carry'd to Chastillon in which there would be less danger then to stay in a place where they and all their Friends would be suddenly destroy'd and so the next day left the City This was carry'd to the Queen-Mother by a persidious Person in the Assembly one Bouchavannes Upon which both she and her Party being press'd for time they resolv'd to delay the Execution of their Design no longer then the next night So that the Cabinet Council being met it was resolv'd That not only the Persons of Quality of the Religion should be Kill'd but that every one of what Condition soever that were of that Profession should be Massacred There was a long Debate whether the King of Navar and the Prince of Conde should perish among the rest But as for the King of Navar it was thought contrary to the Laws of Hospitality and of Nature to murther a Prince that was now so nearly ally'd to the King. But for the Prince of Conde the Duke of Nevers who had marry'd his Wife's Sister interpos'd so vigorously for him that at length he prevail'd for the sparing of his Life But for the rest it was agreed on to raise the City of Paris and set then on upon the Party The Conduct of which was committed to the Duke of Guise who first imparted his Design to the Guards and order'd them to keep a strict Watch both about the Loure and the Places where the Admiral and his Friends were lodg'd that none might escape Then assembling the Chief Magistrates and Officers of the City at Midnight in the Town house he gave them to unâ—â—â—stand that the King was resolv'd to destroy the Heretics that had so long distracted the Kingdom That therefore they should repair every one to his Quarter and have all People in readiness with the greatest secresie that might be and that they should provide Torches and Flambeaus in a readiness to light out at their Windows That the Sign should be a white Linnen Sleeve on the Left Arm and a white Cross in their Caps and upon tolling the great Bell of the Palace which should be done near the break of day they should light their Torches and march In the mean time the King was under great Irresolutions The Horror of the Fact the Infamy that would attend it and the Danger he might be in if it either miscarry'd or were not fully executed fill'd him with great Confusion But the Queen who had overcome all the Persuasions of Tenderness and Pity which are natural to her Sex so soon as she heard of it hastned to him and wrought him so effectually that in the end she prevail'd and caus'd the King to swear bloodily that he would go through with it Which done the Queen being impatient and fearing a turn in the King's Mind caus'd the Bell of St. Germans forthwith to be toll'd which was the Warning for tolling that of the Loure This Fatal Sign was given upon the morning of the twenty fourth day of August being Sunday and St. Bartholmews day Upon which in a short time with so much Diligence the Blood-suckers had hasten'd their Preparations above three score thousand Men were in Arms. The Duke of Guise with his Uncle Aumale hasten'd with the first such was their eager desire of Revenge to the Admirals Gate which upon call was soon opened by Cosseius who kept Guard there on purpose the more easily to betray him and then the Murderers killed the Porter and broke into the Court where the King of Navars Switzers being overpowr'd by number after some Resistance the Murderers to the number of seven all in Armour broke into the Admirals Chamber and finding him up and in his Night-gown Besme that had bin one of the Duke of Guises Grooms advanced towards him and having first thrust him into the Belly cut him over the face upon which he fell and then the rest pierc'd him with their Swords till he was quite dead The Duke of Guise being below in the Court-yard and hearing the noise called to the Murderers to throw him out at the window which Besme and another did At what time when he was down the Duke or Angoulesme wiped his face disfigured with blood to see if it were he indeed and perceiving it was he trampled upon his Belly and so went away An Italian cut off his Head and carryed it first to the Queen Mother then Embalmed it and sent it to Rome After this all the Ignominy and Barbarity imaginable was exercised about the dead Carkass His hands and fingers were cut off his Body dragged about the Streets thrown in the Sein and hang'd up in Chains his feet uppermost But some days after Montmorancy caused it to be taken down secretly and buried in his Chappel at Chantilly This done the Duke of Guise ran out into the Streets crying aloud that it was the Kings command they should go on and finish what they had begun And then it was that the Multitude was let loose to murder all that were of the Religion for which the Plunder of their Houses was to be their own After which ensued the most enraged and cruel Massacre that ever was heard of It exceeded all that either the Heathen had done or all their Poets had faign'd while every Man seem'd a Fury and as if they had bin transformed into Wolues and Tigres out did the cruelty of Beasts Twenty Lords of Note Twelve hundred Gentlemen and Ten thousand others were all killed No Age or Sex was spared Husbands and Wives were Murthered in one anothers Arms after they had seen their Children killed at their feet One of these Miscreants butcher'd an Innocent Babe as it was playing with his Beard Men of Four-score were not permitted the small Remainder of their Lives but hewn down before their time Nor did a single death satisfy their brutish Rage but they made the poor Creatures dye many deaths before death releived them Those that fled to the Tops of their Houses were made to leap down into the Streets where they were knockt on the head like Dogs Such as thought to escape through dark Passages were either immediately kild or driven into the Seine where the blood-thirsty Papists took pleasure in killing and drowning them according to Art. The Streets ran Blood and the Loure it self was full of Blood and the dead Carkasses of those whom the King of Navar and Prince Conde had brought along with them for their security But where they expected a Sanctuary they found a Massacre Thus were the Protestants destroyed in Paris with a Treachery and Cruelty which the most Barbarous of Nations had never shewed one to another Nor had the Heathen bin ever guilty of any like it towards the Christians The President which the Church of Rome had shewn in the Massacre of the Albigenses was the likest thing to it in History for Barbarity But never had Treachery and Cruelty met together in such a manner till this Execrable day Soon after a
