Selected quad for the lemma: death_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	duke_n	france_n	king_n	8,145	5	4.2048	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
B21412	The vindication, or, The parallel of the French Holy-League and the English League and Covenant turn'd into a seditious libell against the King and His Royal Highness by Thomas Hunt and the authors of the Reflections upon the pretended parallel in the play called The Duke of Guise / written by Mr. Dryden.	Dryden, John, 1631-1700.	1683 (1683)	Wing D2398	39,244	65

For the fatal Consequences as well as the Illegality of that Design are seen through already by the People So that instead of offering a justification of an Act of Exclusion I have expos'd a rebellious impious and fruitless contrivance tending to it If we look on the Parliament of Paris when they were in their right wits before they were intoxicated by the League at least wholly we shall find them addressing to King Henry the third in another Key concerning the King of Navarr's Succession though he was at that time as they call'd it a relaps'd Heretique And to this purpose I will quote a passage out of the Journals of Henry the Third so much magnify'd by my Adversaries Towards the end of September 1585. there was published at Paris a Bull of Excommunication against the King of Navarre and the Prince of Conde The Parliament of Paris made their Remonstrance to the King upon it which was both grave and worthy of the Place they held and of the Authority they have in this Kingdom Saying for conclusion that their Court had found the Style of this Bull so full of Innovation and so distant from the Modesty of antient Popes that they cou'd not understand in it the voice of an Apostles Successor forasmuch as they found not in their Records nor in the search of all Antiquity that the Princes of France had ever been subject to the Justice or Jurisdiction of the Pope and they cou'd not take it into consideration till first he made appear the Right which he pretended in the Translation of Kingdoms establish'd and ordain'd by Almighty God before the Name of Pope was heard of in the World 'T is plain by this that the Parliament of Paris acknowledg'd an inherent Right of Succession in the King of Navarre though of a contrary Religion to their own And though after the Duke of Guises Murther at Blois the City of Paris revolted from their Obedience to their King pretending that he was fallen from the Crown by reason of that and other Actions with which they charg'd him yet the sum of all their Power to renounce him and create the Duke of Mayenne Lieutenant General depended ultimately on the Popes authority which as you see but three years before they had peremptorily denied The Colledg of Sorbonne began the Dance by their Determination that the Kingly Right was forfeited and stripping him of all his Dignities they call'd him plain Henry de Valois after this says my Author sixteen Rascals by which he means the Council of that Number having administred the Oath of Government to the Duke of Mayenne to take in quality of Lievtenant General of the Estate and Crown of France the same ridiculous Dignity was confirm'd to him by an imaginary Parliament the true Parliament being detain'd Prisoners in divers of the City-Gaols and two new Seals were order'd to be immediately made with this Inscription The Seal of the Kingdom of France I need not inlarge on this Relation 't is evident from hence that the Sorbonists were the Original and our Schismatiques in England were the Copiers of Rebellion that Paris began and London follow'd The next Lines of my Author are that a Gentleman of Paris made the Duke of Mayenne 's Picture to be drawn with a Crown Imperial on his Head and I have heard of an English Nobleman who has at this day the Picture of Old Oliver with this Motto underneath it Vtinam vixeris All this while this cannot be reckon'd an Act of State for the Deposing King Henry the Third because it was an Act of Ouvert Rebellion in the Parisians neither could the holding of the three Estates at Paris afterwards by the same Duke of Mayenne devolve any Right on him in prejudice of King Henry the Fourth though those pretended States declar'd his Title void on the account of his Religion because those Estates could neither be call'd nor holden but by and under the Authority of the Lawful King It wou'd take more time than I have allow'd for this Vindication or I cou'd easily trace from the French History what Misfortunes attended France and how near it was to Ruine by the Endeavors to alter the Succession For first it was actually Dismembred the Duke of Merceur setting up a Principality in the Dutchy of Bretagne Independant of the Crown the Duke of Mayenne had an evident design to be elected King by the favour of the People and the Pope the young Dukes of Guise and of Nemours aspir'd with the interest of the Spaniards to be chosen by their Marriage with the Infanta Izabella The Duke of Lorrain was for cantling out some part of France which lay next his Territories and the Duke of Savoy had before the Death of Henry the Third actually possess'd himself of the Marquisate of Saluces But above all the Spaniards fomented these Civil Wars in hopes to reduce that flourishing Kingdom under their own Monarchy To as many and as great Mischiefs should we be evidently subject if we should madly ingage our selves in the like Practises of altering the Succession which our Gracious King in his Royal Wisdom well forsaw and has cut up that accursed Project by the Roots which will render the memory of his Justice and Prudence Immortal and Sacred to future Ages for having not only preserv'd our present quiet but secur'd the Peace of our Posterity 'T is clearly manifest that no Act of State pass'd to the Exclusion of either the King of Navarre or of Henry the Fourth consider him in either of the two circumstances but Oracle Hunt taking this for granted wou'd prove à fortiori that if a Protestant Prince were actually excluded from a Popish Kingdom then a Popish Successor is more reasonably to be excluded from a Protestant Kingdom because says he a Protestant Prince is under no Obligation to destroy his Popish Subjects but a Popish Prince is to destroy his Protestant Subjects upon which bare supposition without farther Proof he calls him insufferable Tyrant and the worst of Monsters Now I take the matter quite otherwise and bind my self to maintain that there is not nor can be any Obligation for a King to destroy his Subjects of a contrary Perswasion to the establish'd Religion of his Country for quatenus Subjects of what Religion soever he is infallibly bound to preserve and cherish and not to destroy them and this is the first duty of a Lawful Soveraign as such antecedent to any tye or consideration of his Religion Indeed in those Countries where the Inquisition is introduc'd it goes harder with Protestants and the reason is manifest because the Protestant Religion has not gotten footing there and severity is the means to keep it out But to make this instance reach England our Religion must not only be chang'd which in it self is almost impossible to imagine but the Council of Trent receiv'd and the Inquisition admitted which many Popish Countries have rejected I forget not the Cruelties which were exercis'd

