in France and causes there handled Clermount and the Castle there The war raised up by the Princes against D' Ancre What his designes might tend to c. p. 162. CHAP. II. The fair City of Amiens and greatnesse of it The English feastâ—… within it and the error of that action the Town how built seated and fortified The Citadell of it thought to be impregnable Not permitted to be viewed The overmuch opennesse of the English in discovering their strength The watch and form of Government in the Town Amiens a Visdamate to whom it pertaineth What that honour is in France And how many there enjoy it c. p. 169. CHAP. III. The Church of Nostre Dame in Amiens The principall Churches in most Cities called by her name More honour performed to her then to her Saviour The surpassing beauty of this Church on the outside The front of it King Henry the sevenths Chappel at Westminster The curiousnesse of this Church within By what means it became to be so The sumptuous masking closets in it The excellency of perspective works Indulgences by whom first founded The estate of the Bishoprick p. 175. CHAP. IV. Our Journey down the Some and Company The Town and Castle of Piquigni for what famous Comines censure of the English in matter of Prophecies A farewell to the Church of Amiens The Town and Castle of Pont D' Armie Abbeville how seated and the Garrison there No Governour in it but the Major or Provoâ—… The Authors imprudent curiosity and the curtesie of the Provost to him The French Post-horses how base and tyred My preferment to the Trunk-horse The horse of Philip de Comines The Town and strength of Monstreuille The importance of these three Towns to the French border c. p. 183. CHAP. V. The County of Boulonnois and Town of Boulogne by whom Enfranchized The present of Salt butter Boulogne divided into two Towns Procession in the lower Town to divert the Plague The forme of it Procession and the Letany by whom brought into the Church The high Town Garrisoned The old man of Boulogne and the desperate visit which the Author bestowed upon him The neglect of the English in leaving open the Havens The fraternity De la Charite and inconveniency of it The costly Journey of Henry VIII to Boulogne Sir Walt. Raleghs censure of that Prince condemned The discourtesie of Charles V. towards our Edward VI. The defence of the house of Burgundy how chargeable to the Kings of England Boulogne yeilded back to the French and on what conditions The â—…rtesie and cunning of my Host of Bovillow p. 192. FRANCE GENERAL OR THE FIFTH BOOK Describing the Government of the Kingdom generally in reference to the Court the Church and the Civill State CHAP. I. A transition to the Government of France in generall The person age and marriage of King Lewis XIII Conjecturall reasons of his being issuelesse Iaqueline Countesse of Holland kept from issue by the house of Burgundy The Kings Sisters all marryed and his alliances by them His naturall Brethren and their preferments His lawfull Brother The title of Monsieur in France Monsieur as yet unmarried not like to marry Montpensiers daughter That Lady a fit wife for the Earl of Soissons The difference between him and the Prince of Conde for the Crown in case the line of Navarre fail How the Lords stand affected in the cause Whether a child may be born in the 11 month King Henry IV. a great lover of fair Ladies Monsieur Barradas the Kings favorite his birth and offices The omâ—…regency of the Queen Mother and the Cardinall of Richileiu The Queen Mother a wise and prudent woman p. 204. CHAP. II. Two Religions strugling in France like the two twins in the womb of Rebecca The comparison between them two and those in the general A more particular survey of the Papists Church in France in Policie Priviledge and Revenue The complaint of the Clergy to the King The acknowledgment of the French Church to the Pope meerly titular The pragmatick sanction Maxima tua fatuitas and Conventui Tridentino severally written to the Pope and Trent Councell The tedious quarrell about Investitures Four things propounded by the Parliament to the Jesuites The French B shops not to medle with Fryers their lives and land The ignorance of the French Priests The Chanoins Latine in Orleans The French not hard to be converted if plausibly humoured p. 216 CHAP. III. The correspondency between the French King and the Pope This Pope an Omen of the Marriages of France with England An English Catholicks conceit of it His Holinesse Nuncio in Paris A learned Argument to prove the Popes Universality A continuation of the allegory between Jacob and Esau. The Protestants compelled to leave their Forts and Towns Their present estate and strength The last War against them justly undertaken not fairly managed Their insolencies and disobedience to the Kings command Their purpose to have themselves a free estate The war not a war of Religion King James in justice could not assist them more then he did First for saken by their own party Their happinesse before the war The Court of the edict A view of them in their Churches The commendation which the French Papists give to the Church of England Their Discipline and Ministers c. p. 229 CHAP. IV. The connexion between the Church and Common wealth in generall A transition to the particular of France The Government there meerly regall A mixt forme of Government most commendable The Kings Patents for Offices Minopolies above the censure of Parliament The strange office intended to Mr. Luynes The Kings gifts and expences The Chamber of Accounts France divided into three sorts of people The Conventus Ordinum nothing but a title The inequality of the Nobles and Commons in France The Kings power how much respected by the Princes The powerablenesse of that rank The formall execution done on them The multitude and confusion of Nobility King James defended A censure of the French Heralds The command of the French Nobles over their Tenants Their priviledges gibbets and other Regalia They conspire with the King to undoe the Commons p. 246. CHAP. V. The base and low estate of the French Paisant The misery of them under their Lord. The bed of Procrustes The suppressing of the Subject prejudiciall to a State The wisdome of Henry VII The Forces all in the Cavallerie The cruell impositions laid upon the people by the King No demain in France Why the tryall by twelve men can be used only in England The Gabell of Salt The Popes licence for wenching The Gabell of whom refused and why The Gascoines impatient of Tâ—…xes The taille and tâ—…illion The Panâ—…arke or Aides The vain resistance of those of Paris The Court of Aides The manner of gathering the Kings moneys â—…he Kings revenue The corruption of the French publicans King Lewis why called the just The monies currant in France The gold of
Spain more Catholick then the King The happinesse of the English Subjects A congratulation nnto England The conclusion of the first Journey p. 258. GUERNZEY and JARSEY OR THE SIXTH BOOK The Entrance 1 The occasion of c. 2 Introduction to this work 3 The Dedication 4 and Method of the whole The beginning continuance of our voyage with the most remarkable passages which happened in it The mercenary falsnesse of the Dutch exemplified in the dealing of a man of warre p. 179. CHAP. I. 1 Of the convenient situation and 2 condition of these Islands in the generall 3 Alderney and 4 Serke 5 The notable stratagem whereby this latter was recovered from the French 6 Of Guernzey 7 and the smaller Isles neer unto it 8 Our Lady of â—…hu 9 The road and 10 the Castle of Cornet 11 The Trade and 12 Priviledges of this people 13 Of Jarsey and 14 the strengths about it 15 The Island why so poor and populous 16 Gavelkind and the nature of it 17 The Governours and other the Kings Officers The 18 Politie and 19 administration of justice in both Islands 20 The Assembly of the Three Estates 21 Courts Presidiall in France what they are 22 The election of the Justices 23 and the Oath taken at their admission 24 Of their Advocates or Pleaders and the number of them 25 The number of Atturneys once limited in England 26 A Catalogue of the Governours and Bailiffs of the Isle of Jarsey p. 292. CHAP. II. 1 The City and Diâ—…cesse of Constance 2 The condition of these Islands under that Government 3 Churches appropriated what they were 4 The Black Book of Constance 5 That called 〈◊〉 day 6 The suppression of Priors Aliens 7 Priours Dâ—…tive how they dâ—…ffered from the Conventuals 8 The conditiâ—…n of the e Churches after the suppression 9 A Diagram of the 〈◊〉 then aâ—…lotted to each severall Parish together with the Ministers and Justices now being 10 What is meant by Champarte desarts and French querrui 11 The alteration of Religion in these Islands 12 Persecution here in the days of Queen Mary The Authors indignation at it expressed in a Poeticall rapture 13 The Islands annexed for ever to the Diocese of Winton and for what reasons p. 313. CHAP. III. 1 The condition of Geneva under their Bishop 2 The alteration there both in Politie and 3 in Religion 4 The state of that Church before the coming of Calvin thither 5 The conception 6 birth and 7 growth of the New Discipline 8 The quality of Lay-elders 9 The different proceedings of Calvin 10 and Beza in the propagation of that cause 11 Both of them enemies to the Church of England 12 The first enrtance of this Platforme into the Islands 13 A permission of it by the Queen and the Councell in St. Peters and St. Hillaries 14 The letters of the Councell to that purpose 15 The tumults raised in England by the brethren 16 Snape and Cartwright establish the new Discipline in the rest of the Islands p. 327. CHAP. IV. The Discipline Ecclesiasticall according as it hath been in practise of the Church after the Reformation of the same by the Ministers Elders and Deacons of the Isles of Guernzev Jarsey Serke and Alderney confirmed by the authority and in the presence of the Governours of the same Isles in a Syned â—…den in Gueâ—…nzey the 28 of June 1576. And afterwards revived by the said Ministers and Elders and confirmed by the said Governours in a Synod holden also in Guernzey the 11 12 13 14 15 and 17. days of October 1597. p. 338. CHAP. V. 1 Annotations on the Discipline 2 N place in it for the Kings Supremacy 3 Their love to Parity as wâ—…ll in the State as in the Church 4 The covering of the head a sign of liberty 5 The right hand of fellowship 6 Agenda what it is in the notion of the Church The intâ—…usion of the Eldership into Domestical affairs 7 Millets câ—…se 8 The brethren 〈◊〉 in giving names to children 9 〈◊〉 blâ—…ng Communions 10 The holy Discipline made a thâ—…d note of the 〈◊〉 11 Marriage at certain times prohibited by the Discipline 12 Dead bodies anciently not interred in Cities 13 The Baptism of â—…els 14 The brethren under pretence of scandal 〈◊〉 upon the civil Courts 15 The Discipline incroacheth on our Church by stealth 16 A caution to the Prelates p. 364. CHAP. VI. 1 King James how affected to this Platform 2 He confirms the Discipline in both Islands 3 And for what 〈◊〉 4 Sir John Peyton sent Governour into Jâ—…rsey 5 His Articles against the Ministers there 6 And the proceedings thereupon 7 The distracted estate of the Church and Miniâ—…y in that Island 8 They refer themselves unto the King 9 The Inhabitants of Jarsey petition for the English Discipline 10 A reference of both parties to the Councell 11 The restitution of the Dean 12 The Interim of Germany what it was 13 The Interim of Jarsey 14 The exceptions of the Ministery against the Book of Common prayer 15 The establishment of the new Canons 378. CHAP. VII The Canons and Constitutions Ecclesiasticall for the Church Discipline of Jarsey together with the Kings Letters Patents for the authorising of the same p. 390. CHAP. VIII 1 For what cause it pleased his Majesty to begin with Jarsey 2 A representation of such motives whereon the like may be effected in the Isle of Guernzey 3 The indignity done by a Minister hereof to the Church of England 4 The calling of the Ministers in some reformed Churches how defensible 5 The circumstances both of time and persons how ready for an alteration 6 The grievances of the Ministery against the Magistrates 7 〈◊〉 of such means as may be fittest in the managing of this design 8 The subm ssion of the Author and the work unto his Lordship The 〈◊〉 of the whole Our return to England p 412. ERRATA Besides the errors of the Copy the Reader is of course to look for some from the Prosse which the hast made for preventing the false impressions hath more increased then any negligence of the Workman which the Reader is desired to amend in this manner following PAge 4. l. 27. r. Le Main p. 5. l. 13. r. â—…ocorum p. 7 l 15. r. qui. p. 10. l. 22. r. the predecessor to the same Hen y. p. 11. l. 17. del in p. 13 8 〈◊〉 pacâ—… ibid. l. 35. r. 〈◊〉 p. 19. l 26. r. Evenlode p. 31 l. 8. r. fourth p. 39. l 25 p. 108. 9 〈◊〉 interview p. 49. l. 3. r. then ibid l 4. r. as at ibid. l. 9. r. her own thoughts p. 52. l. 1. r. Cumrye p. 60 l. 28. r. En lay ibid. l. 35 r. Troy s. p. 69 l 26. del now p. 95. l. 17. r born p. 96. l. 19 r. abolished p. 99. l. 20. r Treasurirer p. 100. l. 1. r. visible p. 121. l. 12. r. Chastres p 123 l. 1 r. as much hugged ibid. l 26. r. I
competent ditch and at every gate a draw-bridge They are still sufficient to guard their Pullen from the Fox and in the night times to secure their houses from any forain burglary Once indeed they were able to make resistance to a King of France but the English were then within it At last on honorable termes it yeelded and was entred by Charles VII the second of August anno 1449. The Town is for building and bignesse somewhat above the better sort of Market Towns here in England The last Town of Normandy toward Paris is Pontoyse a Town well fortifyed as being a borderer and one of the strongest bulwarks against France It hath in it two fair Abbies of Maubuissâ—…n and St. Martin and six Churches Parochiall whereof that of 〈◊〉 dame in the Suburbs is the most beautifull The name it derives from a bridge built over the river of Oyse on which it is situate and by which on that side it is well defended the bridge being strengthned with a strong gate and two draw-bridges It is commodiously situate on the rising of an hill and is famous for the siege laid before it by Charles VII anno 1442. but more fortunate unto him in the taking of it For having raised his Army upon the Duke of Yorks coming to give him battail with 6000 only the French Army consisting of double the number he retired or fled rather unto St. Denis but there hearing how scandalous his retreat was to the Parisians even ready to mutiny and that the Duke of Orleans and others of the Princes stirred with the ignominiousnesse of his flight began to practise against him he speedily returned to Pontoyse and maketh himself master of it by assault Certainly to that fright he owed the getting of this Town and all Normandy the French by that door making their entrie unto this Province out of which at last they thrust the English anno 1450. So desperate a thing is a frighted coward This Countrey had once before been in possession of the English and that by a firmer title then the sword William the Conqueror had conveied it over the Seas into England and it continued an Appendix of that Crown from the year 1067 unto that of 1204. At that time John called Sans terre third son unto King Henry II. having usurped the estates of England and the English possessions in France upon Aâ—…thur heir of Bretagne and son unto Geofry his elder brother was warred on by Philip Augustus King of France who sided with the said Arthur In the end Arthur was taken and not long after was found dead in the ditches of the Castle of Roven Whether this violent death happened unto him by the practise of his Uncle as the French say or that the young Prince came to that unfortunate end in an attempt to escape as the English report is not yet determined For my part considering the other carriages and virulencies of that King I dare be of that opinion that the death of Arthur was not without his contrivement Certainly he that rebelled against his Father and practised the eternall imprisonment and ruine of his Brother would not much stick this being so speedy a way to settle his affaires at the murder of a Nephew Upon the first bruit of this murder Constance mother to the young Prince complaineth unto the King and Parliament of France not the Court which now is in force consisting of men only of the long robe but the Court of the Paiâ—…rie or 12 Peeres whereof King John himself was one as Duke of Normandy I see not how in justice Philip could do lesse then summon him an homager being slain and a homager being accused To this summons John refused to yeeld himself a Counsell rather magnanimous then wise and such as had more in it of a English King then a French Subject Edward III. a Prince of finer metall then this John obeyed the like warrant and performed a personall homage to Philip of Valoys and it is not reckoned amongst his disparagements He committed yet a further errour or solecisine in State not so much as sending any of his people to supply his place or plead his cause Upon this non-appearance the Peers proceed to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Il fut â—…ar Arrest dâ—…la dite cour saith Du Chesne 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 da crime de parrâ—…e de felonie Parrie de for killing his own Nephew and Felony for committing an act so execrable on the person of a French Vassill and in France John du Serres addeth a third cause which was contempt in disobeying the Kings commandment Upon this â—…rdict the Court awarded Que toutes les terres qu'il 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 acquâ—…ses confiâ—…es a la Couronne c. A proceeding so fair and orderly that I should sooner accuse King John of indiscretion then the French of injustice When my life or estate is in danger let me have no more sinister a tryall The English thus outed of Normandy by the weaknesse of John recovered it again by the puissance of Henry but being held only by the sword it was after 30 years recovered again as I have told you And now being passed over the Oyse I have at once freed the English and my self of Normandy here ending this Book but not that dayes journey The End of the First Book A SURVEY OF THE STATE of FRANCE FRANCE specially so called OR THE SECOND BOOK CHAP. I. France in what sense so called The bounds of it All old Gallia not possessed by the French Countries follow the name of the most predominant Nation The condition of the present French not different from that of the old Gaules That the heavens have a constant power upon the same Climate though the Inhabitants are changed The quality of the French in private at the Church and at the table Their language complements discourse c. JUly the third which was the day we set out of St. Claire having passed through Pontoyse and crossed the river we were entred into France France as it is understood in its limited sense and as a part only of the whole for when Meroveus the Grandchild of Pharamond first King of the Franci or Frenchmen had taken an opportunity to passe the Rhine having also during the wars between the Romans and the Gothes taken Paris he resolved there to set up his rest and to make that the head City of his Empire The Country round about it which was of no large extent he commanded to be called Francia or Terra Francorum after the name of his Frankes whom he governed In this bounded and restrained sense we now take it being confined with Normandy on the North Champagne on the East and on the West and South with the Province of La Beausse It is incircled in a manner with the Oyle on the Northwards the Eure on the West the Velle on the East and a veine riveret of the Seine towards the South but the principall environings are
