forcible meanes of that holy leage of hostility decreed in the last Tridentine session doth novv remeÌ„ber an older Canon of constance vvhich is that fayth may not be holden vvith such as he takes for heritikes And therefore as one at his vvits end resolueth vpon thys conclusion slily to styr vp one of hys honourable sonnes to ioyne in mariage with our eldest daughter vvhich before hand he meanes though it be agaynst his ovvne savv to dispence vvith knovving assuredly by the experience of that old false prophet that vvheÌ„ the Lords long suffering had passed by many of the Israelites sins yet so soone as they vvere won in to mary vvith the Moabites the vvrath of God vvould forthvvith breake out vpon them the Lord graunte vs to bevvayle this sin and to preuent this iudgement Hovv are vve blinded that since the Lord spared not the whole vvorld but couered it vvith vvaters from heauen yet Englande thinkes to be somevvhat in Gods sight a poore Ilande surrounded already vvyth the Occean seas vvhich can if the Lorde doe but vvhistle come tombling in and deuour vs vp he brake in vpon his own people vvhom he had hedged in vvith priuiledges yet vve that vvere as other nations presume to sin and hope to escape his hand he found away out of his gracious promises in iustice to plague Salomon the king of his ovvne holy mountain to vvhose person also he had so bound himselfe and yet vve that are but maisters of a molehyll in the vvorlde excedinglye defiled thorough our many transgressioÌ„s think not to bear our own sins Salomon for these very sins lost ten partes of his ovvne kingdom vvhich he had in quiet possession and had lost the vvhole but in regard of the holy promises to Iudah and vve leape at a kingdome yet in the hands of our enemies and thinke to gaine another kingdome to vs or our heyres by displeasing vvith the selfe same sins the same reuenging lord Noe noe thys counsel is not of the Lord because it is a vvisedom agaynst his church and if he be against vs who shall be for vs Novv as this counsail for so much of it as toucheth the church can not proceede but out of the mouth of some hyred or at the least at the best some blinded Balaam euen so for those particulars thereof vvhich concerne the comon vveale and our Queene it might vvell enough come from rash Rehoboams â—oung counsailors vvhom there lustes vvill euer keepe young â—hatsoeuer yeeres and experience they beare on theyr backs 〈◊〉 not from that remnant of Salomons sages vvhom the feare of God makes vvisely old betimes Hauing therefore thus farre sayd of the church Let vs see vvhether theyr country loue by not as little as their religious conscience so as a man may not say such sayth suche fruites The daunger therefore of a foraigne match is not so apparant or so light as it can be easily espied or prouided for by any assurances And if vvisedome might foresee the many lurking perils yet this may vve vvell looke for that such a kinde of mariage being already proued to be a high breach of Gods lavv the same Lord vvyl iustly take avvay all vvisedome from our vvise men and courage from our valiant men I humbly therefore besech the Queene and alher wise valiaunt and good men rather to keepe avvay the cause of this danger then to trouble themselues vvith prouision that in comming he should not hurt It is naturall to all men to abhor forreigne rule as a burden of Egypt and to vs of England if to any other nation vnder the son First it agreeth not vvith thys state or frame of gouernment to deliuer any trust of vnder gouernment to an alien but is a poyson to it when vve receiue any such for a gouernour And that is euident by our lavves and auncient customs of the lande disabling any alien to inherite the highest gouernement of vs vpon this reason no doubt because a senceles and careles forreiner cannot haue the naturall and brotherlike bovvels of tender loue tovvardes this people vvhich is required in a gouernor which is by birth bredd dravven out from the teates of a mans ovvn mother country according to the vvisedom of that high politic call lavv of God Chuse a king from emong thyne ovvne brethren and if thee vvant of an English hart doth disable any from ruling the ship of our Realm shall a French hart be kindlike ynough to rule our Queene vvhich is the sterne of our shyp no the place of an alien is far from such truste by the iudgement of our naturall lavves vvhich appeares in considering theÌ„ by the 〈…〉 seuerall degrees First for an alien vvhich is an alian enemy 〈◊〉 lavve doth not so much as protect his lyfe a thing other 〈…〉 highly and deerly regarded in our lawes if in any other 〈◊〉 but makes him all in one predicament vvith the case of premuniri and though the lavv of armes bid him be