afterwards on the same day King of Poland and some time after King of France as Lewis of Tarento had receiv'd his two Crowns of Ierusalem and Sicily on the like day before he took a fancy to renew that Order four years after his Coronation But desiring to be esteem'd the Authour of it he chang'd the Collar where he plac'd certain Ciphers to which has been substituted in following times the Coat of Arms in manner of a Trophy as it is at present to be seen And after he had transcrib'd what best pleas'd him from the Statutes of that Order he commanded Monsieur de Chiverny to burn the Original thereby totally to extinguish the mâ—mory of it But that Minister though most faithfull to his Master believing not that he was bound to be the Executioner of that Order this rare piece descended to the Bishop of Chartres his Son from whom by succession of time it fell into the hands of the late President de Maisons as it is related by Monsieur le Laboreur who has given us the Copy at large in the second Tome of his Additions to the Memoires of Monsieur de Castelnau In this manner this famous Order was rather restor'd than instituted by King Henry the Third to combine a new Militia of Knights which he might oppose against the Leaguers who were much dissatisfi'd with the Peace which he had given to the Huguenots Nevertheless this Peace was not so well observ'd but that from time to time they created new disturbances which two or three years afterwards kindled the seventh War after the refusal they had made to surrender those cautionary Towns which had been granted them for a certain time which was then expir'd and by their surprisal of some other places But this War was ended in the second year after the conferences of Nerac and Fleix by a peace which lasted four or five years till the League which from the time wherein the King had made himself their Head had not dar'd to attempt any thing all on the sudden declar'd it self against him under another the occasion of which I am going to relate Immediately after the peace was made the Catholiques and Huguenots whom the Civil War had arm'd against each other joyn'd themselves to serve in the Army of the Duke d' Alanson who being declar'd Duke of Brabant by the States of the United Provinces of the Netherlands entred as it were in Triumph into Cambray after he had rais'd the Seige which the Duke of Parma had laid to it And after having been proclam'd a Sovereign Prince in Antwerp and been receiv'd at Bruges and Ghent in the same quality he continued the War assisted underhand by Succours from France and openly by the Queen of England that he might drive the Spaniard out of all the Low-Countries On the other side the Queen Mother who had pretentions to the Crown of Portugal had also sent a gallant Navy to the Tercera Islands under the Command of her Kinsman Philip Strozzi and openly protected Don Antonio who after having lost the Battail before Lisbonne was fled for refuge into France and yet ceas'd not to dispute that Crown against King Philip of Spain For which reason that Prince who follow'd the Steps of his Father and of Ferdinand his great Grandfather by the Mother's side in this as in all other things thought of nothing more than how to greaten himself at our expence and appli'd himself with his utmost vigour to foment new divisions amongst us to hinder us from giving him trouble in his own Estates To this effect he us'd his best endeavours and employ'd all his arts to ingage the King of Navarre and Damville who after the death of his elder Brother was now Duke of Montmorancy to break the peace and renew the War in favour of the Huguenots making not the least scruple on that occasion to act against the true interest of Religion at the same time when he upbraided for the same thing those who in reality made the war in Flanders out of no other consideration but the relief of an oppress'd people of which even the greatest part were Catholiques But seeing that design of his cou'd not possibly succeed for certain reasons which belong not to this History he turn'd his thoughts towards the Duke of Guise and gave orders to his Ambassadour Mendoza to omit nothing which might oblige him to make the League take Arms which was already exceeding powerfull and of which he might absolutely dispose as being the principal Authour and the very Soul of it The Duke who was intrepid and bold even to rashness when he had once resolv'd upon his Business was notwithstanding very subtile and clear-sighted wary and prudent enough to take just measures and not to ingage in any Enterprise of which he was not as much assur'd as man cou'd be to have all the means of making it succeed From thence it proceeded that he resisted for a long time the temptation of great Sums that were offer'd him and held out against the threatnings of the Ambassadour to discover the secret treaty he had made with Don Iohn of Austria the Original of which was in the King of Spain's possession nay even against the pressing solicitations of his Brothers and the rest of the Princes of his House who being more impatient and less discerning than he thought every minute an age till he declar'd himself But at last arriv'd the fatal moment in which after having well examin'd all matters he thought that every thing concurr'd not onely to favour the design he had always had to make himself Head of the Catholique League