the tediousnesse of the way The first thing we met with observable was the Town and Castle of Piquigni The Town poor and beggerly and so unlikely to have named the Province as Mercator would have it besides the disproportion and dissimilitude of the names The Castle situate on the top of the hill is now a place of more pleasure then sâ—…rength as having command over an open and goodly Countrey which lyeth below it It belongeth as we have said to the Vidamate of Amiens and so doth the Town also This Town is famous among the French for a Tradition and a truth the Tradition is of a famous defeat given unto the English near unto it but in whose reign and under whose conduct they could not tell us Being thus routed they fled to this Town into which their enemies followed with them intending to put them all to the sword but at last their fury being allaied they proposed that mercy to them which those of Gilead did unto those of Ephraim in the Scriptures life and liberty being promised to all them which could pronounce this word Piquigni It seemeth it was not in those dayes a word possible for an English mouth for the English saying all of them Pequenie in stead of Piquigni were all of them put to the sword thus far the Tradition The Truth of story by which this Town is famous in the writers of both Nations is an enterview here given betwixt our Edward IV. and their Lewis XI upon the concluding of their nine years truce A circumstance of no great moment of it self had not Philip de Comines made it such by one of his own observations Upon this meeting the Chancellor of England being Bishop of Ely made an oration to both Kings beginning with a prophesie which said that in this place of Piquigni an honourable peace should be concluded between the two Kingdoms on this ground which himself also is the only man that relateth he hath built two observations the one I have not the originall by me That the English men are never unfurnished with Prophesies the other That they ground every thing they speak upon Prophesies How far those times were guilty of that humor I cannot say though sure I am that we are not the only men that were so affected Paulus Jovius in some place of his Histories I remember not the particular hath vindicated that quarrell for us and fastned the same imputation on the French So true is that of the Tragedian Quod quisque fecit patitur authorem scelus repetit And now being past Piquigni I have lost the sight of the Church of Amiens The fairest Fabrick and most rich to see That ere was guilty of mortalitie No present Structure like it nor can fame In all its bed-rols boast an equall name Let then the barbarous Egyptians cease So to extoll their huge Pyramides Let them grow silent of their Pharus and Conceale the other triumph of their Land And let the Carians henceforth leave to raise Their Mausolaea with such endlesse praise This Church alone doth them as much excell As they the lowest Cottages where do dwell The least of men as they those urnes which keep The smallest ashes which are laid to sleep Nor be thou vext thou glorious Queen of night Nor let a cloud of darknesse mask thy light That renownd Temple which the Greeks did call The worlds seventh wonder and the fair'st of all That pile so famous that the world did see Two only great and high thy fame and thee Is neither burnt and perisht Ephesus Survives the follies of Erostratus Onâ—…y thy name in Europe to advance It was transported to the Realm of France And here it stands 〈◊〉 robb'd of any grace Which there it had nor altred save in place Cast thy beams on it and t will 〈◊〉 be prov'd Thy Temple wâ—…s not 〈◊〉 but remov'd Nor are thy rites so chang'd but thou'â—… aver This Christian is thy old Idolater But oh goâ—…d God! how long shall thy decree Permit this Temple to Idolatrie How long shall they profane this Church and make Tâ—…se sacred wals and pavements to partake Of their loud sins and here that Doctrine teach 'Gainst which the very stones do seem to preach Reduce them Lord unto thee make them see How ill this building and their â—…ites agree Or make them know though they be still the same This house was purpos'd only to thy name The next place of note that the water conveied us to was the Town and Castle of Pont d' Arme a place now scarce visible in the ruines and belonging to one Mr. Quercy It took name as they say from a bridge here built for the transportation of an Army but this I cannot justifie Three leagues down the river is the Town of Abbeville a Town conveniently seated on the Some which runneth through it It is of greater circuite within the wals then the City of Amiens and hath four Parish Churches more then it but is not so beautifull nor so populous For the houses here are of an older stampe and there is within the Town no scarcity of wast ground I went round about the wals and observed the thinness of the houses the largeness of the fields which are of that capacity and extent that for ought I could apprehend the Town need never fear to be compelled by famine if those fields were husbanded to the best advantages The wals are of earth within and stone without of an unequall breadth and in some places ruinous A Castle it once had of which there is now scarce any thing remaining In stead of which and in places more convenient they built out three Bastions very large and capacious and such well manned need not yeeld upon a summons There are also a couple of mounts raised nigh unto the wall at that place where the Countrey is most plain upon which good Oâ—dinance would have good command but at this time there were none upon it Without the wals it is diversly strengthned having in some places a deep ditch without water in some a shallower ditch but well filled by the benefit of the river in others only a moorish and fennie levell more dangerous to the enemie and secure to the Town then either of the rest and therefore never guarded by the Souldiers of the Garrison But the chief strength of it is five Companies of Swiss 100 in a company proper tall fellowes in appearance and such as one would imagine fit for the service It was my chance to see them begin their watch to which imployment they advanced with so good order and such a shew of stomach as if they had not gone to guaâ—…d a Town but possesse one Their watch was at Porte de Beyes and Porte St. Valery the first lying near un Hesdin a frontier Town of Artoys the other five leagues only from the Sea and Haven of St. Valery From â—…hose places most danger was feared and therefore there kept
England for spirit and discourse are very Popes to them for learning they may safely say with Socrates Hoc tantum scimus quod nescimus but you must not look they should say it in Latine Tongues they have none but that of their Mother and the Masse book of which last they can make no use except the book be open and then also the book is fain to read it self For in the last Romanum Missale established by Pius V. and recognized by Clement VIII anno 1600. every syllable is diversly marked whether it be sounded long or short just as the versifying examples are in the end of the Grammar When I had lost my self in the streets of Paris and wanted French to enquire homeward I used to apply my self to some of these reverend habit But O seculum insipiens infacetum you might as easily have wrung water out of the flint as a word of Latine out of their mouths Nor is this the disease of the vulgar Masse mumbler only it hath also infected the right Worshipfull of the Clergy In Orleans I had businesse with a Chanoin of the Church of St. Croix a fellow that wore his Surplice it was made of Lawn and lace with as good a credit as ever I saw any and for the comlinesse and capacity of his Cap he might have been a Metropolitan perceiving me to speak to him in a strange tongue for it was Latine he very readily asked me this question Num potestis loqui Gallia which when I had denyed at last he broke out into another interrogatory viz. Quam diu fuistis in Gallice To conclude having read over my Letter with two or three deadly pangs and six times rubbing of his temples he dismissed me with this cordiall and truly it was very comfortable to my humour Ego negotias vestras curabo A strange beast and one of the greatest prodigies of ignorance that I ever met with in mans apparrell Such being the Romish Priests it is no marvel that the French Papist be no more setled and resolute in their Religion If the eye be blinde the body cannot choose but be darkned And certainly there is nothing that hath prepared many of this Realm more to imbrace the Reformation then the blockishnesse of their own Clergy An excellent advantage to the Protestant Ministers could they but well humor it and likely to be a fair enlargement to their party if well husbanded Besides this the French Catholicks are not over earnest in the cause and so lie open to the assaults of any politick enemy To deal with them by main force of argument and in the servent spirit of zeal as the Protestants too often do is not the way men uncapable of opposition as this people generally are and furious if once thwarted must be tamed as Alexander did his horse Bucephalus those which came to back him with the tyranny of the spur and cudgell he quickly threw down and mischiefed Alexander came otherwise prepared for turning the horse towards the sun that he might not see the impatience of his own shadow he spake kindly to him and gently clapped him on the back till he had left his flinging and wildnesse he lightly leapt into the saddle the horse never making resistance Plutarch in his life relateth the story and this is the morall of it CHAP. III. The correspondency between the French King and the Pope This Pope an Omen of the Marriages of France with England An English Catholicks conceit of it His Holinesse Nuncio in Paâ—…is A learned Argument to prove the Popes universality A continuation of the allegory between Jacob and Esau. The Protestants compelled to leave their Forts and Towns Their present estate and strength The last War against them justly undertaken not fairely managed Their 〈◊〉 and disobedience to the Kings command Their purpose to have themselves a free estate The war not a war of Religion King James in justice could not assist them more then he did First forsaken by their own party Their happinesse before the war The Court of the edict A view of them in their Churches The commendation which the French Papists give to the Church of England Their Discipline and Ministeries c. WE have seen the strength and subtility as also somewhat of his poverties at home Let us now see the alliance which this French Esau hath abroad in the world in what credit and opinion he standeth in the eye of Beeri the Romish Hittite the daughter of whose abominations he hath marryed And here I find him to hold good correspondency as being the eldest son of the Church and an equall poise to ballance the affaires of Italy against the Potency of Spain On this ground the present Pope hath alwayes shewn himself very favourable to the French side well knowing into what perils an unnecessary and impolitick dependance on the Spanish party only would one day bring the State Ecclesiastick As in the generall so also in many particulars hath he expressed much affection unto him As 1. By taking into his hands the Valtolin till his Sonne of France might settle himself in some course to recover it 2. His not stirring in the behalf of the Spaniard during the last wars in Italy And 3. His speedy and willing grant of the dispensation for Madams marriage notwithstanding the Spaniard so earnestly laboured the deniall or at least the delay of it To speak by conjectures I am of opinion that his Genius prompted him to see the speedy consummation of this marriage of which his Papacy was so large an Omen so far a prognostick Est Deus in nobis agitante calescimus illo The Lar or angell guardian of his thoughts hastned him in it in whose time there was so plausible a Presage that it must be accomplished For thus it standeth Malachi now a Saint then one of the first Apostles of the Irish one much reverenced in his memory unto this day by that Nation left behind him by way of Prophesie a certain number of Mottoes in Latine telling those that there should follow that certain number of Popes only whose conditions successively should be lively expressed in those Mottos according to that order which he had placed them Messingham an Irish Priest and Master of the Colledge of Irish fugitives in Paris collected together the lives of all the Iâ—ish Saints which book himself shewed me In that Volume and the life of this Saint are the severall Mottos and severall Popes set down Column wise one against the other I compared the lives of them with the Mottos as far as my memory would carry me and found many of them very answerable As I remember there are 36 Mottos yet come and when just so many Popes are joyned to them they are of opinion for so Malachie forefold that either the world shâ—…uld end or the Popâ—…dom be 〈◊〉 Amongst the others the Motto of the presenâ—… Pope was mâ—…st remarkable and sutable to the action likâ—…ly to happen in his time
not the freedome of all A rare mixture of Government and such at this time is the Kingdome of England a Kingdome of a perfect and happy composition wherein the King hath his full Prerogative the Nobles all due respects and the People amongst other blessings perfect in this that they are masters of their own purposes and have a strong hand in the making of their own Laws On the otherside in the Regall government of France the Subject frameth his life meerly as the Kings variable Edicts shall please to enjoyn him is ravished of his money as the Kings taske-masters think fit and suffereth many other oppressions which in their proper place shall be specified This Aristotle in the third book of his Politicks calleth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the command of a Master and defineth it to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Such an Empire by which a Prince may command and do whatsoever shall seem good in his own eyes One of the Prerogatives Royall of the French Kings For though the Court of Parliament doth seem to challenge a perusall of his Edicts before they passe for Laws yet is 〈◊〉 but a meer formality It is the â—…rtel est nostre pâ—…aisir which maketh them currant which it seemeth these Princes learned of the Roman Emperors Jusâ—…inian in the book of Institutions maketh five grounds of the Civill Laws viz. Lex he meaneth the law of the 12 Tables Plebiseita Senatusconsulta 〈◊〉 Responsa Principum placita to this last he addeth this generall strength Quod principi plaâ—…uerit legis habet valorem the very foundation of the French Kings powerâ—…ulnesse True it is that the Courts of Parliament do use to demur sometimes upon his Patents and Decrees and to petition him for a reversall of them but their answer commonly is Stat pro ratione voluntas He knoweth his own power and granteth his Letters patents for new Offices and Monopolies abundantly If a monied man can make a friend in Court he may have an office found for him of six pence upon every Sword made in France a Livre upon the selling of every head of Cattell a brace of Sols for every paire of boots and the like It is the only study of some men to finde out such devices of enriching themselves and undoing the people The Patent for Innes granted to St. Giles Mompesson was just one of the French offices As for Monopolies they are here so common that the Subject taketh no notice of it not a scurvey petty book being Printed but it hath its priviledge affixed Ad imprimendum solum These being granted by the King are carryed to the Parliament by them formally perused and finally verified after which they are in force and virtue against all opposition It is said in France that Mr. Luynes had obtained a Patent of the King for a quart d' esâ—…u to be paid unto him upon the Christning of every child thoughout all the Kingdome A very unjust and unconscionable extortion Had he lived to have presented it to the Court I much doubt of their deniall though the only cause of bringing before them such Patents is onely intended that they should discusse the justice and convenience of them As the Parliament hath a formality of power left in them of verifying the Kings Edicts his grants of Offices and Monopolies So hath the Chamber of Accounts a superficiall survey also of his gifts and expences For his expences they are thought to be as great now as ever by reason of the severall retinues of himself his Mother his Queen and the Monsâ—…iur neither are his gifts lâ—…ssened The late Wars which he managed against the Protestants cost him deer he being fain to bind unto him most of his Princes by money and pensions As the expenses of the King are brought unto this Court to be examined so are also the Gifts and Pensions by him granted to be ratified The titulary power given unto this Chamber is to cut off all those of the Kings grants which have no good ground and foundation the officers being solemnly at the least formally sworn not to suffer any thing to passe them to the detriment of the Kingdome whatsoever Letters of command thay have to the contrary But this Oath they oftentimes dispense with To this Court also belongeth the Enfranchisement or Naturalization of Aliens anciently certain Lords officers of the Crown and of the prime counsell were appointed to look unto the accounts Now it is made an ordinary and soveraigne Court consisting of two Presidents and divers Auditors and other under Officers The Chamber wherein it is kept called La Chambre des comptes is the beautifullest peece of the whole Palais the great Chamber it self not being worthy to be named in the same day with it It was built by Charles VIII anno 1485. afterwards adorned and beautified by Lewis XII whose Statua is there standing in his royall robes and the Scepter in his hand He is accompianed by the four Cardinall vertues expressed by way of Hieroglyphicks very properly and cunningly each of them having its particular Motto to declare its being The Kings portraiture also as if he were the fifth virtue had its word under written and contained in a couple of Verses which let all that love the Muses skip them in the reading and are these Quatuor has comites soveo Coelestia dona 〈◊〉 pacis prospera 〈◊〉 gerens From the King descend we to the Subjects ab equis quod aiunt ad 〈◊〉 and the phrase is not much improper the French commonalty being called the Kings asses These are divided into three ranks or Classes the Clergy the Nobles the Paisants â—…ut of which certain delegates or Committees chosen upon occasion and sent to the King did antiently concur to the making of the Supreme Court for Justice in France It was called the Assembly of the three Estates or the Conventus ordinum and was just like the Parliament of England But these meetings are now forgotten or out of use neither indeed as this time goeth can they any way advantage the State for whereas there are three principall if not sole causes of these conventions which are the desposing of the Regency during the nonage or sicknesse of a King the granting Aides and Subsidies and the redressing of Grievances there is now another course taken in them The Parliament of Paris which speaketh as it is prompted by power and greatnesse appointeth the Regent the Kings themselves with their officers determine of the Taxes and as concerning their Grievances the Kings eare is open to private Petitions Thus is that little of a Common-wealth which went to the making up of this Monarchie escheated or rather devoured by the King that name alone containing in it both Clergy Princes and People So that some of the French Counsellors may say with Tully in his Oration for Marcellus unto Caesar Doleoque cum respub immortalis esse debeat eam unius mortalis anima consistere Yet I cannot
