enable my Relation and make the infinite worth of the Duke more famous are not by me recounted in this present worke because that I having written it I call God to witnesse without his consent I reputed it not convenient to publish them to view without authority from him that performed them but it doth me good neverthelesse to believe that he will one day be pleased that some more eminent pen then mine shall divulge them to the world not to defraud him of the glory of being the first to informe Favourites how to serve their Prince and Princes how to governe their people He that shall write as the Duke did will discover a knowledge of the great good inclination in his Master and declare himself to be a faithfull Favourite To with hold Princes from businesse may be a laudable effect but alwaies of a blame-worthy occasion if prudence produce it it is an ill signe for the Prince if sagaeity it it is worse for the Favourite because it alwaies intimates the one wicked the other unable There have been some that have deem'd it an irrevocable maxime for Favourites to estrange Princes from all manner of businesse but it may be that they peradventure have thought it ought to be so because they have found it done so they would have one draught serve to one species in a world wherein nature hath not made any thing originall that is not different to give excellent precepts to one that never was excellent and hath too too much strayed from the right is a sure destroying of him Hee is not at the first capable of more then of an indifferent good he must be first healed and then perfected there is no doubt but that a Favourite who feares not his Prince as he ought doth utterly ruine himself if he suffer his manner of proceeding to be corrected or if he let his Prince come into action The good old man of Chio said that when a Physitian met with a contagious distemper he was not on the sudden to reduce it to what it should be but to what it was at the first because to that then it ought to come Nature which does help to expell a worse distemper then its owne doth resist to bring in a better It might peradventure be credible that that Master would have inferred this who did desire a Tyrant indifferently good not that he should stay there but because he imagined that he could not at the first be reduced to a superlative without his ruine The examples of this most wise Favourite would bee of no use to the vigilant Sound mens food is most dangerous for the sicke Necessity of state importuning Taxes and the Duke knowing how much it grieved the people to see their contributions given away he writ a Discourse to his Majestie wherein he discovered the great errour that Princes ran into that proceeding and that there was not wanting to his Majestie Habits Orders Honours Offices Degrees and Greatnesse to satisfie the merits of the Worthy without either distasting the subject or impoverishing the Exchequer This counsell was the occasion that the King began ro remunerate his deserving subjects or the deservings of his subjects with honours and dignities Riches are not the pay of worth they are the wages of labour he that buyes it vilifies himself he that sells it is vile already The operation of worth produceth its reward for it produceth honours and he that hath it can pretend nothing more then some markes that he hath it Of this condition are Greatnesse Titles Orders Habits and of this nature were the City Crownes the Collars and the Triumphs of the Ancients Such rewards if they grow common give no honours nay rather they loose that they have when they are bestowed on such as have it not There was a time when rewarding did not emptie the Kings Coffers and it was a time fertile in worthy men they were most rewarded who were least rewarded Honour was then a very great price and the price of vertue only But when that which was a price began to be at a price it lost value and made men loose their courages so that honour and worth became both mercenary and men lusted rather after the wealths that bought them then after the qualities that got them The originall of so much errour and confusion was derived from such Princes that were needy and poore and thereupon gave more honour to the wealthy then the worthy but these would not have had need of riches if they had not made them necessary with taking away the reputatiouâ— of worth The Spartans were a while without gold and the first Romanes if they had it did not adore it States have many times encreased with money but never without valour It may be it did not concerne Kings to keep it in credit such are not the most valarous but the richest they have given reputation to what they alwaies have to assure them of that which sometimes they have not The Prince of Wales went into Spaine to get the Infanta Maria to wife and for some other respects of the Palatine his Brother in law When the Lord Duke stood firme upon this resolution that when the King of England should in his Kingdome grant all that in favour of the Catholike Religion without which there was no probability of a match that then the Catholike Nation should accord to all that that the conveniency of State required nor would he â—ver depart from this Catholike vow although he well enough understood that if the King of England would not consent to this proposition as he did manifestly declare he would not the issue that he insisted upon with a potent King to the enemies of the house of Austria and that he did foresee Warrs which would more load the Favourite then any man else because they take from him the commodity of enjoying the degree that he doth possesse and oppresse him with turmoyles cares and necessities that attend them This Counsell was the counsell of the Duke and the counsell and the Duke are worthy of the highest praise hath no need of my pen I doe here lye downe with all reverence and humility at the feet of Pope Vrban our Lord and as I have been confident to be able securely to goe on in the way of commendations of the Duke enlightned by his great splendour which in many things cannot erre and in those he can he will not So likewise have I been willing to participate the Ray of it to others to strengthen their sight that see and to illuminate them that see not and confound them that will not see Then did his holinesse write a Letter to the Lord Duke the contents whereof translated into Italian sounds as you here may heare To the beloved Sonne and Noble Lord the Earle of OLIVAREZ Vrban the Pope 8. NOBLE Lord and beloved Sonne health and Apostolicall benediction The Common report of the Monarchie of Spaine drives such an applause
to the Counsells of your Nobility that that serves for Authority to your person which is its felicity in as much as fame the messenger of truth conceales not the praises of the Lord Duke Olivarez but by publishing your vertues fills all Europe and comforts the Church of Rome Wee truly who long before this have had notice of your Noblenesse are hardly to expresse with what comfort of heart wee have now heard by our beloved Sonne Father Zachary a Capuchin how much more you esteem a good report then riches believing that an affection for the propagation of the Faith is the fortification of the power of Spaine and the greatest honour of the Catholike King And hee affirmes that the Counsells of your zeale are such that they assure the patronage of Heaven to your family and perpetuall felicity to the Kingdomes of Spaine in as much as it is published that you have given such instructions of Christian piety in the businesse of the mariage with England that forraine Princes may learne from you with what great vertues the Chatholike Religion adornes her sonnes withall in whom the glory of the Name of God hath a greater sway then the encrease of any humane power These praises thus confirm'd by the testimonie of so good a Priest did give so much consolation to the cares of our dignity that We have been pleased to notifie it by our Apostolike Letters Proceed on worthy Lord take such paines that the inseparable Nations of the Spanish Empire may know the publike welfare the Ecclesiastick Iurisdiction and the Authority of the Noblenesse upon which We bestowe Our Apostolicall Benediction From St Peters in Rome under the Seale of the Piscator the 27th of Ap. in the yeare of our Pontificate the first and of the Lord 1624. Iohan. Champele The Prince of Wales being but ill satisfied and returned into England joyn'd himself with other of the Emulours and enemies of the King in the League of Avignion the Articles whereof were that the Hollanders should set upon Brasile that the Army of France with the assistance of the Duke of Savoy should fall upon the State of Genoa and that the King of England should goe with a Fleet for a designe upon Cales that the King of Denmark with Protestant Associats should infest the Empire that the Venetians should furnish the Duke of Savoy with money and the Grizons with money and munition to make an inrode upon the Valteline that a peace should be procured between the Turks and