tymes of william the first vvould chalenge to haue kingdomes and such regall dominions deuided emong chyldren as the Conquerer did vvith England and Normandye and the elder knovving himselfe according to the present lavves heire to both vvould clayme both vtterly denying this carpet conqueste of Monsienr to be any conquest lyke that of VVilliam And so that miserable ciuill dissention in England renued after hir which in the peacemaking mariage of her noble grandfather and in the person of hyr royall father and in continaunce of that ligne in hir hitherto is happyly quenched He that confesseth all these incōueniences and weenes to prouide for them with his penn in hys studye or by acts of parliament or by any other conditioning of oathes and sworn promises contested at theyr hygh altar of their masse forgets the many experiences of sayths most solemnly geuen falsified on the other side he that scornes thys our particularizing of thys matter and putting of the case vvhat if he haue issue male onely or female onely must be put in mind agayn how vnlyke it is for her to haue any hovv daungerous for her to haue but one and hovv her yeeres doe necessarily denye her many he must also remember on the side of Monsieur hovv fruteles a race that is his eldest brother had none his seconde brother but one that a daughter hys thyrd hath none all of them being a forced generation by phisick after many yeeres vvhen theyr mother feared to be put avvay as barraine No vvhere therefore are vve to match vvith lesse hope of issue And if it seeme curiositie that we proceede further in thys case as to say what if Monsieur should haue both male and femall or diuers males I require of hym but so much foresight and casting of doubt for the happy staying of thys crovvne in the English ligne of our auneient kings as noble men and other great landed ones at thys day haue vvho in their vsuall conueighances do marshall the fal of theyr inheritances by limitation vpon limitation euen to the tenth son of theyr body begotten and to the tenth nephevv of theyr foresayd tenth son of hys body begotten May it be lavvfull so to prouied for the continuance of pelting maners in one familie of a subiect and wil he not carefully cast a fevv doubts for holding of the crovvne vvith many principalities and dukedoms for the preseruation of the capitall corporation of England in respect vvhere of al other the greatest castelles honors and manors are but mesnalties or rather very messuages and tenancyes paraual Issue therefore or no issue by thys Frenchmans body the issue of this Frenchmans marrage is most dangerous to thys Realme and the very consideration of it fearefull in behalfe of our lief soueraigne But these gloosing Frenchmē haue vvhet on some of our persvvaders vvho likevvise vvhet on others vvith remembrance of the dominions and rule vvhich theyr anncesters sometime bare in Fraunce and vvhich this land novv vvants with some disgrace Other of our mens teeth are made to vvater with fayre promises of reposseding those seigneuries and countryes vvhich theyr noble forefathers enioyed as though by meanes of thys mariage they vvould set foote there I knovv not hovv before the french vvere a vvare and sending ouer some colonies from hence of such superfluous gentilmen as themselues they vvould holde it maugre the king there vvith such braue vvords the false flattering frenchmen bring fond credulous Englishmen into a supposed paradise These brauing English gentlemen are as farre from the wisedom of theyr noble auncestets of whom they speake as from theyr courage It vvere verely a conquest fit for gentlemen to assay the recouering of our former losses and to begin euen vvyth our last losse first but if these mens eyther wisedome vvere such as vvere lyke to gette it or theyr courage such as vvere lyke to keepe it they vvould remember that in tymes passed the noble ▪ Englishmen delighted rather to be seene in Fraunce in bright armour then in gay clothes and masking attyre they did chuse rather to vvinn and hold by manly force then by such esseminate meanes Yea vvhen they did obteyn any thyng by mariage it was not that England vvas maryed to France but by marying france to England vvherein is great difference if a man haue the witt to marke it For if eyther vve vvere Frenchmen or our nation more large and pleasaunt then Fraunce vve might perhaps haue reason simply to desyre it Then should our land ▪ be the royall seate our king should be resident emong vs and our empire encreased by so many vassalles vvhich though by the mariages of our former kinges the flowers of kinghthood vvould haue fallen out othervvise in processe of tyme to the same bondage of thys lande if they had styll kept Fraunce because theyr succeeding children kinges of England vvoulde haue remoued thither as into a more rich and pleasaunt kingdome out of Englande deuided from the world yet had euen our forefathers in the dayes of those victorious kings that reason to desire it which vve vvant that is they vvent thither vvith theyr kings to be maisters of countrey and people and to hold it by aims as strongest vvheresoeuer theyr king vvent he was styll an Englishman and trusted most most aduaunced Englishmen yea those kings had euer Animam reuer tendi as I may say into England ▪ in so much as king Henrye the fift vvho had set surest foote in Fraunce yet he had a mind to be brought after hys death out of fickle Fraunce into vvell stayed England and here vve haue hys boanes But in this mariage our Queen is to be maryed and both she and we poore soules are to be mastered and vvhich is vvorse mistrised to And as for the issue he shall be meere French no more acknovvledging vs then that other Pharaoh which neuer knew Ioseph Thys therefore vvere a desyre more lyke the noble blood of those tymes rather to fight for that vve haue not then to daunce for that vve haue yea I vvill say to these dauncers for a garlonde and not for a kingly crovvne as that duke of Glocester sayde It vvere more commendable for these ioyly mates to demaund by word and sword those dominions whych vve haue lost rather thē by mariage to shut the gates of recouering any thyng lost and to open agate of loosing all that is left And if these men vvere eyther regenerate with theyr lyuing brethren by the Gospel or yf they were not degenerate from theyr deceased noble fathers remained but in theyr pure naturalles they would neuer so speak for a faultor prince of Rome and one that may be warranted to vs and our heyres for an enemy auncestrell as I may say and of an hatefull blood from many graundfathers And if they had but that naturall sense vvhich all lyuing creatures haue to eschevv in theyr kindes all contrary and hurtfull thinges they vvould not so labour
forcible meanes of that holy leage of hostility decreed in the last Tridentine session doth novv remeÌ„ber an older Canon of constance vvhich is that fayth may not be holden vvith such as he takes for heritikes And therefore as one at his vvits end resolueth vpon thys conclusion slily to styr vp one of hys honourable sonnes to ioyne in mariage with our eldest daughter vvhich before hand he meanes though it be agaynst his ovvne savv to dispence vvith knovving assuredly by the experience of that old false prophet that vvheÌ„ the Lords long suffering had passed by many of the Israelites sins yet so soone as they vvere won in to mary vvith the Moabites the vvrath of God vvould forthvvith breake out vpon them the Lord graunte vs to bevvayle this sin and to preuent this iudgement Hovv are vve blinded that since the Lord spared not the whole vvorld but couered it vvith vvaters from heauen yet Englande thinkes to be somevvhat in Gods sight a poore Ilande surrounded already vvyth the Occean seas vvhich can if the Lorde doe but vvhistle come tombling in and deuour vs vp he brake in vpon his own people vvhom he had hedged in vvith priuiledges yet vve that vvere as other nations presume to sin and hope to escape his hand he found away out of his gracious promises in iustice to plague Salomon the king of his ovvne holy mountain to vvhose person also he had so bound himselfe and yet vve that are but maisters of a molehyll in the vvorlde excedinglye defiled thorough our many transgressioÌ„s think not to bear our own sins Salomon for these very sins lost ten partes of his ovvne kingdom vvhich he had in quiet possession and had lost the vvhole but in regard of the holy promises to Iudah and vve leape at a kingdome yet in the hands of our enemies and thinke to gaine another kingdome to vs or our heyres by displeasing vvith the selfe same sins the same reuenging lord Noe noe thys counsel is not of the Lord because it is a vvisedom agaynst his church and if he be against vs who shall be for vs Novv as this counsail for so much of it as toucheth the church can not proceede but out of the mouth of some hyred or at the least at the best some blinded Balaam euen so for those particulars thereof vvhich concerne the comon vveale and our Queene it might vvell enough come from rash Rehoboams â—oung counsailors vvhom there lustes vvill euer keepe young â—hatsoeuer yeeres and experience they beare on theyr backs 〈◊〉 not from that remnant of Salomons sages vvhom the feare of God makes vvisely old betimes Hauing therefore thus farre sayd of the church Let vs see vvhether theyr country loue by not as little as their religious conscience so as a man may not say such sayth suche fruites The daunger therefore of a foraigne match is not so apparant or so light as it can be easily espied or prouided for by any assurances And if vvisedome might foresee the many lurking perils yet this may vve vvell looke for that such a kinde of mariage being already proued to be a high breach of Gods lavv the same Lord vvyl iustly take avvay all vvisedome from our vvise men and courage from our valiant men I humbly therefore besech the Queene and alher wise valiaunt and good men rather to keepe avvay the cause of this danger then to trouble themselues vvith prouision that in comming he should not hurt It is naturall to all men to abhor forreigne rule as a burden of Egypt and to vs of England if to any other nation vnder the son First it agreeth not vvith thys state or frame of gouernment to deliuer any trust of vnder gouernment to an alien but is a poyson to it when vve receiue any such for a gouernour And that is euident by our lavves and auncient customs of the lande disabling any alien to inherite the highest gouernement of vs vpon this reason no doubt because a senceles and careles forreiner cannot haue the naturall and brotherlike bovvels of tender loue tovvardes this people vvhich is required in a gouernor which is by birth bredd dravven out from the teates of a mans ovvn mother country according to the vvisedom of that high politic call lavv of God Chuse a king from emong thyne ovvne brethren and if thee vvant of an English hart doth disable any from ruling the ship of our Realm shall a French hart be kindlike ynough to rule our Queene vvhich is the sterne of our shyp no the place of an alien is far from such truste by the iudgement of our naturall lavves vvhich appeares in considering theÌ„ by the 〈…〉 seuerall degrees First for an alien vvhich is an alian enemy 〈◊〉 lavve doth not so much as protect his lyfe a thing other 〈…〉 highly and deerly regarded in our lawes if in any other 〈◊〉 but makes him all in one predicament vvith the case of premuniri and though the lavv of armes bid him be raunsomed yet our peacible lawes