returne to Amboise not holding if fit that this new Sonne should rise before the West of his life This great reioycing of all France did but augment his heauinesse to see himselfe forced to quit the place vnto his sonne All the helpes which the Art of man could inuent were imployed He caused the holy Oile to be brought l This Vyall of holy Oile was seene by Philip de Commines vpon the Cupbord in the Kings Chamber at Plessis at the houre of his death Others baue written that the gaue vp the Ghost as it arriued the Clergy of Paris the Court of Parliament the Vniuersity and other Companies went in Procession the last day of Iuly 1483. to meete it at Saint Anthonies in the field it was lodged that night in the holy Chappell and the next day passed on and was followed with the same company vnto our Lady in the fields Phillip de Commines saith that he had an intent to take the like vnction that he did at his Coronation Others haue written that it was to know the declining of his life for when the King is dead it is empty and filleth againe miraculously for the Coronation of a new On Monday the 25. of August he fell into that extremity of sickenesse which ended his daies Last actions of Lewis the eleuenth and forced him to acknowledge himselfe not onely mortall and dying but as death At that time he sent vnto his sonne all such as came to see him saying vnto them Go vnto my sonne your King serue him well giuing to euery one some charge to deliuer vnto him but most confidently to Stephen de Vers Baliffe of Meaux who had bene his Gouernour He sent vnto him also his chiefe Officers the Chancellour with his Seales and all his traine the Captaines and Archers of his Guard his Hunts-men and Faulkeners But his intent was not to suffer them long there if hee recouered his health as assuredly as he felt his courage firme and his iudgement strong the braine not being troubled with the maligne fumes of his infirmity for he had a continuall loosenesse So wee see that the soule in this seperation of the lodging wherein it hath beene shut and whereof it hath great cause to complaine m 〈…〉 of the 〈…〉 some guest the soule complainâ—s of the body 〈◊〉 of a troublesome lodging Vt qui in alieno habitant multis aguntur in commodis semperque de aliqua domicilij parte queruntur Ita animus nunc de capite nunc de pedibus nunc de stomacho nonc aliud de alioqueritur significans se esse non in suo domicâ—o sed vnde breui sit emigrandum As they that dwell in another mans house haue many discommodities and doe still complaine of some part of it So the soule doth complaine sometimes of the head of the legs of the stomacke and other parts shewing that she is not in her own mansioan but froÌ„ whence she must soone depart SeÌ„ recouereth new strength by the ioy which it conceiues to re-enter into this spheare of her rest She disposeth saith a great man of this age more wisely and more holily of all things fore-seeth more certainely that which is to come fore-telleth it and doth prophecy for that shee beginnes to approach to her first beginning to be ioyned againe to that immortall being and to participate with the life eternall Soone after hee fell into great faintings which made him to loose his speech but he recouered it to will the Duke of Bourbon to go vnto the King his sonne and that hee should haue a care of him Commandements extraordinary of the King charging him with many extraordinarie things the which had caused terrible accidents if they had encountred a froward and difficult spirit Philip de Commines in this place speakes what hee thinkes good and confirmeth his opinion by the euents Hee gaue him all the charge and gouernement of the King and commanded him that some men should not come neere him telling him many good and not able causes and if the Lord of Beaujeu had obserued his commandements in euery point or at least in part for there were some extraordinary coÌ„mandements which were not to be kept that in the generality be had obserued theÌ„ better I think it had been profitable both for the Realme and himselfe considering those things which haue since happened n Phi. de Com. doth notâ— heere the diuâ—sioâ—which was betwixt the Lady Anne of France and the D. of Orleance whereof he hath not written any thing in the câ—urse of the history A diuision which caused the Assembly of the Estates at Tours and then of a league whose first attempts appeared before Orleance the second ended in Brittany by the battell of Saint Aubin the 28. of Iuly 1488. and by the taking of the Duke of Orleans This commandement of the King incountering a spirit which was milde tractable and temperate had not the effects it should haue had Bounty and mildenesse are sometimes negligent in matters which require heate and quickenesse This Prince was one of the best of his age being nothing but mildenesse and courtesie The more rare these qualities are in Princes o Humility and