the Persian that the Turke might enter by the way of Hungary and Bethlem Gabor by Transilvania that the Hollanders should send Cannons and Cannoniers to the Moores of Affricke that they might beseige Mamora and Larachy All these stormes were dispers'd first by the breath of God then by the prudence of the Catholike King and by the counsell and providence of the Lord Duke there was a Fleet supplied in Brasile which recovered the Sconce whereof the Hollanders were Masters in the Bay of All Saints two Armies relieved Genoa and the Valteline the one set at large that which was at the last gaspe the other did maintaine in the Valteline the Catholike Religion The Englishmen were expected with so furnished a preparation that after they of Cales had killed some five thousand of them the rest returned home wearie and afflicted The Hollanders did loose Breda The King of Denmarke was beaten in a battle and betook himself to his trenches The Affricans were repulsed from Mamora and Carachy with a great losse After which successes there was a peace made whereby the Church obtain'd great authority the Catholike King great applause and the Lord Duke no small reputation When Leagues thrive Iealousie breakes them when they doe not thrive feare breakes them but they seldome overcome if they doe it not in an instant they have large forces but not long in regard that they are for the most part composed of ordinary powers and Warrs do quickly consume their treasures but it is not so with Monarchs A League is a body of a facile corruption it often resolves into the first matter and that abandoned it remaines but an empty power Many Sciences and Arts have one and the same object but never considered after one and the same manner and howsoever they accord to move toward it yet they agree not in the operation The Tailor goes to the same body that the Philosopher doth but when hee hath cloth'd it he leaves it because it is not ever to be cloath'd The Physitian goes likewise to the same body and when he hath healed it he goes his way because it is not alwaies to be cured The Philosopher alwaies stands fast there because it is alwaies moveable So in Leagues all have power for the object but by a diverse manner some because they receive hurt by it some because they feare it some because they envie it The first being quit from hurt they goe away because it is not alwaies hurtfull the second secured from feare they goe away because it is not alwaies fearefull so that at the last there remaines none but the last which doe alwaies envie it because it is alwaies to be envied The King would have given the Lord Duke a great Donative and would likewise have authoriz'd him to have transported from new Spaine into China a ship laden with marchandize an advantage which would have been of great commodity to him but of an answerable damage to the inhabitants of Spaine The Duke did accept of neither because he would not transgresse his established rule I conceive this so necessary an action and so concerning his reputation that I should not commend it if the ignorance of many that have not so known it did not proclaime it admirable The act is so profitatable that he who is not perswaded to it by prudence is to suffer himself to be brought to it by prevision To accept of what accepted incurres blame and what refused merits glory is a testimony either of basenesse or foolishnesse Worldly men that are not of this Alloy walke to the Temple of glory but the passage is so steep that they have need of a Waggon Some have recourse the Chariot of worth and some to the Cart of riches whereupon it comes to passe that as they are to be borne withall who seek them to make themselves glorious so are they to be reprehended who hunt after them to make themselves be blamed The Lord Duke forbeares not to take the stipends belonging to his Offices which he personally performes not applauding that drynesse of the conceites of those morrall men that blame riches Vertue I speak now of morall vertue doth not consist in being poor but in making ones self poor He doth not adore but despiseth money that spends it he that would not be rich is an un profitable poor man and a cruell fool He that casts riches into the sea is a poor vaine man and an envious fool He that possesseth wealth
to the Prince when the King was like to die The first Counsell bee gave the King was to call home from exile many worthy men He bestowed upon his Vncle the charge of State businesse reserving to himselfe the care of the Kings person and charge of his house He left the Duke of Ossuna his kinsman in the hands of justice and Don Roderigo He placed none of his kindred in the Kings service but such as were worthy Hee bestowed the Lievetenantship of Castile upon an excellent man He put away his servant for recommending a businesse to one of his Officers He quickned the Law against Riots in Spaine He procured the King to joyne three men of excellent abilities with him as assistants Hee perswaded the King to forbeare taxing the people and to remember well deserving men with offices honours and titles His advise to the King when the Prince of Wales went into Spaine Pope Urbans Letter to Count Olivares The Prince of Wales returne to England discontented and the effects thereof By Guzmans care the Spaniards had good successe in Brasil and else where He refuseth the Kings donative and to transport a ship with merchandise to China He accepts of the stipends belonging to his Offices He provides a remedy against the delay in the promotions of Counsells He intercedes to the King for old officers to be dismissed and rewarded He had but one onely Daughter The Kings answer to him about the marriage of his Daughter He marries his Daughter to the Marquesse of Torall she was brought to bed of a dead child and dyed her selfe His care of the King in his sicknesse He spent 16. houres every day in the Kings service reserving onely eight for himselfe He advanceth the Cardinall of Tresco to be President of Castile against the opinion of his friends He counsels the King to cry downe the brasse-money of Spain to halfe the worth He prudently manages the businesse of the Kings Revenues He caused some rivers to be made navigable and some veines of gold to be found in Spaine Hee counselled the King to assist the French with a Fleet against Rochell He reserved the rewards of warre bestowed upon him to helpe deserving men in their necessities He was very easie to pardon injuries against himselfe as he shewed in pardoning the man that would have pistolled him When offices and dignities were to be distributed he came seldome to the counsell He caused a little window to be made in all places of Counsells to make Counsellours the more wary He intreated the King to read the stories of his predecessours and told him that one of them did ill in depending too much upon his Favourite He punished Libellers and Satyrists against the King but not against himselfe He gave no audience to women and assures maids and widdowes that few lines under their hand should prevaile more with him then the sight of their persons He was no obstinate maintainer of his â—wne opinions His Speech to Don Francisco of Conâ—reras His carriage towards the Duke of Ascot who was sent by the Infanta in the â—roubles of Flanders into Spaine He convinced the Duke of Ascot by shewing him the Infanta's Letter He humbly desires the King to excuse the errour of the Duke of Ascot THE POVRTRAIT OF THE Politick Christian Favourite Originally Drawn from some of the actions of the Lord Duke of St. Lucar Written to the Catholick Majestie of PHILIP the Great and the 4th of that name I Write unto your Majesty rather of your Majesty I write of your Favourite it is said that Moses spake with God in the Mount and yet there are that believe that he spake with an Angel sometimes Angels are the figures of God with us Favourites the figures of Angels with Princes Princes of God with men that magnanimous Heroe whose stupendious victories did not violently take away did give when he saw the prostrate prisoner Queen at the foot of his chariot did value himself able to make Alexanders an errour in it self glorious which his greatnesse mounted already to so sublime a degree did manifest If amongst Authors of an admired Classis there hath been any one found that reputed a Prince praise-worthy because he had a minister worthy of praise how much more is your Majesties due who hath a servant of great condition one that you have elected and made What glorious action shall I recount wherein thy great Favourite may not acknowledge you the actour either because you have concurred with your assistance or because you have given an influence with your grace or have dictated nay animated it by your wisedome and greatnesse In this subject great Potentate I will figure out your image not the true one but the likest God did not disdain to see himself shaped under the semblance of a man and worshipped not because man can be his Image but because he made him after his Image Laborious it is but it is