ESSAYES Of Certaine PARADOXES At London Printed for Th. THORP 1616. praysed K. RICHARD the 3d The French POCKES NOTHING Good to be in DEBT THE PRAYSE OF King RICHARD the THIRD THat Princes are naturally ambitious and that Ambition makes them to effect their desires rather then to affect the equitie of their designes may more truly then safely be auowed For all of them I thinke were the record of their actions indifferent might be taxed of this vice But this excuse cleares not the accused yet it testifies that Princes erre against nature if they aspire not We hold not without reason that if the bill of the Plaintiffe bee stuffed with friuolous assertions that the complaint fauoureth more of malice then of wrong Why should not the same Axiome bee a motiue to cleare this wronged Prince whose accusers lay to his charge the anguish his Mother felt when he came into the world then which accusation what can be more friuolous it being a punishment hereditary to all women from the first His being toothed as soone as borne seemes to me rather a blessing then any imputation as being a presage of his future worthinesse and as all Nurses will confesse an ease of much paine and danger But he was crook-backt lame il-shapen il-fauoured I might impute that fault to Nature but that I rather thinke it her bounty for she being wholly intentiue to his minde neglected his forme so that shee infused a straight minde in a crooked bodie wherein shee shewed her carefull prouidence For oftentimes the care to keepe those parts well formed with-drawes mens mindes from better actions and drownes them in effeminate curiositie His lamenesse turned to his glory for with those imperfect limmes hee performed actions most perfectly valiant How rightly his Father claimed his brother obtained the Scepter is sufficiently knowne and therefore superfluous and impertinent and also how his brother dusked his right if right by abrogating the oath which he sware at Yorke that his comming in armes was only for that Dukedome But to dilate how variable and inconstant the people of those times were shall be more necessary and effectuall that knowing their inconstancie their traditions like themselues may the lesse bee beleeued so light-headed so foolish so irreligious as their opinion for what else are the thoughts of Ignorance but opinion made them breake their oath to their Prince and to such a Prince as they did not shame to dislike onely because hee was too good Him they abandoned deposed after restored not as desiring being guilty of their owne fault but onely that it stood with the liking of Warwicke the child of their loue If then they were such as indeede they were and that those relations wee haue must come from that people it were better I thinke to bury their traditions then refute their obiections were not our age apt to erre infected with this folly For his brother K. Edward though his vices seem not to adde vertues to this condemned Prince yet questionlesse they doe making all his ill-estimated actions of an other nature Hee obtained the Crowne but rather fortunately then wisely were not all wisedome thought folly to which Fortune lends not successe For I thinke Lust or if you will terme it Loue could not more haue preuailed with the most licencious creature then at once to breake the bonds of amity discretion and policy and all to enioy a woman in respect of his heighth base a widow and of his enemy without bringing him either alliance or riches proppes most pertinent to his new-erected buildings Wherein besides his breach of regall discretion with his chiefest friend the Earle of Warwick whom he had sent into France to treate of marriage betweene him and the Lady Bona wherein being deluded hee became his mortallest enemie his abuse to God was more abominable being before betrothed as his owne mother constantly affirmed to the Lady Elizabeth Lucy in testimony whereof hee had layde such earnest as should haue bound any common man much more a King to performance How soone the wrath of God followed this his irreligious inconstancie his being driuen from the Seate-Royall into exile the birth of his sonne in a Sanctuary hauing no place else of freedome in his Fathers kingdome the miserie of all his partakers sufficiently testifie In which generall misery who did more truely follow him Who more faithfully ayded him then his now disgraced Brother Whereas his other Brother Clarence not onely left him but ioyned in marriage with the daughter of his principall enemie and holpe to expulse him with what loue what constancy his indeauours his aduenturing his life to restore him doth witnesse Neuer was he noted all the life of K. Edward to thirst after the Kingdome neuer denyed hee any commandement of his Prince but performed all his employments discreetly valiantly successfully The suspition of helping his Brother Clarence to his end was but a suspition since the kings old displeasure awaked by a new Prophesie was vndoubttedly the cause if otherwise when he after repented him hee would haue misliked of Gloucester it being naturall to sinne but vnnaturall to ease others of their crimes For the killing of the Heire of the house of Lancaster at Tewksburie if so seemes to mee rather the effect of loue to his Brother then crueltie to the Prince for he was an enemie yea the chiefe and principall enemie of the