Selected quad for the lemma: friend_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
friend_n	army_n	great_a	king_n	1,878	5	3.7398	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A00734	The Spaniards monarchie, and Leaguers olygarchie. Layd open in an aduerisement [sic], written by Signor Vasco Figueiro a gentleman of Portingale to the rebellious French: wherein is discouered the tyrannie of the one ouer the kingdome of Portingale, and the treacherous rebellion of the other in the kingdome of France, with a patheticall persuasion to the French to returne to the obedience of their naturall and legitimate king. Englished by H.O.	Figueiro, Vasco, gentleman of Portingale.; H. O., fl. 1592.	1592 (1592)	STC 10865; ESTC S102056	35,479	50

to perseuere in the amitie which she had sworne to Phillip And I verilie beléeue that she had retained the former opinion as most safe had not the League in vsing more fine and artificiall subtleties then euer before by the seducing of the vnfaithfull preachers induced perswaded yea and cōstrained her to follow her last resolution setting before her eyes the enormitie of all the faults that she had committed against the authoritie of her king who would be so irreconciliable and inflamed with a desire of reuenge that he would neuer be induced to open the gate of his mercie Thus desperatlie she resolueth that seing the dice was cast she would runne fortunes hazard as also the ardēt affection that she had to change her naturall Prince to assay the gouernement of a stranger which she earnestlie wisheth for albeit to her common dammage and extreme ruine The Gaules saith Caesar in his Commentaries loue noueltie and desire to change their Signorie so that there néeded no great labour to incite them to a generall rebellion yet the seditious preachers adding oile to fier by their charming Sermōs and vniust declaration make processe vpon the bodie by which processe the Colledge of Sorbone acquited the people frō the oth of fidelitie and obedience to their Prince and without any scruple of conscience to take armes against him to extirpat both him all those which shall sustaine or defēd his quarell As if the Colledge of Sorbone were aboue the king to licence his people to violate the most firme and holie lawes of the Realme now in such case if often hapneth as Caesar saith that some are pricked forward with auarice others with desire of reuenge or any other light folly which ordinarilie aecompanieth the cōmon people Moreouer the great ones labour to set the vulgar sort in a tumult wherein hauing committed some great mischief they may be ashamed to repent or craue mercie others there are who are drawne by a hope to become great men which as saith Salust maketh men but of meane condition to venter their life Now before this French League will commit her fortune to the field she would remoue all such stumbling blockes as might hinder her actions or interrupt the course of her vnbridled rage in such sort that she captiuated or banished the Cities all those whom she neuer so litle suspected to be seruants to the kings And then began France so to ruffle that the League her preachers had gathered a puissāt armie whose leader must be the Duke du Maine whō you cherish no lesse thē his late deceased brother but O France to what end doest thou march accompanied with such a terrible courage as though thou wouldst affray and subdue the whole world is it to maintaine the authoritie of thy king or to conquer new lands planting the borders of thy Monarchie vpon thy neighbours or finally to recouer those which the auncestors of thy Spaniards yea and he himselfe hath vniustly robbed thée of no no such matter It is to abase and beate downe the greatnes of my king for that he hath takē away the life of my Minion who might I haue had my will should haue taken away his To this end do I muster so many men in field to sacrifice their bloud for the expiatiō of the offence perpetrated by the king vpon the person of my fauorite As also my fields shall be ouerflowen with the bloud of the French for an earnest pennie of my Mariage dower with Philip king of Spaine for that so is his pleasure and he instantlie requireth it as a token of my affection Ah miserable France well may it be cried out against thée Gallia quis furor heu quae tanta licentia ferri Gentibus inuisis Gallum praebere cruorem You long for nothing so much as a bloudie warre and you imagine thereby to triumph incontinētly ouer your king to yéeld your selfe afterward to a forraine Prince but brainsicke as you are you consider not the message which the great warrier Metellus sent vnto king Bocchus The entrāce into warre saith he is easie but the end difficult neither are the beginning and issue thereof in the power of one and the same person euery one euen the veriest coward in the world may easiely begin it but the end thereof is onely at the pleasure of the conquerour The king perceiuing France to rush with such furie vpō him to auoid those inconueniences whereinto he might fall iudged that his best remedie was to abrogate and suppresse that iniust law whereby at the instant request of the League he had declared his legitimat and indubitat heires incapable of succession to the Crowne and to recall them neare vnto his