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A01128
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Certaine miscellany vvorks of the Right Honourable Francis Lo. Verulam, Viscount S. Alban. Published by William Rawley ...
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Bacon, Francis, 1561-1626.; Rawley, William, 1588?-1667.
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1629
(1629)
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STC 1124; ESTC S100333
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51,832
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176
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Answer to the Obiection raised touching the Difference of times Not entring into more secret Passages of State But keeping that Character of Stile whereof Seneca speaketh Plus significat quà m loquitur Here I would passe ouer from Matter of Experience were it not that I held it necessary to discouer a wonderfull Erroneous obseruation that walketh about and is commonly receiued contrary to all the true Account of Time and Experience It is that the Spaniard where he once getteth in will seldome or neuer be got out againe But nothing is lesse true than this Not long since they got footing at Brest and some other parts in French Brittaine after quitted them They had Calais Ardes and Amiens and rendred them or were beaten out They had since Verseilles and faire left it They had the other day the Valtoline and now haue put it in deposite What they will doe with Ormus which the Persian hath taken from them we shall see So that to speake truly of later Times they haue rather poched and offered at a Number of Enterprises than maintained any constantly quite contrary to that idle Tradition In more ancient times leauing their Purchases in Affricke which they after abandoned when their great Emperour Charles had clasped Germany almost in his fist he was forced in the end to goe from Isburg and as if it had beene in a Masque by Torch-light and to quit euery foot in Germany round that he had gotten Which I doubt not will be the hereditary Issue of this late Purchase of the Palatinate And so I conclude the Ground that I haue to think that Spain will be no Ouermatch to Great Britaine if his Maiesty shall enter into a Warre out of Experience and the Records of Time For Grounds of Reason they are many I will extract the principall and open them briefly and as it were in the Bud. For Situation I passe it ouer Though it be no small point England Scotland Ireland and our good Confederates the Vnited Prouinces lie al in a plump together not accessible but by Sea or at least by passing of great Riuers which are Naturall Fortifications As for the Dominions of Spaine they are so scattered as it yeeldeth great choice of the scenes of the Warre and promiseth slow Succours vnto such Part as shall bee attempted There be three maine parts of Military Puissance Men Mony and Confederates For Men there are to be considered Valour and Number Of Valour I speake not Take it from the Witnesses that haue beene produced before Yet the old obseruation is not vntrue That the Spaniards Valour lieth in the Eye of the Looker on But the English Valour lieth about the Souldiers Heart A Valour of Glory and a Valour of Naturall Courage are two things But let that passe and let vs speake of Number Spaine is a Nation thin sowne of People Partly by reason of the Sterility of the Soile And partly because their Natiues are exhausted by so many Employments in such vast Territories as they possesse So that it hath beene counted a kind of Miracle to see ten or twelue thousand Natiue Spaniards in an Army And it is certaine as we haue touched it a little before in passage that the Secret of the Power of Spaine consisteth in a Veterane Army compounded of Miscellany Forces of all Nations which for many yeares they haue had on foot vpon one occasion or other And if there should happen the Misfortune of a Battell it would be a long worke to draw on supplies They tell a Tale of a Spanish Ambassadour that was brought to see the Treasury of S. Marke at Venice and still he looked downe to the Ground And being asked why he so looked downe said He was looking to see whether their Treasure had any Root so that if it were spent it would grow againe as his Masters had But howsoeuer it be of their Treasure certainly their Forces haue scarce any Root Or at least such a Root as buddeth forth poorely and slowly It is true they haue the Wallons who are tall Souldiers But that is but a Spot of Ground But on the other side there is not in the world againe such a Spring and Seminary of braue Militar People as is England Scotland Ireland