father must goe and take Marguerit the daughter of Lewis the eyght for a vvyfe to hys son Henry and for his son Richard tooke Aelix an other daughter of Fraunce vvhich alliances proued such assurances to Henry the second as his last fiue or sixe yeeres vvere nothing but an vnkinde stryfe with his ovvne sons and especially hys sonne Rychard made open vvarre against him and vvan from him a part of Normandie by the helpe of his trustie friend Lewes the French king After thys vvhen Rychard him selfe was king not vvithstanding all the French friendships and alliances at vvhat tyme he vvas taken prisoner in hys returne from Ierusalem the French king vvas not ashamed to excite Iohn the brother of England to seize himselfe of the crovvne The sayd Iohn vvhen he vvas king marieng the daughter of the Earle of Engolesme in Fraunce and his son Henry the third hauing maried first a daughter of the Earle of prouence and secondly french Marguerit sister to Phillip the fayer found in the seueral dayes of theyr raignes the French king to be no better then a pricke in theyr sides taking part against them and prouoking theyr people to be as it vvere thornes in theyr feete Edvvard the second succeding his auncesters aswell in theyr vnhappy folly as in they re kingdome vvill needes marry vvith Isabel daughter to the same Phillip vvhich proued such an assurance to hymselfe as that hys French vvife vvas able to bereaue hym first of hys son carying him into Fraunce and hauing there made a strong part could returne and bereaue her husband of hys liberty and kingdome and in the ende of hys lyfe to after a vvretched captiuitie vnder hys owne son So that of old the alliances of Fraunce dyd set husbande and vvife together by the eares as in Henry the second and Edvvarde the second the father and son together as they did Henry the second and hys three sons Henry Rycharde and Iohn brother against brother as Rychard and Iohn the king and hys people togither as they did king Iohn and Henry the thyrd against the people and as they did aftervvard in Rychard the second Henry the sixt vvhich the duke Thomas of Glocester in his tyme vvell foresavv and therefore vpon treaty of the like mariage for Rychard the second vvho hauing novv raigned xix yeeres and being thyrtye yeeres olde fell amourous most vnkindlye and vnkingly vvith a french girle but eyght yeeres of age daughter to Charles the sixt French king he the same Thomas of Glocester vncle to the king stept vp and vvithstode that match hauing belike in these former experiences obserued the truth of that general rule set dovvne vpon the French by that Greeke Emperor And because I find the vvords of thys Duke set dovvne more expresly in a French chronicle then any vvhere els I vvill vse theyr ovvne vvords as the fittest testimony in thys case The alliance of Fraunce sayth that Duke in that french story hath bene the ruine of England and this nevve frendship betvveene these kings sayth the Duke shall neuer make me loke for any assured peace attvvene thē for sayth he ther vvas neuer yet any trust or religiō or truth in the vvord or promises of the french VVhat an auncient hereditary disease of disloyalty is this in the royall seate of Fraunce especially since the Maiors of the housholde became kinges And though thys Dukes voice in thys counsell vvere ouerruled by the multitude or rather by the lust of the king yet did the king and his people and their children feele hovve true it was in sequele For first thys externe amitie with Fraunce bred home enemitye in England It cost vs for an earnest penny the tovvne of Brest in Britanie by meanes of the kings outlandish Queen And poore king Richard vsing in priuate connsaise altogether the French companions such as his vvyfe brought began to disdeyne his ovvne naturall kinsmen and subiects and finallye follovving ouermuch the cruell and riotous counsel of such minions namely the Constable of Fraunce and Erle of S. Pol vvhō the French king sent of purpose to king Rycharde his son in lavve polling the people and putting to death such nobles as his french counsail put in hys head in the end he vvas quite vnkinged by Henry of Lancaster afterwardes Henry the fourth vvho during the tyme that he platted thys enterprise founde hospitalitye in Fraunce for all king Rychards alliance vnder his father in lavves nose The French match it vvas vvhich vvithin one yere brought the king to dishonorable captiuitie death and deposing vvhich appeares for that in story it is rekoned emong other thinges that alienated from him the loue of hys subiects so farre as when he vvas taken hys enemy vvas fayne to saue hys lyfe by garde from hys ovvn people and also it is obiected agaynst hym that he had made thys alliance vvith Fraunce not calling to counsail the thre estates of England Euen the last mariages vve made vvith France vvere lyke vnhappy to the end Henry the fift that noble king had the alliance of Katherin daughter to Charles the seauenth of Fraunce and after had the possession of Fraunce first by right of descent and mariage then by conquest of sword and lastly by couenant agreed with king Charles and his peeres yet coulde he none othervvise hold theyr loue but hauing theyr necks vnder hys yoke VVhych vnion of possession and right to that realme vvas aftervvard fortified by crouning hys sonne Henry the sixt in Paris and by a nevv match betweene hym and Marguerit daughter of a French Charles as most men saien vvhich cost hym first for a princely brybe the dukedome of Angeow and Ereldome of Main and after many miserable destructions of our English cheualry people lost both the new cōquired title ancient heriditarye dominions on that side and finally vvrought an ignominious depriuation of Henry the sixt from this realme I think I might set dovvue all such matches as vnhappy ones and contrarivvise those matches nothing so vnhappy but for the most parte prosperous vvhich were made eyther at home or in other places as vveren al those mariages made since Henry the sixt as by Edvvarde the fourth her Maiesties greatgraundfather and by her maiesties graundfather and by her father And if a sister or daughter vvho had no or dinarye counsail allowed her out of France could yet continually preuaile so much to the trobling of the state and deposing of the king here vvhat peril is it to dravv hether a brother vvho is to haue his ordinarye counsail and some gard of force and continuall-intelligence with the French king and is also to be a leader and executer of any deuise himselfe vvhich a French woman could not doe so vvell the daunger therefore in thys match is encreased beyond that in the former matches for there the party for or by vvhom the danger came vvas a vvoman and therefore
