those who daily meditat the abasing if not the ruine thereof or there must be means found to secure it The Kings intentions are to rule it so that his government may equall if not surpasse any time pass'd and serve for an example for the future The marvailous assistance which it hath pleased God to afford him hitherto when his affairs were in the most deplor'd case gives us hope that he will still persevere Being seconded with the sage counsels of the Queen his Mother with the concurrence of Monsieur his Brother who I may truly say is so fastned to his Majesties will and the interest of the State that nothing can separat him I see no reason at all to doubt of it since none but God Almighty can produce things of nothing therefore to come to so good ends of pure necessity either the ordinary expences of the Court must be diminish'd or the public receits augmented or perchance both must be done It is not fitting you 'l say to meddle with the necessary expences for the conservation of the State the very thought thereof were a crime yet his Majesty preferring the public before the privat is willing out of his own motion to retrench his House in things that touch his own Person leaving you to judge how the rest will be employ'd One might think that such retrenchments were not seasonable at this time because they use to alienat sometimes the affections of hearts But as the businesse will be carried great and small shall find their account and therein their satisfaction the most austere rules seem sweet unto the most tumultuous spirits when they have not in appearance only but in reall effect the public good and incolumity of the State for their sole aime Sir the Queen your Mother prayes that you would think it good to let her do that which your piety towards her would not permit you as much as to think of your self which is that she be reduc'd to a lower revenue then she had in the late Kings time it being true that she had not better'd her condition then when during your Majesties minority she rais'd the fortunes of others for the advantage of your Majesties service Different times require different and sometimes contrary courses that which is proper at one time may be impertinent at another In great tempests one must share his goods with the Sea to lighten the Vessell and avoid shipwrack prudence requires it that the whole perish not for casting away part the interest of particulars obligeth no lesse then that of the public there being nothing more true then what an ancient Prelat of this Kingdome said That 't is impossible the riches of private persons can subsist when the State it self is poore and necessitous By such husbandry the ordinary expences may be lessen'd by three millions It rests then to augment the receits not by such impositions that the people are not able to beare but by innocent means which gives place to the King to continue what he hath practis'd this yeer in easing his subjects by diminution of tallies To this effect we must come to the redemption of lands to Notaries and Registers and other morgag'd rights which amount to twenty millions a thing not onely profitable but just and necessary If this dessein take effect the people who contribut more of their bloud then of their sweat to the expences of the State shall be eas'd If there be need to resist a forren Invasion or some intestine Insurrection if God for our sins permit any more or to execute a dessein that 's profitable and glorious for the State want of money will be no losse of time there will be no need to have recours to extraordinary wayes to Court partisans and put hands in their purses who have them oft times full of the Kings moneys One shall not see the Soverain Courts busied to verifie new Edicts Kings shall appear no more upon their beds of justice unlesse it be to undo what they had done some other time In fine all things shall be at such a passe that hath bin long since desir'd by all good men and may continue so whole Ages One will say and perchance I may think so my self that 't is easie to propose good desseins and as pleasing a thing to speak of them but the execution is difficult Yet neverthelesse I dare speak it in the presence of the King having well thought of it there may be expedients found whereby within the compas of six yeers one may see the end and perfection of this work The King my Lords and Gentlemen hath Assembled you expresly to search and find them out to examine things and concur with him in resolution his Majesty assuring you that he will readily and religiously execute what shall be determin'd for the restauration of this State The sick sometimes die by too many remedies as well as none at all I am bound to tell you this by the by that to restablish this State in its first splendor ther 's no need of many Ordinances but real executions by this means this Assembly may close more speedily though she may be perpetuall for the fruit she shall produce few words and many deeds will testifie both the good intentions and judgements of them whereof she is compos'd The King doubts not but you will do what concerns your duty in this occurrence You shall know by the event that his Majesty will surpasse himself to procure the good of his Kingdome the glory of reviving it is reserv'd to the vertu of so great a Prince you are much bound to his goodnes that he hath vonchsaf'd to make you partakers thereof and for my particular I should be much bound to God if he presently took me out of the world upon the accomplishment of so high so glorious and holy a work As thus in things premeditated so in ordinary extemporall discours he had a pressing way of eloquence and exaggeration of speech which came from him in such a grave