withall but affirme that the Princes and Nobles of France do for as much as concerneth themselves upon all advantages flie off from the Kings obedience but all this while the poor Paisant is ruined let the poor Tenant starve or eat the bread of carefulnesse it matters not so they may have their pleasure and be counted firme zelots of the common liberty And certainly this is the issue of it the former liveth the life of a slave to maintain his Lord in pride and lazinesse the Lord liveth the life of a King to oppresse his Tenant by fines and exactions An equality little answering to the old platformes of Republicks Aristotle Genius ille naturae as a learned man calleth him in his fourth book of Politicks hath an excellent discourse concerning this disproportion In that Chapter his project is to have a correspondency so far between Subjects under the King or people of the same City that neither the one might be over rich nor the other too miserably poor They saith he which are too happy strong or rich or greatly favoured and the like can not nor will not obey with which evill they are infected from their infancy The other through want of these things are too abjectly minded and base so that the one cannot but command nor the other but serve And this he calleth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a City inhabited onely by Slaves and Tyrants That questionlesse is the most perfect and compleat forme of Government Ubi veneratur protentem humilis non timet antecedit non contemnit humiliorem potens as Velleius But this is an unhappinesse of which France is not capable their Lords being Kings and their Commons Villains And not to say lesse of them then indeed they are the Princes of this Countrey are but little inferiour in matter of Royalty to any King abroad and by consequence little respective in matter of obedience to their own King at home Upon the least discontent they withdraw themselves from the Court or put themselves into armes and of all other comforts are ever sure of this that they shall never want partizans Neither do they use to stand off from him fearfully and at distance but justifie their revolt by publick Declaration and think the King much indebted to them if upon fair terms and an honourable reconcilement they will please to put themselves again into his obedience Henry IV. was a Prince of as undaâ—…nted and uncontroulable a spirit as ever any of his predecessors and one that loved to be obeyed yet was he also very frequently baffled by these Roytelets and at the last dyed in an affront The Prince of Conde perceiving the Kings affection to his new Lady began to grow jealous of him for which reason he retired unto Bruxells the King offended at his retreat sent after him and commanded him home The Prince returned answer that he was the Kings most humble Subjâ—…ct and servant but into France he would not come unlesse he might have a Town for his assurance withall he protested in publick writing a nullity of any thing that should be done to his prejudice in his absence A stomachfull resolution and misbecoming a Subject yet in this opposition he 〈◊〉 his humor of disobedience out-living the King whom he had thus affronted But these tricks are ordinary here â—…therwise a man 〈◊〉 have construed this action by the term of Rebellion The 〈◊〉 means whereby these Princes 〈◊〉 so head stâ—…ng are an immunity given them by their Kings and a liberty 〈◊〉 they have taken to themselves By thâ—…ir Kings they have been absolutely exâ—…mpted from all Tributes Tolles Taxes Customes Impoâ—…tions and Subsidies By them also they have been estated in whole entire Provinces with a power of haute aâ—…d mâ—…n Justice as the Lawyers term it passed over to 〈◊〉 the Kings having scarce an homage or acknowledgment of them To this they have added much for their strength and security by the insconcing and fortifying of their 〈◊〉 which both oftâ—…n moveth and afterwards inableth them â—…o câ—…ntemn his Mâ—…jesty An example we have of this in the Castle of Rochfort belonging to the Duke of Tremoville which in the long Civill wars endured a 〈◊〉 of 5000 shot and yet was not taken A very impâ—…tick course in my conceit of the French to bestow honours and immunities upon those Qui as the Historian noteth eâ—… suo arbitrio aut reposituri aâ—…t retenturi videantur quique modum habent in sua voluntate For upon a knowledge of this strength in themselves the Princes have been always prone to Civill wars as having suffâ—…nt means for safety and resistance On this ground also they slight the Kings au hority aud disobey his Justice In so much that the greater sort of Nobles in this Kingdome can seldome be arraigned or executed in person and therefore the Lawes condâ—…mn them in their images and hang them in their pictures A pretty device to mock Justice If by chance or some handsome sleight any of them are apprehended they are put under a sure guard and not done to death without great fear of tumult and unquietnesse Neither is it unus alter only some two or three that thus stand upon their dâ—…stance with the Kâ—…ng but even all the Nobility of the Realm a rout so disordeâ—…ed unconfined and numberlesse that even Fabius himself would be out of breath in making the â—…eckoning I speak not here of those that are styled La Noblesse but of Titulados men only of titular Nobility of the degree of Baron and above Of these there is in this Countrey a number almost innumerable Quot Coelum Stellas take quantity for quantity and I dare be of the opinion that heaven hath not more Stars then France Nobles You shall meet with them so thick in the Kings Court especially that you would think it almost impossible the Countrey should bear any other fruit This I think I may safely affirme and without Hyperbole that they have there as many Princes as we in England have Dukes as many Dukes as we Earls as many Earls as we Barons and as many Barons as we have Knights a jolly company and such as know their own strength too I cannot therefore but much marvell that these Kings should be so prodigall in conferring honours considering this that every Noble man he createth is so great a weakning to his power On the other side I cannot but as much wonder at some of our Nation who have murmured against our late Soveraign and accused him of an unpardonable unthriftiness in bestowing the dignities of his Realm with so full and liberall a hand Certainly could there any danger have arisen by it unto the State I could have been as impatient of it as another But with us titles and ennoblings in this kind are only either the Kings favour or the parties merit and maketh whomsoever he be that receiveth them rather reverenced then powerfull Raro eorum honoribus invidetur quorum
vis non timetur was a good Aphorisme in the dayes of Paterculus and may for ought I know be as good still Why should I envie any man that honour which taketh not from my safety or repine at my Soveraign for raising any of his Servants into an higher degree of eminency when that favour cannot make them exorbitant Besides it concerneth the improvement of the Exchequer at the occasions of Subsidies and the glory of the Kingdome when the Prince is not attended by men meerly of the vulgar Add to this the few Noble men of any title which he â—…ound at his hâ—…ppy coâ—…ing in amongst us and the additiâ—…s oâ—… power which his comming brought unto us and we shall â—…de it proportionable that he should enlarge our Nobiliâ—…y with our Empire neither yâ—…t have we indeed a number to be talked of comparing us with our neighbour 〈◊〉 We may sâ—…e all of the three first ranks in the books of Milâ—…s Brooke and Vincent and we are promised also a 〈◊〉 of the Creations and successions of all our Barons Then we should see that as yet we have not surfeited Wâ—…e this care takâ—…n by the Heralds in France perhaps the Nobility there would not seem so numberlesse sure I am not so consused But this is the main vice of that profession oâ—… six Heralds which they have amongst them viz. Montjoy Normandy 〈◊〉 Val ys Bretagne and Burgogne not one of them is repoâ—…ed to be a Genealogist neither were their Predecessors better affected to this study Paradine the only man that ever was amongst them hath drawn down the Genealogies of 24 of the chief families all ancient and of the bloud in which he hath excellently well discharged himself But whâ—…t a small pittance is that compared to the present multitude The Nobles being so populous it cannot be but the Noblesse as they call them that is the Gentry must needs be thick set and only not innumerable Of these Nobles there are some which hold theiâ—… estates immediately of the Crown and they have the like immunities with the Princes Some hold their Feâ—…es or feuda of some other of the Lords and he hath only Basse Justice permittâ—…d to him as to mulct and amerce his Tenants to imprison them or give them any other correction under death All of them have power to raise and inhance up their Rents to Tax his Subjects on occasion and to prohibit them such pleasures as they think fit to be reserved for themselves By Brettaul in Piâ—…ardy I saw a post fastned in the ground like a race-post with us and therein an inscription I presently made to it as hoping to have heard of some memorable battell there foughten but when I came at it I â—…und it to be nothing but a Dâ—claration of the Prince of Condes pleasure that no man should hunt in those quarters afterwards I observed them to be very frequent But not to wander through all particulars I will in some few of them only give instance of their power here The first is Proict de bailli age power to keep Assize or to have under him a Bailli and a Superiour seat of Justice for the decision of such causes as fall under the compasse of ordinary jurisdiction In this Court there is notice taken of Treasons Robberies Murders Protections Pardons Faires Markets and other matters of priviledge Next they have a Court of ordinary jurisdiction and therein a Judge whom they call Le guarde de Justice for the dâ—cision of smaller businesse as Debts Trespasses breach of the Kings peace and the like In this the purse is only emptied the other extendeth to the taking of life also for which cause every one which hath Haute Justice annexed to his Feife hath also his peculiar Gibbet nay which is wonderfully methodicall by the criticisme of the Gibbet you may judge at the quality of him that owneth it For the Gibbet of one of the Nobles hath but two pillars that of the Chastellan three the Barons four the Earls six the Dukes eight and yet this difference is rather precise then generall The last of their jura râ—galia which I will here speak of is the command they have upon their people to follow them unto the wars a command not so advantagious to the Lord as dangerous to the Kingdom Thus live the French Princes thus the Nobles Those sheep which God and the Lawes hath brought under them they do not sheer but fleece and which is worse then this having themselves taken away the Wooll they give up the naked carkasse to the King Tondi oves meas volo non deglubi was accounted one of the golden sayings of Tiberius but it is not currant here in France Here the Lords and the King though otherwise at oddes amongst themselves will be sure to agree in this the undoing and oppressing of the poor Paisant Ephraim against Manasseh and Manasseh against Ephraim but both against Judah saith the Scripture The reason why they thus desire the poverty of the Commons is as they pretend the safety of the State and their owne particulars Were the people once warmed with the feeling of case and their own riches they would presently be hearkning after the warres and if no imployment were proffered abroad they would make some at home Histories and experience hath taught us enough of their humour in this kind it being impossible for this hot-headed and hare-brained people not to be doing Si extraneus deest domi hostem quaerunt as Justin hath observed of the Ancient Spaniards a prety quality and for which they have often smarted CHAP. V. The base and loâ—… estate of the French Paisant The misery of them under their Lord. The bed of Procrustes The suppressing of the Subject prejudiciall to a State The wisdome of Henry VII The French forces all in the Cavallerie The cruell impositions laid upon the people by the King No Demaine in France Why the tryall by twelve men can be used only in England The Gabell of Salt The Popes licence for wenching The Gabell of whom refused and why The Gascoines impatient of Taxes The taille and taillion The Pancarke or Aides The vain resistance of those of Paris The Court of Aides The manner of gathering the Kings moneys The Kings revenue The corruption of the French publicans King Lewis why called the just The monies currant in France The gold of Spain more Catholick then the King The happinesse of the English Subjects A congratulation unto England The conclusion of the first Journey BY that which hath been spoken already of the Nobles we may partly guesse at the poor estate of the Paisant or Countreymen of whom we will not now speak as subjects to their Lords and how far they are under their commandment but how miserable and wretched they are in their Apparell and their Houses For their Apparell it is well they can allow themselves Canvasse or an outside of that nature As for Cloth it is above their purse
Col. and on Wednesday March the 11. went unto St. Oen where we were feasted by Sir Philip de Carteret whose Regiment we likewise viewed in the afternoon The Souldiers of each Regiment very well arrayed and not unpractised in their Armes but such as never saw more danger then a Training came to On Thursday his Lordship went into the Cohu or Town-hall attended by Sir John Palâ—…r the Deputy Governour Sir Philip de Carteret the Justices Clergy and Jurors of the Island with other the subordinate Officers thereunto belonging where being set as in a Parliament or Sessions and having given order for redresse of some grievances by them presented to him in the name of that people he declared to them in a grave and eloquent speach the great care which his Majesty had of their preservation in sending Men Money Armes and Ammunition to defend them against the common Enemies of their peace and consciences assuring them that if the noise of those preparations did not keep the French from looking towards them his Majesty would not fail to send them such a strength of Shipping as should make that Island more impregnable then a wall of Brasse in which regard he thought it was not necessary for him to advise them to continue fathfull to his Majesties service or to behave themselves with respect and love towards those Gentlemen Officers and common Souldiers who were resolved to expose themselves for defence of them their Wives and Children to the utmost dangers And finally advising the common Souldiers to carry themselves with such sobriety and moderation towards the natives of the Countrey for as for their valour towards the enemies he would make no question as to give no offence or scandall by their conversation This said the Assembly was dissolved to the great satisfaction of all parties present the night ensuing and the day following being spent for the most part in the entertainments of rest and pleasures The only businesse of that day was the disposing of the three Barks which we took in our Journey the goods whereof having before been inventoried and apprized by some Commissioners of the Town and now exposed to open sale were for the most part bought together with the Barks themselves by that very Holland man of warre whom they had hired to be their Convoy Which gave me such a Character of the mercenary and sordid nature of that people that of all men living I should never desire to have any thing to do with them unlesse they might be made use of as the Gibeonites were in hewing wood and drawing water for the use of the Tabernacle I mean in doing servile offices to some mightier State which would be sure to keep them under On Saturday March the 14. having spent the greatest part of the morning in expectation of the rest of our Flâ—…t which found better imployment in the Seas then they could in the Haven we went aboard the Merchants ship which before I spake of not made much lighter by the unlading of the one halfe of the Ammunition which was left at Jarsey in regard that the 200 foot which should have been distributed in the rest of the ships were all stowed in her Before night being met by the rest of our Fleet we came to Anchor neer St. Pier port or St. Peters Port within the Bay of Castle Cornet where we presently landed The Castle divided from the Town and Haven by the inter-currency of the Sea in which respect we were fain to make use of the Castle-hall in stead of a Chappell The way to the Town Church being too troublesome and uncertain to give us the constant use of that and the Castle yeelding no place else of a fit capacity for the receiving of so many as gave their diligent attendance at Religious exercises On Monday March the 16. our Fleet went out to Sea againe taking the Charles with them for their greater strength which to that end was speedily unladen of such ammunition as was designed for the use of that Island The whole time of our stay here was spent in visiting the Forts and Ports and other places of importance taking a view of the severall Musters of the naturall Islanders distributing the new come Souldiers in their severall quarters receiving the services of the Gentry Clergy and principall Citizens and finally in a like meeting of the States of the Island as had before been held in Jarsey Nothing considerable else in the time of our stay but that our Fleet came back on Wednesday March 25 which hapned very fitly to compleat the triumph of the Friday following being the day of his Majesties most happy inauguration celebrated in the Castle by the Divine Service for that day and after by a noble â—…east made by him for the chief men of the Island and solemnized without the Castle by 150 great shot made from the Castle the Fleet the Town of St. Peters Port and the severall Islands all following one another in so good an order that never Bels were rung more closely nor with lesse confusion Thus having given your Lordship a brief view of the course of our Voyage I shall next present you with the sight of such observations as I have made upon those Islands at my times of leasure and that being done hoise sail for England CHAP. I. 1 Of the convenient situation and 2 condition of these Islands in the generall 3 Alderney 4 and Serke 5 The notable stratagem whereby this latter was recovered from the French 6 Of Guernzey 7 and the smaller Isles neer unto it 8 Our Lady of Lehu 9 The road and 10 the Castle of Cornet 11 The Trade and 12 Priviledges of this people 13 Of Jarsey and 14 the strengths about it 15 The Island why so poor and populous 16 Gavelkind and the nature of it 17 The Governours and other the Kings Officers The 18 Politie and 19 administration of Justice in both Islands 20 The Assembly of the Three Estates 21 Courts Presidiall in France what they are 22 The election of the Justices 23 and the Oath taken at their admission 24 Of their Advocates or Pleaders and the number of them 25 The number of Atturneys once limited in England 26 A Catalogue of the Governours and Bailiffs of the Isle of Jarsey TO begin then with the places themselves the Scene and Stage of our discourse they are the only remainders of our rights in Normandy unto which Dukedome they did once belong Anno 1108. at such time as Henry I. of England had taken prisoner his Brother Robert these Islands as a part of Normandy were annext unto the English Crown and have ever since with great testimony of â—…aith and loyalty continued in that subjection The sentence or arrest of confiscation given by the Parliament of France agâ—…st King John nor the surprisall of Normandy by the French forces could be no â—…swasion unto them to change their Masters Nay when the French had twice seized on them during
