instrument Our King Frauncis the great had no other ground for that bloudy warr he made against the Emperor but only the reuenge of a seruant of his Merueilles The death of that man alone cost the liues of an hundreth thousand and shooke the very foundacions of Europe And now shall the death of the greatest king that euer wore the Crowne of France be so meanely regarded so slightly past ouer euen by his owne feruants by his owne sonne without more feeling without more stirring then for a glasse broken And shall all posterity see the story our Nephewes read therein without blushing at the impassibility of their Fathers What would so many Nations say which do so honorably esteeme of the French name if they should see vs drinke vp such a shame What would we say our selues to the sacred ghost of that famous Prince if as once that of Achilles to the Greeks it returned and would reproch vs we sacrificed nothing vpon his Tombe Wil we say it is want of mony The Bastille is heaped full with it want of men Fraunce ouerfloweth with them want of friends Neuer any King had more or better want of Armes and munition Neuer store-house was better furnished both for quantity and goodnes What want wee then but that rare King hath most aboundantly left it vs to reuenge his death Ah Sir I can well tell what we want nine or ten yeares more nothing els you should haue had them for vs if that vnhappy wretch had not so vntimely preuented the natural death of your healthful father But what Did we neuer beat our Enemies euen vnder yonger Kings then your selfe what then vnder the infant Clotaire whom our Queene his mother carried hanging on her breast in his swadling bands at the fore-front of the battell crying aloud French-men this is your King She was a Queene indeed and he a king neuerthelesse though young nor those olde French daunted euer the more And yet by the way I would wish you to note that this young King this sucking babe being scarce foure moneths old when he wonne battells was the first afterwards who for his greatnes valor and worth got the glorious surname of great amōg his French thogh yet in those dayes of a general goodnes they were more ready to nich-name their kings for one onely vice then to honour them for many good qualities so rife were these so scarce those What and vnder Lewis your owne Ancetor whose happy name you carry as well as his Scepter Did not he succeed in this same State and very neere at the selfe-same age as your selfe And did he leaue to chastise his Enemies abroad his rebels at home and afterwards to vndertake vpon Palestine and Egipt Then comming backe into Fraunce make a new iourney into Affrick yet found he at his entry to the Crowne all his kingdome in trouble neuer more quiet then at this present his Princes and great ones deuided from him vnited against him which doe not deuise any thing now but generall vnion and your seruice and did neuerthelesse most happily ouercome all those difficulties his kingdome being not so great as yours by much nor his renenue the tenth part of that which you possesse Do you thinke Sir that that braue Prince which so valiantly vndertooke so great warres as farre from his interest as from his limits would haue demurred vpon the reuenge of so high an iniury Foraine examples would euen shame our owne being so faire and so worthy of imitation as among many I cannot heere deny due place to one most famous and very neere our case Philip of Macedon a great Captaine and a great king as our eyes haue seen our great HENRY hauing conquered all Greece as he Fraunce is murthered euen as he in his own chiefe Citty in a publick reioycing and vpon the very instant when he was to execute the greatest enterprise he euer had in hand His sonne Alexander the great yet a childe for so Demosthenes cals him ascended vpon the Throne of Philip as our LEWIS vpon that of HENRY but he feeles it shake vnder his feete sees Greekes and Barbarians vp against him on euery side his Counsell dismayed wish him to leaue off the affaires of Greece and quietly compound the rest Nay saith he but if I be perceiued to shrink at the beginning I shall euer haue my hands full of them and following this braue resolution ouer-throwes the Barbarians in a great battaile ouer-runnes all Greece like a fire and destroyes the Empire of the Persians the greatest then in the world with a small Army of thirty thousand men at the first and a stocke of thirty Talents Yet with so small meanes neuer would goe out of the Hauen but he would requite olde seruants and get newe giuing all away saue hope which he only kept for himselfe And when he had endeludged the world with a generall inundation of bloud yet is not contented if Iupiter from heauen do not assure him the death of his father is fully reuenged and his Manes fully appeased And you Sir who haue more Captaines then he Souldiers more Millions then he Talents more stedfastnes in your estate