dishonour to her spouse vvith the separating her from her Lord God and vvith the treading vnder foot of that precious lavve vvhich îs her holy rule for order and souereigne preseruatife againste all headlong confusion if they say yea vve say nay and proue it nay Namely that this procuration of mariage is a breach of Gods lawe and not onely for the sinne thereof is against the church because it hasteneth vengeaunce but vve shevve by demonstratiue reasons that it goeth to the very gorge of the Church I trust I shall not neede to proue to these mens consciences this Maior proposition or Maxime that is to say Syn prouoketh the wrath of God and that greate sinnes call down great plages and mighty sinners are mightily punished This argument The vvorld sinneth such a citie sinneth such a land sinneth such a try be such a kindred such a family such a soule sinneth Ergo the vvorld such a city land trybe kindred family soule shall feele the vengeance of that high lavvgeuer against vvhom they sinne is a most necessary consequence This next though it be but the Minor in order and vvill not perhappes vvithout farther proofe be yelden vnto by thys kynde of protestātes yet is it as true as the former that is that it is a sin a greate and a mightye sinne for England to geue one of Israels daughters to any of Hemors sonnes to match a daughter of God vvith one of the sonnes of men to couple a Christian Ladye a member of Christ to a Prince good sonne of Rome that Antichristian mother citie For the inuincible manifestastion therfore of this truth let vs first consider England as a region purged from Idolatry a kingdome of light confessing Christ and seruing the liuing God Contrariwise Fraunce a den of Idolatrye a kingdome of darkenes confessing Belial and seruing Baal Then let vs remember vvhat was the first institution of mariage which is set before vs as a directory rule for vs in our mariages for euer and vvhereunto Christ teacheth vs playnly in al cases and other incidentes of mariage to looke back vvhen vpon a case put of mariage he aunsweres IN THE BEGINNING IT VVAS NOT SO. The first mariages were betvvene payres in Religion and in the feare of god And the first vvritten commaundements that are giuen by Moses touching mariage haue their regard to that first institution as it were to the oldest lavve The vvhich Moses rightly vnderstanding and according to the interpretation of al lawes vvhen they bid or forbid any thing do therevvith forbid or bid the contrarye He also in Denteronomie forbad those matches vvherein the sonnes of God vvere giuen to the daughters of mē adding thys reason for saith he such mariages wil make thy children to fal from me And this place at once may expound those other many places vvhere it is sayd least they make thy children to commit Idolatry to be added as a certaine punishment by the iudgement of God and not for a doubtfull reason as some vvould fayn haue it that seke to dravv the lavves of God to their lustes who should rather rule theyr lustes by the lawes VVhich pure institution of mariage S. Paul also continues when enlarging the holy vse thereof to all sortes of men he yet hath this restraint that it be in the Lord that is to saye in his feare as it was from the beginning and according to his former commaundements in his vvorde It is more then enough to breake the holy ordinaunce instituted of God vvhich ought to gouerne vs without further enqui rye of reason or commodity But as the holinesse of his lavves is holesome to vs euen in this life by obedience so doth theyr trāsgression breede vs infinite incommodities For the ende of this holy kind of mariage is our mutuall helpe and vpholdiug one an other in the feare of god vvhich appeareth by the reason of forbidding those vnholy mariages vvhich is least sayth the spirit of God their sonnes drawe your daughters or their daughters your sonnes from the lord Nowe as the one comes to passe vvhere thorder of God is kept so the contrary effect must iustly followe vpon neglect especially if such a mariage be made in a gospellike land vvhere the lavv of God is preached and contrarye to warning giuen out of Gods booke Then vvithout peraduenture all blessing is taken awaye and the plague follovveth And to teach our politiques by reasonable argumentes what other reasons haue the lavves of all lands to ioyne like to like in mariage but for the norishing of peace and loue betvvene man and vvife and for the vvell bringing vp of the children in euery familye vvherby to make them profitable members in some seruiceable vocation considering that families are the seedes of Realmes and petie partes of common vveales where if there be good order the vvhole land is vvell ordered and contrary as in anye instrument if euery string or many strings be out of tune the whole musick is marred and who so vvill preserue any entier must conserue euery part so if the families be distempered and out of tune the vvhole land is disturbed Thinke you that the common vveal can