Selected quad for the lemma: friend_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
friend_n	answer_v	king_n	know_v	815	5	3.4848	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A64545	A relation of the voyage to Siam performed by six Jesuits, sent by the French King, to the Indies and China, in the year, 1685 : with their astrological observations, and their remarks of natural philosophy, geography, hydrography, and history / published in the original, by the express orders of His Most Christian Majesty ; and now made English, and illustrated with sculptures.; Voyage de Siam des pères jésuites. English	Tachard, Guy, 1651-1712.	1688 (1688)	Wing T96; ESTC R16161	188,717	400

him so much Glory and happiness and which are no other than the Knowledge and Worship of the true God which is only to be found in the Christian Religion He offers your Majesty then by his Ambassador adjuring you and your whole Kingdom to embrace and follow it That Prince Sir is more admirable still by his Wisdom Judgment and Prudence than by his Conquests and Victories Your Majesty knows his generosity and Royal Friendship you cannot make a better choice than to follow the wise Counsels of so great a King your good friend For my part Sir I never begg'd any thing of the great God for your Majesty but that Grace and I would be ready to lay down a thousand lives that I might obtain it of the Divine Bounty May it please your Majesty to consider that by that action you will Crown all the Great and Illustrious exploits of your Reign you will eternize your Memory and procure to your self immortal Honour and Glory in the next World. Ah Sir I adjure your Majesty not to send back the Embassador of so great a King with discontent he begs that in the name of the King his Master for establishing and rendring your Alliances and Royal Amities inviolable at least if your Majesty hath entertained any good thought or if you find the least inclination to embrace that Party that you would make it known It is the most acceptable news that he can carry to the King his Master Now if your Majesty hath resolved not to condescend to what I have had the honour to represent to you or that you cannot give a favourable answer to the Ambassador I beg of you to excuse me from carrying your Royal answer which cannot but be displeasing to the Great God whom I adore You ought not to think it strange that I speak to you in this manner whosoever is not faithful to his God cannot be so to his Prince and your Majesty ought not to do me the honour to suffer me in your Service if I entertained other Sentiments The King of Siam answers the Lord Constance The King heard the Discourse of the Lord Constance without interrupting him and having a little pondered with himself as one whose mind was taken up with great thoughts he answered him upon the spot in these terms FEAR not that I will force your Conscience But who hath made the King of France my good Friend believe that I entertained any such Sentiments Ah Sir who can doubt replied the Lord Constance but that your Majesty has those great thoughts when they consider the Protection you give to Missionaries the Churches you have caused to be built the Charity you give to the Fathers of China It is upon that Sir that the King of France grounds his perswasion that your Majesty had an inclination towards Christianity But when you told the Ambassador added the King the reasons that make me continue in the Religion of my Ancestors what answer had you from him The Ambassador of France replied the Lord Constance found your Reasons to be very weighty but seeing the propositions he made you in the name of the King his Master was sincere and disinterested and that that great Monarch had no other prospect but your Majesties good he did not think that any of the reasons which I told him ought to hinder him from obeying his Masters Commands especially when he understood that the Ambassador of Persia was arrived in the Kingdom of Siam and that he brought your Majesty the Alcoran to the end you might follow it In that view the Ambassador of France thought himself obliged to offer your Majesty the Christian Religion and to adjure you to embrace it Is it true answered the King that the Ambassador of Persia brings me the Alcoran It is so reported reply'd the Lord Constance To which the King forthwith made answer I wish with all my heart the Ambassador of France were here to see what Reception the Ambassador of Persia should have from me Certainly if I had no Religion at all I would never choose the Mahometan But to answer the Ambassador of France continued the King you shall tell him from me I think my self extreamly obliged to the King of France his Master finding in his Memoirs the marks of his most Christian Majesties Royal Friendship and since the honour that that great Prince hath done me is already made publick all over the East I cannot sufficiently acknowledge his Civility but that I am extreamly vexed that the King of France my good Friend should propose so difficult a thing unto me wherewith I am not in the least acquainted that I refer my self to