more obedience in your subiects more loue in your Nobility more wisedome in your Counsell then euer Alexander had with so many aduantages wil you not resolue your selfe to the execution of that vengeance wil you not steele your selfe in that resolution and will you rather be faint-harted at this first tryal will you winck at your Fathers murther and tarry till another knife forged perhaps vpon the same Anuile send you the same way tell his dolefull Shadow that for contemning the reuenge of his death you your selfe lost your owne life Oh! let me rather loose mine eyes then see it rather my senses rather my vnderstanding rather all then feele it or at any time come to the knowledge thereof This puts me out of frame this kills me when in the fit of this burning Ague in the sharpnes of this paine those who but yesterday armed them selues for some Duch come tell me now we must not speake of warr for the Kings death for what els then Country-men for a foote of ground for Cleves or Iuliers which are none of ours I neuer spoke of Naples Millan and Navarre which are ours indeed there they stand stil there shal we euer find thē But where shall we recouer that great HENRY who hath ben taken so traiterously taken from vs Yet if we had lost him in war where the heat of the fight spares none Pacience Armes are doubtfull oft-times number surmounts valour But to haue him murthered in cold bloud in a full peace before the eyes of al the world that we durst not and that we should not reuenge it it would be the shamfullest and greatest dishonour that euer hapned vnto vs to cover darken kill bury for euer the whole French name and what-soever glorious we haue done
the blessed Virgin with S. Brigid S. Andrew why not S. George to with a high hand to carry from God such things as she now vpō better information knowes most to be eschewed Together of the same feather you haue there one Becanus the more wicked because the more witty so apt are these monster-men to turne to ill vses the very blessings of God A little lower there is Carolus Scribanius who most iustly ashamed of his trayterous name hath ben faine to faine another in his Ample Theater of dishonour yet neuer forgetting herein the ambitious pride naturall to the society in taking of the best when they choose One who as though he were not able of himselfe to be wicked enough therein is he more wicked that he praises the wickedest Poland Sweth-land Trans-siluania Bohemia at their owne cost will contribute to the publicke shame those by whome they haue receaued and stil receaue so much smart though some haue paide deere enough for it And after these farther countries the remotest part of that famous Iland penitus toto orbe remota will not be ashamed to stake her peny Haies and Hamilton though not a peny worth to the common reproch of Nations But belike her sister would be too proud if she could not name for herselfe or rather against herselfe red-hatted or rather red-harted Allens Campion Hart Parsons Creswell Hall Tesmond Gerrard Hammond all bloody or fiery Traytors and their superior in all Garnet And now Sir among all them perhaps you thinke your Fraunce will escape free But alas shall we not finde within our owne bowels one Kakodemono-zannes apoligising for this Garnet and Franciscus Verona for Ian Chastell both which we know whence they are but since they themselues condemne their owne deeds by counterfeiting their names and therein the onely thing they haue done well in some sort redeeme their Countries shame let them dye for euer vnknowne indeed and vnnamed let those that haue any part in them disclaime it let them perish in their blood let me not haue their names within my lips But oh but we haue such as glory in their owne infamy those cursed ones that call euil good and good euill who least they and their villanies should not be knowne enough by their writings haue preached it openly from Towne to Towne before all the world and shamelessely taught it with a brazen face in their publicke lessons to showe that Fraunce owes nothing to the rest in treason wickednes But because holy father Cotton was come of late as it were with a blast of his sweete breath and in a sheete of paper to gainesay and disanull all his predecessors mis-doings and seeme to recouer the honor of the society though if his Amphibologious Equiuocations be rightly tryed he speakes as trayterously as any of them all yet least they should take to much hold of him and interpret his double meaning in the better part or rather to checke him as a false brother one that had yeelded to much to the time Behold out of Italy the great Iebuzit Cardinalised the great Cardinall shortly to be Papised who not contented with that which he hath formerly written as well he might for any new thing hee sayes but because it was onely done by the way and among his other controuersies a load to big for any man to carry comes out now as the Triarij