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
the younger brothers of England would think the contrary To conclude this generall discourse of the Normans I dare say it is as happy a Country as most in Europe were it subject to the same Kings and governed by the same Laws which it gave unto England CHAP. II. Dieppe the Town strength and importance of it The policy of Henry IV. not seconded by his Son The custome of the English Kings in placing Governours in their Forts The breaden God there and strength of the Religion Our passage from Dieppe to Roven The Norman Innes Women and Manners The importunity of servants in hosteries The sawcie familiarity of the attendants Ad pileum vocare what it was amongst the Romans Jus pileorum in the Universities of England c. JUne the 30. at 6 of the clock in the morning we landed at Dieppe one of the Haven-towns of Normandy seated on an arme of the Sea between two hils which embrace it in the nature of a Bay This secureth the Haven from the violence of the weather and is a great strength to the Town against the attempts of any forces which should assault it by Sea The Town lying within these mountains almost a quarter of a mile up the channell The Town it self is not uncomely the streets large and wel paved the houses of an indifferent height and built upright without any jettings out of one part over the other The Fortifications they say for we were not permitted to see them are very good and modern without stone within earth on the top of the hill a Castle finely seated both to defend the Town and on occasions to command it The Garrison consisteth of 60 men in pay no more but when need requireth the Captain hath authority to arme the Inhabitants The present Governour is the Duke of Longueville who also is the Governour of the province entrusted with both those charges by Lewis XIII anno 1619. An action in which he swarved somewhat from the example of his father who never committed the military command of a Countrey which is the office of the Governour and the custody of a Town of war or a Fortresse unto one man The Duke of Biron might hope as great a curtesie from that King as the most deserving of his Subjects He had stuck close to him in all his adversities received many an honourable scar in his service and indeed was both Fabius and Scipio the Sword and Buckler of the French empire In a word he might have said to this Henry what Silius in Tacitus did to Tiberius Suum militem in obsequio mansisse cum alii ad seditiones prolaberentur neque duraturum Tiberii imperium si iis quoque legionibus cupido novandi fuisset yet when he became petitioner to the King for the Citadell of Burg seated on the confines of his government of Bourgogne the King denied it The reason was because Governours of Provinces which command in chief ought not to have the command of Places and Fortresses within their Government There was also another reason more enforcing which was that the Petitioner was suspected to hold intelligence with the Duke of Savoy whose Town it was The same Henry though he loved the Duke of Espernon even to the envy of the Court yet even to him also he used the same caution Therefore when he had made him Governor of Xainroigne and Angoulmois he put also into his hands the Towns of Metz and Boulogne places so remote from the seat of his Government and so distant one from another that they did rather distract his power then increase it The Kings of England have been well and for a long time versed in this maxime of estate Let Kent be one of our examples and Hampshire the other In Kent at this time the Lieutenant or as the French would call him the Governor is the Earl of Mountgomerie yet is Dover Castle in the hands of the Duke of Buckhingham and that of Quinborough in the custody of Sir Edward Hobby of which the one commandeth the Sea and the other the Thames and the Medway In Hampshire the Lieutenant is the Earl of South-Hampton but the government of the Town and Garrison of Portesmouth is entrusted to the Earl of Pembroke neither is there any of the leâ—st Sconces or Blockhouses on the shore-side of that Countrey which is commanded by the Lieutenant But King Lewis now reigning in France minded not his Fathers action when at the same time also he made his confident Mr. Luines Governor of Picardie and of the Town and Citadell of Amiens The time ensuing gave him a sight of this State-breach For when the Dukes of Espernon Vendosme Longueville Mayenne and Nemours the Count of Soisons and others sided with the Queen Mother against the King the Duke of Longueville strengthned this Dieppe and had not Peace suddenly followed would have made it good maugre the Kings forces A Town it is of great importance King Henry IV. using it as his Asylum or City of refuge when the league was hottest against him For had he been further distressed from hence might he have made an escape into England and in at this door was the entance made for those English forces which gave him the first step to his throne The Town hath been pillaged and taken by our Richard the first in his war against Philip Augustus and in the declining of our affaires in France it was nine monthes together besieged by the Duke of York but with that successe which commonly attendeth a falling Empire The number of the Inhabitants is about 30000 whereof 9000 and upwards are of the Reformation and are allowed them for the exercise of their religion the Church of Arques a Village some two miles distant the remainders are Papists In this Town I met with the first Idolatry which ever I yet saw more then in my Books Quos antea audiebam hodie vidi Deos as a barbarous German in Vellejus said to Tiberius The Gods of Rome which before I only heard of I now saw and might have worshipped It was the Hoaste as they call it or the Sacrament reserved carryed by a couple of Priests under a Canopie ushered by two or three torches and attended by a company of boyes and old people which had no other imployment Before it went a Bell continually tinkling at the sound whereof all such as are in their houses being warned that then their God goeth by them make some shew of reverence those which meet it in the street with bended knees and elevated hands doing it honour The Protestants of this Bell make an use more religious and use it as a warning or watch-peal to avoid that stâ—eet through which they hear it coming This invention of the Bell hath somewhat in it of Tureisme it being the custome there at their Canonicall houres when they hear the criers bawling in the steeples to fall prostrate on the ground wheresoever they are and kisse it thrice so doing their
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
this Church notwithstanding is likely now to su 〈…〉 their madnesse King Henry the 4. began the repairing of it and his Son Lewis hath since continued so that the quire is now quite finished and the workmen are in hand with the rest What should move the Hugonots to this execution I cannot say unlesse it were a hate which they bare unto the name and perhaps that not unlikely We read how the Romans having expelled their Kings banished also Collatinus their Consul a man in whom they could finde no fault but this that his surname was Tarquin tantum ob nomen genus regium saith Florus afterwards quam invisum regis nomen is very frequent in the stories of those times Amongst those which had been of the conspiracy against Julius Caesar there was one named Cinna a name so odious amongst the people that meeting by chance with one of Caesar's chief friends and hearing that his name was Cinna they presently murthered him in the place for which cause one Casca which was also the name of one of the Conspirators published a writing of his name and pedegree shewing therein that he neither was the traytor nor any kin to him The reason of his action Dion giveth us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Quod Cinua nominis causa occideretur With a like hate it may be were the French Protestants possessed against the name of the Crosse for they not only ruined this temple but beat down also all those little crossets betwixt Mont Martre and St. Denis though now King Lewis hath caused them to be re-edified And what troubles the French party here in England have raised because of that harmlesse ceremony of the crosse Notius est quam ut stilo egeat and therefore I omit it This Church is the seat of a Bishop who acknowledgeth the Archbishop of Sens for his Metropolitan The present Bishop is named Franciscus d' Aubespine said to be a worthy Scholar and a sound Polititian though he were never graduated further then the arts Of his revenue I could learn nothing but of his priviledge this namely that at the first entrance of every new Bishop into this Church he hath the liberty of setting free any of the prisoners of the Gaole though their crime be never so mortall For the original of this indulgence we are beholding to St. Aignan once Bishop here and who defended the City against Auila the Harme At his first entrance into the town saith the story after he was invested Bishop he besought Agrippinus the Governour that for his sake he would let loose all his prisoners ut omnes quos pro variis criminibus poenalis carcer detinebat inclusos in sui introitus gratiam redderet absolutos when the Governour had heard his request he denied it and presently a stone falleth upon his head no man knew from whence wounded and terrified with this the Governor granteth his desire recovereth her health and ever since the custome hath continued For the truth of this story I intend to be no Champion for I hold it ridiculous and savouring too much of the Legend but this I am certain of that every new Bishop maketh a very solemn and majestick entry into the City and at his entry releaseth a prisoner Let us follow the Bishop into his Church and there we shall finde him entertained with an high Masse the ceremonies whereof are very pretty and absurd To go over them all would require a volume I will therefore mention those only wherein they differ from other Masses and they are two the one fantastical the other heathenish For as soon as the priest at the altar hath read a certain lesson but what his voice was not audible enough to tell me out marcheth the Dean or in his absence the senior Canon out of the Church Before him two or three torches and a long crosse silvered over after him all those of the Church and lastly the lay people both men and women so that there is none left to keep possession but the Priest and the Altar and such strangers as come thither for curiosity they go out at one door and having first circuited the quire and afterwards the body of the Church they return to their places and the Priest proceedeth I have seen