him at his entrances into Paâ—…is The cloth of estate carryed over the King by the Provost and Fsâ—…evins is his see No man can be the Kings spurmakâ—…r his Sâ—…ith or have any place in the Kings Stables but from him and the like This place to note so much by the way was taken out of the Constables office Comes stabuli is the true name to whom it properly belonged in the time of Charles VII Besides this he hath a Pension of 500000 Crowns yearly and had an office given him which he sold for 100000 Crowns in ready money A good fortune for one who the other day was but the Kings Page And to say truth he is as yet but a little better being only removed from his servant to be his play-fellow With the affairs of State he intermedleth not if he should he might expect the Queen mother should say to him what Apollo in Ovid did to Cupid Tibi quid cum fortibus armis Mipuer ista decent humeros gestamina nostros For indeed first during her Sons minority and after since her reintegration with him she hath made her self so absolute a mistresse of his mind that he hath intrusted to her the entire conduct of all his most weighty affaires For her assistant in the managing of her greatest business she hath peeced her self to the strongest side of the State the Church having principally since the death of the Marshal D'Ancre I mean assumed to her counsels the Cardinall of Richileiu a man of no great birth were Nobility the greatest parentage but otherwise to be ranked amongst the noblest Of a sound reach he is and a close brain one exceedingly well mixt of a lay understanding and a Church habit one that is compleatly skilled in the art of mâ—…n and a perfect master of his own mind and affections him the Queen useth as her Counsellour to keep out frailty and the Kings name as her countenance to keep off envie She is of a Florentine wit and hath in her all the virtues of Katharine de Medices her Ancestor in her Regency and some also of her vices only her designes tend not to the ruine of the Kingdome and her children Joan de Seirres telleth us in his Inventaire of France how the Queen Katharine suffered her son Henry III. a devout and a supple Prince to spend his most dangerous times even uncontrouled upon his beadâ—… whilest in the mean time she usurped the Government of the Realm Like it is that Queen Mary hath learned so much of her Kinswoman as to permit this son of hers to spend his time also amongst his play-fellowes and the birds that she may the more securely manage the State at her discretion Andto say nothing of her untrue or misbecoming her vertue she hath notably well discharged her ambition the Realm of France being never more quietly and evenly governed then first during her Regencie and now during the time of her favour with the King For during his minority she carryed her self so fairly between the factions of the Court that she was of all sides honoured the time of this Marquesse D' Ancre only excepted and for the differences in Religion her most earnest desire was not â—…o oppresse the Protestants insomuch that the war raised against them during the command of Mr. Luynes was presently after his death and her restoring into grace ended An heroicall Lady and worthy the report of posterity the frailties and weaknesse of her as a woman not being accounted hers but her sexes CHAP. II. Two Religions strugling in France like the two twins in the womb of Rebecca The comparison between them two and those in the generall A more particular survey of the Papists Church in France in Policie Priviledge and Revenue The complaint of the Clergy to the King The acknowledgment of the French Church to the Pope meerly titular The pragmatick sanction Maxima tua fatuitas and Conventui Tridentino severally written to the Pope and Trent Councell The tedious quarrell about Investitures Four things propounded by the Parliament to the Jesuites The French Bishops not to medle with Fryers their lives and land The ignorance of the French Priests The Chanoins Latine in Orleans The French not hard to be converted if plausibly bumoured c. FRom the Court of the King of France I cannot better provide for my self then to have recourse to the King of heaven and though the Poet meant not Exeat aula qui vult esse pius in that sense yet will it be no treason for me to apply it so And even in this the Church which should be like the Coat of its Redeemer without seam do I finde rents and factions and of the two these in the Church more dangerous then those in the Louure I know the story of Rebecca and of the children strugling in her is generally applyed to the births and contentions of the Law and the Gospel in particular we may make use of it in expressing the State of the Church and Religions of France â—…r certain it is that here were divers pangs in the womb of the French Church before it was delivered And first she was delivered of Esau the Popish faith being first after the strugling countenanced by authority And he came out red all over like an hairy garment saith the text