other would have sent them laughing to Pluto The French language is indeed very sweet and delectable It is cleared of harshnesse by the cutting off and leaving out the consonants which maketh it fall off the tongue very volubly yet in my opinion it is rather elegant then copious and therefore is much troubled for want of words to find out periphrases It expresseth very much of it self in the action The head body and shoulders concurre all in the pronouncing of it and he that hopeth to speak it with a good grace must have somewhat in him of the Mimick It is inriched with a full number of significant Proverbs which is a great help to the French humor of scoffing and very full of courtship which maketh all the people complementall The poorest Cobler in the Village hath his Court-cringes and his eau beniste de Cour his court holy water as perfectly as the Prince of Conde In the Passados of their court-ship they expresse themselves with much variety of gesture and indeed it doth not misbecome them Were it as graticus in the Gentlemen of other Nations as in them it were worth your patience but the affectation of it is scurvy and ridiculous Quocunque salutationis artificio corpus inflectant putes nihil ista institutione magis convenire Vicinae autem gentes ridiculo errore deceptae ejusdem venustatis imitationem ludicram faciunt ingratam as one happily observed at his being amongst them I have heard of a young Gallant son to a great Lord of one of the three Brittish Kingdoms that spent some years in France to learn fashions At his return he desired to see the King and his father procured him an entervenie When he came within the Presence-chamber he began to compose his head and carry it as if he had been ridden with a Martingall next he fell to draw back his legs and thrust out his shoulders and that with such a gracelesse apishnesse that the King asked him if he meant to shoulder him out of his chair and so left him to act out his complement to the hangings In their courtship they bestow even the highest titles upon those of the lowest condition This is the vice also of their common talk The begger begetteth Monsieurs and Madams to his sons and daughters as familiarly as the King Were there no other reason to perswade me that the Welch or Britains were the descendants of the Gaules this only were sufficient that they would all be Gentlemen His discourse runneth commonly upon two wheels treason and ribaldrie I never heard people talke lesse reverently of their Prince nor more sawcily of his actions Scarce a day passeth away without some seditious Pamphlet printed and published in the disgrace of the King or of some of his Courtiers These are every mans mony he that buyeth them is not coy of the Contents be they never so scandalous of all humors the most base and odious Take him from this which you can hardly do till he hath told all and then he falleth upon his ribaldry Without these crutches his discourse would never be able to keep pace with his company Thus shall you have them relate the stories of their own uncleannesse with a face as confident as if they had no accidents to please their hearers more commendable Thus will they reckon up the severall profanations of pleasure by which they have dismanned themselves sometimes not sparing to descend to particulars A valiant Captain never gloried more in the number of the Cities he had taken then they do of the severall women they have prostituted Egregiam vero laudem spolia ampla Foolish and most perishing wretches by whom each severall incontinencie is twice committed first in the act and secondly in the boast By themselves they measure others and think them naturals or Simplicians which are not so conditioned I protest I was fain sometimes to put on a little impudence that I might avoid the suspicion of a gelding or a sheep-biter It was St. Austins case as himself testifyeth in the second book of his Confessions Fingebam me saith that good Father fecisse quod non feceram ne caeteris viderer abjectior But he afterwards was sorry for it and so am I and yet indeed there was no other way to keep in a good opinion that unmanly and ungoverned people CHAP. II. The French Women their persons prating and conditions The immodesty of the French Ladies Kissing not in use among them and the sinister opinion conceived of the free use of it in England The innocence and harmelesnesse of it amongst us The impostures of French Pandars in London with the scandall thence arising The peccancie of an old English Doctor More of the French Women Their Marriages and lives after wedlock c. An Elogie to the English Ladies I Am come to the French Women and it were great pity they should not immediately follow the discourse of the men so like they are one to the other that one would think them to be the same and that all the difference lay in the apparell For person they are generally of an indifferent stature their bodies straight and their wastes commonly small but whether it be so by nature or by much restraining of these parts I cannot say It is said that an absolute woman should have amongst other qualities requisite the parts of a French woman from the neck to the girdle but I believe it holdeth not good their shoulders and backs being so broad that they hold no proportion with their midles yet this may be the vice of their apparell Their hands are in mine opinion the comliest and best ordered part about them long white and slender Were their faces answerable even an English eye would apprehend them lovely but herein do I finde a pretty contradictorie The hand as it is the best ornament of the whole structure so doth it most disgrace it Whether it be that ill diet be the cause of it or that hot bloud wrought upon by a hot and scalding aire must of necessity by such means vent it self I am not sure of This I am sure of that scarce the tithe of all the maids we saw had her hands and arme wrists free from scabs which had over-run them like a leprosie Their hair is generally black and indeed somewhat blacker then a gracious lovelinesse would admit The Poets commend Leda for her black hair and not unworthily Leda fuit nigris conspicienda comis As Ovid hath it Yet was that blacknesse but a darker brown and not so fâ—â—â—full as this of the French women Again the blacknesse of the hair is then accounted for an ornament when the face about which it hangeth is of so perfect a complexion and symmetrie that it giveth it a lustre Then doth the hair set forth the face as a shadow doth a picture and the face becometh the haire as a field-argent doth a sable-bearing which kind of Armory the Heralds call the most
of Nevers by whom he had no children To his second wife he took the Lady Katherine of Tremoville sister to the Duke of Thovars anno 1586. Two years after his marriage he dyed of an old grief took from a poisoned cup which was given him anno 1552. and partly with a blow given him with a Lance at the battail of Contras anno 1587. In the 11 moneth after his decease his young Princesse was brought to bed with a young Son which is the now Prince of Conde Charles Count of Soissons in the reign of Henry IV. began to question the Princes Legitimation whereupon the King dealt with the Parliament of Paris to declare the place of the first Prince of the Bloud to belong to the Prince of Conde And for the clearer and more evident proof of the title 24 Physitians of good faith and skill made an open protestation upon oath in the Court that it was not only possible but common for women to be delivered in the 11 moneth On this it was awarded to the Prince This Decree of Parliament notwithstanding if ever the King and his Brother should die issuelesse it is said that the young Count of Soissons his father died anno 1614 will not so give over his title He is Steward of the Kings house as his Father also was before a place of good credit and in which he hath demeaned himself very plausibly In case it should come to a tryall quod 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which God prohibit he is like to make a great party both within the Realm and without it Without it by means of the house of Savoy having matched his eldest Sister unto Don Thomazâ— the second son of that Dukedome now living a brave man of armes and indeed the fairest fruit that ever grew on that tree next heir of his father after the death of Don i Amadeo yet childlesse Within the Realm the Lords have already declared themselves which hapned on this occasion In the year 1620 the month of March the King being to wash the Prince of Conde laid hold of the towell challenging that honour as first Prince of the bloud and on the other side the Count of Soissons seized on it as appertaining to his office of See ward and Prince of the bloud also The King to decide the controversie for the present commanded it to be given Monseiur his Brother yet did not this satisfie for on the morning the friends of both Princes came to offer their service in the cause To the Count came in generall all the opposites of the Prince of Conde and of the Duke of Luynes and Guâ—â—â— in particular the Duke of Maien the Duke of Vendosme the Dukes of Longueville Espernon Nemours the Grand Prior the Dukes of Thovars Retz and Rohan the Viscount of Aubeterre c. who all withdrew themselves from the Court made themselves masters of the best places in their governments and were united presently to an open saction of which the Queen Mother declared herself head As for the Commons without whom the Nobility may quarrel but never fight they are more zealous in behalf of the Count as being brought up alwayes a Papist and born of a Catholick kindred whereas the Prince though at this instant a Catholick yet non fuit sic ab initio he was born they say and brought up an Hugonot and perhaps the alteration is but dissembled Concerning the Prince of Conde he hath a sentence of Parliament on his side and a verdict of Physitians both weak helpes to a Soverainty unlesse well backed by the sword And for the