the affaires of the King This Court the main pillar of the Liberty of France La Tournelle and the Judges of it The five Chambers of Enquestes severally instituted and by whom In what cause it is decisive The forme of admitting Advocates into the Courts of Parliament The Chancellour of France and his Authority The two Courts of Requests and Masters of them The vain envy of the English Clergy against the Lawyers p. 104. CHAP. IX The Kings Palace of the Louure by whom built The unsutablenesse of it The fine Gallery of the Queen Mother The long Gallery of Henry IV. His magnanimous intent to have built it into a quadrangle Henry IV. a great builder His infinite project upon the Mediterranean and the Ocean La Salle des Antiques The French not studious of Antiquities Burbon house The Tuilleries c. p. 113. La BEAUSE OR THE THIRD BOOK CHAP. I. Our Journey towards Orleans the Town Castle and Battail of Mont l'hierrie Many things imputed to the English which they never did Lewis the 11. brought not the French Kings out of wardship The town of Chartroy and the mourning Church there The Countrey of La Beause and people of it Estampes The dancing there The new art of begging in the Innes of this Countrey Angerville Tury The sawciness of the French Fidlers Three kindes of Musick amongst the Antient. The French Musick p. 121. CHAP. II. The Country and site of Orleans like that of Worcester The Wine of Orleans Praesidial Towns in France what they are The sale of Offices in France The fine walk and pastime of the Palle Malle The Church of St. Croix founded by Superstition and a miracle Defaced by the Hugonots Some things hated only for their name The Bishop of Orleans and his priviledge The Chappell and Pilgrims of St. Jacques The form of Masse in St Croix Câ—nâ—ing an Heathenish custome The great siege of Orleans raised by Joan the Virgin The valour of that woman that she was no witch An Elogie on her p. 131. 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 p. 145. CHAP. IV. Orleans not an University till the comming of the Jesuites Their Colledge there by whom built The Jesuites no singers Their laudable and exact method of teaching Their policies in it Received not without great difficulty into Paris Their houses in that university Their strictnesse unto the rules of their order Much maliced by the other Priests and Fryers Why not sent into England with the Queen and of what order they were that came with her Our return to Paris p. 152. PICARDIE OR THE FOURTH BOOK CHAP. I. Our return towards England More of the Hugonots hate unto Crosses The town of Luzarch and St. Loupae The Country of Picardie and people Tho Picts of Britain not of this Countrey Mr. Lee Dignicoes Governour of Picardie The office of Constable what it is in France By whom the place supplyed in England The marble table in France and causes there handled Clermount and the Castle there The war raised up by the Princes against D' Ancre What his designes might tend to c. p. 162. CHAP. II. The fair City of Amiens and greatnesse of it The English feasted within it and the error of that action the Town how built-seated and fortified The Citadell of it thought to be impregnable Not permitted to be viewed The overmuch opennesse of the English in discovering their strength The watch and form of Government in the Town Amiens a Visdamate to whom it pertaineth What that honour is in France And how many there enjoy it c. p. 169. CHAP. III. The Church of Nostre Dame in Amiens The principall Churches in most Cities called by her name More honour performed to her then to her Saviour The surpassing beauty of this Church on the outside The front of it King Henry the sevenths Chappel at Westminster The curiousnesse of this Church within By what means it became to be so The sumptuous masking closets in it The excellency of perspective works Indulgences by whom first founded The estate of the Bishoprick p. 175. CHAP. IV. Our Journey down the Some and Company The Town and Castle of Piquigni for what famous Comines censure of the English in matter of Prophecies A farewell to the Church of Amiens The Town and Castle of Pont D' Armie Abbeville how seated and the Garrison there No Governour in it but the Major or Provost The Authors imprudent curiosity and the curtesie of the Provost to him The French Post-horses how base and tyred My preferment to the Trunk-horse The horse of Philip de Comines The Town and strength of Monstreuille The importance of these three Towns to the French border c. p. 183. CHAP. V. The County of Boulonnois and Town of Boulogne by whom Enfranchized The present of Salt butter Boulogne divided into two Towns Procession in the lower Town to divert the Plague The forme of it Procession and the Letany by whom brought into the Church The high Town Garrisoned The old man of Boulogne and the desperate visit which the Author bestowed upon him The neglect of the English in leaving open the Havens The fraternity