Monsieur d'Andelot at Crecy and sent him prisoner to Melun After this imprisonment and that also of the Vidame of Chartres and of certaine counsellors of parliament fell out the violent and miraculous death of the King Whē the wicked rise vp mē hide themselues which exalted your house to the soueraigne degree of power neere about the young King Francis and on the other side did abate and almost altogether beate downe the house of Monsieur the Constable and of all those that did belong vnto him And this was then when his kindred voyde of all hope of ordinarie meanes because that all was executed vnder the fauour of your allies ioyned themselues in secrete intelligence with the Lutherans here and there scattered in diuers corners of the kingdom And though they had as yet but little credit with them as who were people vnknowne vnto them and had not partaked neither in the Supper nor in Synode or Consistorie notwithstanding by the meanes of their agents well skilled and practised in secrets they made that memorable enterprise of Amboyse and assembled from all the quarters of the world Taciturnitie a good virtue and that with meruailous silence such a great number of people that they were readie at the day named to accomplish a cruell execution vpon your side vnder this pretext to deliuer the King out of the captiuitie A Iudas amongst the twelue wherein your fathers and your vncles held him But these good people could not keep themselues from traitors whereupon followed the execution done at Amboise which discouered also the authors of the faction And thereupon insued the rigorous commaundement which they gaue to the King of Nauarre and the imprisonment of Monsieur the Prince of Conde in the estates at Orleans and sundrie other heauie accidents too long now to recite Mens malice ouerthrowne when God will which had continued and increased farre worse if the sodaine death of the young King had not altered the course and broken the blow which some went about to cause to light vpon these chiefest princes of the bloud royall and vpon the familie of Monsieur the Constable and of the Chastillons A man may easily iudge how much your house was shaken and tossed as it were by this vnlooked for death and you may beleeue Monsieur Lieutenant that Monsieur your father and Messieurs your vncles played all at one time A fit comparison at one kinde of game or blushing as you might do if a man should bring you newes of the death of your two brethren But they lost not their courage no more then you doe and had afterwards very good counsels and consolations from the King of Spayne of whom we will speake by and by who during these first dissentions was vpon the skoutes and watched to whom hee might offer his fauour and how he might blow and stirre the fire on the one side on the other to make it to increase to that power and greatnes in which we haue seene it Holy purposes for so catholike a prince and doe yet now see it burne and consume all France which is the finall but of his pretensions Vpon hope then of the support of so great a prince which would not spare to promise men money your father without being astonished with so lumpish a fall perceiuing the King of Nauarre to be placed in his ranke of the first prince of the bloud for the sauegard of young king Charles and Monsieur the Constable put in his charge or office againe knew so well rightly to play his ball that he practised them both The recouerie of Nauarre some such conceits and drew them to his lure against their owne brethren and against their owne kinsmen feeding one of them with a hope that I dare not speake of and flattering the other by submissions and honors that he bestowed vpon him And this he did so artificially and wel that entring againe into the paths and waies that he had forsaken and taking his old aduantage after that Monsieur the Prince of Conde was set at libertie who had fairely preuented him but two or three daies onely he went with a number of men of warre and in great troupes to seize the young King and the Queene his mother at Fountainebleau brought them to Melun And this was then when my sayd Lord the Prince and Messieurs of Chastillon perceiuing themselues neither by their head nor by their houses strong enough to resist so puissant enemies couered with kingly authoritie and power became Lutherans at one clap and declared themselues to be heads protectors of the new heretikes whom they called to their succour and by their meanes did in open warre seaze and take many great townes of the kingdome without making yet any mention of their religion but onely for the defence of the King and of his mother and to deliuer them out of the captiuitie bondage wherein Monsieur your father held them And you Monsieur Lieutenant know that these people alwaies boasted that what they did as in this behalfe it was at the request and commandement of the Queene Mother whose letters written and sent by her to them for that purpose they haue caused to be published and imprinted You are not ignorant of that which passed in this warre and how afterwards the King of Spayne sent your father succour but yet the same such Fit fellowes to fight a field as I am ashamed to speake of it al labourers and handicrafts men gathered together who would neuer fight at the battaile of Dreux but couered themselues with the wagons and carriages appoynted for the baggage Notwithstanding this was a baite to inkindle the courage of the partakers and to cause them to hope