which very appositely expresseth the bloudy and rough condition of the French Papists at the birth of the Reformation before experience and long acquaintance had bred a liking between them And after came his Brother out which laid hold on Esaus heel and his name was called Jacob wherein is described the quality of the Protestant party which though confirmed by publick Edict after the other yet hath it divers times endevoured and will perhaps one day effect the tripping up of the others heels And Esau saith Moses was a cunning hunter a man of the field and Jacob a plain man dwelling in tents in which words the comparison is made exact A cunning hunter in the Scripture signifieth a man of art and power mingled as when 〈◊〉 in Genesis 10. is termed a mighty hunter Such is the Papist a side of greater strength and subtility a side of war and of the field on the other side the Protestants are a plain race of men simple in their actions without craft and fraudulent behaviours and dwelling in tents that is having no certain abiding place no Province which they can call theirs but living dispersed and scattered over the Countrey which in the phrase of the Scripture is dwelling in tents As for the other words differencing the two brethren and the elder shall serve the younger they are rather to be accounted a Prophesie then a Character we must therefore leave the analogie it holds with this Rebecca of France and her two children to the event and to prayer For a more particular insight into the strength and subtilty of this Esau we must consider it in the three main particular strengths of
without variety of lascivious Songs which they spare not to sing in what company soever You would think modesty were quite banished the Kingdom or rather that it had never been there Neither is this the weaknesse of some few It is an epidemicall disease Maids and Wives are alike sick of it though not both so desperately the galliardy of the maids being of the two a little more tolerable that of the women coming hard upon the confines of shamelesnesse As for the Ladies of the Court I cannot say this but upon hear-say they are as much above them in their lightnesse as they are in their place and so much the worse in that they have made their lightnesse impudent For whereas the daughter of Pythagoras being demanded what most shamed her to discourse of made answer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 those parts which made her woman these French dames will speak of them even in the hearing of men as freely and almost as broadly as a Midwife or a Barber-surgeon Nay I have heard a Gentleman of good credence relate that being at a tilting he saw a Courtier going to remove a boy which very roguishly looked under a Ladies clothes but when her Ladiship perceived his intention she hindred him with this complement Laisse Monseuir laisse les yeuxne sont pas larrens the boyes eyes would steal nothing away a very mercifull and gentle Lady If that of Justine be still true Vera mulierum ornamenta pudicitiam esse non vestes that modesty were the best apparell of a woman I am afraid many of the female sex in France would be thinly clad and the rest go naked Being a people thus prone to a suddain familiarity and so prodigall of their tongue and company you would scarce imagine them to be coy of their lips Yet this is their humor It seemed to me strange at first and uncivill that a woman should turn away from the proffer of a salutation Afterward I liked the custome very well and I have good cause for it for it saved me from many an unsavory piece of mannerlinesse This notwithstanding could not but amazeme that they who in their actions were so light and wanton should yet think themselves modest and confine all lasciviousnesse unto a kisse A woman that is kissed they account more then half whored be her other deportment never so becoming which maketh them very sparing of receiving such kindnesses But this is but a dissembled unwillingnesse and hath somewhat in it of the Italian For as they had rather murder a man in private then openly speak ill of him so it may be thought that these Damosels would hardly resuse a mans bed though education hath taught them to flie from his lip Night and the curtains may conceal the one the other can obtain no pardon in the eye of such as may happen to observe it Upon this ground your French Traveller that perhaps may see their Hostesse kissed at Dover and a Gentleman salute a Lady in the streets of London relateth at his coming home strange Chimera's of the English modesty To further this sinister opinion he will not spare to tell his Camerades for this I have noted to you to be a part of his humor what Merchants wives he enjoyed in London and in what familiarity such a Lady entertained him at Westminster Horrible untruths and yet my poor gallant thinketh he lyeth not I remember I met in Paris with an English Doctor and the Master of a Colledge there who complained much of the lasciviousness of the English women and how infamously