courtesie are goodly qualities in great men Humanitas tam clara in imperatore quam rara est Nam quum indiscreta felicium predissequa sit superbia vix cuiquam contingit abundare fortuna indigere arrogantia Cuius quidem ita maiores nostros semper praetesum est vt grauiorem semper putaueâ—nt sâ—ruitutae contemptum Humanity is as glorious as rare in an Emperour For as arrogancy is an indiscreeet 〈…〉 to fortune it seldome happens that any one abounds with good fortune and wants arrogancy The which was alwaies so hatefull to our fore-fathers as they held contempt more grieuous then seruitude Lat. Pac. Pan. the more excellent they are arrogancy neuer faileth in them who haue no wants and pride doth alwaies follow felicity It is a miracle to see a great Prince courteous milde and affable Rome found not any Surname more odious for the last of her Kings then that of Proud and comprehended in that word all the vices for the which she changed the forme of her gouernment and supprest the Royalty in despite of the King Yet the mildenesse and facillity of this Prince gaue a great foundation to the troubles which happened for the Regency of the Realme The King had often said in his life time Lewis the 11. would not haue theÌ„ speake of death vnto him that in what extremity soeuer they saw him they should neuer pronounce that word of death vnto him p These feares which happen at the dissâ—lution of such sweete company as the body and the soule cometh not through faihtnes of heart or want of courage this word Death hath drawne words of griefe from the soule of the Son of God it hath made the heart of the most constant to treâ—ble
from thence he should be led vnto his death And for that the Court had ordained that the Seignieur of Estouteuille Knight and Prouost of Paris should accompany him he grew into some iealousie that it was to draw him out of the hands of Philip Huâ—llier Captaine of the Bastile who was his friend and intreated him mildly to deliuer him vnto the Prouost of Paris his enemy who he thought by an inhumane voluptuousnes k To laugh at another mans miserie is an inhumaine voluptuousnesse and to weepe at another mans harme is an eternall miserie receiued great content at his misery Hated and detested of the ParisieÌ„s He feared also that the people who hated him as much in the end as they had admired him in the beginning l It is in our selues to be esteemed or scorned Neuer maÌ„ was more contemned in the beginning nor lesse in the ending then Brutus and had conceiued an implacable hatred against him and defamed his reputation both by writings m In Iune 1471. the K. by a publike proclamation promised 300. Crownes to him that should discouer the author of Libels that were made against the Constables honor Henry Mariette who had bin LiefienaÌ„t criminal of Paris and Peter Mercier a Scholler were committed to prison for that fact but they were absolued and wordes publikely would do him some outrage as he past through the streetes The Siegneur of S t. Pierre assured him and freed him from either feare telling him that he went not out of one prison to go into another and that he would neuer suffer him to be wronged in his company Thus he went to the Pallace on horseback betwixt S t Pierre and Estouteuille Being come to the staires foot of the Pallace the Lord of Gaucourt Gouernour of Paris and Denis Hesselin came to meet him to lead him to the Tournelle where he found the Chancellor who hauing exhorted him to patience demanded of him the order of S t. Michel The Constable took it from his neck kist it and gaue it him He had receiued it from the Kings owne hand beeing the third of fourteene which first receiued it The Chancellor did also demand the Constables sword of him n VVhen men in high degrees are condemned to lose their liues the death of honor by degradation goes before that of the body by punishment hee answered that it had beene taken from him when he was committed to prison This done the Chancellor retired himselfe and left the Constable in some hope that iustice would bee satisfied with this degradation of honor and leaue him the remainder of his life as a guift the which notwithstanding he should neither desire nor accept being offred hauing lost that which was dearer then it o There remaines nothing to loose for him that hath lost his reputation Hee dies too late that suruiues his honor But behold the President of Popincourt which pronounceth his sentence and speakes to him after this manner His sentence pronounced The Court hath and doth declare you guilty of high treason for the which it doth depriue you of the office of Constable of France and of all your offices honors estates and dignities and for punishment it doth condemne you to suffer death and to loose your head at the greue in Paris it declares all your goods moueable and immoueable forfeited to the King And although considering the foulenes of the great