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 Monopolies 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 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 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 Lebu 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 Dooms day 6 The suppression of Priors Aliens 7 Priours Dative how they differed from the Conventuals 8 The condition of theâ—e Churches after the suppression 9 A Diagram of the Revenue then allotted 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 Wâ—nton 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 Guernzey Jarsey Serke and Alderney confirmed by the authority and in the presence of the Governours of the same Isles in a Synod holden in Guernzey 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 Nâ—place in it for the Kings Supremacy 3
for above 70 years been troubled with a blindnesse in the eyes of his soul Thou fool said our Saviour almost in the like case first cast out the beam out of thine own eye and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brothers eye The next morning July 3 I left my pilgrims to try their fortunes and went on in our journey to Paris which that day we were to visite My eyes not permitting me to read and my eares altogether strangers to the French chat drave my thoughts back to Roven and there nothing so much possessed me as the small honour done to Bedford in his monument I had leasure enough to provide him a longer Epitaph and a shorter apologie against the envie of that Courtier which perswaded Charles the VIII to deface the ruines of his Sepulchre Thus. Sa did the Fox the coward'st of the heard Kick the dead Lyon and profane his beard So did the Greeks about their vanquisht host Drag Hectors reliques and torment his ghost So did the Parthian slaves deride the head Of the great Crassus now betrayed and dead To whose victorious sword not lâ—ng before They would have sacrific'd their lives or more So do the French assault dead Bedfords spright And trample on his ashes in despight But foolish Curio cease and do not blame So small an honor done unto his name Why grievest thou him a Sepulchre to have Who when he liv'd could make all France a grave His sword triumph'd through all those Towns which lie In th' Isle Maine Anjoy Guyen Normandie Thy father 's felt it Oh! thou worst of men If man thou art do not endevour then This Conquerour from his last hold to thrust Whom all brave minds should honour in his dust But be not troubled Bedford thou shalt stand Above the reach of malice though the hand Of a French basenesse may deface thy name And tear it from thy marble yet shall fame Speak loudly of thee and thy acts Thy praise A Pyramis unto it self shall raise Thy brave atchievements in the times to come Shall be a monument above a Tombe Thy name shall be thy Epitaph and he Which once reads Bedford shall imagin thee Beyond the power of Verses and shall say None could expresse thy worthes a fuller way Rest thou then quiet in the shades of night Nor vex thy self with Curio's weaker spite Whilest France remains and Histories are writ Bedford shall live and France shall Chronicl ' it Having offered this unworthy yet gratefull sacrifice to the Manes of that brave Heros I had the more leasure to behold Mante and the Vines about it being the first that ever I saw They are planted like our Hop-gardens and grow up by the helpe of poles but not so high They are kept with little câ—st and yeeld profit to an husbandman sufficient to make him rich had he neither King nor Landlord The Wine which is pressed out of them is harsh and not pleasing as much differing in sweetnesse from the Wines of Paris or Orleans as their language doth in elegancy The rest of the Norman wines which are not very frequent as growing only on the frontiers towards France are of the same quality As for the Town of Maâ—â—e it seemeth to have been of good strength before the use of great Ordinances having a wall a 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 Maubuissen and St. Martin and six Churches Parochiall whereof that of Nostre 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 bâ— 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 pâ—ssession of the English and that by a firmer title then the sword William the Conqueror had conveiâ—d it over the Sâ—â—s 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 upâ—n 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 Pâ—iâ—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
own Sed tanquam a sede Apostolica delegatâ— 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 Egr gia Romunae 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 meâ—â—ily 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 â—ase 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 three of these mortified sinners two of the Order of St. Austin and one Franciscan the merryest crickeâ—â— that ever chirped 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 ut vivamus And for courtship and toying with the wenches you would easily believe â—â—at 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 England for spirit and discourse are very Popes to them for learning they may safely say with S 〈…〉 atas Hoc tantum scimus quod ne 〈…〉 us 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 â—ain to read it self For in the last 〈◊〉 Missâ—le established by Pius V. and recognized by Clement VIII annâ— 1600. every syllable is diversly marked whether it be sounded long or short just 〈◊〉 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 〈…〉 d I used to apply my self to some of these reverend habit But O 〈…〉 lum in s 〈…〉 ns in 〈…〉 tum you might as easily have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 out of the 〈◊〉 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 â—linging 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 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 fairely managed Their inâ—oleâ—cies 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
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 accompâ—aned 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 foveo Coelestia dona Innccuae pacis prospera scepâ—â—a gerenâ— From the King descend we to the Subjects ab equis quod aiunt ad asinos 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 out 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 care 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 plat-formes 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 undaunted 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 Subject 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 persisted his humor of disobedience out-living the King whom he had thus affronted But these tricks are ordinary here otherwise a man might have construed this action by the term of Rebellion The chief means whereby these Princes become so head strong are an immunity given them by their Kings and a liberty which they have taken to themselves By their Kings they have been absolutely exempted from all Tributes Tolles Taxes Customes Impositions and Subsidies By them also they have been estated in whole entire Provinces with a power of haute and main Justice as the Lawyers term it passed over to them 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 houses which both often moveth and afterwards inableth them to contemn his Majesty 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 siege of 5000 shot and yet was not taken A very impolitick course in my conceit
of the French to bestow honours and immunities upon those Qui as the Historian noteth ea suo arbitrio aut reposituri aut 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 sufficient means for safety and resistance On this ground also they slight the Kings authority and 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 condemn 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 distance with the King but even all the Nobility of the Realm a rout so disordered unconfined and numberlesse that even Fabius himself would be out of breath in making the reckoning 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 found at his happy coming in amongst us and the additions of power which his comming brought unto us and we shall finde it proportionable that he should enlarge our Nobility with our Empire neither yet have we indeed a number to be talked of comparing us with our neighbour Nations We may see all of the three first ranks in the books of Milles Brooke and Vincent and we are promised also a Catalogue of the Creations and successions of all our Barons Then we should see that as yet we have not surfeited Were this care taken by the Heralde in France perhaps the Nobility there would not seem so numberlesse sure I am not so confused But this is the main vice of that profession of â—ix Heralds which they have amongst them viz. Montjoy Normandy Guyenne Valâ—ys Bretagne and Burgogne not one of them is reported 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 what 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 their estates immediately of the Crown and they have the like immunities with the Princes Some hold their Feifes or feuda of some other of the Lords and he hath only Basse Justice permitted 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 Picardy 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 found it to be nothing but a Declaration 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 