brother and the house of Montmorancie against him for the prosecuting whereof the brother of the said Montmorancie and the Prince of Condie came into England and there receyued the somme of 50. thowsand poūdes which was past ouer by exchange by way of Antwerp and Colen for the first leuy of men and bringing in of Casimire By meanes of which forces the king was constrained to giue vnto his brother Aniow Main Towrain Tours whereby his partage was made greater thē any brother to any king of Frannce before him Now when by this meanes the French king was thus-much feebled then was the said Duke of Aniow broughte into England to be made the make-fyre betweene the two most potent realmes of Christendome Spaine and Fraunce but vnder the colour and countenance of matrimony which being in the end conuerted into a mock-mariage Monsieur receyued his errand to go into the low countries of the king of Spaine there was he made Antiduke of Brabant the which laudable deuice yf any in Englād had cōtriued except M. Cecill or yf it had euer bene practized in any other princes tyme thē in this it could haue bene no lesse then highe treason For that to put an heire apparent of Fraunce in possessiō of Flaunders is a matter of no lesse moment thē to giue dooble strengthe vnto an auncient enemy and to leaue England for a future breakfast vnto a French king But it pleased God soone to quench the fire that mōsieur was sent to kindle For the new duke of Brabant being subdued by his subiectes was in the nonage of his raigne forced with much dishonor to returne into France VVhere the remembrance of the deceatful dealinges of England and the shame that lately he had sustained in the low countries did make his owne indiscretions apparent vnto himself and so aggrauated his sicknesse that the reuenge which he threatned vnto Englād he was faine to leaue vnto God and his duchie of Brabant vnto the right owner For soone after his arryuall in Fraunce with very much grief of mynde he died Monsieur being thus departed this world it was necessarie that some nevv occasion were soughte out for the continuance of M. Cecill his eternall resolution which the sinister practizes past and the iniquities of the tyme present suffred not to be ōg sought for For he foorwith discouered that the French king had entretained an il opiniō of the princes of the house of Guyse vnto the which house albeit that the King and his bretheren the late kinges before him had bene as much beholding as a king could be vnto his subiectes yet by the suggestion of a leud mignion all their manifold desertes were vngratefully forgotten And then for the better now rishing of these dislikes an extraordinarie league of amitie was concluded with the french King who soone after became so attentiue vnto good instructions that he cōmitted most horrible murthers vpon tvvo of the princes of the said house and what end himself shortly after came vnto is manifest enough But to leaue Scotland and Fraunce in those termes vvherunto they are novv led vve vvill come vnto Spaine as to the matter of greatest momēt the subiect of this discours The King vvhereof hauing left the Q. of England presently vppon Q. Maries deceasse in full possessiō of that kingdome and by sundry demonstratiōs giuen proof of his entire loue and amitie vnto her and also of his firme intention to continevv the old concord that had so long endured betweene the kinges of England and the house of Burgundie being also at peace with the French king hauing placed for the gouernmēt of the Netherlandes the Duchesse of Parma he departed into Spaine And albeit as it is wel knowne he hath euer bene a prince that by nature is disposed vnto peace yet cōsidering the greatnesse of the Turk and his incessant attemptes in the inuading of Christendome whereof some vniuersall danger mighte be feared to ensue he determined to employ such meanes as God had giuē him to withstand the intention of this comon enemy The which soone after he began to put in practize as hereafter shalbe declared But this cours of proceeding lyked not him that had designed his plots vnto other purposes and that rather sought to woork some speciall domage to the king of Spaine then to haue the potēcie of the Turck diminished And therefore for an introduction thereunto to make him odious vnto the people certaine players were permitted to scof and iest at him vpon their comō stages And the lyke was vsed in contempr of his religiō first to make it no better thē Turkishe by annexing vnto the very psalmes of Dauid as thoughe the prophet himself had bene the author thereof this ensuing meeter Preserue vs lord by thy deere woord From Turck and Pope defend vs lord That bothe would thrust out of his throne Our lord Iesus Christ thy deere sonne And after by making it farr more odious and woors then was the religion of Mahomet As diuers ministers did at diuers tymes insinuate vnto the people And one of them in a sermon at Paules crosse affirmed that it was a more better acte to assist Turks then Papistes For the which woordes the L. Buckhurst the same day reproued him at the shirif of Londons