to thyrd and fourth generation as I vvould my poore lyfe might redeeme the ioyning of Queene ELIZABETH to such one in that neer knot vvhich must needes make hir halfe in the punishments of those his sinnes Hir Maiesties father had a law passed by parliament in his tyme that whoso had vnlawfully knovven that vvoman with vvhom the king was to mary and did not before mariage come in and bevvray it shold vpon the matter aftervvard detected be holden litle better then a traytor Hys care to haue a good woman vvas Christian and royall he vvyst vvell as the preambles of those statutes purport beside the pryuate contentation to him selfe that as vvel the sinnes of father mother as the plague of theyr sins descends to the children and considering hys chyldren were to be left gouernours of the land which mightso also haue part in these punishments his care vvas so much more to be approued because it vvas also for the common vveale The same reason is to moue in vs all a harty desire thas hir Maiesty should mary vvith such a house and such a person as had not prouoked the great vengeance of the lord And surely considering the haynousnes of the sin in euery person with the concurrant circuÌ„stances in this case of a prince the law was a iust law vve can haue no such law against strangers therfore in hir Maiesties name I require at the hands of al English Ambassadors other trauayling EnglishmeÌ„ abrod of all vvise men at home that they vvilbe hir diligent espialls herein geuing faithful aduertisement not of such seldome or small fautes as men corruptly call tryckes and pranks of a young gentilman but vvhither hys lyfe hath ben so monstrously wicked as is reported for it is no small matter for a Queene the head of the lande to ioyne in any maner with that person ouer vvhom the ineuitable plages of the most true Lord do hang. This is to approch to the plague when it commeth and not as Salomons wise man doth to withdrawe hymselfe when he seeth it His youth of yeeres is an apparant inequalitie of this match a secret discouery of his mynd not singlie affected vvith true and simple loue to that he should chiefely seeke for emong vs of the meaner sort not one in a thousand of those younger men that seke ther elder matches but doth it in side respects and hovv can vve thinke other wise in a young prince heire apparant of france It is quite contrary to his young appeties which vvyll otherwise haue theyr desire It is therefore eyther for want of liuing and mayntenance to hys mynd and then is he not fit for this realme or els is it certenly for some other notable practise vvhich muste needes be dangerous because so great a man must be the instrument and because it is not disclosed He is differing from hir Maiestie in religion thagreement wher in as it worketh by Gods blessing a most neer knot of good vvill and perfect liking in all things euen emong straungers so by the vvords of Christ a disagrement in this kind brings the svvord betvvene father and children brethern and sisters betvvene a man and hys vvife Yea vve haue seene in our dayes parentes and husbands being papistes thorough the vnnaturall cruelty of that Italian heresie vpon the least occasion and vvithall gredinesse to haue deliuered vp to death their children vvife And if al bands be little enough to hold loue and to worke a comfortable lyfe here in earth against the many miseryes of this noysome pilgrimage let vs not dispise that vvhich is the chiefest and strongest And which I may not forget who so marieth with any popevvorshipper can not tell vvhen to be sure of him for they haue one knife to vnloose all alliances vvith kingdoms and fayth giueÌ„ to princes that is the popes dispensation vvhich is so iust in it self as vvhither it bynd or loose it may not be examined if therefore after our mariage vvhich God first let the changeable decree of a pope vvill pronounce the mariage no mariage eyther vpon some nevv aduantage to the church of Rome either els because Monsieur could haue no children by our Queen for that there must of necessity sit vpon that throne some of the blessed seed of Medices vvhich vvas sent into Fraunce from a pope no doubt this son of the pope in Fraunce is as much bound by popish obedience to leaue against Gods lavv his vvife as his son of Spayne vvas to take against Gods forbodd his own sisters dauâ—â—ter And as much conscience vvill the holy father make to breake a lavvfull mariage for his aduauntage as to licence a lavvles vvhat a feare of dishonor vvorse then the dishonor vvere this to depend vpon the incertain pope vvhither vve shall at any time hereafter be decreed to haue liued in vnlavvfull mariage yea or no. If any man anusvver hereto that this doubte is too farre fetched and hath no reason to be conceiued let him at once take this replye for maintenance of thys and diuers other like reasons that are may be made That vvhosoeuer is carefull of the life and honour of a prince casts more doubts then for a common person In theyr palaces they must haue more gards for night and day more porters more hus shirs and more doers to come to them euen in time of peace then common persons haue But vvhen the enemy of a prince comes to be considered of then princes will vse theyr longest hands of strength theyr tendred nosed couÌ„sailors most percing sight of theyr vvise and faythfull seruants and who wold not suspecte any trechery from that Roman ennemy of enemyes vvhich like a iugling Aegiptian playes fast and loose with all the vvorld and is singularly a deuowed enemy to our Queene as he vvas lately to hir Maiesties father because he refused and reiected one of his like godlesse dispensations for a lyke lawles mariage An other reason might be made a gainst thys mariage that if thorough his ambitious mind not so blamevvorthy in such a prince as hurtfull to such as should chuse him during the life of his brother he should be chosen king elsvvhere it might cause his absence litle to hir maiesties comfort But this reason I bring not for the force of it or for vvant of other for I suppose the late honorable leauing of Poleland vvilbe a lesson to any kingdome or state of free election how they shall chuse this brother If therefore as Qu. Maries counsailors had that respect to hir high honor that they did not mary hir to K. Phillip till he â–ª was a king in the lyfe of his father so likewise these men vvould not talke of Monsieur til he were hir maiesties peere by being chosen king by the franke election of any â–ª state I vvould not feare thys matter The onely cause therefore vvhy I thought this reason worth any meÌ„tion is by that