that they should indeed some other time doe some aduantageable thing if they would yet once again come to fight together But afterwards the diuers changings and alterations of our affayres did indeed offer vnto the Spanyard another sport For your father being dead and peace being made knowing notwithstanding these mightie families animated and stifly set one of them against another and that without hope of reconciliation When a bad cannot preuaile a worse will be prouided he practised Monsieur the Cardinall your vncle which on his behalfe did not sleepe to maintaine the troubles and diuisions in this realme vnder the beautifull name of religion of which in former time mē made little or no account Monsieur your vncle Cardinall of Lorraine commended being as he was indeed wittie and pleasing whom he would had skill in such sort to gaine the heart of the Queene Mother and the Queene Mother the heart of the King her sonne that he perswaded them specially the Queene mother that Messieurs the Princes of Bourbon ayded by them of Montmorency and Chastillon sought nothing but her ruine and would neuer bee quiet or leaue off till they had driuen her out of the realme and sent her
to kingdomes and empires and haue surnamed you Pepin the short or curtalled You behold you vpon the poynt to be another great Charles the great your great great grandfather if the fayre or market hold But regard I pray you that you suffer not your selfe to bee deceiued These Messieurs of Spayne Spanyards paynted out although they be our very good friends good Catholikes be not merchants at one word and buy sell with no more and that is found true in them not at this time only for there are almost two thousand yeares since that they haue medled with more matters then they should and that men haue giuen them this name to bee fine and cunning in doubling of poynts They promise you this diuine damosel or daughter in mariage to make her a Queene in solidum that is altogether and wholly with you but take you heede that the Duke de Feria haue not filled his seates signed without charge He hath a boxe full of such things wherewith he serueth himselfe vpon all occurrences as of a last for euery shooe and as one saddle for all horses he dates them or he antedates them with his chamber pot when pleaseth him I haue feare something that he hath propounded vnto vs that this is nothing but arte and subtiltie to amaze vs withal when he hath seene that we will not vnderstand or be of minde to breake the law Salick If you haue but neuer so little nose you shall smell it For we knowe in good part that the marriage is alreadie accorded of her and of her cousin the Archduke Ernest Adde that is ioyne hereunto that those of the house of Austrich doe as the Iewes doe that doe not marrie but in their tribe or familie and hold one another by the tayle as hannekins and hannetons doe Leaue of therefore this vaine hope of Gynecocratie That is gouernment of women together and beleeue that little children mocke at it and goe from it to mustard I heard the other day one that comming verie brauely from the tauerne did sing these foure verses The League finding it selfe flat nosed And the Leaguers much without repose Aduised themselues of a fetch which is To make a King without a nose But if I had been able to haue made him to haue been caught by the commissarie Bazin who ranne after him he had had no lesse then the miller that mocked our Estates What wil you say to these impudent politikes that haue put you in a shape in a faire leafe of paper A prety deuise alreadie crowned as a king of the cardes by anticipation and in the same leafe haue also put the figure of the sayd infant or daughter crowned for Queene of France as you you regarding huze a huze one the other And in the neather part of the sayd painture haue placed these verses which I haue kept by heart because that therein it goeth as on your side The French Spanalized haue made a King of France To the daughter of Spayne they promised haue this King Aroyaltie very small and of slender importance For their France is comprised within Paris a strange thing O Hymen mariage god for this cold mariage Thy quiet torch I pray at this time doe not bring Of these disioyned corps men set out the image That make the loue of eyes both two within one thing It is a royaltie onely in shew most sure Deceit and not true loue hatched hath this mariage Good cause that being King of France in portraiture They cause him to espouse of a Queene the image If Monsieur of Orleans in the qualitie of Aduocate general would cause to be searched out these same wicked politike Printers it is his charge and they might bee knowne by their caracters and his good gossips Bichon N. Niuelle Chaudiere Morel and Thiere will discouer the matrice Touching my selfe I willingly forbeare it for these heretikes are euill speakers as diuels I should feare they would make some booke against me as they did against the Catholike Doctor and Lawyer Chopin vnder the name of Turlupin And neuer mend it is likelie Messieurs of the hall or place of hearing will therein doe their duetie more loco solitis after their wonted manner and place I will hold my selfe content to preach the word of God to maintaine my Beadles and carefully to solicite my pensions Let all this be spoken by a parenthesis But Monsieur de Guise my good child beleeue me and you shall beleeue a very foole stay no more vpon that Neuer better spoken it is not foode for our foules or birds