the Priestly Order that they forg'd Articles of Heresie against him and got him committed to the Lollards Tower where he was murthered by Dr. Horsey the Bishop's Chancellor who to colour the Murther gave out that he had Hang'd himself But the Citizens not so satisfied demanded that the Coroner might sit upon him Which startling the Bishop and his Chaplains it was resolv'd that the Bishop should proceed Ex Officio against the Dead Body supposing that if the Party were once condemn'd of Heresie the Inquest durst not then but find him guilty of his own Death But notwithstanding the terrible Condemnation of the dead Body Dr. Horsey and his Accomplices were found Guilty of the Murther So that had not the Bishop labour'd with Cardinal Woolsey in the Doctor 's behalf to take away the Scandal from the rest of the Clergy he had had his deserts the next Sessions In this Lollards Tower it was that Bloody Bonner imprison'd several of his Captives where they were enforc'd not only to a single but a double Captivity not only enclos'd within the Walls of the said Tower but forc'd to sit with their Hands and Feet in Stocks on purpose provided within the said Prison With which inhuman dealing and for want of Food no less then three at once were famish'd to Death and by the Tyrannical Bishop commanded to be cast like Dogs into the Fields For such is the Mercy of Popish Charity that they will not allow so much as Christian Burial to Heretics His very Parlour and his Orchard at Fulham did the inraged Bishop turn into Places of Execution For the Bishop being inraged at the Constancy of one Thomas Thomkins a Weaver who was his Prisoner at Fulham sent for him one day into his Parlour in the presence of Dr. Harpsfeild Pendleton and Chadsey At what time the poor Man standing stifly in defence of his Faith the cruel Bishop having a Wax-Candle of three wicks standing by him upon his Table took him by the Fingers and held his Hand directly over the Flame till the Veins shrunk and the Sinews burst insomuch that the Water spurted forth in Harpsfeild's Face In the like manner did the Bishop serve a poor pitiful blind Harper who being brought before him for a Heretic presently cry'd the insulting Prelate Such blind Abjects as thou will be following Heretical Preachers but when they come once to feel the Fire will be the first that fly from it To whom when the poor Man reply'd That tho' every Joynt of him were burnt yet he trusted in God he should not fly the Bishop order'd a burning Coal to be brought him and then thrusting it into the hollow of his Hand commanded his Servant to clutch it again till the poor Man's Hand was miserably burnt to the Bone. And because the Bishop knew it was as much the Office of an Executioner to Scourge as well as Burn he resolv'd to be no less remarkable for the one then the other Among the Sufferers at his cruel Hands of this nature was one Thomas Hinshaw a young Lad of about Nineteen or Twenty years of Age who because he adventur'd to dispute the Case with the Bishop and his Archdeacon Harpsfeild was adjudg'd a Heretic and by Bonner then being at Fulham carry'd into his Garden and there in an Arbor being commanded to kneel down against a Bench was forc'd to endure the fury of Bonner who laid on with a Rod of Willows till he was quite out of Breath Of the same number was also another whose Name was John Wills who because he refus'd to recant as the Bishop would have had him was immediately carry'd into his Arbor in the Orchard where the enrag'd Prelate belabour'd the poor Young Man first with Willow then with Birchen Rods till his strength tho' not his fury fayl'd him But the most Tragical Act which if not committed by him yet was no less permitted by him in his own House which was the same thing while he had knowledge of the Fact was the barbarous Whipping of a Child of about Eight or Nine years of age that came to the Palace for leave to see his Father in Lollards Tower. This Child being told by one of the Chaplains that first met him That his Father was a Heretic made Answer That his Father was no Heretic but that He meaning the Chaplain was a Heretic as having Balaam's Mark. For which the Chaplain carry'd him into the Bishop's House where among them they so cruelly handled the poor Child that he dy'd within fourteen days However it were Bonner fearing the Detection of a Crime so horrid releas'd the Father in hopes his Mercy to the Father might attone for the Death of the Child These Barbarities thus acted by Bonner and perpetrated within his own Walls were committed by the rest of the Gang with equal virulency and inveteracy Particularly by one Sir Edward Tyrrel a Justice of the Peace at that time in Essex who coming to Colchester to apprehend an old Man and his Wife that were accus'd of Heresie After he had seiz'd the Father and Mother not liking the Replies which the Daughter gave him to certain Questions which he put to her took the Candle out of her hand and holding the Maid by the Wrist held the flaming Candle under her hand so long till the very Sinews crackt asunder all the while he exercised this Cruelty reviling the Maid and bidding her Cry Whore why ye young Whore wont ye cry And in the end after the Sinews burst that all the house heard them he thrust the Maid violently from him calling her strong Whore shameless Beast and beastly Whore to shew how well he could follow the Examples of his Superiors Mr. Robert Samuel Minister of Barfold in Suffolk was most inhumanly handled by Dr. Hopton the Bishop of the Diocese and his Chancellor Dr. Downing Who after they had got him in their clutches kept him in a close Dungeon chain'd bolt upright to a great Post in such a manner that standing only on tiptoc he was forc'd to stay the whole weight of his Body upon his Toes And to make amends for the pain which he suffer'd by that means they kept him without Meat or Drink so that he was most unmercifully tormented with hunger and thirst only that they allow'd him two or three mouthfuls of Bread aday and three spoonfuls of Water to keep Life and Soul together insomuch that his burning which afterwards ensu'd was but a trifle in comparison which he had suffer'd in tedious Imprisonment while the quick mercy of the Fire deliver'd him from the more severe Cruelties of the Bishop and Chancellor At Chester one George Marsh a Priest being condemn'd by Doctor Coates then Bishop of that Diocese was carry'd to the Stake where to the usual cruelty of Burning they added a new Invention of pouring melted Pitch upon his Head. In the Town of St. Peter's Port in the Island of Guernsey three Women a Mother and her two Daughters being