verdict of the Physitians thus the case is stated by the Doctors of that faculty Laurentius a professour of Montpellier in Languedoc in his excellent Treatise of Anatomie maketh three terms of a womans delivery primus intermedius and ultimus The first is the seventh moneth after conception in each of which the childe is vitall and may live if it be borne To this also consenteth the Doctor of their chaire Hippocrates saying 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that a child born in the seventh moneth if it be well looked to may live We read also how in Spain the women are oftentimes lightned in the end of the seventh moneth and commonly in the end of the eight And further that Sempronius and Corbulo both Roman Consuls were born in the seventh moneth Pliny in his Naturall History reporteth it as a truth though perchance the women which told him either misreckoned their time or else dissembled it to conceal their honesties The middle time terminus intermedius is in the ninth and tenth moneths at which time children do seldome miscarry In the former two moneths they had gathered life in these latter they only consummate strength so said the Physitians generally Non enim in duobus sequentibus mensibus they speak it of the intermedii additur aliquod ad perfectionum partium sed perfectionem roboris The last time terminus ultimus in the common account of this profession is the eleaventh moneth which some of them hold neither unlikely nor rare Massurius recordeth Papirius a Roman Praetor to have recovered his inheritance in open Court though his Mother confessed him to be borne in the thirteeenth moneth And Avicen a Moore of Corduba relateth as he is cited in Laurentius that he had seen a a childe born after the fourteenth But these are but the impostures of women and yet indeed the modern Doctors are more charitable and refer it to supernaturall causes Et extraordinariam artis considerationem On the other side Hippocrates giveth it out definitively 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that in ten moneths at the â—urthest understand ten moneths compleat the childe is borne And Ulpian the great Civilian of his times in the title of the Digests de Testamentis is of opinion that a childe born after the tenth moneth compleat is not to be admitted to the inheritance of his pretended father As for the Common Law of England as I remember I have read it in a book written of Wils and Testaments it taketh a middle course between the charity of nature and the severity of the Law leaving it meerly to the conscience and circumstance of the Judge But all this must be conceived as it was afterwards alleaged by the party of the Earl of Soissons taking it in the most favourable construction of the time after the conception of the mother and by no means after the death of the Father and so no way to advantage the Prince of Conde His Father had been extremely sick no small time before his death for the particular and supposed since his poison taken anno 1552. to be little prone to women in the generall They therefore who would have him set besides the Cushion have cunningly but malicionsly caused it to be whisppered abroad that he was one of the by-blowes of King Henry IV. and to make the matter more suspiciously probable they have cast out these conjectures
A SURVEY OF THE Estate of France AND Of some of the adjoyning ILANDS TAKEN In the Description of the principal Cities and chief Provinces with The Temper Humor and Affections of the People generally And an exact accompt of the Publick Government in reference to the Court the Church and the Civill State By PETER HEYLYN Published according to the Authors own Copy and with his consent for preventing of all False Imperfect and Surreptitious Impressions of it LONDON Printed by E. Cotes for Henry Seile and are to be sold at the Black-boy over against St. Dunstans Church in Fleetstreet M. DC LVI TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE Lord Marquesse OF DORCHESTER IHere present unto your Lordship the Fruits if not the Follies also of my younger daies not published now if the audaciousnesse of some others had not made that necessary which in my own thoughts was esteemed unseasonable The reasons why I have no sooner published these Relations and those which have inforced me to do it now are laid down in the following Preface sufficient as I hope both to excuse and justifie me with ingenuous men But for my boldnesse in giving them the countenance of your Lordships name I shall not study other reasons then a desire to render to your Lordship some acknowledgement of those many fair expressions of esteem and favour which your Lordship from my first coming to Westminster hath vouchsafed unto me Your known abilities in most parts of learning together with the great respects you have for those which pretend unto it enclined you to embrace such opinion of me as was more answerable to your own goodnesse then to my desert and to cherish in me those Proficiencies which were more truly in your self And for my part I alwaies looked upon your Lordship as a true Son of the Church of England devoted zealously to her Forms of worship the orthodoxies of her Doctrine and the Apostolicism of her Government which makes me confident that these pieces will not prove unwelcome to you in which the superstitions innovations of the two opposite parties are with an equal hand laid open to your Lordships view Nor shall you find in these Relations such matters of compliance only with your Lordship in point of Judgement as promise satisfaction unto your intellectuall and more noble parts but many things which may afford you entertainments of a different nature when you are either spent with study or wearied with affairs of more near importance For here you have the principallest Cities and fairest Provinces of France presented in as lively colours as my unpolished hand could give them the Temper Humour and Affections of the People generally deciphered with a free and impartial Pen the publick Government of the whole in reference to the Court the Church and the Civil State described more punctually then ever heretofore in the English Tongue some observations intermingled of more ancient learning but pertinent and proper to the businesse which I had in hand You have here such an accompt also of some of the adjoyning Islands the only remainders of our Rights in the Dukedome of Normandy that your Lordship may finde cause to wonder how I could say so much on so small a subject if the great alterations which have hapned there in bringing in and working out the Genevian Discipline had not occasioned these enlargements Such as it is it is submitted with that Reverence to your Lordships Judgement which best becometh My Lord Your Lordships most humble And most devoted Servant Pet. Heylyn The Authors Preface to the Reader I. IT may seem strange unto the Reader that after so large a volume of Cosmography in which the world was made the subject of my Travels I should descend unto the publishing of these Relations which point at the estate only of some neighbouring places or that in these declining times of my life and fortunes I should take pleasure in communicating such Compositions as were the products of my youth and therefore probably not able to endure the censure of severer age And to say truth there are some things in this publication whereof I think my self obliged to give an account to him that shall read these papers as well for his satisfaction as mine own discharge as namely touching the occasion of these several Journeys my different manner of proceeding in these Relations the reasons why not published sooner and the impulsions which have moved me to produce them now II. For the two first the Reader may be pleased to know that as I undertook the first Journey in the company of a private friend only to satisfie my self in taking a brief view of the pleasures and delights of France so having pleased my self in the sight thereof and in the observation of such things as were most considerable I resolved to give my self the pleasure of making such a character and description of them as were then most agreeable to my present humour at what time both my wits and fancies if ever I was master of any were in their predominancy I was then free from all engagements depending meerly on my self not having fastned my relations upon any one man in order to my future preferment in Church or State and therefore thought of nothing else then a self-complacency and the contentment of indulging to mine own affections This made me to take that liberty in deciphering the tempers humours and behaviours of the French Nation generally which to a grave judgement may seem too luxuriant and to have more in it of the Satyrist then is consistent with an equall and impartiall character But in the midst of so much folly if the Reader shall vouchsafe it no better name there is such a mixture of more serious matters as makes the temperature of the whole be more delightfull according to that saying of Horace in his Book de Arte Poetica Omne tulit punctum qui miscuit utile dulci. That is to say He hits on every point aright Who mingleth profit with delight III. The other Journey being undertaken almost four years after in attendance on the Earl of Danby is fashioned after a more serious and solemn manner I had then began to apply my self to the Lord Bishop of London and was resolved to present the work to him when it was once finished and therefore was to frame my style agreeably unto the gravity and composednesse of so great a Prelate My design was to let him see in the whole body and contexture of that discourse that I was not altogether uncapable of managing such publick businesse as he might afterwards think fit to entrust me with and it succeeded so well with me that within a short time after he recommended me unto his Majesty for a Chaplain in ordinary and by degrees employed me in affairs of such weight and moment as rendred my service not unusefull to the Church and State however mistaken by some men who think all matters ill conducted which either passe