detected trecheries against Gods church haue bene seuerally sealed with his visible markes of vengeaunce vvritten not vpon the vvall but successiuely on theyr carcasses vvith a heauēly fingar not by torch light but at noone day in the eyes and eares of the vvorld in so much as Baltazar the father had hys Maneh grauen in the apple of hys eye and that in the eysight of Anne du Bourg vvhose death for professing Christ he had voued to see His first son had his Tekel told in his eare vvhych rotted hym vvhyle he was yet aliue And his next sonn had his Phares marked in euery vent of hys body that as he had shed Christian blood vvith Iulianus so he mighte take of hys owne blood in his hand and saye with Iulianus Vicisti Galiaeè VVho vvould not tremble to come nere this kindred so vvrathfully marked of God vvho vvould become one vvith thys generation so hatefull to men let vs bost in this Galilean and defie Iulian. let vs vvith confidence glory in the crosse of Christ and not vouchsafe to ioine vvith these apostate princes This present king besides the sinnes of his auncesters haue giuen the Lorde cause enowgh of personall actious by hys owne excesses VVhich though the Lord doe not yet bring in vppon hym thorough hys long suffering yet assuredly there is a measure of hys wickednes measured out and a tyme for his iudgements vvhensoeuer the Saintes of God haue filled his bottle vvith teares The plague common to the house he hath That is he vvants one of his loins to sit vpon his seate So that vve see by proofe in three brothers that the Lord wyll not leaue one of Ahabs house An ill disposed body he hath a suspitious and fearefull mynde euen of hys friendes Touching thys prynce novv offered to thys church in mariage if he be behynd in mischiefes remember he is younger in yeeres and neuer came to that hability by myght of a kingdome to performe his inborne malice to the church and the discredit of hys brethern haue notably hindred hym that vvay Neuerthelesse so farre as his place vvould suffer he hath bene vsed to doe that seruice to Rome and damage to the church that he vvas fit for At the mas sacring mariage he vvas not old ynough to execute any thing but vvas set by hys mother to cry and vveepe at the cruelties that so shevving some misliking of them hys credit might be saued for such another desperate match all the rest of the credites of the king then and hys mother brother and sister being lyttle enough to colour that mischiefe since that tyme he hath bene set a vvorke in Fraunce and Flaunders diuers counterfeit fallings out betvveene hym and his brother and suddein appeasings VVhen he fled from the Court to Dreux declaring hymselfe protector of common liberty he quickly made first a truce and then a peace vvhereby to frustrate the gathering and keeping together of that great armie of protestants If hys meaning had bene but indifferent to religion he vvould not haue bene at that stately assembly and signed with them the abolishing of religion in Fraunce He vvas content to be vsed to pull townes out of the protestantes hands and in warres agaynst them namely La charite Issoire where after hys reuolt he committed such abominable cruelties and beastly disorders as if he novv meant neuer so good fayth had neuer so honest a mynd in these matters yet is it not lyke that this mans foule hands should lay one stone of Gods church Yea so farre is the Lord from blessing such a disloyall hand in his publicke seruice to the saluation of others that he curseth hym in publick and priuate in towne and field euen in hys ovvn soule and body to euerlasting death vnlesse he make open acknovvledgement of so open and shamefull outrages and perseuer in vvell doing After thys he leapes ouer Paris vvalles as fleeing frō the Court and tooke on hym the voyage into Flaunders vvyth shew of some tollerable mind to religion or at least to helpe the oppressed professors vouing vvith diuers solemne othes and making others to sweare that they vvould neuer come at the court againe and yet presently vpon his retorne he left his poore court all amased at Alencon and vvith tvvo or three gentilmen onely posted to yeeld himselfe into the kings hands vvith these words Syr I yeeld my selfe to you to dye at your feete in your seruice assuring you that neuer vvill I be estranged from you vvith moe lyke vvords such as detect greatly the French lightnes and french falshood in hym generall to all papistes of that nation The king vvith many embrasings and caresses gaue hym the best vvelcome in the vvorlde On vvhich day also came to the Court the Duke Guise the great ennemy to the church of God vvith fiue or sixe hundred horses vvith vvhom vvhatsoeuer vnkindnesses he had seemed before to haue he novv entered into a present familiariaritie and open kindnes VVhen vve speake therefore of Fraunce and of the practises there against the church of their some time mitigated nature tovvards Religion or of dissentions in apparance and bruites of ielousie vvhich the Queene