and buried under a Dunghil But at length after the Death of Queen Mary this Persecution ceas'd after the burning of two hundred eighty four tho' Grindal who liv'd in that time reports That in two Years eight hundred were burnt besides sixty who after most Severe and Cruel Usage dy'd in Prison And to shew that it was not the Conversion but the utter extirpation of the Heretics which those mischievous Papists aimed and still do aim at may readily appear by the story of Bembridge who was burnt near Winchester This Man feeling the Violence of the Fire cryed out That he recanted whereupon the Sheriff caused his People to put out the Fire in hopes that since the Popish Clergy desired the Conversion and not the Destruction of Heretics such an act of Mercy would not displease them But the Council sent him Orders in Writing To go on and execute the Sentence and to take care that the Prisoner dy'd a good Catholic for it was said if he recanted sincerely he was fit to dye if he did it not sincerely he was not fit to live And after all was done the Sheriff was committed to the Fleet for his Presumption But Harpsfield was not of the Sheriff's mind he understood the Sense of the Roman Catholics better for he having several condemned Prisoners under his Custody in Canterbury and being at London at the time when Queen Mary lay dangerously sick made hast home for fear the miserable Creatures should escape by her death and was so speedy that five were burnt before the News of her Death could arrive After all this what difference between the Religion of these Cruel Papists and the Religion of the Ancient Druids in France which Suetonius calls Religionem dirae immanitatis The Druids were always besmearing their Altars with the Blood of their Slain Captives and Popish Cruelty is never satisfy'd but when they are fumigating their Host with the Blood of Heretic Holocausts so that the same Reason which moved Claudius a Heathen Emperour to abolish the one may justifie a Christian Prince in at least exterminating the other out of his Dominions But now to trace them into other Countries we find this cruel Generation of Men still perpetrating the same or worse Acts of Inhumanity if worse can be wherever they get footing and Power and either by the Fury and exorbitant Tyranny of their Inquisition or by the Arms of bigotted Zealots whole Country 's wasted and depopulated and the Natives cut off from the Face of the Earth by Rapine and tormenting Murder In the Persecution of the Waldenses of Provence such was the merciless Cruelty of Miniers at the Instigation of the Pope and his Legates that he invaded their Territories with an arm'd Force by the Permission of Francis I at what time the People were slain without resistance Women and their Daughters ravished the Breasts of many Women with Child cut off many that were with Child murthered after which their Infants were famish'd to Death All their Habitations were pillag'd sack'd and burnt and Proclamation made That no Man should give any Relief to those that remain'd alive Upon the taking of Cabrieres Miniers caus'd all the Men to be brought into a Field and to be cut in Peices the Soldiers striving who should shew the best of their Manhood in cutting off Heads Legs and Arms. And as for the Women he caus'd them to be lockt in a Barn with a great quantity of Straw and so set sire to it so that many Women with Children were burnt Upon which a Soldier mov'd with Compassion opened a Hole in the Wall for some of them to escape but Miniers caused them to be beaten back again with Pikes and Halberts Some of them also that came forth he slew with his own Hands ripping open their Bellies so that their Children came forth which he trod under his Feet Many fled into Cellars and Caves which he caus'd to be dragg'd out driven into the Field stuipp'd stark nak'd and then slain After this Miniers sent one of his Captains to the Church whither several Women and Children were fled for Sanctuary whom he put all to the Sword sparing neither Young nor old Then marching to a Place call'd Costa where his Men committed the same Outrages and Slaughters ravishing Women and Virgins to that beastly degree that the Women with Child and young Maids dyed presently after Such as hid themselves in Rocks and Caves were either famished to Death or else choak'd with Fire and Smoak put to the Mouths of the Caves In the beginning of this Persecution there was one John de Roma a Monk who had got a Commission to examin those whom he suspected to be Heretics and which he exercis'd with all sorts of Cruelties upon those that fell into his Clutches among the rest this was one He filled Boots full of boiling Grease and put them upon their Legs tying them backwards over a Form with their Legs hanging down over a Fire after which manner he most cruelly tormented several and then as Cruelty put them to Death No less was their Rage against the Heretics in Bohemia where they made nothing to pistol the Reformed Pastors in their Pulpits and shot one Aged Minister among the rest as he lay sick in his Bed. In the Town of Minion the Commissioners demanded of the People a positive Answer Whether they would turn Catholics or no And when one in the name of the rest reply'd That Conscience neither would nor could be forc'd he was presently laid upon the Ground and beaten and still denying to turn Catholic when he could hardly speak was torn in pieces At another Place the Senators refusing to turn Apostates