profitable to Register the egregious performances of men in being They wound and they heale and where they heale they also wound Their resounding doth awaken reprove stirre up and leaves no place for sloathfulnesse to passe the time idly away in the laments of the time If one man of vallue be borne the fame of that one produceth a thousand for if she being fruitfull should not bring forth the world would be now one only mans because he being sterill would not have produced so much as one The glory of those that are past like the King of Bees hath Majestie and greatnesse but hath no sting It wounds not it inanimats not disanimats if it be examined because it hath no soule it makes humane condition lamentable that glory dispicable which being neither enjoyed by the soule nor perceived by the carcase doth first remaine vaine with the body and then without it vainest of all It is an accident will accost a substance and where the substance dies if it be it works not The Actions of Predecessours that they may be praised require no more then to bee flourishingly related it is with them as with pictures for it is sufficient if they be but master-like painted no consideration is had whether the Actions be true or the Pictures bee like in as much as the Acts of the Ancients are not knowne nor the Originalls of the draughts are not seen but he that writes the deeds or drawes the picture of one that is alive let him look for censure and that from the weakest since papers have no soules and cloathes no tongues Men are sometimes without eyes nay though they have them they see not colour because they have them not without colour Every one judgeth of every one that writes according to his owne affection one shewes himself a flatterer and another malicious I doe professe it is true to be infinitely oblig'd to this exalted Heroe but it shall never be discovered that I rather sordidly defile then faithfully satisfie that obligation which as it is
policy doth not bend sometimes and the thin doth sometimes breake the way of the one is broader but is longer it seemes more secure because if it precipitate it doth it leisurely if it arrive it arrives likewise slowly the other is shorter but it is slippery and sometimes precipitates speedily and so likewise comes sometimes to the end this cannot be learned in bookes it requires many circumstances and who so wants one of them wants a foot if he slip he falls He that will performe it must necessarily know how to produce it of himselfe because it requires a great power of the understanding and a great strength of knowledge of how much is to be done and when it is to be done There is a rule in policy that men cannot be brought into howsoever otherwise very able if they be not dependants it is a grosse kind of policy which avoids present danger but not blame and that puts the future into a peradventure if it happen that a businesse shipwrack which hath been taken out of the hand of some able man to give it to a dependant although fortune have all the share in it yet is it given to Election and the losse of credit sometimes of favour is the consequent There is another rule which able men may come to though they be not dependants or friends and this is a subtile policy which assures against dangers and produceth praise but it requires a great eye to see it and a greater to manage it When he is not our friend that is friend to another that is not our friend his not loving us is not to be hated for where he loves not he loves not because he loves his not being a friend is accessory in him he followeth the nature of the Principal So soon as the one ceaseth to be the other gives over loving but where there is enmity enmity proceeds from a bad nature it ought not to be benefitted with losse and it may be given over without shame because the malignity which would put the benefit in danger doth secure from blame it is very odious to all it brings not forth worth but destroyes it it would be likewise avoided of all if it were not that many seeke rather to beate downe then to build Spaine which did enrich other Provinces with gold and silver was grown so meanely poore by the disorderly value of brasse money that trading was now in part given over among the Provincials and wholly left of by strangers which was occasioned not by the moneys coyn'd by the King but by a masse of false money brought in by Enemies when the Duke resolutely though resisted with great obstinacy by the most part of the Officers did councell the King to cry it down to halfe the worth which put in practice to the benefit of the people made them hasten to erect a statue to the providence of their most loving Soveraigne not without honourable mention of the Lord Duke The profit of the Prince in such an errour holds no proportion with the losse of the subject it hinders traffick with strangers and difficults it among his home merchants where the profit is great there will not be wanting some that will adventure to falsify coyne whence it is that afterward in the computation of the money he doth find the losse greater then that which he hath made there was a Common-wealth that liv'd a long time with leather money but their lawes did admit of no strangers so that here they destroy'd no traffique they did tolerate no excesse and by these two they did hinder falsification of money A State that could have no necessity of trading with strangers and a Prince that could find means to assure himselfe from coyners either in regard of some speciall materiall or that he could find an indiscoverable or inimitable forme from others he might be able without detriment to his subjects either to that matter or that forme or likewise to some other matter that is far more vile then gold give the value of gold but because stamps are easily imitated it is necessary to have recourse to such a materiall as is not easily found and that which is every where dispersed not to hinder commerce and to be secured from counterfeiters It is by accident that gold is of such value rare it is because it is rare Christall is likewise beautifull cleare and transparent if Gold be like the Sun Christall is like the Skye the brittlenesse of it doth not villify the worth nor take away the beauty but rather increaseth the respect the Pearle which is more brittle then gold and for its originall is not more noble being the daughter of the Moone and Water is more precious then gold but if that Gold be like the Sun and that the Sun be the principall Agent here below and that the Agent endeavours alwaies to make that which it makes like it selfe why doth it make the mettall so seldome why doth it not produce more gold then lead It may be the Sunne is not so powerfull an Agent as man thinkes it is it is hindred by the obscure matter in which it works it is resisted by the gravenesse and coldnesse of the earth against which it workes for if one of these Agents were alwaies superiour to the other the Heavenâ— would either have become by this time wholly Earth or the Earth wholly Heaven or if they should be alwayes and in every place of equall strength there would be no generation It is therefore no wonder if gold be so scarce in the world because it is not produced without a great victory and that is not obtain'd without great resistance because the Earth takes great care that the Characters of her enemy may not be produced out of her bosome Phillip the fourth found his revenues at â—awne and yet though he had greater wars and greater expences then his father and his grandfather the cleare proceeding and order of the Duke hath in such sort managed the businesse of his demeanes that the Majesty of this great King hath been able to oppresse the Enemies of God defend his Estates reputation without greater impawning I cannot in this place dissemble the knowing of what they say that are ill affected whilest they accuse the prudence of the most wise Catholique King and the Counsels of his Favourite because some Forts are lost in Flanders because they have had so many wars with Italy and Germany as if wisedome could overcome Envy and the occasion of jealousie be separated from greatnesse If Phillip the second to hinder France only from being hereticall may as it were affirme that he lost Flanders Why is Phillip the fourth to be blamed if he did leave the Armies in Flanders weak to defend the Religion and likewise the estates of the Princes of his bloud and that there are not rather some glorious Encomions published in his commendation that may call him the disinteressed Defender of the Faith the