mother puts as visarde vpon her practises vve must cast our eye wholly to her as the very soule whereby the bodies of the king of Mousieur of theyr sister Marguerit and of al the great ones in Fraunce do moue as a hundred hands to effect hyr purposes And vvhen we speake of Queene mother vve muste straightvvayes present before vs but a body or tronk vvherein the Pope moueth as hyr soule to deuise and haue executed vvhatsoeuer for the appetit of that sea euen as Necromancers are sayde to cary about a dead body by the motion of some vncleane spirit And thys soule of Fraunce as it hath bene moste eager and obstinately bent against Christes church in all thinges vvherein she entermedled so aboue the rest hath she bene a dāgerous practiser in mariages For to begin vvith the mariage of her other daughter into Spayne in the lyfe of her husband vvhat tyme a sister of hys vvas maryed into Piemont so three greate princes linked in a threefold cord as it vvere by that alliaunce all the world knoweth that the capital capitulation and article of inprimis as I may say in that threefold mariage was against God and his annoynted which strong cord though the Lorde vvhich is in heauen laughed to scorne and turned to the strangling of the tvvisters thereof insomuch as the father dyed presently and the daughter liued but a shorte tyme after and with small ioy yet hath not thys spyder left to twist once more And albeit in the mariage of the first daughter she spedde not so well by reason there was no sin of the church in it for they yoked themselues asses to asses yet in ioyning thys latter sister vvith the king of Nauarre she had better luck
that had bene enemy in himselfe and his auncesters to them and theyr forefathers and to theyr land vvhich by kind they loued so much nature remained in those of that vngracious spirit Novve if a founder of a beggerly rable of fryers could not haue theyr prayers vvhich at that tyme vvent a begging and vvere neuer so deere but a man might haue a long paternoster for a peny hovv deinty vvoulde they be of they re monye to Englishmen and hovve liberall in almes to ayde theyr ovvne countryes and countrymen Likewise in the dayes of king Edvvard the first certaine aliens richly beninificed refused to ayde the king in hys vvars for vvhich obstinacie albeit the Pope vvould not let him depriue them yet vvas he so bould as to put them out of his protection leauing theyr liues out of defence or reuenge by lavv For these reasons to thys daye it is expressed in the most large and most benificiall Legitimatiō made to any alien that he shall not dvvell in Barvvick Hampton or such maritime or other towne of trust and all for feare leaste that theyr loue towardes theyr own countryes or hatred to ours bredde in theyr bones should neuer out of the flesh So that vve see no alien is made so legalis or ligeus to the crovvne of England but with some restraint to him in respect of the state which can neuer so kindly matriculate him as the childe vvhich she hath born in her owne vvombe And we are the more loth to put our shoulders vnder this burden any more because already vve haue felt the weight of the little finger and smarting whips of thys incommoditye vvhich vvould seeme yet so much the more irksome to vs if novve after moe then tvventy yeeres svveete fredome therefro we shoulde be pressed dovvne vvith the heauy loynes of a vvorse people beaten as vvith scorpions by a more vile nation In vvhich respecte it hath bene alwayes yelden vnto her maiestie for the chiefe and first benifite done to thys kingdome that she redeemed it and yet not she but the Lord by her from a forraine king according to the worthynes vvhereof it hath bene from time to time notably set forth in monumentes of ecclesiasticall story and ciuil cronicles as a singular commendation to the happy beginning of her reigne yea it made her subiectes in loue with her the very first day hath encreased it mightely to thys houre wherof it seemes they haue little regard vvho seeke to staine the entry of her second twenty yeeres and to blemish the prayse therof by the contrary of that vvhich caused the first to be so highly extolled and by bringing vpon her people a more daungerous forreiner and more to theyr discontentation to leaue them in worse case then they vvere found For whereas all these kinds of aliances with realmes are contracted for mutuall support thys aliance presently in talk hath no such hope These Frenchmen gaue such tryall of theyr loyall aliance and of theyr profitable neighbourhood to the Grecians either vvhile they were yet in Galatia from vvhence their french bragge is to come eyther els in theyr vagabond time while they sought a place to set their foote on that an Emperour of Greece burnt them vvith this caremarke vvhich they cary till this day VVho vvill needes hold friendship with France muste take heede of theyr alliance According to the vvhich counsell of Greece the true and naturall old English nation neuer esteemed nor loued the French they haue it sonck so deepe and deepely layd vp in they re hart as the sauour wherewith theyr yong shels were seasoned to the son from graundfather to father who in teaching thē to shoote wold haue them imagē a frenchman for theyr butt that so in shooting they might learne to hate kindly and in hating learne to shoote neearely Out of thys inbred hatred it came that Frenchmen aboue other aliens beare thys addition in some of our auncient chronicles Charters and statuts to be the auncient ennemies of England And can it be saufe that a straunger and Frenchman should as owner possesse our Queene the chiefe officer in England our most precious rych treasure our Elizabeth IONAH and ship of good speede the royall ship of our ayde the hyghest tovver the strongest hold and castle in the land It