sinister opinion conceived of the free use of it in England The innocence and harmelesnesse of it amongst us The impostures of French Pandars in London with the scandall thence arising The peccancy of an old English Doctor More of the French Women Their Marriages and lives after wedlock c. An Elogie to the English Ladies p. 41. CHAP. III. France described The valley of Montmorancie and the Dukes of it Mont martre Burials in former times not pe mitted within the wals The prosâ—…cuting of this discourse by manner of a journall intermitted for a time The Town and Church of St. Denis The Legend of him and his head Of Dagobert and the Leâ—…er The reliques to be seen there Martyrs how esteemed in St. Augustine's time The Sepulchres of the French Kings and the treasury there The Kings house of Madrit The Qeen Mothers house at Ruall and fine devices in it St. Germains en lay another of the Kings houses The curious painting in it Gorramburie Window the Garden belonging to it and the excellency of the Water-works Boys St. Vincent de Vicennes and the Castle called Bisester p. 50. CHAP. IV. Paris the names and antiquity of it The situation and greatnesse The chief strength and Fortifications about it The streets and buildings King James his laud ble care in beautyfying London King Henry the fourths intent to fortifie the Town Why not actuated The Artifices and wealth of the Parisians The bravery of the Citizens described under the person of a Barber p. 64. CHAP. V. Paris divided into four parts Of the Fauxburgs in generall Of the Pest house The Fauxburg and Abbey of St. Gâ—…main The Queen Mothers house there Her purpose never to reside in it The Provost of Merchants and his authority The Armes of the Town The Town-house The Grand Chastellet The Arcenall The place Royall c. The Vicounty of Paris And the Provosts seven daughters p. 73. CHAP. VI. The University of Paris and Founders of it Of the Colledges in general Marriage when permitted to the Rectors of them The small maintenance allowed the Scholars in the Universities of France The great Colledge at Tholoza Of the Colledge of the Sorbonne in particular that and the House of Parliament the chief Bulwarks of the French liberty Of the Polity and Government of the University The Rector and his precedency the disordered life of the Scholars there being An Apologie for Oxford and Cambridge The priviledges of the Scholars their degrees c. p. 80. CHAP. VII The City of Paris seated in the place of old Lutetia The Bridges which joyn it to the Town and University King Henry's Statua Alexander's injurious policy The Church and revenues of Nostre Dame The Holy water there The original making and virtue of it The Lamp before the Altar The heathenishnesse of both customes Paris best seen from the top of this Church the great Bell there never rung but in time of Thunder the baptizing of Bels the grand Hospital and decency of it The place Daulphin The holy Chappel and Reliques there What the Antients thought of Reliques The Exchange The little Chastelet A transition to the Parlament p. 90. CHAP. VIII The Parliament of France when begun of whom it consisteth The digniiy and esteem of it abroad made sedentarie at Paris appropriated to the long robe The Palais by whom built and converted to seats of Justice The seven Chambers of Parliament The great Chamber The number and dignity of the Presidents The Duke of Biron afraid of them The Kings seat in it The sitting of the Grand Signeur in the Divano The authority of this Court in causes of all kinds and over the affaires of the King This Court the main pillar of the Liberty of France La Tournelle and the Judges of it The five Chambers of Enquestes severally instituted and by whom In what cause it is decisive The forme of admitting Advocates into the Courts of Parliament The Chancellour of France 〈◊〉 his Authority The two Courts of Requests and Masters of them The vain envy of the English Clergy against the Lawyers p. 104. CHAP. IX The Kings Palace of the Louure by whom built The unsutablenesse of it The fine Gallery of the Queen Mother The long Gallery of Henry IV. His magnanimous intent to have built it into a quadrangle Henry IV. a great builder His infinite project upon the Mediterranean and the Ocean La Salle des Antiques The French not studious of Antiquities Burbon house The Tuilleries c. p. 113. La BEAUSE OR THE THIRD BOOK CHAP. I. Our Journey towards Orleans the Town Castle and Battail of Mont l'hierrie Many things imputed to the English which they never did Lewis the 11. brought not the French Kings out of wardship The town of Chartroy and the mourning Church there The Countrey of La Beause and people of it Estampes The dancing there The new art of begging in the Innes of this Countrey Angerville Tury The saweiness of the French Fidlers Three kindes of Musick amongst the Antient. The French Musick p. 121. CHAP. II. The Country and site of Orleans like that of Worcester The Wine of Orleans Praesidial Towns in France what they are The sale of Offices in France The fine walk and pastime of the Palle Malle The Church of St. Croix founded by Superstition and a miracle Defaced by the Hugonots Some things hated only for their name The Bishop of Orleans and his priviledge The Chappell and Pilgrims of St. Jacques The form of Masse in St. Croix 〈◊〉 an Heathenish custome The great siege of Orleanâ—… raisâ—…d by Joan the Virgin The valour of that woman that she was no witch An Elogie on her p. 131. CHAP. III. The study of the Civill Law revived in Europe The dead time of learning The Schools of Law in Orleans The oeconomie of them The Chancellour of Oxford antiently appointed by the Diocesan Their methode here and prodigality in bestowing degrees Orleans a great conflux of strangers The language there The Corporation of Germans there Their house and priviledges Dutch and Latine The difference between an Academie and an University p. 145. CHAP. IV. Orleans not an University till the comming of the Jesuites Their Colledge there by whom built The Jesuites no singers Their laudable and exact method of teaching Their policies in it Received not without great difficulty into Paris Their houses in that university Their strictnesse unto the rules of their order Much maliced by the other Priests and Fryers Why not sent into England with the Queen and of what order they were that came with her Our return to Paris p. 152. PICARDIE OR THE FOURTH BOOK CHAP. I. Our return towards England More of the Hugonots hate unto Crosses The town of Luzarch and St. Loupae The Country of Picardie and people Tho Picts of Britain not of this Countrey Mr. Lee Dignicoes Governour of Picardie The office of Constable what it is in France By whom the place supplyed in England The marble table
shall hereafter shew you p. 125. l. 27. r Beu p 127. l. 14. r. Angerville p 132. l. 12. r. Angiers p. 138 l. 9. r his p. 139. l. 15. r. antient times ibid. l. 20. r quam dis 〈◊〉 p 14â—… l. 22. r. Belbis p. 147. l. 2. r. meri p. 150. l. 27. r. 〈◊〉 p 153. l 6. r. mouths ibid. l. 31. r. forme p. 158 l. 9 r. 〈◊〉 p. 162. l. 12. r. Les Dâ—…guieres p 163. l. 20 r. Bevie ibid. l. 33. r. 〈◊〉 p. 167 l 27. r. Ancre p. 170. l. 18. r. adeo ibid. l. 19. r. fidei p 175. l. 9. r. massing p. 185 l. 27. del do ibid. 36. r ner p. 190. l. 3. del my ibid. l. 33. r Bookes p. 199 l 20. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 206. l 8. r Franâ—… p. 208. l. 1. r. 60000. p. 211. l. 14. del each of p. 213 l 8. to these words al eady mentioned add and Madam Gabriele the most loved of all p. 220 l ult r. Aix p. 222. 〈◊〉 38 r. no other p. 223. l. 7. l. 32. r. investiture ibid. l. 18. r. Henry IV. ibid. l. 34. r. Henry I p 225. l. 10. r. sanctio ibid. l. 23 r. lapse p. 230. l 19. r. 〈◊〉 p. 231 l 1. r. to 〈◊〉 ibid. l 6 r. greatest action p. 235. l. 1 del 〈◊〉 p 242. l 4. r. Le Chastres p 244 l. 33. r. Systematicall p. 248. l. 27 r. 〈◊〉 p. 261. l. 24. del 〈◊〉 p. 271. l. 13 r. 〈◊〉 p. 〈◊〉 l. ult r. Vitrey p. 274. l. 1. r 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 〈◊〉 l. 28. r. 〈◊〉 p. 298. l. 5. 302. l. 16. r. Armie p. 304 l. 33. r. 〈◊〉 p. 306. l. 20. r. manner p. 312. l. 8 del a Crosse engraled O. p 314. l. 5 r. 〈◊〉 p. 320. l 8. r. 〈◊〉 ibid. l. 2. r. 〈◊〉 p. 323. l. 34. r. once p 325. l. 7. 〈◊〉 fact p. 330. l. 36. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 337. l. 11. r 〈◊〉 ibid. l 17 r. Painset p 354. l ult r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 368 l 35. r. propounded p. 374 l. 10. r. tactum p 381. l. 14. r. 〈◊〉 p. 384. l. 3 l. 33. p. 386 l. 15. 〈◊〉 p. 385. l 17. r. 〈◊〉 ibid. l. 34. r. St. 〈◊〉 p 387. l 32. r. interea p 393 l. 9. r. cure p 401. l. ult r. â—…ols p. 417 l 11. del 〈◊〉 p. 415. l 3. r. 〈◊〉 ibid. l 25. r. be said unto him ibid. l. 38 r. 〈◊〉 p. 〈◊〉 l. 8 r 〈◊〉 p. 422. l. 13. r. change p. 423. l. 3. r. sic ibid. l. 24. r. pool THE RELATION Of the FIRST JOURNEY CONTAINING A SURVEY of the STATE OF FRANCE TAKING IN The Description of the principal Provinces and chief Cities of it The Temper Humors and Affections of the people generally And an exact account of the Publick Government in reference to the Court the Church and the Civill State By PET. HEYLYN London Printed 1656. A SURVEY OF THE STATE of FRANCE NORMANDY OR THE FIRST BOOK The Entrance The beginning of our Journey The nature of the Sea A farewell to England ON Tuesday the 28 of June just at the time when England had received the chief beauty of France and the French had seen the choise beauties of England we went to Sea in a Bark of Dover The Port we aimed at Dieppe in Normandy The hour three in the afternoon The winde faire and high able had it continued in that point to have given us a wastage as speedy as our longings Two hours before night it came about to the Westward and the tide also not befriending us our passage became tediâ—…us and troublesome The next day being dedicated to the glory of God in the memory of St. Peter we took the benefit of the ebb to assist us against the wind this brought us out of the sight of England and the floud ensuing compelled us to our Anchor I had now leasure to see Gods wonders in the deep wonders indeed to us which had never before seen them but too much familiarity had made them no other then the Sailers playfellowes The waves striving by an imbred ambition which should be highest which formost Precedencie and supereminencie was equally desired and each enjoyed it in succession The winde more covetous in appearance to play with the water then disturb it did only rock the billow and seemed indeed to dandle the Ocean you would at an other time have thought that the seas had only danced to the winds whistle or that the Winde straining it self to a Treble and the Seas by a Diapason supplying the Base had tuned a Caranto to our ship For so orderly they rose and fell according to the time and note of the Billow that her violent agitation might be imagined to be nothing but a nimble Galliard filled with Capers This nimblenesse of the waves and correspondency of our Bark unto them was not to all our company alike pleasing what in me moved only a reverend and awfull pleasure was to others an occasion of sicknesse their heads gidie their joynts enâ—…bled their stomachs loathing sustenance and with great pangs avoiding what they had taken in their mouths nothing might have been so frequent as that of Horaâ—…e Illi robur aes triplex Circa pectus erat qui fragilem truâ—… Commisit pelago ratem Hard was his heart as brasse which first did venture In a weak ship on the rough Seas to enter Whether it be that the noisome smels which arise from the saltnesse and tartnesse of that region of waters poysoneth the brain or that the ungoverned and unequall motion of the ship stirreth and unsetleth the stomach or both we may conjecture with the Philosophers rather then determine This I am sure of that the Cabbins and Decks were but as so many Hospitals or Pesthouses filled with diseased persons whilest I and the Mariners only made good the Hatches Here did I see the Scalie nation of that Kingdom solace themselves in the brimme of the waters rejoycing in the sight and warmth of the day and yet spouting from their mouths such quantity of waters as if they purposed to quench that fire which gave it They danced about our Vessell as if it had been a moving May pole and that with such delightfull decorum that you never saw a measure better troden with lesse art And now I know not what wave bigger then the rest tossed up our ship so high that I once more saw the coast of England An object which took such hold on my senses that I forgot that harmlesse company which sported below me to bestow on my dearest mother this and for ought I could assure my self my last farewell England adiew thy most unworthy sonne Leaves thee and grieves to see what he hath done What he hath done in leaving thee the best Of mothers and more glorious then the rest Thy sister-nations Had'st thou been unkind Yet might he trust thee safer then the wind Had'st thou been weak yet far more strength in thee
Then in two inches of a sinking tree Had'st thou been cruell yet thy angry face Hath more love in it then the Seas imbrace Suppose thee poor his zeal and love the lesse Thus to forsake his Mother in distresse But thou art none of these no want in thee Only a needlesse curiositie Hath made him leap thy ditch O! let him have Thy blessing in his Voyage and hee 'l crave The Gods to thunder wrath on his neglect When he performs not thee all due respect That Nemeâ—…is her scourge on him would pluck When he forgets those breasts which gave him suck That Nature would dissolve and turn him earth If thou beest not remembred in his mirth May he be cast from mankind if he shame To make profession of his mothers name Rest then assur'd in this though sometimes hee Conceal perhaps his faith he will not thee CHAP. I. NORMANDY in generall the Name and bounds of it The condition of the Antient Normans and of the present Ortelius character of them examined In what they resemble the Inhabitants of Norfolk The commodities of it and the Government THe next ebb brought us in sight of the Sea-coast of Normandy a shore so evenly compassed and levelled that it seemeth the work of Art not Nature the Rock all the way of an equall height rising from the bottom to the top in a perpendicular and withall so smooth and polished that if you dare believe it the work of Nature you must also think that Nature wrought it by the line and shewed an art in it above the imitation of an Artist This wall is the Northern bound of this Province the South parts of it being confined with Le Mainde la Beausse and L' Isle de France on the East it is divided from Picardie by the River of Some and on the North it is bounded with the Ocean and the little River Crenon which severeth it from a corner of Britain It extendeth in length from the beginning of the 19 degree of longitude to the middle of the 23. viz. from the Cape of St. Saviour West to the Port-town of St Valerie East For breadth it lyeth partly in the 49 partly in the 50 degree of Latitude so that reckoning 60 miles to a degree we shall finde it to contain 270 English miles in length and 60 English miles in breadth where it is narrowest Amongst the Antients it was accounted a part of Gallia Geltica the name Nâ—…ustria This new title it got by receiving into it a new Nation A people which had so terribly spoyled the Maritine Coasts of England France and Belgium that A furore Normannorum was inserted into the Letanie Originally they were of Norway their name importeth it Anno 800 or thereabouts they began first to be accounted one of the Plagues of Europe 900 they seated themselves in France by the permission of Charles the Balde and the valor of Rollo their Captain Before this they had made themselves masters of Ireland though they long held it not and anno 1067 they added to the glory of their name by the conquest of England You would think them a people not only born to the warres but to victory But Ut frugum semina mutato solo degenerant sio illa genuina feritas eorum amâ—…nitate mollila est Florus spake it of the Gaules removed into Asia it is applyable to the Norwegians transplanted into Gallia yet fell they not suddenly and at once into that want of courage which now possesseth them During the time they continued English they attempted the Kingdom of Naples and Antioch with a fortune answerable to their valour Being once oppressed by the French and inslaved under that Monarchie they grew presently 〈◊〉 and at once lost both their spirits and their liberty The present Norman then is but the corruption of the Antient the heir of his name and perhaps his possessions but neither of his strength nor his manhood Bondage and a fruitfull soil hath so emasculated them that it is a lost labour to look for Normans even in Normandy There remaineth nothing almost in them of their 〈◊〉 but the remainders of two qualities and those also degenerated if not ballaâ—…ds a 〈◊〉 pride and an ungoâ—…erned doggednesse Neither oâ—… them become their fortune or their habite yet to these they are 〈◊〉 Finally view him in his rags and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and you would swear it impossible that these snakes should be the descendents of those 〈◊〉 Hâ—…s which so often triumphed over both Religions soiling the Sarâ—…cens and vanquishing the Chrisâ—… But perchance their courage is evaporated into wit and then the change is made for the better Ortelius would seem to perswade us to this conceit of them and well might he do it if his words were Oracles Le gens saith he speaking of this Nation sont des plus accorts subtils d' esprit de la Gaule A character for which the French will little thank him who if he speak truth must in matter of discretion give precedency to their Vassals But as Imbalt a French leader said of the Florentines in the fifth book of Guicciardine Non sapeva dove consistesse lingegne tanto celebrate de Fiorentini so may I of the Normans For my part I could never yet find where that great wit of theirs lay Certain it is that as the French in generall are termed the Kings Asses so may these men peculiarly be called the Asses of the French or the veriest Asses of the rest For what with the unproportionable rents they pay to their Lords on the one side and the â—…rable taxes laid upon them by the King on the other they are kept in such a perpetuated course of drudgery that there is no place for wit or wisdome lâ—…t amongst them Liberty is the Mother and the Nurse of those two qualities and therefore the Romans not unhappily expressed both the conditions of a Freeman and a discreet and modest personage by this own word Ingenuus Why the French King should lay a greater burden on the backs of this Nation then their fellowes I cannot determine Perhaps it is because they have been twice conquered by them once from King John and again from Henry VI. and therefore undergo a double servitude It may be to abate their naturall pride and stubbornnesse Likely also it is that being a revolting people and apt to an apostaâ—… from their allegiance they may by this meanes be kept impoverished and by consequence disabled from such practises This a French Gentleman of good understanding told me that it was generally conceited in France that the Normans would suddenly and unanimously betray their Countrey to the English were the King a Catholick But there is yet a further cause of their beggerlinesse and poverty which is their litigiousnesse and frequent going to law as we call it Ortelius however he failed in the first part of their character in the conclusion of it hath done them justice Mais en generall saith he ils
