the Name of Iesus or Christ through the whole work and the reason one gave was that they were not Latin words he puts the Sibylls works in the blessed Virgins hands and making no use of Esay or David he makes use of pagan prophets to prove the coming of Christ. But to leave these santastiques I will now be more serious and pry a little into the Canon-law which hath such a vogue in Italy It makes the Crown a slave to the Miter and the scepter to the crosier and the Emperours throne to the Popes chair Nay it lessens and distracts the allegeance of the subject to his natural rightfull prince For it is the concordant opinion of all the Canonists Imperij vasallos criminis Rebellionis Majestatis haud esse reos si pro Pontifice Romano adversus Imperatorem ipsum pugnent The vassalls of the Empire cannot be guilty of the crime of Rebellion if they take armes for the Roman Bishop against the Emperour And Bartolus himself who by Schurfius is called Magister veritatis the Master of truth by Menochius Iurisconsultorum signifer the standard-bearer of Reason by Natta Excellentissimus Doctor by others the Lantern of the Law the Guide of the Blind the Mirroir and Father of verity holding that his works are worthy to be bound with the Sacred Code averres the same in favour of the Pope though he poorely excuseth it that he held these tenets when he was engaged in the Roman Court. Moreover these Canonists are not only content to give his Holines the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven but also of the Kingdoms of Spain of Great Britain of France and indeed of all the Kingdoms upon earth There are some think there are Kingdoms likewise in the Air and he may as well pretend a power paramount over them also But let us see how the Pope came to this transcendency to this cumble and height of greatnes His first rise was when Constantin gave him Rome and it was a notable rise yet all others the Canonists excepted do question the validity of this donation and Aeneas Sylvius himself did so before he was Pope for said he Callidè id provisum a Pontifice It was cautiously provided by the Bishop of Rome that this should be alwayes under controversy whether that donation of Constantine was valid or not valid that such a donation might be presumed still to have been so the Popes are not much displeased that another question should be still litigated and that the Schools should ring with the debate Whether that power which the Bishop of Rome hath over Princes in temporalibus be directly or indirectly for the stating of the question it self presupposeth that he hath a power But many Princes not only those who have quite shaken off his yoke but others who still adhere to Rome have quite freed themselves of this servitude France did it long since in the clash that happen'd 'twixt Philip le bell and Boniface the eighth claiming a jurisdiction in Gallia over Temporals but the King wrote to him in these tart words Que ta tres-grande sottise scache Let thy great foolishnes know that in Temporals we are subject to none but to God himself and they who think otherwise are sots And Monsieur Nogaret going afterwards to Rome in quality of Ambassador and using some bold termes at his Audience the Pope upbraided him that his Father had been burnt for a Heretique thereupon Nogaret tooke him with a Gantlet which hee had on his hand such a cuffe under the eare that fell'd him It is memorable also in what termes the Greek Churches writ to Iohn the third who demanding plenitude of power over the Church universall sent him word Potentiam tuam summam circa tuos subditos firmiter credimus superbiam tuam summam tollerare non possumus avaritiam satiare non valemus Diabolus tecum Dominus nobiscum We firmely beleeve thy supreme power over thy own subjects but we cannot endure thy pride nor are we able to satiate thy covetousnesse The Devill be with thee and God with us It was an odde farewell Nor of late years touching the right to the Crown of Portugal would Philip the second though extremely devoted to the See of Rome stand to the decision of the Pope after the death of Henry of whom it is very memorable that he died the Moon being in an Eclipse and the very same day and hour that he had been born 68 years before No King Philip thought that the Sword was fittest to be Umpire in that business which he made accordingly Of such an opinion was Paul the third also for maintainance of his power for he was us'd to laugh at those who would make use of arguments to maintain the Pontifical power no he was us'd to say It is not the Word only but the Sword which must defend that good Garrisons Castles and Bastions must do it as well as Excomunications and Buls The Venetians of late years gave a shrewd wound to the Papal power through the sides of Paul the fifth when he had threatned them with spiritual Armes Nicolao Pontano the Doge or Duke a man of a free soul answered the Nuncio That if Rome would dart her thunderbolts so rashly verendum esse ne qui Graeci olim