will not be receiued for aunswer to affirme barely that thys feare is without ground of truth because forsooth the Realme must still be gouerned as before vve knovv that de iure it shoulde be so But in matters of kingdomes who can say that de facto it shal be so will any perswader of thys mariage offer himself a gage of lyfe and death that it shall be so If he and many moe vvoulde yet are they no counterpoise to the Queene and Realme whose life and good estate comes here to be warranted For if he marye her vvith that good loue on both parts which I wish with al my poore hart betweene her maiestie and her godly husband whensoeuer and whōsoeuer she shall marye yet shall he beare a greate swaye vvith her vvho beares all the swaye vvith vs and if he doe not loue her the Lord keepe her from prouing then must shee feare hym so as for feare or loue he will rule her and the whole land for her sake And thys is done many times without taking on him supreme authority for if he doe but eyther giue or sel after the French manner our chiefe offices he may rule thoughe not as head yet by those his promoted creatures as by so manye hands and feete and though he be not president in the counsayl nor once admitted to sit personally in the chamber yet vvoulde it be no hard thing for him to thrust in at the doore such counsailors in whose mouth he may speake and by them as by hyred spialles to know what is doen at that bourd and as by knightes at his post to passe or repulse vvhat him pleaseth The example of the king of Spayne serues for me in this case and not for those which woulde make vs beleeue he stoode for a cypher in Algorisme For how many great matters obteyned he and it is knovven too well what pensionars he had of that honorable company of counsailors againe at that time the mariage with Spayne was not so dangerous nor offering such cause of suspition as nowe for there was not yet come into the worlde out of the smokye pyt of hell any such holy leage as absolueth aforehand all conspiratif oathes giuen vs Fraunce and Spayn were then in wars they are since allied by mariage of a French daughter by whome Spayne hath a daughter and the lest alliance in the vvorld bindes them together against religion And thoughe I esteeme the king of Spayne for a loyall king of inuiolate fayth vvhole honor in respect of the French king yet am I so farre off from sound truste in eyther of them both that considering howe
father must goe and take Marguerit the daughter of Lewis the eyght for a vvyfe to hys son Henry and for his son Richard tooke Aelix an other daughter of Fraunce vvhich alliances proued such assurances to Henry the second as his last fiue or sixe yeeres vvere nothing but an vnkinde stryfe with his ovvne sons and especially hys sonne Rychard made open vvarre against him and vvan from him a part of Normandie by the helpe of his trustie friend Lewes the French king After thys vvhen Rychard him selfe was king not vvithstanding all the French friendships and alliances at vvhat tyme he vvas taken prisoner in hys returne from Ierusalem the French king vvas not ashamed to excite Iohn the brother of England to seize himselfe of the crovvne The sayd Iohn vvhen he vvas king marieng the daughter of the Earle of Engolesme in Fraunce and his son Henry the third hauing maried first a daughter of the Earle of prouence and secondly french Marguerit sister to Phillip the fayer found in the seueral dayes of theyr raignes the French king to be no better then a pricke in theyr sides taking part against them and prouoking theyr people to be as it vvere thornes in theyr feete Edvvard the second succeding his auncesters aswell in theyr vnhappy folly as in they re kingdome vvill needes marry vvith Isabel daughter to the same Phillip vvhich proued such an assurance to hymselfe as that hys French vvife vvas able to bereaue hym first of hys son carying him into Fraunce and hauing there made a strong part could returne and bereaue her husband of hys liberty and kingdome and in the ende of hys lyfe to after a vvretched captiuitie vnder hys owne son So that of old the alliances of Fraunce dyd set husbande and vvife together by the eares as in Henry the second and Edvvarde the second the father and son together as they did Henry the second and hys three sons Henry Rycharde and Iohn brother against brother as Rychard and Iohn the king and hys people togither as they did king Iohn and Henry the thyrd against the people and as they did aftervvard in Rychard the second Henry the sixt vvhich the duke Thomas of Glocester in his tyme vvell foresavv and therefore vpon treaty of the like mariage for Rychard the second vvho hauing novv raigned xix yeeres and being thyrtye yeeres olde fell amourous most vnkindlye and vnkingly vvith a french girle but eyght yeeres of age daughter to Charles the sixt French king he the same Thomas of Glocester vncle to the king stept vp and vvithstode that match hauing belike in these former experiences obserued the truth of that general rule set dovvne vpon the French by that Greeke Emperor And because I find the vvords of thys Duke set dovvne more expresly in a French chronicle then any vvhere els I vvill vse theyr ovvne vvords as the fittest testimony in thys case The alliance of Fraunce sayth that Duke in that french story hath bene the ruine of England and this nevve frendship betvveene these kings sayth the Duke shall neuer make me loke for any assured peace attvvene thē for sayth he ther vvas neuer yet any trust or religiō or truth in the vvord or promises of the french VVhat an auncient hereditary disease of disloyalty is this in the royall seate of Fraunce especially since the Maiors of the housholde became kinges And though thys Dukes voice in thys counsell vvere ouerruled by the multitude or rather by the lust