wide extending it selfe euen to those that thinke they haue no interest in it euen to those that beleeue they haue gayned by it That we may boldly affirme all the world knowne and vnknowne subiects and strangers friends and foes yea his greatest enemies and who so trecherously furthered his end haue lost in him for where they thought to escape his victorious hands which had no further end of Glory then the sweetnes of his wonted clemencie they must needs fall into ours who more fierce now then otherwise we had ben not as a Lyonesse not as a Tygresse rob'd of their deere yong ones but as deere children trayterously depriued of their deerest father will neuer graunt them that pardon which they might easily haue obtained at his hands Cursed ô cursed and dismall day wherein we see the face of our Fraunce so sorowful so glad but the day before our Queene so pittifully lamenting the day before so gloriously crowned our Court so deepely mourning the day before so highly reioycing wherein ô mischiefe wee see a great King dead which not onely the day before but euen the same and many after made the furthest parts of Europe to tremble at his greatnes that could not so distinctly haue heard the bruit of his fal Cursed once more ô cursed no more worthy to be called day but black and dismall night where Frenchmen lost their King Fraunce her father the Church her sonne the Nobility their maister the people their protector the whole world his ornament wherein the greatest person of the world was most vnluckily murthered by the least the best by the worst the most honored by the most infamous And thou ô eternall staine to the French name scandall of mankinde abhomination to the times execrable Fury let out of hell to commit so haynous a parricide remaine ô sempiternally remaine in the deepest of thy darke dungeon thou incarnate diuell for euer and euer accursed And may thou neuer come out of those flames wherein thou art so deseruedly tormented but only to receiue the last doome of thy euerlasting and dreadfull damnation But thou oh my deere Country heretofore so glorious now a shamefull and bloody Stage of so pittifull a Tragedy wilt thou euer be a fruitfull mother of trayterous King-killers must cruell Affrica yeeld vnto thee both in quantity quality of monsters which now of late thou bringest forth who neuer before didst beare any wilt thou neuer haue a King but with this prouiso thou shalt kill him with a knife Good Lord what an ouersight what a blindnes in a Prince otherwise so sharp-sighted to haue seen a like blow giuen to his next Predecessour yea to haue receaued himselfe another vpon his owne face besides so many other desperate attempts which he might haue reckoned for so many warnings and yet make no more vse of other mens mis-haps nor of his owne feeling The knife of that perfidious in Clement alas must I againe bring to memory those sacrilegious caytifs was yet scarce dry from the blood of the last VALOIS when that of desperat Chastell was dyed in the blood of the first BVRBON the same was yet reaking hot when this sauadge Bedlem imbrued his in the best blood of his hart Ah wretch what hast thou done ô Guard where were you French men whereof dreamed you Cresus had but one son and he dumbe yet seing the life of his father indaungered hee could cry aloud Saue the King Nature at that extremity vntyed the strings of his tong and a silly childes affection stronger then the very destinies could effect with a simple word and against many that which so many men so many French-men truly vnworthy of so great a Prince could not with-stand neither with tong nor hand opposing themselues against the weake attempt of one onely And yet France lackes not a million of white soules which would rather haue wished that impious steele red-hot in their owne bowels But no man can saue where God hath once decreed to destroy and surely we must looke for no lesse since he hath taken to himself that valiaunt instrum̄et which was able to preuent our destruction Celestiall gardians and thou ô mighty Angell which hadst so happily led him through so many daungers returned him victorious out of so many battells why did yee not put by that blow like the former had yee so faithfully kept him hitherto now to giue him ouer to the fury of this enraged beast Lord how the measure of our sinnes must needs haue ben heaped vp and running ouer since thou thoughtst it fit to strike vs with so mighty a thunderbolt of thine anger Lord how much is that man voyd of iudgement who knowes not this to be a iudgement of thine owne most iustly giuen out against the fulnes of our iniquities Poore Prince but more poore people wee had ben so often threatned with a blow from heauen now alas now it is burst out vpon our miserable heads who told it not who heard it not that thou shouldst dye when thy Gallery should be at an end Who red not the to true and no lesse vnhappy predictions that expressely said thou shouldst receaue a wound behind how many most vnfortunate most vnlucky Cassandraes had written vnto thee vpon the murther of thy predecessor that thou mightst take it as a looking-glasse and a lesson and the consideration of his so vntimely death might be the preseruation of thine owne life yet all that could not so worke but that noble courage of thine enemy to all mistrust thine owne goodnes to-to accessible thine owne easinesse haue ben so many kniues to pierce thy bosome If death had found this great king in his bed and by a naturall way it is an ordinary thing which scarce one would wonder at If he had found it in a battaile least of all for there euen most he sought it which then most fled before him But to be murthered in his owne Paris in his Caroche in the midst of his neerest seruants by a base Pedant not by one but by two seueral wounds with a short knife as though it had ben at his full choyce It is so wonderful so prodigious an euent so far frō all likelyhood that hitherto beliefe can scarce lay hold of it me thinkes yet I am in a dreame or for a while enchaunted when I remember it and that mine eyes and eares only deceaued for the time by some strong illusion will presently be freed of their error and I shall see my King againe How is so great a Monarch the feare and terror of his Enemies and who vpon the preparation of so great an Army held the whole world at a bay How is so great a Monarch passed euen in a moment from this world to another He that had but the day before crowned his Queene he that was the day after to lead her tryumphant into Paris he that was immediatly to march forth with that fearefull Army which threatned to stampe