fuissent è Latio in Graeciam migrâssent it was to be feared that they who were Greeks of old might goe again from Italy to Greece meaning to the Greek Church In this quarrel the Pope had recourse to Spain for to appear in it and thereupon did much complement with the Duke of Lerma but a little under the dignity of a Pope He termed him Basin Hispanicae coronae super qua acquiescat Monarchia Catholica unicum Ecclesiae fundamentum He writ that Lerma was the support of the Spanish Crown upon which the Catholique Monarchy did rest the onely prop of the Church In the year 1337. Lodovicus Bavarus being Emperour there happen'd some contrasts 'twixt the Emperour and the Pope who alledged that the Electors made him King onely but he made him Emperour Hereupon at a solemn Diet this notable Sanction was enacted Sacrosanctum Imperium summa in terris potestas coeleste donum est Imperator enim primus ante omnes secundus post Deum est per quem leges jura regna humanae genti largitur aeterna Majestas tam grande nomen à solo Deo traditur cui soli me Reipub administrandae rationē reddendam habet A curiatis igitur Heptarchis rebus impositus continuò more Majorum atque jure gentium Rex est vocatur ipsum contra majestatem Reipub. decus Imperii legatos ad sacerdotem Romanum ut Author fiat copiam administrandi concedat mittere eidem jurejurando fidem astringere atque petere ab ipso usum regii diadematis Religio est Nullum harum rerum sus omnino est pastori qui servus ovium est in consecrando domino gregi servit quippe
could pardon those whom he hated most he might well pardon him whom he lov'd most And so made instance in Charles the Great who pardon'd his Son Pepin for a conjuration against his person and having attempted it the second time only committed him to a Monastery The King herupon answer'd that by the Law of Nature he was to love his Son but he lov'd Spain better therupon he put a question to them whether the pardon he shold give his Son would not prove a Sin rather then an Act of Mercy considering the publick calamities that might thence ensue therfore he asked them which was to be preferr'd the peoples good or his Son's They answered certainly the peoples So he transmitted him to that Councell conjuring them in his name who is to judg the Angells one day and will make no distinction twixt Kings and Coblers to do justice herin So the young Prince was adjudg'd and Sentence of Death passed upon him Good God! what passions did struggle in the Father when he was to sign the Sentence and t is his paternall affection to the chaire of Justice he was a Father therfore his affections could not grow to such a hatred but they might returne to their own nature But after many such conflicts he chose rather to be Pater Patriae then Pater Caroli to be Father of Spain then Father of a Son and make naturall respects yeeld to prudentiall So the young Prince dyed yet not by the Executioners hand but as 't was rumor'd by Poyson Thus to the consternation of all the world the Phosphorus of Spain fell to the West and suddenly set and divers of his Favorites with him if you desire to know the yeer this Cronogram will tell you fILIUs ante DIeM patrIos InqUIrIt In annes This Phillip was also famous for his Piety as well as Iustice which made Gregory the 13. to break out in these words The prolongation of my life can little availe the Catholick Church but pray for the health of King Philip for his life concerns her more He was wonderfully constant to himself he was always without passion and somtimes above them of a marvailous Equanimity and Longanimity witness his patience in his sicknesses wherof he had many but that which brought him to his grave was the Pediculary disease which though nasty and gastly yet he endur'd it with invincible patience When he found his glasse almost run out he sent for his Son and Daughter and upon his death-bed told them In this small afflicted body you see to how small a threed the pomp and splendor of all Earthly Magnitude doth hang my Mortall life is upon departing the care of my Sepulchre and rites of exequies I commend unto you with my blessing Among many other ther is one remarkable passage in this Kings life when the Duke of Alva was upon point of going to Portugall he had a great desire to kisse the Kings hand but to the amazement of all the world he was denyed at that time which made the Duke to say that his Master had sent him to conquer Kingdoms being tyed with chains and fetters His Son Philip the second did equall him in Piety and in nothing els we know what a Saint-like man he was having his Beads alwayes either about his neck or in his hands I will hold you no longer only I will tell you that the Kings of Spain more then any other have don miraculous and immortall things For as God almighty when he builds creates no lesse then a world When he is angry sends no lesse then an universall deluge When he conferrs grace to mankind sends no lesse then his own Son When he rewards gives no lesse then Paradise when