Dauid doth morally teach vs that wee must not smite our Princes with the sword of our Lips though they wrong vs nor that we teare the hemme of their superfluous deeds If wee approoue not the holinesst of their liues let vs applaud the holinesse of their Vnctions In the English Chronicles euen when the Pope was at the highest staire of worldly triumph it is registred that Anselmus Archbishop of Canterbury in some difference betwixt him and King William Rufus would haue appealed to the Pope And that the King and the Bishops withstood it In the Raigne of King Henry the Second a Law was made on paine of Treason not to appeale out of the Kingdome of England Thus from time to time it is manifest that the Popes power hath beene inferiour and subiect to Earthly Princes And therefore to broach out such damnable Paradoxes for the iustification of murther and the warranting of priuate men to conspire against their Soueraignes is a Doctrine which God hates Somtimes men are plagued by the immediate hand of God sometimes by mediate and secondary means for their sins Sometimes men are forced to endure extraordinary stormes tempests famine warres and also crosses at their very friends hands Sometimes their women are deliuered of abortiues or mishapen Creatures All which they must patiently brooke Much more must they beare with the spots of Princes who haue long Eares and long hands It is not safe or vertuous to meddle with litigious wares nor to trouble the braine with these kind of Problemes For if men liue in a Monarchy which is hereditary the Fault is the greater If in other Kingdomes the fundamentall Lawes must be regarded by the publike States and not by priuate persons If the Kingdome be Electiue as Poland let the Chancelor looke to it If in Germanie it belongs to the Electors to decide the quarrell betwixt the Emperour and the Subiects Wee doe therefore vtterly detest these Iesuites for maintayning of these bloudy Tragedies and from henceforth wee banish that pestilent Race of Sectaries out of our Iurisdiction of Parnassus Mariana heere we doe order to bee perpetually tortured in Phalaris his Brazen Bull and his Bookes also to be burnt and the ashes to be scattered in the Riuer of Lethe CHAP. III. Now Doctor Wicliffe of Oxford espying in a Church at Athens a Franciscan Frier a kissing of a Maide of Honour belonging to the Princesse Thalia brought Saint Frances to surprize them who of meere Idiotisme applaudes the Fact IN May last when all liuing Creatures followed their naturall motions and kinds Doctor Wicliffe of Oxford who in King Richard the Seconds time by the countenance of Iohn of Gaunt and the Londoners opposed himselfe against the Romish Clergie as hee was entring into the Temple of the vnknowne God at Athens espied a Franciscan Frier very heartily kissing a Gentlewoman which in that jouiall and merrie time had made choise of that lustie Frier to confesse her whereupon Doctor Wicliffe being euer held to be of an vnblemisht behauiour and as chaste as Origen but that he had not gelt himselfe as Origen did burned with Zeale and like another Phinehes thought once to haue runne vpon them both to haue scratcht their eyes out for weapons he had none to offend with such was the Law of Apolloes Court But remembring himselfe of a place in Homer how Achilles as he intended to draw out his Sword against Agamemnon was preuented by the Ladie Pallas who inuisibly restrained his hand from that reprochfull Act he reculed backe vnseene by the youthfull Couple whose lips were so fastned together that as if they had beene in a trance the Church might haue falne by piece-meales about their eares before they would been parted from their sugred kisses and like an Arrow out of a Bow hee rushed into Saint Frances cloyster where meeting with the Old man a mumbling on his Orisons and Rosaries he desired him in all haste to come and visit the Corpse of one of his Friers which was strooke dead by the Planet Venus together with a Maide of Honour belonging to the Princesse Thalia At these words Saint Frances flung away his deuout Offices and went a long with Doctor Wicliffe to the place where he found the Frier and the gentlewoman a kissing After that Saint Frances had considerately noted how loâ—ingly the Frier lay as it were in an extasie with his lips as close as Iuy to an Elme vnto the Maides lips the good man fell downe vpon his knees and thanked God that he had seene so much Loue and Charitie in the World which before hee doubted had forsaken all humane race CHAP. IIII. Doctor Wicliffe connents Saint Frances and the kissing Frier before Apollo Saint Frances defendeth the cause and discouereth seuen sorts of kisses Apollo refuteth his Defence condemnes the Frier and abolisheth all Monasticall Orders DWicliffe the next day after this aduenture loth to be accessary to such baudy deeds made the matter knowne vnto Apolloes Maiestie who immediately sent Mercury for both the Friers And vpon the Friday after appointed a speciall Conuocation for the ordering of this lasciuious Cause About nine a clocke in the morning vpon the prefixed day both the Friers being brought before the Lords of the Connocations Apollo spake in this wise to Saint Frances The first time that you were initiated in morall Precepts and sithence matriculated in our Court you vndertooke aswell for your Monasticall Order as your selfe to liue chast and not to minister occasion of scandall to the married Societie to suspect the least token of incontinencie in your carriages But we find that you are flesh and bloud subiect to concupiscence as well as others Saint Paul therefore aduiseth you rather to marrie then to burne But you on the contrary doe forbid your Clergy to marry at all although in your consciences you know it a most grieuous yoke the which our Sauiour Christ said that no man can beare vnlesse as a speciall Gift some few receiue it from Heauen And therefore Saint Paul tels you It is the doctrine of deuils to forbid Marriage Why then haue you imposed such a burthen such a vow on these silly Nouices of your Fraternitie which they can neuer keep without hinneying and lusting after the Female Sexe Haue not you heard that a certaine Hermite cockolded the chiefest Nobles of a Princes Court whose Wiues vsed to repaire to his Cell for Spirituall Physicke as if he had beene another Baptist Endeauour yee neuer so violently to expell the affections of nature they will breake into your thoughts and bodies doe what yee can as on a time another Hermit but more holy of life experimented in a Nephew of his who notwithstanding that hee had brought him vp euen from his cradle in his hermitage shut vp from the sight of all Women-kinde and afterwards by chance following his Ghostly Father to a Towne when he had looked on the Sexe of women and askt his Father what creatures those prettie
