore the towne may well enough be deuided Let the eldest chose either the Loure or the Pallace the one shall hold for Sauoy the other for Spaine But I doubt he hath other matters to thinke vppon he seeth already the french ancients so forward toward the midest of Piedmont that thirty thousand canon shot will hardly roote them out and yet before he come to that he must winne the field against those that haue profered him battaile any time these six monethes whome he dare not encounter in the plaine field with al his owne power and the power of his father in law This is a very Scipios policie Our king hath procured the warre to be transported into Affrica and the firebrand thereof into the dominions of the Spanyard and of his sonne in law who already intituled himselfe Earle of Prouence from whence he hath found one of the heires of Gaston of Foix of the valeant Nogaret that shall not onely expell him but also proceed further euidently giue him notice of the old prouerbe which saith That France was neuer so weake but a man might still find some cause of earnest fight and that either soone or late she will giue him to wit that it is dangerous dealing with her Oh Ingratefull Sauoyan among all earthly people the most vnthankfull France restored to thy mother that which with the swordes point and vppon good cause she had taken from thy grandfather and thou in liew of acknowledging this magnificence and in all manner of good duety reuerencing the maiestie of the french empire dost by notable treasons endeuour to rent and dismember the same still conspiring with her Capitall enemies Remember that I doe prognosticate vnto thee that a Spanish wife shall procure to thee the losse of that which a French wife brought to thy father nothing can defend thee All the cunning speech of the Archbishop of Lions together with the abstract of all the seditious libells and orations spued out against our kings by these pentioners of Castile published vnder the title of a declaration can no whit preuaile with this valeant nobility whose eares and harts are stopped against such Mermaids as seeke to plonge them in the goulfe of all misery All these latter policyes they take as assured arguments that the strength of this detestable conspiracy draweth to decay Your selues doe now know that this busy and seditious communalty is not able to vanquish the French nobility cannot beare the first push of their horses neither may any way abide the glims of their glistering armour What will yee then doe seeke some meanes by faire words to deuide these gallant gētlemen among themselues and in a pitcht field procure them to cut each others throats Oh what a happy day would that be vnto you wherein there should be neuer a blow stroken in vaine where the losse either of the one or the other should be an equall gaine and like aduancement of your drifts which can haue no successe so long as there be any gentlemen in France They are borne to liberty to glory They can brooke no forrein dominion or commandement Any speeches of the king of Spaine of the Sauoyan or of the Lorraines they cannot heare but that needes they must enter into choller into indignation into threats yea and into armes to the end to exalt the name and honour of France aboue all things in the world They cānot abide to heare any king but their owne intituled the great king without ouerrunning of those that dare giue out such seruile Infamous and base speeches They are not acquainted with this tytle Vniuersall king in whatsoeuer language it be disguized They knowe not that ould tirant otherwise then by the name of kinge of Spaine which no man dare now pronounce in their presence for feare least at that onely worde they should call to mind that it is the name of their capitall enemie the sworne enemie to their fathers the same who wrongfully deteyneth from France the one halfe of her prouinces who procured the death of his owne sonne and of his wife the daughter of king Henry the second and since holpe forward the deathes of his two brother in lawes the late Monsieur and our last king Likewise to the end yee may the better know him he was son to Charles the fift the poysoner of the french Dolphine who by treasons stole y e greatest riches of this realme who layd the foundations of his tiranny on the citie of Rome which his sonne hath since perfectly established layd fast purchasing with coyne the voyce of the consistorie and so bringing into the holy sea his nurcelings and pentioners according to the degrees of their affection to Spayne Doe you then meruell that their bulles forged in Madrlt which tooke only their edge at Rome wherwith they indeuor to make France through her diuision tributarie to them haue beene condemned by this imperial and sacred Senate of our king A senate gouerned by a Cato replenished with Phocions and euermore accustomed to reuenge the iniuries of the crowne The french nobility hath sent y e Marquize of Pizani to be assured of the truth If it appeare that Rome is as surely tyed to the Spaniard as Siuill and that their declarations can not be well enterteyned they will well enough prouide remedies necessarie This is not the first time that the holy sea hath beene transferred to this side of the mountes albeit I be very well assured there shall be no such necessitie For the French sworde is strong enough yet once againe to deliuer Rome out of the hands of this Gothik and Sarrazin stocke Neither doe we beleeue that all that is beyond the Alpes doth loue this vniuersal king but that contrariwise the clearer that their sight is naturally the more they doe apprehend the effectes of his insupportable dominion and the execution of the hereditarie purposes of his father Charles This French Cath. Nobilitie is of force sufficiēt to preserue both the Estate and their Religion neither neede they the helpe of these soueraignes of