many a dumb shew in a play just like it This only is the difference that here we had no interpreter nor Chorus afforded us to shew us the mysterie of this silent gesticulation The other addition which I observed here at the Masse though I have since been told that it is ordinary at high Masses in the Cathedral Churches was the censing of the people which was performed in this manner Whilest the Priest was busie at the Altar there entred into the quire at a side door two boyes in their Surplices bearing wax-tapers in their hands and immediately after them the foresaid fellow with the Crosse in the rere there came two of the Priests in their copes and other stately vestiments between both a young lad with the incense-pot made full of holes to let out the sume which he swingeth on all sides of him with a chain to which it was fastned having thus marched through the Church and censed the people he ascendeth unto the Altar and there censeth the crosse the relicks the bread the wine the chalice the images and I know not what not A custome very much used amongst the Heathen Omnibus viris factae sunt statuse ad eas thus cerei saith Tully and Jane tibi primam thura merumque fero saith Ovid in his de Fastis So have we in Martiall Te primum piathura rogent and the like in divers other writers of antient At what time it crept into the Churches of the Christians I cannot tell Sure I am it was not used in the primitive times nor in the third age after our Saviour save only in their burials Sciant Sabaei saith Tertullian who at that time lived pluris cariores merces suas Christianis sepeliendis profligari quam fumigantibus Arnobius also in the 7 book adversus gentes disclaimeth the use of it and yet the Councell of Trent in the 22. Session defineth it to be as boldly ex Apostolica institutione traditione as if the Apostles themselves had told them so I know they had rather seem to derive it from the 30 chap. and 7. vers of Exodus and so Bishop Durand is of opinion in his Rationale divinorum but this will not help them Aaron there is commanded only to burn incense on the Altar and not to cense men and images crosses and relicks c. as the Papists do So that will they nill they they must be counted followers of the Heathen though I envie them not the honour of being Jewes From the history and view of the Church proceed we to that of the Town where nothing occurreth more memorable then the great siege laid before it by the English A siege of great
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
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
also those of other places Moreover when â—idings came to Paris of the Duke of Mayens death slain before Montauban the rascall French according to their hot headed dispositions breathed out nothing but ruine to the Hugonots The Duke of Monbazon governour of the City commanded their houses and the streets to be safely guarded After when this rabble had burne down their Temple at Charenton the Court of Parliament on the day following ordained that it should be built up again in a more beautifull manner and that at the Kings charge Add to this that since the ending of the wars and the reduction of almost all their Towns we have not seen the least alteration of Religion Besides that they have been permitted to hold a Nationall Synod at Charenton for establishing the truth of their Doctrine against the errours of Arminius professour of Leidâ—n in Holland All things thus considered in their true being I connot see for what cause our late Soveraign should suffer so much censure as he then did for not giving them assistance I cannot but say that my self have too often condemned his remissenesse in that cause which upon better consideration I cannot tell how he should have dealt in Had he been a medler in it further then he was he had not so much preserved Religion as supported Rebellion besides the consequence of the example He had Subjects of his own more then enough which were subject to discontent and prone to an apostasie from their alleagiance To have assisted the disobedient French under the colour of the liberty of conscience had been only to have taught that King a way into England upon the same pretence and to have trod the path of his own hazard He had not long before denied succour to his own children when he might have given them on a better ground and for a fairer purpose and could not now in honour countenance the like action in another For that other deniall of his helping hand I much doubt how far posterity will acquit him though certainly he was a good Prince and had been an happy instrument of the peace of Christendome had not the latter part of his reign hapned in a time so full of troubles So that betwixt the quietnesse of his nature and the turbulency of his latter dayes he sell into that miserable exigent mentioned in the Historian Miserrimum est eum alicui aut natura sua excedenda est aut minuenda dignitas Add to this that the French had been first abandoned at home by their own friends of seven Generals which they had appointed for the seven circles into which they divided all France four of them never giving them incouragement The three which accepted of those unordinate Governments were the Duke of Rohan his brother M. Soubise and the Marquesse of Lafforce the four others being the Duke of Tremoville the Earl of Chastillon the Duke of Lesdisguier and the Duke of Bovillon who should have commanded in chief So that the French Protestants cannot say that he was first wanting for them but they to themselves If we demand what should move the French Protestants to this Rebellious contradiction of his Majesties commandements We must answer that it was too much happinesse Gausa hujus belli eadem quae omnium nimia foelicitas as Florus of the Civill wars between Caesar and Pompey Before the year 1620 when they fell first into the Kings disfavour they were possessed of almost 100 good Towns well fortified for their safety besides beautifull houses and ample possessions in the Villages they slept every man under his own Vine and his own Fig-tree neither fearing nor needing to fear the least disturbance with those of the Catholick party they were grown so intimate and entire by reason of their inter-marriages that a very few years would have them incorporated if not into one faith yet into one family For their better satisfaction in matters of Justice it pleased King Henry the fourth to erect a Chamber in the Court of the Parliament of Paris purposely for them It consisteth of one President and 16 Counsellours their office to take knowledge of all the Causes and Suits of them of the reformed Religion as well within the jurisdiction of the Parliament of Paris as also in Normandy and Britain till there should be a Chamber erected in either of them There were appointed also two Chambers in the Parliaments of Burdeaux and Grenoble and one at the Chastres for the Parliament of Tholoza These Chambers were called Les Chambre de l' Edict because they were established by especiall Edict at the Towns of Nantes in Britain Aprill the 8. anno 1598. In a word they lived so secure and happy that one would have thought their felicities had been immortall O faciles dare summa deos eademque tueri Difficiles And yet they are not brought so low but that they may live happily if they can be content to live obediently that which is taken from them being matter of strength only and not priviledge Let us now look upon them in their Churches which we shall finde as empty of magnificence as ceremony To talke amongst them of Common-prayers were to fright them with the second coming of the Masse and to mention Prayers at the buriall of the dead were to perswade them of a Purgatory Painted glasse in a Church window is accounted for the flag and ensigne of Antichrist and for Organs no question but they are deemed to be the Devils bagpipes Shew them a Surplice and they cry out a rag of the Whore of Babylon yet a sheet on a woman when she is in child-bed is a greater abomination then the other A strange people that could never think the Masse-book sufficiently reformed till they had taken away Prayers nor that their Churches could ever be handsome untill they were ragged This foolish opposition of their first Reformers hath drawn the Protestants of these parts into a world of dislike and envie and been no small disadvantage to the fide Whereas the Church of England though it dissent as much from the Papists in point of Doctrine is yet not uncharitably thought on by the Modern Catholicks by reason it retained such an excellency of Discipline When the Liâ—urgie of our Church was translated into Latine by Dr. Morket once Warden of All-Souls Colledge in Oxford it was with great approofe and applause received here in France by those whom they call the Catholicks royall as marvelling to see such order and regular devotion in them whom they were taught to condemn for Hereticall An allowance which with some little help might have been raised higher from the practice of our Church to some points of our judgement and it is very worthy of our observation that which the Marquesse of Rhosny spake of Canterbury when he came as extraordinary Ambassadour from King Henry IV. to welcome King James into England For upon the view of our solemn Service and ceremonies he openly said unto
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
