brother and the house of Montmorancie against him for the prosecuting whereof the brother of the said Montmorancie and the Prince of Condie came into England and there receyued the somme of 50. thowsand poūdes which was past ouer by exchange by way of Antwerp and Colen for the first leuy of men and bringing in of Casimire By meanes of which forces the king was constrained to giue vnto his brother Aniow Main Towrain Tours whereby his partage was made greater thē any brother to any king of Frannce before him Now when by this meanes the French king was thus-much feebled then was the said Duke of Aniow broughte into England to be made the make-fyre betweene the two most potent realmes of Christendome Spaine and Fraunce but vnder the colour and countenance of matrimony which being in the end conuerted into a mock-mariage Monsieur receyued his errand to go into the low countries of the king of Spaine there was he made Antiduke of Brabant the which laudable deuice yf any in Englād had cōtriued except M. Cecill or yf it had euer bene practized in any other princes tyme thē in this it could haue bene no lesse then highe treason For that to put an heire apparent of Fraunce in possessiō of Flaunders is a matter of no lesse moment thē to giue dooble strengthe vnto an auncient enemy and to leaue England for a future breakfast vnto a French king But it pleased God soone to quench the fire that mōsieur was sent to kindle For the new duke of Brabant being subdued by his subiectes was in the nonage of his raigne forced with much dishonor to returne into France VVhere the remembrance of the deceatful dealinges of England and the shame that lately he had sustained in the low countries did make his owne indiscretions apparent vnto himself and so aggrauated his sicknesse that the reuenge which he threatned vnto Englād he was faine to leaue vnto God and his duchie of Brabant vnto the right owner For soone after his arryuall in Fraunce with very much grief of mynde he died Monsieur being thus departed this world it was necessarie that some nevv occasion were soughte out for the continuance of M. Cecill his eternall resolution which the sinister practizes past and the iniquities of the tyme present suffred not to be ōg sought for For he foorwith discouered that the French king had entretained an il opiniō of the princes of the house of Guyse vnto the which house albeit that the King and his bretheren the late kinges before him had bene as much beholding as a king could be vnto his subiectes yet by the suggestion of a leud mignion all their manifold desertes were vngratefully forgotten And then for the better now rishing of these dislikes an extraordinarie league of amitie was concluded with the french King who soone after became so attentiue vnto good instructions that he cōmitted most horrible murthers vpon tvvo of the princes of the said house and what end himself shortly after came vnto is manifest enough But to leaue Scotland and Fraunce in those termes vvherunto they are novv led vve vvill come vnto Spaine as to the matter of greatest momēt the subiect of this discours The King vvhereof hauing left the Q. of England presently vppon Q. Maries deceasse in full possessiō of that kingdome and by sundry demonstratiōs giuen proof of his entire loue and amitie vnto her and also of his firme intention to continevv the old concord that had so long endured betweene the kinges of England and the house of Burgundie being also at peace with the French king hauing placed for the gouernmēt of the Netherlandes the Duchesse of Parma he departed into Spaine And albeit as it is wel knowne he hath euer bene a prince that by nature is disposed vnto peace yet cōsidering the greatnesse of the Turk and his incessant attemptes in the inuading of Christendome whereof some vniuersall danger mighte be feared to ensue he determined to employ such meanes as God had giuē him to withstand the intention of this comon enemy The which soone after he began to put in practize as hereafter shalbe declared But this cours of proceeding lyked not him that had designed his plots vnto other purposes and that rather sought to woork some speciall domage to the king of Spaine then to haue the potēcie of the Turck diminished And therefore for an introduction thereunto to make him odious vnto the people certaine players were permitted to scof and iest at him vpon their comō stages And the lyke was vsed in contempr of his religiō first to make it no better thē Turkishe by annexing vnto the very psalmes of Dauid as thoughe the prophet himself had bene the author thereof this ensuing meeter Preserue vs lord by thy deere woord From Turck and Pope defend vs lord That bothe would thrust out of his throne Our lord Iesus Christ thy deere sonne And after by making it farr more odious and woors then was the religion of Mahomet As diuers ministers did at diuers tymes insinuate vnto the people And one of them in a sermon at Paules crosse affirmed that it was a more better acte to assist Turks then Papistes For the which woordes the L. Buckhurst the same day reproued him at the shirif of Londons table but M. minister stoode vnto his tacling and had as it seemed learned his lesson of the superintēdent of VVinchester who published in a printed booke that it was better to sweare vnto the Turk and turkery then vnto the Pope and popery and that the Pope is a more perillous enemy to Christ then the Turk But in the meanewhyle it is a good Gospell that maketh him that tearheth vs to beleeve that Christ is the sonne of God and sauior of the world and him by whose meanes our forefathers were baptised in the name of the Father Sonne holy Ghost to be woors then he that denyeth Christ to be the sonne of God and constreyneth Christians to renounce their christendome These preparatiues being thus made the Moores that inhabited the kingdome of Granada were excited to rebellion Vnto whome althoughe the English would not openly send forces of men yet they sent them succors of powder shot artillery other munition of warr There were also certaine French pirates that vnder colour of authoritie from the Q of Nauar◠that then was the prince of Condie the Shatillion and others were sent foorth to robbe and endomage the king of Spaine and his subiects all these had free passage and entrance to and from the portes and hauens of England And soone after one Kirkham and diuers other English of the westcountrey were permitted to go foorthe to robbe and spoile the Spaniardes wherof the Spanish Ambassador then resident in England instantly demaunding redresse and restitution was denied of either And the goodes thus taken by piracie were brought into diuers townes west ward and there openly sold But in the meane
whyle that these lesse iniuries were continued a matter of farr greater mischief was practized to witt the rebellion of the kinges naturall subiectes of his Netherlandes VVhere the people by reason of their great welth were brought vnto pride the nobillitie throughe ouer-lauish expences declyned vnto pouerty and the newnesse libertie of heresy redy to fynde acceptance with either party they were the sooner and more easely seduced by the English The first attēpt being begū by certaine rogues vagabōdes appointed to the spoiling of Churches lefte the name of Gheuses to those rebelles euer after and these Gheuses being thus stirred vp there was to begin withall 60 thousād poūd sterling sent ouer vnto the prince of Orange for the leuying of those Ryters that he broughte against the duke of Alua. The which somme of mony was paide by sir Thomas Gressam in Antwerp By these attemptes and practizes the king was cōstreyned to withdrawe the forces that he had intended bent against infidells to employ them in his owne countries against his owne subiects VVith whome being nowe enbranled in warres there was sent by sea from Spaine for the paymēt of his soldiers aboute the somme of 600. thovvsand ducats the which mony was ceased vpō in the west partes of Englād notwithstāding the Q. had giuen her pasporte for the saf passage thereof by which meanes the kinges affaires were greatly let and hindred and thereupon followed a generall arrest of all marchants shippes and goodes in the lowe countries And this action tending to some further great inconueniēce the councell assembled at Hampton court and consulted at sundries tymes in the Queenes presence whether it were best openly to breake with the king of Spaine or not and after long deliberation the whole bodie of the councell concluded not to breake with him in any vvise But to make present restitution of the said mony for diuers causes and the rather for that they had but late before displeased the French king in assisting his Huguenotes and taking his townes and might not vvithout imminent perill incurr the enmitie of two such potēt princes But notvvithstanding this their generall resolution being also consented vnto by the Queene M. Cecill did aftervvardes secretly persvvade her vnto the cōtrarie whereby the decree made by the vvhole body of the councell was brokē contrarie to the prerogatiue of the councell of Englād which is knovvne to be greater thē the auctoritie of any kinges councell els in Europe And hereupon was the arrest of marchants goodes continued and a stay of trafyke betwene Spaine England and the lovv countries for