those intestine discords which have made it a slave to Strangers Vpon so sad an answere the Monarchy of Spayne full of griefe departed out of the Temple and much she marvailed when shee saw the French Monarchy present her selfe before her with whom having vsed her wonted Complements shee drew her aside and declaring vnto her what answere shee had received from the Oracle shee informed her that if the Vniversall Monarchy should returne againe to the Italian Nation France would quickly be as sure to feele a new Iulius Caesar as Spayne a second Scipio and therefore to secure their affaires there was no such way as to divide Italy betweene them Shee also offered to teach her the same Receipt which shee had so happily experimented in the Indiaes wherewithall they might so assure themselves of the Italian Nation that there should remaine no more of that wicked race of men in the world then the bare name Let me first forget answered then the French Monarchy that vnlucky devision of the Kingdome of Naples which my king Lewis the twelfth made not long since with you and then we will talke of this businesse For it is not so easy a matter to wrong the French a second time as I perceiue you perswade your selfe it is As for the receipt which to be secured of the Italians you propound vnto me I pray you vse it your selfe for to spoyle the earth of people as you haue done in the Indiaes and to raign over naked Countreys voyd of inhabitants is a certaine politick Precept which is not found in the French reason of State for I haue learned to my cost to content my selfe with a litle so it be good and therefore I place my greatnesse more in the multitude of Subiects then in the extent of Kingdomes and so as my French may liue cōmodiously in this world I am well pleased that others shall doe so too Moreover with that libertie which is proper to my nature I will freely tell you that the subduing of all Italy is not an enterprise so facile as you imagine for when I was of your humor I know how pernicious it proved to me and therefore be warned by my experience not to attempt that which in the end will bring you nothing but losse and disgrace CHAP. 7. Almansor sometime King of the Moores encountring with the Kingdome of Naples they relate one to another the miseries they sustayne by the oppression of the Spanyards THe famous King of Moores Almansor he that many yeares togither raigned in Spayne over the noble Realme of Granada met yesterday with the Kingdome of Naples and falling in talke with him after he had for a good space observed the chayne which the sayd Kingdome of Naples wore fastned about his legge he told him that the manufacture thereof being Moresco he verily thought that he had many times scene and handled it some where els and a litle while after with a shew of great marvayle he affirmed that he knew it well and how it was the very same wherewith all both he and the Moorish Kings his Predecessors had for the space of seven hundreth yeares held many Kings of Spayne in servitude and therefore he earnstely entreated him to let him vnderstand how by whom and when he was chayned in that manner A very good eye and an excellent memory hast thou Almansor answered then the Kingdome of Naples for this vnlucky chayne which thou seest about my legge was brought out of Spaine by Gonsalvo Corduba called the great Captaine and therefore it is very likely to be the same thou speakest of And now it is an hundreth yeares since first I found my selfe in the miserable servitude wherein thou beholdest me and from which I know not whither ever I shall be freed for in regard of the mighty power whereunto I see the sorces of the Spaniards arrived having vtterly lost all hope of assistance that may be expected from men I know that my ancient libertie standeth wholly in the poewrfull hand of God who had need to renew in me the miracles of the Red-Sea if my deliverance shall follow The yeares replyed Almansor confront well for a litle before the time of thy servitude the Spanyards vndid this my chayne from about the legge of the Kingdome of Granada where withall afterwards they bound thee But let it not displease thee O Kingdome of Naples to declare vnto me how it could come to passe that the Spanyards should make themselues Masters of such a Kingdome as thou art so potent and so farre distant from their Forces By fraud Almansor sayd the Neapolitan Kingdome did the Spanyards get into Italy for by open force they had never beene able to make such notable acquests and as thou saydest well so disproportionable to their Forces which vvere so farre off But heare and vvonder at the large and grosse conscience of a King of Spayne in matters of State although he vsed much art to seeme vnto foolish men a very Saint for thou shalt come vnto the knowledge of a Tragedy according to the rules of my Christian Religion most vvicked and cruell but according to the termes of moderne Policie the most advised that ever any Nation represented vpon the Stage of the vvorld Alfonso my King to his vtter and my chiefest ruine gaue Isabella his Niece for from this vnhappy marriage did my displantation take beginning to