he warrs employs no lesse then Legions of Angells and makes the Elements to fight the Sea to open and the Sun to stand so if finite things may beare any proportion with infinity the Kings of Spain are borne to do no petty things but mighty matters When they build they erect no lesse then an Escuriall If they are angry they drive forth whole Nations as the Moores and the Iews If they reflect upon the publique good they sacrifice no lesse then their own Sons If they desire to oblige any they restore Kings as Muleasses to Tunis and make Popes of their Schoolmasters when they take armes then they conquer not only whole Kingdoms but new Worlds Therfore my dearest Brother Frederique Achilles and you most Illustrious Cosens and Auditors I think I shall derogat from no other Region if taking King and Countrey together I preferr the Spaniard for glory and amplitude of Dominions for fulgor of Majesty for the longest arm'd Monark for Men and Mines for Iles and Continents I say I do no wrong to any if I prefer him before any other Prince or Potentat upon the earthly Globe DIXI THE ORATION OF The Lord GEORGE FREDERIQUE Baron of LIMBURG and Hereditary Officer to the Sacred Roman Empire and allwayes Free Against SPAIN Most Illustrious Prince and President c. WE have hitherto delivered sundry opinions wheron ther have been many learned and Rhetoricall descants I observe allso ther are som divorcements and discrepancies in the said opinions But for my particular suffrage I will preferr France before any Province of the Europaean world and if I shold attempt to speak more then hath bin presented by that high-born Prince Duke Ioachim Ernest upon this subject it wold be an argument of rashnes in me and so I shold incurr no small hazard of my reputation Me thinks I see Ciceno before me and saying Illam Orationem solùm populus Gallicus parem Imperio suo habet France hath that Oration alone equall to her Empire But though ther was much spoken of Spain by that noble Prince Duke Magnus of Wirtemberg yet I will endeavour to shew that Spain doth not deserve either the Elogium or love of so great a Prince in so high a degree For as shadows use to make bodies bigger then they are really in bulk so it seemes his affection hath made Spain more then she is in intrinsique value For truly unlesse I be stark blind I find Spain to be the most unhusbanded and the sterillest Country of Europe the thinnest of peeple the fullest of fruitlesse Hills which they call Sierras and are indeed no better then Wildernesses In so much that though she be so scant of Inhabitants yet hath she not Bread enough to put into the mouths of the sixt part of them So that unlesse she be very ingratefull and impudent she must acknowledge Germany and France to be her Nources and Sicily her Barn as she was somtimes to the Romans And among these ther was a computation made once of foure millions of tresure that France receav'd that yeer from Spain for Corn in Pistolls and Patacoons which made Henry the fourth say that the great store of tresure which Spain hath discovers her necessity as well as her plenty because she
Spain expand themselfs further The Sun doth perpetually shine upon som part of the Phillippean Monarchy for if it sets in one clime it then riseth in another He hath dominion on both the Hemisphers and none of all the four Monarchies could say so much nor any Potentat now living but himself Therfore he may well joyn the Sphear of the world to his armes and better share Empires with Iove then Augustus Caesar could his Scepter points at the four Cardinal corners of the world East West North and South for of those 360. degrees in the Aequinoctiall Portugall alone is said to occupie 200. Iupiter in coelis in Terra regnat Iberus Most Illustrious Auditors you have hitherto heard the magnitude of the Spanish Monarchy but that which tends most to the glory of Spain is her policy and prudence in governing so many distinct Regions so many squandred Kingdoms so many millions of people of differing humours customes and constitutions To be able to Rule so many Nations is more then to raign over them the one is imputed to the outward strength of bodies the other to the Sagacity of the brain but for Spain her self ther is that sweet harmony twixt the Prince and peeple the one in obeying the other in bearing rule that it is admirable and here the Spanish King hath the advantage of all other Imperando parendo He is neither King of Asses as the French is nor the King of Devills as the English is nor the King of Kings as the Emperour glories to be but the King of Spain is Rex Hominum the King of Men he may also be termed the King of Princes according to the Character which Claudian gives Spain that she was Principibus faecunda piis There also as he signs Fruges aeraâ—…ia Miles Vndique conveniunt totoque ex orbe leguntur Haec generat qui cuncta regunt Therfore let Candy the Cradle of Iove let Thebes the Mother of Hercules and Delos the nurse of two Gods yeeld to Spain It was she