of the king yet did the king and his people and their children feele hovve true it was in sequele For first thys externe amitie with Fraunce bred home enemitye in England It cost vs for an earnest penny the tovvne of Brest in Britanie by meanes of the kings outlandish Queen And poore king Richard vsing in priuate connsaise altogether the French companions such as his vvyfe brought began to disdeyne his ovvne naturall kinsmen and subiects and finallye follovving ouermuch the cruell and riotous counsel of such minions namely the Constable of Fraunce and Erle of S. Pol vvhō the French king sent of purpose to king Rycharde his son in lavve polling the people and putting to death such nobles as his french counsail put in hys head in the end he vvas quite vnkinged by Henry of Lancaster afterwardes Henry the fourth vvho during the tyme that he platted thys enterprise founde hospitalitye in Fraunce for all king Rychards alliance vnder his father in lavves nose The French match it vvas vvhich vvithin one yere brought the king to dishonorable captiuitie death and deposing vvhich appeares for that in story it is rekoned emong other thinges that alienated from him the loue of hys subiects so farre as when he vvas taken hys enemy vvas fayne to saue hys lyfe by garde from hys ovvn people and also it is obiected agaynst hym that he had made thys alliance vvith Fraunce not calling to counsail the thre estates of England Euen the last mariages vve made vvith France vvere lyke vnhappy to the end Henry the fift that noble king had the alliance of Katherin daughter to Charles the seauenth of Fraunce and after had the possession of Fraunce first by right of descent and mariage then by conquest of sword and lastly by couenant agreed with king Charles and his peeres yet coulde he none othervvise hold theyr loue but hauing theyr necks vnder hys yoke VVhych vnion of possession and right to that realme vvas aftervvard fortified by crouning hys sonne Henry the sixt in Paris and by a nevv match betweene hym and Marguerit daughter of a French Charles as most men saien vvhich cost hym first for a princely brybe the dukedome of Angeow and Ereldome of Main and after many miserable destructions of our English cheualry people lost both the new cōquired title ancient heriditarye dominions on that side and finally vvrought an ignominious depriuation of Henry the sixt from this realme I think I might set dovvue all such matches as vnhappy ones and contrarivvise those matches nothing so vnhappy but for the most parte prosperous vvhich were made eyther at home or in other places as vveren al those mariages made since Henry the sixt as by Edvvarde the fourth her Maiesties greatgraundfather and by her maiesties graundfather and by her father And if a sister or daughter vvho had no or dinarye counsail allowed her out of France could yet continually preuaile so much to the trobling of the state and deposing of the king here vvhat peril is it to dravv hether a brother vvho is to haue his ordinarye counsail and some gard of force and continuall-intelligence with the French king and is also to be a leader and executer of any deuise himselfe vvhich a French woman could not doe so vvell the daunger therefore in thys match is encreased beyond that in the former matches for there the party for or by vvhom the danger came vvas a vvoman and therefore
the morrovv after our mariage and Monsieur repare home as we may be svre he would into hys natiue country a larger and better kingdom then by all likelihode eyther must our Elizabeth goe vvith him out of her ovvne natiue country and svvete soyle of England vvhere she is Queene as possessor and inheritor of thys imperial crovvne vvithall regall rights dignities perogatiues pre heminences priuileges autorities and iuredictions of thys kingly office and hauing the kingrike in her owne person into a forrain kingdome vvhere her vvritt doth not runn shal be but in a borovved Maiestie as the moone to the sonn shining by night as other kings vvyues and so she that hath ruled all this vvhile heere shal be there ouer ruled in a straung land by some belledame not vvithout avve perhapps of a sister in lavv and vve hyr poore subiects that haue bene gouerned hetherto by a naturall mother shal be ouerlooked at home by some cruel and proud gouernour or els must she tary here vvithout comfort of her husband seing her selfe despised or not vvifelike esteemed and as an eclipsed son diminished in souereinty hauing such perhappes appoynted to serue hyr and be at her commaundement after the french phrase vvhich in playn English vvill gouerne her and her state In thys great matter vvhat an illuding ansvver is it agayn by the particular example of the king of Spayne to put avvay thys reason grounded vpon these tvvo generall rules The first is that a straunger mighty king brought into a realme to ayde them as vvas the Turke and his sarasins or vpon any lighter occasion vvill hardly be gotten out againe The second a straunger king dravven in by our sins and sent by Gods iustice for our punishment is not ridd vvithout Gods extraordinary help Novv syr because vve vvere once happily dispatched of Spayne therefore vve shall once againe commit thys gross follye and contemne that generall rule of policie And because the Lord in mercy dyd once deliuer vs from Spayn therfore vve vvill tempt him agayn by deliuering our selues into the hands of Fraunce Alas for these men if king Phillip had neuer maryed Queene Mary and if thys matter had ben to dispute xxvij yeeres agoe then had they had no one reason for theyr side nor no ansvver to escape any of our arguments and thys absurd manner of reasoning is very Macciauelian logick by particular examples thus to gouern kingdoms and to set dovvn general rules for his prince vvhereas particulars