Iohn Galeazzo Duke of Milan for vvife The minortie first and then the vnspeakeable silly weakenesse of so infortunate a Prince incouraged Lodovico Sforza to vsurpe the State vpon his Nephew Alfonso as it behoved him sought to hinder that Tyranny vvhere of Lodovico being aware and knowing that without the ruine of my Kings it vvas not possible for him to arriue vnto the end of his most injust desire he fell into that resolution vvhich afterwards both to himselfe to me and to all the Princes of Italy proved so fatall of drawing the French into Italy to the conquest of me My Kings to defend themselues from such mighty enemies called to their ayde that holy soule of Ferdinand King of Aragon their Cousin who shewed himselfe so kind a kinsman and such a faithfull friend that in stead of chasing avvay the French enemies he divided me with them and to shew himselfe compleat a little after this vnhappy division he entred into warres against the French and having overcome them he forced them to returne full of shame and losse into their countrey vvhereupon the good King Ferdinand without any scruple at all of conscience became my absolute Lord and then it was that he fastned this chayne about my legge which thou remembrest to be the manufacture and worke of thy Nation And I do not thinke that in all the Chronicles of the Saracens Moores or Turks vvhich it is likely thou hast read there was ever a more vvicked treachery recorded done by a King that desired to be reputed a man of a good conscience and of an holy
times the face of feare whereupon she seemeth more apt to maintaine then conquer States There are many singular men that laugh at her for ruling all her actions by such solide and mature counsels without ever venturing any in the hand of that Chance and Fate vvhich haue so favoured and made glorious the French when as on occasions they haue bene carried more by valor then discretion And some are of the minde how that only proceedeth from her being as sparing of her owne bloud as she is thirsty after others Whence it is that the most vnderstanding Captaines in the Art of warre deride her for aspiring to the Empire of the World and yet will neuer fight for this mighty Queene being resolved to make acquisition of great States by marriages she abhorreth that dreadfull custome of the French to buy others Kingdomes with the price of their owne bloud Being then more advised then couragious she is more dangerous to her friend in peace then to her enemy in vvarre wherefore the French that hitherto haue liued with her in a supine negligence haue at length after so many calamities learned to double barre the doore when once they haue concluded a peace with the Spaniards She is most carelesse of her owne but so greedy of others riches that she careth not to waste her owne patrimoniall estates so as thereby she may get anothers She is so close so reserved that it is not possible for any cunning of man to find out her ends but he that will iudge of the disposition and customes of such a Lady must be fully perswaded that in all the affaires which either she manageth herselfe or others haue to negotiate with her she is within quite contrary to that she appeareth without And albeit that amongst the aforesaid vertues she hath so notorious vices yet by the greatnesse of her fortune every thing in her is interpreted and admired for Vertue so that many wise Princes hold it an honor to imitate her even in vices She is of constitution very strong whereupon it is concluded that she is long-liu'd only she suffereth in the indisposition of the distraction of her members a matter that doth infinitely weaken so great a Body and although with the ayde of the liberty of Genoa and the alliance she hath with the Duke of Savoy she vseth many devises to vnite them yet by the diversity of the interests of those Potentates she prevaileth litle But such a Princesse by nothing receiueth so much preiudice as by her principall ministers the Spaniards whose services alone she vseth in the greatest Charges exercised by them with so much insolency odious pride 〈◊〉 they will not be honored as men but adored as gods an impertinence that hath made the Spanish Dominion distasifull not only to the Italians and Flemmings but euen to the very Spaniards themselves This mighty Princesse then appearing in the Royall Hall before the Maiesty of Apollo she caused her seruants to vnbinde her left arme and shewing it naked vnto Apollo and to all the sacred Colledge of the Learned she spake in this manner Lord and Father of good letters this vvhich you see is that same stinking Yssue of Flanders vvhich the French the Germanes and some Italian Princes vvhich seeme my friends and that in bowelled beyond Sea Renegada made me so many yeeres since out of the suspition they had of mee I grant that the Princes I haue named had iust cause to bee iealous of my power at such time as after the death of Henry the second they saw France falne into the calamity of infant Kings and that in their minority I sought to sow dissention in that Kingdome But now that those suspitions are vvanting and that in the great contention vvhich I had with