three yeares together to the vndoing and detriment asvvell of many of the subiects of England as of sundrie the marchantes of the other countries But in the meane vvhile al such fugitiues and traitors as had in the lovve countries cōmitted any enormious crimes or could pilfer or violētly robbe or take away any thing from the king or his other subiects were receyued and harbored in England which vvas novv become the open receptacle of churchrobbers and priest-kilers Yea the very belles of the steeples of Churches vvere caried into England and there cast into artillery And one called Monsieur de Lumay being also fled thether receyued there such instructions that he came ouer into Holland surprised the tovvne of Briell vvhich vvas the first tovvne in all those partes rhat vvas possessed by manifest rebelliō and the presidēt that Flushing and diuers other townes shortly after followed And to assist them in these proceedinges there were sent ouer with troopes of English forces Morgan Sir Humfrey Gilbert and Chester And then followed North Cotton Candish and Norris all being Coronells coming the therwith whole regiments And albeit these supplies were still continued and men mustred and pressed perforce to go ouer vnto this seruice yet was it colourably shadowed to be don without cōsent of superior aucthoritie and the sending of thē thereby dis-auowed But on the other syde when any English for their encreasse of knowlege in military affaires did come ouer or did intēd to come ouet to serue the king of Spaine they were either before their departure or vpon their returne imprisoned and punished I may not heere omitt that after the warres of Barbarie made by Sebastian king of Portugall wherein the Mahometaines were assisted with munitiō against the Christians by the English and thesaid King was slaine the nobillitie and people of the realme of Portugall hauing according to their lawes and customes receyued the Cardinall as the eldest of the blood royal to be their king and he being very aged and not lykely to marry and haue issue were entred into consultation about the succession of the crowne which being vnderstood in England and also that the Cardinall was enclyned vnto the king of Spaine as his next heire there was an Embassador forth-vvith sent ouer from England to offer the Portugales assistance for the exclusion of the king of Spaine But this and the former practizes being cloked vvith much conning vvere either deemed able to passe vnespied or els these kyndes of molestatiōs vvere not thought sufficient And therefore it vvas held necessary to attēpt the robbing of the kinges treasure els vvhere the better therevvith to maintaine his rebelles against him in the lovve countries And albeit M. Haukins and some others had had but ill successe in such attemptes before there vvas novv one Franncis Drake sent foorthe vnto the VVest Indies vvhere in the streight of Darien vnderstanding of certaine mules that vvere to passe laden vvith gold and siluer from Panama to Nombre de Dios he put himself in ambuscade vvith an hundred shot and sett vppon tvvo vvhole companies of mules vvhich came only vvith their driuers and there very resolutely tooke avvay their gold not being able to cary the siluer vvith him throughe the mountaines And coming tvvo dayes after to the house of Crosses he slevv 6. or 7. marchantes and valiantly sett the house on fyre vvherin vvas burnt the value of 200. thovvsand ducats in marchandize And so he retyred home againe tovvardes England vvhere not longe after for that he had giuē such good proof of his dexteritie it vvas determyned that he should be employed againe as being the fitest man to atchiue an enterprize of stealing And therefore vvith shippes vvel furnished and prouided for his purpose he vvas sent foorth to attēd lie in vvaite for more of the Kinges his subiects treasure And in the southe seas on the back-syde of America vvhere no pirates had bene before him and therefore the lesse prouision made to vvithstand them there he and his company met vvith a ship in the porte of Valparizo vvherin vvere but 8. Spaniardes vvho taking the English for freindes receyued them on boord vvhere being once entred they couragiously tooke out of it 37. thousand ducats in gold And at another place called Taurapaza they boldly ventred on shore vnto a Spaniard that
enmitie with all the world and how for his labor he hathe purchased among fooles the reputation of wisdome albeit he hathe lost among wisemen the esteeme of honestie The first proof of this deuice to stirr vp tumults in other princes dominioÌ„s he put in practize with Scotland the countrie next adioyning where-vpon sone after folowed the warres of Lythe the successe whereof because it fel not out so well as to his purpose he wished himself went thether to patche vp a peace the which he so well disposed of that they were neuer since out of coÌ„tinuall warres And for the better more assured maintenance of discord he hathe not letted euer since to hyre some principall persons for yearely wages to nowrish and continew rebellions quarrells factions by which meanes the treasure of the realme hathe not only bene infinitely wasted but at sundry tymes diuers greâ—â—… troopes of English forces haue bene sent â—â—ether conducted by the Earle of Sussex and others whereof hathe ensued very great effusion of bloud of either nation diuers horrible murthers the exyle of the Scottish Queene and the transposing of the realme to the rule of an infant vnder the gouernment of a bastard But what infortunate endes this vsurper and sundrie others there sett vp for regentes haue come vnto is manifest to the world and the great murthers that haue sprong throughe the seede of dissention first sowen by this pacifier haue not ceased eueÌ„ with the slaughter of that queene but wil end the lyues of many before they be ended Now as one that of hatred vnto idlenesse would rather choose to be occupied in iniquitie then to offend in slothe in the meane whyle that these dissentions were entretained in ScotlaÌ„d coÌ„sidering that by the mariage of the French king vnto the Scotish queene their two realmes were lynked together and that the French king was but an orphane he neglected not his oportunitie to bring France to staÌ„d in as good termes as Scotland therefore he sent ouer Sir Nicolas ThrogmortoÌ„ to perswade such French vnto rebellioÌ„ as he founde to be mutinous discoÌ„tented and for furtherance thereof he promised them assistaÌ„ce of mony and munitioÌ„ out of EnglaÌ„d The vvhich promisse was accordingly performed For M. Cecill seldome failed to kepe his woord in any such couuenant the seduced French so wel kept tutch on the other syde that they proceded vnto a very flatt rebellion and so purchased the nevv name of Huguenots But this assistance not being found sufficient the more to engage the realme of England in that cause the Huguenots were wrought to deliuer vnto the Queenes haÌ„des the tovvnes of Newhauen Diepe diuers others the acceptaÌ„ce whereof some of the auncient nobilitie of the realme that yet remained of the councel vtterly misliked and aleaged that it was an ill president to assist the rebels of other princes least the lyke might be offred vnto the Queene which considerate councell auailed litle with him that meÌ„t to make this no more but an introduction to greater mischieues For Vaughan Pellam and one Portinato an Italian were sent ouer to take the view of Newhauen and these returned with relation that the English were able with 2000. to defeÌ„d it against all the world and here upon the matter was resolued notwithstanding all former alleagations and forward it went but not without a vizard for their was a booke written in iustification of that action to signify to the world that the intentioÌ„ of the English was but to kepe the possessioÌ„ of that towne vntill the king came to age as thoughe the master of the wardes in England had had the wardship of the French king also And another reason was for that the other party to wit the princes and peeres of the realme that were of the kings councell did meane to bring strangers into the countrie from whome of all other places they had great care to preserue this towne whereupon a very difficill question might be moued to wit whether the English in those dayes were more naturall Frenchmen then other strangers But leauing the resolutioÌ„ of this doubt certaine it is that there were sent ouer vnto Newhauen 4000. men which were but 2000. more then were nedefull to withstand all the world perhaps to remaine in prouision against Nouus orbis which peraduenture might come against it also but how this tovvne was defended froÌ„ FrauÌ„ce only by the shame-full abandoning thereof it did appeere And this losse was not vnaccompagned with a greater euill for the soldiers that returned back againe into England brought with them such a plague of pestilence as generally infected the most partes of the realme and in the citie of London and the suburbes there died in 12. monethes 20000. persons And the very Huguenotes themselues abhorring the frauduleÌ„t dealinges of the English hauing obtayned a peace and perdon of their king became the very first that bent their forces to expulse them wherein may be noted with what firme amitie the English French are vnited in the discordant vnitie of the