De la Charite and inconveniency of it The costly Journey of Henry VIII to Boulogne Sir Walt. Raleghs censure of that Prince condemned The discourtesie of Charles V. towards our Edward VI. The defence of the house of Burgundy how chargeable to the Kings of England Boulogne yeilded back to the French and on what conditions The curtesie and cunning of my Host of Bovillow p. 192. FRANCE GENERAL OR THE FIFTH BOOK Describing the Government of the Kingdom generally in reference to the Court the Church and the Civill State CHAP. I. A transition to the Government of France in generall The person age and marriage of King Lewis XIII Conjecturall reasons of his being issuelesse Iaqueline Countesse of Holland kept from issue by the house of Burgundy The Kings Sisters all marryed and his alliances by them His naturall Brethren and their preferments His lawfull Brother The title of Monsieur in France Monsieur as yet unmarried not like to marry Montpensiers daughter That Lady a fit wife for the Earl of Soissons The difference between him and the Prince of Conde for the Crown in case the line of Navarre fail How the Lords stand affected in the cause Whether a child may be born in the 11 month King Henry IV. a great lover of fair Ladies Monsieur Barradas the Kings favorite his birth and offices The omniregency of the Queen Mother and the Cardinall of Richileiu The Queen Mother a wise
to redeem him To which he answered that we had carryed our selves like Gentlemen which gave him no distrust of a reall payment that he would take if we pleased a Bill of our hands for the money to be paid in Dover and desired that we would give him leave to send over a servant in our Boat with a basket of poultery who should receive the money of us and give back our Bond. This being agreed upon the next morning we took boat for England the Mariners knowing nothing else but that the servant went over only to sell his Poultery that being an opportunity frequently indulged by them unto those of the Town though we knew well enough he went on another errand and as we could not but commend my Host for his courtesie and his care taken of our credit so we had reason to esteem our selves in a kinde of custody in that he would not let us stir without a Keeper Nor did my Host lose any thing by his kindnesse to us For we not only paid him honestly all his full demands but bestowed a reward upon his servant and sent a present of Gloves and Knives commodities much prized in France to his Wife and Daughters that he might see we knew as well how to require as receive a curtesie Which said I must step back into France again that having taken a brief view already of the Principall Provinces I may render some accompt of the Government also in reference to the Courts the Church and the Civill State The End of the Fourth Book A SURVEY OF THE STATE of FRANCE FRANCE GENERAL OR THE FIFTH BOOK Describing the Government of the Kingdom generally in reference to the Court the Church and the Civill Sate CHAP. I. A transition to the Government of France in generall The person age and marriage of King Lewis XIII Conjecturall reasons of his being issuelesse â—aqueline Countesse of Holland kept from issue by the house of Burgundy The Kings Sisters all married and his alliances by them His naturall Brethren and their preferments His lawfull brother The title of Monseiur in France Monseiur as yet unmarried not like to marry Montpensiers daughter That Lady a fit wife for the Earl of Soissons The difference between him and the Prince of Conde for the Crown in case the line of Navarre fail How the Lords stand affected in the cause Whether a child may be born in the 11 moneth King Henry IV. a great lover of fair Ladies Monseiur Barradas the Kings favorite his birth and offices The omniregency of the Queen Mother and the Cardinall of Richileiu The Queen mother a wise and prudent woman HAving thus taken a survey of these four Provinces which we may call the Abstract and Epitome of the Realm of France and having seen in them the temper humors and conditions of the people of it We will next take a generall view of the Governors and Government thereof with reference to the Court the Church and the Civill State First for the Court we must in reason in the first place begin with the person of the King without whose influence and presence the Court is but a dead â—arkasse void of life and Majesty For person he is of the middle stature and rather well proportioned then large his face knoweth little yet of a beard but that which is black and swarty his complexion also much of the same hew carrying in it a certain boisterousnesse and that in a farther measure then what a gracefull majesty can admit of so that one can hardly say of him without a spite of Courtship which Paterculus did of Tiberius Quod visus praetulerit principem that his countenance proclaimed him a King But questionlesse his greatest defect is want of utterance which is very