the French and particularly vvith that same vnchayned Prince of Beaâ—ne I vvas condemned in costs I doe beseech of your Maiesty that so fastidious an Yssue may be stopped since every one seeth that by the great abundance of humors vvhich are there concurring it is become so raging a Canker that I pray God it doth not end vvith the ruine of the vvhole I did not passe into Italy through mine owne ambition nor had that ardent desire to possesse my selfe wholly of it as mine enemies affirme it is vvell knowne that I was called nay forethly haâ—â—â—… thither by the Princes of Italy themselues to deliuer them from the great feare they were in of the domination of the French And happy had it beene for my House of Spayne vvhich I had covered with Slate of silver and Tyles of massie gold if I never had had any thing to doe with the Italians a double dealing Nation full of deceits and interests and onely good to imbarke men in dangerous affayres vvithout Bisket and then to abandon them in the middest of greatest perils making profession of nothing more then to fare well at other mens costs And it seemeth marueylous strange to mee that Italy which as every man knowes hath suffered her selfe to be towzed by so many strange Nations should now make such profession of chastity to mee that if shee see me never so little to moue shee entreth straight into a jealousie that I vvill depriue her of the honour of her Liberty And albeit the greatnesse wherein the Kingdome of France standeth at this instant secureth Italy and all the Princes which I have named from the feare they are in of my power yet vvhen it shall so seeme good to your Maiestie I am ready to give security to every one of not offending so that this same fastidious Yssue of mine may be stopped By order then of his Maiestie the Yssue then was diligently considered by the politicall Physicians and having made an exquisite consultation thereupon they delivered That in regard the Spanish Monarchy was troubled with an ardent thâ—rit of Domination that Yssue was necessary for her whereby those grosse humors might be purged away which from Peru distilled downe into her stomacke and caused that vnquenchable thirst And those worthy Physicians considered that if the sayd Monarchy had not that Yssue there was manifest danger that the pernicious humors of Peru would mount vp into the head of Italy with apparant ruine of the principall members which now remaine free in her and that the said Monarchy of Spayne would fall into the Dropsie of an Vniuersall Monarchy to avoid vvhich inconveniences nothing was so proper said they as that same Yssue of Flanders which was to be kept open so long as Peru ministred those pernicious humors to the Monarchy of Spayne This resolution greatly displeased the Spanish Monarchy vvherevpon being much incensed she said thus Sir if through the malice of others I must so foully consume away my selfe in ministring oyntments to the Canker vvhich my enemies call a divertiue Yssue some peradventure that litle dreame of it shall haue their share in it This was presently apprehended by the English the French and Italians who replied
disposition and that a litle before had receiued of the Apostolicke Sea that glorious title of the most Catholike King Truly replyed Almansor in the Chronicles which thou hast named of my Nation many foule actions cōmitted by divers Princes out of ambition to raigne may be read but this which thou hast recounted of Ferdinand goeth beyond them all But if thou O Almansor sayd the Kingdome of Naples diddest with thy Nation keepe the Kingdome of Granada chayned so many hundreth yeares vvhat course tooke the Spanyards for to free him That Vnion of the Kingdomes of Castile and Aragon replyed Almansor which followed vpon the marriage between Ferdinand and Isabella occasioned the libertie of the Kingdome of Granada a most vnhappy Vnion the which no lesse then I haue done and continually still doe the greatest Potentates of Europe haue lamented doe lament and perpetually with vnfained teares vvill lament as that which is the true and onely roote from vvhence are sprung all those greatest subversions of States which vnto this day haue beene seene in many partes of Europe but more remarkeably in Italy And beleeue me Neapolitan Kingdome that even till now might I haue raigned happily in Spayne if this pestiferous Vnion had not overthrowen my greatnesse for the many jealousies that raigned betweene the Castilians and Aragonians were my inexpugnable Cittadels which would haue maintayned my raigne here for ever Withall assure thy self O Kingdome of Naples that the aydes which the Popes gaue to Ferdinand and Queene Isabella greatly accelerated my taking in Peace peace Almansor said then the Neapolitan Kingdom for after thou wert chaced out of Spayne by the ambitious Spanish Nation the Popes vndervvent such miseries that it may be truly sayd how with ready mony they bought those extreame calamities wherewithall afterwards they encountred for though the Sea Apostolicall were well contented to see the Moores driven out of Spaine yet that satisfaction was much dissasted with my servitude which