needs must note that as the erecting of these fabricks in these Islands was founded on the ruine of the Deanries so had the birth of this device in England been death unto the Bishopricks No wonder then if those which principally manage the affairs of holy Church so busily bestir themselves in the destroying of this viper which by no other means can come into the world then by the death and ruine of his mother Yet so it is I know not whether by destiny or some other means I would not think but so it is that much of this new plat-form hath of late found favour with us and may in time make entrance to the rest Their Lecturers permitted in so many places what are they but the Doctors of Geneva save only that they are more factious and sustain a party And what the purpose and design of this but so by degrees to lessen the repute of such daies as are appointed holy by the Church and fasten all opinion to their daies of preaching By whose authority stand the Church-wardens at the Temple doors as I have seen it oft in London to collect the bounty of the hearers but only by some of their appointments who finde that duty or the like prescribed here unto the Deacons cap. 1. 2. I could say somewhat also of our ordinary Fasts how much they are neglected every where and no Fast now approved of but the solemn Nay we have suffered it of late to get that ground upon us in the practise at the least that now no common businesse must begin without it Too many such as these I fear I could point out unto your Lordship did I not think that these already noted were too many A matter certainly worthy of your Lordships care and of the care of those your Lordships partners in the Hierarchie that as you suffer not these new inventions to usurp upon our Churches by violence so that they neither grow upon us by cunning or connivence CHAP. VI. 1 King James how affected to this Platform 2 He confirmes the Discipline in both Islands 3 And for what reasons 4 Sir John Peyton sent Governour into Jarzey 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 referre themselves unto the King 9 The Inhabitants of Jarzey petition for the English Discipline 10 A reference of both parties to the Councell 11 The restitution of the Dean 12 The Interim of Germanie what it was 13 The Interim of Jarzey 14 The exceptions of the Ministery against the Book of Common-prayer 15 The establishment of the new Canons IN this state and under this Government continued those Islands till the happy entrance of King James upon the Monarchy of England A Prince of whom the brethren conceived no small hopes as one that had continually been brought up by and amongst those of that faction and had so oft confirmed their much desired Presbyteries But when once he had set foot in England where he was sure to meet with quiet men and more obedience he quickly made them see that of his favour to that party they had made themselves too large a promise For in the conference at Hampton Court he publickly professed that howsoever he lived among Puritans and was kept for the most part as a ward under them yet ever since he was of the age of ten years old he ever disliked their opinions and as the Saviour of the world had said though he lived among them he was not of them In this conference also that so memorized Apophthegm of his Majesty No Bishop no King and anon after My Lords the Bishops faith he I may thank ye that these men the Puritans plead thus for my Supremacy Add to this that his Majesty had alwaies fostred in himself a pious purpose not only of reducing all his Realms and Dominions into one uniform order and course of discipline which thing himself avoweth in his Letters Patents unto those of Jarzey but also to establish in all the reformed Churches if possibly it might be done together with unity of Religion and uniformity of devotion For which cause he had commanded the English Liturgie to be translated into the Latine and also into most of the national Languages round about us by that and other more private means to bring them into a love and good opinion of our Government which he oftentimes acknowledged to have been approved by manifold blessings from God himself A heroick purpose and worthy of the Prince from whom it came This notwithstanding that he was enclined the other way yet upon suit made by those of these Islands he confirmed unto them their present orders by a Letter under his private Seal dated the 8. of August in the first year of his reign in England which Letters were communicated in the Synod at St. Hilaries the 18. of September 1605. the Letter written in the French Tongue but the tenor of them was as followeth James by the Grace of God King of England Scotland France and Ireland c. unto all those whom these presents shall concern greeting Whereas we our selves and the Lords of our Councell have been given to understand that it pleased God to put it into the heart of the late Queen our most dear sister to permit and allow unto the Isles of Jarzey and Guernsey parcel of our Dutchy of Normandy the use of the Government of the reformed Churches in the said Dutchy whereof they have stood possessed until our coming to this Crown for this couse we desiring to follow the pious example of our said Sister in this behalf as well for the advancement of the glory of Almighty God as for the edification of his Church do will and ordain that cur said Isles shall quietly enjoy their said liberty in the use of the Ecclesiastical Discipline there now established forbidding any one to give them any trouble or impeachment as long as they contain themselves in our obedience and attempt not any thing against the pure and sacred Word of God Given at our Palace at Hampton Court the 8. day of August Anno Dom. 1603. and of our reign in England the first Signed above James R. The reasons which moved this Prince to assent unto a form of Government which he liked not was partly an ancient rule and precept of his own viz. That Princes at their first entrance to a Grown ought not to innovate the government presently established But the principal cause indeed was desire not to discourage the Scots in their beginnings or to lay open too much of his intents at once unto them For since the year 1595. his Majesty wearied with the confusions of the Discipline in that Church established had much busied himself in restoring their antient place and power unto the Bishops He had already brought that work so forwards that the Scottish Ministers had admitted of 13 Commissioners which was the antient
and finally containing but one half of the work which is here presen 〈…〉 Faults and infirmities I have too many of mine own Nam vitiis nemo sine nascitur as we know who said and therefore would not charge my self with those imperfections those frequent errors and mistakes which the audaciousnesse of other men may obtrude upon me which having signified to the Reader for the detecting of this imposture and mine own discharge I recommend the following work to his favourable censure and both of us to the mercies of the Supreme Judge Lacies Court in Abingdon April 17. 1656. Books lately printed and reprinted for Henry Seile DOctor Heylyn's Cosmography in fol. Twenty Sermons of Dr. Sanderson's ad Aulam c. never till now published Dr Heylyn's Comment on the Apostles Creed in fol. Bishop Andrewes holy Devotions the 4 Edition in 12. Martiall in 12. for the use of West minster School John Willis his Art of Stenography or Short writing by spelling Characters in 8. the 14 Edition together with the School master to the said Art SYLLABUS CAPITUM OR The Contents of the Chapters NORMANDIE OR THE FIRST BOOK The Entrance THe beginning of our Journey The nature of the Sea A farewell to England 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 pag. 4. CHAP. II. Dieppe the Town strength and importance of it The policy of Henry IV. not seconded by his Son The custome of the English Kings in placing Governours in their Forts The breaden God there and strength of the Religion Our passage from Dieppe to Roven The Norman Innes Women and Manners The importunity of servants in hosteries The sawcie familiarity of the attendants Ad pileum vocare what it was amongst the Romans Jus pileorum in the Universities of England c. p. 9. CHAP. III. ROVEN a neat City how seated and built the strength of is St. Katharines mount The Church of Nostre dame c. The indecorum of the Papists in the severall and unsutable pictures of the Virgin The little Chappell of the Capuchins in Boulogne The House of Parliament The precedency of the President and the Governor The Legend of St. Romain and the priviledge thence arising The language and religion of the Rhothomagenses or people of Roven p. 19. CHAP. IV. Our journey between Roven and Pontoyse The holy man of St. Clare and the Pilgrims thither My sore eyes Mante Pontoyse Normandy justly taken from King John The end of this Booke p. 26. FRANCE specially so called OR THE SECOND BOOK CHAP. I. France in what sense so called The bouuds of it All old Gallia not possessed by the French Countries follow the name of the most predominant Nation The condition of the present French not different from that of the old Gaules That the heavens have a constant power upon the same Climate though the Inhabitants are changed The quality of the French in private at the Church and at the table Their language complements discourse c. p. 33. CHAP. II. The French Women their persons prating and conditions The immodesty of the French Ladies Kissing not in use among them and the sinister opinion conceived of the free use of it in England The innocence and harmelesnesse of it amongst us The impostures of French Pandars in London with the scandall thence arising The peccancy of an old English Doctor More of the French Women Their Marriages and lives after wedlock c. An Elogie to the English Ladies p. 41. CHAP. III. France described The valley of Montmorancie and the Dukes of it Mont-martre Burials in former times not permitted within the wals The pros cuting of this discourse by manner of a journall intermitted for a time The Iown and Church of St. Denis The Legend of him and his head Of Dagobert and the Leper The reliques to be seen there Martyrs how esteemed in St. Augustine ' s time The Sepulchres of the French Kings and the treasury there The Kings house of Madrit The Qeen Mothers house at Ruall and fine devices in it St. Germains en lay another of the Kings houses The curious painting in it Gorramburie Window the Garden belonging to it and the excellency of the Water-works Boys St. Vincent de Vicennes and the Castle called Bisester p. 50. CHAP. IV. Paris the names and antiquity of it The situation and greatnesse The chief strength and Fortifications about it The streets and buildings King James his laudable care in beautyfying London King Henry the fourths intent to fortifie the Town Why not actuated The Artifices and wealth of the Parisians The bravery of the Citizens described under the person of a Barber p. 64. CHAP. V. Paris divided into four parts Of the Fauxburgs in generall Of the Pest-house The Fauxburg and Abbey of St. Germain The Queen Mothers house there Her purpose never to reside in it The Provost of Merchants and his authority The Armes of the Town The Town-house The Grand Chastellet The Arcenall The place Royall c. The Vicounty of Paris And the Provosts seven daughters p. 73. CHAP. VI. The University of Paris and Founders of it Of the Colledges in general Marriage when permitted to the Rectors of them The small maintenance allowed the Scholars in the Universities of France The great Colledge at Tholoza Of the Colledge of the Sorbonne in particular that and the House of Parliament the chief Bulwarks of the French liberty Of the Polity and Government of the University The Rector and his precedency the disordered life of the Scholars there being An Apologie for Oxford and Cambridge The priviledges of the Scholars their degrees c. p. 80. CHAP. VII The City of Paris seated in the place of old Lutetia The Bridges which joyn it to the Town and University King Henry's Statua Alexander ' s injurious policy The Church and revenues of Nostre Dame The Holy water there The original making and virtue of it The Lamp before the Altar The heathenishnesse of both customes Paris best seen from the top of this Church the great Bell there never rung but in time of Thunder the baptizing of Bels the grand Hospital and decency of it The place Daulphin The holy Chappel and Reliques there What the Antients thought of Reliques The Exchange The little Chastelet A transition to the Parlament p. 90. CHAP. VIII The Parliament of France when begun of whom it consisteth The digniiy and esteem of it abroad made sedentarie at Paris appropriated to the long robe The Palais by whom built and converted to seats of Justice The seven Chambers of Parliament The great Chamber The number and dignity of the Presidents The Duke of Biron afraid of them The Kings seat in it The sitting of the Grand Signeur in the Divano The authority of this Court in causes of all kinds and ever