haue this care for her lesse partes and thus prouide for the vvell trayning vp of her chil dren that the church of England vvherin this holy lavv of religious matching marying the faithful vvith the faythful is giue by Christ to this end that their children might be sanctified and holily brought vp in christian religion thinke you I say that the church wil easely depart vvith her deere daughter her daughter of hiest honor Elizabeth the Queene of England vvho is the tēple of the holy ghost and vvill not hold her fast in her louing armes as being loath to giue her to a straunger one that hath shevved no signes of regeneration and her selfe vvant thassistaunce of a faythfull husband and her children of her body if any she haue vvhich receiue outvvard sanctification and entry into the bosom of the church thorough the promise of their faythfull parentes be in danger to be profaned before they be borne and to be corrupted after they are borne and thorovvout al their education S. Paul speaking of contrary couplings together compareth them to the vneuen yoking of the cleane Oxe to the vncleane Asse a thing forbidden in the lawe And here againe the lawes of men vvhieh medle but vvith the distribution of the things of this life haue learned this equitie of the lavves of God that it is a greate disparagement for health to be ioyned in mariage vvith any foule disease for beuty vvith deformity youth vvith decrepite age or to tender a townes man daughter to a gentilman of birth A citizen of Rome vvoulde hold foule scorne to mary a Barbariane And the common vvealthes of England Fraunce I dare say vvould meruail if eyther our Queene or Monsieur being both great princes borne and of
high linage should seeke or consent in mariage vvith any lovv borne or contemptible person Haue the lavves of common vveales prouided thus vvel for men the vvorld standes it thus vppon her slippers of reputation in obseruing what is comely in mariage and honourable for ech personage and shall the lavves of God trovv you be of none effect or shall it not be much more ougly before God and hys angels vvhen an Hebrew shal mary a Cananite ' there is no such inequalitie as that of religion no such disparagement as not to be faythfull no such dignity of Principality as to be a good christian and no such slauery as to be a Barbarian from Christ Iesu. Perhappes some man vvill defende these vneuen Irreligious mariages by abusing that place of 1. Cor. 7. But vvithout any other helpe that text it selfe is selfe sufficient to deliuer it self from that violence and the lavv of God from the beginning to the end all one vvith the obedient practise of Gods children and the plages vpon the transgressors do euidently shevv that Paul there speaketh onely for the continuance of such mariages as were first not vneuen being made in time of infidelitie on both partes and by the aftercalling of one party are become vneuen for thè cōtinuance I say of such mariages and not vneuenly to yoke any Christian which is free to one not faithfull Novv as by reasons it appeares vnlavvfull so by examples it may appeare hurtfull Those good men of whom vve loue to be esteemed the children and follovvers Abraham and Isaac had euen a religious care not to haue their sonnes matche vvith the Cananeans dwelling at theyr next doores but sent further of for the daughters of god VVhat a diameter of religion vvere it for vs dvvelling emong Christians to admit from ouer sea the sons of men in mariage The children of Iacob vvere so vvell taughte bytheir father in the religion of their grandfather great granfather that they could ansvver vve may not giue our sister to the vncircumcised that is to say vve can not or vve may not lawfully for that vve onely may vvhich by the lawe of God vve may Those ill men to vvhome vve vvoulde be ashamed to be resembled made this maner of mariage The old vvorlde vvhich thus defiling it selfe was therefore vvashed in the vniuersall flood And Esau whose fault yet was in this poynt lesse then ours for they wythout care of Religion tooke the fayrest and such as perhaps vvere next hand vve should in this match send further of for our mariage and haue not so much respect as to the fayrest being so far giuen ouer of God as to forget euen that part whyche we would gladliest please And emong those good men whome we set for holy examples this maner of mariage vvas euer noted by the scripture emong theyr faults As the Israelites which thus fel away from the seruice of God and withal out of his protection As Samson and Salomon whose vertues we must imitate and not these their sinnes VVhere Salomon might serue for all examples and hym will I chiefely name and namely vrge speaking novv of kingly mariages and courtly mariage makers because he vvas a king and also because that godly Courtier Nehemiah doth notably apply it in a stronger case vsing Salomons sin în this maner of vnholy mariages as a reason to separate the Israelits frō their wiues vvhich they had already maried yea and by vvhome they had had children born to thē thinking it an ilfauoured noise to heare theyr children gibber in the streetes halfe Hebrewe halfe Ashdod I pray you marke then how much more force Salomons example hath to disswade a mariage that is yet but in parle not concluded to make no such fayre reckoning of a babe yet vnborne whose shape we see not and how much more ilfauoured it vvere for vs that in our churches speake the language of Canaan to ioyne vvith thē that in their masse mumble the straunge tongue of Rome And if woman that vveaker vessel be strong enough to dravve man through thaduantage vvhiche the deuill hath vvithin our bosome I meane our naturall corruption and proonesse to Idolatry hovv much more forcibly shall the stronger vessell pull vveake vvoman considering that vvith the inequalitie of strength there is ioyned as great or more