followed presently vpon it the Popes having never had any thing in greater feare then that I should fall into the hands of a mighty Prince vvho might make them liue in those perpetuall jealousies vvherein finding themselues drowned even vp to the very eyes many of them and particularly those that haue a greater knowledge of things of the vvorld do not alwayes make quiet sleepes A cleare testimony of the truth which I speake was the lamentable and wicked sacke of Rome perpetrated by the Spanyards a litle after my servitude with which ingratitude they payd the Apostolicke Sea for all they were debtors vnto it aswell for the remission of the Tribute of Naples as for the other succors which they received in the vvarre of Granada A calamitie that having past the termes of most grievous miseries hath in such manner opened the eyes even of men of the drowsiest vnderstanding that every one cōmeth clearely to know what it is to vnchayne the Lyon out of a zeale of pietie for the Spanyards no sooner saw themselues freed from the impediment of the Moores of Granada but that through the ambition which they shewed in desiring to cōmand over the whole Vniverse not onely in Italy but throughout all Europe most important jealousies of State and most grievous interests of Religion discovered themselues in so much that I haue often heard it discoursed by men of most vnderstanding in affayres of the vvorld how peradventure it would haue beene lesse prejudiciall for many Princes of Europe that thou haddest raigned still in Granada then that the Spanyards should haue passed into Italy to acquire such important States as at this day they possesse there Hereunto may be added the prejudices both publike and priuate which my ruine hath brought and continually doth bring vnto the Italian Princes and more particularly to the Popes because the Kings of Spayne had no sooner fastned this Chayne about my legge but presently they began to aspire vnto the Dominion of all Italy and the quicklier to arriue thereunto they knew very excellently how to interesse themselves in the differences which at that time depended betweene the Princes of Italy and the French about the possession of the Dutchy of Milan wherein that top of man Charles the fifth carried himselfe in such sort that hee made himselfe to bee knowen the worthy Nephew of his Grandfather by the Mothers side for having with the Forces of the Italian Princes chased the French out of Italy instead of restoring the Sforzi to the State as it was agreed betwixt him and the confederate Princes with the fraud of a thousand Turkish quarrels pickt of purpose which he well knew how to invent against the Sforzi he made himselfe absolute Master of that so important a Dutchy Stay Kingdome of Naples and making a point here sayd Almansor satisfie me in this seeing the noble State of Milan was fallen into the hands of the Spanyards what hindred them from running precipitously to the acquisition of all Italy and seeing thy servitude doth manifest vnto the world that the aydes and succours of Princes serue more for the benefite of him that giveth them then for the profit of him that receiveth them why would not the Italian Princes rather suffer that Milan should be vnder the Dominion of the French then by receiving ayde from the Spanyards runne the danger of letting that Dutchy beeing so important a member of Italy fall into the hands as thou saydest it did of the Kings of Spayne The power of the Kings of France answered the Neapolitan Kingdome defendeth that remnant of Liberty which remaineth in Italy from the ambition of Spaine for those glorious Kings out of the interest of their greatnesse will not endure that the Dominion of all Italy should fall into the power of the ambitious Spanish Nation which cannot extinguish the ardent thirst they have of commanding neither with the Conquest of all the new World discovered by them nor with so great a part which they possesse in the old Besides the Italian Princes who know the great perill wherein they finde they are of a dangerous and miserable servitude have so vnited themselves together that although they be many in number yet make they but one Body and the Spaniards who haue vsed and doe vse all possible devises to dis-unite them evidently perceive that they wash a Black-Moore But touching the State of Milan thou must know how it was iudged more secure for the publike Liberty of Italy that that Dutchy should fall into the power of the Spaniards then that it should remaine in the hands of the French who for that they were ioyning to Italy when therein they should possesse any little part there would haue beene manifest danger that they would haue made themselves absolute Lords of the whole but in the Spanyards it would fall out cleane contrary for their Forces albeit very great are notwithstanding so farre off that by so long a tract of sea they could with much difficulty transport out of Spayne