the Wisdom of the most Christian King that he himself may judge of the importance and difficulty which occur in so nice a matter as the change of a Religion received and followed throughout my whole Kingdom without interruption during the pace of two thousand two hundred twenty nine years After all The Motives that keep the King of Siam firm in his Religion it is strange to me that the King of France my good Friend should so much concern himself in an Affair that relates to God wherein it would seem God does not at all interest himself but leaves it wholly to our Discretion For would not the true God that made Heaven and Earth and all things that are therein and hath given them so different natures and inclinations when he gave to Men like Bodies and Souls if he had pleased have also inspired into them the same sentiments for the Religion they ought to follow and for the Worship that was most acceptable to him and make all Nations live and die in the same Laws That Order amongst Men and that Vnity in Religion depending absolutely on Divine Providence who could as easily introduce it into the World as the diversity of Sects that in all times have been established in it ought not one to think that the true God takes as great pleasure to be honoured by different Worships and Ceremonies as to be Glorified by a prodigious number of Creatures that Praise him every one in their own way Would that Beauty and Variety which we admire in the order of Nature be less admirable in the supernatural Order or less beseeming the Wisdom of God However it be continued his Majesty since we know that God is the absolute Master of the World and that we are perswaded that nothing comes to pass contrary to his will I wholly resign my Person and Dominions into the Arms of the Divine Mercy and Providence and with all my heart obtest his eternal Wisdom to dispose thereof according to his good will and pleasure So that I most expresly command you to tell that Ambassador that I shall omit nothing that lies in my power to cherish the Royal friendship of the most Christian King and instead of complying with the means that he hath proposed to me I shall take such care during the time

of Your Government the Magnificence of Your Court the Greatness of Your Dominions and what particularly You were willing that He should know by Your Ambassadors the Esteem You have for Him confirmed by that constant Protection which You give His Subjects especially the Bishops who are by me and who are the Ministers of the true God. He is very sensible of the many Illustrious Effects of the Esteem You have for Him and He resolves Sir to correspond with it to the utmost of His Power In that Design He is ready to treat with Your Majesty to send You of His Subjects to entertain ●nd encrease Commerce to give You all the Testimonies of a sincere Friendship and to begin betwixt the two Crowns an Vnion that may remain as strict to Posterity as Your Territories are separated from His by those vast Seas that disjoyn them But nothing will more confirm Him in that Resolution nor unite You more closely together than to live in the Sentiments of the same Belief And it is that particularly Sir which the King my Master a Prince so Wise and Sharp sighted tbat He hath always given good Counsel to the Kings that are His Allies hath commanded me to represent to You on His Part. He adjures You by the Interest which as being one of Your most sincere Friends he takes in Your real Glory to consider that Sovereign Majesty wherewith You are invested upon Earth cannot be derived from any but the true God that 's to say from an Omnipotent Eternal and Infinite God such as Christians acknowledge him to be who alone makes Kings to Reign and Rules the Fortune of all People To submit Your Grandure to this God who governs Heaven and Earth is much more Rational Sir than to refer them to the other Deities that are worshiped in the East whose Impotence Your Majesty who hath so much Light and Penetration cannot but easily see But it will be made far more palpable to You Sir if You 'l be pleased for some time to give a Hearing to the Bishops and other Missionaries that are here It will be the welcomest News that I can carry to my Master Sir that Your Majesty being convinced of the Truth takes pains to be instructed in the Christian Religion This will raise in Him a greater Esteem and Admiration for Your Majesty and make His Subjects more eager to come into Your Dominions and in a Word Sir will compleat Yoor Glory seeing by that Means Your Majesty having so prosperously Reigned upon Earth makes sure of an Eternal Reign in the Heavens The Bishop told the Lord Constance in Portuguese the Sense of his Excellencies Complement and that Minister explained it to the King in Siamese keeping in the mean while in a very respectful Posture as the other Princes and Lords did who still continued prostrate in the Hall at his Side but a little lower It would be no easie matter to describe the Joy and Gladness which King of Siam expressed on that occasion and during the whole Day It was a Surprise to the Ambassador In what manner