table but M. minister stoode vnto his tacling and had as it seemed learned his lesson of the superintēdent of VVinchester who published in a printed booke that it was better to sweare vnto the Turk and turkery then vnto the Pope and popery and that the Pope is a more perillous enemy to Christ then the Turk But in the meanewhyle it is a good Gospell that maketh him that tearheth vs to beleeve that Christ is the sonne of God and sauior of the world and him by whose meanes our forefathers were baptised in the name of the Father Sonne holy Ghost to be woors then he that denyeth Christ to be the sonne of God and constreyneth Christians to renounce their christendome These preparatiues being thus made the Moores that inhabited the kingdome of Granada were excited to rebellion Vnto whome althoughe the English would not openly send forces of men yet they sent them succors of powder shot artillery other munition of warr There were also certaine French pirates that vnder colour of authoritie from the Q of Nauar◠that then was the prince of Condie the Shatillion and others were sent foorth to robbe and endomage the king of Spaine and his subiects all these had free passage and entrance to and from the portes and hauens of England And soone after one Kirkham and diuers other English of the westcountrey were permitted to go foorthe to robbe and spoile the Spaniardes wherof the Spanish Ambassador then resident in England instantly demaunding redresse and restitution was denied of either And the goodes thus taken by piracie were brought into diuers townes west ward and there openly sold But in the meane
help and amonge others to the French king Vnto whose ayd he sent in the first troobles 3. thowsand Spaniardes who were present at the battaile of Dreux And afterward from the lowe countries he sent the Counte of Mansfeild at two seuerall tymes both with horse and foote He sent also the Counte of Arenberg the Baron of Erge and diuets others to assist thesaid king at sundry tymes All which forces sent by the King of Spaine from tyme to tyme into Fraunce himself of his princely and liberall mynde euer maintayned payed at his owne charges And there is nothing that more declareth his moderation iustice and equitie towardes his Christian neighbours then his sweete and Christianlyke demeanour towardes the realme of Fraunce VVhere neither by the minorites of the late kinges nor ciuill discentions of the subiects he would take aduantage to chalenge or encroache any parte of that countrie VVhereas yf he had bene so greedy and ambitious as his aduersaries do bely him to bee he would not haue omitted in so many oportunities to have chalenged all Fraūce to hymself VVho hathe at this present thesame right by his daughter and farr more cleere then had somtyme the noble prince King Edward the third of England thereunto And yet as the world seeth he neither thē nor now hath chalēged any such thīg at all this is a singular praise and an eternall glory to this most puissant prince of all ages and in this tyme especially to be maruayled at that he attēpteth nothing nor wageth any warres that are not iust honorable and allowed bothe by the lawes of God and man And as touching the Queene of England I will omitt some great and especiall acts of amitie shewed by himself vnto her whē he was maried vnto her sister whereof her self is not ignorant but dothe best know them And I will briefly relate some points before touched First vpon the deceasse of Queene Mary his wyf he gaue vnto this Queene al her Iewelles which rightly appertayned vnto himself And being aboute the conclusion of a peace with the Frēch king after the taking of S. Quintynes he delt very instantly for the rendring of Calis vnto the English insomuch as vvithout the restoring thereof he refused the accord stode so resolute vpon this point that in the end the French vvere faine to tell him that albeit the English did solicite him to include the deliuery of Calis in his peace yet had they secretly alredy cōcluded their peace with them without that condition And this was donne by a close practize of M. Cecill who sent ouer one Guido Caualcante an Italian to conclude it vvithoute the knowlege of the Queenes Ambassadors vvho vvere there appointed to solicite it VVhich extreme duble dealing could not yet brede any auersion in his mynde against the English insomuch that after they began to fall from the doing vnto him one iniurie in the neck of another which still encreased from a fewe to many and from lesser to greater yet would he neuer begin any attempt against them nor neuer make somuch as any shewe of any one acte of hostilitie whatsoeuer vntill such tyme as they came so farr as to the very taking of his townes into their owne possessions as is aforesaid VVhich is a most great and sufficient argument of his grounded affection vnto that Queene and countrie For moste rarely is it foūd that any King or Prince could so continually disgest and ouersee such great vvronges and iniuries as he hathe receyued from England and much lesse himself that hathe greater meanes to reuenge them then any other potentate