readinesse to Idolatrye and superstition And if the husband vvhich is the heade be dravven aside by his vvyfe ouer vvhome neuerthelesse he hath authoritye and rule hovve muche more easely shall the vvife be peruerted by her husband to vvhome she is subīecte by the lavve of God and ovveth both avve and obedience hovve soeuer the lavves by prerogatif or her place by preeminēce may priuiledge her And here note this that euery vvhere it is set dovvne hovve the vvicked peruerted the good but no vvhere that the better part conuerted the wicked for euen the ill ralke or other conuersation of ill men corruptes good maners And sith Salomon a peereles king beloued of God as Nehemiah saith so furnished in vvisedome and of vvhome there vvere such certaine demonstrations that he was the child of God dyd yet thys foulye fal by ioyning himselfe in mariage vvith Idolatrons vvemē in so much as diuers now thinke they find almost as many reasons to call in some doubt his saluation I pray God it may seeme fearefull in the eyes of all other Princes and princesses vvormes to him in wisedom to do the like fault for dread of the like sequele VVherby it appeares how vaine that promise is of theirs who say that Monsieure shall be instructed in our religion and drawen frō his by going with our Queene to hers besides that we woulde be loath with so certaine great peril to our Queene who is emong men and vvomen the chiese to vs to attempt the vncertain winning of him who is emong all men the least to vs And if there were in him any hope of tollerable inclination to religion it wold rather shevve now in the time of his sute to our Queene by that meanes perhaps thinking to be lesse lothsome to her and les abominable to her people but we haue no cause to hope it for he vseth no protestant in the matter of mariage although for some other colour he hath seemed to make some reckoning of some in some respect And if there were hope yet in so vnaduised rashnes to venture against the word of God we may well looke for Gods iudgement to come betwene and punish our folehardines that he which loueth peril may abide and perish therein But these discoursers that vse the word of God with as little conscience as they doe Machiauel pycking out of both indifferently what may serue theyr turnes perhaps they will thinke to escape all hetherto sayd by calling in question for their mouthes are their owne to dispute of any thing without care of resolutiō whether to mary with the Papist that worshippeth the
because our sins ioyned with hers in that we ioyned one of our Oxen to one of her shee asses In thys tragedy she played her part naturally and shewed howe she gouernes all Fraunce Her daughter Margerit vvas the stale to lure and allure them that othervvise flewe hyghe houering a far of and could not be gotten her son then king was in all the haste become a father to the Admirall and those of the religion Monsieur that then was and now king he played false semblant as though he had bene merueylons angry at the mariage at the grace which the Admiral and the rest of the religion found with the king Monsieur that now is he played the childes part or weeping part reseruing hys credit as is a foresayd til a riper age all thys whyle the mother as setter forth of thys earnest game stoode holding the booke as it were vppon the stage and told her children and euery other player what he should say the last acte was very lamentable A king falsifyed hys sworne word The mariage of a kings sister embrued with blood A king murdered hys subiectes many noble honourable gentilmē shamefully vsed valiant men surprysed by cowards in theyr beddes Innocents put to death vvemen and children without pitye tossed vpon halberds and throvvne downe wyndowes and into Riuers learned men killed by barbarous souldiers the seyntes of God ledde to the shambles all the day long and all that weeke long by vyle crochetors or porters the church of Christ rased the very nest egge broken as farr as mens mischeeuous reasonable wit cold reach and that which was worst those that liued were compelled to forsweare theyr God and little ones Christened before to Christ were novv dipped agayne to Antichrist He therefore that loueth the church can not think this mariage to promise any happynes to Gods church in Fraunce Noe certenly as touching the church it hath that mischeuous ende set vnto it by them which the former mariages had God graunt we harken not in thys match to the present French king and his brother least by abusing vs also inmariage thorough our sinnes vve thorough vnaduised policie fall in the same snare vvith our good brethren and the king with hys brother for so abusing vs be gathered to theyr fathers and buried vvith them in the same graue or hel of infamie by Gods manifest iudgements vpon them And which is all the good can come to the churches of Fraunce by thys mariage the Queene mother seeing novv all her foure sons after a sort to be kinges fynd that delphick ansvver of her familiar spirites subtilly fulfilled so as she may chalenge no longer life of the deuill but that he to vvhom she hath giuen her selfe muste rid that Realme and those poore churches of her A man vvould thynke that thys matter needed not to be anye vvhit set forth but that the very name of the Parifien mariage should a fray any protestant of Eugland or Fraunce from euer loking for any good to come by committing this il yea the scourging rod vvhich followed so hard at the heeles of that sinne and vvhere iudgement began at Gods house should as a thonderclap of Gods vvrath astonish all politiques And if Thadmerall the hundred thousand men vvemen and children vvhose innocente blood solemnized that mariage myght be sent to vs againe frō the dead they would out of theyr heauenly loue to Gods church heare on earth lyuely and hottly diswade thys kind of mariage they vvould