decision 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 Feise 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 regalia 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 ease 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 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 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 equally and their ambition if they can aspire unto Fustian they are as happy as their wishes and he that is so arrayed will not spare to aime at the best place in the Parish even unto that of the Church-warden When they go to plough or to the Church they have shooes and stockins at other times they make bold with nature and wear their skins Hâ—ts they will not want though their bellies pinch for it and that you may be sure they have them they will alwayes keep them on their heads the most impudent custome of a beggerly fortune that ever I met with and which already hath had my blessing As for the women they know in what degree nature hath created them and therefore dare not be so fine as their Husbands some of them never had above one pair of stockins in all their lives which they wear every day for indeed they are very durable The goodnesse of their faces tell us that they have no need of a band therefore they use none And as concerning Petticoats so it is that all of them have such a garment but most of them so short that you would imagine them to be cut off at the placket When the Parents have sufficiently worn these vestures and that commonly is till the rottennesse of them will save the labour of undressing they are a new-cut-out and fitted to the children Search into their houses and you shall finde them very wretched destitute as well of furniture as provision No Butter salted up against Winter no powdring tub no Pullein in the Rick-barten no flesh in the pot or at the spit and which is worst no money to buy them The description of the poor aged couple Phileman and Bauciâ— in the eight book of the Metamorphosis is a perfect character of the French Paisant in his house-keeping though I cannot affirme that if Jupiter and Mercury did come amongst them they should have so hearty an entertainment for thus Ovid marshalleth the dishes Ponitur hic bicolor sincerae bacca Minerva Intybaque radix lactis massa coacti Ovaque non acri leviter versata favilla Prunaque in patulis redolentia mala canistris Hic nux hic mixta est rugosis caricapalmis Et de purpureis collectae vitibus uvae Omnia fictilibus nitide But you must not look for this cheer often At Wakes or Feasts dayes you may perchance be so happy as to see this plenty but at other times Olus omne patella the best provision they can shew you is a piece of Bacon wherewith they fatten their pottage and now and then the inwards of Beastâ— killed for the Gentlemen But of all miseries this me thinketh is the greatest that sowing so many acres of excellent wheat in an year and gathering in such a plentifull Vintage as they do they should not yet be so fortunate as to eat white bread or drink wine for such infinite rents do they pay to their Lords and such innumerable taxes to the King that the profits arising out of those commodities are only sufficient to pay their duties and keep them from the extremities of cold and famine The bread then which they eat is of the coursest flowre and so black that it cannot admit the name of brown And as for their drink they have recourse to the next Fountain A people of any the most unfortunate not permitted to enjoy the fruit of their labours and such as above all others are subject to that Sarcasme in the Gospell This man planted a Vineyard and doth not drink of the fruit thereof Nec prosunt domino quae prosunt omnibus artes Yet were their case not altogether so deplorable if there were but hopes left to them of a better if they could but compasse certainty that a painfull drudging and a thrifty saving would one day bring them out of this hell of bondage In this questionlesse they are intirely miserable in that they are sensible of the wretchednesse of their present fortunes and dare not labour nor expect an alteration If industry and a sparing hand hath raised any of this afflicted people so high that he is but 40 s or 5 l. richer then his neighbour his Lord immediately enhaunceth his Rents and enformeth the Kings task-masters of his riches by which
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 Serkâ— 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 against King John nor the surprisall of Normandy by the French forces could be no perswasion unto them to change their Masters Nay when the French had twice seized on them during 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 parts 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 at 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 Gueruzey 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 sometimes thickned with the vapours arising from the Sea The soil indifferently rich both for husbandry and graâ—ing 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
once called Augusta Romanduorum and after took the name of Constance from Constantine the great who repaired and beautified it Others make it to be built in the place of an old standing campe and that this is it which is called Constantia castra in Ammian Marcellinus Meantesque protinus prope â—astra Constantia funduntur in Mare lib. 15. To leave this controversie to the French certain it is that it hath been and yet is a City of good repute the County of Constantine one of the seven Bailiwicks of Normandy being beholding to it for a name As for the Town it self 〈◊〉 at this day accounted for a Vâ—cutè but more famous for the Bishoprick the first Bishop of it as the Roman Martyrologie and on the 23 if my memory fail not of September doth instruct us being one Paternus Du Chesne in his book of French Antiquities attributes this honour to St. Ereptiolus the man as he conjectures that first converted it into the saith his next successors being St. Exuperance St. Leonard and St. Lo which last is said to have lived in the year 473. By this account it is a City of good age yet not so old but that it still continues beautifull The Cathedrall here one of the fairest and well built pieces in all Normandy and yeelding a fair prospect even as far as to â—hese Islands The Church it may be raised to that magnificent height that so the Bishop might with greater ease survey his Diocese A Diocese containing antiently a good part of Countrey Constantine and these Islands where now we are For the better executing of his Episcopall jurisdiction in these places divided by the Sea from the main body of his charge he had a Surrogat or Substitute whom they called a Dean in each Island one His office consisting as I guesse at it by the jurisdiction of that of a Chancellour and an Archdeacon mixt it being in his faculty to give institution and induction to give sentence in cases appertaining to Ecclesiasticall cognisance to approve of Wils and withall to hold his visitations 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 little Islet of Leâ—u of which in the last Chapter and when the houses of Religion as they called them were suppressed an allowance of an hundred quarters of Wheat Guernzey measure paid him by the Kings receiver for his Tithes I say Guernzey measure because it is a measure different from ours their quarter being no more then five of our bushels or thereabouts The Ministery at that time not answerable in number to the Parishes and those few very wealthy the Religious houses having all the Prediall tithes appropriated unto them and they serving many of the Cures by some one of their own body licenced for that purpose Now those Churches or Tithes rather were called Appropriated to digâ—esse 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 Annâ—ts 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 knowee 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 Disine 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 Ca. 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 Conquerour who had taken such a speciall survey of his new purchase that there was not one hide of Land in all the Realme but he knew the yearly Rent and owner of it how many plow-lands what Pastures Fennes and Marishes what Woods Parkes Farmes and Tenements were in every shire and what every one was worth This Censuall Roll the English generally call Doomes-day book and that as some suppose because the judgement and sentence of it was as impossible to be declined as that in the day of doome Sic cum orta fuerit contentio de his rebus quae illic continentur cum ventum fuerit ad librum ejus sententia infatuari non potest vel impune declinari so mine Authour Others conceive it to be corruptly called the Book of Doomes-day for the Book of Domus dei or the Domus-dei book as being by the Conquerour laid up in the Maison dieu or Gods-house in Winchester A book carefully preserved and that under three Keyes in his Majesties Exchequer not to be looked into under the price of a Noble nor any line of it to be transcribed without the payment of a groat Tanta est authorit as vetustatis So great respect do we yeeld unto antiquity But to return again to my Churches whom I left in bondage under their severall Priories and other the Religious houses I will first free them from that yoak which the superstition of their Patrons had put upon them So it was that those Houses of Religion in these Islands were not absolute foundations of themselves but dependent on and as it were the appurtenances of some greater Abby or Monastery in France In this condition they continued till the beginning of the Reign of King Henry the V. who purposing a war against the French thought fit to cut of all helpes and succours as they had from England at that time full of Priors Aliens and strangers possessed of Benefices To this end it was enacted viz. Whereas there were divers French men beneficed and preferred