the chiefest of them was made to ride the Wooden-Horse in the Market-place for six Hours together tho' he were very Ancient so that he was lame and half dead when he was taken off In some Places they shut up the People in the Church and forced them to receive in one kind and if they would not kneel before the Host they used to beat their Legs with Clubs till they fell down others they gag'd and when they had propt their Mouths wide open they thrust the Host down their Throats Others were detain'd in Prisons and Bonds so long till they dy'd and particularly one was kept in a loathsome Dungeon so long till his Feet rotted off If any to avoid this Tyrannie fled to the Woods or other Private Places for Shelter Edicts were publish'd forbidding all to entertain them upon Pain of forfeiting great Sums of Money for every Nights Entertainment The Country People were fetch'd out of their Houses nay out of their very Beds by Troops of Soldiers who drove them before them like Beasts in the sharpest of cold and bitter Weather And with these poor Creatures they filled the common Prisons Towers Cellars Stables nay and Hog-sties too where they were kill'd with Hunger Cold and Thirst Marriage Burial and Baptism were forbidden to the Protestants and if
they did it privately they were imprisoned or else put to great Fines Among others a Heretic Surgeon for refusing to recant was thrown into a Place full of Snakes In some Places the Heretics were shut up in Privies to the end they might be poisoned with the Stench And these were the Charitable ways by which the Bohemian Catholics endeavour'd to reclaim such as were revolted from the Tyrannie of the Pope The Inquisition was the true Pattern of Treachery Perfidiousness Tyrannie and Cruelty erected at first by the Advice of the Dominican Fryers against the Jews and Moors in Spain but afterwards turned to the Ruine and Destruction of all that made true Profession of the Gospel To this Office belong two sorts of Vermin which are call'd Familiars and Flies The Familiars are to keep Company with all People to creep into their Companies and grope their Bosomes and under the colour of Friendship to give them daily Visits to have an Eye upon all their Actions and to observe what Company they keep and with whom they converse And when these Familiars have pickt up sufficient Matter for Information they presently accuse them to the Inquisitors Now so soon as any one is Arrested by any of these Familiars they take from him all the Keys of his Studies Cabinets Chests and Trunks whatsoever and they take an Inventory of his Goods in the doing of which the Familiars who are generally Bawds Thieves Shoplifts and the scum of the People will be sure to pilfer a good share The Flies are a sort of Miscreants which the Inquisitors commit to Prison under a Colour These Flies will cunningly in two or three Days insinuate themselves into the Bosomes of the other Prisoners and then pretending a great deal of Religion will profer to discourse them and by degrees get out of their Mouths matter of Accusation against them Which done they move for a Day of Hearing and by that means being brought before the Inquisitors they impeach the Prisoners who shall be sure to hear of it afterwards to their Sorrow These Flies as soon as they are out of one Prison for lucre of Money will be content to be put into another and so into a third and a fourth where they will lie in Chains as the other Prisoners do enduring Hunger and Cold and the Stench and Loathsomness of the Prison and all to betray others If a Keeper of any of the Prisons belonging to the Inquisition happen to be of a Gentle and Courteous Nature and use his Prisoners favourably the Offence is so heinous if it come to the Inquisitors Ears that he is sure to be whipt about the City and to be condemned to the Galleys for six Years If any of the Prisoners sing a Psalm or recite any Portion of the Scripture the Inquisitors take it for a very great Offence and presently send an Officer to him requiring him to be silent upon Pain of Excommunication and if he do not take that for a Warning they order a Bit to be put upon his Tongue to teach him Obedience As for the Torments which the Inquisitors make use of to extort Confessions from their Prisoners they are of two sorts The first is that of the Gibbet or Pulley with which when a Miserable Creature is to be tormented first comes one behind him and binds his Hands with a Cord eight or ten times about the Inquisitors calling upon him to strain each Binding harder then other Then they cause the Prisoner's Thumbs to be bound extream hard with a small Line and so both Hands and Thumbs are fasten'd to a Pully which hangs on the Gibbet then they put heavy Bolts on his Feet and hang upon those Bolts between his Feet certain Weights of Iron and so hoise him or her for they are never curious of the Sex from the Ground and while the poor Wretch hangs in this Plight the Inquisitors exhort him to accuse himself and as many others as he knows of excellent Popish Christianity and if they can screw nothing out of him then they command the Prisoner to be hois'd higher to the very Beam till his Head touch the Pully After he has hung thus a good while and that nothing comes from him the Inquisitors who are both Spectators and Judges of the Torment all this while command him to be let down and twice as much Weight to be fasten'd to his Heels and so to be hois'd up again Then they command the Executioner to let him up and down that the Weights of Iron hanging at his Heels may have the greater Force to rend every Joynt of his Body asunder With which insufferable Pains if the Party cries out then the Inquisitors roar out as loud to him again To confes the Truth or else he must come down with a Vengeance And then they order the Executioner suddenly to slip the Rope that the Party under Torture may fall with a Sway and then stopping in the mid way they give him the Strappado which being as soon done it rends all his Body out of Joynt Arms Shoulders Back Legs c. by reason of the suddain Jerk and the Weights hanging at his Legs They have another sort of Torture which is call'd the Aselli which is after this manner There is a Piece of Timber somewhat hollowed at