aske no subiects blood for arresting suche a prisoner and killing hym in cheapeside And let thys alien be an alien friend yet if he be not denized the lavves can not abide him to be mayster of one foote of ground within the Realme the reason vvherof is they are not inheritable to the lavves of our land or answerable or able to demaund by the lavves any thyng from the meanest subiect Yea vvhen they haue theyr best footing here and are accompted members vvith vs of thys body by endenization or enfraunchisment yet haue those our vvise forefathers that haue left vs England to rule and dvvell in had euer such a vvatchfull eye to straungers as they vvould not in theyr dayes of peaceable gouernements and vve according to theyr custome doe not in these dayes suffer any straunger though denized to beare any office touching the peace and ordering of the lande he is not trusted vvith a iustiship of peace or petie constableship much lesse vvould they make hym Admirall of the nauie Constable of the tower or Gardian of any castel or peice of strength In tyme of poperye vvhen the Romane prelate vsurped vpon our prince for conferring benefices Abbeis and such liuings here to Italians French and other alians at hys pleasure yet vvould the kings of those blindest dayes suspect treachery in these holy Abbots and Priors whom othervvise they made theyr Goddes vvould vvithout feare of sacriledge sequester theyr profites vnto the kings cofers and seize the lande of those holye alians leaste they might perhaps vvage foreigne soldiar vvith English pay agaynst the king of England vvhereof they gaue manifest experience to king Henrye the fift vvho hauing founded an Abbay vvherein he put French fryers and in a visitation as theyr founder fynding them negligent in theyr deuotions he asked the good father of the house vvhat vvas the cause vvho ansvvered flatlye that they could not naturally pray for him
Spayn doates vpon that dronken harlot of Rome I vvould be loath that eyther Frannce or Spayne shoulde haue such a Porter here to let them in at a posterne gate as Monsieur is Yea I do not onely set thys popish French fayth behind the Spanishe honor of promise holding but I affirme without doubting that it is not so safe to contract this neere alliance with these French as to make some other commun amitie with those Moores beyonde Spayn whose barbarian religion and region though it be farther from vs then Fraunce yet doe those mores hold more Fayth with straungers then these French doe vvith themselues A most illcome guest therefore to all sorts of men here for to take thys vvhole land in a lump and to make no difference of papist or protestant I am sure the deuoutest papist that hath an Englysh hart left to knok vpon in his breast wyllbe afrayde to call Monsieur his mayster But a most daungerous guest to thys quiet of the state must he needes be that to the griefe of the greatest part and chiefe strength of the lande requires open exercise of a contrary religion for him selfe and hys giuing great hope therby to others of obteyning some indifferent Interim Now to proue that any alteration in religion or expectation to haue religion altered is a politique bile enflaming the peace of a setled and euen state I might haue sufficient authority to some men out of macciauel But I loath once to take vp hys best textes thoughe they were vvritten in golden letters of the fayrest text hand Hereon vvill I onely rest for thys poynt that to alter our good religion or to giue any premission to so wicked Idolatry as is hys takes avvay Gods blessing from the state whose prouidence it is wherby Rulers reigne and states doe stand And let him pardie that holdes himselfe the best politique hold thys with me for a corner stone and most luckie principle in policie that as to bring in and hold true religion procureth Gods protection and worketh subiects obedience of hart farre aboue all other lawes or feare of lawes so to put out Gods gospell and to bring in Idolatrye or to enlarge Antichrist and streighten the passage of Christ doth shut all bessing from heauen so as the Lord shall curse our counsayle and cast vs in our vvisedome of ouerweening In vvhich behalfe we haue somewhat already felt of that iudgemēt for our fault of once deliberating so vngodly a thing for wisemen in marieng of theyr children will most willingly seeke houses of auncient amitie and carefully doe auoyd the seede of olde enemity which is heriditarie as other diseases are and we are not so wise in mariage of our common vveale for what house is more aunciently enemy to her maiesties royall auncestors and thys land thē that of Valois what king more out of leage or longe truce with thys state then he of Fraunce as he who can not be content onely to vsurpe a kingdom from vs but is impatient that our prince shold so much as beare the true title thereof And if we vvere such ennemies when vve had but ciuill quarrelles and onely vter regnaret hovv should not our hate be multiplyed vvhen it is de aris et focis and consequently vter sit et viuat And if entermariages emongst themselues in theyr ovvne family can not stay this furye of theyrs but that for religion onely and none other quarel their very pitie is cruelty euen vpon theyr ovvne bovvels murdering and massacring one another by thousands and ten thousandes hovv shall any mariage make them friendes to vs vvhom they repute as olde enemies and haue yet bleeding in theyr chronicles the dishonors and vvounds heretofore giuen from hence to their kinges aunceters No no vvell sayd that vvise Troyan Timeo Danaos vel dona ferentes and vvell may a simple Englishman say timeo gallos namely Valesios nuptias ambientes especiallye such mixt mariages vvhich vve knovv to be othervvise agaynste theyr ovvne conscience It vvere vvell vve learned that conscience of them if not of conscience at least by horror of those streames of french blood that vvas shedde throughe such a mariage in Paris assuring our selues that if they vvent vp to the knocles in french blood they vvyll vp to the elboes in English blood And that cruelty raged not onely on the poore and selye ones but it tooke the noble men and great princes by the throate Yea the king of Nauarre hymselfe who vvas the spouse in that infamous mariage to the end of the world had the deadly sword hanging ouer his head by a tvvine thred and had felt the poynt thereof if he had not to hys dishonour the Lord be honoured in his repentance renied hys god Frō these mē that haue eaten the people of God as bread haue bene fleshed in murdering of multitudes drunk the blod of noble men vvhy should any good manner stay a good louing subiecte from fearing the same daungers and cruelties from the same men to our Queene and soe a vvretched confusion in this land if for the sins thereof she should come in theyr fingers to be a doleful bryde in theyr bloody brydchambers vvhich God for his Christes sake preuent Amen Beside thys late experience in our eyes of theyr daungerous dealings in mariages emong them selues vve may learne if vve be so happy by the auncient hurts that Englande haue receiued through royall intermariages vvith that nation and by the rules vvhich the vvise English counsellers of those times haue set down as a state vvisedome for their succeding counsellers yea vve may see that these mariages vvith Fraunce or vvith any other partes of that present dominion before or sence it vvas united to that crovvne haue alvvayes endamaged England and sometime Fraunce to so as for most part they might be reckoned emong those ill bargaynes that no bodye gaynes by and therefore be lyke cursed from aboue Such vvere the mariages vvhere Henrye the first gaue his daughter Mault the Empris in second mariage to the Earle of Angeovv and hys sister Aelix as some chronicles call her to Steeuen Erle of Bloys for thereof sprang the losse of a kingdome to Mault during her lvfe by being so farre out of the land in another country vvhen she should haue accepted it here thereof sprang the periuries of Steuen king of England entised to a kingdome through the commoditie of hys neere place vvhych seemed to prouoke him and therefro came the ciuile miseries to the people vvho through the incertaintye of a gouernor were in field and armes one agaynste another with lyke blessing dyd Henry her son take to wyfe Eleonor daughter to the Erle of Aquitaine and Poictou vvho through her ovvne vvickednes and the freendes she made on the otherside entertained many yeares an vnnaturall warre betweene hir owne husbande and hys and her children Henry Rychard and Iohn And yet thys vnhappy Henry the
that may so earnestly send hym hither he is here apparant to Fraunce dangerous therefore in respect of reasons otherwhere alledged for hym to be absent espetially the present king being so far gon and spent in the disease as some of these perswaders vvill say vvhen they wyll further thys match And if he should come in with that honorable shew becomming hys greatnes and as any other such man wyll come that woeth with good meaning and feareth not any detectioÌ„ of hydden trecheryes â–ª hys voyage hyther would be mightely chargable a thing ill becomming hym vvho is already drawen drye to the botom and extremely indetted vvith hys other coloured voyage into Flanders And onelesse some notable practise pricked hym hyther the very passage ouer the sea vvould appall this fresh water soldiar hauing read that betvvene thys and Normandye there perished in one bottom three kingly children but vtterlye vvould he be discouraged by thaduenture of honour whych he makes in sayling hyther vpon so slender likelihoode of speeding or rather vpon great reason of repulse if his care of honor vvere not lesse then his greedines to accomplish hys other mischiefe And if he should speede which God forspeake yet must he com to a people that loues hym not nor hys trayne and vvhere neuerthe lesse he must haue hys gardes and trayne prescribed and limitted in regard of the state And thys people if heretofore it hath bene so manly as to mayster thys generation of Capet in hys own or rather our home of Fraunce me thinks thys Monsieur can come with small hope to finde good seruice at our handes vvhose fingers wyll itch at hym in our home of England But aboue all vvho can thinke that he being the last of hys fathers ligne and the onely forlorne hope of raysing vp seede to hys brothers would match heare vvith so farr gon hope of hauing issue endaungering by that means a vvylling translation of the crown of France from hym and hys fathers posterity to another prince of the blood No no no the king hys brother and hys mother haue some other meanyng agaynst the church state and person of our prince euen to haue an eye in the heade of our Courte if they can bring it to passe and an hand in the heart of this realm to vvorke our ruin and theyr great hatreds and that as the mother hath long time ruled and turned the wrong side outvvard of Fraunce so she might haue thys land another while for hyr stage she is dressing hir Prologue to sende him in trust him not The players be tragicall though he vveare peacible laurell on his head Yea the wordes that escape from some of them that are come on thys message doe bewray hovv lovvdly they vvyl speake here after I pray God they to vvhom it belongs may keepe avvay such gamsters And sith the Lord for hys own name sake of his loue to the gospel vvhich we haue emoÌ„g vs hath weakned the hands of our forreine enemyes broken the deuises of theyr heads hither to since he