Lift not vp your traine for all this we doe not inlarge or make longer your table by reason of this There is hay there are none but beasts that delight in it but doe better obtaine of the holie father a croisade or an expedition and voyage against the Turkes and goe and reconquer that goodly kingdome of Ierusalem which appertaineth to you by reason of Godfrey your great vncle euen as wel as that of Sicilie and the kingdome of Naples How many scepters and crownes are prepared for you if your horoscopus lie not as you your selfe are wont to say that you haue not a limited fortune Leaue this same wretched and miserable kingdome of France to him that will vouchsafe to take the burthen of it It is not fit that your spirit borne for Empires and the vniuersall monarchie of the habitable world should stoope to so small morsels or matters and vnworthie of you and of your late father A carefull caution whom God absolue if it be permitted to speake so of Saints And you Monsier the Lieutenant to whom I must needes now speake What thinke you to doe you are grosse and fully panched you are heauie and deformed you haue head big enough indeede to beare a crowne But what you say you will none of it and that it would too much ouer burthē you The politikes say that the foxe sayd so touching mulberies which he would faine haue had The foxe will eate no grapes You hinder vnder hād that your nephew should not be chosē you forbid the deputies that none of them bee so bold as to touch this great string of the royaltie or kingdom What shall we do then We must haue a King who as the politike doctors say is better takē thē sought You make the K. of Spaine beleeue that you keep the kingdom of Frāce for him for his daughter vnder this hope you sucke draw from the honest man all that that the Indies and Peru can send him he maintaineth vnto you your plate he sendeth you armor armies but not at your deuotion or disposition For he looketh to himselfe for all you and hee distrusteth you both one and other as though ye were blinde A iust iudgement and taketh you as theeues In the meane while yee haue prouoked the sixteene who accuse you to bee a marchant
of crownes and haue offered this of Fraunce to him that would giue most They make books of this to your preiudice wherein they discipher all your actions They say that you haue close practises with the Biarnois and cause wordes and messages to be caried vnto him by Villeroy and Zamet to lull him a sleepe and to cause him to vnderstand that you are a good Frenchman and will neuer be a Spaniard and that you can giue him Paris backe againe and make peaceable vnto him all his kingdome when hee shall haue been at Masse and acknowledged our holy father and vnder this baite and deceite you haue drawne or gotten fortie thousand politike crownes for three moneths which indeede should bee rated for foure A good arithmetician euery one tenne thousand crownes a peece making you to vnderstand that the Spanish King would pare and clip your distributions if he knew that you treated concerning accord and agreement with heretikes But it is discouered that secretly you send your agents to Rome and into Spaine to lette that the Pope should not giue him absolution if hee demaunde it and to stirre vp the King of Spayne to send new forces towards the frontiers you thinke you are very subtile but your subtleties and fetches are sowen together with white thred And therefore easilie discouered in fine all the worlde seeth them For these politikes haue dragons in the fieldes that take all your packets and by diuelish arte diuine and decipher al your ciphers as also those of the King of Spaine and of the Pope though they bee neuer so subtile and craftie so well that they know all your affaires both at Rome and at Madrill and in Sauoy and in Germanie You iuggle and deale craftily with all the world and all the world doth deale so with you likewise Danger there is that you become not that that the Countie Saint Pol constable of France in the time of King Lewis the eleuenth was who after that he had abused his master and the Duke of Bourgongne That is lost his head in the place of execution as wee would say at Tiburne or the tower hill and the King of England all at one time in the end was made Cardinall in Greue As for being King of your head looke not for it your parte is perished frozen or runne into the fire all your elders set themselues against it Your cousines competitors would rather goe and departe to the other sides than to indure it the sixteene make no more account of you for they say that they haue made you that that you are and you hang them vp and diminish their number as much as you can the people had hope vpon your word that you would vnlock and open the riuer and make the wares and trade free but they see to the contrarie that they are more locked vp and straitned than before and that the bread and the small good they haue to liue of commeth not thorow your well dooing nor by your valour but of the liberalitie of the Biarnois and of his good nature or of the couetousnes of the getters of it which drawe out of it all the profit Briefelie the greater parte beleeueth that you will prolong as long as you can the Lieutenancie in the which men haue placed you and liue alwaies in warre and in trouble and yet well to your ease well serued well intreated well guarded of the Swissers and of the Archers that there lacketh nothing but the coates of armes and the applause of the people to be King