new Gospell It is further to be obserued that the French king fynding the English whose name among the french people is so odious to haue gotten footing in Normandie to the end that he might be deliuered of them in that prouince offred to deliuer the towne of Calis presently back againe into the Queenes possession The which he was not bound to do vntill certaine yeares were expyred this offer by the only perswasion of Cecill was refused who told the Queene that she might well kepe the one and recouer the other but in fyne all was lost For the English as is alredy touched dishonorablye forsoke Normandie the French hostages that lay in EnglaÌ„d for the rendring of Calis were priuily let go againe into Fraunce and as it is very probable by the only deuice and woorking of M. Cecill The matter of Newhauen being thus begun with iniustice and ended with shame the authors practizes for the maintenance of the French rebellioÌ„s there withall ended not But he had gained the skill better to contriue the execution of his owne plots vnder the aucthoritie of the state and to be least seene in those thinges that most he prosecuted And there fore procured that with diuers great sommes of mony froÌ„ England diuers troopes of Germaines were leuyed froÌ„ tyme to tyme and brought into FrauÌ„ce for the assistance of the Huguenots by which meanes the confederatie betwene the English and them was now growen so strong that they would neuer in any treaty with their king conclude any conditions without the counsell and consent of their English confederates as it was alwaies manifestly fonnde and prooued By whose crafty direction they were so gouerned that they euer obtayned more by making their peace then by the successe of their warr And at such tyme as the oportunitie serued not to stirr vp the Huguenotes against the king they letted not to stir vp his owne
lay a sleepe and had lying besyde him the value of 4. thousand ducats in 13. vvedges of siluer all vvhich they ouercame caried vavay curteously leauing the Spaniard as thei found him They ryfled also 12. shipes that lay at ancker in the hauen of Lyma and cutting all the ropes cables let theÌ„ driue vnto the seas And in another ship called the Cagafuego they found precious stones ievvels 80 pouÌ„d vvaight of gold 20. tonne of siluer vvhere of hauing put themselues in possession after some smaller pilferies and sacking of the tovvne of Gnatulca M. Drake and his company returned from this very hot and hardy seruice in the end brought all this treasure into EnglaÌ„d VVhere he vvas so vvell vvelcome and so liberall in the deuision of shares to some Courtiers that notvvithstanding the gallovves claimed his interest it neuer gat so great a brauado for in very despight of wapping he was at Deâ—ford rewarded with the honor of knighthoode and in the same ship wherewith he had bene abrode a roâ—ing And albeit that now and then some poore pirate or other rhroughe the importunate sute of the parties endomaged haue bene cast away vpon wapping shore yet was their sildome or neuer any restitution made of the stolne goodes Neither should such great mis-hap haue betyded those pirates had not their chiefest offence bene in stealing to litle For M. Drake himself and diuers other principal Captaines haue bene much disgraced at such tymes as they returned home with small booties But this good successe of an il enterprize gaue great desyre to the lyke attempt againe And the new knight of the order of theuiÌ„g by the inequal deuisioÌ„ of shares hauing had perhaps the least parte alloted vnto himself was redy enoughe to vndertake it And not longe after he was sent forth with a greater number of men and shippes wherewith he arryued at the Ile of Spagnola and there sacked the towne of S. Domingo and other places where he coÌ„mitted many barbarous cruelties vpon religious men and women and returning from Carth agena tooke in his way sundry shippes the people wher-of he cast into the seas These continuall robberies spoiles made by the English vpon the King of Spaine his subiects in about his Indies grewe in the end to be so many and so ordinary that euen the very remembrance that it was iniustice and the euery forgotteÌ„ And for their greater shame coÌ„fusioÌ„ they haue not letted to put downe many of their actions them selues in print to the view of the world And among others which for breuitie I must omitt M. Thomas Candish in his letter to the lord Chamberlaine writeth that he had nauigated all alongst the coast of Chili Peru and Nouaspagna VVhere he made great spoiles and burnt and sunck 19. saile of Shippes small and great and burnt and spoiled all the villages and townes that euer he landed at and that he tooke a ship of the Kinges at Califorma wherein was the somme of in treasure and somuch other costly wares as he was not able to carie away therefore tooke all the treasure and sett the ship with the other goodes on fyre But I will here end these matters to auoyde prolixitie omitt sundry of thesame kynde which by very many haue bene put in practize And albeit that euery one of theÌ„ hathe not returned with lyke spoile yet certaine it is that there vvere neuer any westerne voyages made from England these many yeares past but howsoeuer they were in outward shewe diuulged the very meere meaning intention of theÌ„ all was to robbe the king of Spaine or his subiects of their Indian treasure In the continuaÌ„ce whereof for so-many yeares together as the king neuer atteÌ„pted any act of hostilitie either against the Queene her dominions or subiects which no prince in the world could haue forborne to do after so great prouocatioÌ„ so the English on the othersyde did contrariwise deeme that the to-many iniuries vvhich they had donne him vvere al to fevv And therefore they resolued to offend him much more and in a farr more apparent and inexcusable manner in the sight of all the world then in any their former actions hovv manifest soeuer For vvhen the Archtraitor to his King destroyer of his country the P. of Orange was takeÌ„ out of the world and the head-lesse rebels of the NetherlaÌ„des first seeking patronage of the K. of Denmarck after of the French king being by both those iustly denied and reiected the English dismasking themselues of all former vizardes and shadowes did ouertly receyue them into their protection to defend them in all open hostillitie against their naturall and lawful soueraigne the king of Spaine And thereupon they resolued to put themselues in possession of sundry the principall porte townes and other places of those partes And by a printed declaration went about by diuers weake and indirect reasons to iustifie that action vvhereof amonge others one was in respect of the auncieÌ„t league betvvene the kinges of England and the house of Burgundie and the people of either of those princes as thoughe the Q. of England mighte by prerogatiue of that league maintaine the subiects of the Netherlandes against the King of Spaine their soueraigne the chief Prince of the house of Burgundie An-other reason vvas to the end the naturall people of the countrie should not be oppressed by straungers as thoughe the English Scotish Germaines others brought in by the States were lesse straungers then the Spanish But to confirme and make these reasons more sufficient M. Norris vvas first sent ouer to take possession of certaine porte townes fortes and other places in Holland and Zealand and soone after the Earle of Leicester whose experience in chamber woorck exceeded his practize in warr and the L. Audley the L. VVilloughbie and the L. Northe sundrie other of name came ouer with an army of 10. thowsand men aswell for the garnisons of the places now in their possession as also to come vnto the feild against the forces of the king of Spaine And in what sorte the supplies of the garnisons in Holland Zealand Brabant and Flaunders haue since froÌ„ tyme to tyme bene continually maintained from England as also the English troopes for the feild being preâ—ently in our view and memorie I will omitt the recytall And thus at the last by this ouert entrance of the English into hostilitie there was more manifest occasion giuen vnto the king to vse the lyke againe and to attempt that whereunto no former iniuries could prouoke him And the matter now coming to an opeÌ„ warr on either syde either party was to vse his aduantage as he best could Che piglia piglia che non puo suo danno And therefore omitting that which since hathe bene donne in those partes I will briefly touch the Portugall voyage not in comparing it with the double faced actioÌ„s before rehearsed but as an ordinary