all others to cut off theirs but I have already touched the reason why that Nation is unworthy of such a favour their kisses being hot and sulphury and indeed nothing but the prologue to their lusts Whereas on the contrary and I dare be confident in it the chaste and innocent kisse of the English Gentlewomen is more in heaven then many of the best of their devotions It were not amisse to explain in this place a verse of Oviâ—…s common in the mouthes of many but the understanding of few Thus then saith the Poet Oscula qui sumpsit si non caetera sumpsit Haec quoque quae sumpsit perdere dignus erit He that doth only kisse and doth no more Deserves to lose the kisses given before Which must be understood according to the fashion of Rome and Italy and since of France and Spain where they were given as pawns of a dishonest contract and not according to the customes of England where they are only proffer'd in way of a gracious and innocent familiarity and so accepted I return again to the French women and though I may not kisse them which he that seeth them will swear I have good cause to thank God for yet they are at liberty to be courted an office which they admit freely and return as liberally An office to which they are so used that they can hardly distinguish complement from wooing till the Priest expecteth them at the Church door That day they set themselves forth with all the variety of riches their credit can extend to A Scholar of the University never disfurnished so many of his friends to provide for a journey as they do neighbours to adorn their wedding At my being in Pontoyse I saw Mâ—…is Bride returning from the Church The day before she had been somewhat of the condition of a Kitchen-wench but now so tricked up with â—…arss rings and cross garters that you never saw a Whitsun-Lady better rigged I should much have applauded the fellowes fortune if he could have married the clothes but God be merciful to him he is chained to the wench Much joy may they have together most peerless couple Hymen O Hymenaee Hymen Hymen O Hymenaee The match was well knit up between them I would have a French man marry none but a French woman Being now made mistress of an house she can give her self a dispensation to drink wine before she had a fling at the bottle by stealâ—…h and could make a shift to play off her whole one in a corner as St. Austine in the ninth book of his Confessions reporteth of his mother Monica Now she hath her draughts like the second edition of a book augmented and revised and which is more published cum privilegio Her house she doth keep as she doth her self It would puzzle a strong judgement to resolve which of the two are the more nasty yet after ten of the clock you may come nigh her for by that time she hath not only eaten but it may be her hall hath had a brushing if you be not careful of yourtime you shall commonly finde her speechless her mouth being stopped with some of the reliques of last nights supper To five meals a day she is very constant and for varieties sake will make some of them at street-door She is an exceeding good soul as Sancho Panco said of his wife and one that will not pine her self though her heirs smart for it To her husband she is very servile seldome sitteth with him at the table readily executeth all his commands and is indeed rather a married servant then a wife or an houshold drudge under the title of a Mistress yet on the other side she hath freedome enough and certainly much more then a moderate wisdome would permit her It is one of her jura conjugalia to admit of Courtship even in the sight of her husband to walk arm in arm about the streets or into the fields with her Privado to proffer occasions of familiarity and acquaintance at the first sight of one whose person she relisheth and all this sans soupsen without any the least imputation a liberty somewhat of the largest and we may justly fear that having thus wholly in her own power the keyes of the Cab net that she sheweth her jewels to more then her husband Such are the French women and such lives do they lead both maids and married Thou happy England thy four seas contain The pride of beauties such as may disdain Rivals on earth Such at once may move By a strange power the envie and the love Of all the sex besides Admit a dame Of France or Spain passe in the breath of fame And her thoughts for fair yet let her view The commonst beauty of the English crew And in despair she 'l execrate the day Which bare her black and sigh her self away So pin'd the Phrygian dames and hang'd the head When into Troy Paris did Helen lead But boast not Paris England now enjoyes Helens enough to sack a world of Troyes So doth the vulgar tapers of the skie Lose all their lustre when the Moon is nigh Yet English Ladies glorious lights as far Exceed the Moon as doth the Moon a star So do the common people of the groves Grow husht when Philomel recounts her loves But when our Ladies sing even she forbears To use her tongue and turns her tongue to ears Nay more Their beauties should proud Venus see Shee 'd blush her self out of her Deity Drop into Vulcans forge her raign now done And yeeld to them her Empire and her son Yet this were needless I can hardly finde Any of this land stars but straight my minde Speaks her a Venus and me thinks I spie A little Cupid sporting in her eye Who thence his shafts more powerfully delivers Then ere did t'other Cupid from his quivers Such in a word they are you would them guesse An harmony of all the goddesses Or swear that partial Nature at their birth Had rob'd the heavens to glorifie the earth Such though they are yet mean these graces bin Compar'd unto the vertues lodg'd within For needs the Jewels must be rich and precious When as the Cabinet is so delicious CHAP. III. France described The valley of Montmorancie and the Dukes of it Mont-martre Burials in former times not permitted within the wals The prosecuting of this discourse by manner of a journal intermitted for a time The Town and Church of St. Denis The Legend of him and his head Of Dagobert and the Leper The reliques to be seen there Martyrs how esteemed in St. Augustine's time The Sepulchres of the French Kings and the treasury there The Kings house of Madrit The Queen Mothers house at Ruall and fine devices in it St. Germains en lay another of the Kings houses The curious painting in it Gorramburie Window the Garden belonging to it and the excellency of the Water-works Boys St. Vincent de Vincennes and the Castle called Bisester
comparison of the rest or as the two Temples in London now are in reference to Lincolns Inne The revenues of them are suitable to the Fabricks as mean and curtailed I could not learn of any Colledge that hath greater allowances then that of Sorbonne and how small a trifle that is we shall tell you presently But this is not the poverty of the University of Paris only all France is troubled with the same want the same want of encouragement in learning neither are the Academies of Germanie in any happier state which occasioned Erasmus that great light of his times having been in England and seen Cambridge to write thus to one of his Dutch acquaintance Unum Collegium Cantabrigiense confidenter dicam superat vel decem nostra It holdeth good in the neatness and graces of the buildings in which sense he spake it but it had been more undeniable had he intended it of the revenues Yet I was given to understand that at Tholoze there was amongst 20 Colledges one of an especiall quality and so indeed it is if rightly considered There are said to be in it 20 Students places or fellowships as we call them The Students at their entrance are to lay down in deposito 6000. Florens or Livres paid unto him after six years by his successor Vendere jure potest emerat ille prius A pretty market The Colledge of Sorbonne which is indeed the glory of â—…is University was built by one Robert de Sorbonne of the â—…hamber of Lewis the 9. of whom he was very well beloved It consisteth meerly of Doctors of Divinity neither can any of another profession nor any of the same profession not so graduated be admitted into it At this time their number is about 70 their allowance a pint of wine their pinte is but a thought lesse then our quart and a certain quantity of bread daily Meat they have none allowed them unless they pay for it but the pay is not much for five Sols which amounteâ—…h to six pence English a day they may challenge a competency of flesh or fish to be served to them at their chambers These Doctors have the sole power and authority of conferring degrees in Divinity the Rector and other officers of the University having nothing to do in it To them alone belongeth the â—…mination of the â—…udents in the faculty the approbatioâ—… and the bestâ—…ing of the honour and to their Lectures do all such assidâ—… usly repair as are that way minded All of them in their 〈◊〉 discharge this office of reading and that by sixâ—…s in a day thâ—…e of them making good the Pulpit in the â—…noon and as many in the aâ—…noon These Doctors are accounted together with the Parliament of Paris the principal pillars of the French Liberty whereof inâ—…d they are excâ—…ding jealous as well in matterâ—… Ecclesiastical as Civil When Gerson Chancellor of Paris he died Anno 1429. had published a book in approbation of the Councell oâ—… 〈◊〉 where it was enacted that the authority of the Councell was greater then that of the Pope the Soâ—…ne Doctors declared that also to be their Doctrine Afterwards when Iewis the 11. to gratifie Pope Pius the 2. purposed to abolish the force of the pragmatick sanction the Sorlonnisis in behalf of the Church Gallâ—…an and the University of Paris Magnis obsistebant animis saith Sleidan in his Commentaries a Papa provocabant ad â—…cilium The Câ—…uncell unto which they appealed was that of Bâ—…sil where that sanction was made so that by this appeal they verified their former Thesis that the Councell was above the Pope And not lâ—…ng since anno viz 1613. casually meeting with a book written by â—…nus entituled Coâ—…troversia Anglicana de potesâ—…te regis papae they called an assembly and condemned it For though the main of it was against the power and suâ—…macy of the Kings of England yet did it reflect also on the authority of the Pope over other Châ—…stian Kings by the bie which occasioned the Sentence So jealous are they of the least circumstances in which the immunity of their nation may be endangered As for the Government of the University it hath for its chief directâ—…ur a Rector with a Chancellor four Procurators or Proctors and as many others whom they call â—…es Intraâ—… to assist him besides the Regents Of these the Regents are such Masters of the Arts who are by the consent of the rest selected to read the publick Lectures of Logiâ—…k and Philosophy Their name they derive a regendo eo quod in artibus rexerint These are divided into four Nations viz. 1 The Norman 2 The Picarde 3 The German And 4 The French Under the two first are comprehended the students of those several Provinces under the third the Sâ—…udents of all forein natioâ—…s which repair hither for the attainment of knowledge It was heretofore called natio Aâ—…glica but the English being thought unworthy of the honour because of their separation from the Church of Roâ—…e the name and credit of it was given to the Germans That of the French is again subdivided into two parts that which is immediately within the Diocese of Paris and that which containeth the rest of Gallia These four Nations for notwithstanding the subdivision above mâ—…ioned the French is reckoned but as one choose yearly four Proctors or Procurators so called quia negotia nationis suae procurant They choose four other officers whom they call les Iâ—…trantes in whose power there remaineth the Delegated authority of their several Nations Aâ—…d here it is to be observed that in the French Nation the Procurator and Intrant is one year of the Diocese of Paris and the following year of the rest of France the reason why that Nation is subdivided These four Intâ—…antes thus named have amongst them the election of the Rector who is their supreme Mâ—…gistrate The present Rector is named Mr. Tarrienus of the Colledge of Harcourte a Master of the Arts for a Doctor is not capable of the Office The honour lasteth only three moneths which time expired the Intrantes proceed to a new election though oftentimes it hapneth that the same man haâ—…h the lease renued Within the confines of the University he taketh place next after the Princes of the bloud and at the publique exercises of learning before the Cardinals otherwise he giveth them the 〈◊〉 Bâ—…t to Bishops or Archbishops he will not grant it upon any occasion It was not two moneths before my being there that there hapned a shrewd controvâ—…e abâ—…ut it For their King had then summoned an assembly of 25. Bishops of the Provinces adjoyning to consult about some Church affairs and they had chosen the Colledge of Sorbonne to be their Senate-house when the first day of their sitting came a Doctor of the house being appointed to preach before them began his oration with Reverendissime Rector vos amplissimi praesules Here the Archbishop of Râ—…n a man of an high spirit
his hand and saith to him in Latine Tu jurabis observare omnes regias consuetudines he answereth 〈◊〉 and departeth At the Chamber door of the Court whereof he is now sworn an Advocate he payeth two crowns which is forth with put into the common treasury appointed for the relief of the 〈◊〉 widows of ruined Advocates and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 veniam peâ—…imusque damusque it may be their own cases and therefore it is paid willingly The highest preserment of which these Advocates are capable is that of Chancâ—…llor an office of great power and profit the present Chancellor is named Mr. d' 〈◊〉 by birth of Chartres He hath no settled Court wherein to exercise his authority but hath in all the Courts of France the Supream place whensoever he will vouchsaâ—…e to visite them He is also Pâ—…sident of the Councell of Estate by his place and on him dependeth the making of good and sacrâ—…d laws the adminâ—…stration of Justice the reformation of 〈◊〉 and abrogation of unprofitable Edicts c. He hath the keeping of the Kings great seal and by virtue of that either 〈◊〉 or putteth back such Letters pâ—…tents and 〈◊〉 as are exhibited to him He hath under him immediately for the better dispatch of his affaires four Masters of the Requests and their Courts Their office and manner of proceeding is the same which they also use in England in the persons there is thus much dâ—…fference for that in France two of them must be pâ—…rpetually of the Clergy One of their Courts is very antient and hath in it two Presidents which are two of the Mâ—…sters and 14 Counsellors The other is of a later erection as being â—…ounded anno 1580 and in that the two other of the 〈◊〉 and eight Counsellors give sentence Thus have I taken a view of the severall Chambers of the Parliament of Paris and of their particular jurisdictions as far as my information could conduct me One thing I notâ—…d further and in my mind the fairest ornament of the Palace which is the neatnesse and decency of the Lawyers in their apparell for besides the fashion of their habit which is I assure you exceeding pleasing and comely themselves by theiâ—… own care and love to handsomenesse add great lustre to their gaâ—…ments and more to their persons Richly drest they 〈◊〉 and well may be so as being the ablâ—…st and most powerâ—…ull men under the Princes and la Noblesse in all the Countrey an happinesse as I conjecture rather of the 〈◊〉 then the men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 been the fate and destinie of the Law to strengthen and inable its professors beyond any other Art or Science the pleaders in all Common-wealthâ—… â—…h for sway amongst the people and 〈◊〉 amongst the military men having alwayes had the preheminence Oâ—… this rank were Pericles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Dâ—…sthenes amongst the Athenians Antonius Cato Caesar and Tully at Rome men equally famous for Oratory and the Sword yet this I can confidently say that the severall states above mentioned were more indebted to Tully and Demosibenes bâ—…ing both meer gown-men then to the best of their Captains the one freeing Athens from the armies of Macedon thâ—… other delivering Rome from the conspiracy of Catiline O fortunatam natam te Consule Romam It is not then the fate of France only nor of England to see so much power in the hands of the Lawyers and the case being generall me thinks the envie should be the lesse and lesse it is indeed with them then with us The English Clergy though otherwise the most accomplisht in the world in this folly deserveth no Apologie being so strongly ill affected to the pleaders of their Nation that I fear it may be said of some of them Quod invidiam non ad causam sed per sonam ad voluntatem dirigunt a weaknesse not more unworthy of them then prejudiciall to them For by fostering between both gowns such an unnecessary emulation they do but exasperate that power which they cannot controul and betray themselves to much envie and discontentednesse a disease whose cure is more in my wishes then my hopes CHAP. IX The Kings Palace of the Louure by whom built The unsutablenesse of it The fine Gallery of the Queen Mother The long Gallery of Henry IV. His magnanimous intent to have built it into a quadrangle Henry IV. a great builder His infinite project upon the Mediterranean and the Ocean La Salle des Antiques The French not studious of Antiquities Burbon house The Tuilleries c. WE have discharged the King of one Palace and must follow him to the other where we shall finde his residence It is seated at the West side of the Town or Ville of Paris hard by Portenufue and also by the new bridge A house of great fame and which the Kings of France have long kept their Court in It was first built by Philip Augustus anno 1214. and by him intended for a Castle it first serving to imprison the more potent of the Nobles and to lay up the Kings treasury For that cause it was well moated strengthned with wals and drawbridges very serviceable in those times It had the name of Louure quasi L'oeuure or the work the building by way of excellency An etymologie which draweth nigher to the ear then the understanding or the eye and yet the French writers would make it a miracle Du Chesne calleth it Superbe bastiment qui n'a son esgal en toute la Christientè and you shall hear it called in an other place Bestiment qui passe aujourd hui en excellence et en grandeur tous les autres Brave elogies if all were gold that glistered It hath now given up its charge of money and great prisoners to the Basâ—…ile and at this time serveth only to imprison the Court. In my life I never saw any thing more abused by a good report or that more belyeth the rumors that go of it The ordinary talk of vulgar travellers and the big words of the French had made me expect at the least some prodigie of architecture some such Majâ—…sticall house as the Sunne Don Phoebus is said to have dwelt in in Ovid. Regia Sâ—…lis erat sublimibus alta columnis Claramicante auro flamasque imitâ—…nte pyropo Cujus ebur nitidum c. Indâ—…ed I thought no fiction in Poetry had been able to have paralleld it and made no doubt but it would have put me into such a passion as to have cryed out with the young Gallant in the Comedy when he had seen his sweet-heart Hei mihi qualis erat talis erat qualem nunquam â—…di But I was much deceived in that hope and could finde nothing in it to admire much lesse to envie The Fable of the Mountaine which was with childe and brought forth a mouse is questionlesse a fable this house and the large â—…ame it hath in the world is the morall of it Never was there an house more unsutable to it self in the particular