enrich but few but they empty the store that must be restored by the impoverishnesse of all The most Christian King of France had besieged Rochell and suspecting that it would have been relieved by the King of England he did by the means of the Marquesse Ramboulle his Ambassadour Extraordinary demand a Navy from Phillip the fourth whereto the Councell of the Duke advising it was consented him and was an Act of great honour by delivering France from so long an oppression with so much commodity to the Catholike Faith It was thought that the Duke erred in reason of state in preferring the service of God to that of the King but he cannot erre in the service of the Catholike King that erres not in the service of God if any impious man hath in his Instructions seperated the reason of State from that of God yet are they so conjoyn'd in the concernings of this King that no distinction of any understanding can disjoyn them God who hath manifested unto us his Election of this Family for the defence of his Religion hath not left a place that it may be taken away by the quicknesse of spirit so that if some Officer of small or no Religion should by chance spring up he could do no hurt but to himself with his wicked intention finding himselfe thrust on by a nimblenesse of spirit to those actions which cloathed with the zeale of God would be laudable parts of prudence but in the examination of reason of State I conclude it to be necessarily that of the Devill when it is seperated from that of the Lord I believe that Lucifer had no intention to raise himself to such a height as to be above God for then he would not have had an intention to dissolve the Vnity but to betterit which he by the naturall gift only of science did know to be impossible He then had a thought to exalt himself by withdrawing himself aside and so going from one to make the number of two upon which afterward as upon a Center he did designe his Circumference diverse from that of God nor could he go from the one but that he must be bad because all that is good is One God drawing a line from his Circumference did to make the number of three create man the Devill likewise thrust out a line from his circumference to make the number of foure and did seduce him God who would not leave man in the hands of the Devill came to redeem him and made the number of five and although he did not take away from him the excitement that seduceth him towards the number of two yet he gave him the grace that reduced him towards the One whereupon man remained free not being able to designe a Circumference upon himselfe because there is no other Circumference to be given then of the One and of the Two nothing els being found but good or evil to determine it Operating well upon the Centre of the one and operating ill upon the Centre of the Two As there are two Circumferences so are there two reasons of State the one of God the other of the Devill that of God is to come neare to God to be great that of the Devill is to go far from God to make himselfe great what discourse then of a religious understanding shall ever deterre us from the spoiling the nest of the Heretiques if we be able to do it He that can do it and doth it not doth sin and doth inlarge as much as in him lies the Circumference of the Devill He that can do it and doth it doth enlarge by what is in his power the circumference of God Have sins power to defend States and merrits power to destroy them Oh King oh Grandee oh Catholique what thing think you can defend your Kingdomes not your treasures not the Armies it is God defends them because you have defended him because you do defend him and that you may defend him Don Emanuell of Merveses Generall of the Fleet of Lisbone wanting sufficient means to maintain him at Court to defend him from some oppositions advertis'd about the discharge of his trust was resolv'd to be gone leave a Deputy which the Duke perceiving by him when he went to get leave of him did not consent that he should depart with dammage to his reputation and yet being unwilling to hinder the course of justice did offer himselfe to his assistance as he did in effect to his purse so did this magnanimous Fauourite reserve the rewards that were bestowed upon him to helpe deserving men upon their occasions It is a more blessed thing to give then to receive and peradventure the reason is because he that hath the commodity of giving is more happy then he that hath the necessity of receiving most happy then is he that gives and not receives He that receives and gives is not the man that gives but he that gave it him such as are inflexible in receiving are so likewise in giving the selfe-same severity that they use against themselves makes them little charitable towards others the Lord Duke was able to have relieved an Officer of so great merit with that which was his of whom he had well deserved but he desired to do it with his own because he was a well deserver of the King A Favourite is to esteem the service done to his Prince as done to him and to repute himselfe obliged to whom the King is if he gives to him that hath served well he merits for those works that he hath not done but rewarded he should prize his goods more then his life more then his understanding more then himselfe that would wast himselfe and not his Estate in the Kings service the part of giving is as hard as part of receiving he that receives every thing is too covetous he that takes nothing is too severe he that gives alwaies is too prodigall and he that never gives is too miserable The Rhetorician that thought it a difficult thing to perswade a Judge to give what was his own and to be no hard matter to winne him to give what was another mans would have been upon a false ground with the Duke Oh the gallant and true magnanimity of a Favourite who helpes by liberality where he cannot by justice and will rather be a looser himselfe that he may winne who is to loose then that justice should lose who is alwaies to overcome the Subjects that have worth in them may contend with certainty of reward when they serve a Monarch whose Favourite is such an one that if he do not intercede to the King for them he gives like a King to them who will believe that a man will not be liberall of another mans purse when he is franke of his own when he is to be so I was about to say when he needs not be so I will say when he cannot be Never was there a Favourite so courteous in Audiences so
sensitive they have a reasonable soule Wild Beaits destroy led on by their senses but men do it guided indeed by their senses likewise by reason ill directed by the sense amongst such things as are under the Circle of the Moone they alwaies become the worst that were the most perfect In the distribution of offices and dignities the Lord Duke came seldome to the Councell and oftentimes jumped with the people in knowing who was to be elected when he is to be elected And this course doth not he only but the King likewise strictly observes in Ecclesiasticall offices laying that burden upon the shoulders of his Confessours to choose such as are propounded by the Councell though there be every moneth such a quantity of them provided that it amounts to a hundred thousand crownes revennue All states yea Tyrannies are govern'd by an Aristocracy for if the Magistrates doe it not the Officers doe and they for Masse are a Common-wealth The Favourite is the Dictatour if he doe nothing he becomes nothing if he do every thing he savours of a Tyrant What matter is it or of what consequence for him to choose Offices for all it serves well enough that such as choose have chosen for then is he assured that such shall be elected as he himself would have chosen He is quitted from the hatred of such as are left out and looseth not the obligation of those that are elected for they are sufficiently oblig'd to him in that they were not hindered by him and that which is best of all he is safe from the danger of not having well elected It is very hard to know the ability of persons thereby to rest confident in election Experience deceives us and reason cannot teach it Every Science to be well learned and every office to be well discharged requires a particular quality of the braine and so as one mans being eminent in a Science is rather a certain signe of weaknesse then of ability in others so the managing of one employment with prudence doth not conclude the same fidelity in others that are not the same Nature when she makes one only thing she makes it for one only end she is not as the Philosopher said like the Delphick Smith whose knife did cut and saw and bore Either a witty Tyrant knew this or a subtle Politician made him say it when he left it written That many who are sent into commands appeare diverse from what was hoped or feared some of them are â—â—eightned by the greatnesse of employment and others disgraced which doth not only proceed by a glancing quality of the braine but likewise sometimes through the inequality of the businesse A man of great abilities thrust upon an inferiour businesse despiseth it regards it not is carelesse of it and that man brought to great affaires makes it appear he was lesse then the least because he was greater Others of a small Alloy being employ'd in poore affaires and therein wholy intent come out with much applause but advanced to greater they do fall to ruine and manifest that the felicity which they had in the small matters was not the greatnesse of their parts but the sutable equality to their capacities That Tyrant did desire