and execrable crimes of treason which you haue committed you should be quartered p By the greatnes of punishments they iudge of the foulnes of offeÌ„ce Treason felony haue alwaies beene seuerely punished your foure quarters to bee hanged on the high waies and your body on a Gibbet yet for some considerations mouing the Court namely for your last marriage of which were issued Children and other causes it hath ordained that after publike execution done of your person your body shal be laid in holy buriall if you require it The Constable with an amazement ordinarie in such strange and sodaine accidents and excusable in the most constant men who suffer death resolutely Foure Diuines exhort the Constable to dye and yet abhorre to see it q Nature abhors death A valiant man goes freely vnto daungers and yet is moued at them that miscarrie There are some which receiue the stroake more Constantly theâ— they apprehend it Sene. Epist. 58. answered Ha God be praised behold a hard sentence I beseech him to giue me the grace to acknoledge him well this day They gaue him foure Diuines to comfort him but in these extremities consolation is a part of the misery They dispose him to vnite all his thoughts to the last and most important act of his life to end it to his health r Iustice in destroying the bodie giues allwayes time to thinke of the health of the soule At the point of death man sets vp his rest that being lost their is noe more to loose for it concernes the losse both of body and soule Death being a game which if it be well played they hazard little to gaine much He demanded of the Chancellor if he might not be allowed to receiue the Sacrament but it was denyed him s If the Sacrament be denied to them that are condemned by Iustice the resolutions are drawne from the Coap Super eo de heret in 6 and c. question 13. 9. 2. They thought it fit that a Masse should be said before him and that at the end they should giue him holy bread and so 〈◊〉 continued with the Diuines about the examination of his conscience till betwixt two and three of the clocke in the afeernoone and then hee was carried on horsebacke to the Towne-house where hee disposed of that which the King suffered him to giue by his last will Hee deuided among the foure companies of begging Friers threescore halfe Crownes which were all the iewells he had sowed in his doublet whereof the Hangman thought to make booty t Iohn King of HaÌ„gary whom Sultan Soliman made K. of Buda paying a tribut caused the head of Gritti sonne to a Duke of Venice to be cut off When the executioner had stript him he found in his breeches a little purseful of precious stones which were valued at 4000. crownes Paul Iou. lib. 32. Many Princes noblemen held it then and do yet hold it an act of wisedome and foresight not to be without some peeces of gold for that they may be driuen to that distresse and so ill asisted by their followers as for want of an hundred Crownes or much lesse to stay the bad designe of some desperate fellow they may sodainely runne into some dangerous fortune He had vppon his finger a ring with a small diamond he intreated the Bishop of Paris his confessor to put it on the finger of the Image of our Lady of Paris and to offer it on his behalfe He charged another to giue vnto his Grandchild a stone
which he ware about his neck and which resisted poyson but the Chancellor kept it to present it vnto the King This disposition beeing made they led him to a great seaffold from the which they did ascend to an other which was lesse but higher where he should receiue an end of his life u Death is sweet when it is the end not the punishment of life And they say it is a troublesome thing to die before one be sick for a punishment Vpon the greater were the Chancellor the Siegneur of Gaucourt and some other of the Kings Officers all the place and all windowes were full euen to the tops of houses He went vp vnto the Scaffold with his hands vnbound He is executed at the Greue the executioner bound them with a little cord They presented him a Cushion of other stuffe then those be wheron the Constables x The Chancellors Constables of France take their oth vnto the King kneeling vpon a cushion of veluet here they offer the Constable one of wooll with the Armes of the City of Paris of France take their oth vnto the King He remoued it with his foote and set it right and then he kneeled downe with his face towards our Ladies Church There in the sight of heauen and of two hundred thousand people the fire-brand of warre was quencht the 29. day of December 1475 He dyed much amazed but full of deuotion and repentance He dyed trembling To dye trembling after that manner was not to dye like a man who had carried the sword of France The executioner should not haue been more hardy to strike y In what place soeuer death assailes a generous man hee should die generously The generosity of courage doth