Policie of the Church to force obedience vnto the Clergie and to worke regeneration in the milde spirited But because it was not soundly grounded on the Word of God it growes contemptible and worthy to bee suppressed for the monstrous abuses which we find in these times to flow by the indirect vse thereof In the Apostles time it was no other then an humble acknowledging of one Neighbours Infirmitie to the other and an asking of forgiuenesse reciprocally at their hands whom they had offended in remembrance of that clause in the Lords Prayer as wee forgiue them which trespasse against vs that thereby they might the more confidently receiue the Communion This the Apostle aduiseth in these words Confesse your sinnes one to another and pray yee one for another Which Confession they vsed publikely and priuately Publikely before all the Congregation if the Sinne were great as that of the Incestuous person in Saint Paul that Shame might worke the fruits of repentance in the Offendors heart Priuately as Saint Iames aduised by way of Charitie to succor one anothers conscience Afterwards Confession became farre more priuat and their mindes being puft vp with Pride or ashamed to let many know their dissimulations they repayred to some one of the Elders of the Church as Patients to a Physician to bee cured or to receiue Counsell for their Soules health At last the Clergie noting the simplicitie of the vnlettered people in those dayes they got them in lieu of Penance to disburse pence pounds sometimes to the Poore sometimes to build Churches Chappels Monasteries and to offer presents to the honour of their Parish Saints as the Heathen in those dayes did to their Idols All this while there was no great fault sauing that they began to make it somewhat meritorious But when the Popes had forbidden Marriages in time had barred the Clergie of their Concubines which was for a long time dispensed with then this laudable Order of Confession began to be grossely abused and womens Chastities suffered shipwâ—ackâ— For themselues being to continue for euer vnmarried they burned in lust and left no trick vnattempted to beguile wiues and maides But among all their sleights they preuayled aboue all when they drew men to build Nuâ—â—eries that they might allure prettie wenches thither with whom they might ioyne the more freely to coole their raging lusts Insomuch that the wariest of them seeing some of their sweet hearts too fruitfull they studied Physicke and gaue them drenches to destroy their Fruit or if that wrought not the effect for the credit of their Vâ—taries they held it no great sinne to murther it assoone as euer it came to light which Diuelish Acts of theirs since the preaching of the Gospell are daily discouered in Ponds and other hidden places where the skuls of many Infants haue beene lately found What mad men are they which will commit their daughters to a Confessors charge as lambes to wolues knowing that flaxe will flame if it bee too neere the fire Lust by degrees corrupts The wisest man liues not without some touch of folly Shall wee then thinke that Flesh and Bloud can waxe cold finding sweet opportunitie and solitarinesse to warme sensible nature At first they look babies in their eyes they wring or kisse their lillyed hands and induce them to read their Loue-sonnets Madrigalls and other Poems of Cupids baites Then they fall to a neerer forme the preambles and fore-runners of beastly pleasure they obtaine the gracelesse grace to play with their iuory breasts and to endure 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 writes that vnmannerly Grobiâ—â—â— Tange etiâ—â— partes quâ—â— gâ—â—â—â—t Fâ—mina tâ—â—gi Arriued to this happinesse they must needs sanctifiâ— their lips with Nectarean kisses vowing that they would not for all the King of Spaines Iâ—dies proceed to a further Act. So meane perhaps but Time brings alteration And a faire woman is a shrewd Temptation As George Withers notes Hauing thus seduced these weaker vessels to condiscend to the elements of Loue they teach them the baudie A. B. C. instead of Aue Maria. Were I disdainfull or vnkind Or coy to learne or dull of mind But no such thing remaines in me To let mee learne my A. B. C. At last they winne the precious Fort which once they doubted to bee inexpâ—gnable The whole building is razed and these poore Soules pend in this pound of boâ—dage forsaken of their friends find no other ease for this disease but to sang this dolefull Diâ—tie to the tâ—â—e of too late Repeatance Which shall I doe or weepe or sing Neither of them will helpe mourning The Treasure 's stolne the Thiefe is fled And I lye bleeding in my bed If it were not for these 〈◊〉 Confussion in the Eare would much benefit a diseased Conscience and the whole Common-wealth of the Christian Corporation And we could wish it still in vse yet with this limitation that no Papist presume to confesse any woman vnder 50. yeares of age except he be first soundly gelded And for your part Frier Foster who claime the prerogatiue to haue a seare top with a green root to mingle a dead coarse with a liuing body after the example of Maxentius the Tyrant without regard had to your old age and decayed nature wee Order you to bee