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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	world_n	year_n	yield_v	103	3	6.7610	4	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A42794	The history of the life of the Duke of Espernon, the great favourite of France Englished by Charles Cotton, Esq. ; in three parts, containing twelve books ; wherein the history of France is continued from the year 1598 where D'Avila leaves off, down to our own times, 1642.; Histoire de la vie du duc d'Espernon. English	Girard, Guillaume, d. 1663.; Cotton, Charles, 1630-1687.	1670 (1670)	Wing G788; ESTC R21918	646,422	678

Orders into severe Execution they knew very well that there had been perpetual feuds betwixt him and that Assembly and as it usually falls out design'd to make their own advantage of those Divisions but the Duke taking a quite contrary course in this Affair than what they had expected at Court satisfied himself with only giving the Parliament to understand what should it come to the push he had power to do in case the King should not be obey'd exhorting them withal by their Wisdoms to prevent what he for his part would avoid as far as was consistent with his Duty and remonstrating to them that in a concern of this kind they should not find him any ways to act by his own particular passion neither would he either use or abuse the King's Name to satisfie his own Resentments This discreet and moderate way of proceeding having in time wrought upon some spirits that a more violent course might perhaps have provok'd into more untoward resolutions succeeded so well that by this means he procur'd a very considerable assistance to the advancement of his Majesties Affairs and that even with the good will and free consent of the Company whose interests in return he husbanded upon this occasion with the same tenderness and care as if they had effectually been his own At the same time that these Affairs were in agitation in Guienne the Enemy who had been long preparing for some notable Enterprize was now ready on all sides to invade the Kingdom to provide therefore for the necessary expence in so critical an occasion all ordinary and extraordinary ways besides having been found to fall short the King was constrain'd to lock up his Treasure from all other Expences which did not directly respect the War so that all the great men of the Kingdom saw themselves excluded from all possibility of extracting from thence their Entertainments Pensions or other Assignments of right belonging and annex'd unto their several Offices and Commands To supply which defect part of these expences were thrown upon the people they began at least to impose upon them the Entertainments of the Governours of Provinces to be Leavied upon them by Commissions of the Taille Bullion Sur-Intendant of the Finances who profess'd a particular Friendship to the Duke of Espernon and pretended to be very solicitous of his Interests offer'd him one of these Impositions for the payment of his Salary advising him moreover that out of this stock he should pay himself ●everal Arrears that were due to him but the Duke rejected the proposition with a generosity never enough to be commended sending him word That having for above threescore years serv'd the Kings of France without ever touching peny of the Assignations they had pleas'd to think him worthy of excepting what came immediately out of the Exchequer he would not begin towards his latter end to extract a subsistence out of the poor and miserable people he saw every day perish before his eyes for want of Bread That being plac'd in his Government to serve the King and to govern his People it was from the Master he serv'd and not from those he commanded that he was to expect his Reward That he had much rather be reduc'd to the bare Revenue of his own Estate than to see his Name in the Excise Office or his Table furnish'd out at the price of the Poor Such as solicited his business for him at Court to render him more facile to their perswasions represented to him the example of all the other great men of the Kingdom as well Princes as others who they said received now not one farthing any other way But all would not prevail he returning answer That he did not take upon him to condemn any one for so doing but that he did not nevertheless conceive himself oblig'd to follow the Examples of any whomsoever and that he had much rather undergo the imputation of Singularity in doing a thing he thought to be just than to do the contrary in imitation of all the world besides And indeed he continued to the last so constant in this noble and generous Resolution that he never after receiv'd one peny of any of his Assignments not so much as of those that were due for the year before So that at his Death he had near upon seven years Arrears due to him amounting to above five hundred thousand Livers By which it may be judg'd how much his strongest inclinations for I cannot deny but that he was exceedingly close handed in very many things gave place to Interests wherein his Honour was concern'd If in this particular he was so solicitous of easing the King's Subjects that were under his Government even to the prejudice of his own Interests he was no less careful to keep them within the just limits of their Obedience and Duty The gathering in of the Tailles was at this time a matter of so great difficulty that in several neighbouring Provinces as in Poictou Xaintonge and in Angoumois