help and amonge others to the French king Vnto whose ayd he sent in the first troobles 3. thowsand Spaniardes who were present at the battaile of Dreux And afterward from the lowe countries he sent the Counte of Mansfeild at two seuerall tymes both with horse and foote He sent also the Counte of Arenberg the Baron of Erge and diuets others to assist thesaid king at sundry tymes All which forces sent by the King of Spaine from tyme to tyme into Fraunce himself of his princely and liberall mynde euer maintayned payed at his owne charges And there is nothing that more declareth his moderation iustice and equitie towardes his Christian neighbours then his sweete and Christianlyke demeanour towardes the realme of Fraunce VVhere neither by the minorites of the late kinges nor ciuill discentions of the subiects he would take aduantage to chalenge or encroache any parte of that countrie VVhereas yf he had bene so greedy and ambitious as his aduersaries do bely him to bee he would not haue omitted in so many oportunities to have chalenged all Fraūce to hymself VVho hathe at this present thesame right by his daughter and farr more cleere then had somtyme the noble prince King Edward the third of England thereunto And yet as the world seeth he neither thē nor now hath chalēged any such thīg at all this is a singular praise and an eternall glory to this most puissant prince of all ages and in this tyme especially to be maruayled at that he attēpteth nothing nor wageth any warres that are not iust honorable and allowed bothe by the lawes of God and man And as touching the Queene of England I will omitt some great and especiall acts of amitie shewed by himself vnto her whē he was maried vnto her sister whereof her self is not ignorant but dothe best know them And I will briefly relate some points before touched First vpon the deceasse of Queene Mary his wyf he gaue vnto this Queene al her Iewelles which rightly appertayned vnto himself And being aboute the conclusion of a peace with the Frēch king after the taking of S. Quintynes he delt very instantly for the rendring of Calis vnto the English insomuch as vvithout the restoring thereof he refused the accord stode so resolute vpon this point that in the end the French vvere faine to tell him that albeit the English did solicite him to include the deliuery of Calis in his peace yet had they secretly alredy cōcluded their peace with them without that condition And this was donne by a close practize of M. Cecill who sent ouer one Guido Caualcante an Italian to conclude it vvithoute the knowlege of the Queenes Ambassadors vvho vvere there appointed to solicite it VVhich extreme duble dealing could not yet brede any auersion in his mynde against the English insomuch that after they began to fall from the doing vnto him one iniurie in the neck of another which still encreased from a fewe to many and from lesser to greater yet would he neuer begin any attempt against them nor neuer make somuch as any shewe of any one acte of hostilitie whatsoeuer vntill such tyme as they came so farr as to the very taking of his townes into their owne possessions as is aforesaid VVhich is a most great and sufficient argument of his grounded affection vnto that Queene and countrie For moste rarely is it foūd that any King or Prince could so continually disgest and ouersee such great vvronges and iniuries as he hathe receyued from England and much lesse himself that hathe greater meanes to reuenge them then any other potentate lyuing in the world And had doubtlesse lōg since dōne it had it not proceeded of a most singular affectiō vnto that Prince and people hope of redresse and amendment Thus much may serue to shewe whether the King of Spaine hathe soughte so many yeares to trooble the state of England But contrariwise vvhether the state of England hathe so long soughte the disturbance of him and almost of all other their neighbours I leaue the reader to iudge by the premisses the cōfirmation of those I referr to the testimony of all the nations of Europe to the end there may be a sufficiēt number of witnesses to check the extreme impudenof the malitious aduersary who is not ashamed to say that the repose of Christendom by the king of Spaines vvarres by no other meanes is nowdisturbed which otherwise mighte come to an vniuersall peace But as touching the vniuersall peace yf it were to be such as this pacifier would prescribe it vnto him I must needes confesse that I do greatly doubte vvhether the king of Spaine would thereunto be perswaded because in al-lykelyhode it must be in this manner First that he should recall such forces as of great compassion vnto the naturall people of Fraūce he hathe sent thether to defend them against a relapsed Huguenote that vvould make them renegates from the faith as himself is Secondly that he should suffer his rebells of Holland and Zealand quietly to possesse the places they do hold and to take vnto them all the rest of the low countries also conditionally that the English mighte still kepe the possession of such porte townes as they haue haue some half a dosen more annexed vnto them Thirdly that the English rouers might peaceably go to his Indies and there take away his treasure and his Indies also And these fewe aricles being thus accorded then might England Fraunce the Netherlandes and Germany be in farr better possibilitie to extirpate the Catholyke religion in Italy to bring the Moores into Spaine then to conclude that vniuersall peace which passeth all vnderstanding And include in the-same the great Turk the king of Fesse and Marrocco and other infidells with whome England is alredy leagued And thus hauing declared sundrie of the iniuries dōne by the English vnto other princes and people espetially vnto the King of Spaine his subiects also in what laudable most honorable manner the said King hathe demeaned himself vnto thē and other his Christian neighbours It shall now be necessary to touch the presēt estate wherein the realme of Englād stādeth The which for the better intelligēce of the reader I will reduce into fower pointes and in conclusion it shall manifestly appeere vvhether some fewe persons accused or their chiefest accuser are or is the cause of the present and expected calamities of England The first shalbe touching matters of faith and religiō wherein there was neuer such great and wonderfull confusion The second touching exterior enemyes whereof the realme had neuer somany nor none so puisant The third of the sundry competitors for the crowne and the vncertainty of the successor The fourth and last shall concerne the ouerthrow of the Nobilitie and the generall oppression of the people THE realme of Englād hathe at sūdry tymes bene subiect to diuers great molestations aswell throughe ciuill dissentiō as
in person with great armies obtained such victories as will for euer recomend their glorie to all posterities They are also in league with a fewe Bere-bruers and Basketmakers of Holland and Zealand with a company of Apostataes and Huguenotes of Fraunce with their feed pēsioner the Chaūcelor of Scotlād who by abusing of the King hathe gottē credit to woork his ruyne And the English thus leagued with infidells heretikes and rebells cannot yet presume of any true frindship of them in their hartes For the French albeit they be Huguenotes yet are they still French vnto the English and as heretofore so euen of late they have shewed themselues vnto such as were sent from England to assist them The states of Holland and Zealand yf they could possibly thurst out the Englishe they would not let to do it And it is well knowne that some of them of chiefest auctoritie haue secretly concluded and resolued either presently vpon the Queenes deceasse or so soone as any oportunitie serueth to bring all their forces together to attempt it The freindship of Scotland although it haue cost many Englishe angels yet will it prove Scotish in the end And the great Turk and his consorts may be by the English excited to inuade some partes of Christendome neere vnto them adioyning as alredy vpon such perswasiō they haue attempted but good vnto England they can do none albeit the English would exchāge their Geneua Bible for the Turkish Alcorā because their situations are to farr distant But how so euer their new freindes may congratulate with them their old alies may rather reioyce in hauing their enmitie then their amitie For that by the vnhappy and mischieuous endes of somany of their late confederates it is obserued that to be in league with Englād is malū omē Et for proof thereof I will aleadge some examples First the Earle of Arren in Scotland after that he had by the espetiall suggestion of the English prosecuted the rebellions and dissentions in his countrie became distracted of the vse of reason and hathe these 30. yeares remayned madd The Earle of Murray bastard brother to the Scotish Queene was slaine with an harquebushe in the towne of Lythquo The Earle of Lenox was stabbed with daggers The Earle of Marr was poysoned The Earle of Murton behedded All which were regents and gouernours of the realme and sett vp by the English For I will omit recytall of diuers other Lordes and gentlemen that folowed their factions whose endes also were violēt Besydes the great nūbers that haue perished in diuers battailes In Fraunce the Prince of Coundie was slaine at the battaile of Iarnac The Admirall Shatilian massacred at Parris with mumbers of his consorts The Cardinall of Shatilian his brother was poysoned in England The Counte of Mountgomery behedded Monsieur the Duke of Aniow brother to the late King died of an extraordinary sicknesse supposed to be poysoned And what end the last French King came vnto is manifest enough As also that Lanowe being ioyned with the English forces in Britany was there slaine And to what end Nauarr shall come being as firmly leagued with the English as were the others is yet to be expected In the low Countries the Counte of Lumay before mentioned that surprised the towne of Briel and had bene