lay forth the harmes of that mariage with such reuiued afections as their wounds would bleede afresh and they re headlesse bodies speake as it were before you But vve haue Moses and the Prophets vve haue Christ and his Apostels if we beleeue not them we shall be taught by late experience and go the way of our Parisien brethern Yea though thys mariage being made should not haue towards vs that malicious bloody effect vvhych is meant and that it should but vveaken vs as that of Spayn did alas neuertheles for the poore protestantes in france there ruin were present for we saw when before the great murder there vvas a new coloured freendship made with our Queen such as vvith other Princes in respecte whereof both she they vvere notably abused and vvronged by the massacer following that friendship serued first to bleare the eyes of the French protestants and after to put them quite out which single friendship vvith the Queene if it made the french king the bolder to enterprise the murder how far will he presume hauing a brother in the hart of our Court to refresh the remembrance of his alliaunce to stay any contrary aydes from hence vvhyle he seise vpon hys protestants and vvorry them lyke sheepe And if Monsieur had any sinceare meaning to relieue the protestants he would employ all that credit and familiarity vvhych he now hath whyle he is present vvith the king to the protestāts good euen now when as they seeme to haue some neede of him He meanes nothing les and that he means the contrary may easely be gathered by the manye blasphemous speeches and cruell threatnings agaynst reformed religion proceeding from suche as bene in the trayn of hys present legate a latere in England hys ill vvyll also to helpe the protestants may appeare that wher as there haue bene since the last peace many violences murders outrages and iustice for those facts denyed and establishment of churches vvithstood all against the edict yet Monsieur shevved neuer to haue any common compassion such as some man wold haue vpon beastes when he saw them ouerburdened In fraunce he hantes the mas and is hanted onely of papistes In Flaunders he ioyned himselfe onely with the Papistes and strengthned that tumultuous parte of the VVallons from whence all the present disorder there comes and thaduantage to the Spaniard by mutuall discention hys messenger here though he be in continuall conuersation with the kings Ambassador and at one table yet can not one mas serue them but they must haue three or four Priestes that doe nothing but goe from the tauarn to mas and from mas to the tauarn A miserable hope therefore of the maisters change to good And to conclude thys part vulesse he had some extraordinary purpose and some Italian Quintessence of mischiefe meante to be compassed against the church of Christ in vvhich seruice the Pope will employ hys catholike and hys christien sonne and all his sonnes and they like obedient fooles doe hys will. it could not be possible that hee woulde speake of comming hether with any meaning For pope mother and brother and all papistes vvould resist it and he himselfe for his owne part would cast with hymselfe that being next king of Fraunce if he should be here at the death of hys brother he might beholden for a noble hostage till they had restored vs our manyfold wronges and againe on the otherside it might put hym in danger of
forcible meanes of that holy leage of hostility decreed in the last Tridentine session doth novv remeÌ„ber an older Canon of constance vvhich is that fayth may not be holden vvith such as he takes for heritikes And therefore as one at his vvits end resolueth vpon thys conclusion slily to styr vp one of hys honourable sonnes to ioyne in mariage with our eldest daughter vvhich before hand he meanes though it be agaynst his ovvne savv to dispence vvith knovving assuredly by the experience of that old false prophet that vvheÌ„ the Lords long suffering had passed by many of the Israelites sins yet so soone as they vvere won in to mary vvith the Moabites the vvrath of God vvould forthvvith breake out vpon them the Lord graunte vs to bevvayle this sin and to preuent this iudgement Hovv are vve blinded that since the Lord spared not the whole vvorld but couered it vvith vvaters from heauen yet Englande thinkes to be somevvhat in Gods sight a poore Ilande surrounded already vvyth the Occean seas vvhich can if the Lorde doe but vvhistle come tombling in and deuour vs vp he brake in vpon his own people vvhom he had hedged in vvith priuiledges yet vve that vvere as other nations presume to sin and hope to escape his hand he found away out of his gracious promises in iustice to plague Salomon the king of his ovvne holy mountain to vvhose person also he had so bound himselfe and yet vve that are but maisters of a molehyll in the vvorlde excedinglye defiled thorough our many transgressioÌ„s think not to bear our own sins Salomon for these very sins lost ten partes of his ovvne kingdom vvhich he had in quiet possession and had lost the vvhole but in regard of the holy promises to Iudah and vve leape at a kingdome yet in the hands of our enemies and thinke to gaine another kingdome to vs or our heyres by displeasing vvith the selfe same sins the same reuenging lord Noe noe thys counsel is not of the Lord because it is a vvisedom agaynst his church and if he be against vs who shall be for vs Novv as this counsail for so much of it as toucheth the church can not proceede but out of the mouth of some hyred or at the least at the best some blinded Balaam euen so for those particulars thereof vvhich concerne the comon vveale and our Queene it might vvell enough come from rash Rehoboams â—oung counsailors vvhom there lustes vvill euer keepe young â—hatsoeuer yeeres and experience they beare on theyr backs 〈◊〉 not from that remnant of Salomons sages vvhom the feare of