lyuing in the world And had doubtlesse lōg since dōne it had it not proceeded of a most singular affectiō vnto that Prince and people hope of redresse and amendment Thus much may serue to shewe whether the King of Spaine hathe soughte so many yeares to trooble the state of England But contrariwise vvhether the state of England hathe so long soughte the disturbance of him and almost of all other their neighbours I leaue the reader to iudge by the premisses the cōfirmation of those I referr to the testimony of all the nations of Europe to the end there may be a sufficiēt number of witnesses to check the extreme impudenof the malitious aduersary who is not ashamed to say that the repose of Christendom by the king of Spaines vvarres by no other meanes is nowdisturbed which otherwise mighte come to an vniuersall peace But as touching the vniuersall peace yf it were to be such as this pacifier would prescribe it vnto him I must needes confesse that I do greatly doubte vvhether the king of Spaine would thereunto be perswaded because in al-lykelyhode it must be in this manner First that he should recall such forces as of great compassion vnto the naturall people of Fraūce he hathe sent thether to defend them against a relapsed Huguenote that vvould make them renegates from the faith as himself is Secondly that he should suffer his rebells of Holland and Zealand quietly to possesse the places they do hold and to take vnto them all the rest of the low countries also conditionally that the English mighte still kepe the possession of such porte townes as they haue haue some half a dosen more annexed vnto them Thirdly that the English rouers might peaceably go to his Indies and there take away his treasure and his Indies also And these fewe aricles being thus accorded then might England Fraunce the Netherlandes and Germany be in farr better possibilitie to extirpate the Catholyke religion in Italy to bring the Moores into Spaine then to conclude that vniuersall peace which passeth all vnderstanding And include in the-same the great Turk the king of Fesse and Marrocco and other infidells with whome England is alredy leagued And thus hauing declared sundrie of the iniuries dōne by the English vnto other princes and people espetially vnto the King of Spaine his subiects also in what laudable most honorable manner the said King hathe demeaned himself vnto thē and other his Christian neighbours It shall now be necessary to touch the presēt estate wherein the realme of Englād stādeth The which for the better intelligēce of the reader I will reduce into fower pointes and in conclusion it shall manifestly appeere vvhether some fewe persons accused or their chiefest accuser are or is the cause of the present and expected calamities of England The first shalbe touching matters of faith and religiō wherein there was neuer such great and wonderfull confusion The second touching exterior enemyes whereof the realme had neuer somany nor none so puisant The third of the sundry competitors for the crowne and the vncertainty of the successor The fourth and last shall concerne the ouerthrow of the Nobilitie and the generall oppression of the people THE realme of Englād hathe at sūdry tymes bene subiect to diuers great molestations aswell throughe ciuill dissentiō as
A DECLARATION OF THE TRVE CAVSES OF THE GREAT TROVBLES PRESVPPOSED TO BE INTENded against the realme of England VVherein the indifferent reader shall manifestly perceaue by whome and by what meanes the realme is broughte into these pretented perills Seene and allowed Anno M. D.LXXXXII TO THE INDIFFERENT READER THE present estate that the realme of England is in a fewe yeares come vnto and the sundry aduersites sustayned by the inhabitāts of the same are such and somany as the lamentable and generall cries and complaintes of the oppressed multytude cā declare them to exceede all those of all ages past in the memorie of man And yet of the redresse of these calamities so litle hope is giuen that nought els but the terrors of farr greater trobles are daily sounded in the eares of the afflicted people which can be to no other end then to enduce them to beare such further extreame misery and pouertie as by the newe intended exactions pressures pillages they are lyke to be broughte vnto But strāge it is to consider that the auoydance of such great daungers as are pretended vnto the realme and expected as is insinuated by a spanish inuasion is neither soughte nor desyred by geuing that king satisfaction of the manifeste iniuries don vnto him nor in the restitution of his townes and cities wrongfully possessed by the English But falsly supposed to consist in the persecuting and killing of a fewe poore priests and Iesuytes within the realme that there do secretly practize their priestly functions to the consolation of such afflicted Catholikes as liue within the same or to the conuersion of such well mynded protestants as will not obstinately refuse to vnderstand their owne errors when they are made manifest vnto them by which meanes many are confirmed in Catholike religion and some numbers