unpleasing by reason of a desperate and uncurable stammering which defect is likely more and more to grow upon him At this time he is aged 24 years and as much as since the 27 day of last September which was his birth day an age which he beareth not very plaufible want of beard and the swarthinesse of his complexion making him seem older At the age of 11 years he was affianced to the Lady Anna Infanta of Spain by whom as yec he hath no children It is thought by many and covertly spoken by divers in France that the principall cause of the Queens barrennesse proceedeth from Spain that people being loath to fall under the French obedience which may very well happen she being the eldest Sister of the King For this cause in the seventh Article of the marriage there is a clause that neither the said Infanta nor the children born by her to the King shall be capable to inherit any of the Estates of the King of Spain And in the eight Article she is bound to make an Act of Renunciation under her own hand-writing as soon as she cometh to be 12 years old which was accordingly performed But this being not sufficient to secure their fears it is thought that she was some way or other disabled from conception before ever she came into the Kings imbraces A great crime I confesse if true yet I cannot say with Tully in his defence of Ligarius Novum Crimen Caje Caear ante hoc tempus inauditum Iaqueline Countesse of Holland was Cousen to Philip Duke of Burgundy her fruitfulnesse would have debarred him from those Estates of Holland Zâ—aland and West Friezland therefore though she had three husbands there was order taken she should never have child with her first two husbands the Duke would never suffer her to live and when she had stolen a wedding with Frane of Borselle one of her servants the Dukes Physitians gave him such a potion that she might have as well marryed an Euâ—uch upon this injury the poor Lady dyed and the Duke succeeded in those Countries which by his Grand-childe Mary were conveyed over into the house of Austria together with the rest of his estates I dare not say that that Family hath inherited his practises with his Lands and yet I have heard that the Infanta Isabella had the like or worse measure afforded her before she was bedded by the Arch Duke Albertus A Diabolicall trick which the prostitutes of the Heathen used in the beginning of the Gospell and before of whom Octavius complaineth Quod originem futuri hominis extinguant paricidium faciunt antequam pariunt Better luck then the King hath his Sister beyond the Mountains I mean his eldest Sister Madam Elizabeth marryed to the King of Spain now living as being or having been the mother of two children His second Sister Madam Christian is marryed unto Amadeo Victor principe major or heir apparent to the Duke of Savoy to whom as yet she hath born no issue The youngest Madam Henrietta Maria is newly marryed to his most Excellent Majesty of England to whom may she prove of a most happy and fruitfull womb Et pulcrâ— faciat te prole parentem
Corne and other grain with which it abundantly furnisheth Paris and hath in it more store of pasture and medow grounds then I else saw in any part of France In Vines only it is defective and that as it is thought more by the want of industry in the people then any inhability in the soil For indeed they are a people that will not labour more then they needs must standing much upon their state and distance and in the carriage of their bodies favouring a little of the Spaniard whence Picardâ—er to play the Picard is usually said of those who are lofty in their looks or gluttonous at their tables this last being also one of the symptomes of a Picard The Governor of this Province is the Duke of Les Diguieres into which office he succeeded Mr. Luynes as also he did into that of the Constable Two preferments which he purchased at a deer rate having sold or abandoned that religion to-compasse them which he had prosessed more then 60 years together an apostasie most unworthy of the man who having for so many years supported the cause of religion hath now forsaken it and thereby made himself gilty of the cowardise of M. Antonius Qui cum in desertores saevire debuerat desertor sui exertilus factus est But I fear an heavier censure waiteth upon him the crown of immortality not being promised to all those which run but to those only which hold out till the end For the present indeed he hath augmented his honours by this office which is the principall of all France He hath place and command before and over all the Peers and Princes of the bloud and at the Coronation of the French Kings ministreth the oath when he entreth a City in state or upon the â—redition of it he goeth before with the Sword naked and when the King sitteth in an assembly of the three estates he is placed at the Kings right hand He hath command over all his Majesties forces and he that killeth him is guilty of high treason