the people were in manifest Rebellion The Duke determinately oppos'd himself against this ill example and would never tolerate the least Disobedience to his Majesties Royal Pleasure a strictness that being for their licencious Constitutions or at least in their Opinions too severe made the people no less murmur at him for being too rough than he was censur'd at Court for being too indulgent But he was no more mov'd with Complaints of the one than the Jealousie of the other and his own satisfaction being his only Object he did not much regard any other than what he found in his own Conscience Though the Duke's mind was taken up with so many Affairs of great difficulty and trouble he had yet so much room left there as to allow something to his own particular resentments which would ever upon occasion crowd in for a place with the Publick Concerns The impunity of Briet and the liberty had been granted to him again to execute his Office in the Parliament of Bordeaux before his face and as it were in defiance of him was insupportable to such a spirit as that he was possess'd withal so that what command soever the King had been pleas'd to lay upon him to permit him so to do it was impossible for him to pay his Majesty that chearful Obedience in this he did in all other occasions To which indigestive humour of his his Animosity but too just in it self being every day exasperated more and more by new Provocations he in the end was no longer able so to conquer his passion but that his patience being wounded to the last degree must of necessity overflow all bounds of moderation and proceed to some effects of Revenge so disproportionate nevertheless to the Injuries he had receiv'd that if on the one side he was frugal of his own Conscience in sparing the Blood of an Enemy he was not however excus'd from the blame of undertaking and that with great bustle and

and that bear the greatest sway in all Humane Designs The end of the Second Book THE HISTORY Of the LIFE of the Duke of Espernon The Third Book WHilst the Dukes Enemies exercis'd his Vertue with these continual troubles they were themselves no less afflicted with their own Ambition The Assembly of the Estates was held at Blo●s where all things in outward shew were dispos'd in favour of the Duke of Guise but still as he approach'd nearer to his Object the greater the height and the more difficult the access unto the place to which he aspir'd appear'd unto him That one remaining step he was to climb to reach the height of his desires seeming to rise still further from him as oft as he attempted to gain it So that tir'd out with so many present difficulties and apprehending yet more those which were to come 't is said he was often almost resolv'd to leave off his Designs and to rely upon the King's Word that had so often assur'd him the enjoyment of his present greatness wherein also he doubted not without any great difficulty to maintain himself The Duke of Mayenne either jealous as some have thought of his Brothers Greatness or else of a more moderate temper than the rest of his Family had often advis'd him to this Resolution but the Cardinal their Brother and the Archbishop of Lyons were the Incendiaries that rekindled his dying Ambition and that hurried him on to that precipice into which they themselves at last fell with him They represented to him by what infinite labours and industry they had plac'd him in that height to which he was already arriv'd That if he ever had resolv'd there to limit his desires and to content himself with a competent Fortune he ought never to have undertaken those pains nor to have undergone those dangers he had so gloriously and so fortunately overcome That the merit of his Ancestors had left him greatness enough to satisfie an ordinary Ambition but that if he ever had the thought of rising above them as doubtless he had the way was open to him and that he had already overcome the greatest difficulties That the greater part of France stood for him and that almost all Foreign Princes and States were favourable to him That God himself seem'd to take his part by giving him a negligent and voluptuous Prince whose nature being softned and unnerv'd by ease and sloth had laid him open to his Designs That it was an easie matter in the condition himself then was to make him sure That not suddenly to do it it was to be fear'd the King might recover from his Lethargy and looking into himself might re-assume his former vigour and recover his almost lost Authori●y That the very fear the King then liv'd in ought to be highly suspected to him That no Counsels were so violent and dangerous as those that proceeded from apprehension or extream necessity That he infinitely deceiv'd himself if he thought there could be any safety for him what promises soever the King might make in that height to which he had already rais'd himself That the Fortune of a Subject was never more unstable and unsafe than when it rendred him suspected to his Prince That he must boldly therefore step out of the quality of a Subject if he would be out of the danger of a Sovereign They further remonstrated to him what Opinion all Europe who were joyn'd together in his Favour what all good Frenchmen who were passionate in his cause what all posterity to which he ought to have a greater regard than to the present could have of his courage if the Duke of Guise only should think himself unworthy of that Dignity to which all the world besides so passionately