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 and 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 sawciness 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 Câ—nâ—ing an Heathenish custome The great siege of Orleans raised 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 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 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. 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 Provost 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 curtesie 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 omniregency of the Queen Mother and the Cardinall of Richileiu The Queen Mother a wise
Their love to Parity as well 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 intrusion of the Eldership into Domestical affairs 7 Millets case 8 The brothren superstitious in giving names to children 9 Ambling Communions 10 The holy Discipline made a third note of the Church 11 Marriage at certain times prohibited by the Discipline 12 Dead bodies anciently not interred in Cities 13 The Baptism of Bels. 14 The brethren under pretence of scandal usurp 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 reasons 4 Sir John Peyton sent Governour into Jarsey 5 His Articles against the Ministers there 6 And the proceedings thereupon 7 The distracted estate of the Church and Ministery 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 Propesals of such means as may be fittest in the managing of this design 8 The submission of the Author and the work unto his Lordship The conclusion 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 Presse which the hast made for preventing the false impressions bath 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. 23. r. locorum p. 7 l. 15. r. qui. p. 10. l. 22. r. the predecessor to the same Henry p. 11. l. 17. del in p. 13. l. 18. r. pace ibid. l. 35. 〈…〉 yred p. 19. l 26. r. Evenlode p. 31 l. 8. r. fourth p. 39. l. 25. p. 108. l. 9 r. 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 lar ibid. l. 35 r. Troyes 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 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 disfumigamibus p. 140. l. 22. r. Belbâ—s p. 147. l. 2. r. meriâ— p. 150. l. 27. r. many p. 153. l. 6. r. mouths ibid. l. 31. r. forme p. 158 l. 9 r. trumped p. 162. l. 12. r. Les D guieres p. 163. l. 20 r. Bevie ibid. l. â—3 r. Troyes p. 167. l. 27. r. Ancre p. 170. l. 18. r. adeo ibid. l. 19. r. fidei p. 175. l. 9. r. mossing 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. r. horrour p. 206. l. 8. r Franâ— p. 208. l. 1. r. 60000. p. 211. l. 14. del each 〈◊〉 p. 213 l 8. to these words abeady mentioned add and Madam Gabriele the most breed of all p. 220 l. ult r. Aix p. 222. l. 38. r. no other p. 223. l 7. l. 32. r. investi 〈…〉 ibid. l. 18. r. Henry IV. ibid. l. 34. r. Henry I p 225. l. 10. r. sanctio ibid. l. 23. r. 〈…〉 e. p. 230. l 19. r. fair p. 231 l. 1. r. to come ibid. l. 6 r. greatest action p. 235. l. 〈◊〉 del into p. 242. l 4 r. Le Chastres p. 244 l. 33. r. Systematicall p 248. l. 27. r. 〈◊〉 p. 261. l. 24 del foâ— p. 271. l. 13. r. birudo p 272. l. ult r. Vitrâ—y p. 274. l. r. 〈…〉 tal p. 288 l. 28. r. Peitor p. 298. l. 5. 302. l. 16. r. Armie p. 304 l. 33 r. Summa 〈…〉 p. 306 l. 20. r. manner p. 312. l. 8 del a Crosse engraled O. p. 314. l. 5 r. Viconte p. 320. l 8. r. painset ibid. l. 2. r. honor p. 323. l. 34. r. once p 325. l. 7. r. fact p. 330. l. 36. r. Birtilier p. 337. l. 11. r titulary ibid. l 17 r. Painset p. 354. l ult 〈◊〉 them they p. 368 l 35. r. propounded p. 374 l 10 r. tactum p. 381. l. 14. r. va 〈…〉 p. 384. l. 3 l. 3â— p. 386 l. 15. Misseâ—vâ— p 385. l. 17 r. Olivier ibid. l. 34. r. St. Martins p 387. l 32. r. interea p. 393 l. 9. r. cure p 401. l. ult r. rols p. 417 l. 11. del hath p 415 l. 3. r. ceremoniall ibid. l. 25. r. besaid unto him ibid. l. 38. r. Bishop p. 417. l 8. r clamors 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 tedious 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 â—ose 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 enfeebled 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 Horace Illi robur aes triplex Girea pectus erat qui fragilem ituei Comnasit pelago ratem 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 inebes of a sinking tree Had'st thou been cruell yet thy angry face Hath more love in it then the Seas imbrace Suppose thee pâ—or 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 Nemesis 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 Cellica the name Neustria 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 sic illa genuina feritas eorum amoenitate 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 in slaved under that Monarchie they grew presently
of them withall he protested that it did not grieve him much because he thought it a just judgement of God upon our Nation that all the married men should be cuckolds A strange piece of Divinity to me who never before had heard such preaching but this was the reason of the Doctrine In the old English Masse-book called Secundum usum Sarum the woman at the time of marriage promiseth her future husband to be bonny and buxom at bed and at board till death us depart c. This being too light for the gravity of the action then in hand and in mine opinion somewhat lesse reverend then a Church duty would require the reformers of that book thought good to alter and have put in the place of it to love cherish and obey That this was a sufficient assurance of a conjugal faith he would not grant because the promise of being Buxom in bed was excluded Besides he accounted the supposed dishonesty of the English wives as a vengeance plucked down upon the heads of the people for chopping and changing the words of the holy Sacrament for such they esteem the form of Matrimony though his argument needed no answer yet this accutation might expect one and an English Gentleman though not of the English Faith thus laid open the abuse and seemed to speak it out of knowledge When the Monsieurs come over full pursed to London the French Pandars which lie in wait for such booties grow into their acquaintance and promise them the embraces of such a Dame of the City or such a Lady of the Court women perchance famed for admirable beauties But as Ixion amongst the Poets expected Juno and enjoyed a cloud so these beguiled wretches in stead of those eminent persons mentioned to them take into their bosomes some of the common prostitutes of the Town Thus are they cousen'd in their desires thus do they lie in their reports whilest poor souls they think themselves guilty of neither imposture For the other accusation which would seem to fasten a note of immodesty upon our English womens lips I should be like enough to confess the crime were the English kisses like unto those of the French As therefore Dr. Dale Master of the Requests said unto Mendoza the Spanish Ambassador upon his dislike of the promiscuous sitting of men and women in our Churches Turpe quidem id esse apud Hispanos qui etiam in locis sacris cogitarent de explenda libidine a qua procul aberant Anglorum mentes So do I answer to the bill of the complainant An Oxford Doctor upon this text Betrayest thâ—u the Son of man with a kisse made mention of four manner of kisses viz. Osculum charitatis osculum gratioris familiaritatis osculum calliditatis and osculum carnalitatis Of these I will bestow the last on the French and the third on the Spaniards retaining the two first unto our selves whereas the one is enjoyned by the precept and the other warranted by the examples of holy Scripture For my part I see nothing in the innocent and harmless salutations of the English which the Doctor calleth Osculum gratioris familiaritatis that may move a French mans suspicion much I confess to stir his envie Perhaps a want of the like happiness to himself maketh him dislike it in us as the Fox that had lost his taile perswaded 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 Ovids 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 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 scarfs 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 stealth 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 your time 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