That they cared not a rush for any thing she could doe for they sent but the refuse of their States in to Flanders whereas the Spaniards consumed Gold and vitall bloud there And that to secure themselues from the formidable power and ambition of the Spanish vvhich appeared to haue no Horizon the English French Germans and Italians were forced conformable to the Aphorisme of the politicall Hipocrates Tacitus Consilijs estu res externas moliri arma procul habere CHAP. 2. The Monarchy of Spaine lamenteth for that her Falshoods are discouered I Know not whether it were by accident or by the malice of some French-men or indeed as many haue grievously suspected by the plottings of that nation which is such an implacable enemy to the French but so it was that many yeares since the Royall Palace of the Monarchy of France was set on fire and so great was the Flame and so terribly did it burne that the neighbouring Monarchies were in extreame feare lest that fire wold end with the ruine of their States in such sort that for the preservation of their owne euery one ranne to the extinguishing of the flame of anothers house The English though natural enemies to the French brought thither the waters of their Thames the Germans those of the Mose and of the Rhine the Venetians emptied almost all their Lakes And in truth it was a mervailous thing to see that even the Monarchy of Spaine her self esteemed so cruell an enemy to the French should labour amongst the chiefest friends to extinguish that fire whereas the common fame went she would rather haue reioyced to haue warmed herselfe at it wherevpon euery one remained much astonished when they saw that with care and vnspeakeable charitie she not only brought thither her waters of Tagus and Iberus but even the boundlesse Ocean it self whereof when the English and Hollanders will permit her she is absolute Mistres Howbeit some Politicians sinisterly interpreting the charitie of the Spaniards publikely affirmed that it was a pernitious matter in the occasions of the French to admit the assistance of the Spaniards who being eternall and capitall enemies to France were rather to be recounted Architects of euery French ruine then zealous of the greatnesse of that Kingdome as men that measuring all the actions of those which raigne in the workes of Princes with the only Compasse of their interest many times doe not admit even pietie towards God much lesse charitie towards men But these Politicians were so much the more held in abhomination with the world by how much it was most apparant that the Spaniards in their diligence and charitie to bring water vnto that fire not onely equalled but went beyond any friend whatsoeuer of the French And that which encreased all mervaile and brought high reputation to the Monarchy of Spaine with simple men was that Flanders and Austria her ancientest patrimonies burning with the cruell flames of warre she had preferred the safety of the French before the care of her owne affaires Now because neither humane labour nor any quantity of water was sufficient to extinguish the least sparke of such a dreadfull fire but rather the flames of those bloudy ciuill warres notwithstanding all diligence and remedies daily more and more encreased euen good men and the deuoutest Simplicities began to lend an eare vnto the advise of the Politicians and to suspect that the charitie of the Spanish Monarchy was altogether interest which indeed is right Spanish charitie so that they resolved no longer to giue credit to apparences but to looke into them and see what matter it was that the Spaniards brought in their Barrels and they found that in stead of water to quench the fire they were filled with Pitch Oyle Rozin and diabolicall dissentions to encrease it which treachery also some French Barons were discouered to vse who more then others making profession of extraordinary charitie employed those Barrels and the matter in them lent them by the Spanyards Whereupon vvith iust indignation they vvere slaine by the French Monarchy and burned in the very same fire vvhich vvith such sedition and infidelity they had nourished in their Country And the Spanyards were not onely chased away from that Worke but vvith sound of Trumpet proclaymed and published for Hypocrites and by a particular Edict of the French Monarchy the World vvas made to know that if ever in time to come there vvere any one found that could be induced to beleeue how any kind of charitie could fall into the minds of the Spanyards towards the French he should bee held and reputed for a notorious Simplicity and that if after the first admonition he should perseuere in his errour as malicious and seditious hee should be tossed in a Blanket It vvas strange to see how the Spanyards and those French before-named had no sooner abstained from that Worke but that the inflammation of France vvhich before vvas so great that even men of the best iudgement affirmed how it vvas not possible to bee extinguished by any humane meanes ceassed of it selfe Whereupon the famous Flowers-de-luce of Gold so trampled on before rose vp more resplendent and flourishing then ever they vvere and France that through the excessiue ambition of many had beene cruelly tormented for forty yeeres together and better became to the great marvaile of all men quiet and pacified in the twinckling of an eye so that