contrarie faction Yet it cannot be proued the action of Richard but that it was an act wished by the King to be done and executed in both their presences by the Duke of Clarence the Marquesse Dorset the Lord Hastings and others The death of Henrie the 6. in the Tower can no way belong to him since the same reason that cleareth his Brother fitteth him hee being able if desiring his death to haue effected it by a more vnworthy hand And indeed this accusation hath no other proofe then a malicious affirmation For many more truely did suppose that hee dyed of meere melancholie and griefe when he had heard of the ouerthrow of his friends and slaughter of his sonne But if it were true though it spots him with bloud yet it confirmes his loue to his Prince which loue was so coldly requited as might haue mooued a true louer of Rewards more then of Vertue to haue altered his indeauors whether it were a iealousie of the Nobilitie of his blood or of the height of his spirit whether the abundance of affection to bee led by a woman or that hee was defectiue in all brotherly affection certaine it is he rather imployed him then rewarded his imployments Contrary the Queenes kindred daylie to rise meerely without desert but that they were of her kindred and their basenesse being thus suddenly exalted not only to plucke from him promotions due to his deserts but to enuie the Duke and contend with him how insupportable it must be to
their frontiers a piece of speciall importance either to make easie our entrance into that kingdome or to keep them from inuading ours so that I cannot iustly accuse him of any crime so much as that his ambition stretched not farre enough To iustifie his aduersaries accusation in this time chanced the death of his two young Nephewes in the Tower whose deaths promising quiet to him and wholly imposed vpon him how truely I haue reason to doubt because his accusers are so violent and impudent that those vertues which in other men are imbraced for which they are esteemed as Gods they impute to him rather to be enamellers of vices then really vertues His Humility they terme secret pride his Liberality Prodigality his Valour crueltie and bloudthirstinesse yet in these dayes their partiall opinions are thought to be of validitie sufficient to make proofe of any imputation But if it were so that their deaths were by him contriued and commanded the offence was to God not to the people for the depriuing them of their liues freed the people from dissension And how could hee demonstrate his loue more amply then to aduenture his soule for their quiet But who knoweth whether it were not Gods secret iudgement to punish the Fathers transgression in the children and if it be so complaine of their Fate not Richards crueltie for in these fatall things it fals out that the High-working powers make second causes vnwittingly accessarie to their determinations yet in policie Princes neuer account Competitors how young soeuer innocent since the least colour of right prouokes innouating humours to stirre vp sedition which once kindled threatens the subuersion both of Princes and Subiects And if some wise and politike Princes haue imprisoned and put to death such as haue been reputed their heires and successors because some factious heads weary of good gouernment and hoping for authority by alteration haue sought to establish them before their times as commonly giddy-brained people doe more reuerence the Suns rising then his fall had not King Richard great reason to depriue them of their liues who were not to succeede him but in many mens iudgements had most right to bee invested before him with the Diademe And indeed the remoouing such occasions of ciuill warres in a well-ruled Common-wealth is most profitable most commendable being no crueltie but pitty a iealousie of their subiects and a zealous regard of their owne safeties And indeed if we duely consider how much the duty we owe to a Countrey exceedes all other duties since in it self it containes them all that for the respect thereof not onely all tender respects of kindred or whatsoeuer other respects of friendship are to be layd aside but that euen long-held opinions rather grounded vpon a secret of gouernment then any ground of truth are to be forsaken since the end whereto any thing is directed is euer to be of more noble reckoning then the thing thereto directed that therefore the weale publike is more to be regarded then any person or Magistrate that thereunto is ordained the feeling consideration hereof moued King Richard to let principally before his eyes the good estate of so many thousands ouer whom he had reigned rather then so to hoodwinke himselfe with affection as to suffer his Realm to run to manifest ruine If any man shall obiect that his course was strange and vnlawfull let him know that new necessities require new remedies and for him there was no remedie but this one Then if for this action hee ought to be condemned it is for indiscretion in the managing for as safely might hee haue had the Realmes generall consent in disposing of their liues as of their kingdome Had hee held a secret execution best hee might haue effected it more secretly but hee rather chose a middle way content to let the people know it holding their knowledge equall with their consents And it should seeme the people though they