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
crest-faln and at once lost both their spirits and their liberty The present Norman then is but the corruption of the Antient the heir of his name and perhaps his possessions but neither of his strength nor his manhood Bondage and a fruitfull soil hath so emasculated them that it is a lost labour to look for Normans even in Normandy There remaineth nothing almost in them of their progenitours but the remainders of two qualities and those also degenerated if not bastards a penurious pride and an ungoverned doggednesse Neither of them become their fortune or their habite yet to these they are constant Finally view him in his rags and dejected countenance and you would swear it impossible that these snakes should be the descendents of those brave Heroes which so often triumphed over both Religions foiling the Saracens and vanquishing the Christians But perchance their courage is evaporated into wit and then the change is made for the better Ortelius would seem to perswade us to this conceit of them and well might he do it if his words were Oracles Le gens saith he speaking of this Nation sont des plus accorts subtils d' esprit de la Gaule A character for which the French will little thank him who if he speak truth must in matter of discretion give precedency to their Vassals But as Imbalt a French leader said of the Florentines in the fifth book of Guicciardine Non sapeva dove consistesse lingegne tanto celebrate de Fiorentini so may I of the Normans For my part I could never yet find where that great wit of theirs lay Certain it is that as the French in generall are termed the Kings Asses so may these men peculiarly be called the Asses of the French or the veriest Asses of the rest For what with the unproportionable rents they pay to their Lords on the one side and the immeasurable taxes laid upon them by the King on the other they are kept in such a perpetuated course of drudgery that there is no place for wit or wisdome left amongst them Liberty is the Mother and the Nurse of those two qualities and therefore the Romans not unhappily expressed both the conditions of a Freeman and a discreet and modest personage by this own word Ingenuus Why the French King should lay a greater burden on the backs of this Nation then their fellowes I cannot determine Perhaps it is because they have been twice conquered by them once from King John and again from Henry VI. and therefore undergo a double servitude It may be to abate their naturall pride and stubbornnesse Likely also it is that being a revolting people and apt to an apostasie from their allegiance they may by this meanes be kept impoverished and by consequence disabled from such practises This a French Gentleman of good understanding told me that it was generally conceited in France that the Normans would suddenly and unanimously betray their Countrey to the English were the King a Catholick But there is yet a further cause of their beggerlinesse and poverty which is their litigiousnesse and frequent going to law as we call it Ortelius however he failed in the first part of their character in the conclusion of it hath done them justice Mais en generall saith he ils sont scavans au possible en proces plaideries They are prety well versed in the quirks of the Law and have wit more then enough to wrangle In this they agree exactly well with the Inhabitants of our Country of Norfolk ex infima plebe non pauci reperiuntur saith Mr. Camden quin si nihil litium sit lites tamen ex ipsis juris apicibus serere calleant They are prety fellowes to finde out quirks in Law and to it they will whatsoever it cost them Mr. Camden spake not this at randome or by the guesse For besides what my self observed in them at my being once amongst them in a Colledge progresse I have heard that there have been no lesse then 340 Nisi prius tryed there at one Assizes The reason of this likenesse between the two Nations I conjecture to be the resemblance of the site and soil both lie upon the Sea with a long and a spacious Coast both enjoy a Countrey Champain little swelled with hils and for the most part of a light and sandy mould To proceed to no more particulars if there be any difference between the two Provinces it is only this that the Countrey of Normandy and the people of Norfolk are somewhat the richer For indeed the Countrey of Normandie is enriched with a fat and liking soil such an one Quae demum votis avari agricolae respondet which may satisfie the expectation of the Husbandman were it never so exorbitant In my life I never saw Corn-fields more large and lovely extended in an equall levell almost as far as eye can reach The Wheat for I saw little Barley of a fair length in the stalke and so heavy in the ear that it is even bended double You would think the grain had a desire to kisse the earth its mother or that it purposed by making it self away into the ground to save the Plough-man his next years labour Thick it groweth and so perfectly void of weeds that no garden can be imagined to be kept cleaner by Art then these fields are by Nature Pasture ground it hath little and lesse Meddow yet sufficient to nourish those few Cattel they have in it In all the way between Dieppe and Pontoyse I saw but two flocks of Sheep and them not above 40 in a flock Kine they have in some measure but not fat nor large without these there were no living for them The Nobles eat the flesh whilst the Farmer seeds on Butter and Cheese and that but sparingly But the miserable estates of the Norman paisant we will defer till another opportunity Swine also they have in prety number and some Pullen in their back sides but of neither an excesse The principall River of it is Seine of which more hereafter and besides this I saw two rivulets Robee and Renelle In matter of Civill Government this Countrey is directed by the court of Parliament established at Roven For matters Military it hath an Officer like the Lieutenant of our shires in England the Governor they call him The present Governor is Mr. Le duc de Longueville to whom the charge of this Province was committed by the present King Lewis XIII anno 1619. The Lawes by which they are governed are the Civill or Imperiall augmented by some Customes of the French and others more particular which are the Norman One of the principal'st is in matters of inheritance the French custome giving to all the Sons an equality in the estate which we in England call Gavelkind the Norman dividing the estate into three parts and thereof allotting two unto the eldest brother and a third to be divided among the others A law which the French count not just
ab antiquo vitia saith an Author modern rather in time then judgment patriae sorte durantia que tol as in historiis gentes aut commendant aut not ant Two or three Authors by way of parallel will make it clear in the example though it appear not obscure in the search of causes Primus Gallorum impetus imajor quam virorum secundus minor quam foeminarum saith Florus of the Gaules What else is that which Mr. Dallington saith of the French when he reporteth that they begin an action like thunder and end it in a smoak Their attempts on Naples and Millain to omit their present enterprise on Genoa are manifest proofs of it neither will I now speak of the battail of Poicteirs when they were so forward in the onset and furious in the flight Vt sunt Gallorum subita ing enia saith Caesar I think this people to be as hare-brained as ever were the other Juvenal calleth Gallia foecunda causidicorum and among the modern French it is related that there are tryed more law-causes in one year then have been in England fince the Conquest Of the antient Germans the next neighbours and confederates of the Gaules Tacitus hath given us this note Diem noctemque continuare potando nulli probrum and presently after De jungendis affinitatibus de bello denique pace in convivis consultant Since the time of Tacitus hath Germanie shifted almost all her old inhabitants and received new Colonies of Lombards Sueves Gothes Sclavonians Hunns Saxons Vandals and divers other Nations not known to that writer Yet still is that exorbitancy of drinking in fashion and to this day do the present Germans consult of most of their affairs in their cups If the English have borrowed any thing of this humor it is not to be thought the vice of the Countrey but the times To go yet higher and further the Philosopher Anacharsis and he lived 600 and odd yeers before Christ noted it in the Greeks that at the beginning of their feasts they used little goblets and greater towards the end when they were now almost drunken 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Laertius reporteth it George Sandys in the excellent discourse of his own travailes relateth the same custome to continue still amongst them notwithstanding the length of time and all the changes of state and people which have since hapned Their Empire indeed they have lost their valour learning and all other graces which set them out in the sight of the World and no marvell these were not nationall conditions but personall endowments I conclude then this digression with the words of Barklay Haeret itaque in omni gente vis quaedam inconcussa quae hominibus pro conditione terrarum in quibus nasoi contigerit sua fata diviserit The present French then is nothing but an old Gaule moulded into a new name as rash he is and as head strong and as hare brain'd A nation whom you shall win with a seather and lose with a straw Upon the first sight of him you shall have him as familiar as your sleep or the necessity of breathing In one houres conference you may indeer him to you in the second unbutton him the third pumps him drie of all his secrets and he gives them you as faithfully as if you were his ghostly