He sitteth also as chief Judge at the Table of marble upon all suits actions persons and complaints whatsoever concerning the wars This Table de Marbre was wont to be continually in the great hall of the Palais at Paris from whence upon the burnning of that hall it was removed to the Louure At this table doth the Admirall of France hold his Sessions to judge of trafick prizes letters of marts piracy and businesse of the like nature At this table judgeth also Le grand Maistre des eaues et forrests we may call him the Justice in Eire of all his Majesties Forrests and waters The actions here handled are Thefts and abuses committed in the Kings Forrests Rivers Parks Fish-ponds and the like In the absence of the grand Maistre the power of sentence resteth in the Les grand Maistres Enquesteurs et generaux reformateurs who have under their command no fewer then 300 subordinate officers Here also sit the Marshals of France which are ten in number sometimes in their own power and sometimes as Assistants to the Constable under whose direction they are With us in England the Marshalship is more entire as that which besides its own jurisdiction hath now incorporated into it self most of the authority antiently belonging to the Constables which office ended in the death of Edward Lord Duke of Buckingham the last hereditary and proprietary Constable of England This office of Constable to note unto you by the way so much was first instituted by Lewis the grosse who began his reign anno 1110. and conferred on Mr. Les Diguieres on the 24 of July 1622. in the Cathedrall Church of Grenoble where he first heard Masse and where he was installed Knight of both Orders And so I leave the Constable to take a view of his Province a man at this time beloved of neither parties hated by the Protestants as an Apostata and suspected by the Papists not to be entire To proceed July the 28. we came unto Clermont the first Town of any note that we met with in Picardie a prety neat Town and finely seated on the rising of an hill For the defence of it it hath on the upper side of it an indifferent large Castle and such which were the situation of it somewhat helped by the strength of Art might be brought to do good service Towards the Town it is of an easie accesse to the fieldwards more difficult as being built on the perpendicular fall of a rock In the year 1615 it was made good by Mr. Harancourt with a Regiment of eight Companies who kept it in the name of the Prince of Conde and the rest of that confederacy but it held not long for at the Marshall D' Ancres coming before it with his Army and Artillery it was presently yeelded This war which was the second civill war which had happened in the reign of King Lewis was undertaken by the Princes chiefly to thwart the designes of the Queen mother and crush the powerfulnesse of her grand favourite the Marshall The pretence as in such cases it commonly is was the good of the Common-wealth the occasion the crosse marriages then consummated by the Marshall between the Kings of France and Spain for by those marriages they seemed to fear the augmentation of the Spaniards greatnesse the alienation of the affections of their antient allies and by consequence the ruine of the French Empire But it was not the fate of D' Anire as yet to persh Two years more of command and insolencies his destinies allow'd him and then he tumbled This opportunity of his death ending the third civill war each of which his faulty greatnesse had occasioned What the ambition of his designes did tend to I dare not absolutely determine though like enough it is that they aimed further then at a private or a personall potencie for having under the favour and countenance of the Queen mother made himself master of the Kings ear and of his Councell he made a shift to get into his own hands an authority almost as unlimited as that of the old Mayre of the Palace For he had suppressed the liberty of the generall estates and of the soveraign Courts removed all the officers and Counsellors of the last King ravished one of the Presidents of the great Chamber by name Mr. le Jay out of the Parliament into the prison and planted Garrisons of his own in most of the good Towns of Normandy of which Province he was Governour Add to this that he had caused the Prince of Conde being acknowledged the first Prince of the bloud to be imprisoned in the Bastile and had searched into the continuance of the lives of the King and his brother by the help of Sorcery and Witchcraft Besides he was suspected to have had secret intelligence with some forain Princes ill willers to the State and had disgraced some and neglected others of the Kings old confederates Certainly
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