were at that time very factious yet approued thereof for wee find not that in any action either inward or outward they shewed any dislike And truely such is the difference between the thoughts the actions the dispositions of Princes and Subiects that I hold no subiect sufficiently iudiciall to censure them their courses so vnlike that what is meete expedient in a Prince in a lower fortune is vtterly vnmeete vnexpedient Therefore let no seruile condition aduenture to condemne them since all such eyes lose their facultie if they but gaze against the Sunne of Maiestie It is sufficient for vs to know how to obey this Nature commandeth and exacteth of vs but to search into the actions of our Commanders dilates more curiosity then honestie Nay though we would we cannot for our knowledge extends to things equall or inferiour those aboue vs in diuinity are comprehended onely by faith in terrene matters if superating our estates they are onely snatched at by supposition And this our Lawes approue which appoint euery man to bee tried by his Peeres shall then the head the director of ciuill policie the anointed Maiestie of a King be barred from the right allowed to subiects No surely it is preposterous most vnlawfull to condemne a king if not found faulty by a Iury of Kings Were man in his innocencie this aduice were not lost but beeing nousled in misusing of his malicious tongue euer to condemne others neuer to amend themselues it is as they will be for their abuse perpetually lost No more then for them Let vs yet further cleare this wronged Prince It is constantly affirmed say our Croniclers that hee first noysed after contriued the death of his wife and that it was bruited before it was effected thereby with her sorrowes to confirme the report This euidence they adiudge pregnant and effectuall enough to condemne him did Fame neuer lye What are more generally receiued for vntruths then flying reports seeing no creature sensible will giue credit to Fame or take her word without a surety whom they may assuredly know to bee credible But constantly say our Croniclers could their words bee so constant whose actions were the very stage of inconstancie who opposed deposed kings at their pleasure and to make sure to be no worse then they were swore allegeance to two Princes at once and with both broke theif Othes But I will spend no more time in prouing the vanitie of these Croniclers since their owne pen contradicts it selfe first shewing the affections of this people to be mutinous and after approuing them for certaine it is but vncertaine that the King caused it that such a rumour there was and that it made a great impression in the Queene deeming as women are euer fearefull this propheticall relation to be the forerunner of her end which bewailing to her husband hee fought with all kindnesse to remoue that melancholy fantasie What more could hee doe to testifie his loue to cure her passions But how absurd is it to thinke or imagine
as the proper food that stuffes that great greedy maw The next roome is the Lollard of trunck-hosed famulists and separatists who after they haue been rowelled in the neck to cure them of the Megrim of the head they are by the gentle flame of this Stoue and the heate of their owne zeale made to sweat out their contumary and other peccant humors The vpper skirt and stage of this building is the Garret of expencefull wasters gamesters and vnthrifty debtors where though they liue robbed of their liberty as they rifled others of their money Yet is it their great happinesse that being glutted as it were with an Apolausticke voluptary life they haue an easie ouverture made to the contemplatiue and practick life of Vertue Who euer liued more like a Souc'd-gurn-head amongst men then Diogenes the Cynick barrelling himselfe vp in his tubbe like a Kegge of Sturgion Yet was the happinesse of his contented life enuied of the greatest Monarchs who hauing made their throats the through-face and the cullenders of meats drinkes found an ouergorged belly to be Wits clog Reasons sepulcher Lusts Arsenall the Magazin of lewd practices and the Nurserie of all vices all which prouocations are defalted by Debts wants and indigency And lastly the Lumbards Vsurers and Scriueners who are the Bedles of Beggars and are accounted the Tetters vpon the body politike of the Common-weale who turne the Calends and new Moones and the Festiuall dayes of quarter-gaudies into the Octanes of disaster and Doomes-day reckonings when any of these come to Heauen there is a wonderment amongst the Angels and they cry out with Sr. Gurman of Alfarache fruta nueua fruta nueua heere is a new kind of fruit start vp a Pumparadise vpon a crab-stocke Lumbards and Scriueners are become the Popes cannonized and beatified saints Farewell then Vlpianus Modestinus and other pettifoggers of the Law Sollicitours and molesters of causes who account being in debt a kind of bondage and seruitude I pittie Senecaes weakenesse who blushed to borrow miserum verbum et dimisso vultu proferendum Rogo That Poet Laureat for-faited his wreath of Bayes and Iuie twine who made his praiers to his purse to keep him out of debt in this manner To you my Purse and to none other Wight Complaine I for you be my Lady deere I am sorry now that you be light For certes yée now make me heauie chéere Mée were as lefe layd vpon a Béere