appointed by the Diocesan Their methode here and prodigality in bestowing degrees Orleans a great conflux of strangers The language there The Corporation of Germans there Their house and priviledges Dutch and Latine The difference between an Academie and an University I Have now done with the Town and City of Orleans and am come unto the University or Schools of Law which are in it this being one of the first places in which the study of the Civill Lawes was revived in Europe For immediately after the death of Justinian who out of no lesse then 2000 volumes of law writers had collected that bodie of the Imperiall Lawes which we now call the Digests or the Pandects the study of them grew neglected in these Western parts nor did any for a long time professe or read them the reason was because Italy France Spain England and Germany having received new Lords over them as the Franks Lâ—…mbards Saxons Saracens and others were fain to submit themselves to their Laws It happened afterwards that Lotharius Saxo the Emperour who began his reign anno 1126. being 560 years after the death of Justinian having taken the City of Melphy in Naples found there an old copy of the Pandects This he gave to the Pisans his confederates as a most reverend relick of Learning and Antiquity whence it is called Littera Pisana Moreover he founded the University of Bologne or Bononia ordering the Civill Law to be profest there one Wirner being the first Professor upon whose advice the said Emperor ordained that Bononia should be Legum juriâ—… Sâ—…hola una sola and here was the first time and place of that study in the Western Empire But it was not the fate only of the Civill Laws to be thus neglected All other parts of learning both Arts and languages were in the same desperate estaâ—…s the Poets exclamation of O saeclum insipiens infacetum never being so applyable as in those times For it is with the knowledge of good letters as it was with the effects of nature they have times of groweth alike of perfection and of death Like the sea it hath its ebbs as well as its flouds and like the earth it hath its Winter wherein the seeds of it are deaded and bound up as well as a Spring wherein it reflourisheth Thus the learning of the Greeks lay forgotten and lost in Europe for 700 years even untill Emanuâ—…l Chrysolaras taught it at Venice being driven out of his Countrey by the Turks Thus the Philosophy of Aâ—…istotle lay hidden in the moaâ—…h of dust and libraries â—…t nominabatur potius quod legebatur as Ludovious Vives observeth in his notes upon St. Austine untill the time of Alexander Aphrodiseus And thus also lay the elegancies of the Roman tongue obscured till that Erasmus More and Reuchlyn in the severall Kingdomes of Germany England and France endeavoured the râ—…stauration of it But to return to the Civill Law After the foundation of the University of Bologne it pleased Philip le bel King of France to found another here at Orleans for the same purpose anno 1312. which was the first School of that profession on this â—…de the mountains This is evident by the Bull of Clement V. dated at Lyons in the year 1367. where he giveth it this tiâ—…le Fruâ—…erum universitatis Aurelianensis intra caetera citramontana studia prius sâ—…lennius antiquius tam civilis quam 〈◊〉 facultatis studium At the first there were instituted eight Prosessors now they are reduced to four only the reason of this decrease being the increase of Universities The place in which they read their Lectures is called Les grand escoles and part of the City La Universite neither of which attributes it can any way â—…emit Colledge they have none either to lodge the students or entertain the Professors the former sojourning in divers places of the Town these last in their severall houses As for their place of reading which they call Les grans escolâ—…s it is only an old barn converted into a School by the addition of five ranks of formes and a pew in the middle you never saw a thing so mock its own name Lucus not being more properly called so a non lucendo then this ruinous house is a great School because it is little The present professors are Mr. Furner the Rector at my being there Mr. Tuiâ—…erie and Mr. Grand The fourth of them named Mr. Augrand was newly dead and his place like a dead pay among Souldiers not supplyed in which estate was the function of Mr. Brâ—…dee whose office it was to read the Book of Institutions unto such as come newly to the Town They read each of them an hour in their turns every morning in the week unlesse Holydayes and Thursdayes their hearers taking their Lectures in their tables Their principall office is that of the Rector which every three months descends down unto the next so that once in a year every one of the professors hath his turn of being Rector The next in dignity unto him is the Chancellour whose office is during life and in whose name all degrees are given and the Letters Authenticall as they term them granted The present Chancellour is named Mr. Bouchier Dr. of Divinity and of both the Laws and Prebend also of St. Croix his place is in the gift of the Bishop of Orleans and so are the Chancellors places in all France at the bestowing of the Diocesan Antiently it was thus also with us at Oxford the Bishop of Lincolne nominating to us our Chancellors till the year 1370. William of Remington being the first Chancellour elected by the University In the bestowing of their degrees here they are very liberall and deny no man that is able to pay his â—…ees Legem ponere is with them more powerfull then legem dicere and he that hath but his gold ready shall have a sooner dispatch then the best Scholar upon ticket Ipse licet vâ—…nias Musis comitatus Homere Si nihil attuleris ibis Homere foras It is the money which disputeth best with them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 money makes the man said the Greek and English proverb The exercise which is to be performed before the degree taken is very little and as trivially performed When you have chosen the Law which you mean to defend they conduct you into an old ruinous chamber Thâ—…y call it their Library for my part I should have thought it to have been the warehouse of some second hand Bookseller Those few books which were there were as old as Printing and could hardly make amongst them one cover to resist the violence of a rat They stood not up endlong but lay one upon the other and were joyned together with cobwebs in stead of strings He that would ever guesse them to have been looked into since the long reign of ignorance might justly have condemned his own â—…harity for my part I was prone to believe that the three last centuries
Order I have now done with Orleans and the Jesuits and must prepare for my return to Paris Which journey I begun the 23 of July and ended the day following We went back the same way that we came though we were not so fortunate as to enjoy the same company we came in for in stâ—…ad of the good and acceptable society of one of the French Nobles some Gentlemen of Germany and two Fryers of the Order of St. Austin we had the perpetuall vexation of four tradesmen of Paris two filles de joye and an old woman the Artizans so slovenly attired and greasie in their apparell that a most modest apprehension could have conceived no better of them then that they had been newly raked out of the scullery One of them by an Inkehorne that hung at his girdle would have made us believe that he had been a Nâ—…arie but by the thread of his discourse we found out that he was a Sumner so full of ribaldrie was it and so rankly did it â—…avour of the French bawdie-courts The râ—…st of them talked according to their skill concerning the price of commodities and who was the most likely man of all the City to be made one of the next years Esâ—…evins Of the two wencâ—…s oâ—…e so extreamly impudent that even any immodest ear would have abhorred her language and of such a shamelesse deportment that her very behaviour would have frighted lust out of the most incontinent man living Since I first knew mankinde and the world I never observed so much iâ—…udence in the generall as I did then in her particular and I hope shall never be so miserable as to suffer two dayes more the torment and hell of her conversation In a word she was a wench born to shame all the 〈◊〉 with whom she had traficked for she would not be casta and could not be cauta and so I leave her a creature extreamly bold because extreamly faulty And yet having no good property to redâ—…em both these and other unlovely qualities but as Sir Philip Sydney said of the Strumpet Bâ—…ha in the Aâ—…adia a little counterfeit beauty disgraced with wandring eyes and unwayed speeches The other of the younger females for as yet I am doubtfull whether I may call any of them women was of the same profession also but not half so rampant as her companion Haec habitu câ—…sto cum non sit casta videtur as Ausonius giveth it one of the two wanton sisters By her carriage a charitable stranger would have thought her honest and to that favourable opinion had my self been inclinable if a French Moâ—…sieur had not given me her 〈◊〉 at Orleans besides there was an 〈◊〉 twinkling of her eye which spoyled the composednesse of her countenance otherwise she might have passâ—…d for currant So that I may safely say of her in respect of her fellow Harlot what Tacitus doth of Pompey in reference to Caesar viz Secretior Pompeius Caesare non melior They were both equally guilty of the sin though this last had the more cunning to dissemble it and avoid the infamie and censure â—…e unto it And so I come to the old woman which was the last of our goodly companions A woman so old that I am not at this day fully resolved whether she were ever young or no. 'T was well I had read the Scriptures otherwise I might have been very prone to have thought her one of the first pieces of the creation and that by some mischance or other she had escaped the flood her face was for all the world like unto that of Sibylla Erythraea in an old print or that of Solomons two harlots in the painted cloth you could not at the least but have imagined her one of the Relicks of the first age after the building of Babel for her very complexion was a confusion more dreadfull then that of languages As yet I am uncertain whether the Poem of our arch-poet Spencer entituled The Ruines of time was not purposely intended on her sure I am it is very applyable in the title But I might have saved all this labour Ovid in his description of Fames hath most exactly given us her portraicture and out of him and the eight book of his Metamorphosis you may take this view of her Nullus erat crinis cava lumina pallor in ore Labra incana situ scabri rubigine dentes Dura cutis per quam sâ—…ctari visâ—…era possent Ventris erat pro ventre locus pendere putares Pectus et a spinae tantummodo crate teneri Unhair'd pale-fac'd her eyes sunk in her head Lips hoary-white and teeth most rustie-red Through her course skin her guts you might espie In what estate and posture they did lie Belly she had none only there was seen The place whereas her belly should have been And with her hips her body did agree As if 't was fastned by Geometrie But of this our companion as also of the rest of the Coachfull Sunday-night and our arrivall at Paris hath at the last delivered us A blessing for which I can never be sufficiently thankfull and thus Dedit Deus his quoque fi nem The End of the Third Book A SURVEY OF THE STATE of FRANCE PICARDIE OR THE FOURTH BOOK CHAP. I. Our return towards England More of the Hugonots hate unto Crosses The town of Luzarch and St. Loupae The Country of Picardie and people The Picts of Bâ—…itain not of this Country Mr. Lee Dignicoes Governor of Picardie The offâ—…ce of Constable what it is in France By whom the place supplyed in England The marble table in France and causes there handled Clermount and the Castle there The war raised up by the Princes against D'Ancre What his designes might tend to c. JUly the 27. having dispatched that businesse which brought us into France and surveyed as much of the Countrey as that opportunity would permit we bâ—…gan our journey towards England in a Coach of Amiens Better accompaned we were then when we came from Orleans for here we had Gentlemen of the choicest fashion very ingenious and in my opinion of finer condition then any I had met withall in all my acquaintance with that Nation We had no vexation with us in the shapâ—… of a French woman which appeared unto me somewhat miraculous to torment our ears with her discourse or punish our eyes with her complexion Thus associated we began to jog towards St. Loup where that night we were to be lodged The Countrey such as already I have described it in the Isle of France save that beyond St. Denis it began to be somewhat more hilly By the way I observed those little crossets erected in the memorie of St. Denis as being vainly supposed to be his resting places when he ran from Mont-martre with his head in his hand which the zealous madnesse of the Hugonots had thrown down and were now reedified by King Lewis It could not but call to mind the hate of that Nation
may call him the Justice in Eire of all his Majesties Forrests and waters The actions here handled are Thefts and abuses committed in the Kings Forrests Rivers Parks Fiâ—…hponds and the like In the absence of the grand Maistre the power of sentence resteth in the Les grand Maistres Enquesteurs et generaux reformateurs who have under their command no fewer then 300 subordinate officers Here also sit the Marshals of France which are ten in number sometimes in their own power and sometimes as Assistants to the Constable under whose direction they are With us in England the Marshalship is more entire as that which besides its own jurisdiction hath now incorporated into it self most of the authority antiently belonging to the Constables which office ended in the death of Edward Lord Duke of Buckingham the last hereditary and proprietary Constable of England This office of Constable to note unto you by the way so much was first instituted by Lewis the grosse who began his reign anno 1110. and conferred on Mr. Les Diguieres on the 24 of July 1622. in the Cathedrall Church of Grenoble where he first heard Masse and where he was installed Knight of both Orders And so I leave the Constable to take a view of his Province a man at this time beloved of neither parties hated by the Protestants as an Apostata and suspected by the Papists not to be entire To proceed 〈◊〉 the 28. we came unto Clermont the first Town of any note that we met with in Picardie a prety neat Town and finely seated on the 〈◊〉 of an hill For the defence of it it hath on the upper side of it an indifferent large Castle and such which were the situation of it somewhat helped by the strength of Art might be brought to do good service Towards the Town it is of an easie accesse to the fieldwards more difficult as being built on the perpendicular 〈◊〉 of a 〈◊〉 In the year 1615 it was made good by Mr. Harancourt with a Regiment of eight 〈◊〉 who kept it in the name of the Prince of Conde and the rest of that confederacy but it held not long for at the 〈◊〉 D' 〈◊〉 coming before it with his Army and Artillery it was â—…sently yeelded This war which was the second civill war which had happened in the reign of King Lewis was undertaken by the Princâ—…s chiâ—…fly to thwart the designes of the Queen mother and crush the powerâ—…ulnesse of her grand favourite the Marshall The pretence as in such cases it commonly is was the good of the Common-wealth the occasion the crosse marriages then consummated by the Marshall between the Kings of France and Spain for by those marriages they seemed to fear the augmentation of the Spaniards greatnesse the alienation of the affections of their antient allies and by consequence the â—…uine of the French Empire But it was not the â—…ate of D' Anire as yet to 〈◊〉 Two-years more of command and insolencies his 〈◊〉 allow'd him and then he tumbled This opportunity of his death ending the third civill war each of which his saulty greatnesse had oâ—…oned What the 〈◊〉 of his designes did tâ—…nd to I dare not absolutely dâ—…termine though like enough it is that they aimed further then at a private or a personall potencie for having uâ—…der the favour and countenance of the Qâ—…een moâ—… 〈◊〉 himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Kings ear and of his Councell he made a 〈◊〉 to get into his own hands an authority almost as unlimited as that of the old Mayre of the Palace For he had suppressed the liberty of the 〈◊〉 estates and of the soveraign 〈◊〉 removed all the officers and Counsellors of the last King ravished one of the Presidents of the great Chamber by name Mr. le Jay out of the Parliament into the prison and planted Garrisons of his own in most of the good Towns of Normandy of which Province he was Governour Add to this that he had caused the Prince of Conde being acknowledged the first Prince of the bloud to be imprisoned in the Bastile and had searched into the continuance of the lives of the King and his brother by the help of Sorcery and Witchcraft Besides he was suspected to have had secret intelligence with some forain Princes ill willers to the State and had disgraced some and neglected others of the Kings old confederates Certainly these actions seem to import some project beyond a private and obedient greatnesse though I can hardly believe that he durst be ambitious of the Crown for being a fellow of a low birth his heart could not but be too narrow for such an hope and having no party amongst the Nobility and being lesse gracious with the people he was altogether 〈◊〉 of means to compasse it I therefore am of an opinion that the Spanish gold had corrupted him to some project concerning the enlargement of that Empire upon the French dominion which the crosse marriages whereof he was the contriver and which seemed so full of danger to all the best Patriots of France may seem to demonstrate And again at that time when he had put the Realm into his third combustion the King of Spain had an Army on foot against the Duke of Savoy and another in the Countries of Cleve and Juliers which had not the timely fall of this Monster and the peace ensuing prevented it might both perhaps have met together in the midst of France But this only conjecturall CHAP. II. The fair City of Amiens and greatnesse of it The English feasted within it and the error of that action the Town how built seated and fortified The Citadell of it thought to be impregnable Not permitted to be viewed The overmuch opennesse of the English in discovering their strength The watch and form of Government in the Town Amiens a Visdamate to whom it pertaineth What that honour is in France And how many there enjoy it c. THat night we went from Clermont to a Town called Brettaul where we were harboured being from Clermont 6 French leagues and from Paris 20. Our entertainment there such as in other places as sluttish as inconvenient The next day being the 29 about ten of the clock we had a sight of the goodly City of Amiens A City of some four English miles circuit within the wals which is all the greatnesse of it for without the wals it hath houses few or none A City very capacious and for that cause hath been many times honoured with the persons and trains of many great Princes besides that once it entertained almost an whole Army of the English For King Lewis the 11. having made an advantagious peace with our Edward 4. and perceiving how ungratefull it was amongst the military men he intended also to give them some manner of satisfaction He sent therefore unto them 300 carts loaden with the best Wines and seeing how acceptable a present that had proved he intended also to feast them in Amiens