should be vvarranted by generals But there mayster vvrested hys vngratious vvit euer to the mayntenance of a present state and these foolish schoolers put forth theyr gross conceipts to the ouerthrovv of thys present in hope of I vvot not vvhat futur common vvealth of their ovvn head Some subtilty ther is also in this aunsvver that vvhen vve are to deliberate of Fraunce vvhych is the more nere and more auncient therfore more daungerous enemy to anoy vs vvith his forces and to hold vs if he once haue vs they bryng vs in example Spayn a more remote potentate an auncient friend one that vvas at that tyme of one religion vvith thys kingdom and therfore not so pricked to hasten some chaung in our state as thys man vvho being ledd by Antichrist must not endure vvith any patience that state vvher Christ is Moreouer our dispofitiō more ready to vvarr with Fraunce then vvith Spayn is holpē by more continual occasions giuē of both sides by more cōueniencie of means to perform sodenly vvhich vvill make them let no opportunity slyp that may bring so com bersome a neighbour vnder thē as vve are And better may they do it novv then might the king of Spayn then for thē was Spain at vvars with Fraunce neyther vvas it lyke that Fraunce would haue bene holden by any frendship while he should haue suffered a more pnissant neighbour set hys foote heere vvhom he might so easely let by helping vs But now is there no enemity betvvene Fraunce and Spayne to let thys practise they are of kin by the flesh and by theyr religion and the holy leage ties them togither in that respect as it vvere faggotstiks And in truth Spayn being so far and Fraunce so nere Fraunce hath great aduantage in thys cōparison and cannot be so letted of Spayne as Spayn may be by him These daungers vvherein this daungerous pactise of mariage vvrappeth Queen Elisabeth in hyrlyfe time and hyr England together alike vvill I doubt not moue those in authority to auoyd them and others that are priuate to pray against them most seruently But these calamities alas end not vvith thys age For wher as these persvvaders lay for a chiefe ground theyr certain expecting issue of hyr Maiesties body vpon thys match and the commodities therof ensuing therby perswading thys strange conceipt I vvill at once dispatch that reason that might be obiected agaynst me make it a chiefe argument for I esteeme it my second politique reason to diswade the French mariage especially If it may please her Maiestie to cal her faythfullest vvyse phisitians and to adiure them by their conscience tovvards God theyr loyalty to hyr and fayth to the whole land to say theyr knovvledg simply without respect of pleasing or displeasing any and that they consider it also as the cause of a realm and of a Prince how excedingly dangerous they find it by theyr learning for her maiestie at these yeeres to haue hyr first chyld yea hovv fearfull the expectation of death is to mother and chyld I feare to say vvhat wyll be theyr aunswer and I humbly besech hyr Maiesty to enforme hyrselfe throughly euen in hyr loue to the vvhole land whych holds deere hyr life and peace and vvhich as it hath hetherto deutifully sought hyr mariage whyle hope of issue vvas desiring it as the chiefest common wealth good and vvithall that feare God English or straunger vvould haue reioyced to see that the reigne of Queen Elizabeth might haue ben dravven foorth as I may say in hyr faythfull ligne yet dare we not novv otherwyse craue it but so as it might be by such afather as had a sound body and holy soule and yet not thē neither onles she may first find it to stand with her lyfe and safety And vvhen I think more earnestly of thys matter me thinkes it must needes come first of a verye French loue to our Queene and land to seeke thys mariage euen now so eagerly at the vttermost tyme of hope to haue issue and at the very poynt of most daunger to her Maiestie for childbearing whereby they think if her Maiestie haue issue to see eyther the mother die in childbedd vvhich the Lord forbid and the land left again as theyrs hath bene to an infant or els to see both mother and childe put in a graue and so the land left a spoyle to forrein inuasion and as a stack of vvood to ciuill vvars All is one to
thys matter For vvhat if some of these perswaders can talke a litle French and peraduenture haue none other Englishe cōmendation vvherein they excel theyr poore countrymen nor wherby to clymbe one step to that height they loke at yea what if they cold speak french naturally think they for a little french in they re tongues ende to be so much set by alas poore men how vainely they gape at french promises with losse of theyr Englishe possessions If they should haue theyr desire it vvold not be long before theyr tongues would make theyr harts ake It might be honiemoone awhile with them but aftervvard french would be no deinty dish and these seely interpreters vvere happye if they might quietly stand without the dore vvhatsoeuer therfore their estate is now it can not be so ill as that must needes be vnder them they shall know hovv sweete the onely freedome in a mans naturall common wealth is by experience of that irksome contrary to serue so waivvard a master as is he that by slight or force conquers vvho though he wyll loue well the dominion so gottē yet wil he neuer trust but esteeme vvith a vile estimation al those that helped him to it and scarce deeme them vvorthye to lyue in that land which they haue deliuered hym But the graund reason and mother argument of these perswaders is the gaynefull honorable and strong alliance which muste of necessity come by matching vvith the house of France wheron hangs an other dwainling daughter reason that great partye forsooth that Monsieur can make vs in that kingdome Touching eyther of whych reasons