Spaine of Sauoy or of Lorraine so often mētioned in your declaration who vnder pretence of succour do seeke to driue them out of the inheritance purchased with their ancesters bloud y e like whereof haue happened almost to all the natiōs in the world as histories do testifie Our holy Cath. Romish Religiō is not otherwise assaulted but by your wretched League which withall breedeth Atheisme defloratiō of sacred virgins murder of priests sacking of Churches in all parts of the Realme so farre is our king from bringing any alteration whatsoeuer or from contrarying his oath euen in the least title that contrariwise he is carefull of all that cōcerneth our Religion the celebratiō of y e holy misteries as our selues Witnesse all the townes that he hath subdued vnder his obedience in the which it can not be found that he hath diminished the least relick or one onely sacred vessel yet the most part of yours is either moulten or trāsported into Arthois Neither is there any one Religious person or Priest that cōtained him selfe within his habit and his profession that was euer molested euen with the least word whereas yours are either dead for hunger or withdrawne into such townes as rest in his Maiesties obedience where they haue bene receaued susteined found acknowledging those things which they could neuer haue imagined and which your falshoodes and slanders continually preached forth did debarre them the sight of Vpon what occasion ween you hath God sent you these great afflictions this wāt of all things especially of siluer but euē to the end that the people being by litle and litle slipped from you and retired into such townes as rest in their kings obedience should confesse their fault and simplicitie in that they haue so long suffered them selues to be abused by these enchantments which made them see the things that neuer were that made them beleeue that all the Princes all the Officers of the Crown so many braue Lordes and Gentlemen were no longer Catholickes because they would not stoope to the commandements of this great Catholicke king and the letters patents of Charles of Lorrayne Is it not for this crime of heresie that ye haue robbed and spoiled the house of Neuers and geuen the Dutchie of Rethelois to a Spartaque whom ye haue procured to take the title of Duke of Rethelois Peer of France or haue ye so euill entreated this Duke of Neuers at the expresse cōmandemēt of the king of Spaine who hateth him as much as any Prince vpō the earth because that hauing more deeply penetrated and more manifestly reuealed to all France his pernicious practises to the end to stoppe and cōfound them vnder the protection of our king he dayly encreaseth in affection bringing of valour couradge diligence and militarie discretion so much as may be desired And besides the matter which I accoumpt to fulnesse of all his commēdations is this y t he bringeth vp his onely sonne his Maiesties cosin germain in extreame dislike and hatred of this Spanish League Must we not also as heretickes condemne excommunicate and proscribe Venise Florence Mantua Soleure Fribourg and other Catholickes our faithfull confederates who are so presumptuous as to dare to vndertake to stoppe the encrease of your great kings Monarchie who also will be partakers in the glorious reuendge of the murder of the first Prince of Christendome whereto all Europe standeth bound Beleeue me this beautifull and glistering cloake of Religiō wherewith your ambitiō hath bene so long shadowed is now threed bare full of holes we may see through it and euidētly discerne your wretched and pernitious purposes Now that the incredible felicitie that had guided you euen to the marke so as ye were ready to mount vnto the flower Royall hath forsaken you whom thinke you to perswade to enter into your ship halfe broken when it is vpon the point of shipwracke Whom wee◠you to perswade to come starue for hunger amōg your sixtene robbers who after the Spanish manner hung vp their chief Iustice in the view of all Paris in the middest of the cōfederates of the conspiracie of the haulter whose dagger is at y e throats of all those in whose harts there resteth any sparcke of humanitie or clemencie to be brief among so many fearefull tokens of Gods wrath cruelties diuisions ruines all sortes of desolations yea and diseases vtterly new and vnknowen to the Frēch of whom you are no longer How I say do you now thincke to make such poisons to worke considering that in August and September 89. when ye seemed to haue atchieued your affaires hauing murdered our king and with an armie of 30000. men enclosed his successor in Dieppe after you had published like pardons like abolitions yet could you not in all finde aboue three or foure remissionaries and among them but one onely Gentleman whose name will remaine infamous among all posteritie vnlesse by some notable