every French Taylor that came from us reported of them withall he protested that it did not grieve him much because he thought it a just judgement of God upon our Nation that all the married men should be cuckolds A strange piece of Divinity to me who never before had heard such preaching but this was the reason of the Doctrine In the old English Masse-book called Secundum usum Sarum the woman at the time of marriage promiseth her suture husband to be bonny and buxom at bed and at board till death us depart c. This being too light for the gravity of the action then in hand and in mine opinion somewhat lesse reverend then a Church duty would require the reformers of that book thought good to alter and have put in the place of it to love cherish and obey That this was a sufficient assurance of a conjugal faith he would not grant because the promise of being Buxom in bed was excluded Besides he accounted the supposed dishonesty of the English wives as a vengeance plucked down upon the heads of the people for chopping and changing the words of the holy Sacrament for such they esteem the form of Matrimony though his argument needed no answer yet this accusation might expect one and an English Gentleman though not of the English Faith thus laid open the abuse and seemed to speak it out of knowledge When the Monsieurs come over full pursed to London the French Pandars which lie in wait for such booties grow into their acquaintance and promise them the embraces of such a Dame of the City or such a Lady of the Court women perchance famed for admirable beauties But as Iâ—…ion amongst the Poets expected Juno and enjoyed a cloud so these beguiled wretches in stead of those eminent persons mentioned to them take into their bosomes some of the common prostitutes of the Town Thus are they cousen'd in their desires thus do they lie in their reports whilest poor souls they think themselves guilty of neither imposture For the other accusation which would seem to fasten a note of immodesty upon our English womens lips I should be like enough to confess the crime were the English kisses like unto those of the French As therefore Dr. Dale Master of the Requests said unto Mendoza the Spanish Ambassador upon his dislike of the promiscuous sitting of men and women in our Churches Turpe quidem id esse apud Hispanos qui etiam in locis sacris cogitarent de explenda libidine a qua procul aberant Anglorum mentes So do I answer to the bill of the complainant An Oxford Doctor upon this text Betrayest thru the Son of man with a kisse made mention of four manner of kisses viz. Osculum charitatis osculum gratioris familiaritatis osculum calliditatis and osculum carnalitatis Of these I will bestow the last on the French and the third on the Spaniards retaining the two first unto ourselves whereas the one is enjoyned by the precept and the other warranted by the examples of holy Scripture For my part I see nothing in the innocent and harmless salutations of the English which the Doctor calleth Osculum gratioris familiaritatis that may move a French mans suspicion much I confess to stir his envie Perhaps a want of the like happiness to himself maketh him dislike it in us as the Fox that had lost his taile perswaded
laâ—…entable and bloudy war which 〈◊〉 upon hem tâ—…ey not only endevoured not to avoid but invited during the reign of Henry IV. who would not see it and the troublesome minority of Lewis XIII who could not molest them they had made themselves masters of 99 Towns well fortâ—…yed and enabled for a fiege a strength too great for any one factiâ—…n to keep together under a King which desires to be himself and rule hiâ—… people In the opiniâ—…n of this thâ—…ir potency they call Assemblies Parliaments as it were when and as often as they pleased There they consulted of the common affairs of Religion made new Laws of government removed and rechanged their generall officers the Kings leave all this while never so much as formally demanded Had they only been guilty of too much power that crime alone had been sufficient to have raised a war against them it not standing with the safety and honour of a King not to be the absolute commander of his own Suâ—…s But in this their licentious calling of Assemblies they abused their power into a neglect and not dissolving them at his 〈◊〉 commandment they increased their neglect into into a 〈◊〉 The Assembly which principally occasioned the war and their ruine was that of Roehell called by the Protestants presenâ—…ly upon the Kings journey into Bearn This generall meeting the King prohibited by his especiall Edicts declaring all them to be guilty of treason which notwithstanding they would not 〈◊〉 to but very undutifully went on in their purposes It was said by a Gentleman of their party and one that â—…ad been imployed in many of their affairs That the fiery zeal of some who had the guiding of their consciences had thrust them into those desperate courses and I believe him Tantum relligio potuit suadere malorum Being assembled