till the year 1304. The Scholars till then sojourning in the houses of the Citizens accordingly as they could bargain for their entertainment But anno 1304. Joane Queen of Navarre wife to Philip the fair built that Colledge which then and ever since hath been called the Colledge of Navarre and is at this day the fairest and largest of all the rest Nonibi constituunt exempla ubi coeperunt sed in tenuem accepta tramitem latissime evagandi viam sibi faciunt as Velleius This good example ended not in it self but incited divers others of the French Kings and people to the erecting of convenient places of study So that in process of time Paris became enriched with 52 Colledges So many it still hath though the odde forty are little serviceable unto learning for in twelve only of them is there any publick reading either in Divinity or Philosophy Those twelve are the Colledges of Harcourte 2. Caillvi or the Petit Sorbonne 3. Lisseux or Lexovium 4 Boncourte 5. Montague 6. Le Marche 7. Navarre 8. De la Cardinal de Moyne 9. Le Plessis 10. De Beavais 11. La Sorbonne 12. De Clermont or the Colledge of the Jesuites there are also publique readings in the houses of the four orders of Fryers Mendicants viz. the Carmelites the Augustins the Franciscans or Cordeliers and the Dominicans The other Colledges are destinated to other uses That of Arras is converted to an house of English fugitives and there is another of them hard by the Gate of St. Jacques employed for the reception of the Irish In others of them there is lodging allotted out to Students who for their instructions have resort to some of the 12 Colledges above mentioned In each of these Colledges there is a Rector most of whose places yeeld to them but small profit The greatest commodity which accreweth to them is raised from chamber Rents their preferments being much of a nature with that of a Principal of an Hall in Oxford or that of a Treasurer in an Inne of Chancery in London At the first erection of their Colledges they were all prohibited marriage though I see little reason for it There can hardly come any inconvenience or dammage by it unto the scholars under their charge by the assuming of leases into their own hands for I think few of them have any to be so imbezled Anno 1520. or thereabouts it was permitted unto such of them as were Doctors in Physick that they might marry the Cardinall of Toute Ville Legat in France giving unto them that indulgence Afterwards in the year 1534. the Doctors of the Lawes petitioned the University for the like priviledge which in fine was granted to them and confirmed by the Court of Parliament The Doctors of Divinity are the only Academicals now barred from it and that not as Rectors but as Priests These Colledges for their buildings are very inelegant and generally little beholding to the curiosity of the artificer So confused and so proportioned in respect of our Colledges in England as Exeter in Oxford was some 12. years since in 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 Vnum 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 this University was built by one Robert de Sorbonne of the chamber of Lewis the 9. of whom he was very well beloved It confisteth 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 amounteth 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 examination of the students in the faculty the approbation and the bestowing of the honour and to their Lectures do all such assiduously repair as are that way minded All of them in their turnes discharge this office of reading and that by sixes in a day three of them making good the Pulpit in the forenoon and as many in the afternoon These Doctors are accounted together with the Parliament of Paris the principal pillars of the French Liberty whereof indeed they are exceeding jealous as well in matters Ecclesiastical as Civil When Gerson Chancellor of Paris he died Anno 1429. had published a book in approbation of the Councell of Constance where it was enacted that the authority of the Councell was greater then that of the Pope the Sorborne Doctors declared that also to be their Doctrine Afterwards when Lewis the 1 1. to gratifie Pope Pius the 2. purposed to abolish the force of the pragmatick sanction the Sorbonnists in behalf of the Church Gallican and the University of Paris Magnis obsistebant animis saith Sleidan in his Commentaries a Papa provocabant ad Concilium The Councell unto which they appealed was that of Basil where that sanction was made so that by this appeal they verified their former Thesis that the Councell was above the Pope And not long since anno viz. 1613. casually meeting with a book written by Becanus entituled Controversia Anglicana de potestate regis papae they called an assembly and condemned it For though the main of it was against the power and supremacy of the Kings of England yet
the publick hangman The year before they inflicted the same punishment upon a vain and blasphemous discourse penned by Gasper Scioppius a fellow of a most desperate brain and a very incendiary Neither hath Bellarmine himself that great Atlas of the Roman Church escaped much better for writing a book concerning the temporall power of his Holinesse it had the ill luck to come into Paris where the Parliament finding it to thwart the liberty and royalty of the King and Countrey gave it over to the Hangman and he to the fire Thus it is evident that the titles which the French writers give it as the true Temple of French Justice the buâ—tresse of equity and the gardian of the rights of France and the like are abundantly deserved of it The next Chamber in esteem is the Tournelle which handleth all matters criminall It is so called from tourner which signifieth to change or alter because the Judges of the other severall chambers give sentence in this according to their severall turns the reason of which institution is said to be lest a continuall custome of condemning should make the Judges lesse mercifull and more prodigall of bloud an order full of health and providence It was instituted by the above named Philip de bel at the same time when he made the Parliament sedentarie at Paris and besides its peculiar and originall imployments it receiveth appeals from and redresseth the errors of the Provost of Paris The other five Chambers are called Des Enquestes or Camerae inquisitionum the first and antientest of them was erected also by Philip le bel and afterwards divided into two by Charles VII Afterwards the multitude of Processes being greater then could be dispatched in these Courts there was added a third Francis the first established the fourth for the better raising of a sum of money which then he wanted every one of the new Counsellors paying right deerly for his place The fifth and last was founded in the year 1568. In each of these severall Chambers there are two Presidents and 20 Counsellors besides Advocates and Proctours ad placitum In the Tournelle which is an aggregation of all the other Courts there are supposed to be no sewer then 200 officers of all sorts which is no great number considering the many causes there handled In the Tournelle the Judges fit on life and death in the Chamber of Enquests they examine only civill affaires of estate title debts or the like The pleaders in these Courts are called Advocates and must be at the least Licentiates in the study of the Law At the Parliaments of Theloza and Bourdeaux they admit of none but Doctors Now the forme of admitting them is this In an open and frequent Court one of the aged'st of the Long roab presenteth the party which defireth admission to the Kings Attorney generall saying with a loud voice Paise a cour recevoir N. N. licencie or Docteur en droict civil a la office d' Advocate This said the Kings Attorney biddeth him hold up his hand and saith to him in Latine Tu jurabis observare omnes regias consuetudines he answereth Juro 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 distressed widows of ruined Advocates and Proctoms Hanc veniam perimusque damusque it may be their own cases and therefore it is paid willingly The highest preferment of which these Advocates are capable is that of Chancellor an office of great power and profit the present Chancellor is named Mr. d' Allegre 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 vouchsafe to visite them He is also President of the Councell of Estate by his place and on him dependeth the making of good and sacred laws the administration of Justice the reformation of superstuous and abrogation of unprofitable Edicts c. He hath the keeping of the Kings great seal and by virtue of that either passeth or putteth back such Letters patents and Writs 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 difference for that in France two of them must be perpetually of the Clergy One of their Courts is very antient and hath in it two Presidents which are two of the Masters and 14 Counsellors The other is of a later erection as being founded anno 1580. and in that the two other of the Masters 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 noted 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 allure you exceeding pleasing and comely themselves by their own care and love to handsomenesse add great lustre to their garments and more to their persons Richly drest they are and well may be so as being the ablest and most powerfull men under the Princes and la Noblesse in all the Countrey an happinesse as I conjecture rather of the calling then the men It hath 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-wealths both for sway amongst the people and vogue amongst the military men having alwayes had the preheminence Of this rank were Pericles Phocion Alcibiades and Demosthenes 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 Demosthenes being both meer gown-men then to the best of their Captains the one freeing Athens from the armies of Macedon tâ—h 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 personam 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