Western Barges The principall means by which the people do subsist are the Court of the King most times held amongst them and the great resort of Advocates and Clients to the chambers of Parliament Without these two crutches the Town would get a vile halting and perhaps be scarce able to stand What the estate of some of their wealthyest Citizens may amount to I cannot say yet I dare conjecture it not to be superfluous The Author of the book entituled Les estat du monde reckoneth it for a great marvell that some of our London Merchants should be worth 100000 crownes we account that estate among us not to be so wonderfull and may thence safely conclude that they who make a prodigie of so little are not worth so much themselves If you believe their apparell we may perhaps be perswaded otherwise that questionlesse speaketh no lesse then millions though like it is that when they are in their best clothes they are in the midle of their estates But concerning the ridiculous bravery of the poor Parisian take along with you this story Upon our first coming into Paris there came to visit a German Lord whom we met a ship-bord a couple of French Gallants his acquaintance the one of them for I did not much observe the other had a suit of Turkie grogram doubled with Taffeta cut with long slashes or carbonado's after the French fashion and belaied with bugle lace Through the openings of his doublet appeared his shirt of the purest Holland and wrought with curious needle-work the points at his waste and knees all edged with a silver edging his garters roses and hat-band sutable to his points a beaver hat and a pair of silk stockins his cloke also of Turkey grogram cut upon black Taffeta This Lord for who would have dared to guesse him other applyed himself to me and perceiving my ignorance in the French accosted me in Latine which he spake indifferently well After some discourse he took notice of mine eyes which were then sore and sea-sick and promised me if I would call on him at his lodging the next morning to give me a water which suddenly would restore them to their strength and vigor I humbly thanked his Lordship for such an ineffable and immerited favour in the best complement and greatest obeisance I could devise It was not for nought thought I that our English extoll so muth the humanity of this people nay I began to accuse the report of envy as not having published the one half of their graces and affabilities Quantillum enim virtutum illarum acceperim And thus taking my leave of his Honor I greedily expected the next morning The morning come and the hour of visting his Lordship almost at hand I sent a servant to fetch a Barber to come trim me and make me neat as not knowing what occasion I might have of seeing his Lady or his daughters Upon the return of the messenger presengly followeth his Altitude and bidding me sit down in his chair he disburdened one of his pockets Quis hoc credat nisi sit proteste vetustas of a case of instruments and the other of a bundle of linnen Thus accommodated he falleth to work about me to the earning of a quardesou In my life I had never more adoe to hold in my laughter And certainly had not an anger or vexation at my own folly in casting away so much humble rhetorick the night before upon him somewhat troubled me I should either have laught him out of his fine suit or have broke my heart in the restraint Quid domini facient audent cum talia fures If a Barber may be thus taken in suspicion for a Lord no doubt but a Mercer may be accused for a Marquesse CHAP. V. Paris divided into four parts Of the Fauxbourgs in generall Of the Pest-house The Fauxbourg and Abby of St. Germain The Queen Mothers house there Her purpose never to reside in it The Provost of Merchants and his authority The Armes of the Town The Town-house The Grand Chastelet The Arcenall The place Royall c. The Vicounty of Paris And the Provosts seven daughters THey which write of Lusitania divide it into three parts viz. Ulteriorem lying beyond Dueras North Citeriorem lying from Tagus South and Interamnem situate betwixt both the rivers Paris is seated just as that Province and may in a manner admit of the same division for the River of Seine hath there so dispersed it self that it hath divided this French Metropolis into three parts also viz. Citeriorem lying on this side the river which they call La Ville the Town Ulteriorem lying beyond the further branch of it which they call L'Universitiè and Interammem situate between both the streams in a little Island which they call La Citè To these add the Suburbs or as they call them the Fauxbourgs and you have in all four parts of Paris These Fauxbourgs are not incorporated unto the Town or joyned together with it as the Suburbs of London are unto that City They stand severed from it a pretty distance and appear to be what indeed they are a distinct body from it For the most part the houses in them are old and ruinous yet the Fauxbourg of St. Iacques is in a prety good fashion and the least unsightly of them all except St. Germains The Fauxbourg also of St. Marcell hath somewhat to commend it which is that the great Pest-house built by Henry IV. is within the Precincts of it a house built quadrangular wise very large and capacious and seemeth to such as stand afar off it for it is not safe venturing nigh it or within to be more like the Palace of a King then the Kings Palace it self But the principallest of all the Suburbs is that of St. Germains a place lately repaired full of divers stately houses and in bignesse little inferior unto Oxford It took name from the Abbey of S◠Germain seated within it built by Childebert the son of Clouis anno 1542. in the honor of St. Vincent Afterwards it got the name of St. German a Bishop of Paris whose body was there buried and at whose instigation it had formerly been founded The number of the Monks was enlarged to the number of 120 by Charles the balde he began his reign anno 841 and so they continue till this day The present Abbot is Henry of Burbon Bishop of Metz base son unto Henry IV. He is by his place Lord of all this goodly Suburb hath power of levying Taxes upon his tenants and to him accrew all the profits of the great Fair holden here every February The principall house in it is that of the Queen Mother not yet fully built The Gallery of it which possesseth all the right side of the square is perfectly finished and said to be a most royall and majesticall peece The further part also opposite to the gate is finished so far forth as concerneth the outside and strength of
the later French writers for those of the former age savour too much of the Legend make her to be a lusty Lasse of Lorrein trained up by the Bastard of Orleans and the Seigneur of Baudricourte only for this service And that she might carry with her the reputation of a Prophetesse and an Ambassadresse from heaven admit this and farewell witchcraft And for the sentence of her condemnation and the confirmation of it by the Divines and University of Paris it is with me of no moment being composed only to humour the Victor If this could sway me I had more reason to incline to the other party for when Charles had setled his estate the same men who had condemned her of sorcery absolved her and there was also added in defence of her innocency a Decree from the Court of Rome Joane then with me shall inherit the title of La pucille d' Orleans with me she shall be ranked amongst the famous Captains of her times and be placed in the same throne equall with the valiantest of all her sexe in time before her Let those whom partiality hath wrested aside from the path of truth proclaim her for a sorceresse for my part I will not flatter my best fortunes of my Countrey to the prejudice of a truth neither will I ever be enduced to think of this female warrier otherwise then of a noble Captain Audetque viris concurrere virgo Penthesilea did it Why not she Without the stain of spels and sorcerie Why should those acts in her be counted sin Which in the other have commended bin Nor is it fit that France should be deni'd This female souldier sinâ—e all Realms beside Have had the honour of one and relate How much that sexe hath re-enforc'd the state Of their decaying strengths Let Scythia spare To speak of Tomyris th' Assyrians care Shall be no more to hear the deeds recited Of Ninus wife Nor are the Dutch delighted To hear their Valleda extoll'd the name Of this French warrier hath eclips'd their fame And silenc'd their atchievements Let the praise That 's due to vertue wait upon her Raise An obelisque unto her you of Gaule And let her acts live in the mouthes of all Speak boldly of her and of her alone That never Lady was as good as Jone She died a virgin 't was because the earth Held not a man whose vertues or whose birth Might merit such a blessing But above The gods provided her a fitting love And gave her to St. Denis shee with him Protects the Lillies and their Diadem You then about whose armies she doth watch Give her the honour due unto her match And when in field your standards you advance Cry loud St. Denis and St. Jone for France CHAP. III. The study of the Civill Law revived in Europe The dead time of learning The Schools of Law in Orleans The oeconomie of them The Chancellour of Oxford antiently appointed by the Diocesan Their methode here and prodigality in bestowing degrees Orleans a great conflux of strangers The language there The Corporation of Germans there Their house and priviledges Dutch and Latine The difference between an Academie and an University I Have now done with the Town and City of Orleans and am come unto the University or Schools of Law which are in it this being one of the first places in which the study of the Civill Lawes was revived in Europe For immediately after the death of Justinian who out of no lesse then 2000 volumes of law-writers