wish'd he might arrive That he ought then boldly to end what he had so generously begun and so gloriously pursu'd and that though death it self should follow which was not in the least to be doubted it were notwithstanding more honourable to perish in so brave a Design than to survive the shame of not daring to perform it The Duke of Guise whose ambitious and unquiet Spirit was apt enough to take fire at such Counsels as these haughty and mutinous Prelates were fit to give was soon perswaded to renew his former practice and as if he had only suspended the prosecution of his Designs to take a little breath that he might fall on with greater violence he presently sent new dispatches to Rome and into Spain still more and more to fortifie himself in the Authority of the one and Strength of the other assuring further to himself at the same time either by promises or threats by himself or by his Adherents almost all the suffrages of the several Deputies of the Assembly which the King to whom all these practices were very well known being enform'd of and then seeing the manifest danger he was in of losing both his Authority and his Crown he determined to prevent the Duke by Counsels as severe and bloody as his own were rash and mutinous and to cut him off before he should have time to effect what he had so politickly and so dangerously design'd● A resolution which ●eing soon agreed upon with some of the Nobility his Majesty knew most faithful to him had the execution of it without further delay committed to eight of the five and forty These five and forty were all of them Gentlemen of approved Valour and for whose fidelity they who had recommended them to the King stood themselves engag'd so that of this Company to which the number had given the name his Majesty made his most assured Guard the greatest part of his Domesticks being become suspected to him and as it were wholly entrusted the safety of his Person to their Fidelity and care They attended him where-ever he went they nightly kept Guard in his Anti-Chamber and as nothing is so powerful as benefits to win the hearts and affections of men there was not one of them who besides his Salary of an hundred Crowns of Gold a month which was very much in those times had not over and above either receiv'd or had not very good reason to expect great recompenses from his Royal bounty So that these men being absolutely ty'd to all his Majesties Interests it was no hard matter to induce them to make an attempt upon the Person of the Duke of Guise against whom the King had conceiv'd a violent and implacable Hatred I shall here say nothing of the manner and circumstances of the Death of this Duke nor of that of the Cardinal of Guise his Brother who at the same time came to the same violent end most of our Historians being particular in that Relation but I can bear testimony that the Duke of Espernon did neither then nor ever since approve of that execution and that although he had receiv'd very hard measure from the Duke in his life he notwithstanding had his great

in the whole world a Kingdom to be found more glorious more flourishing or more happy than that of France during the Reign of this mighty Prince Yet could not all this reputation abroad secure him from afflictions at home neither could his greatness and bounty exempt him from the power of Death who first exercising his cruelty upon some of his Family discharg'd in the end his whole rage and fury upon his own person The precedent year had ravish'd from him one of the Princes his Children and this depriv'd him of the Duke of Montp●nsier his Cousin a Prince for whom his Majesty had as great a kindness as for any whatsoever of his Blood as he made it appear by the true sorrow he manifested for his death but the Duke of Espernon was afflicted beyond all expression I have already given an accompt of the Alliance betwixt these two and of the particular Friendship that Alliance begot I shall now further say they were inseparable in their conversation their Interests went ever hand in hand with one another and it will be hard to find a Friendship so pure and constant betwixt two private persons as they ever preserved entire in the corruptions and revolutions of the Court Neither could the friendship of a Prince of his extraction and vertue be otherwise than of great importance to the Duke whose prosperity and advancement had procur'd him so much envy and consequently so many enemies yet was he constrain'd to submit to the inevitable necessity of death and to bear with patience a loss for which there was no other remedy This accident was yet follow'd by another the ensuing year at which the Duke was almost equally afflicted Pere Ange de Ioyeuse Father-in-law to the Duke of Montpensier had been return'd into the Order of Fathers Capuchins from the year 1599. from which time he had continued in the austerity of his Canon with so great zeal and sanctity that he was become a president of Vertue and Holy Living to all the Religious Men of his Order Yet did he not when returning to the observation of his Vow he threw off all worldly vanities and desires banish from his breast those true affections which Nature and Reason had planted in his heart but on the contrary had ever in his greatest retirement cherish'd the Duke's friendship as if he had been his true Brother in Blood as he was in Alliance and Affection Neither was the Duke on his part less sedulous to improve so vertuous an Interest ever