the murtherer of some hundteths of Priests being bitten in the arme by an English dogg of his owne died mad raging in the towne of Liege The Prince of Orange that could neither be warned by the infortunate endes of three of his owne bretheren Henry Adolf Lodowick nor by one or two attēpts made vpon his owne person was lastly slaine with a pistol in the towne of Delf in Holland THe third calamitie whereunto England is brought is of the vulgar multytude vnsene because it is yet of them vnfelt And that is the great confusion of somany competitors to the crowne bothe within without the realme VVhich must nedes prognosticate such slaughter cruell murthers as neuer were in that nor in any other country for such quarrell VVhen the crowne of England was in contention only betweene the two howses of Yorck and Lancaster how lōg it lasted how many of the bloud Royal Nobilitie lost their lyues and what great nūbers of thowsandes were slaine the histories of those dayes can declare But farr greater extremities are we now to expect among somany do mesticall and some externe competitors Euery one of which thinking himself to be iustly the first cā aleage many causes for the exclusion of the others And therefore in all lykely hoode each one of those that liue within the realme Ile will not forbeare hereafter to attempt by what meanes he may to preferr himself and to depresse the others For the crowne remayning among so many in equall ballance and each almost in lyke possibilitie who of them is it that will not dare to aduenture the vttermost of his meanes for the gayning of no lesse a thing then is the kingdome of England And what aucthoritie of any dissolued councel shal prohibite any of the competitors to attempt the same vpō the dereasse of the Queene VVhat great apparēce is there then of the effusion of the blood of many thowsands to what desolation is the realme lyke to be brought how fayned will then this present seeming peace be foūde whē it shall conclude in such intricate mortall warres And how infinite wilbe the cursinges and maledictions of all sortes of people vpon him that hathe caused it whē it shall appere vnto thē that as he neuer sought to cōserue thē in peace during the Queenes lyf so he neuer mēt but to leave thē in warres after her death At what tyme he may reioyce as once did the tyrāt Nero to see the citie burne which himself had set on fyre And how soone this great quarrel shalbe begun is as vncertaine as the thing that each howre is to be expected Seeing it dependeth vpō the only lyf of the Queene wherof there is as litle assurance as of the lyf of any other mortall creature and her deceasse so-much the nearer in that she is now declyning in age TO come vnto the fourth last parte cōcerning the ouer-throwe of the Nobilitie and the great and generall oppression of the people it is first to be considered that albeit the vniust molestations of other comon-wealths and the oppressions and cruelties vsed within the realme were bothe by M. Cecill begū prosecuted yet hathe he so cuningly disposed very many of his affaires into the handes of other principall actors espetially since the death of his brother Bacon that very oftē tymes his owne plottes inuentions have seemed the practizes of others Of these his actors the late Earle of Leicester the secretary VValsingham were the chiefest The former of the twaine for that he had in his youth by ouermuch attending his pleasures neglected the obseruation of many secretes which M. Cecill practized
to remit all iniuries past and to put vp as many as hereafter they may do vnto him and quietly lett them continew their wrongfull possession of his righte M. Cecill is become so mad and angry with him that he raileth vpon him in open proclamation wherein I suppose I mistake not the person for albeit the proclamatioÌ„ be published in the name of the Queene yet must it needes be written by the directioÌ„ of him which is Domine fac totum who as it seemeth being in some great choler was ouer hasty in the choise of his Scribe or somuch ouer-weened in his owne wisdome that he thought no one of his fond impertineÌ„t and friuolous reasons could be controled And therefore with much impudeÌ„cie he saith that the king of Spaine hathe continually disturbed the state of England 33. yeares together and he greatly laboreth to make the world belieue that either the king did neuer know or els had vtterly forgotten whether the English had euer don vnto him any iniuries at all and therefore could neuer think vpon any meanes of remedy or reuenge yf he were not vrged forward and put in memorie of them by a fewe priestes and Iesuites He accuseth the Pope of exhausting the treasure of the Churche without consent of the college of Cardinalles VVherein he seemeth as thoughe he pitied the wasting of the Churches treasure who could wish in his harte that the. Pope and all his Cardinalles were as poore as euer was Iobe He would make it seeme an iniury that this treasure is employed in the warres of Fraunce because that realme hathe bene a defender of the Romaine Churche in all their oppressioÌ„s where as it rather might seeme an iniury yf the Pope should not now relieue them that had assisted the Church in former oppressions who I think he cannot meane to haue bene Nauarr and his Huguenotes And verely it seemeth that this mannes great prosperitie do the make him to forget himself dothe bereaue him of his iudgement For who may els imagyne that his vanitie should be so great or his lack of wiser matter so litle as to set foorth in proclamation that the King of Spaine did practize with men of base birth of the English nation who giueth credit vnto none but vnto such as to whome all ChristeÌ„dome yeildeth honor for their knowne vertue and wisdome being also of honorable or very honest pareÌ„tage and therefore not base of birth Neither seemeth he to remeÌ„ber with what woorshipful squyres he practizeth withall against the King in Holland and Zealand nor yet what Sir walter Rawleghe dreamed of himself how King Henry the eighte told him that he did very much wooÌ„der that one Cecill was now come to beare so great sway in the courte whose name in his tyme was so obscure in the countri Neither coÌ„sidereth he that albeit by his owne pareÌ„tage he is but meane that he hath litle betred himself by his matches his first wyf being but the sister of a PedaÌ„te and his later so lately come out of the kitchin that her posteritie for some discents must nedes smell of the fat of the frying pan which were nedelesse here to be aleaged were it not to manifest his Lordshipes insolent vanitie in standing vpon such toyes as with wisemen are esteemed as fethers in the ayre who in respect of meane parentage do neuer accompt the lesse of wise or woorthy mennes qualities It is also a lyke matter of moment that he speaketh of the Kinges charges for the maintenaÌ„ce of students vnlesse it be to insinuate coÌ„passion aswell of his as of the Popes expences but his saying that they are a number of dissolute yong men is an exceeding shamefull malitious flaunder He would proue that none are put to deathe for religion because as he saith numbers of men of welth of contrary religion are not touched in their lyves landes goodes or liberties but with the paymeÌ„t of a pecuniary somme which being but a trifle of 20. pounde the moneth he nameth not and yet many haue scarsly the libertie of their prisons while theire landes and goodes are seazed on for this pecuniary trifle And yf any fewe for some colour of clemencie be set at liberty their licence comonly excedeth not aboue 20. dayes and it is bothe vnder bondes suretiâ—es with limitation of their residence And because these numbers are not put to death for religion he seeketh to proue that none are put to death for religion which he thinketh he may the rather auouch for that neither Iesuites Seminary priestes nor other Catholikes are expresly coÌ„demned to death for saying or hearing Masse or the lyke but the one is condemned and put to death because he is a priest and the other for receyuing him VVhereby the world may vnderstand that no Catholike should be put death for any exercise of his religion so he would not come in the company of priestes nor priestes yf they would remaine and vse their functins in Italy or other countries should not be put to death for treason in England It is no lesse ridiculous to call the Lord Cardinall a scholer who being now threescore yeares of age hathe bene chosen to be a head and gouernour of colleges and schollers bothe in England in other countries aboue 36. yeares past And hathe professed in diuers famous vniuersities and written so many excellent bookes as the aduersarie will neuer be able to answere and in the opinion of the best and wisest of Christendome was woorthely chosen vnto his present dignitie was of late in very neere electioÌ„ to haue bene preferred vnto the highest estate of all others in the world And it is a parsonall ly to say that F. Parsons dothe arrogate vnto himself the name of the King Catholikes confessor whose iust credit and reputatioÌ„ for his knowne wisdome and vertue bothe with this King and many other noble princes no English proclamation can be able to diminish If M. Cecill himself had obtayned his estemation for vertue and honest endeuours so had bene the beginer of his house it had bene far greater honor and comendation for him then by the ruyne of somany bothe honorable vertuous the consuming and oppressing of the people the hazard of the destructioÌ„ of the realme so arrogantly to aduaunce himself and to extole his owne glory in painted pedegrees borrowed and farr fetched and his posteritie might then more longer haue retained their honor and renowne then perhappes they are now lyke to do because great treasure heaped together by rapyne wrong and violeÌ„ce is neuer enioyed with long felicitie For De male quaesitis vix gaudet tertius haeres And yf the feares that he dothe faine be true it is not impossible but his house as it hathe begun so it may end with himself And this perhaps he somwhat suspecteth and therefore as all tyrantes are woont dothe seeke to fortify himself by the effusion of innocent blood as thoughe that were the only