who brought forth Trajan to the world who was as good as Augustus was happie she gave Hadrian the Emperour she gave Theodosius the first and the first of Emperours for Morality and Vertue who rays'd and rear'd up again the Roman Monarchy when she was tottering Ferdinand the first who was an Infant of Spain a Prince who for liberty and justice for mansuetude and munificence for assiduity and vigilance for piety and peace was inferiour to none of his progenitors and to this day they keep in Spain the Cradle and Rattles he us'd when he was a child in Complutum where he was born which Town enjoyes to this day some speciall immunities for his Nativity there But Spain gave all these Princes to other Nations how many hath she affoorded her self she gave Ferdinand of Aragon a Prince of incomparable piety and prowesse who first lay'd the foundation of the Spanish Monarchy by matching with Donam Isabella Queen of Castile a heavenly Princesse she gave Philip the second call'd the prudent and so he was to a proverb how cautious was he in administration of Justice how circumspect in distribution of Offices how judicious in rewarding of Men c. how wary in conferring of honors for he was us'd to say that honors conferred upon an unworthy man was like sound Meat cast into a corrupt Stomack What a great example of Parsimony was he yet Magnificent to a miracle witnes the eighth wonder of the world the Escuriall which stupendous fabrick he not only saw all finished before his death though the building continued many yeers but he enjoy'd it himself twelve yeers and carried his own bones to be buried in the Pantheon he had built there He was so choyce in the election of his Servants that he had no Barber for his Ambassador nor Taylor for his Herald nor Physition for his Chancellor as we read of Lewis the XI of France nor a Faukner to his chief Favorit as the last French King had But that which was signall in this wise K. was that he never attempted any great busines but he wold first refer it to the Councel of Conscience And before the Acquisition of Portugall he shewed a notable example hereof For King Sebastian being slain in a rash War against the Moores and Henry dying a little after ther were many Candidates and pretenders for the Lusitanian Crown first Philip himself then Philibert Duke of Savoy after him Farnessius Duke of Parma then Iohn Duke of Bragansa and lastly Katherine de Medici King Philip though t was in vain to compasse this businesâ—… by Legations therfore he did it with his Legions yet he paus'd long upon the busines referring it to the debate of the learnedst Theologues and Civill Doctors where it was eventilated and canvas'd to and fro with all the wit and arguments the brain of man could affoord pro con At last the title and right being adjudg'd for him and having fairly demanded it in a peaceable way and being put off he raiseth an Army answerable to the greatnes of the work and yet being advanc'd to the borders he made a halt and summons again both Divines and Civillians to deliver their knowledg and consciences herin conjuring them by God and the sacred Faith to do it with integrity and freedom Herupon they all unanimously concur'd in the confirmation of their former judgment as Ripsius doth testifie After this great transaction he sends the Duke of Alva with an army to take possession of his right wherin he was so prosperous that he invaded survay'd and subjugated the whole Kingdom of Portugall in a very short time utterly defeating Don Antonio whom though King Philip might have surpriz'd a good while before lurking in a Monastery yet he would not do it Besides he caus'd the Duke of Bragansa's Son being Captif among the Moores to be redeem'd at his own charge and when he could have detained him yet he suffer'd him to go where he would Now having debell'd and absolutely reduc'd the Kingdom of Portugall among many others who were his Opposers the Doctors of Conimbria were most busy yet he sent them not only a generall pardon but encreased the exhibitions of the University This mighty King was also a great Lover of his Countrey preferring the publick incolumity therof before his own bloud his only Son Charls who being a youngman of a restles ambitious spirit and being weary of the compliance he ow'd his Father was us'd to carry Pistolls ready cock'd about him in the day and put them under his pillow in the night He confest to his ghostly Father that he had a purpose to kill a Man and being denied absolution from him he desir'd that he would give him unconsecrated bread before the Congregation to avoid publick offence King Philip being told of this confin'd his Son and put him over to the Councell of the Inquisition The Councell deliver'd their opinion and humbly thought that since his Majesty