the Ambassador presented the Kings Letter to the King of Siam when he entered the Hall to see the King so high above him and he seemed somewhat troubled that he had not been told of it When his Complement was made the next thing he was to do in course was to advance and present the King his Masters Letter to the King of Siam It was agreed upon with the Lord Constance that to shew greater Respect to the Kings Letter the Ambassador should take it from the Abbot de Choisi who for that end should stand by his Side during his Speech and hold the Letter in a golden Cup with a very long Foot. But the Ambassador perceiving the King so high above him that to reach up to him he must have taken the Cup by the lower part of the Foot and raised his Arm very high thought that that Distance suited not with his Dignity and that he ought to present the Letter nearer hand Having a little considered he thought it was his best Course to hold the Cup by the Boul and to stretch his Arm but half out The King perceiving the reason why he acted so rose up smiling and stooping with his Body over the Throne met him half way to receive the Letter He then put it upon his Head which was a Mark of extraordinary Honour and Esteem that he was willing to shew to the great King that sent it After that he made answer to the Ambassador that he was extreamly obliged to his most Christian Majesty for the Honour he did him and that he had no greater desire than to entertain an eternal Peace and Amity with his Majesty He then asked him about that Princes Health whom he always called his good Friend and about the Health of all the Royal Family and expressed his Gladness that his Excellence and all his Retinue were arrived in good Health The Ambassador presents the Abbot of Choisi and the Gentlemen of his Retinue to the King of Siam The Ambassador having thanked his Majesty for all his Favours presented to him the Abbot of Choisi as a Person of Merit and the Gentlemen of his Retinue saying that they were all Officers in the Kings Fleet that most of them had been on several Occasions engaged against the Enemy's of the State and therein signalized their Valour The King listned to him with a great deal of satisfaction and then turned the Discourse upon the Ambassadors whom he had sent into France of whom he had no News He enlarged a pretty while upon the Praises of the King seeming overjoyed to hear what the Ambassador told him of his Greatness Wisdom Conquests and of the Peace which he had given to Europe In fine he bid tell the Ambassador that if he stood in need of any thing in his Kingdom for himself and Followers he should address himself to his Barcalon whom he had expresly charged to satisfie him in all things So the first Audience ended with much satisfaction on both sides The Ambassador sees the white Elephant in his Apartment When the Ambassador came out of the Hall the Lord Constance carried him to see the white Elephant which is so highly esteemed in the Indies and which hath been the cause of so many Wars He is but little and so old that he is wrinkly all over Several Mandarins are appointed to take care of him and he is only served in Gold at least the two Basons that were set before him were of beaten Gold of an extraordinary Size and Thickness His Apartment is stately and the Ceiling of the Pavilion where he stands very neatly gilt It being now late the Ambassador came out of the Royal Palace and in the same Pomp and Order that he came to his Audience went to the House that was prepared for him Sometime after the Bishop was sent for by Orders from the King to translate the

Ally that was at the other end The wild Elephant which had followed them to that place stopping at the entry of the narrow pass all manner of ways were used to make engagement they made the females who were beyond the Alley cry some Siamese provoked him by clapping their hands and crying pat pat others pricked him with long sharp p●inted p●les and when they were pursued by him 〈…〉 ●ix● the Pillars and hid themselves 〈◊〉 th● Pal●adoes which the Elephant could 〈…〉 ●gh at length having pursued 〈…〉 ●en he made at one single Man 〈…〉 of Fury The Man ru● 〈…〉 Elephant after him But 〈…〉 was taken for the Man having 〈…〉 let fall purposely too P● 〈…〉 other behind the Elephant 〈…〉 of his power to go forwards 〈…〉 himself he strugled prodigi● 〈…〉 ●errible cries They endeavoured 〈…〉 ●im b● throwing buckets full of wa● 〈…〉 Body rubbing him with leaves p● 〈…〉 upon h●s Ears and they brought 〈◊〉 ●phants both Males and Females to hi● 〈◊〉 caressed him with their Truncks In 〈…〉 time they ●stened Ropes under his b● 〈◊〉 to his hind-seen that so they might pull 〈◊〉 out from thence and they persisted in thr● water upon his Trunk and Body to c● At length they brought to him one of ●se tame Elephants that are accustomed to in●ruct the new-comers An Officer was mounted upon him who made him go forwards and backwards to shew the wild Elephant that there was no danger and that he might come out So at length they opened the gate to him and he followed the other to the end of the Alley So soon as he was there they