the later French writers for those of the former age savour too much of the Legend make her to be a lusty Lasse of Lorrein trained up by the Bastard of Orleans and the Seigneur of Baudricourte only for this service And that she might carry with her the reputation of a Prophetesse and an Ambassadresse from heaven admit this and farewell witchcraft And for the sentence of her condemnation and the confirmation of it by the Divines and University of Paris it is with me of no moment being composed only to humour the Victor If this could sway me I had more reason to incline to the other party for when Charles had setled his estate the same men who had condemned her of sorcery absolved her and there was also added in defence of her innocency a Decree from the Court of Rome Joane then with me shall inherit the title of La pucille d' Orleans with me she shall be ranked amongst the famous Captains of her times and be placed in the same throne equall with the valiantest of all her sexe in time before her Let those whom partiality hath wrested aside from the path of truth proclaim her for a sorceresse for my part I will not flatter my best fortunes of my Countrey to the prejudice of a truth neither will I ever be enduced to think of this female warrier otherwise then of a noble Captain Audetque viris concurrere virgo Penthesilea did it Why not she Without the stain of spels and sorcerie Why should those acts in her be counted sin Which in the other have commended bin Nor is it fit that France should be deni'd This female souldier sinâ—e all Realms beside Have had the honour of one and relate How much that sexe hath re-enforc'd the state Of their decaying strengths Let Scythia spare To speak of Tomyris th' Assyrians care Shall be no more to hear the deeds recited Of Ninus wife Nor are the Dutch delighted To hear their Valleda extoll'd the name Of this French warrier hath eclips'd their fame And silenc'd their atchievements Let the praise That 's due to vertue wait upon her Raise An obelisque unto her you of Gaule And let her acts live in the mouthes of all Speak boldly of her and of her alone That never Lady was as good as Jone She died a virgin 't was because the earth Held not a man whose vertues or whose birth Might merit such a blessing But above The gods provided her a fitting love And gave her to St. Denis shee with him Protects the Lillies and their Diadem You then about whose armies she doth watch Give her the honour due unto her match And when in field your standards you advance Cry loud St. Denis and St. Jone for France 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 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 Lombards Saxons Saracens and others were fain to submit themselves to their Laws It happened afterwards that Lotharius Saxo the Emperour wh 〈…〉 gan 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 juris Schola 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 estates 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 Emanuel Chrysolaras taught it at Venice being driven out of his Countrey by the Turks Thus the Philosophy of Aristotle lay hidden in the moath of dust and libraries Et nominabatur potius quod legebatur as Ludovicus 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 restauration 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 side the mountains This is evident by the Bull of Clement V. dated at Lyons in the year 1367. where he giveth it this title Fructiferum universitatis Aurelianensts intra caetera citramontana studia prius solennius antiquius tam civilis quam Canonicae facultatis studium At the first there were instituted eight Professors 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 remit 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 escoles it is only an old barn converted into a School by the
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 ruâ—igine dentes Dura cutis per quam spectari viscera possent Ventris erat pro ventre locus pendere putares Pectus et a spinae tantummodo crate teneri 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 finem 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 Britain not of this Country Mr. Lee Dignicoes Governor of Picardie The office 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 began 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 shape 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 unto that harmelesse monument of Christs sufferings the Crosse which is grown it seemeth so exorbitant that the Papists make use of it to discover an Hugonot I remember as I passed by water from Amiens to Abbeville we met in the boat with a levie of French Gentlewomen to one of them with that French as I had I applyed my self and she perceiving me to be English questioned my Religion I answered as I safely might that I was a Catholick and she for her better satisfaction proffered me the little crosse which was on the top of her beads to kisse and rather should I desire to kisse it then many of their lips whereupon the rest of the company gave of me this verdit that I was Un urai Christien ne point un Hugonot But to proceed in our journall The same day we parted from Paris we passed through the Town of Luzarch and came to that of St. Loup The first famous only in its owner which is the Count of Soissons The second in an Abbey there situate built in memory of St. Lupus Bishop of Trios in Champagne These Townes passed we were entred into Picardie Picardie is divided into the higher which containeth the Countries of Calice and Boulogne with the Town Monstâ—â—vill and the lower in which are the goodly Cities of Amiens Abbeville and many other places of principall note The higher which is the lesser and more Northern part is bounded North and West with the English Ocean and on the East with Flanders and Artoys The lower which is the larger the richer and the more Southern hath on the East the little Country of Veromandys on the West Normandy and on the South the Countrey of Champagne In length it comprehendeth all the 51 degree of Latitude and three parts of the 50 extending from Calice in the North to Clermont in the South In breadth it is of a great inequality For the higher Picardie is like Linea amongst the Logitians which they desine to be longitudo sine latitudine it being indeed nothing in a manner but a meer border The lower is of a larger breadth and containeth in it the whole 24 degree of longitude and a fourth part of the 23 so that by the proportion of degrees this Province is 105 miles long and 25 broad Concerning the name of Pieardie it is a difficulty beyond my reading and my conjecture All I can do is to overthrow the lesse probable opinions of other writers and make my self subject to that scoffe which Lactantius bestoweth on Aristotle Rectè hic sustulit aliorum disciplinas sed non recte fundavit suam Some then derive it from Piquon one forsooth of Alexander the greats Captains whom they fain to have built Amiens and Piquigni an absurdity not to be honoured with a consutation some from the Town of Piquigni it self of which mind is Mercator but that Town never was of such note as to name a Province others derive it from Picardus a fanaticall Heretick of these parts about the year 1300 and after but the appellation is far older then the man others fetch it from the Picts of Britain whom they would have to flie hither after the discomfiture of their Empire and Nation by the Scots a transmigration of which all Histories are silent this being the verdict of the best Antiquary ever was nursed up in Britain Picti itaque funestissimo praelio debellati aut penit us fuerunt extincti aut paulatim in Scotorum nomen nationem concesserint Lastly some others derive the name from Pique which signifieth a Lance or a Pike the inventors of which warlike weapon the fathers of this device would fain make them In like manner some of Germany have laboured to prove that the Saxons had that name given them from the short swords which they used to wear called in their language Scaxon but neither truely For my part I have consulted Ptolemie for all the Nations and the Itinerarium of Antonius for all the Towns in this tract but can find none on which I may fasten any probable Etymologie All therefore that I can say is that which Robert Bishop of Auranches in Normandy hath said before me and that only in the generall Quos itaque aetas nostra Picardos appellat verae Belgae dicendi sunt qui post modum in Picardorum nomen transmigrarunt This Countrey is very plentifull of