tortured on Ixions wheele because you haue profaned the vestall house Ixion henceforth to bee set at libertie for his petulant attempt against Iuno and all Nunneries to bee dissolued which after the imitation of the Gentiles you procured to be built more for your lecherous interest then for the honour of your Sauiour Whereby I let you all good Catholickes to vnderstand that we suppresse them for the same reason as Hezechias supplanted the Brazen Serpent good of it selfe and of the first erecting being a figure of Christs sauing Office and healing vertue but since a cause of Idolatrie as the Crosse also which the Reformed Churches by reason of the fottish misvsage haue lately put downe to take away the occasions of Idolatrie CHAP. VII Thomas Becket of Canterburie accuseth before Apollo Walter de Mapes Arch-deacon of Oxford in King Henry the Seconds time for defending the Marriage of Priests against the Pope of Romes Decree THomas Becket of Canterburie that opposed himselfe so obstinatly against his anointed King heere in England about some liuings which he pretended to belong to the Sea of his Archbishoprick appealing to the Pope from his Countryes Censure exhibited an Information before Apollo against his antient Friend Walter de Mapes Arch-deacon of Oxford for withstanding the Popes Legat that came to London with a strict Decree to command all the Clergie men in England to put away their wiues Walter de Mapes was sent for at whose comming Th. Becket hauing license to make good his Information spake as followeth Most Puissant Emperour Our Holy Father the Pope the visible Head of the Roman Church Saint Peters famous Successor whether by Reuelation from Heauen or by the Spirit of
Mastership haue Nor to carke for cloth or for food From euery mischiefe he would them saue Their Clothing should be Righteousnesse Their Treasure pure life should be Charity should be their Riches Their Lordship should be vnitee Hope in God their Honestie Their vessell cleane Conscience Poore in spirit and Humilitie Should be Holy Churches defence The Griffon said thou shalt abie Thou shalt be burnt in balefull fire And all thy Sect I shall destry You shall be hanged by the swire I le cause you soone to hang and draw VVho giueth you leaue for to preach Or thus to speake against Gods Law And the people thus false to teach Thou shalt be cursed with Booke and Bell And disseuer'd from Holy Church And cleane ydamned into Hell Otherwise but you will worke The Pellican said I doe not dread Your Cursing is of little value Of God I hope to have my meed For it is falshood which you shew For you beene out of Charity And would doe vengeance as did Nero. To suffer I will ready be I dread not that what thou caâ—st doe CHAP. XV. Sir Geffrey Chaucer being proâ—oked by Scotus to defend his Cause proues the Pope to bee the great and vniuersall Antichrist prophesied in the Scriptures AFter that the Pronotarie had read that Part of the Plowmans Tale which Sir Geffrey Chaucer had published against the Pope the Romish Church hee was commanded by Apollo to defend his Doctrine Sir Geffrey Chaucer obeyed and framed this extemporary Oration Most high and redoubted Emperour I am glad that Scotus hath prouoked mee this day to open that Secret which by the craft of our Arch sorcerer of the Christian Church hath beene concealed from the vulgars knowledge vntill this fulnesse of Time which the Holy Ghost hath appointed for his Discouerie The Waldenses Albigienses and many others long before my time haue done their endeauors in other Countryes to reueale him but here in England Abbot Ioachim excepted who in K. Rich. the firsts dayes proclaymed the Pope Antichrist no man durst for feare of his formidable Tyrannie disclose what they knew in their Consciences to bee apparantly true This Illumination and Gift of discerning Spirits was indeed kept from the Common people by that execrable Policie of with-holding the Bible from our English translation so that these two Witnesses which lay martyred and yet vnburied in the streets of Spirituall Sodome and Aegypt could not performe their proper offices Now that it hath pleased God to remoue that palpable Darknesse they begin to reuiue and to stand vpon their feet to the amazement of the Carnall Beholders By their sacred motion the eyes of my vnderstanding are likewise opened and I doubt not but all your Maiesties Court shall know out of my mouth this day that the Pope and none but he is that Antichrist which was so long agoe prophesied to come and seduce the Christian Church with lyes Equiuocations and the wonders of Sathan For the manifestation of which damnable practices inspire my heart O fierie Comforter Inflame my mind with true Zeale the seale of thy sacred Spirit that I may soare vp like an Eagle to the Sunne of thy Grace with feruencie founded on Diuine Discretion for Feruencie is but foolish furie without Diuine Discretion The first marke of Antichrist I gather from our Sauiour himselfe who prophefied many shall come in my name and shall say I am Christ vnder this Title the Pope doth most blasphemously coâ—er his Temporall Power For what signifies the word Christ but Anointed Insomuch that whensoeuer any of his Clergie hath offended the Temporall sword must not punish them but for their protection his Holinesse wardeth them with that saying of the Prophet Dauid Touch not mine Anointed Meddle not with my Christs Though they be taken fighting in the Field with Armour on their backs hee termes them his Sons the Conqueror must leaue them to depart in peace Which made a Prince sometime to returne him this Answer I haue sent your Holinesse your Sonnes Coat the Armour in which I found your Bishop fighting when I tooke him Prisoner And if you be as quick-sighted as Iacob let me know whether this be your Iosephs Coat vntill King Edward the first his time Clergie men were the Lawyers in England as an Ancient Writer testified Nullus Clericus nisi Causidicus They sate as supreme Iudges in Temporall Causes But when their King should chastize