this part in his Officers and that Polititian knew it for excellent when he did command a subject not for his being superiour but because he was equall to businesse The Lord Duke to the end that the Counsellours should alwaies be wary and dilligent in the well performing of their duties made a little window to be made in all the places of Councells where though the King could not sometimes be present yet that they might alwaies doubt he might be there A Prince hath a similitude to God though infinitely inferiour and yet man makes him as it were superiour whilst he is carefull not to transgresse because it may be the Prince may be there but takes no care at all though the Lord is there as if he did doubt of that which is certain and were certain of that which he doubteth He that durst not offend in the presence of Cato did audaciously offend in the presence of God I give not this as a signe of an annihilated faith but an asswaged faith it is a point that should be taught children before they know sinne to the end they should not sin because they should know they did it in the sight of God it may be the having sinned without shame would not take away the shame of sinne It is a great matter to consider that the quantity of offences encreasetâ— the confidence of offending whereas 〈◊〉 should encrease the feare because it encreaseth the offences But all our Errours proceed from our ignorance Man cannot see God alive man knowes that God is what he is but he knowes not that which he is because in this world he doth not see him as he is I doe not therefore wonder that the Prophet called his sinnes by the name of ignorances He did intreat his King upon his knees that he would encrease his Talent not only by his experience which by his continuall practice in businesse he had gained but by his reading of the stories of his predecessours the King followed his counsell and one day as he was reading he fell into a large commendation of one King in especiall to whom the Duke replied that he would have been much more worthy of praise had he not suffered himselfe to be so much governed by his Favourite It was given as an excellent counsell to Nero to the end he might suppresse Seneca to shew him who was his Master that his predecessours were most powerfull Doctours to instruct him the Lord Duke likewise to the end that none should give the counsell against him did blame that King to his Majesty because he suffered himselfe to be led by his Favourite as by a Master making it appeare to him that his fore-Fathers are fit to instruct him and therefore intreates him to read the story of his Family Nicholas Machiavell he would have men have recourse to Ancient rather then Modern Writers he said that if we make use of the learnings of the Antient for Physick if of their Lawes for judgmeâ—t if of their Statutes for imitation why should we not serve our turnes likewise with them by imitation of their Actions which is not a thing impossible to be done in as much as neither the Heavens the Elements nor men have changed their motion order or manners I for my part and I desire pardon am of a contrary opinion yet do not I say that men are changed I rather say they are not changed in Specie or the Individualls yet are the actions changed which are not of the Species but of the Individualls the quality and quantity of meats being now in our times altered and changed have made them excusable who have written Aphorismes that once were true but now are false and this alteration hath had great power
an enemy that toucheth a mans reputation and iâ—rites him to infamy this is not a conceit but a truth that I write and yet are men oftentimes deceived with it running to what is false under the appearance of what is good Tyrants have been the occasion of that great errour who by means of their wickednesse have made the revealing of conspiracies an infamy the plotting of them a glory It may too that Princes have co-operated in the work by suffering them to come abroad imbroydered with Encomions therein publishing that Conspiracies are good if Princes be bad how much better had it been to have made it utterly detestable then to leave it in the breast of the passions of men to judge first of the Prince and then of the conspiracies our religion hath in part provided for it such as have impugned the Authority of the Pope being unwilling to have it in his hands to declare who are friends either have a desire to be or would have a power to be or else are already Tyrants they know not certainly what the reason of State is which though Religion move them not that ought to move them should not only have a power to make them believe this infallible truth but that they should likewise makeit be believed by the Subjects to the end that whereas there are now so many Tribunals of Subjects that judge of the Prince and so answerable to that judgment legitimate or illegitimate conspiracy it might be brought to one only just Tribunall which is the Tribunall of the Vicar of God The King examined the Duke of Ascot twice more rather like a Brother then a Soveraigne and he still holding himselfe to his first tale the Lord Duke was desirous to talk with him himselfe once again in the presence of the Duke of Atra and the President of Castile to whom the Duke of Ascot answering that he had told what he knew and what the Infanta would have testified for a truth had she beene now alive the Duke that he might convince him shew'd him the letter of the Infanta at which he was astonished not being able to recover himselfe the King hereupon was inforced to commit him into hold with all the commodities that were possible when the Duke of Ascot reflecting upon the Letter of the Infanta and knowing the bounds of necessity writ a letter to the Duke as to the man whom he had alwaies known well affected towards him wherein he did unfold as much as was desired to be known the Duke carried it to the King without opening it and then upon his knees did humbly beseech him to excuse the error of the Duke of Ascot as a thing that proceeded from a false opinion not from any ill will and in the mean time he took the leave to make his sword be restored him that it might appeare he was not restrain'd for his own fault and he gave order that there should be an Edict of pardon published in Flanders for all such as had not made themselves guilty by discovering themselves The Scruples of honour whereby Subjects doe sometimes distast Princes are rather worthy of compassion then chastisement what ill will be feared from an honourable man the subject can do no harme to his Prince if he be not infamous then ought the Prince as a Physitian to use the sick party roughly not to kill him but to heale him when a man doth any thing for the honour of zeale only he works not by his own will lesse against his will but out of his will for that that perswades him is not in him but without him To set upon which necessity is not to do violence but to remove it Honour should be one of the most substantiall foundations that should uphold nature if it were as well regulated by good Lawes as it is worm-eaten with wicked opinions but it cannot be ordered by good Lawes if the opinion of swaggering be not first taken away and this cannot be abolished because it is a too necessary quality in Subjects if Princes will either defend or inlarge their territories the advantages that men get by stoutnesse and the disadvantages that they receive by cowardlinesse makes this be dispised and that applauded so that many have valued swaggerers for men of greatest spirits as if they had greater soules The Lord Duke was likewise to be praised for the happy progresse in Germany He was the man that counselled the King to send and did make the provision that the Cardinall Infanta might go thither a Prince of great Spirit and magnanimous of a generous mind undaunted heart whose beams were scarcely discover'd Orientall but that they consumed the vapours disperst the clouds and cleared the skye It is questionlesse a great matter but now adayes not new nay rather most usuall that three Princes and they young ones as the King of Hungaria the Cardinall Infanta and Duke Charles of Lorraine have terrified and supprest the wisedome experience and fortune of Captains of great reputation bred up in the waies and knowledge of warres All that are and have been in the world have ordinarily periods which are the Beginnings Encrease Stay Declination and End He that painted Fortune upon a wheel if that wheel were not Heaven if that Fortune were not the Starrs he was in an horrible errour to picture only one thing in this world upon a wheel where every thing hath its severall wheel It is true that Fortune oftentimes growes grey-headed with a man but that which did at one time raise him is not that which dejected him because it may turne One hath a fortune doth encrease another that throwes down and declines I never wonder that foraigne Princes to move Cities under Dominion to rebellion but I am amaz'd to think that Cities will be moved to it for if they overcome they cannot do it but they must first behold their Countries destroied their countrymen spoiled and their Exchequours consumed so that when they have wone they have lost they do not take away Authority they do but change it and the very same hatred they had towards their old Governours they will place upon the new It is not against the man it is against Dominion which never dyes for the Princes be mortall Principalities are immortall They too much flatter themselves with hopes of melioration in mutation if they trust in friendship they are vaine The love of interest which is a Giant doth easily overcome all other loves which are but Children It may be peradventure believed that there will be lesse desire of dominion in a new Lord who is not a new Lord but by too much covetous desire of rule nay rather it is to be feared as most undoubted that he will stop up the way by which he entred in himself that other may not be brought by it I will not particularize the mischiefs that their losses would bring forth they see them that produce them yet produce they not so