serious accent that it mov'd all along In so much that by his garb he seem'd to be rather an Italian then French seldom or never would reason thrust be out of her throne by any impetuous irregular motions seldome would his passions make any furious sallies the greatest fit of distemper that ever was discover'd in him was at the news of Wallesteyns death with whom he had held intelligence for betraying the Imperial Army so to pave a way for France to ascend the Empire He would easily break out into tears and tendernesse of spirit The prime perfection in him was his forecast he was quick-sighted and Eagle-ey'd in every corner of christendom He had Ecchoes in every Court which sounded unto him all the affairs of State in so much that he knew as well what was done in the Junta's of Spain in the Consistory at Rome in the Cabinet Counsels of England and Germany as if he had bin President of all
the States Generall which is next the Clergie and for delivering of Opinions the King inordred that in matters concerning the Church the Clergie should vote first in matters of War the Nobles in matters of Law the Officers of Justice in matters of the Revenue of the Crown the Exchequer men and Financiers In this Assembly were agitated and concluded many wholsome things First 1. That the Secret affairs of State be communicated to few and those of known probity and prudence for fear of discovery 2. That the expence of the Kings House and the salary of Military men be regulated 3. That Pensions be retrench'd 4. That a course be taken to regulat gifts and rewards which are to be made in silver 5. That it be illegal to sell any Offices in the Kings House in War or Government 6. That reversion of Offices and Benefices be restrain'd because it gives occasion to attempt upon the life 's of the living Incumbents and takes away the Kings Liberty to advance persons of merit taking also from the persons themselfs the encouragement of doing better by hope of advancement 7. That the Annuel right be suppress'd 8. That the venality of Offices be prohibited 9. That small wrangling Courts and the number of Pettifoggers be retrench'd and that all causes be brought to the Soverain Courts These in grosse were the Results of this Assembly which proceeded with a great deal of harmony the King himself was present most of the time and in his absence Monsieur presided There pass'd also a Law to permit the Jesuits to open their Colledg of Clermont in Paris and to endoctrinat young youth in the Sciences But the Universitie of Paris to make this Edict illusory made two Decrees by the first it was ordred that none should be admitted to the course of Theologie unlesse he have studied three yeers under the public Professors of the Faculty of Theologie in Sorbon and that he be put to his oath not to have studied in any other Colledg The second was A prohibition to all Principals of Colledges for admitting any but those that go to the Lectures of the Professors of the said Universitie and that none shall enjoy the Priviledges of Scholarity if he studieth not under those Professors An indifferent moderat man said that there was no way to end this quarrell but that the Jesuits might be united to the body of the Universitie and so submit themselfs entirely to their Laws and Ordinances We will conclude this lustre with a horrible fire that hapned in the Citie of Paris in the chief Palace of Iustice it rag'd most in the great Hall where the Lawyers and Counsellors use to meet where also the Statues of the Kings of France are set up and are rank'd according to the times of their raign in excellent Sculpture all which were utterly reduc'd to cendres with the Table of Marble about which the Judges were us'd to sit The cause of this fire is to this day unknown but it might be very well interpreted to be a visible judgment from heaven upon that place and Palace for the hard measure of Justice the Marshall of Ancre and his Lady had received a little before Which makes me call to mind a Latin verse I have read upon a Stat-House in Delph in Holland which had bin burnt in like maner and reedified not one other house about it receiving any hurt Cive quid invito proh sola redarguit usta Haec Domus illaesis aliis Discite Iustitiam moniti non temnere Divos An end of the second Lustre The third Lustre of the Raign of Lewis the thirteenth VVE ended the last Lustre with the end of the old Palace of Justice in Paris by an unknown furious fire which made the disaster more horrid We will begin this with bone-fires of joy for the Mariage of the Lady Christina second daughter of Henry the Great to the Prince of Piedmont who came in Person to Paris to do his own busines he comported himself with that addresse that politenes that bravery of spirit accompagnied with such gentlenes that he gain'd much upon the French Nation The busines was not long a finishing for Henry the Great was well pleas'd with an ouverture that had bin made formerly by the said Prince for the Eldest daughter who was maried to Spain She had for her Dower 1200. thousand French liures which comes to one hundred and twenty thousand pound sterling besides the rich jewels she caried with her The Queen Mother was all this while at Blois and som ombrages of distrust hung 'twixt the King and her for the Bishop of Lucon being by command removed from her Mounsieur Roissy was sent expresly by the King to attend her whom the Queen took to be no other then a kind of Spy to watch over her actions nor was she invited to the marriage of her daughter which was solemniz'd at Paris and with this mariage it seems the King did consummat his own by bedding with the Queen his wife which he had not done since he had maried her at Burdeaux