father and bound to conceal them sub sigillo confessionis when you have learned this you may lay him aside for he is no longer serviceable If you have an humor of holding him in a further acquaintance a favour of which he confesseth and I believe him he is unworthy himself will make the first separation He hath said over his lesson to you and must now finde out some body else to whom to repeat it Fare him well he is a garment whom I would be loath to wear above two days together for in that time he will be thread-bare Familiare est homini omnia sibi remittere saith Velleius of all it holdeth most properly in this people He is very kind-hearted to himself and thinketh himself as free from wants as he is full so much he hath in him of the nature of a Chinoy's that he thinketh all men blind but himself In this pride of self-conceitednesse he hateth the Spaniard loveth not the English and contemneth the German himself is the only Courtier and compleat Gentleman but it is his own glasse which he seeth in out of this conceit of his own excellency and partly out of a shallownesse of brain he is very liable to exceptions The least distast that can be draweth his sword and a minutes pause sheathes it to your hand If afterwards you beat him into better manners he shall take it kindly and cry serviteur In this one thing they are wonderfully like the Devill Meeknesse or submission maketh them insolent a little resistance putteth them to their heels or makes him your Spaniel In a word for I have held him too long he is a walking vanity in a new fashion I will now give you a taste of his table which you shall finde in a measure furnished I speak not of the Paisant but not in so full a manner as with us Their Beef they cut out in so little chops that that which goeth there for a laudable dish would be thought here to be an University commons new served from the hatch A loine of Mutton serves amongst them for three roastings beside the hazard of making pottage with the rump Fowle also they have in good plenty especially such as the King sound in Scotland To say truth that which they have is sufficient for nature and a friend were i◠not for the Mistresse of the Kitchin-wench I have heard much fame of French Cooks but their skill lyeth not in the handling of Beef or Mutton They have as generally have all this Nation good fancies and are speciall fellowes for the making of puffe-pastes and the ordering of banquets Their trade is not to feed the belly but the palat It is now time you were set down where the first thing you must do is to say your own Grace private Graces are as ordinary there as private Masses and from thence I think they learned them That done fall to where you like best They observe no methods in their eating and if you look for a Carver you may rise fasting When you are risen if you can digest the sluttishnesse of the cookery which is most abominable at first sight I dare trust you in a Garrison Follow him to Church and there he will shew himself most irreverent and irreligious I speak not this of all but of the generall At a Masse in the Cordeliers Church in Paris I saw two French Papists even when the most sacred mystery of their faith was celebrating break out into such a blasphemous and Atheisticall laughter that even an Ethnick would have hated it It was well they were known to be Catholicks otherwise some French hot-head or
other would have sent them laughing to Pluto The French language is indeed very sweet and delectable It is cleared of harshnesse by the cutting off and leaving out the consonants which maketh it fall off the tongue very volubly yet in my opinion it is rather elegant then copious and therefore is much troubled for want of words to find out periphrases It expresseth very much of it self in the action The head body and shoulders concurre all in the pronouncing of it and he that hopeth to speak it with a good grace must have somewhat in him of the Mimick It is inriched with a full number of significant Proverbs which is a great help to the French humor of scoffing and very full of courtship which maketh all the people complementall The poorest Cobler in the Village hath his Court-cringes and his eau beniste de Cour his court holy water as perfectly as the Prince of Conde In the Passados of their court-ship they expresse themselves with much variety of gesture and indeed it doth not misbecome them Were it as graticus in the Gentlemen of other Nations as in them it were worth your patience but the affectation of it is scurvy and ridiculous Quocunque salutationis artificio corpus inflectant putes nihil ista institutione magis convenire Vicinae autem gentes ridiculo errore deceptae ejusdem venustatis imitationem ludicram faciunt ingratam as one happily observed at his being amongst them I have heard of a young Gallant son to a great Lord of one of the three Brittish Kingdoms that spent some years in France to learn fashions At his return he desired to see the King and his father procured him an entervenie When he came within the Presence-chamber he began to compose his head and carry it as if he had been ridden with a Martingall next he fell to draw back his legs and thrust out his shoulders and that with such a gracelesse apishnesse that the King asked him if he meant to shoulder him out of his chair and so left him to act out his complement to the hangings In their courtship they bestow even the highest titles upon those of the lowest condition This is the vice also of their common talk The begger begetteth Monsieurs and Madams to his sons and daughters as familiarly as the King Were there no other reason to perswade me that the Welch or Britains were the descendants of the Gaules this only were sufficient that they would all be Gentlemen His discourse runneth commonly upon two wheels treason and ribaldrie I never heard people talke lesse reverently of their Prince nor more sawcily of his actions Scarce a day passeth away without some seditious Pamphlet printed and published in the disgrace of the King or of some of his Courtiers These are every mans mony he that buyeth them is not coy of the Contents be they never so scandalous of all humors the most base and odious Take him from this which you can hardly do till he hath told all and then he falleth upon his ribaldry Without these crutches his discourse would never be able to keep pace with his company Thus shall you have them relate the stories of their own uncleannesse with a face as confident as if they had no accidents to please their hearers more commendable Thus will they reckon up the severall profanations of pleasure by which they have dismanned themselves sometimes not sparing to descend to particulars A valiant Captain never gloried more in the number of the Cities he had taken then they do of the severall women they have prostituted Egregiam vero laudem spolia ampla Foolish and most perishing wretches by whom each severall incontinencie is twice committed first in the act and secondly in the boast By themselves they measure others and think them naturals or Simplicians which are not so conditioned I protest I was fain sometimes to put on a little impudence that I might avoid the suspicion of a gelding or a sheep-biter It was St. Austins case as himself testifyeth in the second book of his Confessions Fingebam me saith that good Father fecisse quod non feceram ne caeteris viderer abjectior But he afterwards was sorry for it and so am I and yet indeed there was no other way to keep in a good opinion that unmanly and ungoverned people CHAP. II. The French Women their persons prating and conditions The immodesty of the French Ladies Kissing not in use among them and the sinister opinion conceived of the free use of it in England The innocence and harmelesnesse of it amongst us The impostures of French Pandars in London with the scandall thence arising The peccancie of an old English Doctor More of the French Women Their Marriages and lives after wedlock c. An Elogie to the English Ladies I Am come to the French Women and it were great pity they should not immediately follow the discourse of the men so like they are one to the other that one would think them to be the same and that all the difference lay in the apparell For person they are generally of an indifferent stature their bodies straight and their wastes commonly small but whether it be so by nature or by much restraining of these parts I cannot say It is said that an absolute woman should have amongst other qualities requisite the parts of a French woman from the neck to the girdle but I believe it holdeth not good their shoulders and backs being so broad that they hold no proportion with their midles yet this may be the vice of their apparell Their hands are in mine opinion the comliest and best ordered part about them long white and slender Were their faces answerable even an English eye would apprehend them lovely but herein do I finde a pretty contradictorie The hand as it is the best ornament of the whole structure so doth it most disgrace it Whether it be that ill diet be the cause of it or that hot bloud wrought upon by a hot and scalding aire must of necessity by such means vent it self I am not sure of This I am sure of that scarce the tithe of all the maids we saw had her hands and arme wrists free from scabs which had over-run them like a leprosie Their hair is generally black and indeed somewhat blacker then a gracious lovelinesse would admit The Poets commend Leda for her black hair and not unworthily Leda fuit nigris conspicienda comis As Ovid hath it Yet was that blacknesse but a darker brown and not so fâ—â—â—full as this of the French women Again the blacknesse of the hair is then accounted for an ornament when the face about which it hangeth is of so perfect a complexion and symmetrie that it giveth it a lustre Then doth the hair set forth the face as a shadow doth a picture and the face becometh the haire as a field-argent doth a sable-bearing which kind of Armory the Heralds call the most