occasion a contrary motion in as much as we see that man with all other creatures by that power which they have from the first mover doe oftentimes move against the first mover Who hath beâ—eved that the motion from the West to the East is the proper motion of the Sunne â—nd that therefore Ioshuah spake not proâ—enly if I understand but hath spoken imâ—operly Where the interest of his King is in debate and the right of justice he hath no parents nor he knowes no friends because the King is his cheifest Parent and his greatest friend and therefore although he were able by that way of his power to have succoured Don Pietro of Giron Duke of Ossuna his Kinsman yet did he leave him in the hands of justice where he died in prison And although he could have set at liberty Don Roderigo of Calderon yet he did it not but did only manifest his friendship to his posterity The Prince like the Sunne is the Father of all his subjects if not univocall equivocall if not as a particular man as an universall but he cannot be a Father if his subjects be not sonnes and love him not more then a Father The paternity of a man hath bloud for the foundation the paternity of a Prince love this is to be greatest when it is most necessary and it is most necessary where it constitutes where it followes and doth not alwaies follow Hee that loves not the Prince more then he loves others because he renounceth his sonship he desires that paternity be denyed unto him and that the King of a Father doe become a Lord that he of 〈◊〉 sonne may become a servant He that could constitute a Principality like this wherein the subjects should be more zealous for their Princes good then their owne it would bee needlesse for him to prohibit a proprium Mine and thine which forme the particular destroy the publike if the particular be not turn'd into the publike A wise man knew that necessaty well and therefore in his Common-wealth he took away all kindred of bloud and knowledge of goods hee did not then offend in knowing the errour but in the correcting it he took all the occasions of vertue away putting man into the hands of necessity and whereas he ought to have had recourse for a remedy to establish the civill Lawes he hasted to destroy the naturall and would rather desire a not desiderable then seek for that which he thought impossible In the correcting of great errours there are alwaies as it were great ones committed yea and sometimes greater but they doe not oftentimes seem so because they are believed necessary and sometimes they are not because they are profitable extreame mischeifes call for extreame remedies yet extreames are never good but in comparison of worse He did not place his kindred but such as were worthy in the service of the King nay rather he took away the Lievtenancy of Castile from a good subject who for the names sake of his mariage would have been to him most faithfull and gave it to an excellent man that had no kind of relation to him and one who did undergoe a kinde of reluctation to accept it being unwilling to relinquish that sweetnesse of repose to which he had retired himself It is a thing blame worthy in Princes to suffer worth to be retired for it is a signe that either they doe not know it or that they hate it If they send them not into exile yet there they leave them and to leave them there and to send them thither is all one When cattle come home to their hovells before night it is a signe of a tempest Men doe it not that they may doe ill for vertue is a beame of divinity that doth no ill but because they are deprived of that good that hinders the doing of ill It is not only to be blamed in Princes that they suffer worthy men to bee retired but it is likewise a fault in the men that they are willing to be so Hee that serves not his Prince and knowes how to serve him is worthy of a severer punishment then he that serves him ill not knowing how to serve A negative occasion concurres as well to losse as a positive when it is oblig'd to hinder it nay the obligation hath a power to make the negative become positive Retiring is only granted as a reward to such as have wrought He that retires himself and hath done nothing will have his reward before his merit but he is mightily deceiv'd in as much as this which is reputed a plentifull recompence to men that have done enough is certainly an excessive punishment to such as have been idle The quiet which followes motion is the Rest of the moveable that which preceeds motion is the wearinesse of the mover He that is alwaies in motion is without a body he that is never in motion is without a soule There is a strife in man between the soule and the body the body is of its owne nature immoveable and would not stirre the soule which is the beginning of motion would move the body that it might perswade it to motion it doth promise it felicity it is sometimes perswaded and consents but after that the soule with the body is conducted to whither it is able to be conducted without lighting upon felicity hopelesse now to find it in motion is likewise peradventure perswaded by the body to find it in rest and so deceived suffers it self to bee brought to rest whether it voluntary goes either desperate or undeceived It is a great deceit to believe to be able to be quiet and live it is not true that rest is a reward but it is alwaies a most insupportable paine to him that hath laboured most the world affords not quiet he makes a journey to folly that goes about to seek it and he is come to his journeyes end that believes hee hath found it A man may indeed rest and yet not be at quiet nay for the most part he is most unquiet when he is most at rest The Lord Duke found the service of the King puddled by his servants and not being able to resist what was past he made good orders to provide for what was to come among the which the example of his owne cleare proceeding was not the least which was confest and admir'd by all yea by such as could not abide him Gold doth blunt the edge of the sword and weighs downe the ballance of justice He that sells justice sells his Prince when he can find a Chapman The gold that holds not out at the test was false and did deceive the man that holds not out against gold doth cozen Some Princes have given money enough to their seruants that they should not sell themselves nor sell them but that hunger which is not naturall but sickly admits not of satiety That hunger is not in the man it is in the gold so that who so
and spends it commendably is a rich magnanimous and a wise liberall man I confesse that the despising of riches is a great vertue but it is a greater in him who having them distributes them then in him who having them throwes them away or not having them avoides them These men doe not despise them but they either feare them or envy them in the one appears the greatnesse of a gallant mind in the other basenesse and vanity Hee that cancells riches out of a wise mans heart doth cancell out of the Catalogue of vertues part of magnanimity and all liberallity to flie the meanes that make vertue is to fly vertue That morall Philosopher that did so much blame riches had so much as made him blame-worthy and whereas at other times he was wont to contradict his sayings with his sayings in this particular he did it with his doings and gave us to understand that he did despise them because he had them not and that then they are only to be despis'd when they may be fear'd The Lord Duke perceiving a delay in the promotions of Counsells in the Tribunalls for a long time occasioned about disputes of precedency hee did cull one out of every bench forming thereby a Councell by whom there might be a provision made against all the difficulties that did arise which proceeding of his brought an incredible commodity to the affaires of the King The Generalls did take out some one souldier out of every Company in the Armies to make a squadron calling it by the name of the squadron volant as active