then it evidently appeared that the Spaniards were the first Authors of that fire in France which with such farre pretences of Religion and charitie they haue labored to make the world beleeue they would so faine haue extinguished It is generally reported that the Monarchy of Spaine retired herselfe into her Royall Palace and how for a long time together she would not suffer herselfe to be seene of any one giuing her selfe over to a deepe Melancholy and with abundance of teares freely acknowledging that she would rather haue lost two of the best Kingdomes she had then see the vvorld condemne and deride those holy pretences of hers with which she had so often to her infinite comodity sold even the most stinking Assafetida for Muske and Ambergriece for now it seemed vnto her that she remayned without her richest treasure and that she had lost the inexhaustible Mynes of Gold and Siluer of Peru and of all the new World seeing she was depriued of the benefit of being able euer after to make the simple multitude beleeue that blacke was white thinking it withall a very hard case to be driuen to that fearefull passe wherein she had alwaies seene the French that she must be forced to make acquisition of Kingdomes only with the point of the sword whereas in times past with the sole apparences of her holy pretexts vvhich had served her in stead of a most flourishing army she had put the whole world into combustion And that it exceedingly grieved her to be fallen into such an ill opinion with men that she was
to grow vnto such greatnesse that hee findeth no other Prince able to counterpoyze him no more then the Romane Common-weale did after it became Commander over Italy cannot possibly be impeached from obtaining the Vniversall Monarchy Whereupon those Empires and Kingdomes which were afterwards framed out of the pieces of the Romane Monarchy to avoyd those calamities and dissolutions which fell vpon such Potentates as were oppressed by the Romane Forces out of most wholesome and almost diuine counsell agreed together that every fifteenth yeere all the Princes of Europe should assemble into one place where each ones Forces should bee severally weighed and thereupon fit counterpoyze and due mortification be given vnto him that was found to be growen to any greatnesse which might be odious and dangerous to his Competitor Many great Wits were from time to time preferred to that honorable charge of governing the Scales but for an hundreth yeres past or thereabout they were managed by the Illustrious House of Medici and in particular by Lerenzo the Great Which prerogatiue although to many it seemed preiudiciall vnto the Maiestie of the Popes and prudence of the Venetian Senate who haue alwayes watched if not more at leastwise equally with Lorenzo and the Florentine Commonweale to maintaine both in Italy and abroad the Forces of the Potentates of Europe even-ballanced yet with a marvailous consent of all the Historians the government of the Scales was given into the hands of Signior Lorenzo The first day of August then all the Princes and Potentates of Europe assembled in Phocis not only to meet with so important a businesse as the perfect knowledge of their owne affaires but that also of others which in matter of State importeth much more Whereupon by an ancient and iust prerogatiue the first that came to be weighed was the Aristocraticall Monarchy of the Apostolicke Sea whose temporall State was put into the Scale and because the weight of the last fifteenth yeere was but sixe Millions of pounds and now was found to amount vnto seuen an half every one knew that the addition of the noble Duchie of Ferrara had caused that encrease The next that was put into the Scale was the State of the seuen Princes Electors of the Romane Empire which by old Records appeareth to haue weighed in times past seventy Millions of pounds but since by the indiscreet governement and courses of many Emperours that lusty complexion which made it evermore redoubted was so spoyled that it fell into those dangerous and foule infirmities which after a long Quartane found end in an Hecticke Fever that hath now so consumed it as our Age beholdeth it left with nothing but very skinne and bone Howbeit though it bee so much decreased in state yet the great bulke it hath of body maketh it in shew very goodly to looke vpon the rather because the intrinsecall imperfections are not discouered for many good persons with the ancient Titles of the Empire and maiesticall Name of Caesar haue beautified it very excellently without but when it came to bee weighed it was found quite empty within a feather not being so light as the name of a Prince without authority is vayne whence it is that the Romane Empire proved so weake as it weighed but 480 pounds Then the famous Peeres of France brought vnto the Scale the flourishing and warlike French Monarchy a square of fiue hundreth and fifty Miles every way replenished with an infinit Noblesse armed on horsebacke which not onely maintaineth peace at home but maketh so great a King formidable to all the Nations of the earth besides a world of learned men which adorne it Merchandise