something abate the infamie of the punishment Rubrius Flauius being condemne thy Neâ—o to loose his head when as the executioner said vnto him that he should stretch forth his neck boldy he answered Thou shalt not strike more boldly then I will present my head then he to offer his neck to receiue the blow Thus he who had no care nor thought but of diuision had his head diuided from his sholders the which as full of winde goes into the Ayre and the bodie fals to the earth the life which remained caused some little motion which makes the head to moue apart and the bodie apart but it is without soule for that is not diuided The Franciscane Friars carried the bodie to their Church and they said then vpon the dispute which they had with the Curate of S. Iohn at the Greue that two hundred Friaâ—s had had their heads cut off Wee must conclude this discourse with so certaine a Maxime as whosoeuer shall affirme it cannot lye Neuer any one that dealt craftily with his Prince but in the end he was deceiued and there is nothing more certaine by considerations of presidents experience and reason that who so keepes his Master in feare forceth him to free himselfe This place remained vnsupplyed aboue fortie yeares ImportaÌ„ce of the office of Constable for the command is so great ouer all the forces of the Realme and the name of such lustre as if it fals into the hands of an ambitious man that is able to make his authoritie march equall with the Kings if of a Prince of the bloud he is the Kings King if of an other the Princes and great men of the Realme will not obay him and his commandement as Bertrand of Gueschin said z Berâ—rand of Gueschin refused to accept the Office of Constable for that he was but a simple Knight and durâ—t 〈◊〉 presume to command the kings bâ—others Câ—zins 〈…〉 not your selfe by this meanes for I haue neither Brother Cozin nor Nephewes Earle nâ—r Baron within my realme but shal obay you willingly if any one should doe otherwise hee should displease me Froislard doth concerne the great rather then the lesse The Constables goods beeing forfeited were restored to Francis of Bourbon Earle of Vendosme marrying Mary of Luxembourg Her slender and small stature brought into this house the smalnes of bodies of those great Princes who before were of that goodly and rich stature The first beauty of men admired and desired in Kings As the King had shewed an example of his Iustice in the Constables death Duke of Alencon set at libertie so did hee one of his bounty to the Duke of Alençcon a The D. of Alencon was coÌ„ducted from the Louure to the house of Michel Luillier on Thursday the 28. of December 1475 at six of the clock at night by Iohn Harlay Knight of the watch with foure torches as the Author of the Chronicle doth obserue whom he suffred to go out of the Louure where he was a prisoner and to be lodged in a Burgesses house of Paris The fortune of this Prince was to be pittied and the consideration of his birth bound the Princes to commiseration Hee was of the bloud of France and the house of Alençon was a branch of that of Valois Charles of France Earle of Valois had two sonnes Philip of Valois King of France and Charles of Valois b Charles of Valois Brother to Philip of Valeis King of FraÌ„ce had four sonnes by Mary of Spaine his second â— wife Charles who was a Iacobin and then Archbishop of Lyon Peter Earle of Alencon Philip Archbishop of 〈◊〉 and Robert Earle of Perch Earle of Chartres and then of Alençon who dyed at the Battell of Crecy He was father to Iohn first Duke Duke of Alençon who married Marry of Brittanie and by her had this Iohn the second of that name Duke of Alençon his sonne Rene Duke of Alençon married Margaret of Lorraine by whom he had Charles the last Duke of Alençon married to Margaret of Orleans the onely Sister of King Francis the first and died without children By the Constables death the Duke of Bourgundy receiued from the King St. Quentin Profit and blame of the Duke for the Constables death Han and Bohain and the spoiles of the dead which might amount to fourescore thousand crownes He was sorie that he had lost him who had made him haue so good a share in France He was blamed to haue giuen him a safe conduit and then c Behold the iudgment which the Lord of Argenton makes vpon this deliuerie There was no need for the D. of Bourgundie who was so great a Prince of so famous and honorable a house to giue an assurance to the Constable to take him which was a great crueltie the Battel where he was certain of deth and for couetousnes deliuer him 1476. and to deliuer him to him that pursued him after the assurances of Protection and defence This breach was noted for an infallible presage of the ruine of his house The Annales of the Franche Contie of Bourgundy adde an other cause which was that the Duke had seazed of a great sum of money at Aussone