and the Vnited Prouinces So as if Warres should mowe them downe neuer so fast yet they may be suddenly supplyed and come vp againe For Money no doubt it is the principall Part of the Greatnesse of Spaine For by that they maintaine their Veteran Army And Spaine is the only State of Europe that is a Money grower But in this Part of all others is most to be considered the ticklish and brittle State of the Greatnesse of Spaine Their Greatnesse consisteth in their Treasure Their Treasure in their Indies And their Indies if it bee well weighed are indeed but an Accession to such as are Masters by Sea So as this Axeltree whereupon their Greatnesse turneth is soone cut in two by any that shall be stronger than they by Sea Herein therefore I refer me to the Opinions of all Men Enemies or whomsoeuer whether that the Maritime Forces of Great Britaine and the Vnited Prouinces bee not able to beat the Spaniard at Sea For if that bee so the Linkes of that chaine whereby they hold their Greatnesse are dissolued Now if it be said that admit the Case of Spaine bee such as wee haue made it yet wee ought to descend into our owne Case which wee shall finde perhaps not to be in State for Treasure to enter into a Warre with Spaine To which I answer I know no such thing The Mint beateth well And the Pulses of the Peoples Hearts beat well But there is another Point that taketh away quite this Obiection For whereas Warres are generally Causes of Pouerty or Consumption on the contrary part the speciall Nature of this Warre with Spaine if it be made by Sea is like to be a Lucratiue and Restoratiue Warre So that if we goe roundly on at the first the Warre in continuance will finde it selfe And therefore you must make a great difference betweene Hercules Labours by Land and Iasons Voyage by Sea for the Golden Fleece For Confederates I will not take vpon mee the knowledge how the Princes States and Counsels of Europe at this day stand affected towards Spaine For that trencheth into the secret Occurrents of the present Time wherewith in all this Treatise I haue forborne to meddle But to speake of that which lieth open and in view I see much Matter of Quarrell and Iealousie but little of Amity and Trust towards Spaine almost in all other Estates I see France is in competition with them for three noble Portions of their Monarchie Nauarre Naples and Millaine And now freshly in difference with them about the Valtoline I see once in thirty or forty yeares commeth a Pope that casteth his eye vpon the Kingdome of Naples to recouer it to the Church As it was in the mindes
of Iulius 2. Paulus 4. and Zistus 5. As for that great Body of Germanie I see they haue greater reason to confederate themselues with the Kings of France and Great Britaine or Denmarke for the libertie of the Germaine Nation and for the Expulsion of Spanish and forraine Forces than they had in the yeares 1552. and 1553. At which time they contracted a League with Henry the second the French King vpon the same Articles against Charles the fifth who had impatronized himselfe of a great Part of Germany through discord of the German Princes which himselfe had sowen and fomented Which League at that time did the Deed and draue out all the Spaniards out of that part of Germany And re-integrated that Nation in their ancient Liberty and Honour For the West Indies though Spaine hath had yet not much actuall disturbance there except it haue beene from England Yet neuerthelesse I see all Princes lay a kind of claime vnto them Accounting the Title of Spaine but as a Monopolie of those large Countries wherein they haue in great part but an Imaginary Possession For Affrick vpon the West the Moores of Valentia expulsed and their Allies doe yet hang as a Cloud or Storme ouer Spaine Gabor on the East is like an Anniuersary Wind that riseth euery yeare once vpon the Party of Austria And Persia hath entred into Hostility with Spaine and giuen them the first blow by taking of Ormus It is within euery mans Obseruation also that Venice doth thinke their State almost on fire if the Spaniards hold the Valtoline That Sauoy hath learned by fresh experience That Alliance with Spaine is no Security against the Ambition of Spaine And that of Bauaria hath likewise beene taught that Merit and Seruice doth oblige the Spaniard but from day to day Neither doe I say for all this but that Spaine may rectifie much of this ill Bloud by their particular and cunning Negotiations But yet there it is in the Body and may breake out no man knoweth when into ill Accidents But at least it sheweth plainly that which serueth for our purpose That Spain is much destitute of Assured and Confident Confederates And therefore