them for their briberies and extortions then they shrowded themselues vnder the Spirituall keyes and appealing to the Pope they freed themselues from all Accusations Thus did Errors play vpon the preheminence of Kings vntill they were beaten out from their Law and at the last from their chiefest holds by the valour of King Henry the Eight and well worthy seeing that they presumed to make vse of the name of Christ to cloke their falsehoods and lewd tricks The second Mark of Antichrist I collect out of Saint Paul that in the last dayes men should bee high-minded louers of pleasures more then louers of God hauing a shew of godlines but denying the power thereof All these are verified in the Pope and his Clergie Hee exalteth himselfe aboue Emperours and Kings comparing himselfe to the Sunne and them to the Moone and lesser starres Yea he ranketh his Courtly Cardinals with Kings Which ambition moued Cardinall Wolsey to place himselfe aboue his King Ego Rex meus What greater pleasure can worldly men enioy more then the Pope and his Hierarchie doe They haue a large command of Cities and huge Territories Besides Rome Romania Bolonia Ferrara Auinion the Pope is like to possesse very shortly the Dutchie of Vrbin Nor doth his Ambition cease in these pleasant places many other Episcopall Seates out of Italie doth hee dispose of In Humilitie farre from Christs life yet pretending sanctimonie and a vertuous life but denying the effects thereof as his tolleration of the Iewes and Stewes his seruing of Idols his vnlawfull Dispensations and monstrous Pardons doe plainly demonstrate The third marke of Antichrist is deriued from another place of Saint Paul Now the spirit speaketh euidently that some should fall from the Faith giuing heede to seducing Spirits and Doctrines of Deuils speaking lyes in hypocrifie forbidding Marriage and Meates Now what Church is the same which forbiddeth Marriage and the eating of flesh at prefixed times Is it not the Romish The Greeke Church whom for Antiquitie none can deny but they stand parraleld and equall with the Romane doe prohibit no such things Their Clergie as the Abissines in Aethiopia haue alwayes continued marriage Therefore let this Marke serue for one to conuince the Pope of the Doctrine of Deuils as Saint Paul calls it And for their prohibition of meates who doe insist more strongly then the Pope and his Clergie To eate Flesh vpon some dayes is a mortall sinne vnlesse it bee with their speciall dispensation as the Castilians haue bought out their freedome vpon some forbidden
Likewise he said that shirts of male might not be spared for feare of the sauages arrowes out of some ambuscado Or else thicke leather Targets made of Buffe as the Spaniards vse To this hee added that by experience hee found another necessary note which hee wished all such as were imployed in these remote Enterprizes to beare in minde to carry with them good tooles as well for repayring of their Ships as to dig on the land if they suffer shipwracke And withall the fittest engines which can bee deuised for weighing of shipping vpon such occasions and in any case a couple of Crabs to be brought along with them in these vnknowne Discoueries for the hoising and landing of their Ships or other heauy necessaries as Artillery Timber c. Also that the Discouerer should marke the set of the Tide For whensoeuer he loseth his strong Tide or findes ground in 100 fathomes let him rest assured that he goes out of his direct course for the finding of this hopefull passage To conclude Sir Thomas Button deliuered two notes more of great consequence for the preseruation of the Discouerers healths and liues which Apollo better liked then all the former Discourses whereof the one was that hee obserued Aqua vita Sacke and such hot liquors to become most hurtfull to his men in the cold Winter and on the other side small drinke and Barly water most soueraine to maintaine them in health The other obseruation was that the iuyce of thâ—se tender branches or sprigs of trees which flourished fresh and greene in the Winter out-daring the bitter blasts and withstanding the extremity of the frosts being pressed out and ministred to the sicke did miraculously restore them to their health And the meanes of his first knowledge thereof proceeded by seeing of the multitudes of Partridges which fed and liued thereon all the Winter to become fat and plumpe CHAP. 7. Apolloes Censure of Sir Thomas Buttons voyage to the Northwest Passage His Directions for the preseruation of health in frosty seasons and for the preuenting of the Scuruy An Elegy in their commendations which aduentured their persons for the discouery of the aforesaid Passage APollo seemed much delighted with these narrations of Sir Thomas Button and to let the vertuous of Parnassus know somewhat more of these remarkeable euents hee made this discourse How many famous Captaines here haue I admitted into my Court which neuer entred into these hidden and magisteriall secrets of nature Nay how many wise Philosophers bee there here graced with my fauours which vnderstand not these wonders of naturall effects This Gentleman hath sufficiently performed his part in the discouery of the Northwest passage considering the power limited vnto him by his Commission which hee might not with safety transgresse Yet I could wish such as bee in authority in assigning the like Commissions hereafter to adde that Clause which King Henry the eight of England sometimes vsed to enable his Generals with that if that seruice proued disastrous and vnfortunate notwithstanding the former words of the Commission they should preserue the Honour of their King and Country by some braue exploit of their owne proiecting For many occurrences may like rubbes light in their way which the cleerest Eyes of State could not possibly foresee Sometimes the Enemy may haue a siluer bridge by slye intelligencers into his Neighbours Land Sometimes a Commander may meet with a good booty at Sea though he were beaten off from the Land Or if one place