all his Enemies to pouder Good Lord how many high dissignes ouerthrowne how many threds cut with that of his life and what a wretched Remora staies now a great ship He was so full of life and vigor he had so many friends and so many meanes so many men and so many horses so many armes and so many cannons besides so much courage and valour so much iudgment and dexterity so much resolution and wisedome so much experience and readines in warre in state Campe Counsell and euery where as it is vnpossible to discerne whether he was more valiant or more wise more polliticke or more martiall being a like excellent and perfect euery way And all that could not helpe but a forlorne wretch a man of nothing a nothing and not a man hath stayed the course of so great so mighty and so matchlesse a Monarch to whom euen the most dreadfull elements had yeelded who sent a trembling Ague into the harts of all those who were conscious to haue deserued his anger At Melun he shunned the attempt of Barriere At Fontainebleau that of a Spanyard who would haue rewarded him with a trecherous death euen when he healed him of the Kings euill At Paris that of a mad fellow yet liuing and whom he would neuer suffer to be punished so naturally was he giuen to compassion and clemency Al these attempts thogh missing indeed together with that which really and effectually did beat out his very teeth were sufficient to prouide him against this last and fatall blow But alas that to braue minde could neuer learne how to feare And yet the very day of his death had he some secret feeling of his end Hee laye downe twise or thrise vpon his bed against his custome rysing againe as oft kneeled and prayed hartely to God that morning as if he had foreknowne it would be his last For that morning he was intreated not to stirre abroad and fore-warned by a learned Astronomer called La Brosse that that day was dangerous to him but he trusting his owne goodnes and after so Christian a preparation resolued to any thing his maker would lay vpon him made so small account thereof as going after noone to the Arsenall even he refused to take any Guard Neuerthelesse an hower before he could not well frame with himselfe if he would goe or tarry being deuided between the with-drawing counsell of his good Angell the impulsiue force of his destiny a thing altogether vnvsuall to the promptnes of his wit neuer before hauing ben seen to stagger vpon any occasion At last his courage and our mischance got the vpper hand When he receaued the blow he was reading a letter from the Arch-duke who offered him passage for his Army and to defray all charges through his Country And in the very feeling of his ioy our sorrow ouertooke him Oh! how farre was he in the world when he went out of it But sure those cruell blowes were more against our selues then against him and God in his wrath took that inestimable iewell from vs whose worth wee neuer rightly valued Yet O Lord stay heere at the least we indeed are worthy of a sharper punishment but altogether vnable to beare it Giue vs leaue now to lament for our worthy Prince for whom forgiue vs ô father if perhaps our sorrow be more then is due to any mortall And yet deere Country men thus farre may we ioy in our sorrow and thanke God for many comforts which cannot easily be taken from vs we suffer a great losse indeed most senceles stony were we if we should not feele it But I pray you looke ouer me with mee both the fortune and nature of our state Whensoeuer any new line of our Kings hath ben about to set vp it selfe by his own strength these great changes haue neuer ben without great troubles and some extraordinary great conuulsion For as in the naturall so in the Politicke body as a chiefe bone cannot be broken without much violence but when it comes once to knit againe there growes a certaine hardnes callosity more strong then euer the bone it selfe was So when after such aebreach the Kingdome hath once taken root ben well established the father euer left it surer to his fonne and a fonne greater then his father aboue whome as per excellentiam he alwaies got the surname of great indeed We had but three lines since our stories began to be written by our owne men for in those times our fore-fathers more carefull to do then curious to speake rather gaue then tooke occasion of writing So that if euen those that most would haue concealed it had not ben forced to tell it vs we should haue knowne nothing of our selues afore Faramond But looke how soone came in our first Clovis but the second after Merouee from whom the first line tooke name and how iustly deserued he the surname of great if in that golden age of simplicity those swollen titles had ben in vse And afterward was not our Charles great indeed the second of the second line to which euen in double respect he gaue name Now in the third was not our Robert both King and surnamed great euen during his fathers raigne who neuer so worthy had but a sorry surname as though his sonne had ben the very soule of the Kingdome and the father could not truly be a King without