whilest all the rest of the people dieth starke mad through famine You will keepe the pledges and bee the perpetuall person who will haue the charge of and looke well to the goods that are vacant which hindereth and prolongeth as much as hee can the deliuerance of the things cried least hee should render an account Mōsieur Lieutenants lets Besides you cannot be King by the mariage of the infant or daughter of Spaine you are maried alreadie and would you put your finger in the hole For you haue ridden the olde one that keepeth hir selfe well from the hee Coate and besides there must bee another more lustie fellow than your selfe for this girle of thirtie yeres blacke as pepper and of an oken appetite Moreouer though we should haue chosen you King yet you should haue to doe with the Biarnois who knoweth a thousand feates or prankes of Basque and who sleepeth not but as much as he will and at the houre that hee will who making himselfe a catholike as he threatneth you hee will doe will drawe on his side all the potentates of Italie and of Almaine and withall the heart of all the French gentry or gentlemen of France of which you see alreadie the greatest parte with so many poore afflicted townes wearie of their warre and of their pouertie part to shake in the haft and to make a writing of their retraict that demaunde nothing else but that colour and good occasion to withdrawe themselues from the couple therewith to couer or colour their repentance Doe you dreame thereof Monsieur the Lieutenant for the like you haue counterfeited the King and yee haue farted against or like the Biarnois in edicts and declarations in seales in guardes and great prouosts and masters of requests of your house Though you would burst and would blow vp your selfe great as an oxe as doth the female frogge yet shall you neuer be so great a Lord as he although some say that he hath not so much fat vpon all his bodie as is able to feede a larke But doe you knowe what you doe I would counsell you but that you haue been Bigamus or haue had two wiues to make your selfe an Abbot A good preferment for so great a seruice whosoeuer shall be King he will not refuse to bestow vpon you the Abby of Clugny which is of your house you loue a fatte soppe or brewis as wee say and you thrust your selfe willingly into the kitchin you haue a very ample and spacious belly and so you shall be crowned I say crowned with the same crowne and your crowne made with the same cissers It needeth not an honest man may be taken vpon his word that Madam your sister saide hung at her girdle to make the monkelike or frierlie crowne of the late Henrie of Valois You will not demaund of me neither fidelitie nor oath for this matter but I am of this aduise I will not speake here of Monsieur of Nemours your vterin but the politikes say adulterin brother Speake cleanly for shame he hath done his caca or needes in our little chests he hath his purposes and attemptes by himselfe and is like to Picrocolus that by discourses well reasoned of made himselfe Monarch of the world foote by foote If he can gouerne the King of beasts as hee hath done the shippe of Paris I will say that he hath skill to doe more
and his traiterous counsellors had wrought in him hindred him from vsing the aduantage which hee had in his hand or power causing all his men of warre to be forbidden to strike or hurt any person and to keep themselues quiet without enterprising any thing or offering violence to any of the inhabitants which was the cause that the mutinous taking heart and courage vpon the waies of their plotted enterprise had leasure to arme themselues and to shut vp as it were betweene two gulfes or streames those that before they durst not looke in the face And your brother also seeing that they were so slow to come to take him there came vnto him and that from all quarters people in armes whome those of the Kings side did let freelie passe because they had no charge giuen them to looke to him and knowing that they of his part began to acknowledge him and to make head in the quarters A dastard in the faint hartednes of his foe gathereth strength according to the order that they had before plotted of a desperate man that he was he became fully assured and resolute and sent his appoynted gentlemen through the streetes and quarters of the citie to assist and encourage the inhabitants to take the gates and places For his part after that he was hartened by a great number of men of armes who had their meeting at his lodging he went out of his house about tenne or an eleuen of the clocke that he might be seene in the streetes and by his presence giue them the signe of a generall reuolt which presently set fire in the head of all the conspirators who as madde and furious people fell vpon the Kings Swissers They that spare others are smitten themselues and cut them all in peeces and the other men of warre seeing themselues shut vp betweene two barricadoes before and behinde without daring to defend themselues because that the King had forbidden it them yeelded themselues to the mercie of your brother Crueltie couered with clemencie who caused them to bee conducted in safetie out of the towne which hee did not so much of clemencie and gentlenes that was naturall in him as by sleight and subtiltie the better to come to his last but which was to seize himselfe of the King whom he sawe to be in armes and vpoÌ„ his guardes in the house of Louvre hardly to be forced so readily without great