brought from heresy to embrace the truthe which albeit the malice of the aduersary hath not letted to withstād euen with the effusiō of bloud yet cōsidering that the force of truthe is great and dothe preuaile the violence of the enemy is also mightely encreased who directly seeking the lyues and goods of Catholikes for their conscyence and religiō laboreth by all meanes possible to make the cause of their sufferance to some to be for treason Vnder pretext whereof by a late proclamation published in London in Nouember last 1592. in the name of the Queene theire are yet more exquisite meanes of inquisition deuysed to bring them vnto the slaughter then were euer vsed afore And because all men can not without some demonstration so rightly discerne the truthe of this case and the causes of the supposed perills as it is requisyte for euery man to know and the sway of the tyme not permitting the same otherwise to be vttered they are in the ensuing treatise briefly set downe In the which albeit that euery fryuolous point of the aforesaid proclamation be not expresly answered yet is the intention of the inuētor thereof directly impugned and the iust blame imputed where it is iustly deserued It may therefore please the discreet reader laying a syde all partialitie with an in different eye to behold the manifest truth that shal in this treatise be laid open vnto him the which for his owne safty he must vse with secreesie and sylence because of the great a-do that the great Lord Threcherer will kepe to depresse and conceile it from the sight and knowlege of the world the which may serue for one especial motiue to prooue that he knoweth himselfe to be guilty in conscience yf he haue any at al. And thus leauing the reader out of the matter ensuing with some addition of somthing here omitted to make a commentarie vpon Chaucers prophesie I wish him well to fare from Colen the 26. of Marche 1592. Of the fained happinesse of England The vaunt of the pretended Gospel NO triumphes of the Gospells lighte But truthe that shyneth cleere Not vvordes but actions iust and righte Makes vertue to apeere See then vvhat force this faith hath found More then of elder dayes And let the vices that abound Confirme the present praise The boast of continual peace The tokens of continued peace By plenty best are shovven But signes of vvarr that dothe not ceasse By comon vvants are knovven Such is the peace vve then preferr And eke our plenty so That thovvsands hath consumde in vvarr And millions left in vvo The present feare of troubles And all expyred dayes and yeares And fained pleasures past Conuerted are to sundry feares Of dangers at the last VVould God no former cause had beene Reuenges to attend Since happynesse is euer seene Best by the happy end WHen Queene Marie that lately possessed the crovvne and kingdome of England had resigned her soule vnto God and her bodie to nature the lordes spirituall and tēporall the comons of the realme receaued into that crovvne and dignitie the lady Elizabeth her sister à Princesse yonge and beautifull and aboundantly adorned with the giftes of nature and princely education The King of Spaine albeit he had bene maried vnto the deceased Queene yet did he neuer seke to possesse himself of the crowne nor to appropriate vnto him any Cities Castels Portes or other places within the realme nor in any sorte to oppugne the entrance of the newe Queene but in all loue and actes of amitie he did manifest his well lyking of her highe aduauncement aswell in the geuing vnto her all his late wyves Iewels which were of great value as in his earnestly labouring with the French for the restitution of Calis to the encrease of her dominions A litle before the death of the aforesaid Queene there was à treaty of peace begun betwene England Spaine and Fraunce including by consequēce Scotlād Flaunders the which peace notwithstanding the aforesaid Queenes deceasse went forward and was fully concluded Thus stood the realme of England shortly after this Queenes coming to the crowne in perfect peace and amitie with all the countries next adioyning and those also neither in ciuil broyles among themselues nor in dissention with their neighbours abrode The Moores of Granada liued in obedience to the king of Spaine the names of Huguenots and Gheuses were in Fraūce and Flaunders vtterly vnknowne and vnhard 〈◊〉 and in Scotland was no contention for gouernement But as the Serpent being subtiler then all the beasts of the feild did somtyme seduce the first woman and Queene of the world to breake the cōmaundemēt of God wherby herself was forced to exile and her posteritie made subiect for euer after to such infinite calamities So wanted there not now a fly Sicophant to suggest this princesse to breake the vnitie of Gods Churche and eft-soones to prosecute such violent attempts against other princes the old allies of her predecessors as thereby herself and realme is brought vnto these present feares and to expect such insuing daungers as God may permit to fall vpon them Very probable it is that the Queene so