in that great Army of forlorne hopes with a booke by it selfe and of set purpose sounding and denouncing from the Vatican to al Princes they are subiect to the Pope in temporalibus True it is that in Atheus tOrtus that is he himselfe had first made the way before him but it was vnder an obscure name that could not carry great waight But since the Chapleine was so bold as to vndertake no lesse then a great king for his share to write against Do you thinke Sir that his Illustrissime Lord and Maister hath it against Barclay onely No no poore Barclay is but the poorest part of his booke yet his sonne takes it in hand as his fathers cause and I am sure will not leaue the Cardinall vnpaid Neither is it against the king your braue father They haue his hart fast and haue don as some Barbarians were wont They haue executed him first then comes forth this sentence of death against him But there is nothing more to be had of him but your selfe your selfe Sir It is against your selfe directly that this booke is written against all kings aliue against al kings yet vnborne The haukes of a Cardinall will not flie for lesse then at the birds of Paradice And you holy father oh is it after that maner you wil haue your sons harts Sure sure that great father of mankind of whom you pretend your self so wrongfully to be the general Vicar did neuer meane it so when he said My son giue me thy hart But you sweet childe since you see two Barclaies two priuate men none of them a Protestant nor nothing neere the one vndertake it so vertuously against the Pope vpon no other particuler offence but the meere loue of the truth the other follow it so dutifully against Pope Cardinall and all onely as his fathers quarrell which yet is no such matter you I say which are so great so noble so auncient and so mighty a king will you not reuenge your fathers death will you not reuenge your owne quarrel against one that was but a Cardinall fiue yeares ago one that was but a base priest once It is he It is he that speakes in that booke it is he that made it Bellarmin is vnworthy of your anger He is but a meane instrument he is but a slaue and dares not do otherwise then his master bids The Pope himselfe the great Lord the great God of al not Acquaviva a slaue too hath viewed it corrected it allowed it caused it to be printed at his owne charges vnder his owne nose least there should be any fault in the print To what end then tarry any longer what will you haue more when they haue kild you also you shal no more be able to take reuenge Take it while you can and while you may Yet am not I of those hot-burning spirits though a strong Protestant I confesse that would set Rome all in blood and fire and dig vp her foundacions a thousand fathomes vnder the ground I would haue Rome reformed not Rome ruyned And what can the poore walls do withal for the inhabitants sinnes Yea I will vnparcially deale with the Pope and with more kindnes then he dares looke for at any Protestants hand Let euery Prince according to the law of God of Nature and of Nations establish a good and holy Patriarch within his owne dominions to whome all his Church men shall answer to none els without and he answer for them Let the Bishop of Rome reduce himselfe or be reduced to that estate wherein he
remember and reproach to our taynted memory that we were such Traitors to our King to our selues as to wincke at such an iniury For if we be so faint-harted as to suffer those attempts vpon our Princes without making mercilesse vengeance to light as quickly vpon the Authors heads we are gone for euer there are no more French in Fraunce no men no Monarchy none of that auncient freedome and franchise from whence we deriue our name there is no Fraunce in the world They will boast we complaine but dare not say who hath hurt vs. They will pronounce sentēce of death in their owne Chaires at their pleasure against our deerest Kings they will send to kill them when they list and all our straightest guards all the cruellest punishments we can inuent shall not be able to keep them For the earth will neuer cease to bring forth murtherers so long as it brings forth golde or religious arguments nor our enemies to set them against vs so long as they stand in feare of our greatnes What must we doe then in so lamentable a case Take onely a fearfull punishment of that cursed caytiue Make euen with the ground the infamous den wherein he was borne lay waste the vnhappy soyle that brought him forth cut downe the trees of so hurtful a shade sowe al the ground ouer with salt leaue no rēnant no memory of al that cursed brood most iustly punished to haue any part in so portentuous a monster Alas yet this hath not ben done yet it were but a small suplice a sory reuenge farr farr inferiour farr farr vnanswerable to our great ruine It were onely to whip the clothes as the Persians vsed and to punish the instrument without passing to the cause