though I suppose they can say nothing for maintenance of theyr conceipt but that is alreadye in theyr seuerall places eyther expresly remoued or more then by the way ansvvered yet for theyr pleasures who think themselues neuer answered onles theyr reason haue an expresse reproofe I vvill be bould with the reader and a little passe order to obiect it against me selfe agayne and handle it a part First I demaunde of these aduenturous commonwealminglers vvhether they vveene thys strength and honor to be had in the lyfe of this king and if so then vvhither by hys ayde and friendly alliance if they say yea yt is contrary to that they say in an other odd reason of brideling the king who surely will neuer strengthen that vvhich must curbe him and it is proued also that if he and his brother ioyne in any thyng they vvyll doe it smally for englands good If they thynke thys great match of honorable strength in the present kings lyfe to be by reason of the great party onely that Monsieur can make in Fraunce without the king they are vvyde and litle think of tvvo other houses which according to the two chiefe factions in Fraunce haue most deuoute fauourers and addicted follovvers as men bene respectiuely mynded towardes them and theyr professions vvherof the one house can haue more exequutioners of any hys cruell determination to offer violence and the other more faythfull ayders and companions of lyfe and death in defence of theyr consciences liues and goods then euer Monsieur could bring into the field vvhen he ioyned hymselfe with the Malcontents eyther in Fraunce or the lovve conntryes or then euer he coulde haue either to rescue hym out of hys feyned restraint or to fall to hym for hys gard when he semed to ruun in some feare from the court Yea of these two partialities in Fraunce as vve haue no neede of hys helpe for vvinning vs the one part who be already in the feare of God christian loue so vnited to vs and in all leeful thinges so affectionate to the Queenes maiesty as there homeloyalty saued they vvysh her al prosperytie and long life to the glory of God and aduancement of the truth So is not Monsieur in such credit vvith the other factiō as he can gain vs ther harts For albeit that be his best side indeed yet is he of so smal reckoning among the papists that vnles the king will he shall not haue one great on so much as hys companion or counsaylor For looke into the gouernment of hys pryuate affayres and though he be a great prince the kinges brother yet hath he not one man of mark or of great credit that followes hym but a crew of vnruly youthes Yea when he takes any publike enterpryse in hand as that of Flaunders whych stode hym so much vpon in honor and whych vvas vvyth secrete intel ligence betvveen the king and hym and by collusion yet because the king could not for bewraying that counsail declare his vvyll ouertly and lyking to that voyage not one Lorde of name accōpanyed him And let vs beleue our eyes in this his woeng of England No doubt very good manners which he can not but knovv required as vvell in regard of hyr Maiestie as of hys own highnes some proportion to haue ben kept in the quality of his messenger sent to her Maiestie It is therfore vvant of hauing at his deuotion such as had ben meet for such an Ambassage Els had vve had an other manner of man and not thys I wot not vvhat who hath no credit in Fraunce but as a minion of Monsieurs whatsoeuer place he presently hath it is much increased euen since he came hether to vs and by the credit hereof In so much as I think scorne in hyr Maiesties behalfe and the whole land takes it as an old french frump that no worthyer or nobler person is emploied in so worthy and noble a message to our Queen But letting goe the poore party of Monsieur to be hoped for in Fraunce we wyll in sinuate the small valew therof by shewing in a word or two hovv little worth the accepting in alliance the house of Fraunce is eyther in thys present king as our brother or in Monsieur though he were reigning french king and which the Lord forbid out husband It is alteady proued that Fraunce is our auncient foe and that theyr very frendships haue proued enemityes to vs Here then we seeke to make a nevv frend of an old enemy such an one as vve may not trust as well for the non tryall of hys loue as for the often tryal of hys hatred I remember that Hector and Achilles are supposed to haue found the verye gifts of enemies to be deadly dangerous yea such gyfts as vvhen they had them made for theyr defence vvhereupon the Grecians had in prouerbe that enemies gyfts were no gyfts And if there be such a malicious influence of an enemy into his gyftes that they seeme as it were poysoned and can not be saufely taken out of hys hand especially by a prince Hovv can we without desperate daunger receiue into our bosom the old enemy hymselfe certainly we may take vp thys prouerb the truth therof is as authentike as that other of the Grecians by a much more stronge reason