the top like a Trough about the middle whereof there is a sharp Bar going cross whereon a Man's Back resteth that it cannot go to the Bottom It is also so plac'd that his Heels shall lye higher then his Head. Then is the Party naked laid thereon his Arms Thighs and Legs being bound with strong small Cords wrested with short Truncheons till the Cords pierce almost to the very Bone Then they take a thick Piece of fine Lawn Cloth and Jay it over the Parties Mouth as he lies upright upon his Back so that it may stop his Nostrils also then taking a good Quantity of Water they pour it in a long Stream like a Thread which falling from on high drives the Cloth down into his Throat which puts the miserable Wretch into as great an Agony as any Man endures at the Point of Death for in this Torture he has not Liberty to draw his Breath while the Water stops his Breath and the Cloth his Nostrils so that when the Cloth is drawn out of the bottom of his Throat it draws out Blood with it and a Man would think it tore out his very Bowels And this Torment is iterated as often as the Inquisitors please There is yet another sort of Torture which is much pactis'd by these Inquisitors not inferiour to the former For they take a Pan of burning Charcoal and set it just over against the Soles of the Parties Feet just before he goes to the Rack and that the Fire may have the more Force upon them they bast them with Lard When a Heretic is brought forth upon the Stage to be disgrac'd or to the Stake to be burnt he is attired in
Spaniards plunder'd their Houses The next day the bloody Don Frederic caus'd Three hundred Walloons to be Hang'd and Beheaded and the next day Captain Riperdon and his Lieutenant together with one Stemback a Minister were hang'd and Two hundred forty seven Soldiers drown'd in the Sea of Harlem The next day a great number were executed and the next day Three hundred more Soldiers and Burghers lost their Heads together with one Simon Simonson another Minister Presently after three of the principal Magistrates lost their Heads and to fill up this Sea of Blood all the Sick and Wounded were beheaded before the Hospital-Gate Not long before the Town of Valenciennes in Hainault having the free Exercise of the Reformed Religion among them was surrendred to the Lord of Noircarmes upon good Conditions Nevertheless the said Noircarmes being entred kept the City-Gates shut for divers days and most perfidiously and barbarously hang'd up all the French Soldiers with all the Ministers and Protestant Merchants So little safety is there to be expected from the Treachery and Perfidy of Roman Catholics whom no Considerations of Conscience or Honour are sufficient to oblige to keep Faith with Heretics At the same time the bloody Inquisition was no less active in the Spanish Netherlands where multitudes of People were murthered without any Pity or Compassion and their dead Bodies thrown into the public High-ways to be gaz'd upon by all that past by Numbers of Believers both Men and Women were thrown into Prison where they languish'd and dy'd the greatest part of them for want of Food John de Boscane was apprehended at Antwerp and for his Constancy in his Religion condemn'd to Death but because the Magistrates durst not put him to death publicly they resolv'd to drown him secretly in the Prison For which purpose a Tub of Water was provided and an Executioner sent to drown him but the Water was so shallow and the Prisoner so tall that the Executioner seeing he could not dispatch him that way gave him several wounds and stabs with his Dagger and so did his work And thus go where you will you shall find Fire and Faggots Massacres Racks and Gibbets the only method by which the Romanists support their Cause and propagate their Faith. And indeed the Popish Priests and Friers had a fine time of it to exercise their Cruelties in Flanders being under a Popish King so bigotted to the Pope and such an Upholder of the Inquisition that by their Advice he poyson'd his own Son for which he was applauded by Pius V. And if the Head be so barbarous no wonder the Members are so blood-thirsty With these Inquisitors it was that Philip the Second consulted what he should do with his Heretic Subjects as he call'd them in the Netherlands who answer'd That all the People of the Belgic Netherlands and all the States of those Countries except such as were otherwise noted in their Probation-Books were Sectaries Apostates and Rebels and not only those who were openly revolted from God and the holy Church but also those who dissembling themselves to be Papists had bin neglecting to suppress the Sectaries and Heretics at the beginning As also That all those Noblemen and others who had preferr'd and publish'd Petitions against the holy Inquisition and so had under-hand encourag'd the Sectaries and Heretics to Sedition were all guilty of high Treason both against God and Man. Upon these Instigations it was that Philip the Second sent his Orders to Alva by which he was commanded according to the Decree of the Inquisition to rack and torture all Revolters and Sectaries according to that rigorous method which was prescrib'd him For which reason Articles were propounded in his Council commonly call'd the Council of Blood according to which the Judges were commanded to determin and settle the Punishments that there might be no difference among them in the variation of Sentences which comprehending altogether Nocent and Innocent left no hole for any Man to creep out of and exempt himself from the Sanction of the general Decree Heavens what an inhuman thing it was to see the Country People harras'd with the Demoniacal Decrees of the Inquisitors and the Cities fill'd with Butcheries and Exilements of those that tarry and with the Sequestrations and Plunderings of those that were fled In one day no less then eighteen Persons of chiefest Remark and Quality were publicly put to death at Brussels by Alva and his Council of Blood. The next day three more of great Note together with a Minister of extraordinary Worth and Learning were executed in the said City where also soon after Count Horn and Count Egmond lost their Heads being brought with a strong Guard from Brussels And all these Murthers did