as one that would breake the sword and forgiue the murtherer Doe you beleeue if we had spared him he would euer haue refrained the like attempt since euen amidst the rack and tortures and in the apprehension of a direfull death he had ben so powerfully taught and perswaded as he stood fast to his damned resolution what thinke you then of them that set him on worke but that loosing such an Instrument as they were well content their losse is so little their profit so great as they will euer most gladly venture like losses for like gaines Once more what must we do then stay till that furious serpent onely cut by the taile returne more fierce then before to sprinckle our Louure afresh with the blood of France Ah! let vs rather dye or bruise a thousand times his mischieuous head then fall into the like extremity againe and rather kill al in reuenge of the present outrage although there were none henceforth to be feared SIR I must needs speak vnto you the first though the youngest you haue the first the greatest and the neerest interest in the quarrell And I am your most humble and faithfull Subiect Of al abhominations in the world treason is most to be abhorred The king your father hath often seen al christendome wholy bent to his ruine ready to ouerwhelme him yet cold that neuer stop the current of his victorious fortune But now as he was going as a mighty whirl-wind to ouerthrow al his enemies there he is stopt by one only Traytor who shewed to truly as Augustus sayd that there is nothing so dangerous as the resolutiō of a coward A coward indeed but such a one as hauing no particular quarrell that might cast him into so high an extremity must needs be moued to it by some higher powers If that may euer be found Sir if it were possible that the feeling losse of such a Father to whose blessed memory all your subiects dayly sacrifice their deerest teares all your Allies their hottest sighes and generally all honest men their deepest mourning could not moue you to take Armes against the Authors of our mis-haps the meere reputation of your kingdome the safety of your owne life ought to do it And let not the consideratiō of your vnder-age hinder so iust a war Your own father scare exceeded your yeares whē he began to be a souldier when both he and the Prince of Condé in regard of their youth were called the Pages of the Admirall Do not venture your life in an imaginary peace more then in open warr your life I say no lesse is the mark they aime at The noble examples of your predecessors yet recent and before your eyes the best hart-blood of your so louing father yet hot-smoking vp to your owne nostrills challengeth that duty of you Open or suspected Enemies our Kings haue alwaies laughed at but secret and hidden ones euer made vs to weepe and better it were to haue a million in an open battell before you then one alone lurking in a corner And better yet seeke a noble death in the midst of all daungers through a thousand speares and as many muskets then dayly looke for it in feare and suspition Suspition Sir is not the Element of the kings of France They cannot be mued vp all day in their closets without taking the aire but at a window or speaking to their people through a reed They cannot liue but free euer abroad euer on horsebacke fighting is more pleasing to them and lesse daungerous then playing They can dye in Tiltings neuer in Battells in their owne Citties in their Chambers with a violent death neuer in warr but by sicknes or a naturall course True it is few kings dye in warr also for few goe thither but the kings of Frāce haue sought it in the remotest Affrick carried it into the very hart of Asia euer returning victorious triumphing ouer their vtmost extremities while death durst neuer be so bold as to assaile them but by the ordinary way There haue ben some sick some prisoners some dead Neuer any one killed much lesse ouercome yet was it not for want of vēturing throgh the hottest perills Neuer any Princes went more freely nor further into them But it was that they haue euer ben inuincible and as it were immortal when they stood vpon their guard But were it not so and that our kings free and farre from all mistrust and harme could liue altogether safe and out of the shot of all trecherous designes into what contempt I pray you wold fal the blood of France in times past so honorable among all nations if they should but once see that it durst not reuenge it self against those that caused it so trayterously to be shed If this should not nerely touch it what would what iniuries would it reuenge hereafter if this were now so lightly passed ouer would it not belye it self with it self the publick voice of the world afirming that neuer any offred it disgrace or iniury without deere repentance And would it not harten his enemies to continue their mischieuous blowes if they saw the whole vengeance light vpon one only the inferior and weaker