hath engraueÌ„ such a searing loue in hyr subiects harts as children beare to there mother and such a reuercut note of souereignete in hir person as he is wont to sett on them vvhom he calls by hys owne name and are his ordinances in so much as it may be sayd of hir most truely it is the Lord by vvhoÌ„ kings reign since I say the blessed vvord of Christ hath made hir sword as the svvord of Gâ—deon keeping hir safe from many practises agaynste hyr person while other kings and Queenes haue thorowe Gods iudgement for theyr manifest sins bene subiect to tombling and suffered change in person and estats Let vs styll rest in those maenes and approue that vvhich vve haue proued for good It is a foly to seeke forreine ayde but vpoÌ„ extreme necessitye It is lyke desperate phisick vvhen one is giuen vp by al phisitions it sends hym speedely eyther one vvay or other They suffer themselues to be abused vvhich beleeue the french men vvhen they say that England is vnfurnished of friends neyther in perfect league nor good opinioÌ„ nor neere allyed with any prince in Christendome Our alliances are better then his and more assured as in another place it is shewed vve haue the Lords right hand on ourside and all the hatts and handes of those of our religion Yea vve were able by Gods mercy to throvv out popery euen then vvhen it had more friends vvithin the land and vvhen diuerse princes and multitudes vvere enemies to vs for our religion that are since become religious euen to the death vve doubt not therefore but much more easely vve shall be able to hold our prince vvorthy of hyr I can not chuse but say that this prince of Fraunce of all other vnmaried princes is moste vnworthye of hyr for euen that Christianity vvhich hir Maiestie is called vnto and hyr princely priesthoode in Christ Iesus is as farr aboue all hys pryde in fleshe as heauen is aboue earth hir earthly septer being added to the former excellency settes him at hir foote or rather driues him from hir presence in iudgement of God and men being but a subiecte in the kingdom of Fraunce as yet no enrolled citesin in thouvvard kingdom of heauen The assured and great euils that grovv here out to our head the Queene make no lesse agaynst the vvell doing of the lesser limes of the land For to let passe the doings of auncient and present kings vvho vvhen by such meanes they vvinne a countye into theyr pavves first dispatch the auncient Nobilitye destroye the greatest kindreds and scatter the meane sort into seruile vnlearned and vnarmed trades for thentreaty that our Nobility and Gentry are to looke for I vvyll note but thys one vvord euen of thys very family of Hugh Capet the first of thys third and present kingly race in Fraunce vvhen by such meanes as theyr ovvn chro nicles doe mention he had vvrested the sceprer from the handes of theyr Mayster and soueraign seede of great Charles Peppines son the first deede they did vvas to prouide that the chiefe of that ligne might dye the death perhaps some of them did chuse some pinig death at Orleance but die they must This is a slip of Hugh Capet and the practise of theyr mother and them in their ovvn country at this present is to raze all auncient french houses and to reare vp new bringing al as neere as they can A la Turkesque that all being there creatures may fall dovvn and vvorship them And if the present vvoeng messenger a man of so bace place and petie coÌ„panion in the french court is yet so sausie as to be checkmate vvith our Queen and to enter malapart comparison vvyth our Noble men doubt you not but the friends of of the brydegroome vvyll be euery man a petie king ouer our English Nobilitye Our
to feare if these Israelites feared so much at the building of an Altar vvhych vvas meant to the honour of God and onely contrary to the outward shevv of the vvordes of the lavve shall not vve tremble at thys Alter vvhich all the charity in the vvorld can not conceiue vvell of as that vvhich hath none vse but to serue the deuil good Nehemiah for one piece of thys our sin found in the people feared the wrath of God proclaymed publike fasting prayer Let vs folovv his example that the Lord may be still our God and remember vs to do vs good Much more haue vve to shake for that thys our turning frō God in straunge mariage and permitting strange Gods vvhich the liuing God turne from vs should be more foule and more grosse thenany of those former vvhiche neuerthelesse deserued and had such plagues For it cannot I dare say be shevved in all the holystory that those people of God in the vvorst mariage emōg them did yet euer make any precedent pact or articulat cōdition aforehand vvith the Idolaters that they should quietly agaynste the lavves of theyr holy land commit Idolatry but rather at firste the Idolaters dissembling theyr ovvne or making semblant of the true religiō fayre foftly vvan by little little through familiarity mutuall conuersation of lyfe after mariage by a stealing insinuation or flattery and creping persvvasion daungerous therefore to haue any sort of felovvship vvith the vvicked an open exercise of theyr paganisme But if any man perswade our Prince in vvhose handes the Lorde hath put and holden a soueraigne scepter of peace novv twenty yeeres and more and by vvhose handes the Lord hath quite expelled Idolatrye he make her and vs thankfull for it vppon cammunication of thys mariage to indent vvith man hovv farre God should be honoured vvhat is thys but to sinne more then the supposed sin of the Reubenites to excede the transgressions of Salomon or Iehoram euen to erecte an Idolatrous altar not in a corner of the Realme but on the hyghest hyll of the land in London vvhich is our Ierusalem and to make an open fault not of infirmitye but by addised composition agaynst the Lord and hys truth not in tvvo shires and a halfe but in the greatest part of the realme and head of the land our prince in so much as it should be safer to set vp a thousande hyll alters for hedgecreping Priestes other where rather then thys high Altar so neere the Court. The sinne of Achan though not in thys kind proues that the sin of one man and hym pryuate doen in secrete and buried close vnder the ground gaue forth such a stench in the Lords nostrels as was contagious to the vvhole host and hys garmente brought the plague emong them Much more shall the hygh sin of a highest magistrate doen and auoued in open son kindle the vvrath of God and set fire on church and common weale And this fire if it fasten on our church it is like wild fyre or fire from heauen that all the seas can not stoppe nor quench but the flakes thereof wyll flye ouer sea and keepe hauoke in the churches both on thys side and beyoind seas Our neighbour vvel builded church of Scotland must needes think hir selfe to haue some what in hand vvhen our wall is aburning The infant churches in the lovv countryes shall loose a nource of vs The elder churches in Garmani a sister of strength And vvhen I remember the poore orphane churches in france I must needes giue the pryce of godlesse impudencie to those vvhich vvyll needes forsooth mayntaine thys mariage as a mean to assure religion in fraunce and to preferue the professors there from more massacres These men haue lyke vnkind mothers put as it vvere theyr owne child the church of England to be nour sed of a french enemy and friend to Rome and novv very kindly they take in both armes the church of fraunce and giue it a priuy deadly nipp vnder colour of offering it their teates vvherein is nought but vvind if not poyson As therefore the ennemies to Gods truth seeke those churches ruin throug hatred to religion so should we who are members of one body vvith them haue a care of them as of our selues The enemies think there kingdom of Antichrist can not stand vnles Christ be put out of these churches let vs knovv as those reformed Churches next vnder God and theyr owne forces haue stoode by good neighbourhood euen so that there standing is our necessary strength Certainly the Pope seeth vvell that one great staye vvhy neyther the French King in Fraunce nor the Spanish king in the low countryes can destroy religion is the helpe and avve of other Princes confessing the gospell emong which our Queene is in regard with the chiefe A game he seeth as vvell that next vnder God one greate cause vvhy hys interdictions against vs take no place in England nor Ireland and that those kings to whom hee hath giuen our land as it vvere to vvhom soeuer occupanti can not come to take possession of vs is because that they of the reformed religion in both those countryes are as a brazen doore and an yron wall agaynst our popish enemies and therefore by thys match he seekes to sunder them from vs and vs from them and so by vnbarring our brazen doore and treading dovvne our vval to lay open hys passage to vs I vvill not therefore vouchsafe this straunge suppositon of these persvvaders the place of an obiection to be aunsvvered in the ende but vvill vse it for an other mayn reason of proofe in thys part that thys mariage is agaynst the church because it is agaynst the churches of Fraunce the vvhich it must needes kill in the place as they say and vvithall giue our church a deathes wound Here is therefore an imp of the crovvne of Fraunce to marye vvith the crovvned Nymphe of Englande It is proued alreadye that his comming shakes the church in Englande and hovv shall he stablish the religion in France VVhat is France to the church of God and to England for religions sake Fraunce is a house of crueltie especially against Christians a principll prop of the tottering house of Antichriste and vvithout vvhich our VVesterne Antichriste had bene ere this sent to his brother Mahomet into Greece vvhether he long sence sent his maisters the Emperoures of Rome The long and cruell persecutions in Fraunce the exquisite torments and infinite numbers there put to death doe vvitnes hovv worthy that throne is to be reckoned for one horn of that persecuting beast the primitiue Empire Thys man is a son of Henrye the second vvhose familie euer since he maryed vvith Catherine of Italie is fatal as it vvere to to resist the Gospell and haue bene euer oney after other as a domitian after Nero as a Traian after domitian and as Iulianus after Traian VVhose manifest cruelties and