person together with all his old faithfull seruants both to sustaine the assaults of his rebellious subiects as also to abate the pride of their ouer-rash insolencie who in the meane while made a sodaine assault vpon him in the suburbes of the Citie of Tours frō whence they were so valiantly repulsed that they were constrained to make a shamefull retraite The king had no sooner made declaration of the things aboue said but he might sée him selfe assisted with a great and couragious armie composed of the Princes of the bloud of the most faithfull and magnagnimous Nobilitie and of the better sort of his people friends and confederates who neuer failed him at néed So that all trembled for feare where his armie passed the towns which opened not their gates were soone ouerthrowen nothing might resist his puissance and brieflie all stouped vnder his authoritie Thus hoping to moue France to acknowledge her offences and to demande pardon which she might easilie haue obteined of his gracious clemencie he caused his armie to approche euen to the gates of Paris then were both France and the League in extreme perplexitie without all hope of safetie France was sore vexed and tossed in spirite manie doubts and difficulties trouble her braine the worme of her conscience doth gnaw and pricke vncessantlie and so liuely that she féeleth as it were an vnsupportable torment Of the one side she balanceth the enormitie of her mischiefs which plonge her into a mortall dispaire and on the other side the great mercie of the king which farre surpassed the heaps of her misdéedes lifting her to an infallible hope of some great good and I doubt not but that shortlie she had returned to acknowledge her faults and cordially to cleaue to her king who had handled her so graciously if God would somuch haue fauoured her as to take away the vaile from before her eyes that she might discerne truth from falshood and euidentlie sée the errour whereinto the charming sorceries craftie illusions of this pernicious League had caused her to stray and so cast her headlong into a bottomlesse pit ouerflowing with all calamities and miseries but it pleased not the diuine goodnesse of God to endue her with so fauourable a grace as one vnworthie for her

to follow it It is euident God neuer planted his by the sword of Princes To hope also that the French king will leaue his Religiō to the end to enioy peaceably his kingdome is a vaine hope and I beléeue he will neuer do it if the Monarchie of the whole world were offered vnto him for that he estéemeth it a great breache both to his conscience and honour if it be not as I haue said first condemned by a Councell The League knowing then that France could not treate a peace with the king vpon the conditons before said and that by her obstinacie she reaped such great discommodities that at the length would bring her to reason she solliciteth her more more to persist in her mischeiuous opinion and the more the people cry out with famine so much the more doe the preachers entertaine them in their rebellion playing the Orators vnto them like as aunciently Critognatus a Captaine of the Gaules did vnto the inhabitants of Lauxois being besieged by the Romanes who propsed vnto them that it were farre more honorable to eate one an other then to yéelde them selues to the mercy of the Romaines But Critognatus was farre different from these preachers more inhumane then the very Canibals for that he did it for feare of comming into bondage and these to the end to yéeld France and her poore people vnder the yoke of a miserable tyrannie he showed him selfe truely zealous of his countrey and the name of the Gaules and these are thereunto mortall enemies for they haue nothing but the French names whereas in heart they are Spaniards aboue foure and twentie carrects Now to the end to comfort the people in their aduersitie they féede them with a hope of succour which shall remooue that long and insupportable siege And ind indéede the Spaniard after hée had set all his wits awork caused the Prince of Parma to march into France against the king who togither with his nobilty and other men of warre presented him battaile foure or fiue times with a magnanimous courage so that the Spaniard for all his brauadoes was so astonished at the sight of this valorous armie that he neuer dared to come to blowes contenting himselfe to lurke about Paris to consume the rest of that small portion of victuals which remained in the countrie and townes thereabout The king séeing that the Spaniard had taken this resolution licensed some of his nobilitie to depart and separated himselfe a few leagues from Paris making dayly couragious assaults vpon the enemie who for all his great brauadoes and proud rodomantadies tooke onely two small Hamlets not without the losse of a great number of his souldiers which were soone taken againe and that before his face and hauing done these two memorable exploits he thought it best to trusse vp his baggage and returne to his lodging for feare of greater losse to the vtter abasing of his reputation which he did not so secreatly but that the king made him fasten his spurres and leaue part of his glorious feathers behind him For he pursued him without cealing now in the forefront now on his wings