A DECLARATION OF THE TRVE CAVSES OF THE GREAT TROVBLES PRESVPPOSED TO BE INTENded against the realme of England VVherein the indifferent reader shall manifestly perceaue by whome and by what meanes the realme is broughte into these pretented perills Seene and allowed Anno M. D.LXXXXII TO THE INDIFFERENT READER THE present estate that the realme of England is in a fewe yeares come vnto and the sundry aduersites sustayned by the inhabitāts of the same are such and somany as the lamentable and generall cries and complaintes of the oppressed multytude cā declare them to exceede all those of all ages past in the memorie of man And yet of the redresse of these calamities so litle hope is giuen that nought els but the terrors of farr greater trobles are daily sounded in the eares of the afflicted people which can be to no other end then to enduce them to beare such further extreame misery and pouertie as by the newe intended exactions pressures pillages they are lyke to be broughte vnto But strāge it is to consider that the auoydance of such great daungers as are pretended vnto the realme and expected as is insinuated by a spanish inuasion is neither soughte nor desyred by geuing that king satisfaction of the manifeste iniuries don vnto him nor in the restitution of his townes and cities wrongfully possessed by the English But falsly supposed to consist in the persecuting and killing of a fewe poore priests and Iesuytes within the realme that there do secretly practize their priestly functions to the consolation of such afflicted Catholikes as liue within the same or to the conuersion of such well mynded protestants as will not obstinately refuse to vnderstand their owne errors when they are made manifest vnto them by which meanes many are confirmed in Catholike religion and some numbers brought from heresy to embrace the truthe which albeit the malice of the aduersary hath not letted to withstād euen with the effusiō of bloud yet cōsidering that the force of truthe is great and dothe preuaile the violence of the enemy is also mightely encreased who directly seeking the lyues and goods of Catholikes for their conscyence and religiō laboreth by all meanes possible to make the cause of their sufferance to some to be for treason Vnder pretext whereof by a late proclamation published in London in Nouember last 1592. in the name of the Queene theire are yet more exquisite meanes of inquisition deuysed to bring them vnto the slaughter then were euer vsed afore And because all men can not without some demonstration so rightly discerne the truthe of this case and the causes of the supposed perills as it is requisyte for euery man to know and the sway of the tyme not permitting the same otherwise to be vttered they are in the ensuing treatise briefly set downe In the which albeit that euery fryuolous point of the aforesaid proclamation be not expresly answered yet is the intention of the inuētor thereof directly impugned and the iust blame imputed where it is iustly deserued It may therefore please the discreet reader laying a syde all partialitie with an in different eye to behold the manifest truth that shal in this treatise be laid open vnto him the which for his owne safty he must vse with secreesie and sylence because of the great a-do that the great Lord Threcherer will kepe to depresse and conceile it from the sight and knowlege of the world the which may serue for one especial motiue to prooue that he knoweth himselfe to be guilty in conscience yf he haue any at al. And thus leauing the reader out of the matter ensuing with some addition of somthing here omitted to make a commentarie vpon Chaucers prophesie I wish him well to fare from Colen the 26. of Marche 1592. Of the fained happinesse of England The vaunt of the pretended Gospel NO triumphes of the Gospells lighte But truthe that shyneth cleere Not vvordes but actions iust and righte Makes vertue to apeere See then vvhat force this faith hath found More then of elder dayes And let the vices that abound Confirme the present praise The boast of continual peace The tokens of continued peace By plenty best are shovven But signes of vvarr that dothe not ceasse By comon vvants are knovven Such is the peace vve then preferr And eke our plenty so That thovvsands hath consumde in vvarr And millions left in vvo The present feare of troubles And all expyred dayes and yeares And fained pleasures past Conuerted are to sundry feares Of dangers at the last VVould God no former cause had beene Reuenges to attend Since happynesse is euer seene Best by the happy end WHen Queene Marie that lately possessed the crovvne and kingdome of England had resigned her soule vnto God and her bodie to nature the lordes spirituall and tēporall the comons of the realme receaued into that crovvne and dignitie the lady Elizabeth her sister à Princesse yonge and beautifull and aboundantly adorned with the giftes of nature and princely education The King of Spaine albeit he had bene maried vnto the deceased Queene yet did he neuer seke to possesse himself of the crowne nor to appropriate vnto him any Cities Castels Portes or other places within the realme nor in any sorte to oppugne the entrance of the newe Queene but in all loue and actes of amitie he did manifest his well lyking of her highe aduauncement aswell in the geuing vnto her all his late wyves Iewels which were of great value as in his earnestly labouring with the French for the restitution of Calis to the encrease of her dominions A litle before the death of the aforesaid Queene there was à treaty of peace begun betwene England Spaine and Fraunce including by consequēce Scotlād Flaunders the which peace notwithstanding the aforesaid Queenes deceasse went forward and was fully concluded Thus stood the realme of England shortly after this Queenes coming to the crowne in perfect peace and amitie with all the countries next adioyning and those also neither in ciuil broyles among themselues nor in dissention with their neighbours abrode The Moores of Granada liued in obedience to the king of Spaine the names of Huguenots and Gheuses were in Fraūce and Flaunders vtterly vnknowne and vnhard 〈◊〉 and in Scotland was no contention for gouernement But as the Serpent being subtiler then all the beasts of the feild did somtyme seduce the first woman and Queene of the world to breake the cōmaundemēt of God wherby herself was forced to exile and her posteritie made subiect for euer after to such infinite calamities So wanted there not now a fly Sicophant to suggest this princesse to breake the vnitie of Gods Churche and eft-soones to prosecute such violent attempts against other princes the old allies of her predecessors as thereby herself and realme is brought vnto these present feares and to expect such insuing daungers as God may permit to fall vpon them Very probable it is that the Queene so
none haue beene condēned but for treasō as they say their enditementes do shew in the recordes VVhereas yf they had recorded no more then had beene prooued as in all law and iustice they were bound they should not finde any one priest Ballard only excepted that euer had any imagination of treason prooued against him And notwithstanding all the aforesaid enfarced treasons conspiracies it is cōmonly seene that almost at euery araignment and execution Catholikes are offred their liues liberties yf they will but go to the Churche which doubtlesse can-be no satisfactiō for any temporall treason but only for matters of religiō VVhereofno mā of any vnderstanding can remaine ignorant except such as was the wise gentleman that told a freind of his that he had seene a Priest executed that letted not at the very tyme of his death to cōmitt Highe treason and being asked what it was answered that he began to say his Pater noster in Latin Is it possible quoth the other I assure you quoth this partie it is out of all doute for he begā to say it before a multitude of witnesses and would haue said it vnto the end but that as hap was the hangman was redy to dispatche him before he had half donne This diepe conceited person and such as was his compagnion will without any great scruple belieue the proclamation in saying that none are put to death for religion but for treason And the aduersary in somuch labouring to detaine from Catholikes the deserued honor and glory of the cause for which they suffer dothe thereby proclame his owne iniquitie and iniustice to all the