for it but being but conjectures only and prosecuted for the carrying on of so great a project they were not thought to be convincing or of any considerable weight or moment amongst sober and impartiall men They therefore argued it First From the Kings care of his education assigning him for his Tutor Nicholas de Febure whom he also designed for his Son King Lewis Secondly From his care to work the Prince then young Mollis et apâ—us agi to become a Catholick Thirdly The infirmity of Henry of Conde and the privacy of this King with his Lady being then King of Navâ—â—e in the prime of his strength and in discontent with the Lady Marguerite of Valoys his first wife add to this that Kings love to fair Ladies in the generall and then conclude this probability to be no miracle For besides the Dutchesse of Beauforte the Marchionesse of Verneville and the Countesse of Morrel already mentioned he is believed to have been the Father of Mr. Luynes the great favourite of King Lewis And certain it is that the very year before his death when he was even in the winter of his days he took such an amorous liking to the Prince of Condes wife a very beautifull Lady and daughter to the Constable Duke of Montmorencie that the Prince to save his honour was compelled to flie together with his Princesse into the Arch-Dukes Countrey whence he returned not till long after the death of King Henry If Mary de Medices in her husbands life time had found her self agrieved it I cannot blame her she only made good that of Quinâ—ilian Et uxor mariti exemplo incitata aut imitari se putat aut vindicore And yet perhaps a consciousnesse of some injuries not only mooved her to back the Count of Soissons and his faction against the Prince and his but also to resolve upon him for the husband of her daughter From the Princes of the bloud descend we to the Princes of the Court and there in the first place we meet with Mr. Barradas the Kings present favourite a young Gentleman of a fresh and lively hew little bearded and one whom as yet the people cannot accuse for any oppression or misgovernment Honours the King hath conserred none upon him but only pensions and offices he is the Governour of the Kings children of honour Pages we call them in England a place of more trouble then wealth or credite He is also the Master of the horse or Le grand Escuire the esteem of which place recompenseth the emptinesse of the other for by vertue of this office he carryeth the Kings sword sheathed before him at his entrances into Paris The cloth of estate carryed over the King by the Provost and Eschevins is his â—ee No man can be the Kings spurmaker his Smith or have any place in the Kings Stables but from him and the like This place to note so much by the way was taken out of the Constables office Comes stabuli is the true name to whom it properly belonged in the time of Charles VII Besides this he hath a Pension of 500000 Crowns yearly and had an office given him which he sold for 100000 Crowns in ready money A good fortune for one who the other day was but the Kings Page And to say truth he is as yet but a little better being only removed from his servant to be his play-fellow With the affairs of State he intermedleth not if he should he might expect the Queen mother should say to him what Apollo in Ovid did to Cupid Tibi quid cum fortibus armis Mipuer ista decent humeros gestamina nostros For indeed first during her Sons minority and after since her reintegration with him she hath made her self so absolute a mistresse of his mind that he hath intrusted to her the entire conduct of all his most weighty affaires For her assistant in the managing of her greatest business she hath peeced her self to the strongest side of the State the Church having principally since the death of the Marshal D'Ancre I mean assumed to her counsels the Cardinall of Richileiu a man of no great birth were Nobility the greatest parentage but otherwise to be ranked amongst the noblest Of a sound reach he is and a close brain one exceedingly well mixt of a lay understanding and a Church habit one that is compleatly skilled in the art of men and a perfect master of his own mind and affections him the Queen useth as her Counsellour to keep out frailty and the Kings name as her countenance to keep off envie She is of a Florentine wit and hath in her all the virtues of Katharine de Medices her Ancestor in her Regency and some also of her vices only her designes tend not to the ruine of the Kingdome and her children Joan de Seirres telleth us in his Inventaire of France how the Queen Katharine suffered her son Henry III. a devout and a supple Prince to spend his most dangerous times even uncontrouled upon his beads whilest in the mean time she usurped the Government of the Realm Like it is that Queen Mary hath learned so much of her Kinswoman as to permit this son of hers to spend his time also amongst his play-fellowes and the birds that she may the more securely manage the State at her discretion And to say nothing of her untrue or misbecoming her vertue she hath notably well discharged her ambition the Realm of France being