Alva together with his Bloody Council bring to pass out of a mortal hatred of all that favour'd or abetted the Reformed Religion With no less fury and despite did Philip the Second pursue the Prince of Orange himself whom because he could not get into his hands by fair and open hostility he endeavour'd to destroy by the treacherous hands of unsanctify'd Desperado's For William of Nassaw being General of the United Provinces after they had shaken off the Popish Yoke presently the King of Spain proscrib'd him and in his Proscription promis'd a large Sum of Mony and large Preferments to any one that should bring him into Spain alive or dead Which soon encourag'd several to make the attempt Among the rest one Javeregny was pitch'd upon by a knot of Confederate Papists to do the Fact of which they intended to share the Profit For which purpose he was directed to charge a Pistol with two Bullets and to shoot the Prince behind in the Head. And the Eighteenth of March was the day appointed for the Execution Upon which day the Prince was to be at a great Feast at the Duke of Anjon's Court. But the Press being too great there the Assassin rather chose to do it at the Prince of Orange's own House as he sate at Dinner The Villain thus desperately resolv'd a Jacobin Frier came to him and Confess'd him gave him the Popish Communion and fortify'd him in his Resolution with many sweet words persuading him that he should go invisible to which end he gave him certain Characters in Paper and little Frogs Bones with other petty pieces of Conjuration After this he drank a draught of strong Wine and so accompany'd with his ghostly Father he went to the Prince's Court where at the Stair-foot the Fryer gave him his Blessig a hopeful Blessing and so left him Nor did the Villain faint in his design for he shot the Prince but neither the Fryer's Blessing nor his Conjuration prov'd effectual as was intended For neither did the Wound prove Mortal nor the Assassin escape with his Life being immediately run through by the Prince's Followers And the Jugling Fryer was also apprehended and executed The Papists having mist their blow but still believing they had no greater
Upon which all Men believ'd that the King was now engag'd and the War begun Upon which the King of Navarr and the Prince of Conde were brought to Court and receiv'd with all the Marks of assured Friendship A Dispensation was also obtain'd from the new Pope for the Marriage which the Pope was easily induc'd to grant upon the Information which he had receiv'd from the Cardinal's Legate of the King 's treacherous Design in Marriage which it behov'd the Pope neither to obstruct nor delay So that the Bull being sent to the Cardinal of Bourbon the day was appointed and the chief Heads of the Protestants were all drawn into Paris partly to be present at the Solemnities partly to get Employments in the Army which all Men believ'd would be commanded by the Admiral And now the Design being ripe the Duke of Guise who was privy to the Conspiracy was order'd to gather as many Desperado's and Bravado's about him as might be fit for any sort of Mischief By which means the Plot getting into more hands took wind so that the Rochellers being inform'd of some suspicious Passages wrote to the Admiral to leave the Court and not to trust the guilded Appearances which he saw there But the Admiral was so infatuated that he wrote them back a long Answer wherein he assur'd them That the King's Heart was wholly chang'd That there was never a better Prince in the World and that for his part he would rather die a thousand deaths then suspect him capable of so base a Design So easie a thing it is for Treachery in Youth to deceive hoary Generosity and Candour On the Seventeenth of August the King of Navarr was marry'd and four days were spent in all the magnificent Divertisements which are usual upon such Occasions But now it was time for the Mine to play that had bin so long working under Ground As for the Protestants there was nothing to be blam'd but too much Candour and Confidence They design'd nothing but the Tranquility of their Country and the Grandeur of the Crown On the other side in the Papists nothing but deep Dissimulation and villanous Design While the Protestants were cajol'd with the most engaging Tokens of Friendship that ever could be shew'd they took the King to be sincere and being then but just coming to be of Age that he was going about to take new Methods of Government And he had so artificially cover'd the Cruelty of his Temper with a shew of Good Nature that the Protestants expected nothing but happiness under him And as for the Queen-Mother tho' they knew her too well to put any Confidence in her yet her passionate Affection for her Daughter and her Revenge against the King of Spain for poysoning her Daughter made them believe themselves now assur'd of her And perhaps so deep and so refin'd a piece of Dissimulation was hardly ever known in the World before So that there was but one part of the King's Deportment which could give any Ground for Jealousie and that was his continual using most horrid and blasphemous Oaths and Imprecations to make the Protestants believe the Reality of his Intentions a sort of Persuasion which always raises Suspition among sober and wary Persons However the Protestants beginning at length to apprehend some danger the Papists thought it necessary to execute their Design with all speed For they saw the King resolv'd to let those who had surpriz'd the Towns in Flanders perish without sending them any relief The Admiral also was resolv'd to take his leave in few days besides that his Friend Montmorency saw the Storm coming and was retir'd to his House together with several other little Circumstances which gave them all just Cause of Fear So that the Popish Party had no time to Iose Therefore on the Twenty second of August about Noon as the Admiral was going home from the Court reading a Paper which he had in his hand Maurenel the Assassin whom the Duke of Guise had made choice of to do the Feat shot him from a a House where the Duke had plac'd him with a Harquebuz charg'd with three Bullets thought to be poyson'd Of which one carry'd away a part of the Fore-finger of the Admiral 