but also to carry his hopes much farther than his ambition vast as it was had yet led him to imagine In Effect on the one side the King was reduc'd to a lower condition than he ever was before his immense prodigality in a thousand things altogether unworthy of the Royal Majesty and of no profit to the State the pomp the pride and the insupportable insolence of his Favourites his fantastique way of living which hurri'd him incessantly from one extâ—eme into another from retirement and solitude to a City life from Debauchery into Devotion and such a Devotion as pass'd in the peoples minds for a mere Mummery into those Processions of Penitents habited in Sackcloth of several colours where he walk'd himself with his disciplining whip at his Girdle against the Genius of a Nation which loves to serve God in spirit and in truth these and a thousand such like things wholly contrary to our customs and to the use of his Predecessours had drawn upon him such a detestation and so great a contempt from the greatest part of his Subjects that against the ordinary practice of the French who adore their Kings there were given a thousand publique marks and principally in Paris of the aversion which they had for him On the other side all things conspir'd in favour of the Duke of Guise
the contrary for when they saw by this Decree and by the taking of Dreux which the King had besieg'd and after carried by force during these Agitations that if they made not haste in their election of a King 't was very probable that it wou'd be out of their power to elect one afterwards they us'd their utmost Endeavours to have one chosen in the same manner as they had first propos'd it To put by this Blow the Duke of Mayennâ— who believ'd the Spaniards had been impowr'd only with general Instructions and not to name him whom they judg'd most proper for their Interests told them that of necessity they were to expect a more particular Order from their Master wherein he shou'd declare the individual Person whom he chose for his Son in law But he was much surpriz'd when they who in all appearance had many Blanks which were ready sign'd and which they cou'd fill up with any Name to serve their occasions show'd him before the Cardinal Legat and the principal Members of the Assembly at a meeting in his House that they were impowr'd in due form to name the Duke of Guise yet he strove in the best manner he cou'd to conceal his inward Trouble and Anxiety for this Nomination which his Wiâ—e the Dutchess was not able to endure but counseâ—l'd him rather to make a Peace with the King than to be so mean-spirited as to acknowledge that raw young Creature for so by way of contempt she call'd her Nephew for his King and Master But the Duke of Mayennâ— who at that time cou'd not bear any Master whomsoever took another course and requir'd eight days time to give in writing his Demands for his own indemnifying which the Spaniards allow'd him as fully as he cou'd desire And in the mean time he knew so well to manage the Minds of the greatest part of the Deputies the Lords and Princes and even of the Duke of Guise himself by making them comprehend how unseasonable it was to create a King before they had Forces sufficient to support him against a powerful and victorious Prince that in spight of all those who were of the Spanish Interest the Ministers of Spain were answer'd that the Estates were resolv'd to proceed no farther in their Election till they had receiv'd those great Supplies which had been promis'd them by the King their Master In this manner the Election was deferr'd by the Address of the Duke of Mayenne which Dr. Mauclere a great Leaguer most bitterly bewail'd in a Letter which he wrote from Paris to Dr. de Creil another stiff Leaguer then residing at Rome to manage the Interests of that Party and therein discov'rd the whole Secret which in effect overthrew all the Cabals of the Spaniards and the League and utterly destroy'd their whole Fabrick For many things afterwards happen'd which broke off all speech of an Election of which the first and most principal was the Conversion of the King which is next in order to be related Above 9 years were already past since he though Head of the Hugonots had been endeavouring the means of reuniting himself together with his whole Party to the Catholick Church For in the year 1584. a little before the Associated Princes of the League had taken Arms the late King having sent Monsieur de Bellievre to Pamiers to declare to him that he wou'd have the Mass re establish'd in the County of Foix and in all the other Countreys which he held under the Soveraignty of the Crown of France he caus'd one of the Ministers of his Family who was already well inclin'd to sound the Dispositions of the other Ministers of that Countrey and to try if there were any hope that they would use their Endeavours uprightly and sincerely to find the means of making a general Reunion with the Catholick Church They gave up without any great difficulty all the Points in Controversie excepting one which they laid to heart namely their Interest demanding such vast proportions of Maintenance as he was not then in a condition to give them saying with great simplicity these very words That they wou'd not go a begging for their Living or live upon charity like so many poor Scholars Many of his Counsel and amongst others the Sieur de Segur one of