fastned an Elephant to each side of him another went before and pulled him by a rope into the way that they would have him take whilst a fourth made him go forwards by thumping him with his head behind until he came to a kind of manage where they tyed him to a great Pillar made for that purpose which turns like the Capstern of a Ship. They left him there till next day that he might spend his anger but whilst he tormented himself about that Pillar a Bramen that is to say one of the Indian Priests who are numerous in Siam cloathed in white and mounted on another Elephant drew nigh and turning gently about this which was tied sprinkled him with a certain water consecrated after their manner which he carried in a Vessel of Gold. They believe that that Ceremony makes the Elephant loose his natural fierceness and fits him for to serve the King. The day following he begins to go with the rest and in a fortnights time is fully tamed Amidst all those diversions the Ambassador was wholly taken up about the Subject of his Embassie which was the Conversion of the King but perceiving that he had no solid nor positive answer as to that he resolved to draw up a short memoir which he intended should be presented to the King by the Lord Constance He spoke of it to that Minister who in a long conference they had together disswaded him from pressing the King upon that point but the Ambassador very prudently still persisted in his opinion and prayed the Lord Constance to present that writing to his Majesty wherein he besought him to give him a positive answer that might be acceptable to the King his Master The Lord Constance having received the Memoir from the Ambassador went to the Palace in the Evening and there prostrating himself at the Kings feet made him a discourse full of that Asiatic Eloquence that was so much esteemed in ancient Greece Here you have a true translation of the very words he used SIR THE Ambassador of France hath put into my hands a Memoir which contains certain propositions whereof he is to give an account to the King his Master but before I read it to your Majesty The Harangue of the Lord Constance to the King of Siam suffer me Sir if you please to lay before you the principal motive that engaged the most Christian King to send you so solemn an Embassie That so wise a Prince your good Friend Sir knowing the greatness of your Soul and the generosity of your Majesties Royal heart by the Ambassadors and Magnificent Presents which you designed for him without other interest than that of desi●ng the Royal Vnity of a Prince so Glorious and so Renowned over the World and then perceiving that your Majesties Ministers had sent to the Ministers of his Kingdom two Mandarins with considerable Presents to congratulate the birth of the Grand-son of their great King worthy of a perpetual P●sterity which ma● eternally represent to France the Image of his admirable Virtues and secure the happiness of his People That great Monarch Sir being surprised by so disinterested a procedure resolved to answer th●se obliging cares and to do so devised a means worthy of himself and suitable to the dignity of your Majesty for to present you with Riches it is in your Kingdom Sir that Strangers come in search of Wealth To offer you his Forces He knew very well that your Majesty is dreaded by all your Neighbours and in a condition to punish them if they should offer to break the Peace which by their prayers they have obtained from you Could he have thought of bestowing Lands and Provinces upon the Sovereign of so many Kings and the Master of so great a number of Kingdoms as make almost the fourth part of Asia Neither could it enter into his thoughts to send hither his Subjects only upon the account of Trade because that would be a common Interest to his People and your Majesties Subjects So that it would have been hard for him to have hit upon the right course had he not reflected that he might offer to your Majesty somewhat infinitely more considerable and which was congruous to the Dignity of two so great Kings Having considered what it was that had raised him to that high pitch of Glory where at present he is seated what had made him take so many Towns subdue so many Provinces and gain so many Victories what to this present had made the happiness of his people and what had brought him from the extremities of the Earth so many Ambassadors of Kings and Princes who Court his Friendship what in fine had obliged your Majesty to prevent this incomparable Prince by so splendid an Embassie which you sent to him Having I say attentively considered all these great things that King so wise and prespicatious found that the God whom he adores was the s●le Author of them that his Divine Providence had so disposed them for him and that he owed them to the intercession of the holy Mother of the Saviour of the World under whose Protection he hath consecrated his Person and Kingdom to the true God. That 〈◊〉 and the extream desire he hath to communicate to your Majesty all th●se great advantages hath made him resolve to propose to you Sir the same means that have procured