him i The King going into Touraine about the end of the first yeare of his raigne found Iohn Duke of Alençon prisoner at Loches and set him at liberty infringing the conditions for the which the King had pardoned him and likewise the quality of other crimes which hee had committed Hauing also seene and considered all that was to bee seene in this party with mature deliberation It hath beene said that the Court declares the said Iohn of Alençon guilty of High Treason Crimes wherewith the Duke of Aleniçon was accused and Murther and to haue caused counterfeit Money to bee quâ—ined with the Kings stampe and Armes k Coyning of money is one of the rights of Soueraignety It is treason to make any be it good or bad Many NoblemeÌ„ in France had the priuiledge to coine but they were reuoked by an Edict made by King Francis the first and as such a one the said Court hath condemned him to receiue death and to bee executed by Iustice and with all hath declared all and euery his goods forfeited to the King the execution notwithstanding of the said Iohn of Alençon reserued vnto the Kings good pleasure The King freed him from the paine but hee left him one more tedious then that of death Ignominy and Imprisonment Hee did not also suffer René King of Sicile his Vnkle by the mothers side to liue in peace Hee commanded his Court of Parliament to make his Processe But it made him answere that hee could not bee iudged of Treason but in the Kings presence l Bodin in the fourth booke of his Common-weale the sixt Chapter saith that the Court of Parliament made this answere the twenty sixth of April one thousand foure hundred three score and fifteene It had done the like in the Duke of Alençons Processe in the time of King Charles the seuenth In the yeare 1458. Hee had the courage to withstand this brunt and as wee haue seene attended vntill that time had cured the vlcer of the Kings hatred against him The Duke of Nemours could not escape the seuerity of his Iustice the which hee had contemned by great relapses into the same faults If the Duke of Bourgundy had returned a Conquerour from the Suisses and Lorraines the King would haue beene no lesse troubled to put him to death then to set him at liberty m Captiuity is a meanes to free the soule from the tyranny of the body It is an act of çenerosity to contemne death more then to hate life Fortium virorum est magis mortem contemnere quam odisse vitam Q. Cur. lib. 5. The tediousnesse of his prison had disposed his soule to leaue that of the body without griefe to contemne death and to hate life Princes finde the offences of them they haue bound vnto them more sencible and lesse pardonable The King had erected the County of Nemours into a Dutchy Relapses of the Duke of Nemours he had pardoned him his felony of the League of the Common-weale and yet forgetting the effects of such a bond and his oath of fealty presently after the Duke of Guienne was retired into Brittany hee sent a man vnto him disguised like a Frier to offer him both his body and goods protesting to serue as hee did against the King his Soueraigne Lord. The Duke of Guiennes death forced the Duke of Nemours to flye the second time to the Kings mercy for a second pardon which the King granted him vpon an oath which hee tooke neuer to conspire against his Prince n The extract of the Processe sent to the Prouines and Parliaments shewes that this oath was taken in the presence of sixe Apostolike Notaries and sixe Royall Notaries and vpon the Crosse end Crowne of our Sauiour soone after hee assisted the Earle of Armagnac and renewed the practises and intelligences which he had with the Duke of Bourgundy All these inconstant actions weere degenerated into so many crimes which might not remaine vnpunished and which did assure him that death could not surprise him His soule was bound to resolue the same day that hee entred into resolutions which could not be otherwise expiated o Innocency may bee surprized crimes cannot for the offence and the punishment are Twinnes it is also a kinde of content to foresee which way wee must passe Iulian dying did thanke the Gods for that they had not kild him by surprize The King caused him to bee taken at Carlat and sent him prisoner to the Castle of Pierrescise which was then without the walles of Lyon A while after hee caused him to bee conducted to Paris where his Processe was made by the Court of Parliament p By an accord made betwixt King Lewis the eleuenth and Iames of Armagnac Duke of Nemours the 17. of Ianuary in the yeare 1469. the said Duke did renounce his place of Peere being content to be tryed as a priuate person if hee did faile in his obedience to the said King who did not shew that rigour but did furnish his Court with Peeres for his iudgement made at Noion the fourth of August 1477. Du Tiller The Lord of Beaujeu Earle of Clermont was President by the Kings Commission Hee confest all that hath beene formerly spoken and moreouer that hee had