murther His cuÌ„ning therfore was to spin gently to counterfeite a man of poore estate saying that he was greatly grieued with that that had fallen out in the meane season he visited the streetes ' to incourage the inhabitants hee assured himselfe of the strong places hee made himselfe master of the arsenac where he had good in telligence with Selincourt Who it should seeme was as it were the master of the ordinance that he might haue the Cannon the pouder bullets at his deuotion He besotted with faire words the poore knight that kept the watch who yeelded him the Bastille because he lacked good furniture for defence of it He lacked nothing but the Louvre He had the palace but that was no hard thing because it held not the master who had a backe gate to withdrawe himselfe And this was the cause why step by step they aduanced the barricades that so they might gaine the new gate that also of S. Honorus He was sure in a pittifull taking But the poore prince well aduertised of that which they purposed to do that they ment nothing against others but him neither daring to trust his mother neither the gouernour of Paris that then was that intertained him with speech with agreement tooke a couragious resolutioÌ„ and such a one as was approoued by many good people which was to flie away and to leaue the place and al with which your brother thought himselfe much astonished Some mens feare spoyles other of then hope A vehement exclamation and worthie wish douâ—â—â—es seeing the praye that hee supposed hee had in his shares was escaped from him O memorable feaste of the barricades Let thy eeuens and thy octaues be long From that time hitherto what haue wee had but wretchednes and pouertie But anguishes feares tremblings onsets ouerthrowes defiances and all sortes of miseries These were nothing else but subtilties craftes dissimulations and counterfeitings on the one side and on the other practised and managed by him that could best take it and that could deceiue his companion yea began to goe cheeke by iole with your master and because you were not able to take him by open force you tooke counsell to set vpon him by crafte and subtiltie You made shew as though you had been heauie and sad for that which fell out The Crocodiles teares specially to theÌ„ whom you sent vnto him but to straungers you braued it and vaunted your selues Out of one fonntain commeth sweet sowre water that you were masters of all and that there was no let but in your selues that you were not Kings and that in that day of the barricadoes you had gotten more then if you had gained three battailes or soughten fields Concerning which matter your owne letters and those of your agents giue large credit You sent diuers times sundrie sorts of Ambassadors to the King as well to Roan as to Chartres to make him beleeue that the people of Paris were then more at his deuotion then euer and that they did desire to see him and to welcome him into his good citie and you indeuoured nothing but to draw him thither that so you might perfit the busines begun But he would doe nothing in that matter and so he did well In fine after manifold declarations which you drew from him whereof he was no niggard in which was shewed how he did forget and remit all that was past wherein you would neuer suffer to bee vsed the word of pardoning you went and carried your selues very churlishly and vnciuilly in the promoting of the Estates The more the wicked are forborne the worse they are wherein you promised vnto your selues that all should passe at your pleasure by the meanes of your running vp and downe and suites that you made in the election of the deputies of the prouinces In which neuer did any man see such shamelesnes as you vsed that sent from citie to citie and from towne to towne to cause men of your faction to bee chosen Fie vpon such sree election that they might come to the foresayd estates prepared with notes and furnished with remembrances fit for your purpose whereof some were chosen by violence othersome by corruption of money or briberie and othersome thorowe feare and threatnings Amongst others from this towne you sent the president de Nully la Chapelle Marteau Compan Rowland and the aduocate of Orleans who were euen in open shewe the principall authors of the rebellion and the instruments which you
them to content there withall their owne bad spirit of euill speaking which some of them thought to bee the chiefe goodnes And there are great numbers of them found in our countrie of Parresie who loue rather to lose a good friend then a good word or a merrie iest applied well to the purpose Wherfore it is not without cause that they haue intituled this little discourse by the name Satyre though that it be written in prose being yet notwithstanding stuffed and stored with gallant Ironies pricking notwithstanding and biting the very bottome of the consciences of them that feele themselues nipped therewithall concerning whom it speaketh nothing but trueth but on the other side making those to burst with laughter that haue innocent hearts and are well assured that they haue not strayed from the good right way As concerning the adiectiue Menippized it is not new or vnusuall for it is more then sixteene hundred yeares agoe that Varro called by Quintillian and by S. Augustine the most skilfull amongst the Romanes made Satyres of this name also which Macrobius sayth were called Cyniquized and Menippized to which he gaue that name because of Menippus the Cynicall