father must goe and take Marguerit the daughter of Lewis the eyght for a vvyfe to hys son Henry and for his son Richard tooke Aelix an other daughter of Fraunce vvhich alliances proued such assurances to Henry the second as his last fiue or sixe yeeres vvere nothing but an vnkinde stryfe with his ovvne sons and especially hys sonne Rychard made open vvarre against him and vvan from him a part of Normandie by the helpe of his trustie friend Lewes the French king After thys vvhen Rychard him selfe was king not vvithstanding all the French friendships and alliances at vvhat tyme he vvas taken prisoner in hys returne from Ierusalem the French king vvas not ashamed to excite Iohn the brother of England to seize himselfe of the crovvne The sayd Iohn vvhen he vvas king marieng the daughter of the Earle of Engolesme in Fraunce and his son Henry the third hauing maried first a daughter of the Earle of prouence and secondly french Marguerit sister to Phillip the fayer found in the seueral dayes of theyr raignes the French king to be no better then a pricke in theyr sides taking part against them and prouoking theyr people to be as it vvere thornes in theyr feete Edvvard the second succeding his auncesters aswell in theyr vnhappy folly as in they re kingdome vvill needes marry vvith Isabel daughter to the same Phillip vvhich proued such an assurance to hymselfe as that hys French vvife vvas able to bereaue hym first of hys son carying him into Fraunce and hauing there made a strong part could returne and bereaue her husband of hys liberty and kingdome and in the ende of hys lyfe to after a vvretched captiuitie vnder hys owne son So that of old the alliances of Fraunce dyd set husbande and vvife together by the eares as in Henry the second and Edvvarde the second the father and son together as they did Henry the second and hys three sons Henry Rycharde and Iohn brother against brother as Rychard and Iohn the king and hys people togither as they did king Iohn and Henry the thyrd against the people and as they did aftervvard in Rychard the second Henry the sixt vvhich the duke Thomas of Glocester in his tyme vvell foresavv and therefore vpon treaty of the like mariage for Rychard the second vvho hauing novv raigned xix yeeres and being thyrtye yeeres olde fell amourous most vnkindlye and vnkingly vvith a french girle but eyght yeeres of age daughter to Charles the sixt French king he the same Thomas of Glocester vncle to the king stept vp and vvithstode that match hauing belike in these former experiences obserued the truth of that general rule set dovvne vpon the French by that Greeke Emperor And because I find the vvords of thys Duke set dovvne more expresly in a French chronicle then any vvhere els I vvill vse theyr ovvne vvords as the fittest testimony in thys case The alliance of Fraunce sayth that Duke in that french story hath bene the ruine of England and this nevve frendship betvveene these kings sayth the Duke shall neuer make me loke for any assured peace attvvene thē for sayth he ther vvas neuer yet any trust or religiō or truth in the vvord or promises of the french VVhat an auncient hereditary disease of disloyalty is this in the royall seate of Fraunce especially since the Maiors of the housholde became kinges And though thys Dukes voice in thys counsell vvere ouerruled by the multitude or rather by the lust of the king yet did the king and his people and their children feele hovve true it was in sequele For first thys externe amitie with Fraunce bred home enemitye in England It cost vs for an earnest penny the tovvne of Brest in Britanie by meanes of the kings outlandish Queen And poore king Richard vsing in priuate connsaise altogether the French companions such as his vvyfe brought began to disdeyne his ovvne naturall kinsmen and subiects and finallye follovving ouermuch the cruell and riotous counsel of such minions namely the Constable of Fraunce and Erle of S. Pol vvhō the French king sent of purpose to king Rycharde his son in lavve polling the people and putting to death such nobles as his french counsail put in hys head in the end he vvas quite vnkinged by Henry of Lancaster afterwardes Henry the fourth vvho during the tyme that he platted thys enterprise founde hospitalitye in Fraunce for all king Rychards alliance vnder his father in lavves nose The French match it vvas vvhich vvithin one yere brought the king to dishonorable captiuitie death and deposing vvhich appeares for that in story it is rekoned emong other thinges that alienated from him the loue of hys subiects so farre as when he vvas taken hys enemy vvas fayne to saue hys lyfe by garde from hys ovvn people and also it is obiected agaynst hym that he had made thys alliance vvith Fraunce not calling to counsail the thre estates of England Euen the last mariages vve made vvith France vvere lyke vnhappy to the end Henry the fift that noble king had the alliance of Katherin daughter to Charles the seauenth of Fraunce and after had the possession of Fraunce first by right of descent and mariage then by conquest of sword and lastly by couenant agreed with king Charles and his peeres yet coulde he none othervvise hold theyr loue but hauing theyr necks vnder hys yoke VVhych vnion of possession and right to that realme vvas aftervvard fortified by crouning hys sonne Henry the sixt in Paris and by a nevv match betweene hym and Marguerit daughter of a French Charles as most men saien vvhich cost hym first for a princely brybe the dukedome of Angeow and Ereldome of Main and after many miserable destructions of our English cheualry people lost both the new cōquired title ancient heriditarye dominions on that side and finally vvrought an ignominious depriuation of Henry the sixt from this realme I think I might set dovvue all such matches as vnhappy ones and contrarivvise those matches nothing so vnhappy but for the most parte prosperous vvhich were made eyther at home or in other places as vveren al those mariages made since Henry the sixt as by Edvvarde the fourth her Maiesties greatgraundfather and by her maiesties graundfather and by her father And if a sister or daughter vvho had no or dinarye counsail allowed her out of France could yet continually preuaile so much to the trobling of the state and deposing of the king here vvhat peril is it to dravv hether a brother vvho is to haue his ordinarye counsail and some gard of force and continuall-intelligence with the French king and is also to be a leader and executer of any deuise himselfe vvhich a French woman could not doe so vvell the daunger therefore in thys match is encreased beyond that in the former matches for there the party for or by vvhom the danger came vvas a vvoman and therefore
vveaker the party to vvhom the match fell out so hurtful vvas a man and therefore stronger here the peril strenghtned for the party bringing the perill out of Fraunce is a man and the partie endaungered is a vvoman These thinges deserue vvell the vveighing and may not be passed ouer vpon euery lisping vvord and crouching curtesie of a French Ambassador or other flattering petie messenger And if our wise and renoumed forefathers of England passed vvithout stombling ouer the threshold of suspecting the french aliance euen then whā the french men professed held the lavves of atmes vvyth theyr enemies as soldiers let vs not be nicely fearefull to passe the boūds of honorable modestie in iudgeing of the present princes vvhich professe to deceiue and break fayth vvith such as vve are yea let vs boldly vvisely cast this doubt that they vvhose frendships vvhē they had not so il purposes but thought it their honor to match with vs wrought vs yet thys woemust nedes novv hurt vs according to their hateful falshod in dealing with vs whō they esteme according to their doctrin of Rome no better then dogs Novve as there is daunger on the parte of the French for great troubles to follovve by thys mariage as vvell for that they haue nevv fangled and stirring common wealth heads lusting after Innouations as also for the ielousie of tvvo so neere bordering kingdomes euen so vvill it be harder then yron for Englishmen to digest with quiet stomake the french insolencies and disdaynefull brauades For if the Spaniard comming in vppon hys honor and being an auncient friend at that tyme of one religion did neuertheles beare away harde intreadie for hys vnwonted pryde towards vs more danger vvill theyr be least these needie spent Frenchmen of Monsieurs traine being of contrary religion and who are the scome of the kings Court which is the scomme of all France vvhich is the scomme of Europe vvhen they seeke like horseleaches by sucking vpon vs to fill theyr beggerly purses to the satis fieng of theyr bottomlesse expence the poore playne and rude Englishman firste giue him the elbovve in the strete then the fist and so proceeding to farther bicquerings in pryuate quarrels great troubles ryse of small beginnings for as touchinge the humble mild persecuted and religious Frenchmen that we receiue him as a vvelbeloued brother and that our old grudging nature against the french in this respect is expelled as it wer vvith a fork that comes by the force of religion the Lord hauing wrought it in our heartes But against these irreligious haughtye and faithlesse frenchmen that bring in a religion contrarye to ours haue no cōscience nor loue to vse vs kindly our English nature vvil return a main to his own course which thinges also may euidtēly appeare to any mā that wold but mark how sadly heauily with hovv sorovvful coūtenances all the multitude of English both nobilitie comminaltye looke casting vp theyr hands eyes to heauen vvhen they doe but talke of the matter This stinging straunger of Fraunce muste vve keepe vvarme in our bosom at our ovvn intollerable charge which is another reason not to be neglected sith treasure is a principall sinevv of any state and therefore vvould not be wasted much lesse therevvyth to buye our own harme For they are ouer credulous to be beleeued vvho vvith the emptie name of Monsieur and of the French kings brother wold promise such other fooles as list credit them mountaines of golde and great gaine to thys royall state by hys vvorshipfull reuenues forsooth bringing in king Phillip vvho serues them in thys deuise for all in all for theyr example Fyrst vvho knowes not thys in generall that euery prince though neuer so rich will hoard vp hys owne treasure and spend of the straunge purse and it is a notable policie for our french enemye by this meanes to weaken the verye knees and hammes of our Realm Novv that vvhich other princes do of worldly vvisedom Monsieur must doe of meere necessitie for let his receiptes be great for a subiect yet shall they not be sufficient to maintain his mind in state of so great a priuce companiō to our Queen for euē alreadie his debtes expences are sayd to be farther at odds with his reuenues thē many yeres receipts can yeld the arerages But these perswaders as men hauing theyr eyes daseled vvyth the golden sun are ouer affectioned to thys match and can not see that Monsieur hath not moe countyes then king Phillip had archdukedomes nor so many dukedoms as king Phillip had kingdomes and that he is not able to dropp halfe testons for king Phillips pîstelas nor vvith siluer to weighdowne his gold as also that king Phillip for al those dominiōs mines of treasures was content to be pingling vvith our purses made Queene Mary to aske moe extraordinary and frequent subsides and taskes then had bene seene in so short a raigne further causing her to borow more loanes of hundred powndes forty pounds tvventy pounds and ten poundes of her subiects then vvere euer payd agayn by a great sort thus gleaning the monie from the subiects by armefuls lading out of the eschequer that both the land and the Eschequer was left as empty to the Queenes maiestie that novv is as it vvas many a daye The very bodyes of our men vvere fayne to be employed in hys seruice and forraigne warres there to abide the formost force and to be as a vvall betvvene the honorable Spainard and the Canon vvhich vvars nothing in our ovvne quarrell besides the present losse of noble men and good soldiars there at the place cost vs in a backe reckoning the richest and strongest towne of vvar that the Queene then had And yet must vve haue king Phillip broughte in for example of a gainefull mariage to England In dede vve had great cause to thank the Lords mercy vvho deliuered vs from that king his power as vve had to thank our sins that vve vvere giuen into hys hand but vve may say vve scaped a scouring for but that he vvas newly setled in his owne kingdome and could not tary to be warme in his bedd here the end vvould haue ben vvorse then the beginning he wold haue holdē hard if not for the soile of the kingdom yet for the nauie for the ordinance and other chiefe moueable treasures and reall Ievvels of the land All vvhich thinges come in a more daunger with thys Prince because if he be king of fraunce he shal be neerer and readier by colorable polices to vvythdravv by little and little all thinges from hence in her Maiesties lysr by force to chalenge them if VVhich God say nay to she shoulde be hys vvife and dye before hym There is another daungerous daunger in thys forreine french match that aryseth yet far higher in that he is the brother of childles Fraunce So as if Henry the thyrd novv king should dye