had intelligence with the Constable of Saint Paul to seaze vpon the King and Dauphin Confessions of the Duke of Nemours That the Duke of Bourgundy had sent him word if hee could take them hee should haue the Citty of Paris and the I le of France for his part That the Dauphin should be deliuered into the hands of Monsi r de Bresse and the King transported out of the Realme of France q The Duke of Nemours confessed more that hee had consulted and giuen credit to a Frier a Doctor of Diuinity whose bookes had beene burnt in the Bishops Hall at Paris Vpon these occasions he was condemned to loose his head at the Hales in Paris the fourth of August one thousand foure hundred three score and seuenteene Hee was a Peere of France but this quallity was omitted in his Sentence for that by an accord made the seuenteenth of Ianuary in the yeare one thousand foure hundred three score and nine hee had renounced his place of Peere and was content to bee tryed as a priuate-person in case of relapse The sentence of death was pronounced vnto him by Peter of Oriole Chancellour of France r A Prince shold alwaies keepe his word inuiolably and hold faith the foundation of Iustice. It is a great glory for a Prince when his tongue and heart agrees Mira est in principe nostromeÌ„tis linguaeque concordia noÌ„ modò humilis pâ—â—ui animi sed seruile vitium scit esse mendacium The vnion of mindle tongue is admirable in our Prince hee knowes that lying is not onely the signe of a base and abiect mind but that it is a seruile vice Hee had no refuge to his
seene more plainly in a cleerre water then in mire so the diuine light shines more in spirits that are cleansed from worldly affaires then in those that are alwayes troubled with the cares thereof made him speake words if not altogether Diuine yet at the least Flatterers pleasing to Princes free from pleasing and flattery which in these extremities doe alwayes abuse Princes making them beleeue that they are farre from death although it hang vpon their lippes There are many which assure them that they should hope for more good then they euer had but there are fewe which let them know that they should feare greater torments then they haue euer endured It is lawfull for the Physitian of the body to s Plato in the third Bookâ— of his Common-weale giues physitians leaue to lye and to promise health vnto the sicke even in their extreâ—â—t to 〈◊〉 the comfort lye vnto his Patient but he that hath the cure of Soules neither may nor ought God did much fauour this Prince to send him a man of this condition to helpe him to dye who among many great qualities necessary to this Office euen towards such a King might speake freely vnto him without dissembling or flattery For Princes in these extreamities haue need of men which should not bee like vnto the sonnes of Zebedee who spake of Scepters and Honours when as Christ discoursed of the Crosse They must let them know that the world and all that is great and admirable in the world is vnworthy of the soule which is not made for the world but the world is made for it t The health of the body depends of the soule The soule saith Chrysostome was not made for the body but the body for the soule who so neglects the first and is too carefull of the second looseth both That beeing of a substance exempt from corruption and by consequence from death cannot haue an obiect disproportionable to her power nor can delight in mortall and corruptible things and being the Image u As a Tryangle is not fillâ—a with a Tryangle s nothing is able to fill the heart but God Caeteris omnibus occupart potest replâ—ti autem non potest capacem enim Dei quicquid Deo minus est non implebit It may well be busied with other things but it cannot 〈◊〉 filled whatsoeuer is capable of God nothing can fill it that is 〈◊〉 then God of God there is not any thing hath reference to her eternall essence but her Immortality God had no beginning and it hath hath no ending God is for euer and man desires nothing more then to continue his being The forme of his vnderstanding is Truth and there is no other Truth but God The great world hath but one sunne the lesser but one soule and both haue but one God This good man vndertooke to make this Prince capable of two things the hearing whereof is difficult to men and Kings are very hardly taught to loue God and to contemne the world The world entertaines their minde with so many things which men think worthy of loue as they cannot lodge any other affection in their hearts and do not thinke of the loue wherewith the Angels liue and burne being the fire of the Intellectuall world as the Sun is of the coelestiall and the Elementary of ours Princes in stead of louing God loue themselues they finde that all is made for them they dispose so absolutely of all the beauties and pleasures of the world as they desire no other they haue vnder their powers so many great and goodly