raunsomed yet our peacible lawes aske no subiects blood for arresting suche a prisoner and killing hym in cheapeside And let thys alien be an alien friend yet if he be not denized the lavves can not abide him to be mayster of one foote of ground within the Realme the reason vvherof is they are not inheritable to the lavves of our land or answerable or able to demaund by the lavves any thyng from the meanest subiect Yea vvhen they haue theyr best footing here and are accompted members vvith vs of thys body by endenization or enfraunchisment yet haue those our vvise forefathers that haue left vs England to rule and dvvell in had euer such a vvatchfull eye to straungers as they vvould not in theyr dayes of peaceable gouernements and vve according to theyr custome doe not in these dayes suffer any straunger though denized to beare any office touching the peace and ordering of the lande he is not trusted vvith a iustiship of peace or petie constableship much lesse vvould they make hym Admirall of the nauie Constable of the tower or Gardian of any castel or peice of strength In tyme of poperye vvhen the Romane prelate vsurped vpon our prince for conferring benefices Abbeis and such liuings here to Italians French and other alians at hys pleasure yet vvould the kings of those blindest dayes suspect treachery in these holy Abbots and Priors whom othervvise they made theyr Goddes vvould vvithout feare of sacriledge sequester theyr profites vnto the kings cofers and seize the lande of those holye alians leaste they might perhaps vvage foreigne soldiar vvith English pay agaynst the king of England vvhereof they gaue manifest experience to king Henrye the fift vvho hauing founded an Abbay vvherein he put French fryers and in a visitation as theyr founder fynding them negligent in theyr deuotions he asked the good father of the house vvhat vvas the cause vvho ansvvered flatlye that they could not naturally pray for him
Lord of Heauen and earth be against those interdictions in the law which seeme to compas in no more but the Canaanites Iebusites c. And mere pagan nations and whether to mary with the papist who in generall termes protesteth Christ be to mary in the lord To answere these men whose doubts procede euer of they re lust to giue themselues liberty and not of a conscience affrayd to offend God I might say that if to confes the Lord of heauen and earth be ynough to auoid those interdictions then might we entermary with Turks Iewes Moscouites and diuers other painnimes and as far as I remēber with some of the Cannibals Looke the storyes of the new Indians And albeit the Papist protest Christ in word yet sith the vnity of the Church is noted to be herein that Christians be the houshold of faith in the fundamental doctrine whereof what it is what is the vse worthines working thereof the papistes dissenting from vs as farre as they that scatter wher we gather it wil be hard to make them of one faithful houshold with vs. But to yeelde them a degree somevvhat nearer vs then Canaanites compare them with the Moabites and the Ammonites who were cosens to Israell by the flesh and had Lot for theyr father or let them stand with Ishmael Abrahams bastards son yea at once let them be in regard to vs with Edome Israels twinne brother both which had the circumcision of flesh yet vvas it not lavvful for the Isralites to mary with them in Salomon namely it is counted emong other his sinful mariages that he maryed with those nations But that we may yet giue somewhat more to these strayners for lustes sake at a gnat and swallowers of a Camel through conscience for they are more precise to doe popery wrong then to doe the gospell right let vs I say suffer the popish churche to be made more of then she is worth let vs take her at the best and in as good accompt as any learned gospeller hetherto hath set her and let her haue the allowaunce of two or three graines to be massier then the Edomite and finer then the pagane to hang in an euen ballance and to be of one assaie or touche with the Idolatrous and trayterous Israelits that fel from God and were false to the house of Dauid theyr king yet shal papistes be to light and to drossie to mary with vs For neither was it lawfull nor luckie for the Iewes to mary with those Ieroboamical Israelites for al theyr ontward circumcision and though they worshipped on the hill of the patriark fathers For this purpose reade well the storye of Iehoram king of Iehuda the son of good Iohosaphat that made a notable reformation in Gods house and for all his fathers sake you shall see it obiected against him and rendred as a reason of his other great outragious sins that he had maried in the house of Achab king of the Samaritane Israelites The