honouring and loving him even in his penitential Sack-cloath at as high a rate as when he liv'd in the greatest Lustre in the most honourable employments and applying himself with greater diligence to the Interests of his House and to the advancement of his Daughter than when he himself liv'd upon the great Theatre of the busie world so that in different capacities of living their friendship continued still one and the same till death came to cut the knot which along had power to dissolve it This Holy man died at Rivoly in Piedmont in his return from Rome in great reputation of Sanctity and Vertue which has since by time been made more manifest to all The following year affords so little considerable to be said of the Duke of Espernon in particular the Court being at this time wrap'd in so great a calm and security that there is nothing of moment to be reported of any save the King himself that it might well enough be pass'd over in silence But having hitherto found out something or other to record in the foregoing years I had rather travel not out of my subject only but also out of the affairs of the Kingdom than to omit the most glorious proof his Majesty could possibly give of his Authority with all the Princes and States of Christendom in the conclusion of the Truce betwixt the Crown of Spain and the States of the United Provinces This great affair had been fruitlesly propos'd almost from the very first bustle of Arms in that Country neither had endeavours been wanting even in the heat of the most bloody executions that the fury of War has perhaps produc'd in any part of Europe for the effecting of so good a work Treaties of Accommodation having every year during those troubles been constantly by some or other set on foot but the animosity of Factions the difference of Religions and the variety of Events that had ever kept Affairs on both sides as it were in-equal balance had so exasperated the minds of men that scarce any proposition of Peace would be endur'd A work it seems reserv'd to be an additional Ray to the King's Glory whose reputation only could cut the knot of all those difficulties Spain had great need of Peace which having often without interessing the King in the Affair sought in vain he was in fine constrain'd to apply himself to him to procure it and wholly to submit all things to his Arbitration A task the King very well satisfied with so high and publick an acknowledgment of his power as readily undertook and to that purpose dispatch'd away President Ianin and the Sieur de R●issy to manage the Work by whose prudent conduct fortified by their Masters Reputation they effected that by the weight of Authority which perhaps their dexterity how great soever without great labour and expence of much time could not otherwise have brought to pass So that things were reduc'd to the point the parties concern'd could themselves desire from whence followed an universal Peace amongst all Christian Princes It was into this tranquille condition that the Affairs of Europe were first to be wrought before the King could begin to form it into the new mould he had long design'd for this great Prince born to reconcile Monarchy and Justice being unable to endure the proud Authority with which the Crown of Spain lorded it over all her Neighbours and more impatient that by the expansion of his Empire the Spaniard should reap advantages which he conceiv'd were more justly due to his Birth and Valour he resolv'd to clip the wings of this soaring greatness to make him give back those Territories he usurp'd from his Neighbours to restore the Republicks their ancient liberty and finally to reduce his power to the limits of his primitive possession This in short is all that can be said of the King's designs and all that such as conceiv'd they penetrated deepest into his most private thoughts could possibly divine it being most certain that he discover'd the bottom of his design to none which had it been communicated to any the Duke of Espernon would doubtless in this conjuncture have participated of the trust but as this great Prince would execute all things in his own person so did he here reserve to himself the secret of his resolutions insomuch that though his Army was all ready drawn into the Field that he himself was immediately to

had sav'd his Life and that he found himself very much reliev'd by this but all these Hopes were no other than feeble Rayes that threatned us with a sudden and fatal Eclipse At three in the Afternoon he appear'd so infinitely chang'd that it was judg'd impossible for him to pass over that day neither was he himself insensible of it and certainly it was an extraordinary mercy he receiv'd in this Extremity to have his Judgment more perfect and entire and his mind better compos'd at this than at any other time during the whole course of his Sickness His last moments he employ'd in entertaining Fabert from the day of his arrival he had never seen him but having now on a sudden remembred he was in the house he caus'd him immediately to be call'd where after he had embrac'd him in his Arms he told him That he would not now lose time in giving hi● new assurances of an Affection which would henceforward be useless to him but that he would conjure him by those testimonies he had sometime receiv'd that he would preserve his to his declining Family That he did entreat him to assure the King he dy'd his Majesties most humble and most faithful Servant and in his Name