never more quietly and evenly governed then first during her Regencie and now during the time of her favour with the King For during his minority she carryed her self so fairly between the factions of the Court that she was of all sides honoured the time of this Marquesse D' Ancre only excepted and for the differences in Religion her most earnest desire was not â—o oppresse the Protestants insomuch that the war raised against them during the command of Mr. Luynes was presently after his death and her restoring into grace ended An heroicall Lady and worthy the report of posterity the frailties and weaknesse of her as a woman not being accounted hers but her sexes CHAP. II. Two Religions strugling in France like the two twins in the womb of Rebecca The comparison between them two and those in the generall A more particular survey of the Papists Church in France in Policie Priviledge and Revenue The complaint of the Clergy to the King The acknowledgment of the French Church to the Pope meerly titular The pragmatick sanction Maxima tua fatuitas and Conventui Tridentino severally written to the Pope and Trent Councell The tedious quarrell about Investitures Four things propounded by the Parliament to the Jesuites The French Bishops not to medle with Fryers their lives and land The ignorance of the French Priests The Chanoins Latine in Orleans The French not hard to be converted if plausibly bumoured c. FRom the Court of the King of France I cannot better provide for
the Enfranchisement or Naturalization of Aliens anciently certain Lords officers of the Crown and of the prime counsell were appointed to look unto the accounts Now it is made an ordinary and soveraigne Court consisting of two Presidents and divers Auditors and other under Officers The Chamber wherein it is kept called La Chambre des comptes is the beautifullest peece of the whole Palais the great Chamber it self not being worthy to be named in the same day with it It was built by Charles VIII anno 1485. afterwards adorned and beautified by Lewis XII whose Statua is there standing in his royall robes and the Scepter in his hand He is accompâ—aned by the four Cardinall vertues expressed by way of Hieroglyphicks very properly and cunningly each of them having its particular Motto to declare its being The Kings portraiture also as if he were the fifth virtue had its word under written and contained in a couple of Verses which let all that love the Muses skip them in the reading and are these Quatuor has comites foveo Coelestia dona Innccuae pacis prospera scepâ—â—a gerenâ— From the King descend we to the Subjects ab equis quod aiunt ad asinos and the phrase is not much improper the French commonalty being called the Kings asses These are divided into three ranks or Classes the Clergy the Nobles the Paisants out of which certain delegates or Committees chosen upon occasion and sent to the King did antiently concur to the making of the Supreme Court for Justice in France It was called the Assembly of the three Estates or the Conventus ordinum and was just like the Parliament of England But these meetings are now forgotten or out of use neither indeed as this time goeth can they any way advantage the State for whereas there are three principall if not sole causes of these conventions which are the desposing of the Regency during the nonage or sicknesse of a King the granting Aides and Subsidies and the redressing of Grievances there is now another course taken in them The Parliament of Paris which speaketh as it is prompted by power and greatnesse appointeth the Regent the Kings themselves with their officers determine of the Taxes and as concerning their Grievances the Kings care is open to private Petitions Thus is that little of a Common-wealth which went to the making up of this Monarchie escheated or rather devoured by the King that name alone containing in it both Clergy Princes and People So that some of the French Counsellors may say with Tully in his Oration for Marcellus unto Caesar Doleoque cum respub immortalis esse debeat eam unius mortalis anima consistere Yet I cannot withall but affirme that the Princes and Nobles of France do for as much as concerneth themselves upon all advantages flie off from the Kings obedience but all this while the poor Paisant is ruined let the poor Tenant starve or eat the bread of carefulnesse it matters not so they may have their pleasure and be counted firme zelots of the common liberty And certainly this is the issue of it the former liveth the life of a slave to maintain his Lord in pride and lazinesse the Lord liveth the life of a King to oppresse his Tenant by fines and exactions An equality little answering to the old plat-formes of Republicks Aristotle Genius ille naturae as a learned man calleth him in his fourth book of Politicks hath an excellent discourse concerning this disproportion In that Chapter his project is to have a correspondency so far between