enmitie with all the world and how for his labor he hathe purchased among fooles the reputation of wisdome albeit he hathe lost among wisemen the esteeme of honestie The first proof of this deuice to stirr vp tumults in other princes dominioÌ„s he put in practize with Scotland the countrie next adioyning where-vpon sone after folowed the warres of Lythe the successe whereof because it fel not out so well as to his purpose he wished himself went thether to patche vp a peace the which he so well disposed of that they were neuer since out of coÌ„tinuall warres And for the better more assured maintenance of discord he hathe not letted euer since to hyre some principall persons for yearely wages to nowrish and continew rebellions quarrells factions by which meanes the treasure of the realme hathe not only bene infinitely wasted but at sundry tymes diuers greâ—â—… troopes of English forces haue bene sent â—â—ether conducted by the Earle of Sussex and others whereof hathe ensued very great effusion of bloud of either nation diuers horrible murthers the exyle of the Scottish Queene and the transposing of the realme to the rule of an infant vnder the gouernment of a bastard But what infortunate endes this vsurper and sundrie others there sett vp for regentes haue come vnto is manifest to the world and the great murthers that haue sprong throughe the seede of dissention first sowen by this pacifier haue not ceased eueÌ„ with the slaughter of that queene but wil end the lyues of many before they be ended Now as one that of hatred vnto idlenesse would rather choose to be occupied in iniquitie then to offend in slothe in the meane whyle that these dissentions were entretained in ScotlaÌ„d coÌ„sidering that by the mariage of the French king vnto the Scotish queene their two realmes were lynked together and that the French king was but an orphane he neglected not his oportunitie to bring France to staÌ„d in as good termes as Scotland therefore he sent ouer Sir Nicolas ThrogmortoÌ„ to perswade such French vnto rebellioÌ„ as he founde to be mutinous discoÌ„tented and for furtherance thereof he promised them assistaÌ„ce of mony and munitioÌ„ out of EnglaÌ„d The vvhich promisse was accordingly performed For M. Cecill seldome failed to kepe his woord in any such couuenant the seduced French so wel kept tutch on the other syde that they proceded vnto a very flatt rebellion and so purchased the nevv name of Huguenots But this assistance not being found sufficient the more to engage the realme of England in that cause the Huguenots were wrought to deliuer vnto the Queenes haÌ„des the tovvnes of Newhauen Diepe diuers others the acceptaÌ„ce whereof some of the auncient nobilitie of the realme that yet remained of the councel vtterly misliked and aleaged that it was an ill president to assist the rebels of other princes least the lyke might be offred vnto the Queene which considerate councell auailed litle with him that meÌ„t to make this no more but an introduction to greater mischieues For Vaughan Pellam and one Portinato an Italian were sent ouer to take the view of Newhauen and these returned with relation that the English were able with 2000. to defeÌ„d it against all the world and here upon the matter was resolued notwithstanding all former alleagations and forward it went but not without a vizard for their was a booke written in iustification of that action to signify to the world that the intentioÌ„ of the English was but to kepe the possessioÌ„ of that towne vntill the king came to age as thoughe the master of the wardes in England had had the wardship of the French king also And another reason was for that the other party to wit the princes and peeres of the realme that were of the kings councell did meane to bring strangers into the countrie from whome of all other places they had great care to preserue this towne whereupon a very difficill question might be moued to wit whether the English in those dayes were more naturall Frenchmen then other strangers But leauing the resolutioÌ„ of this doubt certaine it is that there were sent ouer vnto Newhauen 4000. men which were but 2000. more then were nedefull to withstand all the world perhaps to remaine in prouision against Nouus orbis which peraduenture might come against it also but how this tovvne was defended froÌ„ FrauÌ„ce only by the shame-full abandoning thereof it did appeere And this losse was not vnaccompagned with a greater euill for the soldiers that returned back againe into England brought with them such a plague of pestilence as generally infected the most partes of the realme and in the citie of London and the suburbes there died in 12. monethes 20000. persons And the very Huguenotes themselues abhorring the frauduleÌ„t dealinges of the English hauing obtayned a peace and perdon of their king became the very first that bent their forces to expulse them wherein may be noted with what firme amitie the English French are vnited in the discordant vnitie of the new Gospell It is further to be obserued that the French king fynding the English whose name among the french people is so odious to haue gotten footing in