's Right-hand the other stook in his Left Arm and the third miss'd him The King being in the Tennis-Court when the News was brought him counterfeited a deep Resentment and seemingly full of Affliction and with a terrible Oath cry'd out Shall I never have quiet and so throwing away his Racket went out in a rage Afterwards the King of Navarr and the Prince of Conde coming to the King to complain and desiring leave to go out of Town since there was no safety so near the Court. The King seem'd to resent it more then they and with the horriblest Oaths he could think of swore he would execute such a Revenge on all that were found guilty of it whoever they were that it should never be forgotten desiring them to stay and be Witnesses of it The Queen-Mother also seem'd to inflame his Rage with most vehement Expressions by which means they were persuaded to stay The next day the King with the Queen-Mother and his two Brothers went to visit the Admiral and coming to his Bed-side express'd the greatest Tenderness imaginable and in his Looks and by the tone of his Voice dissembled the most profound Sorrow that could be saying to the Admiral You my Father have receiv'd the Wound but I feel the Smart and will punish it in so severe a manner that the like was never known The next day the Duke of Guise and his Uncle the Duke of Aumale coming to the King and desiring leave to go out of Town the King by his Looks and Carriage seem'd to abhor them telling them that they might go whether they would but that he would find them out if they appear'd to be guilty of the Fact. Upon which they took Horse as if they had intended to go out of Town but came back to Guise House and presently began to raise Commotions in Paris sending their Agents up and down the City and Arms to several Parts Upon which the Admiral sending to the King to desire a Guard about Fifty were sent him under the Command of Cossoius one of his most implacable Enemies only some of the King of Navar 's Swisses were sent to keep Guard within the Doors The King also order'd all the Papists that lay near his House to remove their Lodgings that the Protestants might have the more conveniency to be about him All which seem'd not only very sincere but very kind and by such Arts as these were the Protestants not only secur'd from Fears but also had great hopes rais'd in them of future Advantages Only the Vidame of Chartres saw through this Disguise and in a Council of the Protestant Party held in the Admiral 's Chamber spoke his mind freely and propos'd That the Admiral ill as he was might be
and Extirpation the Torments and Tortures of which are but like Storms and Hurricanes that last only for a time from whence at length Death gives release But the French are generally accompted a more wittie and Inventive sort of people then their Neighbours and therefore the Virulent Popish Clergy of that Kingdom tho no less malicious and wicked then their Brethren would be thought more ingenious then to go the common Road of Massacre and Extirpation finding themselves perhaps so infamous for that already For which reason they have found out a new way to keep Men alive in their Torments and make use of their Tortures not so much to kill the Body as the Soul. They find they cannot by their own Arguments convert the Protestants and therefore they send Profligate Dragoons and vilanous Soldiers to try what they can do by the rude Arguments of Rapine and Violence And because they cannot find that ever Christ or his Apostles ever made use of any such means of Conversion therefore they punish the Protestants not for their Religion but for being Rebeland Disobedient to their Soveraign and make their rejecting Popish trash and Ceremony to be disloyaltie Perfidiousness and Ingratitude generally go together and both meeting in the Popish Clergy of France have bin the Ruin of so many hundred thousand of French Protestants some in their Bodies and Estates some in Estates Bodies and Souls altogether But it is well known that soon after the present King of France came to the Crown there arose a Civil War in the Kingdom so sharp and desperate that it brought the State within a hairs breadth of Ruin. In the midst of which Troubles those of the reformed Religion kept their Loyaltic in so inviolable a manner and gave each proofs of their Eminent Services that the King found himself oblig'd to give public Marks of it by a Declaration made at St. Germans in the year 1652. So far were they from being at that time accounted Rebels or Disobedient But the Romish Clergy of France more then Diabolically Malicious and envying the Prosperity of the Protestants and believing a Toleration of their Religion would be an Eclipse or Diminution of their Authority orderd it so that their chiefest Glory proved the principal and most essential part of their Ruin. For the Jesuits and their Party made it their business to envenome all those Impotent Services in the King and his Ministers minds Reasoning by the Instinct of the Devil that if the Party of the Protestants were so considerable that they could preserve the State they were able as well to overthrow it if a fair occasion should offer it self For which reasons grounded upon Antichristian Politicks a Resolution was taken to suppress all the Protestant Party and to bury in Oblivion all the good Services they had done To which purpose in the first place they took from them the use of their Churches and deny'd them the benefit of Law and Justice and overwhelm'd them with an Inundation of Criminal Processes that fastned on their Reputations their Liberties and their Lives The Curates and other Officers of Parishes were impower'd to enquire exactly into whatever the Reformists might have done or said for some years past either upon the score of Religion or otherwise and to make Information thereof before the Magistrates of the Places who were to punish them without Remission So that in short time in all places the Prisons were fill'd with these kind of Criminals neither were false witnesses lacking and that which was most horrible was that tho the Judges were convinc'd that the Witnesses were all Knights of the Post yet they maintained them and upheld them in their false Testimony And thus