them sauing that they desire the vvorst to befall vs And if there be any perswader of this straunge mariage in whom remaynes yet a simple mind but missed or miscaried I desyre hym or her and I charge thē as they vvill answer to God of theyr truth to their Mistres of England English brethren that they close theyr hand and put theyr fingar to theyr mouth and vvaigh better hereof as vvell by the lavve of God as of humane policie vvhich must no doubt agree vvyth Gods law I cousell them to consider these daungers common to them selues vvith all other and if they looke vvell about them they shall find thys mariage a right vnhappy one and on no side happy vvheresoeuer they turne them For let it be that he haue issue by her and that none but feamal only vve haue hazarded our kingdom for putting it in the hands of the father vvho vnder colour of some tutorship to hys daughter vvill haue her into Fraunce and so eyther adioyne this land to Fraunce or mary her to some French or other stranger at hys lyking and all this vvhyle vve neuer the neere possession of our old right in Fraunce whych vve so much desired for the Salique lavve barres hyr quite And though she should come and dwel in England yet her bringing vp being in Fraunce her father will nousell her in hys own religion and so she comming home shall striue to staplish popery as the late Queene of Scotts did when shee came out of Fraunce vvherupon ensued those bloodshedds and redde vvarres besides the ilfauoured examples of the French Court and kings vvhich vve vvould be loath our English princes shall learne and bring home hether If thys issue by Monsieur should be a son and but one sonne then vvill he translate his Court into Fraunce and leaue thys poore prouence to the mannaging of a viceroy the greuances whereof are ynough set foorth by referring you to the proconsulates of Rome vnder that Empire to the vndergouernours in the former monarchies to the viceroyes and Luogotenenti of Spayn in Naples-Cicil and here nerer in the lovv countryes VVho like boares in a fat nevv broken vp ground by sovving first some seedes of dissentions to breed partialities in the countrye doe roote out the auncient homegrovving nobilitie and turne vnder perpetuall slauery as cloddes the country people yea and perhaps in the end caught with the liquerishnes of gouernment seize thēselfe of the absolute kingdome and deceiue their mayster so did the auncient Monarchies melt so did this pre sent Empire lose her prouinces and is novve become lesse then a kingdom and so may this auncient kingdom be transferred to a rebellious seede Such rough plovvers doe our sins deserue to plovv deepe furrovves on our backs if the Lord in mercy looke not on vs I am not ignorant that some passe easily this incommoditie of viceroy affirming it to bring honor not perill for say they thys son being born here shall be king of both kingdomes with great honor as hath bene heretofore But they be svveete Englishmen if you marke theyr english vve reason of the dishonor and seruitude vvhich comes to the nation and they ansvvere of the honor that comes to the prince more lyke Basciaes to the great Turke then Christian commonvvealthmen as though our Christian and naturall Queen could thinke any thing profitable to her vvhich might any way though a farr off tend to the perpetuall bondage of hyr people here though they subtilly let slippe the assured hurt vvhich hereby falles to the common weale I wyl not forget to shew hovv incertain yea and hovv certainly perillous to the prince thys honor is wherewith they flatter hyr Holy king Henry as they call hym vvhom I suppose they wyll bring in for example vvas crovvned in Paris and yet lost all on that side before he was a man as I remember or soone after and before hys vnhappy death he lost thys land also vvhich losse of both came by striuing for both So that he may with more reason be recorded emong those fallen princes at the lowest of Boccaces vvhele or in our English booke of fallen Maiestrates then to be reconed vp by any faythfull English man for a patern of imitation to our present Queen Elizabeth VVho so vvyl auoyd those feareful effects must auoyd the cause from vvhence they procede and not bring such examples to be followed This example of Henry the sixt vvould proue like to our present case if it vvere pursued For the complection and constitution of Monsieur is not to liue long but to leaue his child in the cradle for the reasons hereafter remébred And if the byrth of thys child should any vvay endanger our Queen the poore infant if he ouerliued shold haue tvvo ouer great scepters to play withall euen as Henry the sixth had and so much the worse as there are euen novve one or tvvo houses in Fraunce vvhich vvould easely be saluted as kings and of whom both Monsieur and the king that novve is may vvell stand in feare perhappes these men wold prouide that this chyld should be borne in Monmouth and not at vvinsor and then they would think all sure Me thinks they should runn headlong on this remedy that are blinded in thys euill Thus it comes oftentimes to passe that flattery vvoundeth princes euen vvyth the very self thinges it so fairely beareth in hand And if he should haue a son and a daughter so as both of them ouer liuing theyr parents the son should be actually king as vvell of hys fathers as of his mothers kingdome and then dye wythout issue hys sister yet liuing is it not more then probable in this case that the next prince of the blood in Fraunce vnder pretence that England vvas once vested in the blood of the French king and vnder theyr gouernment vvyl drawe it also by thys vnity of possession vvith the crown of Fraunce vnder the law Salique and so quite vnqueen the desolate sister for the least color in the worlde ioyned vvith the sword in a stronge highminded kings hande makes a good tytle to a kingdome euen agaynst father mother wyfe brother and sister as storyes witnes and according to that vvhich is sayd No fayth in matter of a kingdome Much more agaynst that poore daughter vvhich then should be a straunger in the house of Fraunce The actuall possession of her brother vvyll make no tytle neyther wyll it be any plea to say that by our lavves lands descended from the mother are guyded to the heyrs of the part of the mother but our issue must be battel vvhich is a tryall most incertain most perilous to the daughter vvho being out of possession shal haue much adoe to find equiualiant champions And if thys Monsieur should haue by our Queen two sons or moe it must needes breed forrain vvars and ciuill partaking thorough disagreement of the brethren vvhyle the younger looking back to the
thys matter For vvhat if some of these perswaders can talke a litle French and peraduenture haue none other Englishe cōmendation vvherein they excel theyr poore countrymen nor wherby to clymbe one step to that height they loke at yea what if they cold speak french naturally think they for a little french in they re tongues ende to be so much set by alas poore men how vainely they gape at french promises with losse of theyr Englishe possessions If they should haue theyr desire it vvold not be long before theyr tongues would make theyr harts ake It might be honiemoone awhile with them but aftervvard french would be no deinty dish and these seely interpreters vvere happye if they might quietly stand without the dore vvhatsoeuer therfore their estate is now it can not be so ill as that must needes be vnder them they shall know hovv sweete the onely freedome in a mans naturall common wealth is by experience of that irksome contrary to serue so waivvard a master as is he that by slight or force conquers vvho though he wyll loue well the dominion so gottē yet wil he neuer trust but esteeme vvith a vile estimation al those that helped him to it and scarce deeme them vvorthye to lyue in that land which they haue deliuered hym But the graund reason and mother argument of these perswaders is the gaynefull honorable and strong alliance which muste of necessity come by matching vvith the house of France wheron hangs an other dwainling daughter reason that great partye forsooth that Monsieur can make vs in that kingdome Touching eyther of whych reasons though I suppose they can say nothing for maintenance of theyr conceipt but that is alreadye in theyr seuerall places eyther expresly remoued or more then by the way ansvvered yet for theyr pleasures who think themselues neuer answered onles theyr reason haue an expresse reproofe I vvill be bould with the reader and a little passe order to obiect it against me selfe agayne and handle it a part First I demaunde of these aduenturous commonwealminglers vvhether they vveene thys strength and honor to be had in the lyfe of this king and if so then vvhither by hys ayde and friendly alliance if they say yea yt is contrary to that they say in an other odd reason of brideling the king who surely will neuer strengthen that vvhich must curbe him and it is proued also that if he and his brother ioyne in any thyng they vvyll doe it smally for englands good If they thynke thys great match of honorable strength in the present kings lyfe to be by reason of the great party onely that Monsieur can make in Fraunce without the king they are vvyde and litle think of tvvo other houses which according to the two chiefe factions in Fraunce haue most deuoute fauourers and addicted follovvers as men bene respectiuely mynded towardes them and theyr professions vvherof the one house can haue more exequutioners of any hys cruell determination to offer violence and the other more faythfull ayders and companions of lyfe and death in defence of theyr consciences liues and goods then euer Monsieur could bring into the field vvhen he ioyned hymselfe with the Malcontents eyther in Fraunce or the lovve conntryes or then euer he coulde haue either to rescue hym out of hys feyned restraint or to fall to hym for hys gard when he semed to ruun in some feare from the court Yea of these two partialities in Fraunce as vve haue no neede of hys helpe for vvinning vs the one part who be already in the feare of God christian loue so vnited to vs and in all leeful thinges so affectionate to the Queenes maiesty as there homeloyalty saued they vvysh her al prosperytie and long life to the glory of God and aduancement of the truth So is not Monsieur in such credit vvith the other factiō as he can gain vs ther harts For albeit that be his best side indeed yet is he of so smal reckoning among the papists that vnles the king will he shall not haue one great on so much as hys companion or counsaylor For looke into the gouernment of hys pryuate affayres and though he be a great prince the kinges brother yet hath he not one man of mark or of great credit that followes hym but a crew of vnruly youthes Yea when