those in whom he most confided were of opinion nevertheless that he shou'd not give over that Undertaking and that he shou'd endeavour to bring it about quietly and without any bustle by gaining the leading men of his Party And he was so well inclin'd to do it that he cou'd not curb himself from protesting frequently after his coming to the Crown and particularly after the Battel of Ivry that he wish'd with all his heart they were reunited with that Church from which they had separated and that he shou'd believe that he had done more than any of his Predecessors if God wou'd one day enable him to make that Reunion which was so necessary that he might live to see all Frenchmen united under the same Faith as well as under the same King But there is great probability for us to hope that God had reserv'd that Glory for King Louis the Great his Grandson whose unbloody Victories which he daily obtains in full Peace over Heresie by his prudent management and his Zeal which have found the means of reducing the Protestants in crowds and without violence into the Church may under his Reign show us the final accomplishment of that great Work which his Grandfather so ardently desir'd It is also known that this Prince being then only King of Navarre at the time when he projected that Re-union of which I have spoken said one day in private to one of the Ministers That he cou'd see no manner of devotion in his Religion which all consisted in hearing a Sermon deliver'd in good French and that he had always an opinion that the Body of our Lord is in the holy Sacrament for otherwise the Communion was but an exterior Ceremony which had nothing real and essential in it 'T is in this place that I cannot hinder my self from rendring Justice to the merit of one of the greatest Men whom any of our Kings have imploy'd in their most important Negotiations and who most contributed to the infusing these good Inclinations into the King of Navarre namely Francis de Noailles Bishop of Acq's who has gain'd an immortal Reputation by those great Services which he perform'd for France during 35 years under four of our Kings in fifteen Voyages out of the Kingdom and four solemn Embassies into England Venice Rome and Constantinople In which last Employment he did so much for the interest of our Religion with Selim the Grand Signior the 2d of that Name and by travelling into Syria Palestine and Aegypt where he procur'd great Advantages and Comfort to the poor Christians that the greatest Princes of Christendom thought themselves oblig'd to make their thankful Acknowledgements of his labour to
which they built their Babel You have seen how warily the first Association in Picardy was worded nothing was to be attempted but for the King's Service and an Acknowledgement was formally made that both the Right and Power of the Government was in him but it was pretended that by occasion of the true Protestant Rebels the Crown was not any longer in condition either of maintaining it self or protecting them And that therefore in the Name of God and by the Power of the holy Ghost they joyn'd together in their own Defence and that of their Religion But all this while though they wou'd seem to act by the King's Authority and under him the Combination was kept as secret as possibly they cou'd and even without the participation of the Soveraign a sure Sign that they intended him no good at the bottom Nay they had an Evasion ready too against his Authority for 't is plain they joyn'd Humieres the Governour of the Province in Commission with him and only nam'd the King for show but engag'd themselves at the same time to his Lieutenant to be obedient to all his Commands levying Men and Money without the King's Knowledge or any Law but what they made amongst themselves So that in effect the Rebellion and Combination of the Hugonots was only a leading Card and an example to the Papists to rebel on their side And there was only this difference in the Cause that the Calvinists set up for their Reformation by the superior Power of Religion and inherent Right of the People against the King and Pope The Papists pretended the same popular Right for their Rebellion against the King and for the same end of Reformation only they fac'd it with Church and Pope Our Sectaries and Long Parliament of 41 had certainly these French Precedents in their eye They copy'd their Methods of Rebellion at first with great professions of Duty and Affection to the King all they did was in order to make him glorious all that was done against him was pretended to be under his Authority and in his Name and even the War they rais'd was pretended for the King and Parliament But those Proceedings are so notoriously known and have imploy'd so many Pens that it wou'd be a nauseous Work for me to dwell on them To draw the likeness of the French Transactions and ours were in effect to transcribe the History I have translated Every Page is full of it Every man has seen the Parallel of the Holy League and our Covenant and cannot but observe that besides the Names of the Countreys France and England and the Names of Religions Protestant and Papist there is scarcely to be found the least difference in the project of the whole and in the substance of the Articles In the mean time I cannot but take notice that our Rebels have left this eternal Brand upon their Memories that while all their pretence