God makes vvisely old betimes Hauing therefore thus farre sayd of the church Let vs see vvhether theyr country loue by not as little as their religious conscience so as a man may not say such sayth suche fruites The daunger therefore of a foraigne match is not so apparant or so light as it can be easily espied or prouided for by any assurances And if vvisedome might foresee the many lurking perils yet this may vve vvell looke for that such a kinde of mariage being already proued to be a high breach of Gods lavv the same Lord vvyl iustly take avvay all vvisedome from our vvise men and courage from our valiant men I humbly therefore besech the Queene and alher wise valiaunt and good men rather to keepe avvay the cause of this danger then to trouble themselues vvith prouision that in comming he should not hurt It is naturall to all men to abhor forreigne rule as a burden of Egypt and to vs of England if to any other nation vnder the son First it agreeth not vvith thys state or frame of gouernment to deliuer any trust of vnder gouernment to an alien but is a poyson to it when vve receiue any such for a gouernour And that is euident by our lavves and auncient customs of the lande disabling any alien to inherite the highest gouernement of vs vpon this reason no doubt because a senceles and careles forreiner cannot haue the naturall and brotherlike bovvels of tender loue tovvardes this people vvhich is required in a gouernor which is by birth bredd dravven out from the teates of a mans ovvn mother country according to the vvisedom of that high politic call lavv of God Chuse a king from emong thyne ovvne brethren and if thee vvant of an English hart doth disable any from ruling the ship of our Realm shall a French hart be kindlike ynough to rule our Queene vvhich is the sterne of our shyp no the place of an alien is far from such truste by the iudgement of our naturall lavves vvhich appeares in considering theÌ„ by the 〈…〉 seuerall degrees First for an alien vvhich is an alian enemy 〈◊〉 lavve doth not so much as protect his lyfe a thing other 〈…〉 highly and deerly regarded in our lawes if in any other 〈◊〉 but makes him all in one predicament vvith the case of premuniri and though the lavv of armes bid him be raunsomed yet our peacible lawes aske no subiects blood for arresting suche a prisoner and killing hym in cheapeside And let thys alien be an alien friend yet if he be not denized the lavves can not abide him to be mayster of one foote of ground within the Realme the reason vvherof is they are not inheritable to the lavves of our land or answerable or able to demaund by the lavves any thyng from the meanest subiect Yea vvhen they haue theyr best footing here and are accompted members vvith vs of thys body by endenization or enfraunchisment yet haue those our vvise forefathers that haue left vs England to rule and dvvell in had euer such a vvatchfull eye to straungers as they vvould not in theyr dayes of peaceable gouernements and vve according to theyr custome doe not in these dayes suffer any straunger though denized to beare any office touching the peace and ordering of the lande he is not trusted vvith a iustiship of peace or petie constableship much lesse vvould they make hym Admirall of the nauie Constable of the tower or Gardian of any castel or peice of strength In tyme of poperye vvhen the Romane prelate vsurped vpon our prince for conferring benefices Abbeis and such liuings here to Italians French and other alians at hys pleasure yet vvould the kings of those blindest dayes suspect treachery in these holy Abbots and Priors whom othervvise they made theyr Goddes vvould vvithout feare of sacriledge sequester theyr profites vnto the kings cofers and seize the lande of those holye alians leaste they might perhaps vvage foreigne soldiar vvith English pay agaynst the king of England vvhereof they gaue manifest experience to king Henrye the fift vvho hauing founded an Abbay vvherein he put French fryers and in a visitation as theyr founder fynding them negligent in theyr deuotions he asked the good father of the house vvhat vvas the cause vvho ansvvered flatlye that they could not naturally pray for him
them sauing that they desire the vvorst to befall vs And if there be any perswader of this straunge mariage in whom remaynes yet a simple mind but missed or miscaried I desyre hym or her and I charge thē as they vvill answer to God of theyr truth to their Mistres of England English brethren that they close theyr hand and put theyr fingar to theyr mouth and vvaigh better hereof as vvell by the lavve of God as of humane policie vvhich must no doubt agree vvyth Gods law I cousell them to consider these daungers common to them selues vvith all other and if they looke vvell about them they shall find thys mariage a right vnhappy one and on no side happy vvheresoeuer they turne them For let it be that he haue issue by her and that none but feamal only vve haue hazarded our kingdom for putting it in the hands of the father vvho vnder colour of some tutorship to hys daughter vvill haue her into Fraunce and so eyther adioyne this land to Fraunce or mary her to some French or other stranger at hys lyking and all this vvhyle vve neuer the neere possession of our old right in Fraunce whych vve so much desired for the Salique lavve barres hyr quite And though she should come and dwel in England yet her bringing vp being in Fraunce her father will nousell her in hys own religion and so she comming home shall striue to staplish popery as the late Queene of Scotts did when shee came out of Fraunce vvherupon ensued those bloodshedds and redde vvarres besides the ilfauoured examples of the French Court and kings vvhich vve vvould be loath our English princes shall learne and bring home hether If thys issue by Monsieur should be a son and but one sonne then vvill he translate