wickednes and sinne of vvhyche kinde of mariage as it is euinced by the very word of God and punishment vpon the person of Iehoram so îs it proued by the horrible punishments following vpon his generation For Ahaziah or Ochoziah son of Iehoram by reason of the Quene mother Athalia fell in such a leag vvith the king of Israell that taking his quarel he fel with him vpon the svvord of Iehu After vvhose death the Queene mother and dovvagier Athalia plaied Rex and slew al the princes of the blood and peeres of Iudah All which murdures began and are set downe to haue com for that mariage with the daughter of Achab whose seede the Lord had sayd to purseu to the rote VVherby it appeares that whoso matcheth with any vvicked race doe make themselues and their sede partakers of the sinnes and plagues of that race and their auncesters And because the match of fraunce with thitalian Athalia hir furies in that lande especiallye those at the mariage of her daughter Margeret vvill of themselues applye them selues in euery respect to agree vvith her of Iudea and proue the sin and punishment of such vvicked vvilling matches betvvene Christian true Ievves and popish bastard Israelites I onely name it and leaue it to the trembling consideration of all especially of suche as it neerest toucheth vvhom I besech in Gods name to stand vveightily vpon it These things do necessarily infer the third proposion vvhich is the conclusion or finall sentence of Gods punishment against this poore church for this sinne if it be committed Faire therefore is their pretext of peace to the Church vvho seeke that thing that must be the cause of such a vvoefull effect So that if our mariage makers be not so spirituall as that the sin vvhich this mariage hath simply in it selfe and of it selfe onely for being against Gods lavv can not make them yeld to confes the daunger it bringeth to the church let vs compel them to come in by looking at the tayle of sinnes and punishments that this venemous serpent of sin draggeth after it It is not in Gods church as in the Grecian host there delirant reges plectuntur Achiui but vvith vs Regis ad exemplum totus componitur orbis The sin of the Prince maketh the people to sin vvhereby euery one beareth his sin and the Lord findes matter ynough in Prince and people to vvrap the one and the other in the same calamitye In reasoning it is truely sayd one absurditie begetteth an other euen so hath sin a fruitfull generation and as the vertues are sayd to be chained together so is neuer one vice or sin alone But specially the breach of this lavve of God in vvhom soeuer priuate person it lighteth dravveth not onely a certaine falling avvay to the goodman or goodvvife of the house so vngodly maryed but a daunger also to children seruants and euery reteiner of that houshold much more manifold is the danger vvhē the honorable dame and as in humblenes I may say the goodvvife of Englād shold be so which God forbid vneuēly matched It vvere more perilous to the ouerthrovv of Religion in thys faythful houshold of England then if in one day vvere consummate the like mariages of a hundred thousand of other her subiects for the straightest and roundest going Prince shall vvyth much a doe keepe his people vpright especially in Religion But let the Prince laake neuer so little and the people vvil halt right dovvne The Princes fal is like that of a mighty Oake vvhich beares dovvn vvith it many armes and braunches therfore is it often recited in the scripture that Ieroboam sell avvay frō God and all Israell vvith him again for the sins of Ieroboam vvhereby he caused all Israell to sinne against the Lord. Novv if the French fautors of this mariage vvhich can enlarg theyr pollicy and mince the vvord of God as they list vvill yet cast about an other
dishonour to her spouse vvith the separating her from her Lord God and vvith the treading vnder foot of that precious lavve vvhich îs her holy rule for order and souereigne preseruatife againste all headlong confusion if they say yea vve say nay and proue it nay Namely that this procuration of mariage is a breach of Gods lawe and not onely for the sinne thereof is against the church because it hasteneth vengeaunce but vve shevve by demonstratiue reasons that it goeth to the very gorge of the Church I trust I shall not neede to proue to these mens consciences this Maior proposition or Maxime that is to say Syn prouoketh the wrath of God and that greate sinnes call down great plages and mighty sinners are mightily punished This argument The vvorld sinneth such a citie sinneth such a land sinneth such a try be such a kindred such a family such a soule sinneth Ergo the vvorld such a city land trybe kindred family soule shall feele the