humbly to beseech him to Honour his little Children whom the Disgrace of the Duke their Father expos'd to infinite Injuries with his gracious Protection That they had the Honour to appertain to his Majesty That nothing could be imputed to their Innocency and that he hop'd they would one day by their Services manifest their Gratitude for his Bounty and Favour Though to render the King more favourable to this Request and to those Relations he did recommend thereby there seem'd to be a kind of necessity that he should also send some Complement to the Cardinal he did not do it nevertheless which some of his people thinking he had through forgetfulness omitted they made bold to put him in mind to whom after a little pause he return'd no other answer but that he was his Servant The same Complement but with a very great deal of difference in the tender manner of delivery he sent to the Chancellour Monsieur Seguier who had ever manifested for him a constant and inviolate Friendship as also to several other Persons of Quality at Court The severity that had been exercis'd upon his Family making him believe that their Enemies aim'd at no less than their total Ruine he would enjoyn Fabert of all his Governments and Commands to ask the Castle of Loches only in favour of the Marquis de la Valette his Grandchild and that only because seeing himself upon the point to expire he could have wish'd that his Body after his Death might have been in the power of no other than those of his own Blood A request so modest and so inconsiderable in it self that he doubted not but it would be easily granted and that he might have retriv'd this little piece from the wrack of his great Fortune but he was deceiv'd and the ill nature of his Enemies was such that even that was also deny'd him After he had dismiss'd Fabert he caus'd the Dutchess de la Valette his Daughter-in-Law the Marquis de la Valette and the Marquise his Sister to come to his Bed-side to whom after he had in general deliver'd himself in several expressions of great Passion and tenderness and exhorted them to Unity and Mutual Affection directing his Speech to the Marquis He in the first place recommended to him the Service of God and next that of the King without ever alienating himself from it upon any colour or pretence whatever to honour his Father and in what estate soever to pay him all the Duty and Service of a good and Obedient Son and never to remember the Injuries had been done him of which he charg'd him in express terms to retain no kind of resentment assuring them all that living in that Unity and good Intelligence with one another he had recommended to them God Almighty would bless them as he bless'd them with all his heart After which proceeding to some consolatory Admonitions wherewithal to moderate their Grief he with great difficulty lifted up his hand to give them his last Benediction This Action thus pass'd he turn'd himself to the other side of the Bed either to repose himself after this last effort of his Spirits and Voice or to conceal his Tears which although by tenderness and good Nature rather than want of Courage extracted from him yet would he not be reproach'd with such a weakness still retaining so much vigour as to maintain decency and the constancy he had ever manifested in all his Actions even in death it self He was heard indeed to fetch some profound sighs and often to repeat the name of his Son de la Valette who of all his Children had ever been dearest to him but that also was all he yielded to the impulse of nature in this final Separation Having thus paid some Sighs to his Grief several good and Learned Divines who were assisting about him again put him upon the Discourse of Piety and the forgiveness of his Enemies to whom he still constantly reply'd that he freely forgave them all naming withal those from whom he had receiv'd the greatest and most irreparable wrongs when some of them more zealous than the rest seeing him in so good a disposition ask'd him if he did not also forgive his Servants who had any way displeas'd him To whom he again reply'd that yes and withal his heart but there being one of them who a few days before he had fall'n upon with very severe and passionate Language the same person who had engag'd in the former Interrogatories proceeding indiscreetly enough to ask him if he did not also ask pardon of those he might have himself offended His courage not totally abated in this last extremity being a little inflam'd at the proposal of this reciprocal submission he made answer that it was sufficient he had pardon'd those of his people who had offended him and that he had never heard that to dye well a Master was oblig'd to make Honourable Satisfaction to his own Domesticks Those who were nearest to him perceiv'd him to be a little transported at that word but it was very easie to pacifie and compose him and after that nothing was heard from him but ardent Prayers to God neither was he observ'd to do any thing more than to turn his eyes towards the Crucifix and to kiss his Beads In this condition he lay when his strength visibly impairing but his mind remaining in a great tranquillity and calm they perceiv'd him by little and little to decline and faint away sensibly observing Death to disperse it self over all his Limbs His Legs first grew stiffe and cold which cold in a few hours seiz'd of his other parts till it came at last to his Heart Thus the thirteenth day of Ianuary and the sixth of