and prudent woman HAving thus taken a survey of these four Provinces which we may call the Abstract and Epitome of the Realm of France and having seen in them the â—…emper humoâ—… and conditions of the people of it We will nâ—…xt take a generall view of the Gâ—…vernors and Government thereof with reference to the Court the Church and the Civill State First for the Court we must in reason in the first place begin with the person of the King withâ—…ut whose influence and presence the Court is but a dead carkasse void of life and Majesty For person he is of the middle â—…ture and rather well proportioned then large his face knoweth liâ—…le yet of a beard but that which is black and swarty his complexion also much of the same hew carrying in it a certain boisterousnesse and that in a farther measure then what a gracefull majesty can admit of so that one can hardly say of him without a spite of Courtship which Paterâ—…lus did of Tiberius Quod vâ—…us praetulâ—…rit principem that his countenance proclaimed him a King But qâ—…stionlesse lesse his greatâ—…st defect is want of utterance which is very unpleasing by reason of a desperate and uncurable stammering which defect is likely more and more to grow upon him At this time he is aged 24 years and as much as since the 27 day of last September which was his birth day an age which he beareth not very plausible want of beard and the swarthinesse of his complexion making him seem older At the age of 11 years he was affianced to the Lady Anna Infanta of Spain by whom as yet he hath no children It is thought by many and covertly spoken by divers in France that the principall câ—…use of the Qâ—…eens barrennesse proceedeth from Spain that people being loath to fall under the French obedience which may very well happen she being the eldest Sister of the King For this cause in the seventh Article of the marriage there is a clause that neither the said Infanta nor the children born by her to the King shall be capable to inherit any of the Estates of the King of Spain And in the eight Article she is bound to make an Act of Renunciation under her own hand-writing as soon as she cometh to be 12 years old which was accordingly performed But this being not sufficient to secure their fears it is thought that she was some way or other disabled from conception before ever she came into the Kings imbraces A great crime I conâ—…sse if true yet I cannot say with Tully in his defence of Ligarius Novum Crimen Caje Caear ante hoc tempus inauaitum Iaqueline Counâ—…sse of Holland was Cousen to Philip Duke of Burgundy her 〈◊〉 would have debarred hâ—…m â—…rom those Estates of Holland Z aland and Wâ—…st Friezland therefore though she had thâ—…ee husbands there was order taken she should never have child with her first two husbands the Duke would never suffer her to live and when she had stolen a wedding with Frane of Borselle one of her servants the Dukes Physitians gave hâ—…m such a potion that she might have as well marryed an Eunuch upon this injury the poor Lady dyed and the Duke succeeded in those Countries which by his Grand-childe Mary were conveyed over into the house of Austria together with the rest of his estates I dare not say that that Family hath inheâ—…ited his practises with his Lands and yet I have heard that the Infanta Isabella had the like or worse measure afforded her before she was bedded by the Arch-Duke Allertus A Diabolicall trick which the prostitutes of the Heathen used in the beginning of the Gospell and before of whom Octavius complaineth Quod originem futuri hominis extinguant paricidium saciunt antequam pariunt Better luck then the King hath his Sister beyond the Mountains I mean his eldest Sister Madam Eâ—…izabeth marryed to the King of Spain now living as being or having been the mother of two children His second Sister Madam Christian is marryed unto Amadeo Victor principe major or heir apparent to the Duke of Savoy to whom as yet she hath born no issue The youngest Madam Henrietta Maria is newly marryed to his most Excellent Majesty of England to whom may she prove of a most happy and fruitfull womb Et pulcra faciat te prole parentem Of these Alliances the first were very profitable to both Princes could there be made a marriage between the Kingdoms as well as the Kings But it is well known that the affections of each people are divided with more unconquerable mountains then their Dominions The French extreamly hating the proud humor and ambition of the Spaniard and the Spaniard as much loathing the vain and unconstant lightnesse of the French we may therefore account each of them in these inter marriages to have rather intended the perpetuity of their paâ—…ticular houses then the strength of their Empires and that they more desired a noble stâ—…ck wherein to graâ—… posterâ—… then 〈◊〉 The Alliance with Savâ—…y is more advantagious though lesse powerfull then that of Spain for if the King of France can keep this Prince on his party he need not fear the greatnesse of the other or of any of his faction The continuall fiding of this house with that of Austria having given great and many impediments to the fortune of the French It standeth so fitly to countenance the affaires of either King in Itâ—…ly or Germany to which it shall encline that it is just of the same nature with the state of Florence between Millaine and Venice of which 〈◊〉 faith that 〈◊〉 le cosâ—…d ' Italia bilanciate On this râ—…ason Henry IV. â—…nestly desired to mâ—…tch one of his children into this Coâ—…trey and left this desire as a Legacy wiâ—…h his Câ—…uncell But the Alliance of most use to the State of France is that of England as being the nighest and most able of all his neighbours an alliance which will make his estate invincible and encompassed about as it were with a wall of brasse As for the Kings bastard Bâ—…hren they are four in number and born of three severall beds The elder is Alexander made Knight of the Order of St. John or of Malta iâ—… the life time of his Fâ—…her He is now Grand Prior of France and it is much labouâ—…ed and hoped by the French that he shall be the next Mâ—…ster of the Oâ—…der a place of great credit and command The second and most loved of his fâ—…ther whose lively image and character he is said to be is Mr. Cesar made Dâ—…ke of Vendosme by his father and at this time Governâ—…ur of Britain a man of a brave spirit and one who swayeth much in the affaiâ—…s of state his fathâ—…r took a great care for his advâ—…ncement bâ—…fore his death and therefore marryed him to the daughter and heir of the Duke of Mâ—…rcuer a man of great possessions in Britain It is thought that the inheritance of
Beaumaâ—…chais one of the Treasurers Mr. De Vilroy who slew the Marquesse D' Anâ—…re marryed his only Daughter havâ—…ng raked unto himself by the villanous abuse of his place no lesse then 22 millions of Livres as it was commonly reported But he is not like to carry it to his grave the King having sâ—…ized upon a good part of it and himself being condemned to the gallowes by the grand Chambre of Parliament though as yet he cannot be apprehended and advanced to the Ladder And this hath been the end of many of them since the reign of this present Kâ—…ng whom it may be for this cause they call Lewis the just This fashion of affixing Epithites to the names of their Kings was in great use heretofore with this Nation Carolus the son of Pepin was by them surnamed Le Magne Lewis his son Debonaire and so of the rest Since the time of Charles VI. who was by them surnamed the Bâ—…loved it was discontinued and now revived again in the persons of King Henry IV. and his son King Lewis But this by the way It may be also he is called the Just by way of negation because he hath yet committed no notable act of injustice for I wink at his cruell and unjust slaughter at Nigrepelisse it may be also to keep him continually in mind of his duty that he may make himself worthy of that attribute Vere imperator sui nominis As one said of Severus Let us add one more misery to the State and commonalty of France and that is the base and corrupt money in it For besides the Sol which is made of Tinne they have the Double made of Brasse whereof six make a Sol and the Denier whereof two make a Double a coyne so vile and small of value that 120 of them go to an English shilling These are the common coynes of the Countrâ—…y silver and gold not being to be seen but upon holydayes As for their silver it is most of it of their own coyning but all exceeding clipt and shaven their gold being most of it Spanish In my little being in the Countrey though I casually saw much gold I could only see two pieces of French stampe the rest coming all from Spain as Pistolets Demi pistolets and Double-pistolets Neither is Fâ—…ance alone furnished thus with Castilian coyn it is the happinesse also of other Countries as Italy Barbary Brabant and elsewhere and indeed it is kindly done of him that being the sole Monopolist of the mines he will yet let other nations have a share in the 〈◊〉 Were the 〈◊〉 as Catholick as his money I think I should be in some fear of him till then we may lawfully take that ambitious title from the King and bestow it upon his pictures The Soveraignty of the Spanish gold is more universally embraced and more seriously acknowledged in most parts of Christendome then that of him which stampt it To this he which entituleth himself Catholick is but a prisoner and never saw half those Provinces in which this more powerfull Monarch hath been heartily welcomed Yet if he will needs be King let him grow somewhat more jealous of his Queen and confesse that his gold doth royally deserve his imbraces whom before the extent of his dominion the Ancient Poets styled Regina pecunia True it is that by the figure and shape of this Emperesse you would little think her to be lovely and lesse worthy of your imbracement The stones which little boyes break into Quoits are a great deal better proportioned if a Geometrician were to take the angles of it I think it would quite put him besides his Euclide neither can I tell to what thing in the world fitter to resemble it then a French Cheese for it is neither long nor square nor round nor thin nor thick nor any one of these but yet all and 〈◊〉 none of them No question but it was the Kings desires by this unsightly dressing of his Lady to make men out â—…f love with her that so he might keep hâ—…r to himself But in this his hopes have conusened him 〈◊〉 as in other 〈◊〉 so in this some men will be bold to keep his wife from him be it only in spight These circumstances thus laid together and considered we 〈◊〉 the clearer and the better see our own felicities which to expresse generally and in a word is to say only this That the English Subject is in no circumstance a French-man Here have we our money made of the best and purest that only excepted which a charitable consideration hath coyned into farthings Here have we our Kings royally and to the envie of the world magnificently provided for without the sweâ—…t and bloud of the people no Pillages no Impositions upâ—…n our private warâ—…s no Gabels upon our commodities Nullum in tam ingâ—…nti regno vectigal non in 〈◊〉 pontiumve discriminibus Publicanorum stationes as one truely hâ—…th observed of us The monies which the King wanteth to supply his necessities are here freely given him He doth not here compell our bounties but accept them The Laws by which we are govâ—…rned we in part are mâ—…kers of each Paisant of the Countrey hath a free voice in the â—…acting of them if not in his person yet in his proxie We are not here subject to the lusts and tyranny of our Lords and may therefore say safely what the Jewes spake sactiously That we have no King but Caesar. The greatest Prince here is subject with us to the same Law and when we stand before the tribunall of the Judge we acknowledge no difference Here do we inhabite our own houses plough our own Lands enjoy the fruiâ—…s of our labour comfort our selves with the wives of our youth and see our selves grow up in those children which shall inherit after us the same felicities But I forget my self To endevour the numbring of Gods blâ—…ssings may perhaps deserve as great a punishment as Davids numbring the people I conclude with the Poet O fortunati minium bona si sua norint Agricolae nostri And so I take my leave of France and prepare for England towards which having stayed 3 days for winde and company we set forwards on Wednesday the 3 of August the day exceeding fair the Sea as quiet and the winde so still that the Mariners were fain to takedown their Sails and betake themselves unto their Oares Yet at the last with much endevour on their side and no lesse patience on ours we were brought into the midst of the channell when suddainly But soft what white is that which I espie Which with its â—…ustre doth ec ipse mine eye That which doth Nâ—…ptunes sury so disdain And beates the Billow back into the main Is it some dreadfull Scylla fastned there To shake the Sailor into prayer and fear Or is 't some Island floating on the wave Of which in writers we the story have T is England ha t is so clap clap your hands That the
faculty to give institution and induction to give sentence in cases appertaining to Ecclesiasticall cognisance to approve of Wils and wiâ—…hall to hold his vâ—…ations The revenue fit to entertain a man of that condition viz. the best benefice in each Island the profits ariseing from the Court and a proportion of tithes allotted out of many of the Parishes He of the Isle of Guernzey over and above this the liâ—…le Isâ—… of Lehu of which in the laâ—… Chapter and when the â—…ouses of Reâ—…gion as they called them were suppressed an allowance of an hundred quarters of Wheat Guernzey measure paid him by the Kings receiver for his Tiâ—… I say Guernzey measure because it is a measure diffeâ—…ent from ours their quarter being no more then five of our bushels or 〈◊〉 The Ministery at that time not answerable in number to the Parishes and those few very wealthy the Religious houses having all the Prediall tiâ—…hes appropriated unto them and they serving many of the Cures by some one of their own body liâ—…nced for that purpose Now those Churches or Tiâ—…hes rather were called Appropriated to digresse a little by the way by which the Patrons Papali authoritate intercedente c. the Popes authority intervening and the consent of the King and Diocesan first obtained were for ever annexed and as it were incorporated into such Colledges Monasteries and other foundations as were but sparingly endowed At this day being irremediably and ever aliened from the Church we call them by as fit a name Impropriations For the rating of these Benefices in the payment of their first fruits and tenths or Annats there was a note or taxe in the Bishops Register which they called the Black book of Constance like as we in England the Black book of the Exchequer A Taxe which continued constantly upon Record till their disjoyning from that Diocese as the rule of their payments and the Bishops dues And as your Lordship well knowes not much unlike that course there is alwayes a Proviso in the grant of Subsidies by the English Clergie That the rate taxation valuation and estimation now remaining on Record in his Majesties Court of Exchequer for the payment of a perpetuall Disme or Tenth granted unto King Henry the VIII of worthy memory in the 26 year of his Reign concerning such promotions as now be in the hands of the Clergie shall onely be followed and observed A course learnt by our great Prelates in the taxing of their Clergie from the example of Augustus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in his taxing of the World For it is reported of him by Co. Tacitus that he had written a book with his owne hand in quo opes publicae continebantur wherein he had a particular estimate of all the Provinces in that large Empire what Tributes and Imposts they brought in what Armies they maintained c. and what went also in Largesse and Pensions out of the publick finances This Providence also exactly imitated by our Norman 〈◊〉 who had taken such a speciall survey of his nâ—…w 〈◊〉 that there was not one hide of Land in all the Râ—…alme but he knew the yearly Rent and owner of it how many plow-lands what Pastures â—…nnes and Marishes what Woods Parkes Farmâ—…s and Tâ—…nements were in 〈◊〉 shire and what every one was worth This Censuall Roll the English generally call Doomesdâ—…y bâ—…ok aâ—… that as some suppose because the judgemâ—…nt aâ—…d 〈◊〉 of it was as impossible to be declined as that in the day of doome Sic cum orta suerit 〈◊〉 de â—…is rebus quae 〈◊〉 continentur cum ventum fuerit ad librum ejus 〈◊〉 a 〈◊〉 nâ—…n poteâ—… vel impune declinari so mine Authour O hers conceive it to be corruptly called the â—…ook of Doomes-day for the Book of Domus dei or the Domus-dei book as being by the 〈◊〉 laid up in the Maison dieu or Gods-house in Winchester A book carefully preserved and that under three Keyes in his 〈◊〉 es Exchequer not to be lookâ—…ed into under the price of a Noble nor any line of it to be transcribed without the payment of a 〈◊〉 Tanta est authoritas vetustatis So grâ—…at respect do we yeeld unto antiquity But to return again to my Churches whom I left in bondage under their severall Pâ—…iories and other the Religious houses I will first free them from that yoak which the supâ—…rstition of their Patâ—…ons had put upon them So it was that those Houses of Religion in these Islâ—…ds were not absolute foundations of themselves but dependent on and as it were the 〈◊〉 of some greater Abby or Monastâ—…ry in France In this condition they continued â—…ill the beginning of the Râ—…ign of Kinâ—… Henâ—… the V. who purposing a war agaiâ—…st the French thâ—…ught fit â—…o cut of all â—…lpes and succours as they had â—…om England at that time â—…ull of Priors Aliens and strangers posseâ—…d of Beneficâ—…s To this end it was enacted viz. Whereas there were divers French men beneficed and preferred to Priories and Abbies within this Realm whereby the treasures of the Realm were transported and the counsels of the King and the secrets of the Realm disclosed unto the Kings enemies to the great damage of the King and of the Realm that therefore all Priors Aâ—…ns and other French men beneficed should avoid the Realm exceâ—…pt only Priors Conventuals such as have instiâ—uâ—ion and induction and this also with a Proviso that they be Catholick and give sufficient surety that they shall not disclose the counsels of the King or of the Realm so the Statute 1 Hen 5. cap. 7. This also noted to us by Pol. Vergil ad Reip. commodum 〈◊〉 est ut post haec ejusmodi externis hominibus nullus Anglicani sacerdotii possessio traderetur Upon which point of statute the Britons belonging to the Queen Dowager the widow once of John de Montfort Duke of Bretagne were also expelled the Land by Act of Parliament 3. Hen. 5. cap 3. By this means the Priors Aâ—…ens being banished their possessions fell into the Kings hands as in England so also in these Islâ—nds and their houses being all suppressed they became an accession to the patrimony Royall the demaine as our Lawyers call it of the Crown These Priors Aliens thus exiled were properly called Priors Dative and removeable but never such Aliens never so removeable as they were now made by this Statute What the condition of these Priors was and wherein they differed from those which are called above by the name of Priors Conventuals I cannot better tell then in the words of an other of our Statutes that namely of the 27 of Hen. 8. cap. The Parliament had given unto the King all Abbies Priories and Religious houses whatsoever not being above the value 2â—… l. in the old rent Provided alwayes saith the letter of the Law that this Act c. shall not extend nor be prejudiciall to any Abbots or Proirs of any Monastery