had collected that bodie of the Imperiall Lawes which we now call the Digests or the Pandects the study of them grew neglected in these Western parts nor did any for a long time professe or read them the reason was because Italy France Spain England and Germany having received new Lords over them as the Franks Lombards Saxons Saracens and others were fain to submit themselves to their Laws It happened afterwards that Lotharius Saxo the Emperour wh 〈…〉 gan his reign anno 1126. being 560 years after the death of Justinian having taken the City of Melphy in Naples found there an old copy of the Pandects This he gave to the Pisans his confederates as a most reverend relick of Learning and Antiquity whence it is called Littera Pisana Moreover he founded the University of Bologne or Bononia ordering the Civill Law to be profest there one Wirner being the first Professor upon whose advice the said Emperor ordained that Bononia should be Legum juris Schola una sola and here was the first time and place of that study in the Western Empire But it was not the fate only of the Civill Laws to be thus neglected All other parts of learning both Arts and languages were in the same desperate estates the Poets exclamation of O saeclum insipiens infacetum never being so applyable as in those times For it is with the knowledge of good letters as it was with the effects of nature they have times of groweth alike of perfection and of death Like the sea it hath its ebbs as well as its flouds and like the earth it hath its Winter wherein the seeds of it are deaded and bound up as well as a Spring wherein it reflourisheth Thus the learning of the Greeks lay forgotten and lost in Europe for 700 years even untill Emanuel Chrysolaras taught it at Venice being driven out of his Countrey by the Turks Thus the Philosophy of Aristotle lay hidden in the moath of dust and libraries Et nominabatur potius quod legebatur as Ludovicus Vives observeth in his notes upon St. Austine untill the time of Alexander Aphrodiseus And thus also lay the elegancies of the Roman tongue obscured till that Erasmus More and Reuchlyn in the severall Kingdomes of Germany England and France endeavoured the restauration of it But to return to the Civill Law After the foundation of the University of Bologne it pleased Philip le bel King of France to found another here at Orleans for the same purpose anno 1312. which was the first School of that profession on this side the mountains This is evident by the Bull of Clement V. dated at Lyons in the year 1367. where he giveth it this title Fructiferum universitatis Aurelianensts intra caetera citramontana studia prius solennius antiquius tam civilis quam Canonicae facultatis studium At the first there were instituted eight Professors now they are reduced to four only the reason of this decrease being the increase of Universities The place in which they read their Lectures is called Les grand escoles and part of the City La Universite neither of which attributes it can any way remit Colledge they have none either to lodge the students or entertain the Professors the former sojourning in divers places of the Town these last in their severall houses As for their place of reading which they call Les grans escoles it is only an old barn converted into a School by the
â—misit iâ—a victoria as Tacitus of the angred Romans For they spared neither man nor woman nor childe all equally subject to the cruelty of the sword and the Conquerour The streets paved with dead carkasses the channels running with the bloud of Christians no noise in the streets but of such as were welcoming death or suing for life Their Churches which the Goths spared at the sack of Rome were at this place made the Theatres of lust and bloud neither priviledge of Sanctuary nor fear of God in whose holy house they were qualifying their outrage this in the common places At domâ—â— interior gemiâ—u miserâ—que 〈◊〉 Misâ—etur pe 〈…〉 tusque cavae plangoribus â—des 〈◊〉 ulu 〈…〉 Aâ— Virgil in the ruine of Trey But the calamities which beseâ—â— the men were mercifull and sparing if computed to those which the women suffered when the Souldiers had made them the objects of their lust they made them also the subjects of their 〈◊〉 in that only pittifull to that poor and distressed sex that they did not â—et them survive their honours Such of them who out of â—ear and â—aintness had made but little resistance had the favour to be stabbed but those whose virtue and courage maintaned their bodies valiantly from the rapes of those villains had the secrets of nature procul hinc este castae misericordes auâ—es filled with gun-powder and so blown into ashes Whither O you divine powers is humanity fled when it is not to be found in Christians or where shall we look for the effects of a pitifull nature when men are become so unnaturall It is said that the King was ignorant of this barbarousnesse and offended at it Offended I perswade my self he could not but be unlesse he had totally put off himself and degenerated into a Tyger But for his ignorance I dare not conceive it to be any other then that of Nerâ— an ignorance rather in his eye then understanding Subduxit oculos Nero saith Tacitus jussitque seâ—lera non spectavil Though the Protestants deserved affliction for their disobedience yet this was an execution above the nature of a punishment a misery beyond the condition of the crime True it is and I shall never acquit them of it that in the time of their prosperity they had done the King many affronts and committed many acts of disobedience and insolency which justly occasioned the war against them for besides those already recited they themselves first broke those Edicts the due execution whereof seemed to have been their only petition The King by his Edict of pacification had licenced the free exercise of both Religions and thereupon permitted the Priests and Jesuits to preach in the Towns of Caution being then in the hands of the Protestants On the other side the Protestants assembled at â—oudun strictly commanded all their Governors Majors and Sheriffs nor to suffer any Jesuits nor any of any other Order to preach in their Towns although licenced by the Bishop of the Diocese When upon dislike of their proceedings in that Assembly the King had declared their meeting to be unlawfull and contrary to his peace and this Declaration was verified against them by the Parliament they notwithstanding would not separate themselves but stood still upon terms of capitulation and the justifiableness of their action again Whereas it hapned that the Lord of Privas a Town full of those of the Religion dyed in the year 1620 and left his daughter and heir in the bed and marriage of the Viscount of Cheylane a Catholick this new Lord according to law and right in his own Town changed the former Garrison putting his own servants and dependants in their places Upon this the Protestants of the Town and Countrey round about it draw themselves in troops surprise many of the Towns about it and at last compelled the young Gentleman to flie from his inheritance an action which jumping even with the time of the Assembly at Rochell made the King more doubtfull of their sincerity I could add to these divers others of their undutifull practises being the effects of too much felicitie and of a fortune which they could not govern Atqui animus meminisse horret luctuque refugit These their insolencies and unruly acts of disobedience made the King and his Counsell suspect that their designes tended further then Religion and that their purpose might be to make themselves a free State after the example of Geneva and the Low-countreymen The late power which they had taken of calling their own Synods and Convocations was a strong argument of their purpose so also was the intelligence which they held with those of their own faith At the Synod of Gappe called by the permission of Henry the fourth on the first of October anno 1603. they not only gave audience to Ambassadours and received Letters from forain Princes but also importuned his Majesty to have a generall liberty of going into any other Countries and assisting at their Councels a matter of especiall importance and therefore the King upon a foresight of the dangers wisely prohibited them to goe to any Assemblies without a particular Licence upon pain to be declared Traytors Since that time growing into greater strength whensoever they had occasion of businesse with King Lewis they would never treat with him but by their Ambassadours and upon especiall Articles An ambition above the quality of those that professe themselves Subjects and the only way as Du Seirres noteth To make an Estate in the State But the answers made unto the King by those of Clerac and Montauban are pregnant proofs of their intent and meaning in this kinde the first being summoned by the King and his Army the 21 of July Anno 1621. returned thus That the King should suffer them to enjoy their Lilerties and leave their Fortifications as they were for the safety of their lives and so they would declare themselves to be his Subjects They of Montauban made a fuller expression of the generall design and disobedience which was That they were resolved to live and die in the union of the Churches had they said for the service of the King it had been spoken bravely but now rebelliously This Union and Confederacy of theirs King Lewis used to call the Common-wealth of Rochell for the overthrow of which he alwayes protested that he had only taken armes and if we compare circumstances we shall finde it to be no other In the second of Aprill before he had as yet advanced into the field he published a Declaration in favour of all those of the Religion which would contain themselves within duty and obedience And whereas some of Tours at the beginning of the wars had tumultuously molested the Protestants at the buriall of one of their dead five of them by the Kings commandement were openly executed When the war was hottest abroad those of the Religion in Paris lived as securely as ever and had their accustomed meetings at Charenton so had