be strongly barricadoed hee may finde another most easily to be wonne What ouerthrew and vtterly dispersed the inuincible Armada in 1588. but the precise relye which the Spanish Admirall stood vpon in regard of his Commission limited by the Councell of Spaine Let this suffice to excuse Sir Thomas Button for his not entring into one of the two passages which he suspected to crowne the Discouerers voyage with eternall fame And now to enter into the latter points of those secrets which he mentions to haue tried so vsefull for his peoples health know this O ye that study Physicke that as Hippocrates wrote mens inward parts specially the stomacke is hotter in Winter then in Summer Looke in an extreame frosty Winter how all the sap and vertue of Plants and Hearbs shoote inwardly and descend into the root running thither as to their sanctuary refuge and last helpe in nature Euen so stands it with the body of man which for vegetation and vigorous constitution may in some sort be compared to a Plant. In Summer the heat and radicall moysture is dispersed here and there vp and downe and through all the parts of the body so that the heat in the stomacke is of a mild oily warmth and at that time more truely naturall then in the winter For Experience teacheth and Anatomists confirme it that in the winter chiefly in frosty weather mans liueliest heate setleth it selfe in the stomacke neere the heart the center and root of life the other parts being oppressed with cold There likewise it will beginne quickly to inflame in frosty seasons When the raw ayre gets into the body at the mouth and at the pores or at such time when these pores of the skinne and outward superficies become thickned whereby the spirits may not haue their free euaporation Hence grow oppilations and obstructions and consequently the Scuruy being aided on by the meseraicall veines full of putrified dampish blood or by the melancholike spleen swolne with too much windy nourishment For the abating of which infirmities moyst opening medicines of a biting nature cooling and piercing liquors somewhat of a milky mildnesse and the iuyce of springing hearbs must bee regarded by a wise Phisitian and preferred before strong liquors and fiery Drinkes which commonly are too too binding I doe therefore much commend this Knight for this carefull obseruation as for the discouering of those tender Plants which Iaques Cartier applaudes to be so soueraigne against the Scuruy and called Anneda by the Sauages of Canada But now of late yeares this precious Plant hath beene sought after by Champleine and other Frenchmen albeit without successe vntill this Gentleman renewed the memorie therof And most famous had he yet been if he had transported hither some Setsor Slips of these powerful Plants which by this time might haue increased to succour many an honest mans life distressed by this hidden trecherous Guest I haue spoken the more largely of this sicknesse because our moderne Practitioners in Phisicke should take this obseruation for a watch-word that most of the new diseases Agues putride Feuers and such sicknesses as spring in the winter or in the beginning of the Spring they be but waiting-Maids to this traiterous Lady for this cause let them beginne their Cure with the Scuruy and with the cleansing of the Bloud and the rest will vanish away as it were by miracle As soone as Apollo had ended this speech hee charged Hippocrates Galen Aegineta and other famous
pay 20. shillings for a vertuous purpose And perhaps the same would lessen the exaction of the rest in the mercie of God To this furtherance of money I would haue those Brokers and extorting Iackes receiue corporall punishment who shall by indirect tricks and monthly bills exact vpon pawnes more interest then euer the Iew of Malta tooke of his deadly enemies After him the Lawmaker Solon discoursed as followeth I haue heard this day sundry pretty proiects pronounced by my Colleagues for the enriching of Great Britaine But if all these fall out happily and the Deuill still continue to sow his seeds of dissention in mens hearts to goe to Law one with another for a Goats haire by the procurement of Makebates and the aduice of some couetous Lawiers to what end shall his Maiestie spend his time to succour and supply them with money and they presently after to bestow the same on others for the molesting of Innocents This were to make our great Appollo accessary and priuie to iniurious dealings First let my good Ilanders weed out or at least wise restraine the insolencies deceits and equiuocations of Lawiers and then seeke for remedies to heale their indispositions Shall the mild Comforter of humane soules minister an occasion of scandall to reprobates and fewell to their iniquities If they get wealth men as I see haue not the wit to keepe it Therefore I thinke fit and it is a treasure inualuable to tame the Lawiers before any more riches be giuen as swords in mad mens hands to offend the seruants of God What intolerable knaueries haue beene exercised of late yeares by fellowes of this ranke against honest men yea against whole Countries whose blood like that of Abell doth cry for vengeance I know one poore Lordship in Wales which was persecuted by them and forced for foure thousand pounds to compound for their natiue freehold which by Records found in the Tower their Ancestors had enioyed 300. yeares and all vpon that farre fetcht maxime Nullum tempus occurrit Regi that no prescription of time might barre the Prince of his Right And if the wise King Iames of blessed memory had not set a period to their insinuations by limiting 60 yeares to his titulary demand God knowes to what euent their dangerous positions would haue issued vnto It is an easie thing for a man to find a staffe to beat a dog and for a cunning Lawier with the crochet of his braine to circumuent harmelesse people How many thousand pounds are yearely spent in Wales alone to maintaine suites at Law which might be well spared if the fountaine were dam'd vp Let the King of Great