For the Pole is naturally a stout man that will neither be softned with pleasure nor dismay'd by danger a death bravely purchas'd he holds to be an immortality and a life disgracefully preserv'd to be worse then any death He is more careful to keep his Honor then life as according to Cromers testimony near the Town of Streme there is a hill where Pots Caudrons and other Vessells are found naturally so shapen though they be soft within the Earth but being digged out they quickly incrustrate and grow hard when they are expos'd to the cold air so the Pole is naturally shap'd for a soldier in his Mothers womb but confirm'd afterwards by the severe discipline of his Parents He feares the clashing of armes no more then the wagging of oken leaves or the bubbling of waters And herein they retain still the genius of the Great Piastus who as by probity and justice he got the Kingdom at first so his Ospring conserv'd it by succession for 500. years The women there also are indued with a masculine courage for by the old constitution of Poland no maiden was to marry till she had kill'd three enemies in the field but Piastus abolished this custom and commanded women to exercise themselves in matters more consentaneous to their sex We read that Augustus Caesar gave in command to Lentulus his Ambassador that he should not disquiet the Sarmatian for if he were once provoked he would not understand what peace was afterwards so the Danube did put limits to the so prosperous Augustus and the Pole did terminate his progresse All this is confirm'd by that disticke of Ovid who was banished thither Maxima pars hominum nec te pulcherrima curat Roma nec Ausonij militis armatimet Good Lord what Victorious Kings hath Poland had Ziemovit did debell the Hungarians Bohemians Pomeranians and made them all tributary Boleslaus Chrobri subdued the Russe bridled the Prusse chastised the Saxons and upon the frontires of his Dominions erected brazen Pillars after his death all Poland mourned a whole year all which time there was neither feasting nor dancing What shall I say of Boleslaus the third who fought 50. battailes and was Victor in all In his time the Emperor Otto the third made a Pilgrimage to Poland to visit the body of Saint Adalbertus which Boleslaus had redeem'd from Prusse Pagans and it was to expiate a crying sin that he had committed which was thus The Empresse being light she caressed an Italian Count so farre that she offered him the use of her body which he refusing out of a malitious indignation like Pharo's Wife she accus'd the said Count that he would have forc'd her whereupon he was arraigned condemned and executed but before his death he discoverd the whole series of the businesse to his Wife A little after a great Sessions in Roncalias appointed to right Orphans and Widdows the Countess came before the tribunal and brought her husbands head under her vest so desiring leave of Caesar to speak she ask'd what punishment did he deserve that took away another mans life Otto answered no lesse then death Then O Emperor you have condemned your self who have taken away my guiltlesse husband and behold here his head and because there wants proof in so private a cause I will undergoe the Ordeal the fyrie tryal which the Countesse having perform'd without any hurt the Empresse Maria Augusta who had accus'd the Count was brought and condemned to be burnt which was done accordingly And the Emperor gave the Countesse Dowager 4. Castles in fuller satisfaction To make further atonement for this offence the said Emperor Otto came to Poland upon a Pilgrimage and Boleslaus came 7. miles to meet him the way being cover'd with cloth of divers colours all along Hereupon the Emperor for so Signal a favour did solemnly create Boleslaus King and his Companion and a friend of the Roman Empire declaring him free from all tribute and jurisdiction for ever But to come to more Modern times What a man of men was Sigismund the first you know most noble Princes that the Persians doe cry up Cyrus the Macedonians Alexander the Great The Germans Charlemagne for heroique and valiant Kings The Athenians cry up Miltiades Cimon Alcibiades Thrasybulus Phocio and others The Lacedemonians their Pausanias Lysander and Agesilaus The Thebans Epaminondas and Pelopidas The Carthaginians cry up Hamilcar Hannibal and Asdrubal The Romans do celebrate their Fabios their Scipios Lucullus and Caesar for strenuous and incomparable Captaines 'T is true they might be so but they had to deal with soft effeminate people But the Polonian Sigismund had to doe with the toughest the most intrepid and fiercest Nations of the Earth and a most favourable gale of fortune did blow upon him throughout the whole Progresse of his life and actions He tugg'd with Mechmet the Moscovian Emperor whom Amurath the 3. acknowledg'd to be one of the greatest Warriers in the World and got the better of him He wrastled with the grim Tartars with the furious Valachians and layed them on their backs He cop'd with the Great Turk who glories in a perpetuity of Victorship and foild him more then once Nay he had divers Praeliations with us Germans and took from us the spacious Provinces of Livonia and Prussia which not without a