his Court into Fraunce and leaue thys poore prouence to the mannaging of a viceroy the greuances whereof are ynough set foorth by referring you to the proconsulates of Rome vnder that Empire to the vndergouernours in the former monarchies to the viceroyes and Luogotenenti of Spayn in Naples-Cicil and here nerer in the lovv countryes VVho like boares in a fat nevv broken vp ground by sovving first some seedes of dissentions to breed partialities in the countrye doe roote out the auncient homegrovving nobilitie and turne vnder perpetuall slauery as cloddes the country people yea and perhaps in the end caught with the liquerishnes of gouernment seize thēselfe of the absolute kingdome and deceiue their mayster so did the auncient Monarchies melt so did this pre sent Empire lose her prouinces and is novve become lesse then a kingdom and so may this auncient kingdom be transferred to a rebellious seede Such rough plovvers doe our sins deserue to plovv deepe furrovves on our backs if the Lord in mercy looke not on vs I am not ignorant that some passe easily this incommoditie of viceroy affirming it to bring honor not perill for say they thys son being born here shall be king of both kingdomes with great honor as hath bene heretofore But they be svveete Englishmen if you marke theyr english vve reason of the dishonor and seruitude vvhich comes to the nation and they ansvvere of the honor that comes to the prince more lyke Basciaes to the great Turke then Christian commonvvealthmen as though our Christian and naturall Queen could thinke any thing profitable to her vvhich might any way though a farr off tend to the perpetuall bondage of hyr people here though they subtilly let slippe the assured hurt vvhich hereby falles to the common weale I wyl not forget to shew hovv incertain yea and hovv certainly perillous to the prince thys honor is wherewith they flatter hyr Holy king Henry as they call hym vvhom I suppose they wyll bring in for example vvas crovvned in Paris and yet lost all on that side before he was a man as I remember or soone after and before hys vnhappy death he lost thys land also vvhich losse of both came by striuing for both So that he may with more reason be recorded emong those fallen princes at the lowest of Boccaces vvhele or in our English booke of fallen Maiestrates then to be reconed vp by any faythfull English man for a patern of imitation to our present Queen Elizabeth VVho so vvyl auoyd those feareful effects must auoyd the cause from vvhence they procede and not bring such examples to be followed This example of Henry the sixt vvould proue like to our present case if it vvere pursued For the complection and constitution of Monsieur is not to liue long but to leaue his child in the cradle for the reasons hereafter remébred And if the byrth of thys child should any vvay endanger our Queen the poore infant if he ouerliued shold haue tvvo ouer great scepters to play withall euen as Henry the sixth had and so much the worse as there are euen novve one or tvvo houses in Fraunce vvhich vvould easely be saluted as kings and of whom both Monsieur and the king that novve is may vvell stand in feare perhappes these men wold prouide that this chyld should be borne in Monmouth and not at vvinsor and then they would think all sure Me thinks they should runn headlong on this remedy that are blinded in thys euill Thus it comes oftentimes to passe that flattery vvoundeth princes euen vvyth the very self thinges it so fairely beareth in hand And if he should haue a son and a daughter so as both of them ouer liuing theyr parents the son should be actually king as vvell of hys fathers as of his mothers kingdome and then dye wythout issue hys sister yet liuing is it not more then probable in this case that the next prince of the blood in Fraunce vnder pretence that England vvas once vested in the blood of the French king and vnder theyr gouernment vvyl drawe it also by thys vnity of possession vvith the crown of Fraunce vnder the law Salique and so quite vnqueen the desolate sister for the least color in the worlde ioyned vvith the sword in a stronge highminded kings hande makes a good tytle to a kingdome euen agaynst father mother wyfe brother and sister as storyes witnes and according to that vvhich is sayd No fayth in matter of a kingdome Much more agaynst that poore daughter vvhich then should be a straunger in the house of Fraunce The actuall possession of her brother vvyll make no tytle neyther wyll it be any plea to say that by our lavves lands descended from the mother are guyded to the heyrs of the part of the mother but our issue must be battel vvhich is a tryall most incertain most perilous to the daughter vvho being out of possession shal haue much adoe to find equiualiant champions And if thys Monsieur should haue by our Queen two sons or moe it must needes breed forrain vvars and ciuill partaking thorough disagreement of the brethren vvhyle the younger looking back to the
tymes of william the first vvould chalenge to haue kingdomes and such regall dominions deuided emong chyldren as the Conquerer did vvith England and Normandye and the elder knovving himselfe according to the present lavves heire to both vvould clayme both vtterly denying this carpet conqueste of Monsienr to be any conquest lyke that of VVilliam And so that miserable ciuill dissention in England renued after hir which in the peacemaking mariage of her noble grandfather and in the person of hyr royall father and in continaunce of that ligne in hir hitherto is happyly quenched He that confesseth all these incōueniences and weenes to prouide for them with his penn in hys studye or by acts of parliament or by any other conditioning of oathes and sworn promises contested at theyr hygh altar of their masse forgets the many experiences of sayths most solemnly geuen falsified on the other