Corne and other grain with which it abundantly furnisheth Paris and hath in it more store of pasture and medow grounds then I else saw in any part of France In Vines only it is defective and that as it is thought more by the want of industry in the people then any inhability in the soil For indeed they are a people that will not labour more then they needs must standing much upon their state and distance and in the carriage of their bodies favouring a little of the Spaniard whence Picardâ—er to play the Picard is usually said of those who are lofty in their looks or gluttonous at their tables this last being also one of the symptomes of a Picard The Governor of this Province is the Duke of Les Diguieres into which office he succeeded Mr. Luynes as also he did into that of the Constable Two preferments which he purchased at a deer rate having sold or abandoned that religion to-compasse them which he had prosessed more then 60 years together an apostasie most unworthy of the man who having for so many years supported the cause of religion hath now forsaken it and thereby made himself gilty of the cowardise of M. Antonius Qui cum in desertores saevire debuerat desertor sui exertilus factus est But I fear an heavier censure waiteth upon him the crown of immortality not being promised to all those which run but to those only which hold out till the end For the present indeed he hath augmented his honours by this office which is the principall of all France He hath place and command before and over all the Peers and Princes of the bloud and at the Coronation of the French Kings ministreth the oath when he entreth a City in state or upon the â—redition of it he goeth before with the Sword naked and when the King sitteth in an assembly of the three estates he is placed at the Kings right hand He hath command over all his Majesties forces and he that killeth him is guilty of high treason He sitteth also as chief Judge at the Table of marble upon all suits actions persons and complaints whatsoever concerning the wars This Table de Marbre was wont to be continually in the great hall of the Palais at Paris from whence upon the burnning of that hall it was removed to the Louure At this table doth the Admirall of France hold his Sessions to judge of trafick prizes letters of marts piracy and businesse of the like nature At this table judgeth also Le grand Maistre des eaues et forrests we 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 Fish-ponds 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 July 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 rising 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 fall of a rock In the year 1615 it was made good by Mr. Harancourt with a Regiment of eight Companies 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 Marshall D' Ancres coming before it with his Army and Artillery it was presently yeelded This war which was the second civill war which had happened in the reign of King Lewis was undertaken by the Princes chiefly to thwart the designes of the Queen mother and crush the powerfulnesse 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 ruine of the French Empire But it was not the fate of D' Anire as yet to persh Two years more of command and insolencies his destinies allow'd him and then he tumbled This opportunity of his death ending the third civill war each of which his faulty greatnesse had occasioned What the ambition of his designes did tend to I dare not absolutely determine though like enough it is that they aimed further then at a private or a personall potencie for having under the favour and countenance of the Queen mother made himself master of the Kings ear and of his Councell he made a shift 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 generall estates and of the soveraign Courts 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
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 particular houses then the strength of their Empires and that they more desired a noble stock wherein to graft posterity then power The Alliance with Savoy 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 siding 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 Italy 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 Guicciardine saith that Mantennero le cose d' Italia bilanciate On this reason Henry IV. earnestly desired to match one of his children into this Countrey and left this desire as a Legacy with his Councell 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 Brethren 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 in the life time of his Father He is now Grand Prior of France and it is much laboured and hoped by the French that he shall be the next Master of the Order a place of great credit and command The second and most loved of his father whose lively image and character he is said to be is Mr. Cesar made Duke of Vendosme by his father and at this time Governour of Britain a man of a brave spirit and one who swayeth much in the affairs of state his father took a great care for his advancement before his death and therefore marryed him to the daughter and heir of the Duke of Mercuer a man of great possessions in Britain It is thought that the inheritance of this Lady both by her Fathers side and also by the Mothers who was of the family of Martiques being a stock of the old Ducall tree is no lesse then 200000 crownes yearly both these were borne unto the King by Madam Gabriele for her excellent beauty surnamed La belle Dutchesse of Beauforte a Lady whom the King entirely affected even to her last gaspe and one who never abused her power with him So that one may truly say of her what Velleius flatteringly spake of Liviae the wife of Augustus Ejus potentiam nemo sensit nisi aut levatione periculi aut accessione dignitatis The third of the Kings naturall brethren is Mr. Henry now Bishop of Metz in Lorreine and Abbot of St. Germans in Paris as Abbot he is Lord of the goodly Fauxbourg of St. Germans and hath the profit of the great Fair there holden which make a large revenue His Bishoprick yeeldeth him the profits of 20000 Crowns and upwards which is the remainder of 6000 the rest being paâ—ned unto the Duke of Lorreine by the last Bishop hereof who was of that Family The mother of this Mr. Henry is the Marchionesse of Verneville who before the death of the King fell out of his favour into the Prison and was not restored to her liberty till the beginning of this Queen mothers Regency The fourth and youngest is Mr. Antonie born unto the King by the Countesse of Marret who is Abbot of the Churches of Marseilles and Cane and hath as yet not fully out 6000 l. a year when his mother dyeth he will be richer The Kings lawfull Brother is named John Baptist Gaston born the 25 of Aprill anno 1608 a Prince of a brave and manlike aspect likely to inherit as large a part of his Fathers spirit as the King doth of his Crown He is intituled Duke of Anjou as being the third Son of France but his next elder Brother the Duke of Orleans being dead in his childhood he is vulgarly and properly called Monseiur This title is different from that of Daulphin in that that title only is appropriated to the Heir Apparent being the Kings eldest Son living this limited to the Heir Apparent being the Kings eldest Brother surviving if there be neither Son nor Brother then the next Heir Apparent is styled only Le primier Prince du sang the first Prince of the bloud This title of Monseiur answereth unto that of Despote in the Greek Empire and in imitation of that is thought to have been instituted Others of the French Princes are called Monseiurs also but with some addition of place or honour The Kings eldest Brother only is called Monseiur sans qâ—â—ne as the French use to say that is simply Monseiur This young Prince is as yet unmarryed but destinate to the bed of the young Dutchesse of Montpensier whose Father dyed in the time of Henry IV. Had the Duke of Orleans lived he had espoused her long ere this but it is generally believed that this Prince is not so affected he seeth his elder Brother as yet childlesse himself the next heir to the Crown and it is likely he will look on a while and expect the issue of his fortune Some that speak of the affairs of the Court holdeth her a fitter match for the young Count of Soissons a Prince of the bloud and a Gentleman of a fine temper the Lady her self is said not to be averse from the match neither will the King not be inclinable unto him as hoping therein to give him some satisfaction for not performing a Court promise made unto him as some say about marrying the young Madam now Queen of England As for the Count it cannot but be advantagious to him divers wayes partly to joyne together the two families of Montpensier and Soissons both issuing from the house of Burbon partly to enrich himself by adding to his inheritance so fair an Estate and partly by gaining all the friends and allies of that Ladies kindred to his the better to enable his opposition against the Prince of Conde the difference between them standeth thus Lewis the first Prince of Conde had by two wives amongst other children two Sons by his first wife Henry Prince of Conde by the second Charles Count of Soissons Henry Prince of Conde had to his first wife Mary of Cleve daughter to the Duke