fairest But in this the French women are most unluckie Don Quixote did not so deservedly assume to himself the name of The Knight of the ill-favoured face as may they that of the damosels of it It was therefore a happy speach of a young French gallant that came in our company out of England and had it been spoken amongst the Antients it might have been registred for an Apophthegme that the English of all the people in the world were only nati ad voluptates You have saith he the fairest women the goodliest horses and the best breed of dogs under heaven For my part as far as I could in so short a time observe I dare in this first believe him England not only being as it is said a paradise for women by reason of their priviledges but also a paradise of women by reason of their unmatchable perfections Their dispositions hold good intelligence with their faces You cannot say to them as Sueton doth of Galba Ingenium Galbae male habitat They suit so well one with another that in my life I never met with a better decorum but you must first hear them speak Loquere ut te videam was the method in old times and it holdeth now You cannot gather a better character of a French woman then from her prating which is so tedious and infinite that you shall sooner want ears then she tongue The fastidious pratler which Horace mentioneth in his ninth Satyre was but a puisnè to her The writers of these times call the Sitilians Gerrae Siculae and not undeservedly yet were they but the Scholars of the French and learned this faculty of them before the Vespers It is manners to give precedency to the Mistresse and she will have it if words may carry it For two things I would have had Aristotle acquainted with these Starlings First it would have saved him a labour in taking such paines about finding out the perpetuall motion Secondly it would have freed him from an Heresie with which his Doctrine is now infected and that is Quiquid movetur ab alio movetur their tongues I am certain move themselves and make their own occasions of discoursing When they are going they are like a watch you need not winde them up above once in twelve houres for so long the thread of their tongues will be in spinning A dame of Paris came in Coach with us from Roven fourteen houres we were together of which time â—'le take my oath upon it her tongue fretted away eleaven hours and 57 minutes Such everlasting talkers are they all that they will sooner want breath then words and are never silent but in the grave which may also be doubted As they are endlesse in their talk so also are they regardlesse of the company they speak in Be you stranger or of their acquaintance it much matters not though indeed no man is to them a stranger Within an hour of the first fight you shall have them familiar more then enough and as merry with you as if they had known your bearing-clothes It may be they are chaste and I perswade my self many of them are but you will hardly gather it out of their behaviour Te tamen cultus damnat as Ausonius of an honest woman that carried her self lesse modestly They are abundantly full of laughter and toying and are never without variety of lascivious Songs which they spare not to sing in what company soever You would think modesty were quite banished the Kingdom or rather that it had never been there Neither is this the weaknesse of some few It is an epidemicall disease Maids and Wives are alike sick of it though not both so desperately the galliardy of the maids being of the two a little more tolerable that of the women coming hard upon the confines of shamelesnesse As for the Ladies of the Court I cannot say this but upon hear-say they are as much above them in their lightnesse as they are in their place and so much the worse in that they have made their lightnesse impudent For whereas the daughter of Pythagoras being demanded what most shamed her to discourse of made answer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 those parts which made her woman these French dames will speak of them even in the hearing of men as freely and almost as broadly as a Midwife or a Barber-surgeon Nay I have heard a Gentleman of good credence relate that being at a tilting he saw a Courtier going to remove a boy which very roguishly looked under a Ladies clothes but when her Ladiship perceived his intention she hindred him with this complement Laisse Monseuir laisse les yeuxne sont pas larrens the boyes eyes would steal nothing away a very mercifull and gentle Lady If that of Justine be still true Vera mulierum ornamenta pudicitiam esse non vestes that modesty were the best apparell of a woman I am afraid many of the female sex in France would be thinly clad and the rest go naked Being a people thus prone to a suddain familiarity and so prodigall of their tongue and company you would scarce imagine them to be coy of their lips Yet this is their humor It seemed to me strange at first and uncivill that a woman should turn away from the proffer of a salutation Afterward I liked the custome very well and I have good cause for it for it saved me from many an unsavory piece of mannerlinesse This notwithstanding could not but amaze me that they who in their actions were so light and wanton should yet think themselves modest and confine all lasciviousnesse unto a kisse A woman that is kissed they account more then half whored be her other deportment never so becoming which maketh them very sparing of receiving such kindnesses But this is but a dissembled unwillingnesse and hath somewhat in it of the Italian For as they had rather murder a man in private then openly speak ill of him so it may be thought that these Damosels would hardly refuse a mans bed though education hath taught them to flie from his lip Night and the curtains may conceal the one the other can obtain no pardon in the eye of such as may happen to observe it Upon this ground your French Traveller that perhaps may see their Hostesse kissed at Dover and a Gentleman salute a Lady in the streets of London relateth at his coming home strange Chimera's of the English modesty To further this sinister opinion he will not spare to tell his Camerades for this I have noted to you to be a part of his humor what Merchants wives he enjoyed in London and in what familiarity such a Lady entertained him at Westminster Horrible untruths and yet my poor gallant thinketh he lyeth not I remember I met in Paris with an English Doctor and the Master of a Colledge there who complained much of the lasciviousness of the English women and how infamously every French Taylor that came from us reported
she hath freedome enough and certainly much more then a moderate wisdome would permit her It is one of her jura conjugalia to admit of Courtship even in the fight of her husband to walk arm in arm about the streets or into the fields with her Privado to proffer occasions of familiarity and acquaintance at the first sight of one whose person she relisheth and all this sans soupsen without any the least imputation a liberty somewhat of the largest and we may justly fear that having thus wholly in her own power the keyes of the Cabinet that she sheweth her jewels to more then her husband Such are the French women and such lives do they lead both maids and married Thou happy England thy four seas contain The pride of beauties such as may disdain Rivals on earth Such at once may move By a strange power the envie and the love Of all the sex besides Admit a dame Of France or Spain passe in the breath of fame And her thoughts for fair yet let her view The commonst beauty of the English crew And in despair she 'l execrate the day Which bare her black and sigh her self away So pin'd the Phrygian dames and hang'd the head When into Troy Paris did Helen lead But boast not Paris England now enjoyes Helens enough to sack a world of Troyes So doth the vulgar tapers of the â—kie Lose all their lustre when the Moon is nigh Yet English Ladies glorious lights as far Exceed the Moon as doth the Moon a star So do the common people of the groves Grow husht when Philomel recounts her loves But when our Ladies sing even she forbears To use her tongue and turns her tongue to ears Nay more Their beauties should proud Venus see Shee 'd blush her self out of her Deity Drop into Vuleans forge her raign now done And yeeld to them her Empire and her son Yet this were needless I can hardly finde Any of this land stars but straight my minde Speaks her a Venus and me thinks I spic A little Cupid sporting in her eye Who thence his shafts more powerfully delivers Then ere did t'other Cupid from his quivers Such in a word they are you would them guesse An harmony of all the goddesses Or swear that partial Nature at their birth Had rob'd the heavens to glorifie the earth Such though they are yet mean these graces bin Compar'd unto the vertues lodg'd within For needs the Jewels must be rich and precious When as the Cabinet is so delicious CHAP. III. France described The valley of Montmorancie and the Dukes of it Mont-martre Burials in former times not permitted within the wals The prosecuting of this disccurse by manner of a journal intermitted for a time The Town and Church of St. Denis The Legend of him and his head Of Dagobert and the Leper The reliques to be seen there Martyrs how esteemed in St. Augustine's time The Sepulchres of the French Kings and the treasury there The Kings house of Madrit The Queen Mothers house at Ruall and fine devices in it St. Germains en lay another of the Kings houses The curious painting in it Gorramburie Window the Garden belonging to it and the excellency of the Water-works Boys St. Vincent de Vincennes and the Castle called Bisester I Have now done with the French both men and women a people much extolled by many of our English Travellers for all those graces which may enoble adorn both sexes For my part having observed them as well as I could and traced them in all their several humors I set up my rest with this proposition that there is nothing in them to be envied but their Countrey To that indeed I am earnestly and I think not unworthily affected here being nothing wanting which may be required to raise and reward ones liking If nature was ever prodigal of her blessings or scattered them with an over-plentiful hand it was in this Island into which we were entred as soon as we passed over the bridge of Pontoyse The first part of it which lasted for three leagues was upon the plain of a mountain but such a mountain as will hardly yeeld to the best valley in Europe out of France On both sides of us the Vines grew up in a just length and promised to the husbandman a thriving vintage The Wines they yeeld are far better then those of Normandy or Gascoyne and indeed the best in the whole Continent those of Orleans excepted yet what we saw here was but as a bit to prepare our stomachs lest we should surfeit in the valley Here we beheld nature in her richest vestiments The fields so interchangeably planted with Wheat and Vines that had L. Florus once beheld it he would never have given unto Campania the title of Cereris Bacchi certamen These fields were dispersedly here and there beset with Cherry trees which considered with the rest gave unto the eye an excellent object For the Vines yet green the Wheat ready for the sithe and the cherries now fully ripened and shewing forth their beauties through the vails of the leaves made such a various and delightsome mixture of colours that no art could have expressed it self