foule blemish to Germany he added to the Crown of Poland And although the people of those Countries have often solicited our Diets and put the German Emperors in mind of the avulsion and losse of those Countries yet we have thought it better to leave the quarrel alone because there is nothing to be got by the Pole but knocks for the Poleax is a terrible weapon Now touching the strength of the King of Poland you know that for Cavalry he is the potentest Prince of Europe Thuanus the Frenchman confesseth that the King of Poland can bring to the field in Noble men and Gentry alone which are bound to serve him so long time upon their own charge above a hundred and fifty thousand men of all sorts of Arms. The name of Cosacks is formidable all the World over And although they are cryed up to be freebooters fighting onely for plunder I will rectifie your opinion in that by a late pregnant example in the Ivonic War for having taken the General of the Enemie Prisoner although there was offer'd 6. times his weight twice in Gold thrice in Silver and once in Jewells yet this would nothing at all move the valiant Cosacks Now for the Nobility of Poland it is numerous and antient nay there be good Authors affirm that the great families of Italy the Ursins the Colonni the Ialians the Gastaldi are originally of a Lituanian race There are in Poland the Radivils the Ostrogians the Starasians the Tarlons the Herburtons with 30. princely families more All this considered most noble Princes Poland may well come in and stand in competition for the principality of Europe but verbum non
amplius addam THE ORATION OF THE Lord AC ACIUS AXELIUS against POLAND Most judicious and Excellent President and Princes THE Oration that was pronounc'd before was too long and prolix considering the poornesse and tenuity of the Subject but to me it was too brief and concise considering the Eloquence and strength of the stile I will not say it was like those ranting speeches that are usually made upon the Theaters of Italy who use to make an Ox of a Bee or a Mountain of a Mole-hil when they speak in commendation of the vertue of their Balsams to advance the vent of them But I wonder what should come into the mind of the Noble Orator before me to extoll Poland so hyperbolically sure it was to trie what he could doe upon so bare and barren a Subject As we reade that Archippus fell a praising the shadow of an Asse and Passeratius the Asse himself as Glaucus fell in praise of injustice Polycrates and Isocrates of Busiris Hâ—…ttenus of the Fever or as Maro fell upon the praise of a Flea Synesius of Baldnesse Pickhennerus of the Gout Libanius of an Ox Diocles of a Rape â—…ierius of Poetical poverty Mirandula of Barbarism Salerius of Drunkennesse Lucian of a Fly Dion of a Parrat Mayoragius of Dirt or as Erasmus fell upon the praise of Folly and Heinsius of a Louse to make experiment of their inventions what they could say upon such small theames But to make Poland contest either with Germany France Spain Italy or Great Britain for superiority and worthynesse were to make Vatinius and Cicero competitors for one preferment or Arachne to contend with Pallas who was the best Spinstresse Now touching Poland let the report of those French Gentlemen that attended the Duke of Aniou thither to be King be heard who questionlesse found the best things that Poland could afford They at their return to France put her forth in such illfavoured colours that possibly could be They said she was the proper seat and perpetuall domicile of all barbarism and misery Therefore it was superfluoâ—…s labour for them to passe a decree that no French should have a faculty granted him to purchase any Stable possession in Poland for none of them was of so abject a mind or fortune that would be Great Duke of Lituania Let us take a survay of the fertillest piece of the Country which is Podolia and what is it but a harsh and a hard stony soyl that a yoak of ten Oxen are required most commonly to plough up the Earth Then the cold is there so violent that water thrown but a yard or two high into a baâ—…on will freeze in the air before it descends But this extemity of cold hath been sometimes advantagious to the Country for one year there râ—…sh'd in an Army of 70 thousand Turkes but there hapned such a terrible frost upon a suddain that 40. thousand of them starv'd for the rigor of the frost and some of them were found wrap'd in Horses bellies Which did strike such a Religion into the Mahumetan that he thought the Pole and Russe were protected by Heaven Touching â—…amogitia a large part of the Kingdom it is such that the very Nobles there dwell in Cottages What shall we thinke then of the Commonnalty Touching the Vertues of the Pole I will begin first with Religion and where is she hous'd so poorly as in Poland Where is she more mix'd with prophannesse Near Vilna one of their Capital Cities the Mahumetan Tartar doth observe his rites Nay between Lituania and Samogitia there are many who attribute