him And howsoeuer the accession now of Bourbon to the Crowne cannot rightly be tearmed the change of a line no more then that of Valois being iust both alike after the successiue decease of three brethren without heire male successiuely Kings after their father but only the ingrafting of a natiue bud vpon his owne stock yet the example may hold because it is a new branch and name and more especially because one braue Prince was more stood against more powerfully and more passionately then euer any of all those before or euen all they together He had wonderful smal meanes whē he came to the crown and no better friend but Dieu son droit with his owne sword he was of a religion contrary to that which was formerly professed in his kingdome he had not only the bodies but which is worse harts mindes and soules strongly preoccupated wholy bent against him all which oppositions he must needs ouercome one by one And howbeit in the end he setled his affaires was a better Catholique then the Pope himself yet the weake faith of some incredulous soules could not as yet well receaue it and the wily craft of those deceitful Foxes or rather rauenous Wolues accustomed to make aduantage as ill of silly mens weakenes as of desperate wretches resolutions and whose wide clawes nothing escapeth be it neuer so hot or cold light or heauy dissembling their owne knowledge did foster and further the others vnbeleefe made away to make him away Yet his vertue strength are not dead but with a fame
worse because masked with Religion had not surprised their simply-honest soules and sooner burn'd their bodies then ouercome their mindes you that now trenched within your owne waters as it were for feare of an other such accident where also neuer any body could come to hurt you no body can And euen when that great Deluge of the Gothes spred it selfe round about you were left to your selues safely swimming in your land-no-land or rather so many Ilands Sacred Ephores sharp-sighted Areopagits graue Senate who not to haue one King subiect in a deadly stroke to wound all his subiects haue a Prince as it were in name only but are so many Kings your selues and Kings indeed since you commaund Kingdomes which yet you should command in no lesse quantity then once that auncient Monarcichall Common-wealth a part of your Type seeing your MarTial power is no lesse then theirs if your Marcial equitie had not made you as moderate as they were greedy Truly sonnes of Mars in deed for valour Truly children of Marc for piety and againe of Mercury for industry riches If euer you remember that auncient alyance between both our States If euer you remember the recent loue true friendship of the fourth his offers endeauours to you and for you when the third and the fift seemed to plott your ruyne If you haue euen of late felt the sharpe stings of that Tyrannicall ambition seen and felt trayterous murthers within your own bowels though not against your King when you haue none yet against your best men and those that most soundly haue maintayned your Kingly authority If the innocent wounds of that learned wise and good Padre Paolo yet aliue in spight of their hart If the holy ashes yet almost hot of that happy martyr your worthy Fulgentio burned in yonder hilly Citty for that quarell though vpon other farr fetched fayned and most false pretences If the royall blood of your greatest of your best friend crye yet aloud Vengeance Vengeance in your eares Come come braue and wise men shake hands with so many and so great Princes Be none of the last to take the Crosse on you The matter is of State not of Religion And let not that staine for the first time be cast on your spotles name that you once forsooke your friends euen fighting for your quarel as much as for theirs that you once forsooke your owne selues And when was such a thing euer seen either in you or others Come come I say you shall be still as good Catholicks as you were afore if not better They tremble already for feare They are ours And though they cannot stand against vs and though thanks be to God we haue no need of more help hauing equitie strength valour riches and all aduantages of our side yet we call yet we summon you not to exclude you of your part of the glory ConclusioÌ„ to the youÌ„g King of Fraunce NOw Sir if any will yet grudge saying I take to much vpon me and that yourselfe and all those great Princes are wise ready enough in that which concerneth them without neede either of my counsell or summoning First I say I pray God in this sence I may be a needles Herald indeed and you gather your selues without calling though otherwise truth be euer truth well beseeming and to be followed in any mans mouth For the rest I am neither a Councellor nor worthy to be so but a silly worme and poore Soldier as once I was I am a piece not only of your State but of the Christian Common-wealth and as a feeling though vnprofitable member of that great bodie interessed in the losse of so excellent and needfull a head by so much the more as I euer preferred the publike good before my priuate welfare the honor of my Country before my perticular aduancement and the life of my Soueraigne and of all good Christian Kings aboue mine owne all others of my neerest deerest kindred who yet being already crosse-signed and the least of an hundred thousand which are ready to crosse-signe themselues for so lawfull and so generall a cause when either by this my summoning or some other more effectuall meanes I see a iust army in the field am most ready to embrace againe my auncient profession which I had forsworn to scowre my old weapons rusty with our â—ong peace which I thought neuer to vse againe And taking in hand my sharpest speare of all most boldly venture my life as farr as any most happy to be lost in this quarrell the right quarrell of God and Gods annoynted ✚