they sent the King a Remonstrance of their grievances to which the Duke Lesdiguiers in a Letter to them written gave them a very fair and plausible answer wherein also he intreateth them to obey the Kings Edict and break up the Assembly Upon the receipt of this Letter those of the Assembly published a Declaration wherein they verified their meeting to be lawfull and their purpose not to dismisse themselves till their desires were granted This affront done to the King made him gather together his Forces yet at the Duke of Lesdiguiers request he allowed them 24 dayes of respite before his Armies should march towards them he offered them also very fair and reasonable conditions such also as their Deputies had sâ—…licited but far better then those which they were glad to accept when all their Towns were taken from them Profecto ineluct abilis fatorum vis cujus fortunam muâ—…are constituit ejus corrumpit consilia It held very rightly in this people who turned a deaf eare to all good advice and were râ—…lved it seemeth Not to hear the voice of the Charmer charmed he never so sweetly In their Assemblie therefore they mâ—…ke Lawes and Orders to regulate their 〈◊〉 as That no peace should be made without the consent of the generall Convocation about paying of Souldiers wages fâ—…r the detaining of the Revenues of the King and Cleâ—…y and the like They also there divided France into seven cirâ—…es or parts assigning over every circle severall Generals and Lieutenants and prescribed Orders how those Generals should proceed in the wars Thus we see the Kings Army leavied upon no slight grâ—…nd his Regall authority was neglected his especiall Edicts violated his gracious profers slighted and his Revenues â—…orbidden him and his Realm divided before his face and allotted unto officers not of his own election Had the prosecution of his action been as fair as the cause was just and legall the Protestants had only deserved the infamy but hinc illae lachrymae The King so behaved himself in it that he suffered the sword to walk at randome as if his main design had been not to correct his people but to ruine them I will instance onely in that tyrannicall slaughter which he permitted at the taking of Nigrepetisse a Town of Quercu wherein indeed the Souldiers shewed the very â—…igour of severity which either a barbarous victor could inflict or a vaâ—…quished people suffer Nec ullum saevitiae genus â—…misit ira victoria as Tacitus of the angred Romans For they spared neither man nor woman nor childe all equally subject to the cruelty of the sword and the Conquerour The streets paved with dead carkasses the channels running with the bloud of Christians no noise in the streets but of such as were welcoming death or suing for life Their Churches which the Goths spared at the sack of Rome were at this place made the Theatres of lust and bloud neither priviledge of Sanctuary nor fear of God in whose holy house they were qualifying their outrage this in the common plâ—…ces At domus interior gemitu miseroque tumultu Misâ—…tur penitusque cavae plangoribus aedes Foemineis ululant As Virgil in the ruine of Trâ—…y But the calamities which besell the men were mercifull and sparing if compared to those which the women suffered when the 〈◊〉 had made them the objects of their lust they made them also the suâ—…jects of their fury in that only pittifull to that poor and distressed sex that they did not let them survive their honours Such of them who out of fear and faintness had made but little reâ—…ance had the favour to be stabbed but those whose virtue and courage maintaned their bodies valiantly from the rapes of those villains had the secrets of nature procul hino este castae misericordes aures filled with gun-powder and so blown into ashes Whither O you divine powers is humanity fled when it is not to be found in 〈◊〉 or where shall we look for the effects of a picifull nature when men are bâ—…come so unnaturall It is said that the King was ignorant of this barbarousnesse and 〈◊〉 at it Offâ—…nded I perswade my self he could not but be unlesse he had totally put off himself and degenerated into a Tyger But for his ignorance I dare not conceive it to be any other then that of Nero an ignorance rather in his eye then understanding Subduxit oculos Nero saith Tacitus jussitque sâ—…lera non spectavil Though the Protestants deserved â—…icti â—…or their disobedience yet this was an execution above the nature of a punishment a misery beyond the condition of the crime True it is and I shall never acquit them of it that in the time of their prosperity they had done the King many affronts and committed many acts of disobedience and insolency which justly occasioned the war against them for besides â—…hose already recited they themselves first broke those Edicts the due execution whereof seemed to have been their only petition The King by his Edâ—…ct of pacification had licenced the free exercise of both Religionâ—… and thereupon permitâ—…ed the Priests and Jesuits to preach in the