a divinity to a kind of Serpents which in their language are call'd Givoijtos they carry them home and a certain time of the year they offer Sacrifices unto them they provide them meat and if those Penates or houshold Gods of theirs do not eat it is an Omen of ill luck and presageth calamities Nay I will not tell so Princely an Auditory a falshood in some places of Russia Lituania and Samogitia the Country people towards the latter end of October do provide Oblations and Holocausts for the Devill They use to meet in some Baâ—…n or Stable and bring thither a Calf a Hogge a Cock and Hen with other creatures to make an immolation of them and when they are kill'd to that purpose their Priest or Inchant or whispering out some words doth strike the ground with his staffe and cryes out the whole brigade keeping tone with him in pronouncing these words O God Zeimminick for so they call the Devill These things we offer unto thee and render thee thanks that thou hast vouchsafed to conserve us this year in safety and health And now we pray thee be pleas'd to defend us for the future from Fire Iron the Pestilence and from our Enemies Then they take the flesh of those slain Animalls and eat them throwing first into the four corners of the roome some morsells and pronouncing these words Haec O Zeimmenick nostra Holocausta suscipe comede benignus O Zeimmenick accept of these our sacrifices and eat favourably Now I beseech you how can we think that Christ can cohabit or be found with those infernall and Reptill Gods Moreover the Samogitians are so given to superstition that whereas it was the old custom of that Country to till the ground with wooden Ploughes and Culâ—…ers and that the Governor of one of their Provinces brought them the use of iron Plough-shares for the ease of the labourer and that some years after by an unusuall distemper of the air they had a dear year or two They threw away their iron ploughshares and fell to the old wooden ones again attributing a kind of divinity unto them and unluckinesse unto the other Though the rest of the Polonique people be not infected with such grosse Idolatry yet they are as grossly ignorant as any Christians on Earth can be Few of them can say the Lords Prayer or know what the ten commandements are they leave that to their Landlords and Priests it is enough for them to believe by an implicit faith in God Almighty and his Son Iesus Christ and the holy spirit touching more knowledge it belongs to Princes and Great men Now for the Masse of common people They are meer slaves unto the Gentry and worse then the Peasants of France a Landlord may come into any husbandmans house attended with a hungry train of followers and there do or take away what he will without any controllment Nor do the Country people refrain from their ordinary labour upon the Lords day but they plough and harrow they digge and delve as upon other daies hereupon a stranger asking one of them why he laboured upon the Sunday Because said he I must eat upon the Sunday The Landlords there have not only a Despoticall but Regal power over their Tenants having power of life and death which slavish custom Vitoldo Duke of Lituania brought in among them who was such a Tyrant that
few dayes by us And this we have don without incurring any inconveniences or hazards at all either of difficult wayes incursion of theeves stumbling of horses hard fare illfavour'd lodgings or crossing of Seas with those nomberles incommodities which we know are incident to perigrination and journeying in forrein Countries And now me thinks you expect with earnestnes and a kind of impatience that I shold deliver my opinion touching the question which hath bin controverted so many dayes and canvas'd to an fro with such high straines of Rhetoric and Energie of wit in so many fluent Orations swelling with such high tides of Eloquence and learning But I humbly desire to be excus'd herein you know 't is a rule of morallity all the world over that Comparisons are odious Besides under favour neither the place nor persons of this Assembly are fit to passe a definitive sentence hereof We are all Germans and do what we can we must be a little indulgent to our own Countrey by an irresistible instinct of Nature All Regions have som advantage or other to make them lift up their crests Let Germany glory that she hath the Prince Paramount of Christendom for her perpetuall guest that Caesar keeps his Court in her Let Spain be the Queen of Mines France of Men let Great Britain be the Queen of Iles Italy the Queen of Policy with all sorts of Elegancies let it be granted that the French and Pole are best a Horseback the Englishman and Hollander upon a deck the Spaniard at a siege the Italian in a Treaty the Hungarian upon a rampart c. Every Nation hath a particular aptitude to somthing more then another and this by the common decree of Nature who useth to disperse her benefits and not powre them all together upon any one peeple And now most splendid and magnificent