have mistaken too and call'd him Julian the Apostle I suppose I need not push this Point any further where the Parallel was intended I am certain it will reach But a larger account of the Proceedings in the City may be expected from a better hand and I have no reason to forestall it In the mean time because there has been no Actual Rebellion the Faction triumph in their Loyalty which if it were out of Principle all our divisions would soon be ended and we the happy People which God and the Constitution of our Government have put us in condition to be but so long as they take it for a Maxim that the King is but an Officer in Trust that the People or their Representatives are superiour to him Judges of Miscarriages and have power of Revocation 't is a plain case that when ever they please they may take up arms and according to Their Doctrine lawfully too Let them joyntly renounce this one opinion as in Conscience and Law they are bound to do because both Scripture and Acts of Parliament oblige them to it and we will then thank their Obedience for our quiet whereas now we are only beholding to them for their Fear The miseries of the last War are yet too fresh in all mens memory and they are not Rebels only because they have been so too lately An Author of theirs has told us roundly the West-Country Proverb Chad eat more Cheese and chad it Their Stomach is as good as ever it was but the mischief on 't is they are either Muzled or want their Teeth If there were as many Fanatiques now in England as there were Christians in the Empire when Julian reign'd I doubt we should not find them much enclin'd to passive obedience and Curse ye Meroz wou'd be oftner preach'd upon than Give to Caesar except in the sense Mr. Hunt means it Having clearly shown wherein the Parallel consisted which no man can mistake who does not wilfully I need not justifie my self in what concerns the sacred Person of his Majesty Neither the French History nor our own could have supplied me nor Plutarch himself were he now alive could have found a Greek or Roman to have compared to him in that eminent vertue of his Clemency even his enemies must acknowledge it to be Superlative because they live by it Far be it from flattery if I say that there is nothing under Heaven which can furnish me with a Parallel and that in his Mercy he is of all men the Truest Image of his Maker Henry the Third was a Prince of a mix'd Character he had as an old Historian says of another Magnas virtutes nec minora vitia but amongst those vertues I do not find his forgiving qualities to be much celebrated That he was deeply engag'd in the bloody Massacre of St. Bartholomew is notoriously known and if the relation printed in the Memoires of Villeroy be true he confesses there that the Admiral having brought him and the Queen Mother into suspition with his Brother then reigning for endeavouring to lessen his Authority and draw it to themselves he first design'd his Accusers death by Maurevel who shot him with a Carabine but fail'd to kill him after which he push'd on the King to that dreadful Revenge which immediately succeeded 'T is true the Provocations were high there had been reiterated Rebellions but a Peace was now concluded it was solemnly Sworn to by both Parties and as great an assurance of Safety given to the Protestants as the Word of a King and Publick Instruments could make it Therefore the Punishment was execrable and it pleas'd God if we may dare to judge of his secret Providence to cut off that King in the very flower of his Youth to blast his Successor in his Undertakings to raise against him the Duke of Guise the Complotter and Executioner of that inhumane Action who by the Divine Justice fell afterwards into the same snare which he had laid for others and finally to dye a violent Death himself murder'd by a Priest an Enthusiast of his own Religion From these Premisses let it be concluded if reasonably it can that we could draw a Parallel where the lines were so diametrically opposite We were indeed obliged by the Laws of Poetry to cast into Shadows the vices of this Prince for an Excellent Critique has lately told us that when a KING is nam'd a HEROE is suppos'd 'T is a reverence due to Majesty to make the Vertues as conspicuous and the Vices as obscure as we can possibly And this we own we have either perform'd or at least endeavour'd But if we were more favourable to that Character than the exactness of History would allow we have been far from diminishing a Greater by drawing it into comparison You may see through the whole conduct of the Play a King naturally severe and a resolution carried on to revenge himself to the uttermost on the Rebellious Conspirators That this was sometimes shaken by reasons of policy and pity is confess'd but it always return'd with greater force and ended at last in the ruine of his Enemies In the mean time we cannot but observe the wonderful Loyalty on the other Side that the Play was to be stopp'd because the King was represented May we have many such proofs of their Duty and respect but there was no occasion for them here 'T is to be suppos'd that his Majesty himself was made acquainted with this objection if he were so he was the supream and only Judg of it and then the Event justifies us If it were inspected only by those whom he commanded 't is hard if his own Officers and Servants should not see as much ill in it as other men and be as willing to prevent it especially when there was no sollicitation us'd to have it acted 'T is known that noble person to whom it was referr'd is a severe Critique on good Sense Decency and Morality and I can assure the World that the Rules of Horace are more familiar to him than they are to me He remembers too well that the vetus Comaedia was banish'd from the Athenian Theatre for its too much licence in representing persons and would never have pardon'd it in this or any Play What opinion Henry the Third had of his Successor is evident from the words he spoke upon his Death-bed He exhorted the Nobility says Davila to acknowledge the King of Navarre to whom the Kingdom of right belong'd and that they should not stick at the difference of Religion for both the King of Navarre a man of a sincere noble nature would in the end return into the bosom of the Church and the Pope being better inform'd would receive him into his favour to prevent the ruine of the whole Kingdom I hope I shall not need in this Quotation to defend my self as if it were my opinion that the Pope has any right to dispose of Kingdoms my meaning is evident that the