Subjects under the King or people of the same City that neither the one might be over rich nor the other too miserably poor They saith he which are too happy strong or rich or greatly favoured and the like can not nor will not obey with which evill they are infected from their infancy The other through want of these things are too abjectly minded and base so that the one cannot but command nor the other but serve And this he calleth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a City inhabited onely by Slaves and Tyrants That questionlesse is the most perfect and compleat forme of Government Ubi veneratur protentem humilis non timet antecedit non contemnit humiliorem potens as Velleius But this is an unhappinesse of which France is not capable their Lords being Kings and their Commons Villains And not to say lesse of them then indeed they are the Princes of this Countrey are but little inferiour in matter of Royalty to any King abroad and by consequence little respective in matter of obedience to their own King at home Upon the least discontent they withdraw themselves from the Court or put themselves into armes and of all other comforts are ever sure of this that they shall never want partizans Neither do they use to stand off from him fearfully and at distance but justifie their revolt by publick Declaration and think the King much indebted to them if upon fair terms and an honourable reconcilement they will please to put themselves again into his obedience Henry IV. was a Prince of as undaunted and uncontroulable a spirit as ever any of his predecessors and one that loved to be obeyed yet was he also very frequently baffled by these Roytelets and at the last dyed in an affront The Prince of Conde perceiving the Kings affection to his new Lady began to grow jealous of him for which reason he retired unto Bruxells the King offended at his retreat sent after him and commanded him home The Prince returned answer that he was the Kings most humble Subject and servant but into France he would not come unlesse he might have a Town for his assurance withall he protested in publick writing a nullity of any thing that should be done to his prejudice in his absence A stomachfull resolution and misbecoming a Subject yet in this opposition he persisted his humor of disobedience out-living the King whom he had thus affronted But these tricks are ordinary here otherwise a man might have construed this action by the term of Rebellion The chief means whereby these Princes become so head strong are an immunity given them by their Kings and a liberty which they have taken to themselves By their Kings they have been absolutely exempted from all Tributes Tolles Taxes Customes Impositions and Subsidies By them also they have been estated in whole entire Provinces with a power of haute and main Justice as the Lawyers term it passed over to them the Kings having scarce an homage or acknowledgment of them To this they have added much for their strength and security by the insconcing and fortifying of their houses which both often moveth and afterwards inableth them to contemn his Majesty An example we have of this in the Castle of Rochfort belonging to the Duke of Tremoville which in the long Civill wars endured a siege of 5000 shot and yet was not taken A very impolitick course in my conceit
Of these Alliances the first were very profitable to both Princes could there be made a marriage between the Kingdoms as well as the Kings But it is well known that the affections of each people are divided with more unconquerable mountains then their Dominions The French extreamly hating the proud humor and ambition of the Spaniard and the Spaniard as much loathing the vain and unconstant lightnesse of the French we may therefore account each of them in these inter-marriages to have rather intended the perpetuity of their particular houses then the strength of their Empires and that they more desired a noble stock wherein to graft posterity then power The Alliance with Savoy is more advantagious though lesse powerfull then that of Spain for if the King of France can keep this Prince on his party he need not fear the greatnesse of the other or of any of his faction The continuall siding of this house with that of Austria having given great and many impediments to the fortune of the French It standeth so fitly to countenance the affaires of either King in Italy or Germany to which it shall encline that it is just of the same nature with the state of Florence between Millaine and Venice of which Guicciardine saith that Mantennero le cose d' Italia bilanciate On this reason Henry IV. earnestly desired to match one of his children into this Countrey and left this desire as a Legacy with his Councell But the Alliance of most use to the State of France is that of England as being the nighest and most able of all his neighbours an alliance which will make his estate invincible and encompassed