upon and in all occasions Nature if I be not deceived hath given spirits to all the parts of man that they may worke but then taking out some one from every one makes a Globe which must speedily relieve in businesse and interpose themselves likewise in the offices of the other parts These are the spirits that runne to the heart in feare that flie into the face in shame that helpe the vitall and succour the animall spirits and that they are taken out from the severall parts will clearly appear when we shall observe that in the vehement operations of the spirits in one place the other spirits doe remaine feeble and weakned He that is dexterous in businesse merits great praise and he lengthens our life that shortens it Man finds a kind of lust in it the luxury of it are the ceremonies the strifes of precedencies and many other like accidents which to his discommodity surround it It would be more needsull to make a law against the dispatch of businesse then against sumptuousnesse feasting and apparrell For the time that is lost is more precious then the money that is consum'd It grieves a man that his life is short and yet he doth his businesse as if it were of many ages He complaines of idlenesse and makes his businesse so Life is consum'd in idlensse and it is over-plus of life they call it short and it is long for that which advanceth is more then that which operates Man hath a rule to mourne by nature so soon as he is borne he should give thanks and as soon as hee is borne he mournes being arrived to the use of reason he bewailes his life as calamitous come to years forgetting that he cal'd it miserable he is sorrie it is so short It is indeed too long for it is a way that reacheth from the Earth to Heaven he that desir'd to be dissolved and to be with Christ desired it should be shorter They are to suppose it short that by missing their way goe the right way to hell He is a great intercessour to the King for good Officers if any of them come to old age and so cannot serve he procures them rewards as if they did serve as he did to Don Francisco of Contreras President of Castile and many others Such servants as serve for respects deserve to be rewarded with their respects and that their reward may end when that service is ended because the profit of the one doth terminate with the work of the other But no time should abridge the reward of a servant that serves for love for though to serve he ceaseth not to love There is no remuneration more fertile nor of lesse bulk then that which is bestowed upon the decrepidnesse of a servant It fills the Court with servants and empties no Exchequers few arrive to it few hold out to it and all aspire to it because as feare makes us doubt that all that may come to passe which is not impossible so desire makes us hope The Lord Duke had one only Daughter and because he had no more he conceived it necessary to marry her into his stock and or this purpose he propounded to the King foure Subjects that his Majestie might make choice of one of them the prudent answer of the King worthy of the eminences of his understanding was whatsoever shall be convenient for you shall be acceptable to me Be it your care to chuse and it shall be mine to enrich him as your Sonne in Law Astrology is in all parts fals but false est of all in matters of marriages because men are not married nor doe they marrie according to their inclinations but for some ends and that is the cause of the change of tempers in families because some by-respect hath its share in marriages It is true they are voluntary otherwise they were of no value but that will was not that which was made with us but that which we did make Inclinations that belong unto manners are not alwaies to be followed for the temper is surely exquisite and if it be not good they are not good but inclinations to generation may be prosecuted with more security because the constitution ordinarily desires either the like that conserves it or the contrary that corrects it The Lord Duke would not have restrained his Election nay certainly he ought not to have done it to his own Family if he had not found such a man in it as he could not peradventure have found the like in the whole Kingdome and it was the Marquesse of Torall If it were lawfull for me to Print some few leaves concerning the precepts which the Duke gave to the Marquesse his sonne in Law when he did elect him I am confident and it is a truth that the great subjects of Princes would learne more by those advertisements how to regulate and governe themselves then by all the Books that I have written His Daughter was married to this Marquesse with a generall joy of all but that cheerfulnesse was soon turn'd into sadnesse for when she had brought forth a dead daughter she was a dead Mother Philosophers do make a generation a naturall instinct for say they in regard that man cannot eternize himself in the individuall he seeks to eternize himself in the species by children but they are deceived for that is not perpetuated is so perpetuated but it may be
loving to Councell to assist to comfort and to hearken I would set down multitudes of glorious examples but because they are many I will let them all alone because I would carry away the garland for brevity There is nothing more desired or more deare to the people then audience and there is no Officer that can give it more or ought to give it more then he that is most just Some there are the which I know not whether through zeale of justice or ruggednesse of nature do heare with little patience and answer with little love such as they will not listen unto whereas indeed they should have been harkned unto patienly and sweetly comforted it is necessary to shew love to all being merry with them that have what they would have compassionating others that want of their riches to the end that the gainers may ascribe the obligation of their gaining to their favours and the loosers may lay it only on necessity They are no competent givers of audience that do not do that which is just for when they are assailed by the powerfull reasons of such as are concern'd they are compel'd to dismisse them with an I will have it so Whereupon afterwards the offended subjects call them and by good reason call them the Willers of wrong because they will in as much as because they would they wronged them But the Lord Duke who doth hold in his hand the ballances of Astraea as well in matters of favour as of justice doth easily pacifie such as he accepts against making them to know that they are either overcome by merit or by law I know not what to say of the Prince I might happily say that of him that I say of the Favourite that he hath not only an uprightnesse in the administration of justice but that he hath no lesse in the granting of courtesies Man is of himself a reasonable creature but when he deprives himself of justice he layes aside his reason and is but only a creature The friends of the Favourite are to be such as merit and such to be most his friends that merit most the friendship that is grounded without reason may be said not to be without unlawfull appetite and because it is not without passion it is not without reason man hath not so much liberty to have as he thinks he hath If we should not love God above all things wee should sinne and if we love such as merit little we may erre it is a great matter certainly that charges are unjustly given to such sometimes that are to administer justice I will not call this a liberty to do favours but a licenciousnesse and an abuse which makes a great confusion in the world the greatest honour doth of justice belong to him which is of greatest worth as the greatest punishment is his due by justice that is the greatest offendour and questionlesse if there could be found ballances which should weigh merits as there are some to weigh transgressions I should wonder why justice should be painted onely with the sword in her right hand and not likewise with Cities Kingdomes and Monarchies that she may as it were weigh them not to the end to reward merits but to the end to punish offences If all Kingdomes could have such a Favourite as this which would as diligently weigh deserts as failings and that he would take away that false liberty of granting favours which doth so much harme and procures so much hatred to the Prince how would they be without confusion without laments and alwaies full of worthy men and happy but it may be this is not in use because Princes would not be known to be necessitated either to be of more value then others or to hold the Principallity unjustly or els to lay it down The Lord Duke is so easie to pardon injuries and so much an enemy to revenge himselfe that many have thought it reason of state to be his Enemies there was a principall man who upon no occasion of his nor for any just reason had a pistoll prepared to kill him and having confest this with many other faults deserving death the Lord Duke did make his punishment to be chang'd into a long imprisonment from thence he got means