was for the setting up the Protestant Religion and pulling down of Popery they have borrow'd from Papists both the Model of their Design and their Arguments to defend it And not from loyal well principled Papists but from the worst the most bigotted and most violent of that Religion From some of the Iesuites an Order founded on purpose to combat Lutheranism and Calvinism The matter of Fact is so palpably true and so notorious that they cannot have the Impudence to deny it But some of the Iesâ—ites are the shame of the Roman Church as the Sectaries are of ours Their Tenets in Politicks are the same both of them hate Monarchy and love Democracy both of them are superlatively violent they are inveterate haters of each other in Religion and yet agree in the Principles of Government And if after so many Advices to a Painter I might advise a Dutch-maker of Emblems he shouâ—d draw a Presbyterian in Arms on one side a Iesuit on the other and a crownd Head betwixt them for t is perfectly a Battel-royal Each of them is endeavouring the destruction of his Adversary but the Monarch is sure to get Blows on both sides But for those Sectaries and Commonwealths-men of 41 before I leave them I must crave leave to observe of them that generally they were a sowr sort of thinking men grim and surly Hypocrites such as coud cover their Vices with an appearance of great Devotion and austerity of Manners neither Profaneness nor Luxury were encouragd by them nor practisd publickly which gave them a great opinion of Sanctity amongst the Multitude and by that opinion principally they did their business Though their Politicks were taken from the Catholick League yet their Christianity much resembled those Anabaptists who were their Original in Doctrine and these indeed were formidable Instruments of a religious Rebellion But our new Conspirators of these seven last years are men of quite another Make I speak not of their non-Conformist Preachers who pretend to Enthusiasm and are as morose in their Worship as were those first Sectaries but of their Leading men the Heads of their Faction and the principal Members of it what greater looseness of Life more atheistical Discourse more open Lewdness was ever seen than generally was and is to be observ'd in those men I am neither making a Satyr nor a Sermon here but I wou'd remark a little the ridiculousness of their Management The strictness of Religion is their pretence and the men who are to set it up have theirs to choose The Long Parliamentâ— Rebels frequented Sermons and observ'd Prayers and Fastings with all solemnity but these new Reformers who ought in prudence to have trodden in their steps because their End was the same to gull the People by an outside of Devotion never us'd the means of insinuating themselves into the opinion of the Multitude Swearing Drunkenness Blasphemies and worse sins than Adultery are the Badges of the Party nothing but Liberty in their mouths nothing but License in their practice For which reason they were never esteem'd by the Zealots of their Faction but as their Tools and had they got uppermost after the Royallists had been crush'd they wou'd have been blown off as too light for their Society For my own part when I had once observ'd this fundamental error in their Politiques I was no longer afraid of their success No Government was ever ruin'd by the open scandal of its opposers This was just a Catiline's Conspiracy of profligate debauch'd and bankrupt men The wealthy amongst them were the fools of the Party drawn in by the rest whose Fortunes were desperate and the Wits of the Cabal sought only their private advantages They had either lost their Preferments and consequently were piqu'd or were in hope to raise themselves by the general disturbance Upon which account they never cou'd be true to one another There was neither Honour nor Conscience in the Foundation of their League but every man having an eye to his own particular advancement was no longer a Friend than while his Interest
our King Pope Gregory the 13th commanded his Nuncio himself to thank the Ambassador from him at his passage from Venice on his return to France and to desire him that he wou'd use his Interest with his Brother the Abbot of L' Isle who had succeeded him in many of his Negotiations and in that Embassy as he also did in the Bishoprick of Acq's that he wou'd follow the worthy Examples which he had given him 'T is true that Pope Pius the 5th Predecessor to Gregory thought it very strange at first that a Bishop shou'd be Ambassador for the most Christian King at the Ottoman Port. But besides that the Bishop of Agria a most prudent and vertuous Prelat had exercis'd that Charge during five years for the Emperor Maximilian the 2d without the least fault found with it he very much chang'd his opinion after the Bishop of Acq's by his credit with the Grand Signior had obtain'd from him that an express Prohibition shou'd be made to Piali Bassa General of his Navy of making any descent on the Territories of the Church in consideration of which Benefit his Holiness made him a promise to promote him to the highest Dignities with which a Pope can recompence the greatest Services that are render'd to the Church These were the Employments of that Bishop whose Deserts were not less eminent than those of his elder Brother Anthony de Noailles Head of that illustrious Family which