vengeance of that high lavvgeuer against vvhom they sinne is a most necessary consequence This next though it be but the Minor in order and vvill not perhappes vvithout farther proofe be yelden vnto by thys kynde of protestātes yet is it as true as the former that is that it is a sin a greate and a mightye sinne for England to geue one of Israels daughters to any of Hemors sonnes to match a daughter of God vvith one of the sonnes of men to couple a Christian Ladye a member of Christ to a Prince good sonne of Rome that Antichristian mother citie For the inuincible manifestastion therfore of this truth let vs first consider England as a region purged from Idolatry a kingdome of light confessing Christ and seruing the liuing God Contrariwise Fraunce a den of Idolatrye a kingdome of darkenes confessing Belial and seruing Baal Then let vs remember vvhat was the first institution of mariage which is set before vs as a directory rule for vs in our mariages for euer and vvhereunto Christ teacheth vs playnly in al cases and other incidentes of mariage to looke back vvhen vpon a case put of mariage he aunsweres IN THE BEGINNING IT VVAS NOT SO. The first mariages were betvvene payres in Religion and in the feare of god And the first vvritten commaundements that are giuen by Moses touching mariage haue their regard to that first institution as it were to the oldest lavve The vvhich Moses rightly vnderstanding and according to the interpretation of al lawes vvhen they bid or forbid any thing do therevvith forbid or bid the contrarye He also in Denteronomie forbad those matches vvherein the sonnes of God vvere giuen to the daughters of mē adding thys reason for saith he such mariages wil make thy children to fal from me And this place at once may expound those other many places vvhere it is sayd least they make thy children to commit Idolatry to be added as a certaine punishment by the iudgement of God and not for a doubtfull reason as some vvould fayn haue it that seke to dravv the lavves of God to their lustes who should rather rule theyr lustes by the lawes VVhich pure institution of mariage S. Paul also continues when enlarging the holy vse thereof to all sortes of men he yet hath this restraint that it be in the Lord that is to saye in his feare as it was from the beginning and according to his former commaundements in his vvorde It is more then enough to breake the holy ordinaunce instituted of God vvhich ought to gouerne vs without further enqui rye of reason or commodity But as the holinesse of his lavves is holesome to vs euen in this life by obedience so doth theyr trāsgression breede vs infinite incommodities For the ende of this holy kind of mariage is our mutuall helpe and vpholdiug one an other in the feare of god vvhich appeareth by the reason of forbidding those vnholy mariages vvhich is least sayth the spirit of God their sonnes drawe your daughters or their daughters your sonnes from the lord Nowe as the one comes to passe vvhere thorder of God is kept so the contrary effect must iustly followe vpon neglect especially if such a mariage be made in a gospellike land vvhere the lavv of God is preached and contrarye to warning giuen out of Gods booke Then vvithout peraduenture all blessing is taken awaye and the plague follovveth And to teach our politiques by reasonable argumentes what other reasons haue the lavves of all lands to ioyne like to like in mariage but for the norishing of peace and loue betvvene man and vvife and for the vvell bringing vp of the children in euery familye vvherby to make them profitable members in some seruiceable vocation considering that families are the seedes of Realmes and petie partes of common vveales where if there be good order the vvhole land is vvell ordered and contrary as in anye instrument if euery string or many strings be out of tune the whole musick is marred and who so vvill preserue any entier must conserue euery part so if the families be distempered and out of tune the vvhole land is disturbed Thinke you that the common vveal can haue this care for her lesse partes and thus prouide for the vvell trayning vp of her chil dren that the church of England vvherin this holy lavv of religious matching marying the faithful vvith the faythful is giue by Christ to this end that their children might be sanctified and holily brought vp in christian religion thinke you I say that the church wil easely depart vvith her deere daughter her daughter of hiest honor Elizabeth the Queene of England vvho is the tēple of the holy ghost and vvill not hold her fast in her louing armes as being loath to giue her to a straunger one that hath shevved no signes of regeneration and her selfe vvant thassistaunce of a