spirits as they haue no will to change their abode to see them of the other world One demaunded of Cercidas the Megapolitaine if hee dyed willingly Why not said hee For after my death I shall see those great men Pythagoras among the Phylosophers Hecateus among the Historians Homer among the Poets and Olympus among the Musitians Ael lib. 13. de Var. Hist. all is made for them nothing is spoken against them for them the fish cut the waues the birds beate the aire beasts march vpon the earth and men runne toyle sweat and kill themselues wherefore when in the end conscience commands them to raise their thoughts towards the place whither their face is turned to mount towards their beginning to breathe nothing but eternity to contemne the fumes of the world and to admire the light of Heauen they haue their heads so heauy and their eyes so dazled as they cannot vnderstand that Hee that loueth the world the loue of God is not in him They eye cannot at one instant bohold both heauen and earth The exhortations of Francis de Paulo did cast some seeds of the loue of God into this Princes heart but the cares of the world were the birds which carried it away and did smother it in the thornes of affaires The fruits of a slow piety which doth flourish but in the Winter of mans life doe neuer ripe well It must bee manured in due time y That piety comes late when it hath not recourse to God but at need Byon had vanquished Athens had poysoned many spirits with the impiety of Theodorus his maister being reduced in the end to languish of a great infirmity hee began to acknowledge that there were Gods but it was to cure him A mad man said be that writ his life not to beleeue that there were Gods but wheÌ„ he had need of their helpe Diog. Laert. lib. 4. the same God which would haue fire burning alwayes vpon his Altar will that fire burne continually in a Princes Heart It was sometime kindled well in that of Lewis but the first winde of worldly affaires blew it away His heart had good inclinations when as necessity and afflictions prest it but hee suffered them to wither at the first Sunne-shine of prosperity A mischiefe which is naturall to the fragilitie of men who doe no good but for the feare of euill and make themselues voluntary slaues to things whereunto they should command and which are made for them There is not any man but would blush at the reproach which his owne conscience may giue him that if hee had giuen him the tenth part of the time which he hath imployed for his flesh it should bee much better z This reproch is like vnto that of Marcus Varro in his Satyrs Si quantum operae sumpsisti vt tuus pistor bonum faceret panem eius duodecimam Philosophiae dedisse tempore bonus iampridem esses factus If thou hadst spent but the twelfth part of that time in philosophy which thou didst to haue thy Baker make good bread thou hadst in time been made a good man Lewis then following the first traine of his life seemed to haue more Deuotion then Conscience more trembling with superstition then constant in Piety a Alexander was strooke with this infirmity who hauing liued impiously dyed superstitiously A. his death there was none seene
about him but Diuines and South-sayers who made prodigies of the lightest things more desirous of the health of his body then of his soule for hauing made a prayer vnto Saint Eutropeus to recommende vnto him the one and the other Claudius of Seissell said that hee caused the word Soule to bee put out saying That it was sufficient if the Saint made him to haue corporall health without importuning him with so many things Hee was growne so confident that his holy man would cure him as hee still sent to Plessis to tell him that it consisted onely in him to prolong his life The more hee trusted this good man the more he distrusted all his seruants b Such extraordinary guards and distrusts were not without cause for as Phil. de Commines saith some had an intent to enter into Plessis and to dispatch matters as they thought good for that there was nothing dispatched but they durst not attempt it wherein they did wisely for there was good order taken The Castle was well guarded the Walles were fortified with great barres of Iron The guard stood Centinell in the Ditches hauing command to shoot at any one that should aproch before the gates were opened Hee would willingly haue drawne the ladder after him going to bed hee daily changed his seruants and depended vpon the austere humors of Iohn Cottiere his Physitian to whom hee gaue monethly ten thousand Crownes not daring to refuse him any thing and promising whatsoeuer hee desired so as hee would chase away that fearfull apparition c Alexander Tyrant of Pherâ—a liued in such distrust as the Chamber wherin he was accumtowed to lye was kept by two terrible dogges hauing a â—â—dder to ascend vnto it of Death at the name whereof hee shrunke downe betwixt the sheetes This Physitian