side he that scornes thys our particularizing of thys matter and putting of the case vvhat if he haue issue male onely or female onely must be put in mind agayn how vnlyke it is for her to haue any hovv daungerous for her to haue but one and hovv her yeeres doe necessarily denye her many he must also remember on the side of Monsieur hovv fruteles a race that is his eldest brother had none his seconde brother but one that a daughter hys thyrd hath none all of them being a forced generation by phisick after many yeeres vvhen theyr mother feared to be put avvay as barraine No vvhere therefore are vve to match vvith lesse hope of issue And if it seeme curiositie that we proceede further in thys case as to say what if Monsieur should haue both male and femall or diuers males I require of hym but so much foresight and casting of doubt for the happy staying of thys crovvne in the English ligne of our auneient kings as noble men and other great landed ones at thys day haue vvho in their vsuall conueighances do marshall the fal of theyr inheritances by limitation vpon limitation euen to the tenth son of theyr body begotten and to the tenth nephevv of theyr foresayd tenth son of hys body begotten May it be lavvfull so to prouied for the continuance of pelting maners in one familie of a subiect and wil he not carefully cast a fevv doubts for holding of the crovvne vvith many principalities and dukedoms for the preseruation of the capitall corporation of England in respect vvhere of al other the greatest castelles honors and manors are but mesnalties or rather very messuages and tenancyes paraual Issue therefore or no issue by thys Frenchmans body the issue of this Frenchmans marrage is most dangerous to thys Realme and the very consideration of it fearefull in behalfe of our lief soueraigne But these gloosing Frenchmē haue vvhet on some of our persvvaders vvho likevvise vvhet on others vvith remembrance of the dominions and rule vvhich theyr anncesters sometime bare in Fraunce and vvhich this land novv vvants with some disgrace Other of our mens teeth are made to vvater with fayre promises of reposseding those seigneuries and countryes vvhich theyr noble forefathers enioyed as though by meanes of thys mariage they vvould set foote there I knovv not hovv before the french vvere a vvare and sending ouer some colonies from hence of such superfluous gentilmen as themselues they vvould holde it maugre the king there vvith such braue vvords the false flattering frenchmen bring fond credulous Englishmen into a supposed paradise These brauing English gentlemen are as farre from the wisedom of theyr noble auncestets of whom they speake as from theyr courage It vvere verely a conquest fit for gentlemen to assay the recouering of our former losses and to begin euen vvyth our last losse first but if these mens eyther wisedome vvere such as vvere lyke to gette it or theyr courage such as vvere lyke to keepe it they vvould remember that in tymes passed the noble ▪ Englishmen delighted rather to be seene in Fraunce in bright armour then in gay clothes and masking attyre they did chuse rather to vvinn and hold by manly force then by such esseminate meanes Yea vvhen they did obteyn any thyng by mariage it was not that England vvas maryed to France but by marying france to England vvherein is great difference if a man haue the witt to marke it For if eyther vve vvere Frenchmen or our nation more large and pleasaunt then Fraunce vve might perhaps haue reason simply to desyre it Then should our land ▪ be the royall seate our king should be resident emong vs and our empire encreased by so many vassalles vvhich though by the mariages of our former kinges the flowers of kinghthood vvould haue fallen out othervvise in processe of tyme to the same bondage of thys lande if they had styll kept Fraunce because theyr succeeding children kinges of England vvoulde haue remoued thither as into a more rich and pleasaunt kingdome out of Englande deuided from the world yet had euen our forefathers in the dayes of those victorious kings that reason to desire it which vve vvant that is they vvent thither vvith theyr kings to be maisters of countrey and people and to hold it by aims as strongest vvheresoeuer theyr king vvent he was styll an Englishman and trusted most most aduaunced Englishmen yea those kings had euer Animam reuer tendi as I may say into England ▪ in so much as king Henrye the fift vvho had set surest foote in Fraunce yet he had a mind to be brought after hys death out of fickle Fraunce into vvell stayed England and here vve haue hys boanes But in this mariage our Queen is to be maryed and both she and we poore soules are to be mastered and vvhich is vvorse mistrised to And as for the issue he shall be meere French no more acknovvledging vs then that other Pharaoh which neuer knew Ioseph Thys therefore vvere a desyre more lyke the noble blood of those tymes rather to fight for that vve haue not then to daunce for that vve haue yea I vvill say to these dauncers for a garlonde and not for a kingly crovvne as that duke of Glocester sayde It vvere more commendable for these ioyly mates to demaund by word and sword those dominions whych vve haue lost rather thē by mariage to shut the gates of recouering any thyng lost and to open agate of loosing all that is left And if these men vvere eyther regenerate with theyr lyuing brethren by the Gospel or yf they were not degenerate from theyr deceased noble fathers remained but in theyr pure naturalles they would neuer so speak for a faultor prince of Rome and one that may be warranted to vs and our heyres for an enemy auncestrell as I may say and of an hatefull blood from many graundfathers And if they had but that naturall sense vvhich all lyuing creatures haue to eschevv in theyr kindes all contrary and hurtfull thinges they vvould not so labour