faythfull husband and her children of her body if any she haue vvhich receiue outvvard sanctification and entry into the bosom of the church thorough the promise of their faythfull parentes be in danger to be profaned before they be borne and to be corrupted after they are borne and thorovvout al their education S. Paul speaking of contrary couplings together compareth them to the vneuen yoking of the cleane Oxe to the vncleane Asse a thing forbidden in the lawe And here againe the lawes of men vvhieh medle but vvith the distribution of the things of this life haue learned this equitie of the lavves of God that it is a greate disparagement for health to be ioyned in mariage vvith any foule disease for beuty vvith deformity youth vvith decrepite age or to tender a townes man daughter to a gentilman of birth A citizen of Rome vvoulde hold foule scorne to mary a Barbariane And the common vvealthes of England Fraunce I dare say vvould meruail if eyther our Queene or Monsieur being both great princes borne and of
the morrovv after our mariage and Monsieur repare home as we may be svre he would into hys natiue country a larger and better kingdom then by all likelihode eyther must our Elizabeth goe vvith him out of her ovvne natiue country and svvete soyle of England vvhere she is Queene as possessor and inheritor of thys imperial crovvne vvithall regall rights dignities perogatiues pre heminences priuileges autorities and iuredictions of thys kingly office and hauing the kingrike in her owne person into a forrain kingdome vvhere her vvritt doth not runn shal be but in a borovved Maiestie as the moone to the sonn shining by night as other kings vvyues and so she that hath ruled all this vvhile heere shal be there ouer ruled in a straung land by some belledame not vvithout avve perhapps of a sister in lavv and vve hyr poore subiects that haue bene gouerned hetherto by a naturall mother shal be ouerlooked at home by some cruel and proud gouernour or els must she tary here vvithout comfort of her husband seing her selfe despised or not vvifelike esteemed and as an eclipsed son diminished in souereinty hauing such perhappes appoynted to serue hyr and be at her commaundement after the french phrase vvhich in playn English vvill gouerne her and her state In thys great matter vvhat an illuding ansvver is it agayn by the particular example of the king of Spayne to put avvay thys reason grounded vpon these tvvo generall rules The first is that a straunger mighty king brought into a realme to ayde them as vvas the Turke and his sarasins or vpon any lighter occasion vvill hardly be gotten out againe The second a straunger king dravven in by our sins and sent by Gods iustice for our punishment is not ridd vvithout Gods extraordinary help Novv syr because vve vvere once happily dispatched of Spayne therefore vve shall once againe commit thys gross follye and contemne that generall rule of policie And because the Lord in mercy dyd once deliuer vs from Spayn therfore vve vvill tempt him agayn by deliuering our selues into the hands of Fraunce Alas for these men if king Phillip had neuer maryed Queene Mary and if thys matter had ben to dispute xxvij yeeres agoe then had they had no one reason for theyr side nor no ansvver to escape any of our arguments and thys absurd manner of reasoning is very Macciauelian logick by particular examples thus to gouern kingdoms and to set dovvn general rules for his prince vvhereas particulars should be vvarranted by generals But there mayster vvrested hys vngratious vvit euer to the mayntenance of a present state and these foolish schoolers put forth theyr gross conceipts to the ouerthrovv of thys present in hope of I vvot not vvhat futur common vvealth of their ovvn head Some subtilty ther is also in this aunsvver that vvhen vve are to deliberate of Fraunce vvhych is the more nere and more auncient therfore more daungerous enemy to anoy vs vvith his forces and to hold vs if he once haue vs they bryng vs in example Spayn a more remote potentate an auncient friend one that vvas at that tyme of one religion vvith thys kingdom and therfore not so pricked to hasten some chaung in our state as thys man vvho being ledd by Antichrist must not endure vvith any patience that state vvher Christ is Moreouer our dispofitiō more ready to vvarr with Fraunce then vvith Spayn is holpē by more continual occasions giuē of both sides by more cōueniencie of means to perform sodenly vvhich vvill make them let no opportunity slyp that may bring so com bersome a neighbour vnder thē as vve are And better may they do it novv then might the king of Spayn then for thē was Spain at vvars with Fraunce neyther vvas it lyke that Fraunce would haue bene holden by any