I will conclude this Part with the Speech of a Counsellour of State in Spaine at this day which was not without Salt He said to his Master the King of Spaine that now is vpon occasion Sir I will tell your Maiesty thus much for your comfort Your Maiesty hath but two Enemies Whereof the one is all the World And the other is your owne Ministers And thus I end the Second Maine Part I propounded to speake of which was The Ballancing of the Forces betweene the Kings Maiestie and the King of Spaine if a Warre must follow FINIS AN ADVERTISEMENT TOVCHING AN Holy Warre Written in the yeare 1622. Whereunto the Author prefixed an Epistle to the Bishop of Winchester last deceased LONDON ¶ Printed by IOHN HAVILAND for Humphrey Robinson 1629. TO THE RIGHT REVEREND FATHER in God LANCELLOT ANDREWES Lord Bishop of Winchester and Counsellour of Estate to his MAIESTIE My Lord AMongst Consolations it is not the least to represent to a Mans selfe like Examples of Calamitie in others For Examples giue a quicker Jmpression than Arguments And besides they certifie vs that which the Scripture also tendreth for satisfaction That no new Thing is happened vnto vs. This they doe the better by how much the Examples are liker in circumstances to our owne Case And more especially if they fall vpon Persons that are greater and worthier than our selues For as it sauoureth of Vanity to match our selues highly in our owne conceit So on the otherside it is a good sound Conclusion that if our Betters haue sustained the like Euents wee haue the lesse cause to be grieued Jn this kinde of Consolation I haue not beene wanting to my Selfe Though as a Christian I haue tasted through Gods great goodnesse of higher Remedies Hauing therefore through the Varietie of my Reading set before me many Examples both of Ancient and Later Times my Thoughts I confesse haue chiefly stayed vpon three Particulars as the most Eminent and the most Resembling All three Persons that had held chiefe place of Authority in their Countries All three ruined not by Warre or by any other Disaster but by Justice and Sentence as Delinquents and Criminalls All three famous Writers insomuch as the remembrance of their Calamity is now as to Posterity but as a little Picture of Night-worke remaining amongst the faire and excellent Tables of their Acts and Works And all three if that were any thing to the matter fit Examples to quench any Mans Ambition of Rising againe For that they were euery one of them restored with great glory but to their further Ruine and Destruction ending in a violent Death The Men were Demosthenes Cicero and Seneca Persons that J durst not claime Affinity with except the Similitude of our Fortunes had contracted it When I had cast mine Eyes vpon these Examples J was carried on further to obserue how they did beare their Fortunes and principally how they did employ their Times being banished and disabled for Publike Businesse To the end that J might learne by them And that they might be as well my Counsellours as my Comforters Wherupon I happened to note how diuersly their Fortunes wrought vpon them especially in that point at which I did most aime which was the employing of their Times and Pens Jn Cicero I saw that during his Banishment which was almost two yeares he was so softned and deiected as he wrote nothing but a few Womanish Epistles And yet in mine opinion he had least reason of the Three to be discouraged For that although it was iudged and iudged by the highest kinde of Iudgement in forme of a Statute or Law that he should be banished And his whole Estate confiscated and seized And his houses pulled downe And that it should be highly penall for any Man to propound his Repeale Yet his Case euen then had no great Blot of Ignominy but it was thought but a Tempest of Popularitie which ouerthrew him Demosthenes contrariwise though his Case was foule being condemned for Bribery And not simple Bribery but Bribery in the Nature of Treason and Disloyalty yet neuerthelesse tooke so little knowledge of his Fortune as during his Banishment hee did much busie himselfe and entermeddle with matters of State And tooke vpon him to Counsell the State as if he had beene still at the Helme by letters As appeares by some Epistles of his which are extant Seneca indeed who was condemned for many Corruptions and Crimes and banished into a solitary Island kept a Meane And though his penne did not freese yet he abstained from intruding into Matters of Businesse But spent his time in writing Books of excellent Argument and Vse for all Ages Though he might haue made better Choyce sometimes of his Dedications These Examples confirmed mee much in a Resolution whereunto J was