seruice he wash away so shamefull a blot of treason cōmitted immediatly after the slaughter of his king his good maister and one who had so highly fauored him Is it possible Vitry that the tall pale and fearefull image of this great king should not continually appeare in thy sight or follow thee wheresoeuer thou goest doest thou not see him with one hand houlding his bloudie wound and with the other the red gore knife continually following thee to be reuendged of thy notable trecherie Is it possible that thou canst without trēbling and sighing heare him with a fearefull voyce obiect vnto thee thy trespas in these wordes Oh traitor while I liued thou diddest honor me but the next day after my death thou hast worshipped my murderers thou hast bowed thy knee in those places where they deified that monster more cruell then the Tygers thou hast accompanied those that triumphed and publickly reioyced in my death yet doe I more maruell how our Lieutenant general of the Spanish crowne in France who seeth that in liew of so many Gentlemen that haue habandoned his rebellion and ranged them selues vnder the flower de Luce he could not winne past two or three in foure yeares how I say he is now perswaded that he may deuide the Princes of the bloud of France and draw them to his partie O ambitious Lorraine hast thou dared to thincke that thou shouldest haue such subiectes to stoope to thy commandementes or to obey to thy letters patentes as necessarily they must if they had taken thy side or wilt thou habandon to them thy Lieutenancie and submit thy selfe vnder the lawes and Magistrats ouer whom thou now doest so proudly commaund in those townes whcih thy tyrānie doth possesse If thou wilt why hast thou not spoken the word why hast thou not said that thou wert ready to lay away all thy power and to establish them aboue thy selfe and aboue all thy stocke of Lorraine Thou hast bene warie inough for proceeding so farre not that thou art not assured that they all
are too magnanimous too vertuous Princes to League them selues with those that are yet besprinckeled with the bloud of the slaughter of the eldest of their familie Royall who loued them as his children whose cruell and barbarous death all lawes of God and man doe binde them to reuendge so long as their valiant soules shall be enclosed within their bodies but by such offers though fained thou diddest feare to prouoke the ould tyraunt of Spaine who abhorreth the whole name of Bourbon And indeede what apparance is there of diuision among persons so well vnited you Lorrains haue long time directed the heades of your speares against the whole race of Bourbon and with fire and sword doe prosecute y e rooting out of their familie Royall When fortune most smiled vpon you that you seemed to be vpon the highest steppe to climbe to the Royaltie then did they togither resist you And now that all true Frenchmen vpon the opening of their eyes doe manifestly discerne in your driâ—tes with such dexteritie conducted that whereas your grandfather came into France weake in goodes poore in honor naked in dignitie who in the yeare 1522. following the warres in Picardie vnder the Duke of Vandosme commanded onely ouer one companie of men of armes you in our adge finde your selues among you seazed of the most important gouernments of this Estate yea and had it not bene for the 23. of December 1588. had gone away with the rule of all France vnder the commandements of your maister the king of Spaine Now I say that euery one that is of any calling or courage thoroughout this Realme is gathered to his Maiestie to chastise your ambition the cause of so many miseries what ground can ye take to imagine that the Princes of the bloud should deuide them selues and purchase the ruine and death each of other to the end to leaue their roome to the vpstartes of Lorraine Well if you cannot thrust in the spirite of diuision into Bourbon yet at the least ye will draw vnto you those mighty meÌ„ who within these foure yeares haue so often put you so shamefully to flight I thincke the Duke of Aumale looketh by meanes of this declaration that this braue and couragious LoÌ„gueuille who with lesse then 1200. Frenchmen who standing not vpon thâ—ir number but vpon their valour in a pitcht field ouerthrew him and all his armie consisting of 8000. men and 10. canons and pursued him euen to S. Denis shall one of these dayes send to offer him his seruice desiring pardon for his former faultes and craue to be reconciled with his high and mightie cosin Lieutenant generall to this great king the Monarcke of Spaine France and Italie Oh miserable Leaguers into what frensie are ye entred when ye thinke with your goodly figures of Rhetoricke to perswade those who in one moneth doe heare more Masses then you do in a yeare who vnder the kings auctoritie next to the Princes of his bloud are the very pillers of the state and of our Religion to perswade them I say that they all are heretickes and that none but you onely who are conspired with these new ChristiaÌ„s as yet for the most part in hart Iewes and Sarazins are true Catholiques to the end y t therfore they may yeeld themselues bound into your haÌ„ds so that without labour ye may in short time roote out all these great and noble houses all these families fatal for expulsion of strangers out of France No no if your Spanish