frendship while he should haue suffered a more pnissant neighbour set hys foote heere vvhom he might so easely let by helping vs But now is there no enemity betvvene Fraunce and Spayne to let thys practise they are of kin by the flesh and by theyr religion and the holy leage ties them togither in that respect as it vvere faggotstiks And in truth Spayn being so far and Fraunce so nere Fraunce hath great aduantage in thys cōparison and cannot be so letted of Spayne as Spayn may be by him These daungers vvherein this daungerous pactise of mariage vvrappeth Queen Elisabeth in hyrlyfe time and hyr England together alike vvill I doubt not moue those in authority to auoyd them and others that are priuate to pray against them most seruently But these calamities alas end not vvith thys age For wher as these persvvaders lay for a chiefe ground theyr certain expecting issue of hyr Maiesties body vpon thys match and the commodities therof ensuing therby perswading thys strange conceipt I vvill at once dispatch that reason that might be obiected agaynst me make it a chiefe argument for I esteeme it my second politique reason to diswade the French mariage especially If it may please her Maiestie to cal her faythfullest vvyse phisitians and to adiure them by their conscience tovvards God theyr loyalty to hyr and fayth to the whole land to say theyr knovvledg simply without respect of pleasing or displeasing any and that they consider it also as the cause of a realm and of a Prince how excedingly dangerous they find it by theyr learning for her maiestie at these yeeres to haue hyr first chyld yea hovv fearfull the expectation of death is to mother and chyld I feare to say vvhat wyll be theyr aunswer and I humbly besech hyr Maiesty to enforme hyrselfe throughly euen in hyr loue to the vvhole land whych holds deere hyr life and peace and vvhich as it hath hetherto deutifully sought hyr mariage whyle hope of issue vvas desiring it as the chiefest common wealth good and vvithall that feare God English or straunger vvould haue reioyced to see that the reigne of Queen Elizabeth might haue ben dravven foorth as I may say in hyr faythfull ligne yet dare we not novv otherwyse craue it but so as it might be by such afather as had a sound body and holy soule and yet not thē neither onles she may first find it to stand with her lyfe and safety And vvhen I think more earnestly of thys matter me thinkes it must needes come first of a verye French loue to our Queene and land to seeke thys mariage euen now so eagerly at the vttermost tyme of hope to haue issue and at the very poynt of most daunger to her Maiestie for childbearing whereby they think if her Maiestie haue issue to see eyther the mother die in childbedd vvhich the Lord forbid and the land left again as theyrs hath bene to an infant or els to see both mother and childe put in a graue and so the land left a spoyle to forrein inuasion and as a stack of vvood to ciuill vvars All is one to
vvhich is hurtfull to the vvhole cōmon weale must be noysome to euery part To begin wtih the chiefe thereof hir Maiestie in vvhom as two persons or bodies as they say do presently fal in consideration the one her naturall body such as other priuate on s haue the other her body politique or common vveale body vvhich is her body of Maiestie incorporate in vnderstanding of the lavves euē so seuerall discommodities and hurts are here to fal in consideration also in respect of these hir tvvo bodyes which all beit they be of that nature as nothing can be harmefull to one but the same is ful of harme to both yet haue I in speaking of the common wealth handled also her maiesties ciuill body as that vvhich can no more be remoued from the common vveale then the heade from the body and as that which hath mutuall suffering vvith the common vveale in weale and vvoe as hath the head vvith the body And for her very selfe or selfe self as I may say which is hir naturall body though it godly pleaseth hir according to the lavves of all vvell ordered realmes and maner of all good princes to abide thaduise and consent of all her estates not to conclude hyr mariage before she parle in parliament vvith hyr subiects before she consult vvith the lawes and call the commō vveale as it were to common counsail so as she on the one side may chaleng of it an assured maintenance of her doing vvith body and goods as a thing vvhich had their generall consent and the vvhole land on the other side may say I haue chosen such a Lord as I dare put in trust with my Queene for so much as it also is to be maried with her and in sort to be gouerned by him that shal be her gouernor yet is she for her part to haue her particular lyking and harts contentation in this match in