and now at his taile euen vnto the borders of Flaunders Thus in briefe behold all the succours and aduancement that France receiued of her great friend Philip king of Spaine by the comming of the Prince of Parma Behold the people left in greater calamitie then euer before and their affaires still growing from euill to worse the king surprising to day one towne and to morrow another Poore abused France dismaske and pul away the vaile which the League hath put before your eyes turne away your eare from her craftie illusions breake the bonds wherewith she hath captiuated you and purge your braine with some good antidote against her charmes and then not till then shall you perceiue in what darkenes in what errour in what captiuitie you haue bene detained whilest this accursed League hath gouerned you then your selfe shall be iudge how much you haue lost of your beautie of your authoritie of your greatnes of your fidelitie of your libertie of your wisedome and of your forces which before and that from the beginning were redoubted not onely to your neighbours but euen to the most renowned nations so that if you would looke backe vpon your selfe you should sée that your visage is so changed that you could not know it nay you would be afraid to behold it Consider all your members and Organes apart by themselues and you shal finde all your members defeated beaten downe féeble and weak and your organs all peruerted and gone astray in their offices Your neighbours which were wont of late to feare and redoubt you doe now hisse at you pointing with their finger and mocking at your desperate rage and miserable follie which hath made you more cruell then Medea against your owne innocent children whom you most cruelly pursue and without all humanitie massacre as if they were your most mortall enimies that had conspired your death Take patience awhile to hearken vnto one of your most affectionate neighbours who will set downe nothing which shalbe vnreasonable but rather wholly to your aduantage and profite Imitate that vertuous Prince Antigonus who fréely hearkned vnto a plaine countrey man whom he met with by chance reprehending the vices wherewith he was attached and albeit he felt himselfe pricked to the quicke yet he tooke all in so good part that it returned greatly to his profite correcting afterwards that which the good man had noted to be vicious in him and being returned to his court he said vnto his minions that he had learned that of a peasant which he neuer knew before namely the truth which his flatterers had alwayes kept hidden and disguised In like manner miserable France depart but a little from this fraudulous League and her traiterous preachers to learne not of one of your domesticall flatterers and deluders but of a simple stranger desirous for your owne good safetie to cause you to know the sincere veritie which this long time you haue not heard of for that you would neuer giue eare to anie discourses but those of your deceiuers depart therefore but a while out of your court and I will cause you sincerely to vnderstand what you haue hereafter to do Demosthenes perswading the Athenians to resist Philip of Macedon exhorted them not onely to repulse the vsurper but consequently to chase out of their cittie certaine Orators whom by rewards he had drawne vnto his faction In like manner I aduise you that to auoid the tyrannie of Philip of Spaine it is néedfull to betake you to your weapons and more then high time to exile this pernitious League and her corrupted preachers if they will not amend contenting themselues to preach the gospel as Iesus Christ hath enioyned his Apostles whose imitatours and successours they faine themselues to be Go saith Christ throughout the whole world preaching the gospel vnto euery creature he

nothing but by her mouth like a good scholler that Fortune had put in her hands to mount the more easily whether she aspired made shew to wish nothing more then the conuocation of the estates meane while letting not slippe an houre vnimployed either in resolliciting her old partakers or purchasing new but especially watching that none might be at this assembly but those whom she knew to be of her partie whom shée instructed from point to point what they had to do Whilest y e Prouinces were assembling to prepare their Articles she suffered not the time to passe vnprofitably giuing aduise to her partarkers in those things which were necessarie for their Articles to some to besiege Boulogne to others to beleager and batter Iamets and to others to possesse themselues of the Marqueship of Saluce yet not forgetting to aduertise her Master what she had happely negociated as also the good estate of the affaires which she then managed requiring him with all spéede to imbarke that puissant army which he had so long equipped to that end whether to vsurpe England or to visite France in forme of an Ambassage whereby to make proofe of her good affection and to encourage her reuolt against her king but either the one or the other might haue bene preiudiciall to the French king if the issue had fitted their expectation but God by his grace myraculously ouerturned it for this great Armada which was termed inuincible was broken defeated and dissipated beyonde all humaine expectation