world making that to be new Treason which is nothing els but old faith and religiō A thing as repugnāt vnto common sence as yf the Pope should make murther thefte or extorsion to be Heresy Yet such is his great and absurd impudēce that there is no treason that seemeth greater nor no crime more vnpardonable in England then there to be a Catholike nor yet any offence so seuerely punished There was neuer Scythian nor sauage Tartar that could vse more inhumaine cruelty then to rip vp the bodies of innocent men being perfectly aliue to teare out their entrailes to be consumed with fyre There was neuer Turk nor Barbarian that imposed vpon Christians so great and continuall a tribute as twenty poundes for euery eight-and-twentie dayes absence from their Moskeyes Nor there were neuer Arrians or other ennemyes since the generall persecutions of the Romaine Emperors that more vexed spoiled imprisoned and tortured Catholikes then dothe now the state of England And thus haue I abreuiated vnto the reader a huge volume of the present lamentable state of religion TOuching rhe second point concerning the nūber of exterior enemyes how mighte the case be other with England then now it is seeing that during the continuance of thirtie and three yeares they neuer sent foorth any one soldier nor neuer drew swoord in any iust quarrel or honorable action They neuer sought to endomage the Turk the comon enemy of Christendome nor neuer defended any lawful prince or King in all the world But haue inuented prosecuted the most dishonorable inglorious vniust and tyranicall actions that euer were practized by any Christian state VVhen the Queene of Scotland was in her owne realme and they acknowleged her for the lawful prince of that countrie did they giue aid vnto her or vnto her rebells In the tymes of Frauncis Charles and Henry the late Kinges of Fraunce was their assistance giuē to thē whome they knew to be lawful Kinges or to their rebells and as for the succour they do now giue vnto Nauarr his Huguenotes it is no otherwise then it was before when they acknowledged thē to be rebells In this long rebellion in the low countries whether haue they taken parte with the King their old cōfederate or with Orange the other rebells whē Sebastian king of Portugal warred with the Mahometaines of Africa gaue they ayd vnto the Christiās or vnto the infidells And since in the realme of Portugall gaue they help vnto the lawfull prince or to the bastard his rebell In the warres of Colen did the English succur the lawfull Bishop or the vnlawfull deposed apostata And yf we shal looke into sea matters see who it is that hathe set vp a publike piracie to spare neither freind nor foe Aske the Spanish the Frēch the Scottish the Flemish the Haūce townes yea the Indies and further partes of the earth who they are that do so cōtinually robbe and spoile thē Yf the English had but only procured the king of Spaine to be their enemy they needed not to haue soughte any others for neither England nor any other Christian country els hathe euer had any so great And as they haue made espetiall choise of the enmitie of the greatest so haue they employed the tyme of 33 yeares to deserue it And as for the King of Scotland albeit he do dissemble amōg many lesse iniuries one so great as the cutting of of his owne mothers head yet some of his owne nation being of good intelligence haue said vnto straungers in defence of their Kinges honor that albeit they of England haue cut of the head of his mother he must not therefore by vn-tymely reuenge cut him-self from the possibilitie of that crowne But hauing once obtained thesame he will then fall to the cutting of of the heades of those that assented to that action and to the confiscatiō of their landes and goodes therewith to reward his freindes followers and so demonstrate vnto the world that he could politikely chuse a tyme conueniēt to discharge such duty as is incident vnto the honor and reputation of a King And touching Fraunce albeit that by the death of the three late Kinges the iniuries dōne vnto them cannot be by them remembred yet the people of the realme that were participāt of the wrōges are still lyuing in whome the desyre of reuenge is of late newly reuyued throughe the assisting of the Huguenote of Nauarr their capitall enemy but not their lawfull King And last of all which of al other is the greatest there extreme enmitie with the chief Bishop pastor of Gods Churche VVhereof ensueth their general discord with all the Catholike Christiās of the world Thus the realme of England being brought into breach of amitie not only with the Churche of God but with all their old alies and freindes yf we now consider with whome they are ioyned in true freindship we shal fynde them to be so fewe as none at all since they haue neither spared to offend freind nor foe But yf we looke what new confederates they haue chosen in stede of the old we shall see them to be the great Turk the kinges of Fesse Marocco and Algiers or other Mahometains and Moores of Barbarie all professed enemies to Christ. Against whome some of the most noble and famous kinges of England went
out of Machiauill yet in the end he did in fewe yeares profit somuch and so recouer his negligences past as that he soone grewe old in iniquitie and lefte no mischief vnattempted how abhominable so euer And at the last as it seemeth euen by the iust iudgement of God the same day seuē night that he had caused diuers Priestes and other Catholikes to be cruelly murthered in diuers places within and with out the citie of London he sickned and as it is thoughte was poisoned and preuented by one whome himself had thought by such meanes to have dispatched he died without any signes of a Christian more lyke a dogg then a man being dead was as vgly a corse as he was filthy in manners in his lyf and in his stomack were great holes eaten throughe with the poyson His lādes were presently ceased vpon for his debtes vnto the Queene whereby he was as much disgraced as yf he had rather bene hated then fauoured of her And he that but late before seemed to cary in himself the very glory of the realme and that in his lyf tyme was feared of many thoughe loued of none was no sooner dead but iustly condēned of all Yea exclamed on cursed and banned to all mischief by all the people of the land who generally reioysed that so wicked a monster was dead And albeit that toward his later dayes hee became the only patrone of the purest professors of the Gospell yet immediatly after his death a freind of his bestowed vpon him this Epitaphe Heere lies the woorthy warrier That neuer bloodied swoord Heere lies the loyall courtier That neuer kept his woord Heere lies his noble excellence That ruled all the states Heere lies the Earle of Leicester VVhome earth and heauen hates The Secretary Walsingham a most violent persecutor of Catholikes died almost in lyke manner neuer somuch as naming God in his last extremities and yet he had bothe speech and memorie as he shewed by telling the preacher that he heard him and therefore hee needed not to crie so loude and these were his last woordes and in the end his vryne came foorth at his mouth and nose with so odious a stench that none could endure to come neere him And not withstanding his great credit and aucthoritie he died a begger and more indebted then his landes could satisfy and hathe lefte no fame of vertue behynde him These twaine and sundry other inferior instrumentes being gon to render an accompt of their infynite euills the same impious course of proceeding stil continued daily encreasing from ill to woors dothe plainly manifest vnto the world who it is that hathe bene the author and supporter of all mischief consequētly the direct occasioner of whatsoeuer inconueniēces the realme of England dothe presently sustaine and what distresses miseries perills or dangers it is threatned hereafter to suffer VVhereunto it seemerh he is bent with a very full resolution to hazard and bring it And touching the present estate of the Nobilitie wherewith the stately courtes of former princes were adorned their armies in the feild conducted the comons of the countrie by their great hospitalitie relieued look whether they are not brought vnto that seruilitie that yf they apply not themselues to Cecils humour they must not liue in their countries but be tyed vnto the courte or alotted their dwelling as yf they were his perpetuall wardes yea rather as pupils that are kept vnder with roddes not daring to speake what they think and know but are set to be ayme-giuers while others do hitt their marckes Some of them he hathe vnde seruedly brought into the disfauor of the prince Sundry he hathe drawne vpon fained fauours of the courte to consume themselues to beggery Others he hathe sent foorth to become pirates and sea-rouers And the lyues of some of the principall by guylefull pretended crymes he hathe taken away by one meanes or other he hathe brought such as be yet lyuing into those termes that none may be permitted to cary any credit in the comon-welth except it be some very fewe whose wisdomes he can easely ouerrule By which meanes there is no subiect in England of more opulence none of more aucthoritie nor none of more power then himself and therefore none to withstand his entended matche betweene the Lady Arbella and his