he takes any publike enterpryse in hand as that of Flaunders whych stode hym so much vpon in honor and whych vvas vvyth secrete intel ligence betvveen the king and hym and by collusion yet because the king could not for bewraying that counsail declare his vvyll ouertly and lyking to that voyage not one Lorde of name accōpanyed him And let vs beleue our eyes in this his woeng of England No doubt very good manners which he can not but knovv required as vvell in regard of hyr Maiestie as of hys own highnes some proportion to haue ben kept in the quality of his messenger sent to her Maiestie It is therfore vvant of hauing at his deuotion such as had ben meet for such an Ambassage Els had vve had an other manner of man and not thys I wot not vvhat who hath no credit in Fraunce but as a minion of Monsieurs whatsoeuer place he presently hath it is much increased euen since he came hether to vs and by the credit hereof In so much as I think scorne in hyr Maiesties behalfe and the whole land takes it as an old french frump that no worthyer or nobler person is emploied in so worthy and noble a message to our Queen But letting goe the poore party of Monsieur to be hoped for in Fraunce we wyll in sinuate the small valew therof by shewing in a word or two hovv little worth the accepting in alliance the house of Fraunce is eyther in thys present king as our brother or in Monsieur though he were reigning french king and which the Lord forbid out husband It is alteady proued that Fraunce is our auncient foe and that theyr very frendships haue proued enemityes to vs Here then we seeke to make a nevv frend of an old enemy such an one as vve may not trust as well for the non tryall of hys loue as for the often tryal of hys hatred I remember that Hector and Achilles are supposed to haue found the verye gifts of enemies to be deadly dangerous yea such gyfts as vvhen they had them made for theyr defence vvhereupon the Grecians had in prouerbe that enemies gyfts were no gyfts And if there be such a malicious influence of an enemy into his gyftes that they seeme as it were poysoned and can not be saufely taken out of hys hand especially by a prince Hovv can we without desperate daunger receiue into our bosom the old enemy hymselfe certainly we may take vp thys prouerb the truth therof is as authentike as that other of the Grecians by a much more stronge reason
that is that an old enemy friend is no friend vvhich prouerb though in christian reformed men it may nowe and then be falsified yet do I not see but in men vnregenerate by the gospell it remaynes true and to beleue it false is perilous to prince or priuate person in choyse of friend or allie But if these perswaders vvyll needes haue thys paynted man to be a man and thys no frend to be a friend yet is he of necessity a most daungerous friend by reason of hys largely spred dominion vvhich makes hym esteeme himselfe as the iron pot and vs as the earthen crock vvith whom vvhen he floteth on the sea he weens he can dash vs into shards at hys pleasure according to that embleme of Alciat And though by the might of the hygh potter of mankind framer of kingdoms he hath found our sides as hard as yron and vve haue found hym as brickel in our hands as clay yet the pryde he conceiueth in his owne might vvil make thys dreadles enemy an intollerable and an insolent friend to vs onlesse he may find vs as seruiceable as he found his old friend Scot land vvherein his old rancour styll lurkes and vvyll prouoke him to take any occasion Thus vnder trust on our side shal be shrovv ded treason on theyr part vvhich could neuer haue hys effect yf vve vvere styll enemies standing on our own gard and in nothing trusting them Again a most vnsure and slippery frend he is for they that seke vtilem amicitiam as he now doth vvil also sodenly break friendship inhonestae vtilitatis causa vvherein he hath the start of vs be fore vve ioyne vvhile vve standing on our honor and Christian conscience as it vvere at the listes shall giue none offence but vvith much adoe take any giuen pretermitting the best occasion of resisting in time the beginnings he that hath made ship vvrack of honor and conscience shal make hys profit of our conscience and lye in vvait to fall out for aduantage and to break thorough euen vvhatsoeuer surest band of alliance Furthermore a needlesse friendship is it vvhich vve seeke For hetherto vvithout theyr helpe and in despight of their beard vve continually haue holden our ovvn and many times preuailed vp on theyrr hauing thereforh tryed theyr mallice of 500. yeeres to be contemptible let vs not vvithout any need in the vvorlde accept theyr friendship novv vvhen it is most doubtfull least the title of loue compasse that which hatred could neuer come neere Lastly as in common alliances it is no credit to entertain a reiec ted friendship so is thys french alliance dishonorable to vs in respect it is the refuse of Scotland vvho being vveary of their pride and vntruth haue cast them off novv a good whyle since and all ther old neere felovvship vvith resolute purpose so to continue because they find much more profit and safetie in these more estranged termes of neighbourhode vvherein they stand presently then in theyr false insolent former friendship And to speak truth the honest late dealings of French are such and they so renoumed for an hatefull seede of an hatefull house as I suppose they are not like to find friendship els vvhere vvith any Christian prince of Maiestie especially to ioyne vvith them in this friendship of mariage vvhich made theyr present king Henry the thyrd as haughty as he is to stoupe to a mean mans daughter a vassal of his own And what if it vvere possible to make some thing of this no friend to hold thys vvett Eele by the tayle as they say and to haue his friendship fast and that the same vvould be in any thing needfull profitable vvithout perill and not dishonorable which in no vvise I admit yet vvill our losse be otherwise far greater thē hys friendship can yeld For first this new found french friend of fraunce vvilpresently cost vs our old friend of Burgondy vvhich faythfull societie yf our vallant politîque auncesters preferred before that vntrusty alliance vvith Fraunce enen then vvhen it was not yet maryed to Austrich nor crovvned vvith Spayn vvhen it vvas not yet enlarged vvith hir Italian dominions and midsea Iles nor enriched vvith her golden Indians if also then it were more profitable to vs then Frannce hovv shall Fraunce be novv to be preferred before it or proue more profitable to vs novv then that And it is not onely for peace and vvarr that Burgondy hath ben entertayned before Fraunce but euen to this day the merchaunts vvyll tell you that the onely lovv countryes here at hand of that dominiō are more worth to vs for venting the surplusage and aboundance of our country commodities and for the transporting hither of the most necessary merchandise of forreign parts then is all Fraunce Secondly vve shall for thys ouerthvvart friend of Fraunce a professed enemy of religion vvhich onely knitts the trueloue knott cast of Scotlande a brother in christ vvhose profession as it hath made them nevv men in loue and loyallty to vs so do our deserts tovvard them hither vnto theyr need of our help henceforth make them vvholly ours vndoubtedly And if vve vvere in a brotherly perpetuall league vvith that state such as both our professions requires of vs both and such as our peculiar neighbourhode begs of vs who haue one bounds of the sea and but a small brooke that partes vs doubtles our mutual friendship vvould proue more mutually stronge and profitable then vvith any potentate seuered from vs by seas vvhose fayth if vve could assure our selues of yet can vve not haue it at all needes but must tary for the vvind and tyde All the religious states of Germany and other vvhosoeuer that haue gon from Rome vvill at once throvv avvay theyr Christen estimation of vs Those protestant princes vvho hauing tryed the faithlesnes of thys generation doe set their bodyes possessions and honors in the gappe for defence of Gods people in seuerall countryes from sclauery of conscience bodies goods vvyues and children vvyll in theyr lour lament our vnhappines that wil not not be vvarned by theyr harmes vvherein I merueil not a little at some vvho regarding neither modestie nor conscience for the aduauncing of thys mariage do sclaunder those religious princes as recommenders to vs of thys mariage agaynst vvhich their deedes doe speake and theyr vvords cry out And for all these losses I knovv not vvhat nevve friend comes in by thys house of Valoys in Fraunce oneles it be the house of Ottoman the great Turke vvith vvhom though Fraunce haue holden not a truce for a time but a continual amitie vvhich mought vvell ynongh be the cause vvhy the Pope decked hym vvith hys tytle of most christian king yet haue vve of England euer defyed hym vvith the rest of those kingdomes that beare the name of christ and it vvyll be for our Christian honor that no match vvorke the contrary
but that in thys poynt vve may styll hold vvyth them as vvell in respect of our common detestation to hys blasphemous Mahomet as for that of all other christians vve least need to feare hys might being so farr separate as Europe is large If any man think that vve may hold al these old latter friendships and that thembracing vvith Fraunce is not streightwayes an vnfolding vvith all the rest he neyther considers the differēce in religion betvvene Scotland and Fraunce nor the diffidence betvven Fraunce and Spayn for the lovv countryes the vvhich as Spayn hath in possession so doth Fraunce many tymes mut-ter a title thereto This vniuersall perswader I say of all friendships and especially with Fraunce forgets hovv in times passed our king Henry the eyght could not be at once friend vvith the Emperor and the french king but the league vvith one vvas present diffiance to the other and that Scotland so long as they held Fraunce vvas euer at deadly foode vvith England and since they clapped hand with England they haue not missed al most enemy lyke attempts of Fraunce And to put hym out of doubt hovv odious all Germanny will hold vs for our felovvship sake vvith Monsieur let hym remēber hovv farr from the dignity of a prince they enterteyned Henry then not single Monsieur and onely a brothrr of Fraunce as is our Monsieur Fraunces but elect king of Poland a piece of Germany vvhen to take reall possession thereof he passed thorough theyr territories some of them vvith much ado and after many reproches for his cruell falshods sending him onely a bare pasport which the deuil might haue had to be quickly packing as did the duke of Saxony to his vvorthy and princely prayse Some of them graunting hym a more free saufconduit yet vvould not vouchsafe to see thys great French prince as the prince Palatine that good man vvhose blame vvas more in that action for hys ouermuch mildnes then vvas hys prayse for curtesie Other of those states as Spire bending turning the mouthes of al theyr great ordinauce vppon him on vvhich side of the city or streets soeuer he vvent as it had ben at a common enemy of mankind Other as in Franckford saluting hym by the vnkingly name of the king of butchers in fraunce vvhich though it vvere by the mouth of one principall man among them yet vvas it ratified by the vvhole state vvhen he complayning to the Burgmaisters of thys reproch as of a high vvrong they thought it not cryminall nor to be pursued Exofficio