the Kingdom Thus live the French Princes thus the Nobles Those sheep which God and the Lawes hath brought under them they do not sheer but fleece and which is worse then this having themselves taken away the Wooll they give up the naked carkasse to the King Tondi oves meas volo non deglubi was accounted one of the golden sayings of Tiberius but it is not currant here in France Here the Lords and the King though otherwise at oddes amongst themselves will be sure to agree in this the undoing and oppressing of the poor Paisant Ephraim against Manasseh and Manasseh against Ephraim but both against Judah saith the Scripture The reason why they thus desire the poverty of the Commons is as they pretend the safety of the State and their owne particulars Were the people once warmed with the feeling of ease and their own riches they would presently be hearkning after the warres and if no imployment were proffered abroad they would make some at home Histories and experience hath taught us enough of their humour in this kind it being impossible for this hot-headed and hare-brained people not to be doing Si extraneus deest domi hostem quaerunt as Justin hath observed of the Ancient Spaniards a prety quality and for which they have often smarted CHAP. V. The base and low estate of the French Paisant The misery of them under their Lord. The bed of Procrustes The suppressing of the Subject prejudiciall to a State The wisdome of Henry VII The French forces all in the Cavallerie The cruell impositions laid upon the people by the King No Demaine in France Why the tryall by twelve men can be used only in England The Gabell of Salt The Popes licence for wenching The Gabell of whom refused and why The Gascoines impatient of Taxes The taille and taillion The Pancarke or Aides The vain resistance of those of Paris The Court of Aides The manner of gathering the Kings moneys The Kings revenue The corruption of the French publicans King Lewis why called the just The monies currant in France The gold of Spain more Catholick then the King The happinesse of the English Subjects A congratulation unto England The conclusion of the first Journey BY that which hath been spoken already of the Nobles we may partly guesse at the poor estate of the Paisant or Countreymen of whom we will not now speak as subjects to their Lords and how far they are under their commandment but how miserable and wretched they are in their Apparell and their Houses For their Apparell it is well they can allow themselves Canvasse or an outside of that nature As for Cloth it is above their purse equally and their ambition if they can aspire unto Fustian they are as happy as their wishes and he that is so arrayed will not spare to aime at the best place in the Parish even unto that of the Church-warden When they go to plough or to the Church they have shooes and stockins at other times they make bold with nature and wear their skins Hâ—ts they will not want though their bellies pinch for it and that you may be sure they have them they will alwayes keep them on their heads the most impudent custome of a beggerly fortune that ever I met with and which already hath had my blessing As for the women they know in what degree nature hath created them and therefore dare not be so fine as their Husbands some of them never had above one pair of stockins in all their lives which they wear every day for indeed they are very durable The goodnesse of their faces tell us that they have no need of a band therefore they use none And as concerning Petticoats so it is that all of them have such a garment but most of them so short that you would imagine them to be cut off at the placket When the Parents have sufficiently worn these vestures and that commonly is till the rottennesse of them will save the labour of undressing they are a new-cut-out and fitted to the children Search into their houses and you shall finde them very wretched destitute as well of furniture as provision No Butter salted up against Winter no powdring tub no Pullein in the Rick-barten no flesh in the pot or at the spit and which is worst no money to buy them The description of the poor aged couple Phileman and Bauciâ— in the eight book of the Metamorphosis is a perfect character of the French Paisant in his house-keeping though I cannot affirme that if Jupiter and Mercury did come amongst them they should have so hearty an entertainment for thus Ovid marshalleth the dishes Ponitur hic bicolor sincerae bacca Minerva Intybaque radix lactis massa coacti Ovaque non acri leviter versata favilla Prunaque in patulis redolentia mala canistris Hic nux hic mixta est rugosis caricapalmis Et de purpureis collectae vitibus uvae Omnia fictilibus nitide But you must not look for this cheer often At Wakes or Feasts dayes you may perchance be so happy as to see this plenty but at other times Olus omne patella the best provision they can shew you is a piece of Bacon wherewith they fatten their pottage and now and then the inwards of Beastâ— killed for the Gentlemen But of all miseries this me thinketh is the greatest that sowing so many acres of excellent wheat in an year and gathering in such a plentifull Vintage as they do they should not yet be so fortunate as to eat white bread or drink wine for such infinite rents do they pay to their Lords and such innumerable taxes to the King that the profits arising out of those commodities are only sufficient to pay their duties and keep them from the extremities of cold and famine The bread then which they eat is of the coursest flowre and so black that it cannot admit the name of brown And as for their drink they have recourse to the next Fountain A people of any the most unfortunate not permitted to enjoy the fruit of their labours and such as above all others are subject to that Sarcasme in the Gospell This man planted a Vineyard and doth not drink of the fruit thereof Nec prosunt domino quae prosunt omnibus artes Yet were their case not altogether so deplorable if there were but hopes left to them of a better if they could but compasse certainty that a painfull drudging and a thrifty saving would one day bring them out of this hell of bondage In this questionlesse they are intirely miserable in that they are sensible of the wretchednesse of their present fortunes and dare not labour nor expect an alteration If industry and a sparing hand hath raised any of this afflicted people so high that he is but 40 s or 5 l. richer then his neighbour his Lord immediately enhaunceth his Rents and enformeth the Kings task-masters of his riches by which
forced to pay deerly for every foot of ground which there he purchaseth For other strengths this Island is in part beholding unto Nature and somewhat also unto Art To Nature which hath guarded it with Rocks and Shelves and other shallow places very dangerous but neither these nor those of Art so serviceable and full of safety as they be in Guernzey Besides the landing places here are more and more accessible as namely the Bay of St. Owen and the Havens of St. Burlade Boule St. Katharines with divers others There is indeed one of them and that the principall sufficiently assured on the one side by a little Blockhouse which they call Mount St. Aubin and on the other by a fair Castle called the Fort Elizabeth The Harbour it self is of a good capacity in figure like a semicircle or a crescent and by reason of the Town adjoyning known by the name of the Haven of St. Hilaries On that side oâ— it next the Town and in a little Islet of it self is situate the Castle environed with the Sea at high water but at an ebb easily accessible by land but yet so naturally defended with sharpe Rocks and craggy cliftes that though the accesse unto it may be easie yet the surprizall would be difficult It was built not long since by our late Queen of famous memory at such times as the Civill warres were hot in France about Religion and the Kings Forces drawn downwards towards Narmandy Furnished with 30 pieces of Ordinance and upwards and now upon the preparations of the French there are some new works begun about it for the assurance of that well On the East side just opposite and in the view of the City of Constantia there is seated on an high and craggy rock a most strong Castle and called by an haughty name Mount Orgueil of whose founder I could learn nothing nor any other thing which might concern it in matter of antiquity save that it was repaired and beautified by Henry V. It is for the most part the inhabitatiou of the Governour who is Captain of it stored with about some forty pieces of Ordinance and guarded by some five and twenty wardours A place of good service for the safety of the Island if perhaps it may not be commanded or annoied by an hill adjoyning which doth equall if not overtop it This Island as before we noted is some 33 miles in compasse comprehending in it 12. Parishes whereof the principall is that of S. Hilaries Aâ— Town so called from an antient Father of that name and Bishop of Poyctiers in France whose body they suppose to be interred in a little Chappell neer unto the Fort Elizabeth and consecrated to his memory But of his buriall here they have nothing further then tradition and that unjustifiable for St Jerome telleth us that after his return from Phrygia whereunto he had been confined he dyed in his own City and we learn in the Roman Martyrclogie that his Obit is there celebrated on the 13 of January The chief name the which this Town now hath is for the convenioncy of the Haven the Market there every Saturday and that it is honoured with the Cohu or Sessions house for the whole Island The other Villages lie scattered up and down like those of Guernzey and give habitation to a people very painfull and laborious but by reason of their continuall toyle and labour not a little affected to a kinde of melancholy 〈…〉 surlinesse incident to plough men