to get free yet left he not the wickednesse of his heart but being discovered he was forc't to hast him out of Spaine to get into another Kingdome where he was imprisoned The Lord Duke having notice of it he dispatched a post to the Officers of the King to let him remain there for if he were remanded into Spaine he could not be able to save him from death I do relate this but by the Dukes leave I do not commend it for he that hates without occasion hates without reason he hates by nature nay rather against nature he takes not away such a mans hatred that takes not away his life to pardon such whose natures are Enemies to nature may be magnanimity but not to punish them is injustice it is the will of God that man pardon man here in this world but not so as he doth in heaven if the offended pardon the offence his purpose is that the Judge should punish it whereas if God pardon it in heaven he cannot punish it because he himselfe is the Iudge and the party offended but in the world although man may pardon yet will he that the Judge punisheth because He for his part is not the selfe-same He that punisheth in the world that is offended in Heaven and to the end that the same man in the behalfe of man may not be lesse that is offended then he that punisheth he calls the Iudge â—y the name of God to the end peradventure to make us know that he doth not punish as man but as God To returne evill for good is a notable errour yet that is not it which ruines the world for it is very seldome done it is too great injustice it is odious it is ingratitude it is blamed of all because the example of it is prejudiciall to all it is reason of State to hinder it and to hate it They that expect benefits and all expect them would loose the hope of receiving any if by frequent ingratitudes the minds of such as do favours should be abused To render evill for evill which seems â— lesse errour is oftentimes praised is alwaies as it were borne withall and is that which hath brought in revenge and revenge is that which ruines the world The Judge cannot render Evill for Evill when he cuts of a limbe or takes away life he doth justice for injustice he doth good for ill Man sinneth in doing either because he doth it when he ought not or because he doth it not as he ought or that he doth more then he ought Plants are not untamed a savage they are the beasts that are so they are so because they have a sensitive soule men are more savage because because besides the
to maintain it All opinions that seem best are not so because a man doth not alwaies negotiate with the best irresolution is reputed weaknesse and perhaps it is the noblenesse of the understanding the object of it is that which cannot be false if it be quieted with that which may be and may not be it is deceived the man that is the chiefe of the Counsellours is not for all that found to be chiefest in Counsels he that hath got a strong Fort is not to adventure it upon the uncertainty of one issve for the danger and the gain are not equall in him he ought alwaies to propound businesse by way of doubt without hearing a case beyond distinction or knot to be untied or evasion to be propounded to that end that an opinion may not be held that may not be framed by Arguments and defended by the solutions which he hath propounded in his understanding and in this case if they fall out well he shall have the honour of it because they were taken for the reasons that he had adopted if they prove ill he shall not be ashamed for he shall meet with those difficulties which he foresaw and if by chance he hath ometimes a desire to apply them more to one resolution then to another he must provide to make some confident of his the president of the businesse True it is that a subject of great worth that is not known and moves not in a large Spheere after having exquisitely pondered the reasons may for once be the leader of an opinion because it is doubtfull whether the losse or the gain may be greater to him It is necessary for a man to make himselfe famous in the opinion of him to whom he should appear so and to adventure himselfe to him that will make him famous The first day that Doâ— Francisco of Contreras entred into his office the Duke spake to him after this manner Many are the years that I have lived in Court and in those years I have seen many Lords and Knights consume their Estates been sent to prison and be banished for having had brawles with representers of justice as Notaries Provost Marshals Sergeants and such like and yet I never saw any of those hang'd though it be impossible that such kind of people which are of inferiour condition should alwaies have reason for what they do and therefore it is to be believed that these being such as hale men to prison and such as forme processes do find meanes to unburthen themselves to burthen others Your Excellency then shall do a great service to his Majestie and a great good to the Common-wealth if you will ridd the Court of this abuse yet doe I not meane that offendours of any condition should escape unpunished for that would diminish the respect that is due to justice but that you should cause such Officers that abuse their Authority to be hang'd This advertisement that manifested the upright intention of the Duke did likewise notably comfort all the Nobility Monarchies which are the great Colosses of the world are kept up by two of the basest pillars that can be that is by Executioners and Serjeants but what of that Hath not likewise every garden that is full of sweetest hearbs rich in choicest flowers fruitfull in every plant the basest excrements of bruite beasts for its foundation If Monarchies were not degenerated into Tyrannies if zeale for God would alwaies administer justice then would there be Samuels found that would put Agags to death Eliahs that would rip up the bellies of the false Prophets But that zeale is lost and insteed of it we find that subjects of great bloud are ashamed to be Officers for such imployments So that it was necessary to have recourse to the vilest of the vile people and because the base fellowes which undertake that charge if they find it not vile do make it so Princes were as it were compel'd yea the very wisest of them to defend and uphold such kind of instruments For should they likewise have had them in a base esteem that weaknesse of the foundation would have drawn with it the ruine of Dominion into consequence but it may be too that it is a cunning in Princes to put these charges into the hands of people of a vile condition for such offices have in them something of terrible so that if they should have joyn'd reputation to such terriblenesse I am not certain whether instead of making the subjects only stand in feare they would not likewise have terrified Princes whereas now they cannot offend with that reputation which the Prince giveth them because he defends them they thinke it an errour to punish them by whom they punish they believe that the Domination which relieth upon them in generall relyeth upon every Individuall as if that the neck of a rascall were the neck of the Monarchie but it is a too too ordinary a course to make justice become impudent that they may keep their government untouch't The Duke of Ascot of Flanders went into Spaine sent thither by the she that is beyond all praise the Infanta Elizabeth who as she did assure the Catholique King of the integrity of that Duke in the insurrection propounded by Count Henry and some other Rebels so likewise she writ to him that by him he might be able to discover all the persons of the Confederacy and all the designes that they had Now in regard that the effects of it were begun to be felt in Flanders the King question'd the Duke of Asâ—ot about it whose answer was that he knew no more of any thing then what he had revealed to the most renowned Infanta such a Negation in so dangerous a businesse looked as if it deserved an imprisonment but the Lord Duke who knew that it did not proceed from any ill mind in the Duke of Ascot but from a certaiâ— nicenesse of laying them open which had trusted him taking upon himselfe the assurance of his not flying away did intreat his Majestie to question him once again Many there are that believe that they are not bound to discover what they know so that they do not what they ought not but they do that they should not when they tell not that they know It is the most capitall offence in conspiracy to conceale the conspiracy for if they be knowne they are hindred he that doth not run himselfe into a rebellion yet knowes of it and holds his peace shewes more feare then love I confidently believe that the character of nobility of mind in the Duke of Ascot which made him loyall to his Prince was the very same thing that made him faithfull to his friends but what faith is to be observ'd with such an one as keeps not his faith with one that would make him unfaithfull I was about to say that had made him when he tempted him what kind of friend call you him that perswades his friend unto treason he is doubtlesse