and Trades which enrich it Tillage and Husbandry which make it plentifull and abounding with every good thing The ancient weight of so famous a Monarchy was twenty Millions of pounds but in the last fifteenth yeeres weight by reason of the horrible calamities whereinto by the disloyalty of some of her Barons she was throwen it did not arriue to twelue Millions howbeit now it not onely equalled but went farre beyond the weight of the best ancient times for it came to fiue and twenty Millions a matter of such marvaile to everyone that the Spanyards got on their Spectacles and very narrowly observed whether the Weights were right or no. To the ancient Kinḡdome of France was added the acquisition of Bresse given vp by the Duke of Savoy which in regard it was so advantageous to the City of Lyons augmented the weight of it aboue a Million Next were the many Kingdomes of Spayne put into the Scale by the Spanish Grandes and to the great wonder of those ancient men that could remember how an hundreth and twenty yeres since they were held in a poore and vile account the weight amounted to twenty Millions The Spanyards remained exceeding well satisfied with this weight of their Spayne and assured themselues that with the addition of so many other States they had besides to put into the Scale not onely to equall but farre to exceed the fiue and twenty Millions of the French Monarchy VVherefore instantly they put into the Scale the flourishing Kingdome of Naples which every one thinking would encrease the weight at least two Millions more it appeareth that then it weighed lesse by one and an halfe at this strange accident the Spanyards being much amazed sayd That either Lorenzo had vsed some fraud in the weighing or that of necessitie the Scales were not even because it was a monstrous thing that the addition of matter should abate of the weight Whereunto Lorenzo coldly answered That his Scales were even but that neither the Indiaes voyd of inhabitants nor the Neopolitans and Milanese which were so farre distant from the Forces of Spayne and replenished with a people which so vnwillingly supported the command of strangers weighed any thing at all for it was the loue and multitude of subiects the fertility and vnion of States that giue weight and turne the Scale Hereupon the Spaniards added the Dutchy of Milan into the Scale which in like manner abated a Million of the weight whereat also the Spanyards were so much astonied that they would not put Flanders into the Scale fearing to receiue a greater distaste and affront Howbeit some sayd that if they had put in the Indiaes they might haue wrought some good effect but not those miracles which certaine lavish toungs have delivered who with the same facility talke of Millions of Crownes that the furnace-men make of very bricke and tyle Then came the English Lords who put into the Scale their Kingdome so much redoubted for the strength of the wonderfull scytuation thereof for the continued Mountaynes which compasse it about serving for walles made by the very powerfull hand of God in forme of bulwarks and the Ocean for most profound ditches make it a Kingdome feared in regard of the commodity it hath to assayle others and the insuperable difficulties which they shall finde that offer
farre as by their many deuises they haue labored to come neere it That also it was to be thought vpon how the first that in Italy and abroad disinherited with all kind of irreuerence and disrespect the Majestie of the Empire were those their Cousins of Spayne as clearely appeared by the vsurpation of Finale and other Imperiall feudes by them possessed All which things moouing dangerous humors without dissolving them afterwards do cause the House of Austria in Germany to be cruelly scourged by most powerfull enemies whilst the Spaniards with their only menaces seeke to put the whole vvorld into suspition and distaste And for conclusion he desired all the sacred Colledge to consider that to the miserable sterilitie of children which is seene in the present Emperor is adioyned a lamentable fertilitie of brethren one of which incited by the most violent spurre of ambition hath not doubted at last to goe about to ouerthrow his owne House vvhich is ready to fall All accidents so vnhappy that they vvould make euen Salomon himselfe seeme to the World a very foole These replies which to all the Assistants seemed very vveighty satisfied the Censor vvho turning him to the vvarlike French Monarchy said vnto her How all the Vertuous of Pernassus much desired of her that she vvould rule the furious vnquiet capricious and exceeding impetuous dispositions of her French reducing them to those termes of prudence advisednesse and stayednesse of minde which are seene in the noble Italian and Spanish Nations how it much blemished her reputation that the Kingdome of France which holdeth a first place amongst the most principall Monarchies of the World should be inhabited by men so infinitely rash To this aduert sement the French Monarchy replied That the Censor not well informed of the interests of her Kingdome had censured for defects the chiefest vertues vvhich she