Those of Gueâ—nzey on the other side by continuall converse with strangers in their own haven and by travailing abroad being much more sociable and generous Add to this that the people here are more poor and therefore more destitute of humanity the children here continually craving almes of every stranger whereas in all Guernzey I did not see one begger A principall reason of which poverty I suppose to be their exceeding populousnesse there being reckoned in so small a quantity of ground neer upon thirty thousand living souls A matter which gave us no small cause of admiration and when my Lord of Danby seemed to wonder how such a span of earth could contain such multitudes of people I remember that Sir John Payton the Lieutenant Governour made him this answer viz. That the people married within themselves like Conies in a burrow and further that for more then thirty years they never had been molested either with Sword Pestilence or Famine A second reason of their poverty add also of their numbers may be the little liking they have to Trafick whereby as they might have advantage to improve themselves and employ their poor so also might that service casually diminish their huge multitudes by the losse of some men and diverting others from the thought of marriage But the main cause as I conceive it is the tenure of their Lands which are equally to be divided amongst all the Sons of every Father and those parcels also to be subdivided even ad infinitnm Hence is it that in all the Countries you shall hardly finde a field of Corne of larger compasse then an ordinary Garden every one now having a little to himself and that little made lesse to his posterity This Tenure our Lawyers call by the name of Gavel-kinde that is as some of them expound it Give all-kinne because it is amongst them all to be divided For thus the Law speaking of the customes of Kent in the 16 Chap. De praerogatlva Regis Ibidem omnes haetedes masculi participabant haereditatem â—orum similiter soeminae sed soemine non participabunt cum viriâ— A tenure which on the one side hath many priviledges and on the other side as many inconveniences For first they which hold in this Tenure are free from all customary services exempt from wardship at full age when they come to 15 years and if they please they may alienate their estates either by gift or sale without the assent or knowledge of the Lord. But which is most of all in case the Father be attaint of Felony or Murder there is no Escheat of it to the Lord the whole Estate after the King hath had Diem annum vastum descending on the Heires Et post annum diem terrae tenementa reddentur revertentur porximo haeredi cui debuerant descendisse si felonia facta non fuisset so the Lawyers On the other side by this means their estates are infinitely distracted their houses impoverished the Kings profits in his Subsidies diminished and no little disadvantage to the publick service in the finding of Armours for the Wars Whereupon as many Gentlemen of Kent have altered by especiall Acts of Parliament the antient Tenure of their Lands and reduced it unto Knights-service so is it wished by the better sort of this people and intended by some of them that their Tenure may be also altered and brought into the same condition A matter of no little profit and advantage to the
in their severall families And if they finde among them any refractory and contentious persons which will not be reconciled to make a report of it to the Consistory IV. 4. They shall assemble in the Consistory with the Ministers which Consistory shall be holden if it may be every Sunday or any other day convenient to handle causes of the Church And those of them which are elected to go unto the Colloquies and Synods with the Ministers shall not fail to goe at the day appointed CHAP. VII Of the â—eacons Article I. 1. THe Deacons shall be appointed in the Church to gather the benevolence of the people and to distribute it according to the necessities of the poor by the directions of the Consistory II. 2. They shall gather these benevolences after Sermons faithfully endevouring the good and welfare of the poor and if need require they shall go unto the houses of those men which are more charitably enclined to collect their bounties III. 3. They shall distribute nothing without direction from the Consistory but in case of urgent necessity IV. 4. The almes shall be principally distributed unto those of the faithfull which are naturall Inhabitants and if there be a surplusage they may dispose it to the relief of strangers V. 5. For the avoiding of suspicion the Deacons shall keep a register both of their Receipts and their disbursements and shall cast up his accouncs in the presence of the Minister and one of the Elders VI. 6. The Deacons shall give up their accounts every Communion day after the evening Sermon in the presence of the Ministers the Elders and as many of the people as will be assistant who therefore shall have warning to be there VII 7. They shall take order that the poor may be relieved without begging and shall take care that young men fit for labour be set unto some occupation of which they shall give notice to the officers of Justice that so no person be permitted to go begging from door to door VIII 8. They shall provide for those of the poor which are sick or in prison to comfort and assist them in their necessity IX 9. The shall be assistant in the Consistory with the Ministers and Elders there to propose unto them the necessities of the poor and to receive their directions as also in the election of other Deacons X. 10. There ought to be Deacons in every Parish unlesse the Elders will take upon them the charge of collecting the almes and distributing thereof amongst the poor The Liturgie of the Church wherein there is contained the preaching of the Gospell the administration of the Sacraments the Laws of Marriage the Visitation of the Sick and somewhat also of Buriall CHAP. VIII Of the Preaching of the Gospell Article I. 1. THe people shall be assembled twice every Sunday in the Church to hear the Preaching of the Gospell and to be assistant at the publick prayers They shall also meet together once or twice a week on those dayes which shall be thought most convenient for the severall Parishes the Master of every houshold bringing with him those of his family II. 2. The people being assembled before Sermon there shall be read a Chapter out of the Canonicall books of Scripture only and not of the Apocrypha and it shall be read by one which beareth office in the Church or at the least by one of honest conversation III. 3. During the prayer every one shall be upon his knees with his head uncovered Also during the singing of the Psalmes the administration of the Sacraments and whilest the Minister is reading of his text every one shall be uncovered and shall attentively observe all that is done and said IV. 4. The Ministers every Sunday after dinner shall Catechize and shall choose some text of Scripture sutable to that section which they are to handle and shall read in the beginning of that exercise the said text as the foundation of the Doctrine contained in that Section V. 5. The Church shall be locked immediately after Sermon and the publick prayers to avoid superstition and the benches shall be orderly disposed that every one may hear the voice of the Preacher VI. 6. The Churches being dedicated to Gods service shall not be imployed to prophane uses and therefore intreaty shall be made to the Magistrate that no Civill Courts be there holden CHAP. IX Of Baptisme Article I. 1. THe Sacrament of Baptisme shall be administred in the Church after the Preaching of the Word and before the Benediction II. 2. The Parents of the Infants if they are not in some journey shall be near the Infant together with the Sureties to present it unto God and shall joyntly promise to instruct it according as they are obliged III. 3. No man shall be admitted to be a Surety in holy Baptisme which hath not formerly received the Communion or which is not fit to receive it and doth promise so to do upon the next conveniency whereof he shall bring an attestation if he be a stranger IV. 4. They which intend to bring an Infant unto holy Baptisme shall give competent warning unto the Minister V. 5. The Minister shall not admit of such names as were used in the time of Paganism the names of Idols the names attributed to God in Scripture or names of office as Angell Baptist Apostle VI. 6. In every Parish there shall be kept a Register of such as are Baptized their Fathers Mothers Sureties and the day of it as also of Marriages and Funerals which shall be carefully preserved CHAP. X. Of the Lords Supper Article I. 1. THe holy Supper of our Lord Jesus Christ shall be celebrated four times a year viz. at Easter or the first Sunday of Aprill the first Sunday of July the first Sunday of October and the first Sunday of January and that after the Sermon in which expresse mention shall be made of the businesse then in hand or at least a touch of it in the end II. 2. The manner of it shall be this The Table shall be set in some convenient place near the Pulpit the people shall communicate in order and that sitting as is most conformable to the first institution or else standing as is accustomed in some places the men first and afterwards the women none shall depart the place untill after Thanksgiving and the Benediction III. 3. They which intend to be communicants shall first be catechized by the Minister that so they may be able to render a reason of their faith They ought also to understand the Lords Prayer the Articles of their belief the Ten Commandements or at the least the substance of them They shall also abjure the Pope the Masse and all superstition and Idolatry IV. 4. No man shall be admitted to the Lords Supper which is not of the years of discretion and which hath not a good testimony of his life and conversation and which will not promise to submit himself unto the Discipline V. 5.