about as it were with a wall of brasse As for the Kings bastard Brethren they are four in number and born of three severall beds The elder is Alexander made Knight of the Order of St. John or of Malta in the life time of his Father He is now Grand Prior of France and it is much laboured and hoped by the French that he shall be the next Master of the Order a place of great credit and command The second and most loved of his father whose lively image and character he is said to be is Mr. Cesar made Duke of Vendosme by his father and at this time Governour of Britain a man of a brave spirit and one who swayeth much in the affairs of state his father took a great care for his advancement before his death and therefore marryed him to the daughter and heir of the Duke of Mercuer a man of great possessions in Britain It is thought that the inheritance of this Lady both by her Fathers side and also by the Mothers who was of the family of Martiques being a stock of the old Ducall tree is no lesse then 200000 crownes yearly both these were borne unto the King by Madam Gabriele for her excellent beauty surnamed La belle Dutchesse of Beauforte a Lady whom the King entirely affected even to her last gaspe and one who never abused her power with him So that one may truly say of her what Velleius flatteringly spake of Liviae the wife of Augustus Ejus potentiam nemo sensit nisi aut levatione periculi aut accessione dignitatis The third of the Kings naturall brethren is Mr. Henry now Bishop of Metz in Lorreine and Abbot of St. Germans in Paris as Abbot he is Lord of the goodly Fauxbourg of St. Germans and hath the profit of the great Fair there holden which make a large revenue His Bishoprick yeeldeth him the profits of 20000 Crowns and upwards which is the remainder of 6000 the rest being paâ—ned unto the Duke of Lorreine by the last Bishop hereof who was of that Family The mother of this Mr. Henry is the Marchionesse of Verneville who before the death of the King fell out of his favour into the Prison and was not restored to her liberty till the beginning of this Queen mothers Regency The fourth and youngest is Mr. Antonie born unto the King by the Countesse of Marret who is Abbot of the Churches of Marseilles and Cane and hath as yet not fully out 6000 l. a year when his mother dyeth he will be richer The Kings lawfull Brother is named John Baptist Gaston born the 25 of Aprill anno 1608 a Prince of a brave and manlike aspect likely to inherit as large a part of his Fathers spirit as the King doth of his Crown He is intituled Duke of Anjou as being the third Son of France but his next elder Brother the Duke of Orleans being dead in his childhood he is vulgarly and properly called Monseiur This title is different from that of Daulphin in that that title only is appropriated to the Heir Apparent being the Kings eldest Son living this limited to the Heir Apparent being the Kings eldest Brother surviving if there be neither Son nor Brother then the next Heir Apparent is styled only Le primier Prince du sang the first Prince of the bloud This title of Monseiur answereth unto that of Despote in the Greek Empire and in imitation of that is thought to have been instituted Others of the French Princes are called Monseiurs also but with some addition of place or honour The Kings eldest Brother only is called Monseiur sans qâ—â—ne as the French use to say that is simply Monseiur This young Prince is as yet unmarryed but destinate to the bed of the young Dutchesse of Montpensier whose Father dyed in the time of Henry IV. Had the Duke of Orleans lived he had espoused her long ere this but it is generally believed that this Prince is not so affected he seeth his elder Brother as yet childlesse himself the next heir to the Crown and it is likely he will look on a while and expect the issue of his fortune Some that speak of the affairs of the Court holdeth her a fitter match for the young Count of Soissons a Prince of the bloud and a Gentleman of a fine temper the Lady her self is said not to be averse from the match neither will the King not be inclinable unto him as hoping therein to give him some satisfaction for not performing a Court promise made unto him as some say about marrying the young Madam now Queen of England As for the Count it cannot but be advantagious to him divers wayes partly to joyne together the two families of Montpensier and Soissons both issuing from the house of Burbon partly to enrich himself by adding to his inheritance so fair an Estate and partly by gaining all the friends and allies of that Ladies kindred to his the better to enable his opposition against the Prince of Conde the difference between them standeth thus Lewis the first Prince of Conde had by two wives amongst other children two Sons by his first wife Henry Prince of Conde by the second Charles Count of Soissons Henry Prince of Conde had to his first wife Mary of Cleve daughter to the Duke