more delectably If you have ever seen an exquisite Mosaical work you may the best judge of the beauty of this valley Add to this that the River Seine being now past Paris either to embrace that flourishing soyle or out of a wanton desire to play with it self hath divided it self into sundry lesser channels besides its several windings and turnings so that one may very justly and not irreligiously conceive it to be an Idea or representation of the Garden of Eden the river so happily separating it self to water the ground This valley is of a very large circuit and as the Welch men say of Anglesey Mon mam Gymâ—ye id est Anglesey is the mother of Wales so may we call this the mother of Paris For so abundantly doth it furnish that great and populous City that when the Dukes of Berry and Burgundy besieged it with 100000 men there being at that time 3 or 400000 Citizens and Souldiers within the wals neither the people within nor the enemies without found any want of provision It is called the Valley of Montmorency from the Town or Castle of Montmorency seated in it but this town nameth not the Valley only It giveth name also to the ancient family of Dukes of Montmorency the antientest house of Christendome He stileth himself Le primier Christian plus viel Baron de France and it is said that his ancestors received the Faith of Christ by the preaching of St. Denis the first Bishop of Paris Their principal houses are that of Chantilly and Ecquoan both seated in the Isle this last being given unto the present Dukes Father by King Henry 4. to whom it was confiscated by the condemnation of one of his Treasurers This house also and so I leave it hath been observed to have
means he is within two or three years brought again to equall poverty with the rest A strange course and much different from that of England where the Gentry take a delight in having their Tenants thrive under them and hold it no crime in any that hold of them to be wealthy On the other side those of France can abide no body to gain or grow rich upon their farmes and therefore thus upon occasions rack their poor Tenants In which they are like the Tyrant Procrustes who laying hands upon all he met cast them upon his bed if they were shorter then it he racked their joynts till he had made them even to it if they were longer he cut as much of their bodies from them as did hang over so keeping all that fell into his power in an equality All the French Lords are like that Tyrant How much this course doth depresse the military power of this Kingdome is apparent by the true principles of war and the examples of other Countries For it hath been held by the generall opinion of the best judgements in matters of war that the main Buttresse and Pillar of an Army is the foot or as the Martialists term it the Infantery Now to make a good Infantery it requireth that men be brought up not in a slavish and needy fashion of life but in some free and liberall manner Therefore it is well observed by the Vicounâ— St. Albans in his History of Henry VII that if a State run most to Nobles and Gentry and that the Husbandmen be but as their meer drudges or else simply Cottagers that that State may have a good Cavallery but never good stable bands of foot Like to Coppice woods in which if you let them grow too thick in the stadles they run to bushes or bryers and have little clean under-wood Neither is this in France only but in Italy also and some other parts abroad in so much that they are enforced to imploy mercenary Souldiers for their battalions of foot whereby it cometh to passe that in those Countries they have much people and few men On this consideration King Henry VII one of the wisest of our Princes took a course so cunning and wholesome for the increase of the military power of his Realm that though it be much lesse in territory yet it should have infinitely more Souldiers of its native forces then its neighbour Nations For in the fourth year of his Reign there passed an Act of Parliament pretensively against the depopulation of Villages and decay of tillage but purposedly to inable his subjects for the wars The Act was That all houses of husbandry which had been used with twenty acres of ground and upwards should be maintained and kept up for together with a competent proportion of Land to be used and occupied with them c. By this means the houses being kept up did of necessity enforce a dweller and that dweller because of the proportion of Land not to be a begger but a man of some substance able to keep Hinds and Servants and to set the plough a going An order which did wonderfully concerne the might and manhood of the Kingdome these Farmes being sufficient to maintaine an able body out of penury and by consequence to prepare them for service and encourage them to higher honours for Haud facile emergent quorum virtutibus obstat Res angusta domi As the Poet hath it But this Ordinance is not thought of such use in France where all the hopes of their Armies consist in the Cavallery or the horse which perhaps is the cause why our Ancestors have won so many battailes upon them As for the French foot they are quite out of all reputation and are accounted to be the basest and unworthyest company in the world Besides should the French people be enfranchised as it were from the tyranny of their Lords and estated in freeholds and other tenures after the manner of England it would much trouble the Councell of France to find out a new way of raising his revenues which are now meerly sucked out of the bloud and sweat of the Subject Antiently the Kings of France had rich and plentifull demeans such as was sufficient to maintain their greatnesse and Majesty without being burdensome unto the Countrey Pride in matters of sumptuousnesse and the tedious Civill wars which have lasted in this Countrey almost ever since the death of Henry II. have been the occasion that most of the Crown lands have been sold and morgaged in so much that the people are now become the Demaine and the Subject only is the Revenue of the Crown By the sweat of their browes is the Court sed and the Souldier paid and by their labours are the Princes maintained in idlenesse What impositions soever it pleaseth the King to put upon them it is almost a point of treason not only to deny but to question Apud illos vere regnatur nefasque quantum regi liceat dubitare as one of them The Kings hand lyeth hard upon them and hath almost thrust them into an Egyptian bondage the poor Paisant being constrained to make up dayly his full tale of bricks and yet have no straw allowed them Upon a sight of the miseries and poverties of this people Sir John Fortescue Chancellour of England in his book intituled De Laudibus legum Angliae concludeth them to be unfit men for Jurors or Judges should the custome of the Countrey admit of such tryals For having proved there unto the Prince he was son to Henry VI. that the manner of tryall according to the Common Law by 12 Jurates was more commendable then the practise of the Civill or Emperiall Lawes by the deposition only of two witnesses or the forced confession of the persons arrained the Prince seemed to marvell Cur ed lex Angliae quae tam fiugi optabilis est non sit toti mundo communis To this he maketh answer by shewing the â—ree condition of the English Subjects who alone are used at these indictments men of a fair and large estate such as dwell nigh the place of the deed committed men that are of ingenuous education such as scorn to be suborned or corrupted and afraid of infamie Then he sheweth how in other places all things are contrary the Husbandman an absolute begger easie to be bribed by reason of his poverty the Gentlemen living far asunder and so taking no notice of the fact the Paisant also neither fearing infamie nor the losse of goods if he be found faulty because he hath them not In the end he concludeth thus Ne mireris igitur princeps si lex per quam in Anglia veritas inquiritur alias non pervagetur nationes ipsae namque ut Anglia nequerunt facere sufficientes consimilesque Juratas The last part of the latine savoureth somewhat of the Lawyer the word Juratas being put there to signifie a Jury To go over all those impositions which this miserable people
are afflicted withal were almost as wretched as the payment of them I wiil therefore speak only of the principall And here I meet in the first place with the Gabell or Imposition on Salt This Gabelle de sel this Impost on Salt was first begun by Philip the Long who took for it a double which is half a Sol upon the pound After whom Philip of Valoys anno 1328. doubled that Charles the VII raised it unto three doubles and Lewis the XI unto six Since that time it hath been altered from so much upon the pound to a certain rate on the Mine which containeth some 30 bushels English the rates rising and falling at the Kings pleasure This one commodity were very advantagious to the Exchequer were it all in the Kings hands but at this time a great part of it is morgaged It is thought to be worth unto the King three millions of Crowns yearly that only of Paris and the Provosts seven Daughters being farmed at 1700000 Crowns the year The late Kings since anno 15â—1 being intangled in wars have been constrained to let it out others in so much that about anno 1599. the King lost above 800000 Crowns yearly and no longer agone then anno 1621. the King taking up 600000 pounds of the Provost of Merchands and the Eschevines gave unto them a rent charge of 40000 l. yearly to be issuing out of his Customes of Salt till their money were repaid them This Gabell is indeed a Monopoly and that one of the unjustest and unreasonablest in the World For no man in the Kingdom those Countries hereafter mentioned excepted can eat any Salt but he must buy of the King and at his price which is most unconscionable that being sold at Paris and elsewhere for five Livres which in the exempted places is sold for one Therefore that the Kings profits might not be diminished there is diligent watch and ward that no forain Salt be brought into the Land upon pain of forfeiture and imprisoment A search which is made so strictly that we had much ado at Dieppe to be pardoned the searching of our trunks and port-mantles and that not but upon solemn protestation that we had none of that commodity This Salt is of a brown colour being only such as we in England call Bay salt and imposed on the Subjects by the Kings Officers with great rigour for though they have some of their last provision in the house or perchance would be content through poverty to eat meat without it yet will these cruell villaines enforce them to take such a quantity of them or howsoever they will have of them so much money But this Tyranny is not generall the