If any be accused before the Justice to have committed any crime he shall be admonished to forbear the Supper untill he be acquitted VI. 6. The Minister shall not receive any of another Parish without a testimony from the Pastor or if there be no Pastor from one of the Elders VII 7. They which refuse to be reconciled shall be debarred the Communion VIII 8. The people shall have warning fifteen dayes at the least before the Communion to the end they may be prepared for it IX 9. Besides the first examination which they undergoe before they are partakers of the Lords Supper every one shall again be Catechized at the least once a year at the best conveniency of the Minister and of his people CHAP. XI Of Fasts and Thanksgiving Article I. 1. THe publick Fasts shall be celebrated in the Church when the Colloquie or the Synod think it most expedient as a day of rest in which there shall be a Sermon both in the morning and the afternoon accompanyed with Prayers reading of the Scripture and singing of Psalmes all this to be disposed according to the occasions and causes of the Fast and by the authority of the Magistrate II. 2. Solemn Thanksgiving also shall be celebrated after the same manner as the Fast the whole exercise being sutable to the occasion of the same CHAP. XII Of Marriage Article I. 1. ALL contracts of Marriage shall be made in the presence of Parents Friends Guardians or the Masters of the parties and with their consent as also in the presence of the Minister or of an Elder or a Deacon before whom the contract shall be made with invocation on the name of God without which it is no contract And as for those which are sui juris the presence of the Minister or of the Elders or of the Deacons shall be also necessary for good orders sake And from a promise thus made there shall be no departing II. 2. Children and such as are in Wardship shall not make any promise of Marriage wthout the consent of their Fathers and Mothers or of their Gardians in whose power they are III. 3. If the Parents are so unreasonable as not to agree unto a thing so holy the Consistory shall give them such advice as is expedient to which advice if they not hearken they shall have recourse unto the Magistrate IV. 4. They also which have been Married shall owe so much respect unto their Parents as not to marry again without their leave in default whereof they shall incut the censures of the Church V. 5. No stranger shall be affianced without licence from the Governours or their Lieutenants VI. 6. The degrees of consanguinity and of affinity prohibited in the word of God shall be carefully looked into by such as purpose to be marryed VII 7. Those which are affianced shall promise and their Parents with them that they will be marryed within 3 moneths after the contract or within 6 moneths in case either of them have occasion of a Journey if they obey not they shall incur the censures of the Church VIII 8. The Banes shall be asked successively three Sundayes in the Church where the parties do inhabit and if they marry in another Parish they shall carry with them a testimony from the Minister by whom their Banes were published without which they shall not marry IX 9. For the avoiding of the abuse and profanation of the Lords-day and the manifest prejudice done unto the Word of God on those dayâ—â— wherein Marriage hath been solemnized it is foâ—â—d expedient that it be no longer solemnized upon the Sunday but upon some Lecture days which happen in the week only X. 10. If any purpose to forbid the Banes he shall first addresse himself â—â—to the Minister or two of the Elders by whom he shall be appointed to appear in the next Consistory there to alleadge the reasons of his so doing whereof the Consistory shall be judge If he appeal from thence the cause shall be referred unto the next Colloquie XI 11. Those which have too familiarly conversed together before their espousals shall not be permitted to marry before they have made confession of their fault if the crime be notoriously publick before the whole congregation if lesse known the Consistory shall determine of it XII 12. Widowes which are minded to re-marry shall not be permitted to contract themselves untill six moneths after the decease of their dead husbands as well for honesties sake and their own good report as to avoid divers inconveniences And as for men they also shall be admonished to attend some certain time but without constraint CHAP. XIII Of the Visitation of the sick Article I. 1. THose which are afflicted with sicknesse shall in due time advertise them which bear office in the Church to the end that by they them may be visited and comforted II. 2. Those which are sick shall in due time be admonished to make their Wils while as yet they be in perfect memory and that in the presence of their Minister or Overseer or other honest and sufficient persons which shall witnesse to the said Wils or Testaments that so they may be approved and stand in force CHAP. XIV Of Buriall Article I. 1. THe Corps shall not be carryed nor interred within the Church but in the Church-yard only appointed for the buryall of the faithfull II. 2. The Parents Friends and Neighbours of the deceased and all such whom the Parents shall intreat as also the Ministers if they may conveniently as members of the Church and Brethren but not in relation to their charge no more then the Elders and the Deacons shall accompany the body in good fashion unto the grave In which action there shall neither be a Sermon nor Prayers nor sound of Bell nor any other ceremony whatsoever III. 3. The bodies of the dead shall not be interred without notice given unto the Minister IV. 4. The bodies of those which die excommunicate shall not be interred among the faithfull without the appointment of the Magistrate CHAP. XV. Of the Church censures Article I. 1. ALL those which are of the Church shall be subject unto the censures of the same as well they which bear office in it as they which have none II. 2. The sentence of Abstention from the Lords Supper shall be published only in case of Heresie Schisme or other such notorious crime whereof the Consistory shall be judge III. 3. Those which receive not the Admonitions and Reprebensions made unto them in the word of God which continue hardned without hope of returning into the right way after many exhortations if otherwise they may not be reclaimed shall be excommunicate wherein the proceeding shall be for three Sundayes together after this ensuing manner IV. 4. The first Sunday the people shall be exhorted to pray for the offender without naming the person or the crime V. 5. The second Sunday the person shall be named but not the crime The third
administred in the Church with fair water according to the institution of Jesus Christ and without the limitation of any dayes No man shall delay the bringing of his child to Baptism longer then the next Sunday or publick Assembly if it may conveniently be done No person shall be admitted to be a Godfather unlesse he hath received the Lords Supper nor shall women alone viz. without the presence of a man among them be admitted to be Godmothers CHAP. IV. Of the Lords Supper Article I. 1. THe Lords Supper shall be administred in every Church four times a year whereof one to be at Easter and the other at Christmas and every Minister in the administration of it shall receive the Sacrament himself and after give the Bread and wine to each of the Communicants using the words of the institution of it II. 2. The Masters and Mistresses of Families shall be admonished and enjoyned to cause their children and Servants to be instructed in the knowledge of their salvation and to this end shall take care to send them to the ordinary Catechizing CHAP. V. Of Marriage Article I. 1. NO man shall marry contrary to the degrees prohibited in the word of God according as they are expressed in a table made for that purpose in the Church of England on pain of nullity and censure II. 2. The Banes of the parties shall be asked three Sundays successively in the Churches of both parties and they of the Parish where the Marriage is not celebrated shall bring an attestation of the bidding of their Banes in their own Parish Neverthelesse in lawfull cases there may be a Licence or dispensation of the said Banes granted by the authority of the Dean and that upon good caution taken that the parties are at liberty III. 3. No separation shall be made a thoro mensa unlesse in case of Adultery cruelty and danger of life duly proved and this at the sole instance of the parties As for the maintenance of the woman during her divorce he shall have recourse to the Secular power CHAP. VI. Of Ministers Article I. 1. NO man that is unfit to teach or not able to preach the word of God shall be admitted to any Benefice within the Isle or which hath not received imposition of hands and been ordained according to the forme used in the Church of England II. 2. None of them either Dean or Minister shall at the same time hold two Benefices unlesse it be in time of vacancy and only the Natives of the Isle shall be advanced to these preferments III. 3. The Ministers every Sunday after morning prayer shall expound some place of holy Scripture and in the afternoon shall handle some of the points of Christian Religion contained in the Catechism in the Book of Common-prayers IV. 4 In their Prayers they shall observe the titles due unto the King acknowledging him the Supreme governour under Christ in all causes and over all persons as well Ecclesiasticall as Civill recommending unto God the prosperity of his person and royall posterity V. 5. Every Minister shall carefully regard that modesty and gravity of apparell which belongs unto his function and may preserve the honour due unto his person and shall be also circumspect in the whole carriage of their lives to keep themselves from such company actions and haunts which may bring unto them any blame or blemish Nor shall they dishonour their calling by Gaming Alehouses Usuries