is one of the most ancient and remarkable in Limousin who was Ambassador in England Governour of Bourdeaux and Lieutenant for the King in Guyenne where he serv'd the State and Religion with the same Zeal which appears at this day with so much Success and Glory in his Posterity It was then by the Motives of the same Zeal for Religion that Francis de Noailles after he had reduc'd 100 Hugonot Families which he found in Acq's at his coming to that Bishoprick to the number of 12 was not wanting to make use of so fair an opportunity as he had to work upon the King of Navarre's Inclinations which good advice in God's due time had the desir'd effect For having conferr'd with him at Nerac by the King's Orders twice or thrice with endeavours to procure from him the re-establishment of the Catholick Religion in Bearn when he found that new Difficulties were still started he laid aside that particular Point and coming to the Spring-head whereon all the rest depended he told him in the presence of Segur with all the sincerity of a faithful Minister That his Majesty cou'd not reasonably hope to support himself by that Party which how powerful soever it appear'd wou'd always be too weak to bear him up in spight of the Catholicks who were infinitely more strong to that pitch of heighth to which his Birth and Fortune might one day carry him that whatsoever Wonders his Valour might perform yet they wou'd never be of any advantage to him till he reconcil'd himself sincerely to the Catholick Church and that it was impossible they were his very words that he cou'd ever raise any thing that was durable for the establishment of his Fortune either within the Realm or without it unless he built on this Foundation This was what he said when he took his leave of the King of Navarre And some few days after this writing from Agen to the Sieur de Segur he protested to him That his Master cou'd never arrive to the possession of that Crown to which he might lawfully pretend if he made not his entrance by the Gate of the Catholick Religion and pray'd him therefore that he wou'd think seriously of that Matter for if he follow'd not his Counsel he shou'd one day speak to him in Petrarch 's Verse When Error goes before Repentance comes behind This Discourse startled Segur who had much power over his Masters Inclinations and it was principally on this account that he gave him the Counsel above-mention'd which consequently caus'd the King of Navarre to consider of the means of reuniting himself to the Catholicks But it happening that in the midst of these Agitations the Leaguers began openly to rebel and afterwards capitulating with Arms in their hands obtain'd an Edict by which the King oblig'd himself to make War with all his Power against the Hugonots Segur whom the King of Navarre had lately sent into Germany to desire assistance writ to him after he had obtain'd it that this was not a time to think of turning Catholick though he himself had formerly advis'd it and that since his Enemies wou'd make him change his Religion by force almost in the same manner as they had us'd him at the Massacre of St. Barthol'mew he ought to stand bent against them and defend his Liberty by Arms that it might not be said he was basely plyant to their will and that he might change freely with safeguard to his Honour at some other time which now he cou'd not without shame as being by constraint He follow'd this Advice which was also seconded by his Counsel He made the War and always appear'd at the Head of the Hugonots with the success which has already been related But being a man of a sprightly and piercing Wit he was not wanting in the mean time to instruct himself and that by a very artificial way Sometimes by proposing difficult Points to his Ministers or to speak more properly his own Doubts and Scruples in matters of Religion to understand on what Foundations their Opinions were built sometimes by conferring with knowing Catholicks and maintaining against them with the strongest Reasons he cou'd urge the Principles which had been infus'd into him by his Ministers on purpose to discover by their Answers which he compar'd with what had been told him on the other side what was real and solid truth betwixt them And he always continued in this manner of Instruction clearing and fathoming the principal Points of the Controversie and causing them to give in writing what they had to argue pro or con which produc'd this effect that the Hugonots never believ'd him to be sound at bottom and settled in their Religion but repos'd much greater confidence in the late Prince of Conde who was in reality a better Protestant than he And truly it appears exceeding credible that when at his coming to the Crown he made a promise to the Catholick Princes and Lords that he wou'd cause himself to be instructed within six months he was already resolv'd on his Conversion there remaining but very few things which he then scrupled and for which he demanded some longer time in order to his fuller satisfaction But as he afterwards acknowledg'd he thought himself oblig'd to defer that good action to some more convenient opportunity because the Hugâ—nots wou'd certainly have cantoniz'd themselves and set up under the protection of some powerful Foreigner whom they wou'd have chosen for their Head which must have occasion'd new Troubles in the Kingdom Besides which the Head