Normandie to the end that he might be deliuered of them in that prouince offred to deliuer the towne of Calis presently back againe into the Queenes possession The which he was not bound to do vntill certaine yeares were expyred this offer by the only perswasion of Cecill was refused who told the Queene that she might well kepe the one and recouer the other but in fyne all was lost For the English as is alredy touched dishonorablye forsoke Normandie the French hostages that lay in EnglaÌ„d for the rendring of Calis were priuily let go againe into Fraunce and as it is very probable by the only deuice and woorking of M. Cecill The matter of Newhauen being thus begun with iniustice and ended with shame the authors practizes for the maintenance of the French rebellioÌ„s there withall ended not But he had gained the skill better to contriue the execution of his owne plots vnder the aucthoritie of the state and to be least seene in those thinges that most he prosecuted And there fore procured that with diuers great sommes of mony froÌ„ England diuers troopes of Germaines were leuyed froÌ„ tyme to tyme and brought into FrauÌ„ce for the assistance of the Huguenots by which meanes the confederatie betwene the English and them was now growen so strong that they would neuer in any treaty with their king conclude any conditions without the counsell and consent of their English confederates as it was alwaies manifestly fonnde and prooued By whose crafty direction they were so gouerned that they euer obtayned more by making their peace then by the successe of their warr And at such tyme as the oportunitie serued not to stirr vp the Huguenotes against the king they letted not to stir vp his owne
inuasions and forreyne warres And howsoeuer the vvisdome of the vvriter of the late Proclamatiō hath ouermuch presumed vpō the readers ignorance in extoling the cōtinuall peace trāquillitie of Englād yet yf the present state thereof be rightly looked into it wilbe foūde to exceede all former afflictiōs what soeuer And first for matters of religion let vs consider what they are come vnto The Protestantized Caluinisme being but of 33. yeares antiquitie and peculiarly chosen and compounded of many and fully agreeing with none is now growen vnto such diuision in it self as is very wonderful and being established by aucthoritie of a Parlamentall synode and aduanced vnto the highe tytle of the glorious Gospell of Christ hathe not yet bene able so fewe yeares to retaine that credit and esteeme but is growen cōtemptible detected of Idolatry heresy and many superstitious abuses by a purified sorte of professors of the same Gospell And this contention is yet become more intricate by reasō of a third kynde of Gospellers called Brownistes VVho being directed by greater feruor of the vnholy ghoste do expressly affirme that the Protestanticall Church of Englād is not gathered in the name of Christ but of Antichrist that it woorshipeth not God truly but after a fals idolatrous manner and that yf the Prince or magistrate vnder her do refuse or defer to reforme the Churche the people may without her consent take the reformatiō into their owne hādes Yea and that the ministry yf their ensue not reformation may for some causes excomunicate the Queene And one VVillam Hacket affirming that he had within him the very soule of our Sauior did send his two prophets to depose her Into such termes is the vnitie of the Gospell now come insomuch that there was neuer more bitter and vehement writing betwene any Catholikes Heretykes then of late there hathe bene betwene the professors of one same Gospell VVhose false faith is not only detected in their owne woordes and writings scoffed at and turned by themselues into a fooles cote but confirmed in the euill lyues and conuersations of theire very ministers And yet notwithstanding their manifest treasonable attēpts dissention in religion practize of euill lyf the whole force and rigor of persecution is bent against the Catholykes whose great vertue modesty and patience dothe manifeste in them a farr differēt spirite from the others They neuer discharged pistoles nor yet threwe daggers at preachers in there sermons in this Queens tyme as did the others in the dayes of Queene Mary Neither haue they entred into Churches and wounded Ministers at Seruice as one of them did a Priest at Masse in the tyme of the said Queene Nor yet during the raigne of the Queene that now is haue they cōmitted any violent actes in Churches as Puritaines haue not letted to do in her owne chapell by ouerthrowing casting downe the ornamēts thereof euen in dispight of her Neither haue they attempted to murther any principall person of her Court as did Burchewe in wounding a Gentleman in stede of Sir Christopher Hatton but haue suffred with exceding patience the greatest iniuries vexations barbarous vsage that flesh and bloudis able to endure Only puritaines are tolerated to say do write what they list be it either in flat deniall of the Supremacie or other rebellious actions these they can excuse by some deuice or other or els they can call with full