Philosopher who also had made the like before him al ful of salted iestings poudred merie conceits of good words to make men to laugh and to discouer the vicious mē of his time And Varro imitating him did the like in prose as since his time there hath done the like Petronius Arbiter Luciā in the Greek tongue since his time Apuleius and in our age that good fellow Rabelaiz who hath passed all other men in contradicting others and pleasant conceits if hee would cut off from them some quodlibetarie speeches in tauernes and his salt and biting words in alehouses Wherefore I cannot tell what manner of men these daintie ones are that thinke some doe euill that according to the example of these great personages ment to giue vnto a like worke a like title vnto that of theirs which is now become common and as we say appellatiue whereas before it was proper and particular as not long time since a learned Flemming and a good Antiquarian hath vsed the same And this is al that I can tell you in this respect If you desire any other thing I will tell you my aduise or opinion Then sayd I vnto him I am sufficiently satisfied as touching the title but there is very great disputation amongst some what the author should meane by these tearmes Higuiero of hell for there are very many persons that knowe not what it meaneth and make thereof sundrie horned and ill fauoured interpretations such as in my minde the author himselfe neuer thought of I knowe very well sayd he that there are diuers that desire to play about the affinitie of the words some to make themselues merrie therewith and others to draw the author into enuie but there is much oddes betweene eight and eighteene and a great difference betweene breathing and whistling I haue heard my cousin a hundred times say and I knowe it also as well as hee that Higuiero of hell signifieth no other thing in the Castillian or Spanish tongue but the Figge tree of hell For the Spanyards as also the Gascoignes turne the F into H as hazer harina hijo hogo higo for faire that is to do farine meale fils a sonne feu fire figue a figge And this at this time is but too common in Paris where the women haue learned to speake as well as to doe after the Spanish manner Where he sayth then that the drugge of the Spanish Iugler or Apothecarie was called Higuiero of hell it is for diuers reasons First because the figge tree is a wicked and an infamous tree the leaues whereof as we may see in the Bible haue serued heretofore to couer the priuie parts of our first parents after that they had sinned and committed high treason against their God their father and creator euen as the Leaguers to couer their disobedience and ingratitude against their King and him that hath done thē all good haue taken the Catholigue Apostoligue and Romane religion and thinke therewith to hide their shame and sinne This is the cause also why the Catholicon of Spayne that is to say the pretext which the King of Spayne and the Iesuites and other preachers wonne by the double duckets of Spayne haue giuen to the seditious and ambitious Leaguers to rebell against their naturall and lawfull King and to fall away from him and to make in their owne countrie warre more dangerous than ciuill may very properly bee called the Figge tree of hell in steed that that wherewith Adam and Eue did couer their open sinne was the Figge tree of Paradise And euer since that time this tree hath alwaies been accursed and of euill name amongst men bearing neither flowers nor any buddes nor any thing els to garnish it withall and the very fruite it selfe hath from thence been drawne to name the most dishonest part of women and the most filthie and foule disease that breedeth in the parts that wee cannot well name You are not ignorant of this also that the ancient people did account this tree amongst the gibbets or gallowses as for example whē Timon the Athenian would haue plucked vp one of them that did him some anoyance in his garden and whereupon sundrie had in former time been hanged he caused to bee proclaimed with the sound of a trumpet that if any were willing to be hanged he should dispatch and come thither quickly because he ment to cause it to bee pulled vp by the rootes Plinie teacheth vs that this tree hath not any sent or sauor no more hath the League Againe that it easily casteth her fruite and so hath the League done that it receiueth all manner of corruptions as the League hath receiued all sortes of people and that it doth not last or liue long no more hath the League done and that the greatest part of the fruite which appeareth at the beginning neuer commeth to ripenes no more hath that of the League But that which yet better agreeth with it and hath many more conformities with the League than S. Frauncis hath with our Lord is the Figge tree of the Indies which the very Spanyards themselues haue named the Figge tree of hell Concerning which Mathiolus sayth thus much for truth that if a man cut but onely one leafe from it and set but the one halfe thereof within the ground it will take roote there and afterwards vpon that leafe there will growe an other leafe and so leaues growing vpon leaues this plant becommeth hie as it were a tree without bodie stalke branches and as it were without rootes in so much that we may reckon it amongst the miracles of nature Is there any thing so like and so much resembling the League which of one leafe that is to say of a very small beginning is become by little and little from one