performance of those pious duties True it is that by this book of Discipline the people are commanded to be uncovered during the Pâ—…ayers the reading of the 〈◊〉 the singing of the Psalmes and the administration of the Sacraments Chap. 8. 3. But when I call to minde that S Paul hath told us this 1 Cor. 11. That every man praying or propâ—…ecying with his head covered dishonoureth his head I shall applâ—…ud the pious modesty of the English ministery who keep their heads uncovered as well when they prophecy as when they pray To give them institution by impâ—…sition of hands A cerâ—…mony not used only in the Ordination if I may so call it of their Ministers but in that also of the Elder and of the 〈◊〉 persons meerly Laical But this in mine opinion very improperly for when the Minister whose duty it is instals them in their charge with this solemn form of words he doth perform it Jet ' impose les mains c. â—…z I lay mine hands upon you in the name of the Consistory by which imposition of hands you are advertised that you are set apart from the affairs of the world c. and if so how then can these men receive this imposition who for the whole year of their charge imploy themselves in their sormer occupationâ—… at times and that expired return again unto them altogether A meer mockage of a reverent ceremony Chap. 4. 3. Giving and receiving the hand of Association An ordinance founded on that in the 2. to the Gal. 5. viz. They gave unto me and Barnabas the right hands of fellowship An embleme as it is noted by Theod. Beza on the place of a perfect agreement and consent in the holy faith Quod Symbolum esset nostrae in Evangelii dâ—…ctrina summae consensionis and much also to this puâ—…pose that of learned Chrysostome 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This phrase of speech borrowed no question from the customes of those times wherein the giving of the hand was a most câ—…rtain pledge of faith and amity So Anchises in the third book of Aeneids Dextram dat juveni atque animum praesenti pignore firmat 10 in another place of the same author Jungimus hospitio dextras Commissaque dextera dextrae in the Epistle of Phillis to Demophoon Whereupon it is the note of the Grammarians that as the front or fore-head is sacred to the Genius and the knees to mercy so is the right hand consecrated unto faith But here in Guernzey there is a further use made of this ceremony which is an abjuration of all other arts of preaching or of government to which the party was before accustomed and an absolute devoting of himself to them their ordinances and constitutions whatsoever So that if a Minister of the Church of England should be perchance received among them by this hand of association he must in a manner condemn that Church of which he was Chap. 5. 5. That they maintain them at the publick charge A bounty very common in both Islands and ordered in this manner the businesse is by one of the Assembly expounded to the three Estates viz. that N. N. may be sent abroad to the Universities of France or England and defrayed upon the common purse If it be granted then must the party bring in sufficient sureties to be bound for him that at the end of the time limited he shall repair into the Islands and make a profer of his service in such places as they think fit for him if they accept it he is provided for at home if not he is at liberty to seek his fortune Chap. 6. 3. How they behave themselves in their several families By which clause the Elders authorised to make enquiry into the lives and conversations of all about them not only aiming at it by the voice of fame but by tampering with their neighbours and examining their servants It is also given them in charge at their admission into office to make diligent enquiry whether those in their division have private prayers both morning and evening in their houses whether they constantly say grace both before meat and after it if not to make report of it to the Consistory A diligence in my minde both dangerous and â—…wcy Chap. 8. 1. To be assistant at the publick prayers The publick prayers here intended are those which the Minister conceives according to the present occasion beginning with a short confession and so descending to crave the assistance of Gods Spirit in the exercise or Sermon then in hand For the forme the Geneva Psalter telleth us that it shall be leâ—… alla discretion du Ministre to the Ministers discretion the form of Prayers and of Marriage and of administration of the Sacraments there put down being types only and examples whereby the Minister may be directed in the general The learned Architect which took such great pains in making the Altare Damascenum tels us in that piece of his that in the Church of Scotland there is also an Agenda or form of prayer and of ceremony but for his part having been 13 years a Minister he never used it Totos ego tredecem annos quibus functus sum Ministerio sive in Sacramentis iis quae extant in agenda nunquam usus sum and this he speaks as he conceives it to his commendation Where by the way Agenda it is a word of the latter â—…imes is to be understood for a set form in the performance of those ministerial duties quae statis temporibus agenda sunt as mine Author hath it In the Capitular of Charles the great we have mention of this word Agenda in divers plâ—…ces once for all let that suffice in the 6 book Can. 234. viz Si quis Presbyter in consulto Episcopo Agendam in quolibet loco voluerint celebrare ipse honori suo contrarius extitit Chap. 8. 5. The Churches shall be locked immediately after Sermon The pretence is as it followeth in the next words to avoid superstition but having nothing in their Churches to provoke superstition the cauâ—…ion is unnecessary So destitute are they all both of ornament and beauty The true cause is that those of that party are offended with the antient custome of stepping aside into the Temples and their powring out the soul in private prayer unto God because forsooth it may imply that there is some secret vertue in those places more then in rooms of ordinary use which they are peremptory not to give them Chap. 9. 1. After the preaching of the word And there are two reasons why the Sacrament of Baptism should be long delayed the one because they falsly think that without the preaching of the word there is no 〈◊〉 the other to take away the opinion of the necâ—…ssity of holy Baptism and the administration of it in private houses in case of such necessity In this strictnesse very resolute and not to be bended with perswasions scarce with power At our being in the Isle
of Parliament manifested to Lewis XI had drained the State of a million of Crowns since which time the Kings of France have sometimes omitted the rigor of this sanction and sometimes also exacted it according as their affairs with the Pope stood for which cause it was called Froenum pâ—…ntificum At last King Francis I. having conquered Millaine fell into this composition with his Holinesse namely that upon the salling of any Abbacy or Bishoprick the King should have 6 months time allowed him to present a fit man unto him whom the Pope should legally invest If the King neglected his time limited the Pope might take the benefit of the relapse and institute whom he pleased So is it also with the inferior Benefices between the Pope and the Patrons insomuch that any or every Lay-patron and Bishop together in England hath for ought I see at the least in this particular as great a spirituall Supremacy as the Pope in France Nay to proceed further and shew how meerly titular both his supremacies are as well the spirituall as the temporall you may plainly see in the case of the Jesuites which was thus In the year 1609 the Jesuites had obtained of Kâ—…ng Henâ—…y IV. licence to read again in their Colledges of Paris but when their Letters patents came to be verified in the Court of Parliament the Rector and University opposed them on the 17 of Dâ—…cember 1611. both parties came to have an hearing and the University got the day unlesse the Jesuites would subscribe unto these four points viz. 1. That a Councell was above the Pope 2. That the Pope had no temporall power over Kings and could not by Excommunication deprive them of their Realm and Estates 3. That Clergy men having heard of any attempt or conspiracy against the King or his Realm or any matter of treason in consession he was bound to reveal it And 4. That Clergy men were subject to the secular Prince or politick Magistrate It appeared by our former discourse what little or no power they had left the Pope over the Estates and preferments of the French By these Propositions to which the Jesuites in the end subscribed I know not with what mentall reservation it is more then evident that they have left him no command neither over their consciences nor their persons so that all things considered we may justly say of the Papall power in France what the Papists said falsly of Erasmus namely that it is Nomen sine rebus In one thing only his authority here is intire which is his immediate protection of all the orders of Fryers and also a superintendency or supreme eye over the Monks who acknowledge very small obedience if any at all to the French Bishops for though at the beginning every part and member of the Diocesse was directly under the care and command of the Bishop yet it so happened that at the building of Monasteries in the Western Church the Abbots being men of good parts and a sincere life grew much into the envie of their Dâ—…ocesan For this cause as also to be more at their own command they made suit to the Pope that they might be free from that subjection Utque in tuâ—…elam divi Petri admitteâ—…entur a proposition very plausible to his Holinesse ambition which by this means might the sooner be raised to its height and therefore without difficulty granted This gap opened first the severall orders of Fryers and after even the Deans and Chapters purchased to themselves the like exemptions In this the Popâ—… power was wonderfully strengthned as having such able and so main props to uphold his authority it being a true Maxime in State Quâ—…d qui privilegia obtinent ad eadem conservanda tenentur authoritatem concedentis tueri This continued till the Councell of Trent unquestioned Where the Bishops much complained of their want of authority and imputed all the Schismes and Vicâ—…s in the Church unto this that their hands were tyed hereupon the Popes Legaâ—…s thought it fit to restore their jurisdiction their Dâ—…ans and Chapters At that of the Monks and Monasteries there was more sticking till at the last Sebastian Pighinus one of the Popes officers found out for them this satisfaction that they should have an eye and inspection into the lives of the Monks not by any authority of their own Sâ—…d tanquam a sede Apostolica delegati But as for the Orders of Fryers the Pope would not by any means give way to it They are his Janizaries and the strongest bulwarke of his Empire and are therefore called in a good Author 〈◊〉 Romanae curiae instrumenta So that with them the Diocesan hath nothing to do each several religious house being as a Court of Peculiars subjects only to the great Metropolitan of Rome This meer dependence on his Holinesse maketh this generation a great deal more regardlesse of their behaviour then otherwise it would be though since the growth of the Reformation shame and fear hath much reformed them they have still howsoever a spice of their former wantonnesse and on occasions will permit themselves a little good fellowship and to say truth of them I think them to be the best companions in France for a journey but not for acquaintance They live very merrily and keep a competent table more I suppose then can stand with their vow and yet far short of that affluency whereof many of our books accuse them It was my chance to be in a house of the Franciscans in Paris where one of the Fryers upon the intreaty of our friends had us into the hall it being then the time of their refectory a favour not vulgar there saw we the Brothers sitting all of a side and every one a pretty distance from the other their severall commons being a dish of pottage a chop of Mutton a dish of cherries and a large glasse of water this provision together with a liberall allowance of ease and a little of study keepeth them exceeding plump and in a good liking and maketh them having little to take thought for as I said before passing good company As I travailed towards Orleans we had in our Coach with us 〈◊〉 of these mortified sinners two of the Order of St. Austin and one Franciscan the merryest crickets that ever chirpâ—…d nothing in them but mad tales and complements and for musick they would sing like hawkes When we came to a vein of good wine they would cheer up themselves and their neighbours with this comfortable Doctrine Vivamus ut bibamus bibamus ut vivamus And for courtship and toying with the wenches you would easily believe that it had been a trade with which they had not been a little acquainted of all men when I am marryed God keep my wife from them till then my neighbours On the other side the common Priests of France are so dull and blockish that you shal hardly meet with a more contemptible people The meanest of our Curates in
the Reign of that unhappy Prince and the state of England was embroyled at home the people valiantly made good their own and faithfully returned unto their first obedience In aftertimes as any war grew hot between the English and the French these Islands were principally aimed at by the enemy and sometimes also were attempted by them but with ill successe And certainly it could not be but an eye sore to the French to have these Isles within their sight and not within their power to see them at the least in possession of their ancient enemy the English a Nation strong in shipping and likely by the opportunity of these places to annoy their trade For if we look upon them in their situation we shall find them seated purposely for the command and Empire of the Ocean The Islands lying in the chief trade of all shipping from the Eastern parâ—…s unto the West and in the middle way between St. Malos and the river Seine the only trafick of the Normans and Parisians At this St. Malos as at a common Empory do the Merchants of Spain and Paris barter their Commodities the Parisians making both their passage and return by these Isles which if wel aided by a smal power from the Kings Navy would quickly bring that entercourse to nothing An opportunity neglected by our former Kings in their attempts upon that Nation as not being then so powerfull on the Seas as now they are but likely for the future to be husbanded to the best advantage if the French hereafter stir against us Sure I am that my Lord of Danby conceived this course of all others to be the fittest for the impoverishing if not undoing of the French and accordingly made proposition by his Letters to the Councell that a squadron of eight Ships viz five of the Whelpes the Assurance the Adventure and the Catch might be employed about these Islands for that purpose An advice which had this Summer took effect had not the Peace between both Realms been so suddenly concluded Of these four only are inhabited and those reduced only unto two Governments Jarsey an entire Province as it were within it self but that of Guernzey having the other two of Alderney and Serke dependant on it Hence it is that in our Histories and in our Acts of Parliament we have mention only of Jarsey and of Guernzey this last comprehending under it the two other The people of them all live as it were-in libera custodia in a kind of free subjection not any way acquainted with Taxes or with any levies either of men or money In so much that when the Parliaments of England contribute towards the occasion of their Princes there is alwayes a proviso in the Act That this grant of Subsidies or any thing therein contained extend not to charge the inhabitants of Guernzey and Jarsey or any of them of for or concerning any Mannors Lands and Tenements or other possessions Goods Chattels or other moveable substance which they the said Inhabitants or any other to their uses have within Jarsey and Guernzey or in any of them c. These priviledges and immunities together with divers others seconded of late dayes with the more powerfull band of Religion have been a principall occasion of that constancy wherewith they have persisted faithfully in their allegiance and disclaimed even the very name and thought of France For howsoever the language which they speak is French and that in their originall they either were of Normandy or Britagne yet can they with no patience endure to be accounted French but call themselves by the names of English-Normans So much doth liberty or at the worst a gentle yoak prevail upon the mind and fancy of the people To proceed unto particulars we will take them as they lie in order beginning first with that of Alderney an Island called by Antonine Arica but by the French and in our old Records known by the name of Aurigny and Aurney It is situate in the 49 degree between 48 52 minutes of that degree just over against the Cape or promontory of the Lexobii called at this time by the Mariners the Hague Distant from this Cape or Promontory three leagues only but thirty at the least from the nearest part of England The aire healthy though some imes thickned with the vapours arising from the Sea The soil indifferently rich both for husbandry and grasing A Town it hath of well-near an hundred families and not far off an haven made in the manner of a semicircle which they call Crabbie The principall strength of it are the high rocks with which it is on every side environed but especially upon the South and on the East side an old Block-house which time hath made almost unserviceable The chief house herein belongeth unto the Chamberlains as also the dominion or Fee-farme of all the Island it being granted by Queen Elizabeth unto George the son of Sir Leonard Chamberlain then Governour of Guernzey by whose valour it was recovered from the French who in Queen Maries dayes had seized upon it Neer unto the Fort or Block-house afore mentioned a great quantity of this little Island is overlâ—…id with sand driven thither by the fury of the Northwest-winde If we believe their Legends it proceeded from the just judgement of God upon the owner of those grounds who once but when I know not had made booty and put unto the Sword some certain Spaniards there shipwracked Four leagues from hence and to the Southwest and by west lyeth another of the smaller Islands called Serke six miles in circuit at the least which yet is two miles lesser in the whole compasse then that of Alderney An Isle not known at all by any name amongst the Antients and no marvail for till the fifth of Qâ—…een Elizabeth or thereabouts it was not peopled But then it pleased her Majesty to grant it for ever in Fee farme to Helier de Carteret vulgarly called Seigneur de St. Oen a principall Gentleman of the Isle of Jarsey and Grandfather to Sir Philip de Carteret now living By him it was divided into severall estates and leased out unto divers Tenants collected from the neighbour Islands so that at this day it may contain some forty housholds whereas before it contained only a poor hermitage together with a little Chappell appertaining to it the rest of the ground serving as a Common unto those of Guernzey for the breeding of their Cattell For strength it is beholding most to nature who hath walled it in a manner round with mighty rocks there being but one way or ascent unto it and that with small forces easie to be defended against â—…he strongest power in Christendome A passage lately fortified by the Farmers here with a new platforme on the top of it and thereupon some four pieces of Ordinance continually mounted In this Island as also in the other there is a Bailiff and a Minister but both of them subordinate in matter of