Britaine shut vp the spring which enuenomes multitudes of his poore subiects who grone vnder their burthen worse then the Israelies vnder the bondage of Egypt and Wales alone shall saue aboue 40. thousand pounds a yeare which row they consume besides their dear time not to be redeemed in vnnecessary suits at Law CHAP. 11. Apollo not throughly contented with the proiects of the seuen wise men of Greece commands others viz. Cornelius Tacitus CoÌ„minaeus the Lord Cromwell Sir Thomas Chaloner Secretary Walsingham Sir Thomas Smith and William Lord Burleigh who were knowne to be farre more Politicke Statesmen to deliuer their opinions how Great Britaine might be inriched APollo liked reasonable well of the inuentions demonstrated by the Seuen wise men of Greece But for all that some of them hee deemed to be more theoricall then really practick and therefore He caused some of his vertuous Attendants which had been famous for their Actiue diligence in managing matters of State to discouer more proiects whereby Great Britaine might attaine to a present fruition of Treasure For as his Imperiall Maiestie said Philosophers being Clinickes and retired to close chambers delighting more to be as Persius notes of them Esse quod Arcesilas arumnosique Solones Obstipo capite figentes lumine terram Like to Arcesilas or Solons found With down bent heads eies vpoÌ„ the ground then personally to bestirre themselues as men of motion ought in bringing their purposes and plots to execution they could not proue so necessary members to act what he intended as those which had by their industry got the start of them in actuall businesse The euent his Maiestie saw in Cicero and Caesar which moued our most prudent Apollo to referre these Pragmaticke affaires of Great Britaine to the experienced Cornelius Tacitus to Philip Commâ—naus to the Lord Cromwell which flourished in King Henrie the 8. daies to Sir Thomas Chaloner sometimes Ambassadour in Spain author of those admirable books de repub Anglorum instaur to Sir Francis Walsingham to Sir Thomas Smith which wrote the Common-wealth of England and to William Lord Burleigh Treasurer of England Cornelius Tacitus as the most ancient was elected first to certifie his censure who with a free Romane candour framed this discourse There is asmuch difference betwixt the face and state of Great Britane at this day and the fashion as it stood in Domitian time when I liued there with my victorious father in law Iulius Agricola as we see betwixt it and the Countrey of the Crime Tartare Then there was elbow roome for the Inhabitants sufficient without multiplicities of Law-suites subtle shifts conycatching or contagious thronging and hudling together But now Sunt homines alij natura Britannica differt In Britanes Isle both men and Land are chang'd We Romanes by our Legionary Cities wonne them to ciuility which they according to their quicke capacities speedily apprehending embraced the Christian Faith paid tribute to Caesar and continued in loyall obedience vnder his Lieutenants vntill our Monarchy became translated to Constantinople that so the fulnesse of time might inuest Antichrist in old Rome the Babylon of the West Since which time as the Children of Israel were sometimes aloft sometimes cast downe this Iland indured sundry changes But in my iudgement next vnto suits at Law which the wise Solon obserued to begger both Towne and Country the populousnesse of some chiefe Cities and specially of London doth impouerish the Royall Chamber of that Empire insomuch that it is in a manner impossible to inrich them before the Drones and yong hungry Bees bee remoued to some forraigne Places by an Act of Parliament and so prest by transcendent authority The people which I would haue thus prest are the Inmates the Cottagers the needy and needlesse numbers An honest Minister assured me that in his Parish at London there were many which perished of want being ashamed to begge and that he knew tenne persons hauing but a roome of twelue foot square to containe them but one bed for them all Many of the like calamity might bee found in that City two or three housholds crept into one house that I haue diuers times wondred that they are not euery second year visited with the Plague or Purples considering the multitudes of Channels Iakes and other vnpleasing places which
infect the Aire able to poyson the strongest Snake For the verifying of this my allegation I will produce one example which may serue to confirme the same I haue heard it reported by very credible persons that about 4. yeares past in a house neere S. Dunstons of the West the Priuies there being emptied on a night the next morning they found not onely their Brasse and Pewter in the lower roomes soild and filth'd but likewise their Plate two stoâ—â—s higher standing on their Cupboord tainted and corrupted with a yellowish vnseemely colour Yea and that which Aristotle himselfe would admire at they found their money in their purses to haue lost the colour as if it had beene of purpose varnished with smoaky dung If the serious regard of their healths moue them not yet let the wisedome of Magistrates foresee the inconuenience which yearely accrues to the Generality by suffering vnnecessary people to hinder the gaines of the industrious and withall to know this that too many of the industrious Craftsmen themselues flocking together doe so diuide the profit which more politikely being fitter for a few that both the one and the other are often seene to faint vnder their owne waight Better it is for a City to content themselues with a few substantiall neighbours then to be troubled with many rakers If the City of London which is thought to hold eight hundred thousand Soules within it and the Suburbes were rid of 40000 of these the rest would thriue the better and saue at least two hundred thousand pounds a yeare which now are spent in vain hereafter wil be conuerted for the weale of the whole Iland In one yeare there were suppressed 700. Cottagers in Glocestershire since which