against the accused but onely at the cōplaynants pryuate action vvherin he fearing euidēce enough so proue the saying true durst not put in cautiō but departed with shame enough and bare the reproch avvay on his backe In all those states and cities hys welcome vvas such as vvhen he came againe stealing out of Poland he would not come back that vvay to thank them or to haue the like but chused rather to goe about by sea and land the farther and more daungerous vvay The smal reckoning vvhich that man like nation makes of Fraunce appeares by the many happy aydes from thence vvhich haue bidden base to Valols at his owne gole in hys own field and at the gates of hys strongest vvalles hunting the French vvolfe in defence and reliefe of the french oppressed lambs A vvise man vvithout descending into these sensible particulars vvould in his vnderstanding see the very generall nature of suspitious frendship betvvene neighbour kings hovv lyke it is to the loue betwene a iealous man and his wyfe in this one poynt they be both of them feareful and iealous of theyr ovvn states can not patiently endure that theyr ally should be any thyng great vvith an other confine gouernment but streightvvay euery countenance breedes a suspition and euery suspition a restraint of entercourse and trafique or open vvar I might fetch examples farther of and ovvt of tholder storyes of Grecians and others vvhere euer the societye withone neigh bor was enemity with another state according to that one great social lavv emong others vvhich is that frends and enemies must be common But it is more then manifest hereby hovv vngodly and dangerous how incertain needles hovv dishonorable vnprofitable thys neer French coniunction is in it selfe again it is detected as euidently hovv many friends in Christ hovv many confederacies in old frend ship how many alliances in blood and hovv many sworn brotherhoods in vvars this one forsworn brotherhode of Fraunce vvil loose vs. It followeth then necessarily vpon that vvhich hath ben sayd that we who already beare the floure delice quartarly receiue no honor by ioyning with it Par pale And sith our Queen rightfully beares it as king of Fraunce and he occupieth it as actuall french king I beleeue it will pose the king of Heraltes of eyther realm to make alouing agreement and in one Eschocheon vvell to marshal according to theyr rules the selfe same cote of the vsurper vvith the selfe same kingly cote of the right heire hauing no difference For though it may be in other noble gentlemens cotes it vvyll hardly be don in kings cotes For Heraltes vvhych are vpright iudges in these causes must imagin but one king in a land as but one son in the heauens perhappes to salue this sore they vvill take vp the old french coate of crawling Toades But the noble Lyon vvill chuse him no such feere hys nature is to abide no venemous thing in hys denn hovv should he then embrace a Toade for his make This difficultye of Heraltes is the least of a thousand might soone be dispatched vvere not those other great ones vvhich euen by this small difficulty also in that kind are bevvrayed that is that thys mariage seemes to striue vvithall lavves that of armes and al. Those therefore that persvvade this band of strange alliance must needs be such Englishmen as find themselues not aduanced in thys state according to that desert vvhich they conceiue in thē selues and therefore disdeyn at others good estate or els such as are past hope heare and hauing nothing knovve they can loose nothing what change or tombling soeuer come but these be degenerate dangerous Englishmen vvho for the satisfieng of theyr disdainful or hongry humor care not to let the common vveale blood euen in her Basilica vaine vvho hauing now liued by Gods grace and through the great loue of hir subiects tovvards hir many yeeres in a miraculous peace and ben a beholder and iudge of other lands troubles should now by thys mariage throw as it vvere into the sea not her ring vvith Policrates but hir precious selfe and putting hir prosperitye to the plunge send it to flote or sinck by dravving into England a great spark of that family which hath ben a fyre brand in Europe VVe can not hold this fire in our bosome and not be burned therevvith Novv that
of fear and wrong thus much hitherto said to be written as it were vvith the teares of an english hart And his soden arryuall here with all the maner and circumstances thereof would yeelde nevve argumêts of an other much lōger discourse For first his cōming hither as it vver in a maske bewraies a strange melancholik nature in himself who delights to make all his iourneis in such sullē solitary sort therfore belike an ill companion to liue withall in any felovvship Then yt shewes his extreeme want of abilitie to defray the expence of woeng in a bountiful shew sitting such a prince as cōmeth to obtein out Queen This his secrete comming departing discouers a mistrustfulnes in him towards our people and therefore no loue which must needs come frō his own ill conscience of fearing french measure in England for on our part the Lord be thanked we haue not committed such villenies all men deeme him vnworthy to speed who comes in a net as though he were loath to auow his errand Some men may think he is ashamed to shevv his face but I think verely that he meanes not sincerely who loues not light wil not com abroade The last noble princely gentlemā that went out of Englād to vvin a Queen in france gaue trial shew of vvisdome manhod behauiour and personage by open cōuersatiō performing al maner of knightly excercises which makes vs in England to find very strange this vnmanlike vnprincelike secrete fearful suspitious disdainful needy french kind of woeng in Monsieur we can not chuse but by the same stil as by all the other former demonstratife remonstrāces conclude that thys french mariage is the streightest line that can be dravvne frō Rome to the vtter ruine of our church the very rightest perpendicular downfal that can be imagined frō the point france to our English state fetching in vvithin one circle of lamentable fall the royal estate of our noble Queen of hir person nobility and commons vvhose Christian honorable healthful ioyful peaceful and long souereigne raigne without all superior ouerruling commander especially french namely Monsieur the king of kings hold on to his glory and hyr assurance of true glory in that other kingdom of heauen Amen Amen Amen The church Sin draweth vengeance This mariage is sin Iustitution of mariage The first Lavves Deut. 7. 3. The end of holy maria The hurt of vnholy ma. The disparagement of such mariages Examples Gene. 24 3. Gene. 28. 1. Gen. 34. 14. Iudg. Psal. Salomon Nehe. 13. 23 Papist Cananite Pagan Moabite Ammonite Ishmalite Edomite King. 1. 11. Idolatrous Israelites Athalia Conclusiō againste England The Kings sin striketh the Land. Monsieurs masse no priuate mas Iudgemēts for Idolatry 1. Kin. 15. 13 2. Chr. 15. 16 The hurt of this church hurts others Especially the french churches France Valois Medices Henry the. 2 Francise 2 Charles 9. Henry 3. Monsieur Queene Pope France marieth vvith Spaine and Piemont Parisien mariage Feeble hope of Monsieurs change Two tryals of these persvvaders The first The second tryall Common vveale A forraign match Forreigne againste kind This state Lawes of England Aliē enimy Alien friend Aliē denizē Priors aliens Frenchmen Alteration of gouernment K. of Spayn Contrary religion Valois Examples modern Examples auncient Henry first Henry 2. Prince H. Rychard 1. R. Iohn 1. Henry 3. Edvvard 2 Richard. 2. A vvitnes vvithour ecception Henry 5. Henry 6. Home mariges happy Englishmē K. of Spayn A charge to the Realme Monsieur heir asparāt of Fraunce the dangers therby Spanish K. strange ayd French mariage more dangerous thē spanish Issue dangerous to the Queene Note Issue female onely Issue male one onely Viceroy Mark vvell these Englishmen Henry the sixth no good example to persvvade by Issue male and female Two sons or moe These faire vvords make no wise man fayne Dominiō Reuenue As the wise is subiect to hir husband so is hir coūtry to hys land English French little vvorth Alliance with fraunce what it is The sely great party of Monsieur Monsieurs companiōs Counsailors Seruants Enterprises VVoeng messenger Fraunce an old foe A new friēd A dāgerous friend An vnsure friend A needlesse friend A dishonorable alliāce A dammage able friendship Burgundy Scotland Allemain Ottoman the great Turke Duke of Saxe Palsgreue Spires Frankford No plurality or totquot in stately friendship Lavves of armes Tode Lyon. The Queen in hir natural and priuate consideratiō Dislike to mariage in generall Monsieur no Paragon His person His ill spent youth hither to His youth presently His religion Pope playes fast loose in mariages His absence by being chosen K. dls where A capitall perill iustly suspected The credit that the french king lends his brother His sister not trusted by hir husb Monsieur his owne credit This mach no stopp to practises of competition or popery Qu. mother the mouer Pope vvinketh vvils French king denieth not Papistes forrain rebel silent Guyse Scottish Mary New french falshod nevv English wisedome This match no snaffle to Spayne The lovv countryes Artoyes and Henault Gant. This match no bridle to Fraunce This vvoing comes not of loue to our Queen Mother King. Monsieur England can not loue Monsieur It is the lord by whome Queen Elizabeth reignes vvhile other princes dye and are deposed Keepe couenant with thy God O Queen and defie thys alliance Forrein ayds Englande needes no friends especially out of Fraunce Nobilitye Gentry of England Hugh Capet Carrola manus Maiestrates Iudges Lawyers Lavves soldiar L. bishops Merchants richmen People strange tallages
that had bene enemy in himselfe and his auncesters to them and theyr forefathers and to theyr land vvhich by kind they loued so much nature remained in those of that vngracious spirit Novve if a founder of a beggerly rable of fryers could not haue theyr prayers vvhich at that tyme vvent a begging and vvere neuer so deere but a man might haue a long paternoster for a peny hovv deinty vvoulde they be of they re monye to Englishmen and hovve liberall in almes to ayde theyr ovvne countryes and countrymen Likewise in the dayes of king Edvvard the first certaine aliens richly beninificed refused to ayde the king in hys vvars for vvhich obstinacie albeit the Pope vvould not let him depriue them yet vvas he so bould as to put them out of his protection leauing theyr liues out of defence or reuenge by lavv For these reasons to thys daye it is expressed in the most large and most benificiall Legitimatiō made to any alien that he shall not dvvell in Barvvick Hampton or such maritime or other towne of trust and all for feare leaste that theyr loue towardes theyr own countryes or hatred to ours bredde in theyr bones should neuer out of the flesh So that vve see no alien is made so legalis or ligeus to the crovvne of England but with some restraint to him in respect of the state which can neuer so kindly matriculate him as the childe vvhich she hath born in her owne vvombe And we are the more loth to put our shoulders vnder this burden any more because already vve haue felt the weight of the little finger and smarting whips of thys incommoditye vvhich vvould seeme yet so much the more irksome to vs if novve after moe then tvventy yeeres svveete fredome therefro we shoulde be pressed dovvne vvith the heauy loynes of a vvorse people