for without the sweat and bloud of the people no Pillages no Impositions upon our private wares no Gabels upon our commodities Nullum in tam inâ—enti regno vectigal non in urbibus pontiumve discriminibus Publicanorum stationes as one truely hath 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 governed we in part are makers of each Paisant of the Countrey hath a free-voice in the enacting 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 â—actiously 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 fruits 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 blessings 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—â—stre doth eclipse mine eye That which doth Nâ—ptunes fury 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 full noise may strike the neighbouring Lands Into a Palâ—ie Doth not that lov'd name Move you to extasie O were the same As dear to you as me that very word Would make you dance and caper over board Dull shipmen how they move not how their houses Grow to the planks yet stay here 's sport enough For see the sea Nymphs fooâ— it and the fish Leap their high measures equall to my wish Triton doth sound his shell and to delight me Old Nereus hobleth with his Amphitrite Excellent triumphs But curs'd fates the main Quickly divides and takes them in again And leaves me dying till I come to land And kisse my dearest Mother in her sand Hail happy England hail thou sweetest Isle Within whose bounds no Pagan rites defile The purer faith Christ is by Saints not mated And he alone is worship'd that created In thee the labouring man enjoyes his wealth Not subject to his Lords rape or the stealth Of hungry Publicans In thee thy King Feares not the power of any underling But is himself and by his awfull word Commands not more the begger then the Lord. In thee those heavenly beauties live would make Most of the Gods turn mortals for their sake Such as outgo report and make â—ame see They stand above her hig'st Hyperbale And yet to strangers will not grâ—teâ— the blisse Of salutation and an harmlesse kisse Hail then sweet England may I 〈◊〉 my last In thy loâ—'d armes and when my dayes are past And to the silence of the gr 〈…〉 I must All I desire is thou wouldst keep my â—ust The End of the Fifth Book and the first Journey THE SECOND JOURNEY CONTAINING A SURVEY of the ESTATE of the two ILANDS Guernzey and Jarsey With the ISLES appending According to their Politie and Formes of Government both Ecclesiasticall and Civill THE SIXTH BOOK LONDON Printed by E. Cotes for Henry Seile over against St. Dunstans Church in Fleetstreet 1656. A SURVEY of the ESTATE OF Guernzey and Jarsey c. 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 hapned in it The mercenary falsnesse of the Dutch exemplified in the dealing of a man of warre WHen first I undertook to attend upon my Lord of Danby to the Islands of Guernzey and Jarsey besides the purpose which I had of doing service to his Lordship I resolved also to do somewhat for my self and if possible unto the places For my self in bettering what I could my understanding if peradventure the persons or the place might add unto me the knowledge of any one thing to which I was a stranger At the least I was in hope to satisfy my curiosity as being not a little emulous of this kind of living Multorum mores hominum qui vidit urbes which had seen so much of men and of their manners It was also not the last part of mine intention to do something in the honour of the Island by committing to memory their Antiquities by reporting to posterity their Arts of Government by representing as in a Tablet the choycest of their beauties and in a word by reducing these and the Achievements of the people as far as the light of Authors could direct me into the body of an History But when I had a little made my self acquainted with the place and people I found nothing in them which might put me to that trouble The Churches naked of all Monuments and not so much as the blazon of an Armes permitted in a window for fear as I conjecture of Idolatry No actions of importance to be heard of in their Legends in their remembrancers whereby to ennoble them in time to come unlesse perhaps some slight allarmes from France may occasion speech of them in our common Chronicles The Countrey indeed exceeding pleasant and delightsome but yet so small in the extent and circuit that to speak much of them wereto put the shooe of Hercules upon the foot of an Infant For being in themselves an abridgement only of the greater works of nature how could the character and description of them be improved into a Volume Having thus failed in the most of my designes I applyed my self to make enquirie after their form of Government in which I must needs confesse I met with much which did exceedingly affect me Their Lawes little beholding in the composition of them to Justinian and of no great affinity with the laws of England which we call Municipall or common The grand Customarie of Normandy is of most credit with them and that indeed the only rule
used in the reformed Churches But the reformed Churches are very many and their confessions in some points very different The Lutheran Confessions are for consubstantiation and ubiquity the English is for Homilies for Bishops for the Kings Supremacy and so not likely to be intended The confession then here intended must be that only of Geneva which Church alone is thought by some of them to have been rightly and perfectly reformed Chap. 4. 1. To propose the Word of God The fashion of it this such as by study have enabled themselves for the holy Ministery upon the vacancy of any Church have by the Collequie some time appointed to make trial as they call it of their gilt The day come and the Colloquie assembled they design him a particular place of Scripture for the ground of his discourse which done and the proponent for so they term him commanded to withdraw they passe their censures on him every one of them in their order if they approve of him they then send him also to propose unto the people as in the second Article Chap. 4. 〈◊〉 And that bareheaded And this it may be because Candidates p 〈…〉 venture because not yet initiated For themselves having once attained the honour to be Masters in Israel they permit their heads to be warmly covered a thing not in use only by the Ministers of the Geneva way but as my self have seen it among the Priests and Jesuites I know the putting on of the hat is a sign of liberty that the Laconians being made free Denizens of Lacedemon would never go into the battail nisi pileati without their hats and that the Gent. of Rome did use to manumit their slaves by giving them a cap whereupon ad pileum vocare is as much as to set one free Yet on the other side I think it little prejudicial to that liberty not to make such full use of it in the performance of those pious duti 〈…〉 True it is that by this book of Discipline the people are commanded to be uncovered during the Prayers the reading of the Text the â—inging 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 prophecying with his head covered dishonoureth his head I shall applaud 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 imposition of hands A ceremony 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 Deacons 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 Je t' impose les mains c. viz. 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 former occupations 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 doctrina summae cousensionis and much also to this purpose 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 certain pledge of faith and amity So Anchises in the third book of Aeneids Dextram dat juveni atque animum praesenti pignore firmat so 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 desrayed 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—awcy 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 left 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
abilities as a person answerable to the Governors commendations he was established in that office by Letters Patents from his Majesty dated the 8. of March anno 1619. and was invested with all such rights as formerly had been inherent in that dignity and that both in point of profit and also in point of jurisdiction For whereas formerly the Dean was setled in the best benefice in the Island that viz. of St Martins and had divers portions of tithes out of every of the Parishes the said St. Martins was allotted to him upon the next avoidance and the whole tithes of St. Saviours allowed him in consideration of his several parcels And whereas also at the suppression of the Deanry the Governor had taken into his hands the probate of Testaments and appointed unto civil Courts the cognizance of Matrimoniall causes and of tithes all these again were restored unto him and forever united to this office For the executing of this place there were some certain Articles or rather Canons drawn and ratified to be in force till a perfect draught of Ecclesiastical constitutions could be agreed on which it pleased his Majesty to call the Interim And this he did in imitation of Charles the 5. which Prince desirous to establish peace and quietnesse in the Church of Germany and little hoping that any Councel would be summoned soon enough to determine of the differences then on foot composed a certain mixture of opinions in favour of each party which he endevoured to obtrude upon that people the compilers of it Julius Pflugiâ—â— Michael Sidoâ—â—us and Islebius the time when anno 1594 the name of it the Interim a name given unto it by the Emperor eo quod praescriberet formulam doctrinae ceremoniarum in religione in terra tenendam quoad de universa re religionis concilio publico definitum esset so the historian of the Councell In like manner did it please his Majesty as himself tels us in the next chapter in the interim untill he mought be fully informed what Lawes c. were meet and fit to be established for the good government of the said Island in causes Ecclesiastical c. to grant commission c. to exercise the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction there according to cerâ—aid instructions signed with our royal hand to continue only untill we might establish c. as it followeth in the Original By this Interim there was a clause in force whereby it was permitted to the Ministers not to bid holydaies or use the Crosse in Baptism or wear the Surplice or to exact it of