credit emong the protestants in Fraunce as they vvould trust him for a leader and not hold him stil for a suspect could hys goodly aydes offered to the states in the low countryes vvith personall taking vpon him their defence preuaile so farr that he could come any farther vvithin them then that they could by their own forces vvel auoyde hym No no the hurtfull helpe of thys shiuering reede hath appeared by the euent in both countryes and that it is no staffe of trust Most vnhappy therefore are they that may take heede by others whose hands it hath hurt and vvill not But let vs against our con science admit Monsieur to be in this matter simply seely or simply bonest yet is he set a work and ruled by his brother and mother and this sute follovved for him vvith the manifest goodwyll of hys mother the motherpractiser of France VVith the winking of the pope vvho though against the mariage of the king of Nauarre to their sister and against Monsieurs voyage in to Flanders he sent his legat yet here he sits quiet vvhich is a token that hee lookes through his fingers This sute is pursued vvith the good alovvāce of the french king For Monsieurs messenger hath continuall conuersation at home and abroade and one table vvyth the kings Ambassador a thing playnely arguing the kings good liking and continuall intelligence vvith Monsieur for the proceedings herein The strange papistes and our rebelles are in deepe silence not one opens his mouth against this mariage Thys prince can not but eythe◠for loue or feare be great with the Guysian duke and in deede of very late more theu euer euen vvhen ît vvas sayd he should come ouer hither he vvas neerely in vvard and in deepe conferences vvith that duke vvho is to vs an enemy by kind and for neer consanguinity a fast friend to the late scottish Queen vvho is the most hidden and pestilent aduersary creature that liues to our Prince state The fayrest daugh ter of the pope and shotanchor of all papistes for as the holye league hath tyed all these great on s togither by oth and their duty to the pope vvhom they wyll not displease to hate to the death all religious princes so haue they voued it in the fourth degree agaynst our prince as chiefe support of religion and in vvhose life or death as they thinke dependes the exercise or not exercise of the Gospell in England and elsvvhere Againe besides theyr afectiō in many other respects to this late Scottish Queen they haue set her down as the onely loadestone that should drawe traytors together and rent our kingdome that should set vp I dolatrous altars from S. Michils mount to Barvvick and make al the Israel of England and Scotland to sinne Hyr iniurious challenges in Fraunce hir great and disloyall attempts in england hir confederacies vvith the Spanish Generalls or regents in Flaunders vvyl easely tell a wise man vvhat deuotion she hath to the Queene vvhat impatient greedines to snatch the crowne from hir heade by oportunity or importunity vvhich so euer come first There open and violent attemptes of this purpose haue bene by Gods grace frustrate as enemyes they can doe no thing agaynst hyr Maiestie Now must some great meane be vsed and that vndercloke of loue vvhich is euer the last popish practise From no place more fitly then out of Fraunce can they fetche thys instrument of our vvoe Fraunce is a neighbour therefore conuenient by the place It is a land ful of a vvell trayned soldiar hath all ready great numbers mustered that abyde but theyr vvatch vvord it is now at peace vvithall and therefore at leasure onles they vvyll make vvarrs to themselues for cruelty they are approued to execute any thing For treason they are so embrewed in blood as they are like to assent vnto what soeuer plat neuer so barbarous And thys is also a deuice fit ynough for such a soliciter as is that false Scot prelate Rosse mortall enemy hether vvho is presently in Fraunce and like ynoug hyr agēt to procure this deuise Yea onlesse vve our selues close our owne eyes vvee may see that it is a very french popish vvoeng to sende hyther smooth tongued Simiers to glose and glauer hold talk of mariage and yet in the meane while Iaques Fitzmaurice who hath bene in France and conuersant vvith Rosse and euen novv came immediatly thence into Ireland to inuade our Queenes dominion there and assemble the trayterous papistes in nomine domini domini papae Is it possible for the breath of mariage vvell meant to England and vvarr performed in Ireland to come out of one mouth She hath already cost vs ynough of our Englishe blood and she cares not though she make hauock of nobilitye people she seekes hyr own turne by hooke or crooke Aboue all the dangers to hir Maiestie I wold she had one that might eueryday cry vvith a loud voyce TAKE HEEDE OH ELIZABETH OF ENGLAND AND BEVVARE OF SCOTTISH MARY The Lord hyr God defend hyr from all hyr popish enemies Let other mens squaymish iudgements keepe them in vvhat temper of suspecting it lykes them I can not be so blockish but to thinke that it is more then lykely he comes for thys Mary to the end that vvhereas yf there be any rebellious papists at home which can do nought for want of a leader those fugitiue rebels abrode can doe nothing onlesse there be first some hurliburly in the land this man may be he vvhere they shall firste make head and so grovv into a body of rebelliō which aftervvard they meane to ayde vvith theyr forrein forces to the destruction of those foolish rebelles as vvell as of vs And though in truth with out flattery she be inferior to our Queene in all the best gyftes yet may I vvell ynough thinke that Monsieur vvyll stoope to hir as vvell as king Phillip theyr old example vvhome yet againe they vse euen here did stoop in Flaunders and other vvhere most lowly in that respecte and beyonde all curtesie euen in Queene Maryes lyfe yea I doe not see vvhy I should not make these gyfts and excellencies of our Queene so many arguments to proue great likelihood of impossibilitye to knit fast to hyr the mind of Monsieur so contrarily qualified For loue is a knitting of lyke myndes togyther first then of bodyes by accident And though foule bodyes be oft in loue vvith the outvvard beauty of others yet vvas there neuer foule vicious and Irreligious mind in loue vvith a vertuous and religious soule If any man yet againe thinks it an vnvvorthy suspition of so hygh a prince let hym heare once agayne that one of that brotherhood dyd compasse as vnvvorthy a purpose and all by laying to gage that vvorthines vvhych hys maiesty myght chalenge and by hys personall action vvhych he iudged no man vvould once suspect in a mariage of hys