exclamation Dimitte nobis Barabam but against Catholykes only they cry Nos legem habemus and Crucifige Crucifige Neither had VVilliā Hacket bene excuted for his blasphemy or treason yf he had not opēly before so many people pronounced the Queens deposition And seeing that so many barbarous lawes as with great diligence and all extremitie haue these many yeares bene vsed could nether extinguish the Catholyke partie at home nor ruyne the Semenaries abrode which more more haue encreased not by force of armes but by euydent truthe To giue the more colour vnto a more cruell persecution the very author of all present and future mischiues dothe seeke by imaginarie feares to drawe mennes considerations from greater calamities and miseries and to turne the hatred which himself hathe deserued vpon a fewe poore Priestes and Iesuites by publishing that they are sent into the realme to perswade men to assist the King of Spaine in an intended inuasion whereas they are not otherwise sent but to exercise their priestly office and function as they go vnto the Indies other places where the exercise of their religion is also prohibited Neither are they in their Seminaries otherwise exercised then in other Scooles and Colleges as are also the Germaines other nations in their Seminaries in Roome and els where which is not of their countrymē falsely and malitiously said to be in treason and sedition as England only no place els dothe proclame And it is wounderfull to consider that notwithstāding the odious clamours of treasonable practizes daily raised against these men it is well knowne that some of their greatest persecutors haue not letted to offer free libertie and secret protections vnto priestes to reroncyle Catholykes to say Masse to heare Confessions and to do such lyke offices appertaining to their function where and to whome they listed conditionally that they should afterward discouer vnto thē in what places with what persons they had bene Yea they haue not letted to appoint some of their spies to go to confession of purpose to apprehend and betray their ghostly fathers Such is the impious treacherie of the aduersaries that will not lett to vrge men to the breach of their owne lawes which argueth that it is not sinceritie and zeale of religion that they stand vpon when they will directly apoint the contrary vnto theirs to be exercysed as also that themselues do litle feare such treasons as they pretend to be wrought by priestes when they seke to lycence them and not to prohibite them which proueth also that themselues do well know that Catholikes are exercysed in the offices of their religiō not in practizes of treason as they vntruly reporte And yet for confirmation of the ill opiniō they do labor to make the people to haue of them the Archpolitike hathe fraudulently prouyded that when any Catholike or Priest is araigned the enditemēt is euer farced with many odious matters as of conspiratie killing the Queene stiring the subiects to rebellion drawing them from their obedience the lyke yet when they come to proofes they can proue nothing in the world but only that he is Priest or hathe relieued priests and nothing els being witnessed and somtymes that not knowne neither but by the priestes or other parties owne confession the Iury crieth guilty to all the endytement and the whole enditement is enroled as yf the party had bene iustly conuicted of all that therin is conteyned And vpon this do they so impudently reporte that
in person with great armies obtained such victories as will for euer recomend their glorie to all posterities They are also in league with a fewe Bere-bruers and Basketmakers of Holland and Zealand with a company of Apostataes and Huguenotes of Fraunce with their feed pēsioner the Chaūcelor of Scotlād who by abusing of the King hathe gottē credit to woork his ruyne And the English thus leagued with infidells heretikes and rebells cannot yet presume of any true frindship of them in their hartes For the French albeit they be Huguenotes yet are they still French vnto the English and as heretofore so euen of late they have shewed themselues vnto such as were sent from England to assist them The states of Holland and Zealand yf they could possibly thurst out the Englishe they would not let to do it And it is well knowne that some of them of chiefest auctoritie haue secretly concluded and resolued either presently vpon the Queenes deceasse or so soone as any oportunitie serueth to bring all their forces together to attempt it The freindship of Scotland although it haue cost many Englishe angels yet will it prove Scotish in the end And the great Turk and his consorts may be by the English excited to inuade some partes of Christendome neere vnto them adioyning as alredy vpon such perswasiō they haue attempted but good vnto England they can do none albeit the English would exchāge their Geneua Bible for the Turkish Alcorā because their situations are to farr distant But how so euer their new freindes may congratulate with them their old alies may rather reioyce in hauing their enmitie then their amitie For that by the