Princes my most dear Cosens and Compatriots how shall I pay that due tribut of gratitude which I confesse to have made my self liable unto for this noble and vertuous Congress truly no words are strong enough to expresse my self herin unlesse they were couch'd in such patheticall and gallant Orations which have bin formerly framd All that I can say and desire for the present is that you would please to accept of a lipp-payment only which yet is cordiall untill som happy encounter may afford me an opportunity to return som reall acknowledgment In the interim most noble and hopefull Princes well may your Soules fare may your Vertues encrease and your Fame flourish to all posterity FINIS A particular of such matters as were debated in this German Diet. A A Buse of forren Travell 3. in the pro. sage advise to a Traveller 4. fol. ibid. Abbot of Fuldo the greatest of Christendom he furnish'd the Emperour with 60000 fighting men 9. In that Abbacy 600. Gentlemen were usd to be bred and 30. Doctors to teach them 10. Auspurg famous for Goldsmiths 13. The admirable wooden Eagle made by Regiomontanus to the life 14 All the old famous Artists musterd up among the Greeks and Romans 14 A notable passage 'twixt Albertus Magnus and Thomas Aquinas 14 All the famous Printers numbred 15 Antwerp characteriz'd 16 Acostas opinion of the Torrid Zone 17 One of Aristotles Errors 17 Augustus Caesar and Tiberius drank most commonly German wines 18 Annwerp erected the first Burse 20 Of Ariovistus the valiant German his stout answer to Caesar 22 Above 19 millions of soules in Germany not counting Denmark and Bohemia as Boterus affirms 25 A notable passage of Babo Count of Aheneberg 25 Andaluzia from Vandales 26 Augustus Caesar twise defeated by the Germans call'd Lolliana and Variana clades 25 A memorable passage in Constantinople touching one of the Emperours Ambassadors 26 The ancientest race of Noblemen is in Germany 26 of Artemisia and her wonderfull love to her husband 2 The answer of a Pole why he held the plough on Sunday 7 A notable example of poysning us'd in Poland and the fearfull judgment that ensued thereupon 8 Aurelianus the Emperour kill'd 48. men in one day in the field 12 Attila characteriz'd 18 his death 19 A wise Answer of an Archbishop of Colen to the Abbot of Fuldo 19 S. Augustins wish 28 A Calabrian hath nothing but the shape of a man in him 36 A shrewd judgment of a learned Frenchman touching Italy 42 Aquitaine daintily describ'd by Salvianus and Province by Boterus 38 Aristotle fouly err'd when he writes that there are no Asses in France 53 The Duke of Anjous miscarriage in the Netherlands he was made Governor by Queen Eliz letters 59 Of the French disease 59 The French Nation censur'd They have whirlwinds in their brains quicksands in their breasts characters given of them by the Ancients 59 French Kings not liable to pay the debts of their predecessors examples produc'd 59 A nasty leprous French peeple call'd Capotts dwelling in Bearn 59 The Invincible Armada in the yeere 88 describ'd 39 Of Prince Arthur his character in verse 41 Mr. Arondel of Warder how he came to be Count of the Empire his patent 42 Ausonius his character of a salmon 46 His opinion of the Britains 53 Adrian the fourth an Englishman his haughtines 55 Anne of Bullen taunted in France 56 Of the Abuse of Tobacco 56 An Apologie for human infirmities 45 The advantages of divers Countreys 51 An Apologie for the Popes and the Cardinalls 49 Another for Italy 50 The Atheisticall life and saying of a German Prince 36 Of Amsterdam 35 Of the Austrian Family 29 B BOdins notable description of Germany 10 Berchtoldus Swartzius a Franciscan first Inventor of gunpowder 14 Bezas Epigram of Aldus Manutius the Printer 15 Boterus his opinion of the German Cities 16 Of Bachrag wines 18 The benefit Holland makes of her milk may compare with Bourdeaux wines or Lisbons spices 19 Biscopius a Welch Monk made five pilgrimages to Rome and us'd to bring with him some choice Artists 23 Bonâ—…inius preferrs Austria before Italy 35 The bad Popes censur'd 37 Bembo's prophanesse 38 Of a Bishop that died by keeping in his wind backward at a feast 41 Beatrix Emp Barbarossa's wife barbarously usd in Milan the Emperor had his full re venge 42 The Britains of the Gallic or Wallic race 42 Bodin censur'd 60 Great Britain characteriz'd 33 Her advantagâ—…ous situation 33 Her seas as fruitfull as her shores 33 Her character in verse 33 Her character by Eumenius to Constantin the Great 33 The progresse that her Fish makes about her throughout the yeer with her severall seasons of fishing 34 Britain a microcosm of herself 34 Of the Inhabâ—…tants of Britain 34 Britain had the first Christian King and Emperour 36 Britain branded by Porphyry 36 The old Britons or Welsh the greatest planters of Christianity 36 Most of the famous men of Britain ancient and modern musterd up 37 Boniface his ill report of the English 50 Britain hath the best Cocks and Doggs 51 The Baths of Germany 36 Bartolus saying