remembrances import no other matter I do well see that this ould dotard is at an end with all his sleights sith y t to subdue France to him selfe he craueth the helpe of the French GentlemeÌ„ who altogither vnder one selfe banner seamed of Flower de Luces haue so often chased his Spanish troupes and who as brethren of one belly crowned with like garlands atchieued in so many battailes shall for euer be vnited to maintaine their liberties franchises and preeminences which with such woundes and so many hazards their predecessors haue left vnto them inseperably conioyned with the preseruation of the crowne vpon the head of the lawfull heire Courage therfore oh FrenchmeÌ„ the victory is yours Parma is dead Ioyeuse and all his power are layd along the Lorraine the Sauoyan shut vp in their capital towns in liew of giuing doe craue succour at the Leaguers in France The horrible conspiracy against Rennes is discouered the traitors are punished the duckats of such purchase of townes are conuerted to our vse Behold Montmorencie marching with a braue army the sword of FraÌ„ce in his haÌ„d let vs set on w t like courage a power deuided yeeldeth no fruict let euery man endeuour him selfe coÌ„mon interest craueth it calleth you therto your couÌ„trey inuiteth you all the vaines of Paris are stopped it must dry vp vnlesse our selues will norish the rebellion that is kindle the fire which consumeth this Estate Let y e king remember y e throughout the whole triumph of Silla the fortunate there was nothing made so goodly a shew as the traine of y t most noble and rich of the Citie of Rome returning through his victory froÌ„ exile whether y e dregs of y e people had driuen theÌ„ them crowned with garlands of flowers did accompany his triuÌ„phaÌ„t chariot calling him their father sauiour because that by his meanes they returned into their couÌ„trey and recouered their goods their wiues their childreÌ„ The ioy of so many good FreÌ„chmeÌ„ who shall reenter into Paris will be no lesse and y e honor infinite times greater made firme and assured to a lawfull king Let theÌ„ all the publicke treasure be employed to this effect let euery one particularly let him selfe bloud to cure this burning feuer let all these Iesuistes speeches the onely procurers of a millioÌ„ of FreÌ„chmeÌ„ to slay each other be stopped let all those that build their particular purposes vpoÌ„ the publicke calamities which they hope for hereafter be rased froÌ„ among the number of FreÌ„chmen let all those who hauing no feeling of the grief of y e body do not helpe to relieue it be cut of as rotteÌ„ meÌ„bers the great goods that they enioy with expresse charge to succour y e state in such so vrgeÌ„t necessities a charge by soleÌ„ne oath renewed at euery change be taken from them theÌ„selues declared vnworthy of nobilitie those goodly inheritaÌ„ces giueÌ„ to those braue GentlemeÌ„ who for these foure yeares haue continually had the cuyrace on their backes without whose helpe togither with y e conduct of this great king y e true French Alexander we all should be most miserable bondineÌ„ to the Spaniard this we must confesse their names ought to be writteÌ„ in goldeÌ„ letters so consecrate to the posteritie and the names of y e others withered with perpetual ignominie to them all their posteritie You Magistrates who in your hands do hold the Iustice of FraÌ„ce come in with such vertue with such courage acknowledging y e affectionate seuerely chastising the traitors trechours to their countrey y t you may participate in the honor of the restauratioÌ„ of the Estate Armies can not be but in certaine places neither doe they terrifie any but those whom they draw neare vnto the force of Iustice at one selfe time penetrateth into all places yea euen into the most inaccessible her scarres woundes are farre more sharpe of longer continuance then those of Bellona To be brief at this time let all those that list to liue and dye Frenchmen set their hands earnestly to this worke so excellent so necessarie for the reestablishment of this great crown in her first eminencie ancient glory Let vs no longer flatter the disease we shall soone see the wound purged cured we shal speedely see y e end of all these rebelles We shall behold the chariot with the body of our late king brought froÌ„ Compiegne euen into Paris by these rebelles euen in their shyrtes to the wonderfull consolation of all good men You Syr whose memorie we moisten with our teares appease your iust wrath against this poore people against your Citie of Paris sometime of you so welbeloued so fauored and so enritched she hath committed the most notable ingratitude trecherie that euer was or shalbe in the world but already she hath felt such a punishment that the scarres will remaine for euer cast the rest of your indignation of your iust vengeance vpon the guiltie pardon the innocent CoÌ„fort your selfe in y t God hath giuen you such a successor as after your decease will make you to be acknowledged euen of all those who in your life time did disauow you who in your Louure will restore your defaced armes and garlands that were pulled downe and will exalte your memorie into the highest degree of honor and glorie Helpe vs also by your prayers to obteine for him at Gods hand so long life that after the ending of his owne he may accomplish the course of your yeares that were cut of FINIS