guilds or occupations not convenient for their function but shall endevor to excell all others in purity of life in gravity and virtue VI. 6. They shall keep carefully a Register of Christnings Marriages and Burials and shall duely publish upon the day appointed to them the Ordinances of the Courts such as are sent unto them signed by the Dean and have been delivered to them fifteen dayes before the publication VII 7. The Ministers shall have notice in convenient time of such Funerals as shall be in their Parishes at which they shall assist and shall observe the forme prescribed in the book of Common-prayers No man shall be interred within the Church without the leave of the Minister who shall have regard unto the quality and condition of the persons as also unto those which are benefactours unto the Church CHAP. VII Of the Dean Article I. 1. THe Dean shall be a Minister of the word being a Master of the Arts or Graduate at the least in the Civill Lawes having ability to exercise that office of good life and conversation as also well affected to Religion and the service of God II. 2. The Dean in all causes handled at the Court shall demand the advice and opinion of the Ministers which shall then be present III. 3. There shall appertain unto him the cognisance of all matters which concern the service of God the preaching of the Word the administration of the Sacraments Matrimoniall causes the examination and censure of all Papists Recusants Hereticks Idolaters and Schismaticks persons perjured in causes Ecclesiasticall Blasphemers those which have recourse to Wizards incestuous persons Adulterers Fornicators ordinary drunkards and publick profaners of the Lords day as also the profanation of the Churches and Church-yards misprisions and offences committed in the Court or against any officers thereof in the execution of the mandats of the Court and also of Divorces and separations a thoro mensa together with a power to censure and punish them according unto the Lawes Ecclesiasticall without any hindrance to the power of the Civill Magistrate in regard of temporall correction for the said crimes IV. 4. The Dean accompanied with two or three of the Ministers once in two years shall visite every Parish in his own person and shall take order that there be a Sermon every visitation day either by himself or some other by hi 〈…〉 appointed Which Visitation shall be made for the ordering of all things appertaining to the Churches in the service of God and the administration of the Sacraments as also that they be provided of Church-wardens that the Church and Church-yards and dwellings of the Ministers be kept in reparations And farther he shall then receive information of the said Church-wardens or in their default of the Ministers of all offences and abuses which need to be reformed whether in the Minister the officers of the Church or any other of the Parish And the said Dean in liâ—â— of the said visitation shall receive 4 s. pay out of the Treasures of the Church for every time V. 5. In the vacancy of any Benefice either by death or otherwise the Dean shall give present order that the profits of it be sequestred to the end that out of the revenue of it the Cure may be supplyed as also that the widow and children of the deceased may be satisfied according to the time of his service and the custome of the Isle excepting such necessary deductions as must be made for dilapidations in case any be He shall also give
means he is within two or three years brought again to equall poverty with the rest A strange course and much different from that of England where the Gentry take a delight in having their Tenants thrive under them and hold it no crime in any that hold of them to be wealthy On the other side those of France can abide no body to gain or grow rich upon their farmes and therefore thus upon occasions rack their poor Tenants In which they are like the Tyrant Procrustes who laying hands upon all he met cast them upon his bed if they were shorter then it he racked their joynts till he had made them even to it if they were longer he cut as much of their bodies from them as did hang over so keeping all that fell into his power in an equality All the French Lords are like that Tyrant How much this course doth depresse the military power of this Kingdome is apparent by the true principles of war and the examples of other Countries For it hath been held by the generall opinion of the best judgements in matters of war that the main Buttresse and Pillar of an Army is the foot or as the Martialists term it the Infantery Now to make a good Infantery it requireth that men be brought up not in a slavish and needy fashion of life but in some free and liberall manner Therefore it is well observed by the Vicounâ— St. Albans in his History of Henry VII that if a State run most to Nobles and Gentry and that the Husbandmen be but as their meer drudges or else simply Cottagers that that State may have a good Cavallery but never good stable bands of foot Like to Coppice woods in which if you let them grow too thick in the stadles they run to bushes or bryers and have little clean under-wood Neither is this in France only but in Italy also and some other parts abroad in so much that they are enforced to imploy mercenary Souldiers for their battalions of foot whereby it cometh to passe that in those Countries they have much people and few men On this consideration King Henry VII one of the wisest of our Princes took a course so cunning and wholesome for the increase of the military power of his Realm that though it be much lesse in territory yet it should have infinitely more Souldiers of its native forces then its neighbour Nations For in the fourth year of his Reign there passed an Act of Parliament pretensively against the depopulation of Villages and decay of tillage but purposedly to inable his subjects for the wars The Act was That all houses of husbandry which had been used with twenty acres of ground and upwards should be maintained and kept up for together with a competent proportion of Land to be used and occupied with them c. By this means the houses being kept up did of necessity enforce a dweller and that dweller because of the proportion of Land not to be a begger but a man of some substance able to keep Hinds and Servants and to set the plough a going An order which did wonderfully concerne the might and manhood of the Kingdome these Farmes being sufficient to maintaine an able body out of penury and by consequence to prepare them for service and encourage them to higher honours for Haud facile emergent quorum virtutibus obstat Res angusta domi As the Poet hath it But this Ordinance is not thought of such use in France where all the hopes of their Armies consist in the Cavallery or the horse which perhaps is the cause why our Ancestors have won so many battailes upon them As for the French foot they are quite out of all reputation and are accounted to be the basest and unworthyest company in the world Besides should the French people be enfranchised as it were from the tyranny of their Lords and estated in freeholds and other tenures after the manner of England it would much trouble the Councell of France to find out a new way of raising his revenues which are now meerly sucked out of the bloud and sweat of the Subject Antiently the Kings of France had rich and plentifull demeans such as was sufficient to maintain their greatnesse and Majesty without being burdensome unto the Countrey Pride in matters of sumptuousnesse and the tedious Civill wars which have lasted in this Countrey almost ever since the death of Henry II. have been the occasion that most of the Crown lands have been sold and morgaged in so much that the people are now become the Demaine and the Subject only is the Revenue of the Crown By the sweat of their browes is the Court sed and the Souldier paid and by their labours are the Princes maintained in idlenesse What impositions soever it pleaseth the King to put upon them it is almost a point of treason not only to deny but to question Apud illos vere regnatur nefasque quantum regi liceat dubitare as one of them The Kings hand lyeth hard upon them and hath almost thrust them into an Egyptian bondage the poor Paisant being constrained to make up dayly his full tale of bricks and yet have no straw allowed them Upon a sight of the miseries and poverties of this people Sir John Fortescue Chancellour of England in his book intituled De Laudibus legum Angliae concludeth them to be unfit men for Jurors or Judges should the custome of the Countrey admit of such tryals For having proved there unto the Prince he was son to Henry VI. that the manner of tryall according to the Common Law by 12 Jurates was more commendable then the practise of the Civill or Emperiall Lawes by the deposition only of two witnesses or the forced confession of the persons arrained the Prince seemed to marvell Cur ed lex Angliae quae tam fiugi optabilis est non sit toti mundo communis To this he maketh answer by shewing the â—ree condition of the English Subjects who alone are used at these indictments men of a fair and large estate such as dwell nigh the place of the deed committed men that are of ingenuous education such as scorn to be suborned or corrupted and afraid of infamie Then he sheweth how in other places all things are contrary the Husbandman an absolute begger easie to be bribed by reason of his poverty the Gentlemen living far asunder and so taking no notice of the fact the Paisant also neither fearing infamie nor the losse of goods if he be found faulty because he hath them not In the end he concludeth thus Ne mireris igitur princeps si lex per quam in Anglia veritas inquiritur alias non pervagetur nationes ipsae namque ut Anglia nequerunt facere sufficientes consimilesque Juratas The last part of the latine savoureth somewhat of the Lawyer the word Juratas being put there to signifie a Jury To go over all those impositions which this miserable people