by the valiauncie and magnanimitie of the fléete which the Quéene of England had sent forth to defend the coastes of her realme Albeit the defeating of this Armada somewhat vexed the Spanyards and not without cause for that it clipped the wings of their other enterprises notwithstanding the League was not any whit dismayed but pursued more hotly her affaires as willing to repaire this ruine by double diligence And indéede shée effected so farre with the king that he solemnely sware and protested to vnite himselfe with her and hereafter to be solely ordered by her counsell so that the king was so blinded that he sware the destruction of himselfe and the extirpation of his by an Edict ensuing named for this cause the Edict of reunion The time being come where the estates ought to assēble their Deputies showed themselues at Bloys where the assignation was giuen Then was question made in this assemblie that the king and his France or rather the League should giue vnderstāding of their affaires to those which were called to determine thereof For this part of France had alreadie retired their affection from their naturall king to yéeld it to the king of Spains yea from their owne children and heires to commit it to the said Spaniards in such manner did they effect that the kings established a foundamentall law of his kingdom whereby no heretike or fauourer of heresie might euer come to the Crowne In this sort excluding the king of Nauarre whom the League held for an hereticke and the residue of the house of Bourbon his cousins except some few from their naturall and legitimat right to the Crowne of France Thus the League not onely depriuing him but also employing all their might to root them out by force of armes Briefly the French League might not abide the sight of her owne children but hated them with a most mortall hate So that hauing giuen away her soule from her owne king like an vniust stepmother she disherited her legitimat children to inuest bastards or straungers in their fathers heritage And which is more she is not contēted to haue drawen away this great corner stone from the foundations of the kings estate for in stéede of adding another good foundation for this vniust law she haled away one of the best to the end to ouerthrow it as may be séen in that she bound his hands in the administration of his Realme yea euen to the taking away of those few which remained of his most faithfull auncient and domesticall seruants placing in their stéed those whom she thought most affectionat towards her Thus was this good Prince depriued of his legitimat successours fallen in a manner frō his dignitie diminished of his puissance abandoned of his most faithfull and loyall seruants What resteth now therefore for vnfaithfull France but to cast herselfe betwéene the armes of her good friend the Spaniard the king so timerous that he dare not hinder her and albeit he durst all his meanes are remoued hauing not one onely heire nor one or at least few seruants that either would or could aide him to retaine her Furthermore she hath bin so shamelesse as to enterprise vpon the life of the king for that being vtterly impatient and transported with a foolish affection she sought all meanes to rid him away so that treading vnder feete the feare of God and shame of men she resolued vpon his death what euer came of it She néeded not greatly trouble her selfe to séeke one to execute her mischieuous will a thousand are readie to enterprise it euen to the perill of their life Albeit among so great a nūber she discouered her selfe but onely to one whom she especially loued put most affiance in who was a hundreth times more readie to obey then she to commaunde Yea such a one as most inflamed her to practise vpon the enterprise Behold then this good Prince ordained by this French League to a miserable death and who must be the bloudie parricide but the Duke of Guise onely the execution thereof remained which had not bin long delayed had it not bin for the prouidence mercy of our God who as he hath a care especially ouer the person of kings Rex venerādus curae est Deo saith the Poet manifested vnto the king this bloudy conspiracie giuing him meanes by the aide of some of his faithfull seruants which yet remained to preuent the traiterous murtherer parricide who had vowed to take away his life or at least his libertie And thus was he taken in the nett which he had spread for others yea the hand of the Lord stretched euen vpon the Cardinall his brother a man of the same stampe But surely they had the reward which they had rightly deserued wherewith Hermeas was payed by the king Antiochus As also accustomablie it happeneth that Nimium potētes regibus suis formidofi proceres aut auditi miserum tragicum tādem vitae exitum ab ipsismet regibus à quibus se formidari metui voluerunt consequuntur If France at the fall of this man were meruailously moued much more were the League and Phillip Hauing lost the best feather of their wing and the strongest piller which supported their attempts Now France seing that her floud was discouered knew neither what countenance to make nor what way to take whether to entreate pardon of the king whom she had so detestably offended or following on with her mischieuous resolution