time that Country flourished Comineus Lord of Argenton the great Statesman of France whom Katherine de Medicis Queen Mother and somtimes Regent of that Kingdome was wont to terme the Heretike of State because he disclosed the secrets of Princes vttered his opinion next after Cornelius Tacitus In the warres betwixt the House of Burgundy and my Soueraigne Lewis the eleuenth I remember that Money fell out very scarce as it doth now in Great Britaine for all that saying which this wise King was accustomed to repeat that his France might be compared to a Meadow ready to bee mowne twise a yeare And one of the principall meanes which he inuented to be stored with money was to raise his Coine From the Saxons time vntill my time in the Raigne of King Henry the sixt an ounce of Siluer was diuided into 20. peeces and so passed for 20. pence King Henry by reason of his wars with vs and afterwards with the House of Yorke proclaimed the ounce at 30. pence King Henry the 4. vpon the like necessity enhansed it to 40. pence which so lasted vntill King Henry the 8. daies who raised the ounce to the value of 45. pence King Edward the 6. proclaimed it at fiue shillings If Money continues still scant I see no reason but that it might be raised higher as in former times which also would induce men to bring forth their Plate In France Venice yea and in Golden Spaine Brasse money goes current two and thirty Marauedis amounting to sixe pence which they call a Reall Of these Marauedis I heard a Rhodomonting Castilian vaunt that hee would bestow 600. thousand of them with his deare Daughter to her mariage In some Countries they vse Shelles Pepper and lether peeces for money In other places gaddes of Steele or Iron At the first troubles of the Low Countries they made stampes on Past-Boords which they licensed to goe current for Money In the last warres of Ireland base Coine was ordained to supply the vse of the finest Siluer As long as it will passe in estimation and warranted by publike authority either Money may bee raised or the same of a mixt alloy as the Venetian Liure or the French Souls or of such other mettall as the Prince liketh may serue the Subiects turne in time of warres as it serues those Nations both in Warre and Peace The Lord Cromwell succeeded this Noble Frenchman and said that hee was one of the chiefest Instruments vnder King Henry the 8. to dissolue the Religious Houses in England wished that now some of those Farmes and impropriated Tithes were for a few yeares lent by the State of England to support Ecclesiasticall persons in the new Plantations meaning those which the State could spare in their places And he hoped by this meanes the Clergy being prouided for in those New Lands Churches would there be built the sooner and the Plantations in a short time would helpe to inrich this Kingdome with many sorts of Commodities specially if some of the Religious that went in person others well beloued in their Country that for their sakes others of good account would accompany them and so assist the Common-wealth by their power and example Sir Thomas Chaloner renewed the old proiect of building Busses flat Flemish boates for fishing on the Easterly coasts of this kingdome saying that it was a shame for his nation to looke on while the Hollanders yearely tooke worth 300000 pounds of fish vpon our sea coasts and in our liberties although they fished farther off then they did for the truth of which assertion of his he alleadged the testimony of Bartolus the famous Lawier As Ilands saith he in the sea next adioyning so likewise the Sea it selfe to an hundred miles extent is assigned to the bordering Countrey Iâ— Insul ff â—de Iur. Secretary Walsingham was of opinion that letters of Mart or Reprizals would furnish the land with treasure so that they went forth in Fleetes more strongly prepared then in Queen Elizabeths daies For that now-a-dayes the Pyrates of Algiere had taught the Spaniards more wit not to go so weakly mand and stor'd as in times past In Drakes Haukins and other braue Aduenturers voyages our English found a Golden age But that now the case was otherwise Therefore they must goe strong if they meane to surprize any rich Carricks Likewise he wished them whose powers extended not to supply themselues with many Copartners to watch about the lesser Ilands in America and not to draw too neere those Forts where the Gallies frequeÌ„ted nor to be aduenturous about the time when the Spanish Fleet repaired thither About Brazill and the riuer of Plate hee supposed they might intercept good booties with more safety or if they entred into Lameeres straights they might in the South sea meet with rich prizes Further he animated the East Indy Company to ioyne with the Hollanders to driue the Portingals out of the wade of Spiceries Further he aduised the English to prouide the like kinde entertainment for the Spanish prisoners if not in their owne Countrey yet in the Summer Ilands and other Plantations where they might be put to labour as well as they employ them in their Gallies vntil they paid sufficient ransomes Lastly he
and in the neerest places adioyning vnto Rome that no Ecclesiasticall Policie could stand on foote nor erect publicke Churches and consequently no Mitred Bishops to solemnize or order the affaires of that spiritual Common-wealth in any complete forme no more then at this day we see in France a few places onely by their Ciuill Warres tolerated Specially in Paris the chiefe Citie they of the Reformed Religion cannot haue any but by permission about two leagues from the Citie they are allowed their Diuine Seruice The like though not so openly those ancient Christians were tolerated to enioy priuately in their Houses as in hugger-mugger at Rome the Capitall Seate of that Empire In processe of time Constantine the Great attained to the Empire who for some causes and principally because he would bee a neerer Neighbour to the Northerne Nations and also to the Persians who infested his State with sundry inrodes and hostile