respect of that life she must lead vvith a husband so as shee may say vvithin her selfe I am gladly satisfyed in this choyse els should she be in vvorse poynt thē the worst of hyr wardes of vvhom she doth not so absolutely claym the mariage by any tenur but that yet her tēder may be their choise Let vs then see vvhither this prince be a conuenable mariage in regard of her priuate person vvho is already proued most vnworthy and extremely daungerous for hyr princely personage Here comes first to our remembraunce her constant dislike indisposed minde tovvarde mariage frō the flovver of her youth vvhich in al that loue her bredes feare of a discontēted lyfe if at these yeeres she take not her best heede and faythfullest aduice in hyr mariage Thys first difficulty on the part of hyr Maiestie offers a second as great a difficulty on the part of his excellency that is that he shold hardly be the man that choise man of choyse in all respects to content both eye and mynd And if anye that persvvades this mariage think to haue quite himselfe substantially out of these tvvo difficulties onely by a bare obiecting of them vvith referring ouer to bee aunsvvered by her maiestie as in vvhose hart rests the best knovvledge of hyr disposition to mariage and contentation to this man such one must be told that he doth not his bounden endeuour especially if hys place giue any leaue to debate at large vvith her In thys poynt belike he is to learn of euery parent or other vvhatsoeuer that hath a louing care of theyr daughter or deere friend vvho vpon a mariage moued vvill not set them dovvn and rest in saying you knovv vvhither it be fit for you to mary and you knovve vvhither his mā be fit for you to your lyking but cannot con tent themselues onlesse they presse to helpe hir vvith theyr best aduise laying about to search and enquire vvhether he be such as they vvish and if they find him othervvise they lay the matter forth in tyme and franckly tell it her least thorough their silence or negligence she fall in daunger of an ill husband the greatest crosse that may be layd on a poore vvomans shoulders The same should be much more diligently don in mariage of a Queen and her realme and it is a faythles careles part to leaue hir helples in hir choise of the person and personall conditions of hir husband to hir ovvn onely consideration vvhich hovv so euer sufficient it be so much the more hath she need of help as the matter is more vveightie in hir then in common matches I merueile therfore they could not see that as that meate brookes not vvell vvhich is crammed in against the stomak and as nothing is sayd to be don egregie vvhich is vndertaken inuita Minerua so surely in thys mariage the successe of ioy and contentation can not be promised if ther be eyther a generall vntowardnes to desire that state of lyfe or none harty affection tovvardes that person which seeketh And for the presence or shewe of this mans person although I vvot vvell that as for most part the svveet and amiable or croked conditions of mind ben as I may say vvritten in the lines of a louely or ill shape of body or face so contrarivvise that sometime a vertuous mind is meanely lodged and dwels in a homely cottage yet doe I not gladly medle with thys particular but vvil also referr it to hir Maiesties enteruieue if it must needes come to that poynt Onely this I humbly besech hir that she wyll vievv it and suruieu it and in vieuing she vvil fetch hir hart vp to hir eyes and cary hir eyes down to hir hart And I besech God graunt hir at that time to haue hir eyes in hir heade euen in that sence in vvhich Salomon placeth a wise mans eyes in his head and then I doubt not but vpon conference of hir wyse hart and hir eyes togither he shal haue his dispaching aunswer But of many circūstances of hys body I cannot hold my peace because I hope being vvell conceiued and digested vvith other thinges that are and may be sayd herein they vvyll let this enteruieu I may not nor meane not to deny his great place that righte vvhich is due to all men that is to recken reports and bruits as re ports and bruites And though they speake in all laguages of a merueilous licentious dissolute youth passed by this brotherhoode and of as strange incredible partes of intemperancie play ed by them as those worst of Heliogabalus yet will I not rest vpon coniecturalls Onely this I touch lightly and cannot passe vtterly in so high a matter as is the mariage of my Queen that it is vvorth thinquiry after For if but the fourth part of that misrule bruted should be true it must needes dravv such punishment frō God vvho for most part punisheth these vile sins of the body euen in the very body and bones of the offenders besides other plagues