did sometimes braue him saying I know well that one of these mornings you will chase me away as you haue done others but I sweare by God you shall not liue eight dayes after This poore Prince in stead of vsing him as Maximin did his d Maximin the Emperour commanded his physitions to be slain for that they could not cure his wounds gaue him whatsoeuer he would Bishopprickes Benefices and Offices The holy man of Calabria on the other side watcht fasted and prayed continually for the King neither was it euer possible to diuert him from the thoughts of his pouerty The King could not giue enough to the one and could not force the other to receiue any thing e Antipather King of Macedon said that be had two friends at Athens Phocian Demades The one hee could neuer content with giuing and the other he could neuer moue to receiue any thing that bee offered him Plut. He sometimes attired himselfe richly Curiosity of Lewis the 11 th contrary to his custome but it was in a Gallery like to a flash of lightening and as one would say I am yet here or by his rarenesse to procure admiration to Maiesty and Grauity like to to the Kings of Egipt f The ancient Kings of Aegipt shewed themselues seldome vnto the people and alwayes after some newâ— manner carrying sometimes fiâ—e vpon their heads and sometimes a bird or a branch to moue admiration hee had not any in his Court but his Physitian and maister Oliuer Euery man began to bee weary of this solitarinesse The French desire to see and to presse neere their King They doe not Court it in vaine and doe not serue an inuisible maister Hee ordained diuers businesses both within and without the Realme sending to fetch diuers things out of farre Countreyes for ostentation and rarenesse g The more rare and vnknowne things that Princes haue the more apparant is their greatnesse and therefore they cause many beasts to bee kept for shew as Tygres Lyons and Ounces as little Lyons in Affricke Rayne-Deere and Buffes in Sweathland and Denmarke Allans in Spaine Mules from Sicile and little Grey-houndes out of Brittanie Hee changed his Officers cashiered his Captaines tooke away their pensions and all to bee spoken of fearing they should hold him to be dead although it bee very hard to conceale the death of a great King h There is nothing can bee lesse concealed then the death of a prince They might say of his designes as Stratonicus did of the Rhodians buildings That he vndertooke things as if hee had beene Immortall for hee feared that in doing nothing the people would bee curious to know what hee did not apprehending so much the hatred of his subiects as their contempt Stratonicus said that the Rhodians did â—ate as if they should dye soone and did build as if they had beene immortall Plut. In these last and extreame languishings hee caused the peace to be proclaimed at Paris Publication of the peace as the Archduke had done at Brussels for it had bin said that it should be published in the Courts of Parliament of France and in the chiefe Townes vnder the Archdukes obedience and sworne by the Abbots Prelats and Noblemen of the countries of Artois Burgondy to the end it might be known that it was not onely made with the Princes to continue during their liues but with the Princes and people The Princesse Margaret k This marriage was so displeasing vnto the Arch-duke as Phillip de CoÌ„mines saith he would willingly haue taken her fâ—om them if he could before she went out of the Country but they of Gand had giuen her a good Guard was brought to Hedin by the Lady of Rauestien base daughter to Duke Phillip The Earle of Beaujeu and the Lady Anne of France his wife receiued her and conducted her to Amboise whereas as the Dauphin was Shee made her entry into Paris in the beginning of Iune and was married in Iuly The Chronicle reports the pompe of this entry in these termes On Monday the second of Iune Entry of the Lady Dauphin into Paris about fine of the clocke in the euening the Lady Dauphin made her entry into Paris being accompanied by the Lady of Beaujeu and the Admirals wife with other Ladies and Gentlewomen and they entred by Saint Dennis gate whereas were prepared for her comming three goodly Scaffolds in the one and the highest was a personage representing the King as Soueraigne On the second were two goodly children a sonne and a daughter attired in white Dammaske representing the said Dauphin and the Lady of Flanders and in the other vnderneath were the personages of the Lord of Beaujeu and of the Lady his wife and of either side of the said Personages were the Armes of the said Lords and Ladies There were also foure personages one of the Husbandmen another of the Clergy the third of Marchandize and the last of the Nobility euery of which made a short speech at her entry The marriage being celebrated at Paris whereunto all the chiefe Townes of the Realme were inuited The King would haue his sonne