the people that they kneel at the Communion In other matters it little differed from the Canons afterwards established and now in being in that Island Thus fortified with power and furnished with instructions home cometh the new Dean into his Countrey and in a frequent assembly of the three Estates takes full possession of his place and office Nor found he any opposition till he began to exercise his Jurisdiction At what time Sir John Herault then Bayliffe of the Island and to whom his Majesty had given the title of St. Saviour not pleased to see so many causes drawn from his Tribunal made head against him But this disgust was quickly over-blown and the Bailiffe for four years suspended by his Majesty from the executing of his office This done his fellow Ministers were called together and he imparted unto them his instructions All of them seeming well contented with the Jurisdiction De la place excepted who much impatient as commonly the miscarrying of our hopes as much torments us as the losse of a possession to see himself deluded forsook the Countrey But to the Liturgie they thought they had no cause to give admission nay that they had good cause unto the contrary viz. as not being desired by them in their addresse and having been for fifty years at least a stranger in the Islands a thing also much stomacked and opposed by many learned men in England and not imposed as yet upon the Scots which people in so many other particulars had been brought unto conformity with the English In the end having fix moneths allowed them to deliberate frangi pertinaciam suam passi sunt they were content to bend and yeeld unto it upon such qualifications of it as in the instructions were permitted A duty carelesly discharged and as it were by halfs by many of them those viz of the ancient breed which have so been wedded to a voluntary frame and fabrick of devotion but punctually observed by those of the lesser standing as having good acquaintance with it here in England and not possessed with any contrary opinion whereby it might be prejudiced And now there wanted nothing to perfect the intentions of â—his Majesty and to restore unto the Island the ancient face and being of a Church but only that the Policy thereof was something temporary and not yet established in the rule and Canon But long it was not ere this also was effected and a fixt Law prescribed of Government Ecclesiastical Which what it is by what means it was agreed on how crossed and how established his Majesties own Letters Patents can best instruct us and to them wholly I referre the honour of the relation 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 JAMES by the grace of God King of England Scotland France and Ireland defender of the faith c. To our right trusty and well beloved Counseller the reverend father in God Lancelot Bishop of Winton and to our trusty and well beloved Sir John Peyton Knight Governour of the Isle of Jarsey and to the Governour of the said Isle for the time being and to the Bailiffe and Jurates of the said Isle for the time being to whom it shall or may appertain Greeting Whereas we held it fitting heretofore upon the admission of the now Dean of that Island unto his place in the interim untill we might be fully informed what Lawes Canons or Constitutions were meet and fit to be made and established for the good government of the Island in causes Ecclesiasticall appertaining to Ecclesiasticall jurisdiction to command the said Bishop of Winton Ordinary of the said Island to grant his Commission unto David Bandinell now Dean of the same Island to exercise the Ecclesiasticall jurisdiction there according to certain instructions signed with our royall hand to continue only till we might establish such Constitutions Rules Canons and Ordinances as we intended to settle for the regular government of that our Island in all Ecclesiasticall causes conformed to the Ecclesiasticall government established in our Realm of England as near as conveniently might be And whereas also to that our purpose and pleasure was that the said Dean with what convenient speed he might after such authority given unto him as aforesaid and after his arrivall into that Island and the publick notice given of
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 Aliens and other French men beneficed should avoid the Realm except only Priors Conventuals such as have institution 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. Virgil ad Reip. commodum sancâ—tum est ut post haec ejusmodi externis hominibus nullius 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 Aliens being banished their possessions fell into the Kings hands as in England so also in these Islands 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 200 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 Priors of any Monastery or Priory c. for or concerning such Cels of Religious houses appertaining or belonging to their Monasteries or Priories in which Cels the Priors or other chief Governours thereof be under the obedience of the Abbots or Priors to whom such Cels belong As the Monke or Canons of the Covent of their Monasteries or Priories and cannot be sued by the Lawes of this Realm or by their own proper names for the possessions or other things appertaining to such Cels whereof they be Priors and Governors but must sue and be sued in and by the names of the Abbots and Priors to whom they be now obedient and to whom such Cels belong and be also Priors or Governours dative or removeable from time to time and accomptez of the profits of such Cels at the only will and pleasure of such of the Abbots and Priors to whom such Cels belong c. This once the difference between them but now the criticisme may be thought unnecessary To proceed upon this suppression of the Priors and others the Religious houses in these Islands and their Revenue falling unto the Crown there grew a composition between the Curates and the Governours about their tithes which hath continued hitherto unaltered except in the addition of the Deserts of which more hereafter Which composition in the proportion of tithe unto which it doth amount I here present unto your Lordship in a brief Diagramme together with the the names of their Ministers and Justices now beng JARSEY Parishes Ministers Revenues Justices St. Martins Mr. Bandinell sen the Dean The 3 of the kings tithe Josuah de Carteret Seign de Trinite St. Hilaries Mr. Oliver the Sub-dean or Commissary The 10 of the kings tithe Dan du Maresque seign de Sammarez St. Saviours Mr. Effart The Deserts and 22 acres of Gleb Ph. L' Empriere Sr. de Delament St. Clements Mr. Paris The 8 and 9 of the kings tithe Ph. de Carletet Sr. de Vinchiles de haut St. Grovilles Mr. de la Place The 8 and 9 c. Eli. du Maresque Sr. de Vinchiles abas St. Trinities Mr. Molles The Deserts and the 10 of the kings tithe Eli. de Carteret Sr. de la Hagne St. Johns Mr. Brevin The Deserts c. Joh. L' Empriere Sr. des au grace S. Lawrences Mr. Prinde The Deserts c. Aron Messervie St. Maries Mr. Blandivell jun. The 3 sheaf of the Kings tithe Ben. la cloche Sr. de Longueville St. Owens Mr. La cloche The Deserts c. Jo. Harde St. Burlads  The 8 and 9 c. Abr. Herod St. Peters Mr. Grueby The Deserts c. Ph. Marret Note that the taking of the 8 and 9 sheafe is called French querrui as also that an acre of their measure is 40 Perches long and one in breadth every Perche being 21 foot GUERNZEY Parishes Ministers Revenues Justices St. Peters on the Sea M. de la March The 7 of tithe and champarte Tho. Andrewes Sr. de Sammarez St. Martins Mr. de la Place The like Pet. Carey sen La Forest Mr. Picote The 9 of tithe and champarte John Fautrat Sr. â—de Coq Tortevall Mr. Fautrat The 3 of tithe and champarte Joh. Bonamy S. Andrews The 4 of c. Joh. Ketville St. Peters in the Wood. Mr. Perchard The 3 of the tithe only James Guile Sr. des Rohais St. Saviours  The Desert and the tenths in all 600 sheafes Tho. Blundell Chastell Mr. Panisee The 9 of the tithe only Pet. de Beauvoyre Sr. des Granges St. Mich. St. Michael in the vale Mr. Millet The 4 of the Kings tithe only Pet. Gosselin St. Sampson The like Josias Merchant Serke Mr. Brevin 20 l. stipend and 20 quarters of corn Pet. Carey jun. Alderney Mr. Mason 20 l. stipend  Note that the Parish called in this Diagram La Forest is dedicated as some say to the holy Trinity as other to St. Margaret that which is here called Tortevall as some suppose unto St. Philip others will have it to St. Martha but that of Chastell to the hand of the blessed Virgin which is therefore called in the Records our Ladies Castle Note also that the Justices or Jurates are here placed as near as I could learn according to their Seniority not as particularly appertaining to those Parishes against which they are disposed For the better understanding of this Diagram there are three words which need a commentary as being meerly Aliens to the English tongue and hardly Denizens in French Of these that in the Diagrams called the Deserts is the first A word which properly signifieth a Wildernesse or any wast ground from which ariseth little profit As it is taken at this present and on this occasion it signifieth a field which formerly was laid to waste and is now made arable The case this At the suppression of the Priors Aliens and the composition made betwixt the Curates and the Governours there was in either Island much ground of small advantage to the Church or to the