Normans and Picards enduring most of it and the other Paisant the rest Much like unto which was the Licence which the Popes and Bishops of old granted in matter of keeping Concubines For when such as had the charge of gathering the Popes Rents happened upon a Priest which had no Concubine and for that cause made deniall of the Tributes the Collectours would return them this answer that notwithstanding this they should pay the money because they might have the keeping of a wench if they would This Gabell as it sitteth hard on some so are there some also which are never troubled with it Of this sort are the Princes in the generall released and many of the Nobless in particular in so much that it was proved unto King Lewis anno 1614. that for every Gentleman which took of his Majesties Salt there were 2000 of the Commons There are also some intire Provinces which refuse to eat of this Salt as Bretagne Gascoine Poictou Querâ—u Xaintogne and the County of Boulâ—nnois Of these the County of Boulonnois pretendeth a peculiar exemption as belonging immediately to the patrimony of our Lady Nostre Dame of which we shall learn more when we are in Bovillon The Bretagnes came united to the Crown by a fair marriage and had strength enough to make their own capitulations when they first entred into the French subjection Besides here are yet divers of the Ducall family living in that Countrey who would much trouble the peace of the Kingdome should the people be oppressed with this bondage and they take the protection of them Poictou and Quercu have compounded for it with the former Kings and pay a certain rent yearly which is called the Equivalent Xaintâ—gne is under the command of Rochell of whom it receiveth sufficient at a better rate And as for the Gascoynes the King dareth not impose it upon them for fear of Rebellion They are a stuborne and churlish people very impatient of a rigorous yoak and such which inherit a full measure of the Biscanes liberty and spirits from whom they are descended Le droict de fouage the priviledge of levying a certain piece of money upon every chimney in an house that smoketh was in times not long since one of the jura regalia of the French Lords and the people paid it without grumbling yet when Edward the black Prince returned from his unhappy journey into Spain for the paying of his Souldiers to whom he was indebted laid this Fouage upon this people being then English they all presently revolted to the French and brought great prejudice to our affairs in those quarters Next to the Gabell of Salt we may place the Taille or Taillon which are much of a nature with the Subsidies in England as being levied both on Goods and Lands In this again they differ the Subsidies of England being granted by the people and the sum of it certain but this of France being at the pleasure of the King and in what manner he shall please to impose them Antiently the Tailles were only levyed by way of extraordinary Subsidie and that but upon four occasions which were the Knighting of the King Son the marriage of his Daughters a Voyage of the Kings beyond sea and his Ransome in case he were taken Prisoner Les Tailles ne sont point devis de voir ordinaire saith Ragneau ains ant este accordeès durant la necessite des affaires seulement Afterwards they were continually levyed in times of war and at length Chales the VII made them ordinary Were it extended equally on all it would amount to a very fair Revenue For supposing this that the Kingdome of France containeth 200 millions of Acres as it doth and that from every acre there were raised to the King two Sols yearly which is little in respect of what the Taxes impose upon them That income alone besides that which is levyed on Goods personall would amount to two millions of pounds in a year But this payment also lyeth on the Paisant the greater Towns the officers of the Kings house the Officers of War the President Counsellors and Officers of the Courts of Parliament the Nobility the Clergy and the Scholars of the University being freed from it That which they call the Taillon was intended for the
and then closeth with him thus Compendium hoc satis putavi fore ex quo formam aliquam conciperes quam praescribere non debut Tu quod putabis utile istic fore c. In this he doth sufficiently expresse his desire to have his project entertained in that which followeth he doth signifie his joy that the world had made it welcome An epistle written to a certain Quidam of Polonia dated the year 1561. Wherein he doth congratulate the admission of the Gospell as he cals it in that Kingdom And then Haec etiam non poenitenda gaudii accessio cum audio disciplinam cum Evangelii professione conjunctam c. thus he But Eeza his successour goeth more plainly to the businesse and will not commend this project to the Churches but impose it on them This it was that made him with such violence cry down the Hierarchie of the Church the plague of Bishops as he cals it Hanc pestem caveant qui Ecclisiam salvam cupiunt c. Et ne illam quaeso unquam admittas he speaketh it unto Cnoxe quantumvis unitatis retinendae specie c. blandiatur This was it which made him reckon it as a note essentiall of the Church without which it was not possible to subsist a point so necessary Ut ab ea recedere non magis quam ab religionis ipsius placitis liceat Epist 83. that it was as dangerous to depart from this as from the weightiest mysteries of Religion This in a word was it which made him countenance those turbulent spirits who had so dangerously embroyled our Churches and prepared it unto ruine but of them and their proceedings more anone And certainly it was a matter of no small grief and discontent unto them both that when so many Churches had applauded their invention the Church of England only should be found untractable Hereupon it was that Calvin tels the English Church in Franckford in his Epistle to them anno 1555 how he had noted in their publick Liturgy Multas tolerabiles ineptias many tolerable vanities faecis Papisticae reliquias the relicks of the filth of Popery and that there was not in it ea puritas quae optanda foret such piety as was expected Hereupon it was that Beza being demanded by the brethren what he conceived of some chief matters then in question returned a Non probamus to them all The particulars are too many to be now recited and easie to be seen in the 12 of his Epistles the Epistle dated from Geneva anno 1567. and superscribed Ad quosdam Anglicarum ecclesiarum fratres super nonnullis in Ecclesiastica politâ—ia controversis Yet at the last they got some footing though not in England in these Islands which are members of it and as it were the Suburbs of that City The means by which it entred the resort hither of such French Ministers as came hither for support in the times of persecution and the Civill wars anno 1561. and 62. Before their coming that forme of prayer was here in use which was allowed with us in England But being as all others are desirous of change and being also well encouraged by the Governors who by this means hoped to have the spoyle of the poor Deanries both Islands joyned together in alliance or consederacy to petition the Queens Majesty for an approbation of this Discipline anno 1563. The next year following the Seignieur de St. Oen and Nich. de Soulmont were delegated to the Court to solicite this affaire and there they found such favour that their desire received a gracious answer and full of hope they returned unto their homes In the mean time the Queen being strongly perswaded that this design would much advance the Reformation in those Islands was contented to give way unto it in the Towns of St. Peters-port and of St. Hilaries but no further To which purpose there were Letters Decretory from the Councell directed to the Bailiff the Jurates and others of each Island the tenor whereof was as followeth AFter our very hearty commendations unto you Where the Queens most excellent Majesty understandeth that the Isles of Guernzey and Jarsey have antienly depended on the Diocese of Constance and that there be certain Churches in the same Diocese well reformed agreeably throughout in Doctrine as is set forth in this Realm knowing therewith that they have a Minister which ever since his arrivall in Jarsey hath used the like order of Preaching and administration as in the said Reformed Churches or as it is used in the French Church at London her Majesty for divers respects and considerations moving her Highnesse is well pleased to admit the same order of Preaching and Administration to be continued at St. Heliers as hath been hitherto accustomed by the said Minister Provided always that the residue of the Parishes in the said Isle shall diligently put apart all superstitions used in the said Diocese and so continue there the order of Service ordained and set forth within this Realm with the injunctions necessary for that purpose wherein you may not fail diligently to give your aides and assistance as best may serve for the advancement of Gods glory And so fare you well From Richmond the 7 day of August Anno 1565. Subscribed N. Bacon Will. Northamp R. Leoâ—ster Gul. Clynton R. Rogers Fr. Knols William Cecil Where note that the same Letter the names only of the places being changed and subscribed by the same men was sent also unto those of Guernzey for the permission of the said Discipline in the haven of St. Peters And thus fortified by authority they held their first Synod according to the constitutions of that platforme on the 22. of September and at St. Peters-porte in Guernzey anno 1567. By this means by this improvident assent if I may so call it to this new discipline in these Islands her Majesty did infinitely prejudice her own affaires and opened that gap unto the Brethren by which they had almost made entrance unto meer confusion in this state and Kingdome For whereaâ— during the Empire of Queen Mary Goodman Whittingham Gilbie and divers others of our Nation hâ—d betook themselves unto Geneva and there been taught the Consistorian practises they yet retained themselves within the bounds of peace and duty But no sooner had the Queen made known by this assent that she might possibly be drawn to like the Platforme of Geneva but presently the Brethren set themselves on work to impose those new inventions on our Churches By Genebrard we learn in his Chronologie ortos Puritanos anno 1566. and that their first Belweather was called Samson a puissant Champion doubâ—lesse in the cause of Israel By our own Antiquary in his Annals it is referred ad Annum 68 and their Leaders were Collman Buttan Bellingham and Benson By both it doth appear that the brethren stirred 〈◊〉 there till the approbation of their Discipline in those Islands or till