grandchild VVhereby England may happen to haue a King Cecill the first that is suddainly meta morphosed frō a grome of the wardrobe to the wearing of the best robe within the wardrobe Concerning the generall oppression of the people it is no lesse but rather more lamentable thē the ouerthrowe of the nobilitie in asmuch as it tendeth to an vniuersall distruction of the whole body of the realme The Lyftenantes and Iustices of shires who are reputed to liue in best credit in their countries are no more but the subiects of pursuiuants catchpoles promoters and must night and day be redy to waite and attend at euery call of this vile and abiect sorte of people But the meaner gentlemen and comons are brought vnto the greatest slauishnesse and misery that euer any free borne people haue liued in VVhich whoso shall rightly cōsider shall easely perceaue whether England hathe these 33. yeares enioyed peace and tranquillitie as it is impudently reported to haue dō For yf we first look what often generall musters haue bene made what pressinges and sending foorthe of men what prouision chopping changing consuming of armour munitiō artillery pouder since the first yeare of the Queenes raigne we shall fynde it to giue small proof of a continuall peace Let vs call to remembrance what troopes of men haue at sundry tymes beene sent into Scotland what forces almost yearely into Ireland what infynite numbers into the low countries and continued with dayly supplies how many thousandes into Fraunce and Britany what an huge army into Portugall besydes all the braue men and mariners consumed in sundry voyages or piracies by sea sent foorth to seeke new habitations in Virginia and by one such meanes or other made away and we shall fynde the number to be farr greater then any King of England hathe employed within or without the realme in any his honorable watres And yf any man should think that al these troopes haue bene but set forthe in May-games he may call to memorie that their coming home againe declared it not Let vs also cōsider what great numbers of pore women are often tymes lefte in misery with their childrē to pyne at home in famyne whyle their husbandes are sent foorth in forreyne warres how-many by this meanes are become widowes and their childeren fatherlesse And further what great trooble and vexatiō generally all artificers farmers and husbandmen are put vnto by attending and following so many generall musters wherein are also diuers great and foule abuses comitted VVhat infinite numbers of freholders yeomen and others diuers of thē being charged with wyf and
way to auoyde all reuenges of iniuries donne to the king of Spaine And that his vniust accusing of innocent mē of treason could colour his owne exceeding treasons that hathe broughte the realme into such present misery and deliuered it vnto so-many ensuing perills and dangers as it now dothe attend For it is he that neither of conscyence nor any other cause but meerly for his owne ambitiō hathe wrought the mutation and change of religion where of such wonderfull inconueniēces haue followed It is he that hathe procured the enmytie which Englād hathe at this present with so-many Christian Princes and states chiefly with the most potent King of the world It is he that for the prosecuting of his impious intentions hathe sent foorthe so-many thousandes of the naturall people of the realme to be cōsumed in forreyne countries It is he that hathe caused so-many great and generall exactions and that hathe exhausted the treasure of the Queene realme for the maintenāce of rebells and purchasing of enemyes to his naturall country It is he that hathe bene the occasion that the Queene contrary to her owne honor and the well lyking of her other counselors which she most affected hathe made so many offers of mariage to forreyne princes and yet notwithstanding hathe euer vtterly perswaded her from mariage thereby to bury her posteritie in her owne body It is he that was one of the most principall contriuers of the deuysed plott for the trecherous slaughter of the Scottish Queene which will redownde vnto the eternall infamy of England and dothe threaten a continuall reuenge It his he that because he could not somtyme establish such heyr apparent as he listed hathe lefte the succession of the crowne so confusedly among somany competitors bothe within and without the realme which tendeth vnto the effusiō of the blood of infynite thowsandes more then alredy he hathe brought to distruction It is he that hathe bene the causer of al the inconueniences troobles and daungers that the realme hathe alredy past or dothe presently sustaine or hereafter may suffer being now brought into such a labyrinth of calamities as neuer the same nor any other can be remēbred to haue bene brought vnto And as this hathe bene wrought by himself and not by Catholykes so himself and not Catholykes is iustly therefore to be accused and blamed And howsoeuer he do now in supreame aucthoritie falsly impute vnto others the crymes of treasons and trecheries yf the matter might come to any equall hearing before indifferēt iudges it should cleerely be prooued that he which wisheth the reformation of his country cannot be a traitor to his country but that Cecill being the causer of the most enormious euills thereof is a traitor himself and the greatest that euer England nowrished and farr more noysome and pernitious to the realme then euer were the Spencers Peeter of Gauerstone or any other that euer abused either Prince or people And because no man dare frame an endytement against him I will heere omit many other articles of highe treasō but yf any will vndertake to iustifie his actions in his course of gouernment let him know that there is sufficiēt matter of reply reserued for him which is not extracted out of Mother Hubberds tale of the false fox and his crooked cubbes but is to be vttred in plaine prose and shal lay open to the world his birth his lyf and perhaps his death seing his detestable actions are such as do aske vengeance of heauen and earth It is a lamentable grief to consider that the manifold harmes which comonly the afflicted subiects do suffer the Princes themselues do neuer feele and that the perills dangers wherein they do stand are kept from their sight and knowlege by such as in whome they repose ouermuch trust and confidence vntill with violence they do fall vpon their owne heades and comonly when all remedy is past to auoyde thē And thus the great euills which are caused by one man do redownde vnto the vniuersall harme both of the Prince and people How greatly dangerous is it then for any Prince to be wholy led and conducted by the perswasiō of one man and to deliuer the possessiō of his or her eares vnto the deceitfull tonge of a flatterer By such meanes was the puisant Emperor Charlemaigne misguyded whose ouer-great affyance in the wicked counsell of one only Gano was the occasion of wōderfull harmes that fell bothe vpon himself and his people which great inconuenience is by a moderne Poet greatly lamēted who amōg other his verses to the same purpose hathe these ensuing Ben saria il dritto che tornasse il danno Solamente sù quei che l'error fanno And happy were it for the Queene realme of England yf all the sustayned or expected harmes of that Prince or people being directly caused by one man might iustly redownd vpon the causer himself But more happy had it bene to haue sought in tyme by iust satisfaction of iniuries to haue auoided the deserued reuēges of thē But most infortunate is it that he which hathe bene the beginner of these mischieues hathe no meaning to redresse them is yet permitted to plunge the realme into what further calamities himself listeth and to hazard the shedding of the best bloud of the Nobilitie and People for the only establishing of his owne house and posteritie to make the ruinated families of the one the dead bodies of the other the steppes to moūt vnto his entended height He commaundeth bothe England and Scotland he laboureth incessantly with the Queene to make his eldest sonne deputy of Ireland and as it is aforesaid entendeth to match his grandchild with the Lady Arbella so to put in for a kingdome yf not for the Monarchie of Albion And for the better contriuing of the whole domination to himself he hathe lately brought in his second sonne to be of the Queenes councell and keper of her priuy seale the which of wyse-men is much maruailed at and the rather for that the Queene is reputed learned and therefore seemeth to be the more ouerseene in the choise of so il shapen and crooked a counselor hauing neither wisdome nor experience to forgett the precept of the graue Philosopher who giueth espetial warning of such so marked by nature in these woordes Caue ab his quos natura signauit And albeit she had forgotten such wise aduice of so aunciēt an author I wish she had called to mynde the woordes of a later thoughe of lesse aucthoritie which perhaps for her recreation she may somtyme haue red who in his Macaronicall verses giueth good notes to beware of such deformed creatures saying in admiration O Deus a guerzis Zoppis gobbisque cauendum est Nulla fides gobbis mancum mihi credite Zoppis Si sguersus bonus est inter miracula scribam And yf her Ma tie had bene disposed to prefer him it seemeth vnto me that to haue made