vnhappy and mischieuous endes of somany of their late confederates it is obserued that to be in league with Englād is malū omē Et for proof thereof I will aleadge some examples First the Earle of Arren in Scotland after that he had by the espetiall suggestion of the English prosecuted the rebellions and dissentions in his countrie became distracted of the vse of reason and hathe these 30. yeares remayned madd The Earle of Murray bastard brother to the Scotish Queene was slaine with an harquebushe in the towne of Lythquo The Earle of Lenox was stabbed with daggers The Earle of Marr was poysoned The Earle of Murton behedded All which were regents and gouernours of the realme and sett vp by the English For I will omit recytall of diuers other Lordes and gentlemen that folowed their factions whose endes also were violēt Besydes the great nūbers that haue perished in diuers battailes In Fraunce the Prince of Coundie was slaine at the battaile of Iarnac The Admirall Shatilian massacred at Parris with mumbers of his consorts The Cardinall of Shatilian his brother was poysoned in England The Counte of Mountgomery behedded Monsieur the Duke of Aniow brother to the late King died of an extraordinary sicknesse supposed to be poysoned And what end the last French King came vnto is manifest enough As also that Lanowe being ioyned with the English forces in Britany was there slaine And to what end Nauarr shall come being as firmly leagued with the English as were the others is yet to be expected In the low Countries the Counte of Lumay before mentioned that surprised the towne of Briel and had bene the murtherer of some hundteths of Priests being bitten in the arme by an English dogg of his owne died mad raging in the towne of Liege The Prince of Orange that could neither be warned by the infortunate endes of three of his owne bretheren Henry Adolf Lodowick nor by one or two attēpts made vpon his owne person was lastly slaine with a pistol in the towne of Delf in Holland THe third calamitie whereunto England is brought is of the vulgar multytude vnsene because it is yet of them vnfelt And that is the great confusion of somany competitors to the crowne bothe within without the realme VVhich must nedes prognosticate such slaughter cruell murthers as neuer were in that nor in any other country for such quarrell VVhen the crowne of England was in contention only betweene the two howses of Yorck and Lancaster how lōg it lasted how many of the bloud Royal Nobilitie lost their lyues and what great nūbers of thowsandes were slaine the histories of those dayes can declare But farr greater extremities are we now to expect among somany do mesticall and some externe competitors Euery one of which thinking himself to be iustly the first cā aleage many causes for the exclusion of the others And therefore in all lykely hoode each one of those that liue within the realme Ile will not forbeare hereafter to attempt by what meanes he may to preferr himself and to depresse the others For the crowne remayning among so many in equall ballance and each almost in lyke possibilitie who of them is it that will not dare to aduenture the vttermost of his meanes for the gayning of no lesse a thing then is the kingdome of England And what aucthoritie of any dissolued councel shal prohibite any of the competitors to attempt the same vpō the dereasse of the Queene VVhat great apparēce is there then of the effusion of the blood of many thowsands to what desolation is the realme lyke to be brought how fayned will then this present seeming peace be foūde whē it shall conclude in such intricate mortall warres And how infinite wilbe the cursinges and maledictions of all sortes of people vpon him that hathe caused it whē it shall appere vnto thē that as he neuer sought to cōserue thē in peace during the Queenes lyf so he neuer mēt but to leave thē in warres after her death At what tyme he may reioyce as once did the tyrāt Nero to see the citie burne which himself had set on fyre And how soone this great quarrel shalbe begun is as vncertaine as the thing that each howre is to be expected Seeing it dependeth vpō the only lyf of the Queene wherof there is as litle assurance as of the lyf of any other mortall creature and her deceasse so-much the nearer in that she is now declyning in age TO come vnto the fourth last parte cōcerning the ouer-throwe of the Nobilitie and the great and generall oppression of the people it is first to be considered that albeit the vniust molestations of other comon-wealths and the oppressions and cruelties vsed within the realme were bothe by M. Cecill begū prosecuted yet hathe he so cuningly disposed very many of his affaires into the handes of other principall actors espetially since the death of his brother Bacon that very oftē tymes his owne plottes inuentions have seemed the practizes of others Of these his actors the late Earle of Leicester the secretary VValsingham were the chiefest The former of the twaine for that he had in his youth by ouermuch attending his pleasures neglected the obseruation of many secretes which M. Cecill practized