beaten as vvith scorpions by a more vile nation In vvhich respecte it hath bene alwayes yelden vnto her maiestie for the chiefe and first benifite done to thys kingdome that she redeemed it and yet not she but the Lord by her from a forraine king according to the worthynes vvhereof it hath bene from time to time notably set forth in monumentes of ecclesiasticall story and ciuil cronicles as a singular commendation to the happy beginning of her reigne yea it made her subiectes in loue with her the very first day hath encreased it mightely to thys houre wherof it seemes they haue little regard vvho seeke to staine the entry of her second twenty yeeres and to blemish the prayse therof by the contrary of that vvhich caused the first to be so highly extolled and by bringing vpon her people a more daungerous forreiner and more to theyr discontentation to leaue them in worse case then they vvere found For whereas all these kinds of aliances with realmes are contracted for mutuall support thys aliance presently in talk hath no such hope These Frenchmen gaue such tryall of theyr loyall aliance and of theyr profitable neighbourhood to the Grecians either vvhile they were yet in Galatia from vvhence their french bragge is to come eyther els in theyr vagabond time while they sought a place to set their foote on that an Emperour of Greece burnt them vvith this caremarke vvhich they cary till this day VVho vvill needes hold friendship with France muste take heede of theyr alliance According to the vvhich counsell of Greece the true and naturall old English nation neuer esteemed nor loued the French they haue it sonck so deepe and deepely layd vp in they re hart as the sauour wherewith theyr yong shels were seasoned to the son from graundfather to father who in teaching thē to shoote wold haue them imagē a frenchman for theyr butt that so in shooting they might learne to hate kindly and in hating learne to shoote neearely Out of thys inbred hatred it came that Frenchmen aboue other aliens beare thys addition in some of our auncient chronicles Charters and statuts to be the auncient ennemies of England And can it be saufe that a straunger and Frenchman should as owner possesse our Queene the chiefe officer in England our most precious rych treasure our Elizabeth IONAH and ship of good speede the royall ship of our ayde the hyghest tovver the strongest hold and castle in the land It will not be receiued for aunswer to affirme barely that thys feare is without ground of truth because forsooth the Realme must still be gouerned as before vve knovv that de iure it shoulde be so But in matters of kingdomes who can say that de facto it shal be so will any perswader of thys mariage offer himself a gage of lyfe and death that it shall be so If he and many moe vvoulde yet are they no counterpoise to the Queene and Realme whose life and good estate comes here to be warranted For if he marye her vvith that good loue on both parts which I wish with al my poore hart betweene her maiestie and her godly husband whensoeuer and whōsoeuer she shall marye yet shall he beare a greate swaye vvith her vvho beares all the swaye vvith vs and if he doe not loue her the Lord keepe her from prouing then must shee feare hym so as for feare or loue he will rule her and the whole land for her sake And thys is done many times without taking on him supreme authority for if he doe but eyther giue or sel after the French manner our chiefe offices he may rule thoughe not as head yet by those his promoted creatures as by so manye hands and feete and though he be not president in the counsayl nor once admitted to sit personally in the chamber yet vvoulde it be no hard thing for him to thrust in at the doore such counsailors in whose mouth he may speake and by them as by hyred spialles to know what is doen at that bourd and as by knightes at his post to passe or repulse vvhat him pleaseth The example of the king of Spayne serues for me in this case and not for those which woulde make vs beleeue he stoode for a cypher in Algorisme For how many great matters obteyned he and it is knovven too well what pensionars he had of that honorable company of counsailors againe at that time the mariage with Spayne was not so dangerous nor offering such cause of suspition as nowe for there was not yet come into the worlde out of the smokye pyt of hell any such holy leage as absolueth aforehand all conspiratif oathes giuen vs Fraunce and Spayn were then in wars they are since allied by mariage of a French daughter by whome Spayne hath a daughter and the lest alliance in the vvorld bindes them together against religion And thoughe I esteeme the king of Spayne for a loyall king of inuiolate fayth vvhole honor in respect of the French king yet am I so farre off from sound truste in eyther of them both that considering howe
the morrovv after our mariage and Monsieur repare home as we may be svre he would into hys natiue country a larger and better kingdom then by all likelihode eyther must our Elizabeth goe vvith him out of her ovvne natiue country and svvete soyle of England vvhere she is Queene as possessor and inheritor of thys imperial crovvne vvithall regall rights dignities perogatiues pre heminences priuileges autorities and iuredictions of thys kingly office and hauing the kingrike in her owne person into a forrain kingdome vvhere her vvritt doth not runn shal be but in a borovved Maiestie as the moone to the sonn shining by night as other kings vvyues and so she that hath ruled all this vvhile heere shal be there ouer ruled in a straung land by some belledame not vvithout avve perhapps of a sister in lavv and vve hyr poore subiects that haue bene gouerned hetherto by a naturall mother shal be ouerlooked at home by some cruel and proud gouernour or els must she tary here vvithout comfort of her husband seing her selfe despised or not vvifelike esteemed and as an eclipsed son diminished in souereinty hauing such perhappes appoynted to serue hyr and be at her commaundement after the french phrase vvhich in playn English vvill gouerne her and her state In thys great matter vvhat an illuding ansvver is it agayn by the particular example of the king of Spayne to put avvay thys reason grounded vpon these tvvo generall rules The first is that a straunger mighty king brought into a realme to ayde them as vvas the Turke and his sarasins or vpon any lighter occasion vvill hardly be gotten out againe The second a straunger king dravven in by our sins and sent by Gods iustice for our punishment is not ridd vvithout Gods extraordinary help Novv syr because vve vvere once happily dispatched of Spayne therefore vve shall once againe commit thys gross follye and contemne that generall rule of policie And because the Lord in mercy dyd once deliuer vs from Spayn therfore vve vvill tempt him agayn by deliuering our selues into the hands of Fraunce Alas for these men if king Phillip had neuer maryed Queene Mary and if thys matter had ben to dispute xxvij yeeres agoe then had they had no one reason for theyr side nor no ansvver to escape any of our arguments and thys absurd manner of reasoning is very Macciauelian logick by particular examples thus to gouern kingdoms and to set dovvn general rules for his prince vvhereas particulars should be vvarranted by generals But there mayster vvrested hys vngratious vvit euer to the mayntenance of a present state and these foolish schoolers put forth theyr gross conceipts to the ouerthrovv of thys present in hope of I vvot not vvhat futur common vvealth of their ovvn head Some subtilty ther is also in this aunsvver that vvhen vve are to deliberate of Fraunce vvhych is the more nere and more auncient therfore more daungerous enemy to anoy vs vvith his forces and to hold vs if he once haue vs they bryng vs in example Spayn a more remote potentate an auncient friend one that vvas at that tyme of one religion vvith thys kingdom and therfore not so pricked to hasten some chaung in our state as thys man vvho being ledd by Antichrist must not endure vvith any patience that state vvher Christ is Moreouer our dispofitiō more ready to vvarr with Fraunce then vvith Spayn is holpē by more continual occasions giuē of both sides by more cōueniencie of means to perform sodenly vvhich vvill make them let no opportunity slyp that may bring so com bersome a neighbour vnder thē as vve are And better may they do it novv then might the king of Spayn then for thē was Spain at vvars with Fraunce neyther vvas it lyke that Fraunce would haue bene holden by any frendship while he should haue suffered a more pnissant neighbour set hys foote heere vvhom he might so easely let by helping vs But now is there no enemity betvvene Fraunce and Spayne to let thys practise they are of kin by the flesh and by theyr religion and the holy leage ties them togither in that respect as it vvere faggotstiks And in truth Spayn being so far and Fraunce so nere Fraunce hath great aduantage in thys cōparison and cannot be so letted of Spayne as Spayn may be by him These daungers vvherein this daungerous pactise of mariage vvrappeth Queen Elisabeth in hyrlyfe time and hyr England together alike vvill I doubt not moue those in authority to auoyd them and others that are priuate to pray against them most seruently But these calamities alas end not vvith thys age For wher as these persvvaders lay for a chiefe ground theyr certain expecting issue of hyr Maiesties body vpon thys match and the commodities therof ensuing therby perswading thys strange conceipt I vvill at once dispatch that reason that might be obiected agaynst me make it a chiefe argument for I esteeme it my second politique reason to diswade the French mariage especially If it may please her Maiestie to cal her faythfullest vvyse phisitians and to adiure them by their conscience tovvards God theyr loyalty to hyr and fayth to the whole land to say theyr knovvledg simply without respect of pleasing or displeasing any and that they consider it also as the cause of a realm and of a Prince how excedingly dangerous they find it by theyr learning for her maiestie at these yeeres to haue hyr first chyld yea hovv fearfull the expectation of death is to mother and chyld I feare to say vvhat wyll be theyr aunswer and I humbly besech hyr Maiesty to enforme hyrselfe throughly euen in hyr loue to the vvhole land whych holds deere hyr life and peace and vvhich as it hath hetherto deutifully sought hyr mariage whyle hope of issue vvas desiring it as the chiefest common wealth good and vvithall that feare God English or straunger vvould haue reioyced to see that the reigne of Queen Elizabeth might haue ben dravven foorth as I may say in hyr faythfull ligne yet dare we not novv otherwyse craue it but so as it might be by such afather as had a sound body and holy soule and yet not thē neither onles she may first find it to stand with her lyfe and safety And vvhen I think more earnestly of thys matter me thinkes it must needes come first of a verye French loue to our Queene and land to seeke thys mariage euen now so eagerly at the vttermost tyme of hope to haue issue and at the very poynt of most daunger to her Maiestie for childbearing whereby they think if her Maiestie haue issue to see eyther the mother die in childbedd vvhich the Lord forbid and the land left again as theyrs hath bene to an infant or els to see both mother and childe put in a graue and so the land left a spoyle to forrein inuasion and as a stack of vvood to ciuill vvars All is one to