For which vnto your mercie thus I cry Be heauy againe or else mote I dye Now vouchsafe this day or it be night That I of you the blisfull sound may heere Or see your colour like the Sunne bright That of yellownesse had neuer Pere Ye be my life ye be my hearts flere Queene of comfort and of good company Be heauy againe or else mote I dye Now Purse that art to me my liues light And sauiour as downe in this World here Out of this Towne helpe me by your might Sith that you will not be my Treasure For I am shaue as neere as any frere But I pray vnto your curtesie Be heauy againe or else mote I die Yet wellfare the Prodigall vnthrift who is magis promus quam condus and serues at the Buttry-hatch whatsoeuer is in his Binn or his Barrell and therefore could neuer indure the complaint of his Purse who thus bemoan'd her selfe vnto him Materia infoelix detracta cadauere forma tam varia vt nec ego me mihi nosse queam Haud melius fatum nam pendeo more latronis ingenium sic me fueris habere putant Si dederis seruo seruatum reddo petenti non nisi at auriculis tracta referre volo A skinne flayed off yeelds my materialls my forme is various where my selfe I loose My doome's a fellons death and funerals for at a Belt I am hanged by a nooze I doe not filch for mine owne thrift and gaine but what you giue I closely keepe and beare And when you aske I it restore againe yet not except you plucke me by the eare For the Al-te-mael and foote of the reckoning this is the summa summarum Debemur morti nos nostraque So that whilst I liue I must resolue to liue in debt in debt to God for my being in debt to CHRIST for my well-being in debt to Gods sanctifying Spirit for my new-being And I will euer be ready to pawne my life for my Countries liberty I will owe obedience to my Parents Faith and Loyaltie to my Prince And when I shall pay my great debt vnto Nature I will render my spirit into the hands of God bequeath my body to be deposed in the lap and bosome of the earth and cry Domine dimitte debita mea FINIS a Rich. D. of Yorke father of Edw. the fourth George D. of Clarence Rich. the third b Edw. E. of March eldest sonne of R. D. of Yorke after K. by the name of Edw. the fourth c For the Dukedome of Yorke as his right fro his father D. of Yorke d K. Henry the sixth e Rich. Neuile Earle of Warwick sirnamed the King-maker f K. Edward the fourth g Lady Eliz. Gray widow of Sir Iohn Gray Knight afterward married to K. Edward the fourth h Lady Bona Neece to the French King Lewes the eleuenth daughter to Lewes D. of Sauoy i For he had got her with child k George D. of Clarence secōd brother of K. Ed. the 4. l Hee married Isabell daughter of Richard Neuill Earle of Warwicke m He was drowned in a Malmsey butt in the Tower n Edw. Prince of Wales sonne of K. Henrie the 6. slaine after the battaile of Tewksbury o The death of Henrie the 6 in the Tower a The death of K. Ed. the 4. b King Edward Prince of Wales son to K. Ed. the 4. c Richard D. of Gloucester made Protector d Richard D. of Yorke younger son of Edward the 4. e Hen. Stafford D. of Buckingham f Wil. L. Hastings Chamberlaine to Edward the 4. g Phil. de Cōmines Lord of Argenton in his Historie a Mary sole daughter and heire of Charles D. of Burgūdy after married to Maximilian the Emperour c Shores wife d Doct. Shaes Sermon at Pauls Crosse. Sir Philip Sidney in his defence of Poetry f The Coronation of K. Richard the third a The two dissenting factions of Yorke and Lancaster vnited by the mariage of Henry the seuenth to Eliz. eldest daughter to Edw. the fourth h Lewes the 11. Barwick won from the Scots by Richard the third d The death of Prince Edward Richard D. of Yorke in the Tower a A King not to bee condemned but by a lury of Kings b Anne Wife of K. Richard the 3. daughter of Ri. Neuill E. of War widdow of Prince Edward son to Henry the 6. c To Henry the 6. and Edward the 4. a The wife frō whome hee was diuorced was Ioane daughter of Lewes the 12. sister of Charles the 8. Ga◠Iab 4. b The death of Anne wife of Richard the 3 and secōd daughter of Richard Neuill Earle of Warwicke c Collingborn executed for Treason not libelling d The Lady Elizabeth eldest daughter to Edw. the fourth after wife to Henry the seuenth a This Moretō was after in the reigne of Henry the seuenth Archbishop of Canterbury Cardinall and Lord Chancellor of England b The death of Henry Stafford D. of Buckingham beheaded at Shrewsbury c Margaret Countesse of Richmond wife of Thomas◠Stanley mother of K. Henry the seuenth a Q. Elizabeth mother to Elizabeth eldest daughter of Edward the fourth and Marg. Coun. of Rich. mother to Henry the seuenth after King b Yorke and Iancaster c Tho. L. Stanly after by Hen. the seuenth created E. of Darby d George Lord Strange son heire to Tho. L. Stanley e Henry the 7. a K. Rich. dream the night before the battaile of Bosworth b Plutarch is the life of Caesar Dion and Brutus a The Oration of K. Richard Holliniheds 〈◊〉 in the end 〈…〉 a S. Wil. Brandon Standard-bearer to Henry the 7. slaine He was father to Charles Brandon after created D. of Suff. by Henry the 8. Latrator Anubis Sanctaque Bubastis Ouid Meta. lib. 9. Stannar is the Mother of Mettals Calaminaris lapis out of which brasse is drawne Architas Tarentinus Hor. lib. 1. od 28. Tangere enim aut tangi nisi corpus nulla potestres 1. AErugo 2. Febris 3. Psora Th. Ocleue in Chaucer