loued in her French Folly lightnesse vnaduisednesse and a precipitous nature were they which had made her so feared and formidable a Queene because her French with vnspeakeable alacritie and forwardnesse would vpon the least nodde of hers expose themselues to those perils whereunto other Princes could not with the rope the cudgell and the cruellest kinds of punishment compell their wise aduised and circumspect subiects And that in the many warres which she had held with most valorous Nations she had learned to know how an army framed of souldiers which had litle braine and much courage so that they are ledde by a valiant and discreet Generall doth carry away the victorie from those people who professe more circumspection and wisedome This answere of the Monarchy of France was so much the more commended of Castiglione by how much regarding the qualitie of a mighty Kingdome he knew that the French possessed all those endowments and vertues vvhich vvere requisite in a Nation for to found amplify and maintayne a great Empire Then the Censor turning to the powerfull Monarchy of Spayne sayd vnto her how it vvas evident nothing gaue greater satisfaction to all people in generall but more particularly to those which were subject to strange Nations then the humanitie and affable cariage of such as governed them whereas she sending to the governments of Naples Milan and Sicilia none but her owne Spanyards they with their ordinary Castilian statelinesse and insupportable Spanish pride without all comparison farre exceeding that which the Kings of Spayne themselves either could or would haue vsed in those States did so exasperate even their good and faithfull subjects that the Spanish Dominion was growen infinitely odious And that further both in vveighty and sleight affayres he desired more quicke expeditions from her seeing that by her too much delay and perplexitie in the deliberation of important matters shee had lost many fayre occasions that had presented themselves vnto her for the enlarging of her Empire The Monarchy of Spayne very much thanked the Censor for the advertisements he had given her and in her excuse answered how that honorable Gentleman which had a young vvife beyond all expression fayre but of a disposition enclyned to lasciviousnesse should shew himselfe very discreet if he desired that a proper handsome servant whom he kept in his house should bee rather extreamely hated then any whit affected by his wife and that vnto the delay in the resolution of her affayres which she knew to be virious and prejudiciall it lay not in her power to give remedy for almighty God having not without important occasions created her Spaniards wholly and altogether quite different in disposition from the French vvhilst they in the deliberation of businesses were rather precipitous then executive she in her beeing so slow and irresolute obeyed the will of God vvho would haue it so The next drawen out of the Vrne vvas the Monarchy of Poland vnto vvhom Count Baldasar sayd How all the Princes of Europe could haue vvished that the present King Sigismond had vsed towards those seditious Nobles which last rebelled against him some severitie worthy so grievous a fault onely to the end that by their example other Lords might have beene deterred from committing the like To this the Polach Monarchy answered That those chastisements giuen to the Nobility which in an hereditarie State would be commodious haue alwayes prooved in her electiue Kingdome prejudiciall And how that Kingdome which another receiueth in gift from a Nobility in whose power is the election of the King cannot without evident perill of falling from his greatnesse be governed with that rigour vvhich in other hereditarie States is necessary for that Senate which out of an election of love giveth another a Kingdome if it be provoked by the powerfull passion of hate knoweth also how to re-assume it in regard well-advised Senators are vvont to reserve vnto themselves those necessary instruments vvhereby vpon every occasion of evill satisfaction they may recall their vsed liberalitie And that the present King Sigismond beeing the first of his House vvhich had raigned in Poland he vvas to direct the ayme of all his thoughts to no other scope so much as by an extraordinary indulgence to vvinne the hearts of the Nobilitie of his State that so vvith a gratefull memorie of his clemency he might perpetuate the succession of such a Kingdome in his Bloud An advertisement most necessary for Sigismond his King by reason the Polachs although their King be electiue do neuer defraud the Royall Bloud of the succession if he that raigneth can tell how to get the generall loue of the Nobilitie For the Polonians being a Nation that know not how to liue in an absolute libertie do so abhorre all manner of servitude that that King among them a matter common to all electiue Princes shal be most oculatiue and vigilant in the matters of his State that least seemeth either to see or know any thing Not only the Censor but the whole Colledge of the Vertuous admitted the justification of the Polach Monarchy for excellent Hereupon the Count turning