inuasions he was constrained to remoue the Imperiall Seate to Constantinople leauing the Bishop of Rome some power at old Rome whereby in his absence hee might as a Reuerend Prelate with his graue and Christianly exhortations retaine the Citizens in their Alleageance In this sort these good Bishops continued loyall to their Prince and subiect to their Command and to their Successours in the Empire vntill the yeere of our Lord 606. about which time after a great contention for the Primacie betwixt them and the Patriarch of Constantinople which then was called New Rome Phocas by the murther of his Lord and Master Maurice the Emperour hauing gotten the Soueraigntie made Boniface the Third Supreme Bishop aboue all other Bishops and to that end sent forth a Decree that all the Churches in his Empire should obey him as their Soueraigne Bishop which Iurisdiction he held onely in Spiritull matters After this the Emperour Iustine Iustinians Sonne raigned who sent Longinus as his Deputy into Italy to settle the confused state thereof after the expulsion of the Gothes who altered the forme of Gouernment in Rome and abrogated the Senate and Consulary Dignities which till that time continued and carried with it a glimpse of the ancient Maiestie of the Romane State and in steed of them appointed one Principall Gouernour whom he called an Exarch or Viceroy This innouation ministred an occasion to the Lumbards to enter into Italie And then the Citie of Rome felt new troubles But at last Theodoricus King of the Goths by the Popes Counsell remoued from Rome and erected Rauenna to be the Head Citie of his Kingdome and there keeping his Royall Court gaue room to the Popes to flourish in Rome Sometimes they tooke part with the Emperour some other times with the Lumbards accommodating their fortunes warily to the strongest parties liking Thus they continued vntill the Emperour Heraclius his time who being oppressed by the Persians Saracens and Arabians vnder Mahomet was so farre from looking into the affaires of Italy and into the Popes aspiring designes that he found much adoe to defend his neerer territories from those bloudy Enemies and Infidels The Popes watchfull to take aduantage partly by their Religious carriage among the common people and partly by Rewards got themselues to be equall in Power with the Kings of the Lumbards And then Pope Gregorie finding himselfe reasonable strong assaulted Raâ—enna the chiefe Citie of Italie and tooke it But being presently expulsed out of it by Astulfus King of the Lumbards hee was reseized thereof againe by succours sent vnto him from Pipin King of France After Astulfus death the Pope falling at ods with Desiderius the sonne of Astulfus hee sent for aide to Charles the Great King Pipins Sonne who in proper person came into Italie tooke Desiderius Prisoner augmented the Popes Dominion and at his motion crowned himselfe Emperour of the West at Rome At which time he againe to requite his good will enacted that from thenceforth the Bishop of Rome as Christs Vicar should neuer more bee subiect to any Earthly Potentate And whereas before that time they were themselues confirmed Bishops by the Emperour at Constantinople now by this new Emperour of the West they began to be of themselues and by their wits got the Emperours to be inuested at their hands This Pope was Leo the third And this notable Accident and alteration fell out about 801. yeares after Christ. After Leo his decease Pope Paschale after the example of his Predecessour Leo who had wrested the nomination of the Pope from the people of Rome and also the confirmation from the Emperour at Constantinople caused those Priests of the Citie who had elected him as the next neighbours to be enobled with a glorious Title and to be called Cardinalls Thus in lesse then two hundred yeares after their Supremacie obtayned from Phocas in spirituall matters the Popes aspired to a Supremacie in temporall affaires not so much for their hypocriticall holinesse as indeed for the Dignitie and repute of the Place and Seat their Citie of Rome hauing beene the Lady of the world and the eyes of all men being fixt on that Place brought at length most Princes of Christendome as Factions grew betwixt them to make profitable vse of their friendship either to appease their Aduerfaries or vnder colour of their Excommunications and Saint Peters keyes to oppresse one another Yea and that which was most strange as Machiauell obserues in his Florentine Historie King Iohn of England vpon the dissention betweene him and his Subiects yeelded himselfe at the Popes dispose when hee durâ—â— not shew his face in Rome by reason of the Factions of the Orsini and Columneses and of the Guâ—â—ses and the Gibellines but was faine to translate the Papacie to Aâ—inion in France Whereby our Politicians may gather this remarkable Rule that things which seeme to bee and are not such in very deâ—d are more feared or regarded afarre off then at home by reason of the vncertaine knowledge which strangers haue of other mens states Thus may all good Christians note by what meanes the Church of Rome arriued to her Greatnesse and how like a Foxe by little and little the Pope crept vp to the double Supremacie which Saint Peter and the blessed Apostles neuer once dreamed nor would our Sauiour Christ by any meanes accept of the Temporall Sword For hee vtterly defied the Deuill when hee motioned vnto him of an Earthly Kingdome And when some purposed afterwards to make him King he forsooke that Coast. To conclude this point of the Popes Supremacie Pope Hildebrand whom some call Gregory the seuenth after much contestation with the Emperour and his Gibellines was the first which triumphed ouer him about one thousand yeeres after Christ. Of whom an ancient Historiographer thus testifieth To this man only doth the Latin Church ascribe that she is free and pluckt out of the Emperours hands By his meanes she stands enriched with so much wealth and Temporall Power By his meanes shee stands inriched with so much wealth and