the most Innocent and Virtuous persons were Condemned some to the Gallies others to Exilement and public penances And this sort of Persecution fell chiefly on the Ministers who could never preach without having for their Spies and Observators a Troop of Monks Priests and Missionaries who made no scruple to charge them with things which they never so much as thought of and to pervert others into a contrary Sense and these false Interpretations of the Preachers thoughts were lookt upon by the chief Ministers of State as evident Proofs Then as for the Secular Protestants Their Estates were weaken'd and by expensive Suits in maintenance of their own Rights which were always giv'n against them the better sort were deprived of all Offices and Employments both Military and Civil and the meaner sort of all ways of Subsistance They rendred all Arts and Trades almost inaccessible to the Protestants by the difficulties of arriving to the Mastership of them and by the excessive Expences they must be at to be admitted therein which they could not be without a Law-Suit under the weight of which most commonly they sunk as not being able to hold out They were made incapable of being Magistrates of Towns or Cities and they were so narrowly lookt after that they were not suffer'd to be so much as Messengers Coachmen or Waggoners or any thing of that nature Nay they proceeded to that excess of Cruelty that they would not suffer any Midwives of the Reformed Religion to do their Office by which unheard of Methods it is not to be exprest how many particular Persons and Families were reduc'd to Ruin and Misery And thus we see how severe the Usages shew'd to the French Protestants were before they came to the utmost Violence But now they come to open Force to accomplish the Ruin of the Protestants and Dragooners must be the Sorbon Doctors to confute them of their Errors The manner of which was this in all the Protestant Towns Cities and Villages of France the Inhabitants were assembled together and told That it was the King's pleasure they should immediately turn Catholics and that if they would not do it freely he would make them do it by Force To which the People answer'd That they were ready to sacrifice their Lives and Estates to the King but their Consciences being God's they could not in any manner dispose of them This being the general Proposal and the general Reply presently the Dragoons that lay not far off were all sent for and quarter'd in the Reformists Houses at discretion with a strict Charge That none should stir out of their Houses nor conceal any of their Goods or Effects on great Penalties Then the first Arguments they us'd for the Conversion of the Souls committed to their Charge was to consume all the Provisions the House afforded then to plunder what they could find whether Money Rings or Jewels and in general what ever was of value afterwards they pilladg'd the Houses and sold the Goods before the owners faces Lastly they fell upon their persons and there is no Wickedness or Act of Horrour which they did not put in practise to force them to change their Religion Amidst a thousand hideous cries and a thousand Blasphemies they hung up Women by the hair and feet on the Roof of the Chamber or Chimney Hooks and smoakt them with wisps of wet hay till they were no longer able to bear it and when they Had taken them down if they would not sign a Recantation they hung them up in the same manner again They threw them into great fires kindled on purpose and never pulled them out till they were half roasted They ty'd ropes under their Arms and plung'd them up and down in Wells till they promised to change their Religion They ty'd their hands behind them and then with a funnel pour'd Wine down their Throats so long till being depriv'd of their reason they consented to be Catholics They stript Women naked and after they had offered them a thousand Indignities they stuck them with pins from the top to the bottom They cut them with penknives and sometimes with red hot pincers dragged them about the room till they promised to turn They kept others from sleeping seven or eight days and nights together releiving one another to keep them waking If they found any sick and that kept their Beds they had the Cruelty to beat twelve Drums together about their Ears without Intercession for whole weeks together They ty'd Fathers and Husbands to the Bedposts and Ravished their Wives and Daughters before their faces They pluckt off the Nails from the hands and toes of others They blew up Men and Women with bellows till they were ready to burst Pretending to shave Mens Beards and cut their Hair they flead off Skin and Hair from both Parts Where they found wine and glasses good store they broke their glasses at every Health and then having trod or broken the Glass very small caused the obstinate Heretic as they call'd him to daunce upon the broken Glass till he was able to stand no longer then stripping him they rowl'd him from one end of the room to the other upon sharp glass till the Skin was stuck full of the little Fragments and then sent for a Surgeon to cut them out of his Body By these Inhuman and more then Barbarous Arguments do the wicked Crew of Jesuits and Monks in France endeavour to vanquish the most resolv'd Patiences and by such devilish inventions as these to drive the distressed Protestants to despair and faint-heartedness They refuse to give them Death which they desire and only keep them alive to torment them This then being the true Spirit of Popery so generally Reigning in all Ages and Countries where they have the power in their hands the Inference is this that if we have any love of our Religion any Abhorrence of Superstition and Idolatry any Care of our Laws or Estates and Concernment for the Strength and Wealth of the Nation and desire to hold the Freedom of our Consciences the Vertue and Honour of our Families or any care of self-preservation to escape Massacres and the Tormenting Rage of Persecution it will behove us to beware how we suffer this Diabolical Sect to prevail in whose successes we can expect no other then to forfeit all the foregoing Interests perish our selves and bequeath Idolatry Slavery and Beggery to our Posterity FINIS