almost four yeers before where he lay with her only two hours and though this was done for fear it should hinder his growth and enervat his strength yet there were some whispers that it was done with an intent to be divorc'd from her and Luynes was blamed for it Hereupon he finding the King one night inclinable took him out of his bed in his armes and casting his night-gown over him he carried him to the Queens bed The Nuncio and Spanish Ambassador were so joy'd at this that they presently dispatch'd expresses to carry the news and bonefiers were made thereupon both in Rome and Madrid for there were some surmises abroad that so long a separation from bed would turn in time to an aversion which might draw after it a repudiation and so a divorce While the King was thus confirming his own and celebrating his sisters Nuptialls in Paris there were tydings brought that his Mother got out of Blois Castle and was convey'd away secretly in the night through a window which was towards the moate where she glided down a good height upon a counter scarp and so made an escape The King had sent Father Arnoul the director of his conscience a little before under colour of complement to visit her but the design was to draw from her a solemn oath that she would not come to the Kings Court without his preadvertisement and approbation which oath she took upon the Evangelists He sent her also word that he and the Prince of Piemont now her son in law would come to visit her but she knew well enough how matters were carried at Court and so she gave little credit to those endearments fearing there was too strong a drug under the pill Her escape was trac'd by Espernon the little Gascon Duke who had bin from the beginning a great servant of Ladies there had bin divers clashings and counterbuffs
his majoritie and raigne and so our storie shall grow up with him in dimensions and yeares Of his Nativitie and Dauphinage LEwis the thirteenth second French King of the Bourbon line had for his father Henry the great and the great Duke of Toscanies daughter for his mother The first we know was sent out of the world by Ravaillac the second by Richelieu as some out of excesse of passion doe suggest For this great Queene having conceived a deep displeasure and animositie against him and not liking his counsels and course of policy to put quarrels and kindle a war betwixt her children in a high discontentment she abandon'd France and so drew a banishment upon her selfe which expos'd her to divers encumbrances removes and residences abroad and this some thinke accelerated her end For great spirits have this of fastnesse and constancie in them that where their indignation is once fixed for having their counsels cross'd their authoritie lessen'd and the motions of their soules resisted they come ofttimes to breake rather then bow As we see the huge Cedars who scorning to comply with the windes and stormes fall more frequently then the Willow and poore plying Osier who yeeld and crouch to every puffe But to our chiefe taske When the sixteenth Christian centurie went out Lewis the thir teenth came into the world and he began the seventeenth being borne in the yeere sixteene hundred and one about the Antumnall Equinoctiall which was held to be a good presage that he would prove a good Iusticer The Queene had a hard delivery her body having beene distemper'd by eating of fruit too freely so that when the Midwife brought him forth to the King and to the Princes of the blood in the next roome who according to the custome of France use to be present for preventing of foule play for an Heire apparant of the Crown his tender body was become black and blue with roughnesse of handling and the Midwife thinking to have spouted some wine out of her mouth into his the King tooke the bottle himselfe and put it to the Dauphins lips which reviv'd his spirits His publique Baptisme was not celebrated till five yeers after at Fontainebleau because the plague was in Paris and the solemnitie was greater in preparation and expectance then it was in performance The King would have had him nam'd Charles but the Mother over-rul'd and gave the law in that point and would have him called Lewis Paul the fifth was his godfather notwithstanding that the Spanish faction did predominate in the Conclave at his election which happen'd about the time the Dauphin was borne And the French Ambassadour then at Rome meeting with the Spanish at Saint Angelo and telling him Ilmio Rè há fatto un maschio my King hath made a sonne The Spanish Ambassadour answer'd il mio Rè há fatto un Papa and my King hath made a Pope It seemes that Mercury the father of eloquution and who hath the powerfullest influence ore the tongue was oppressed by a disadvantagious conjunction with a more praedominate planet at his Birth which appear'd by that naturall slownesse he had in his speech as Lewis the sixt his predecessor and last Emperour of the six French Kings had But a rare thing it was and not to be paralleld in any age that two of the greatest Kings of Europe I meane the Dauphin we now write of and His Majesty of England now regnant should come both into the world within lesse then ten moneths compasse the one in November the other in September next following I say a most rare thing it was that it should so fall out that as they were contemporaries in yeares and raigne the same kinde of utterance should be coincident and connaturall to them both though the haesitation be lesse in Him of November Besides it seemes he is richly requited with the advantage of an incomparable imperious pen wherein nature joyning hand with Art hath made him so rich a compensation that he may well claime the palme of all his progenitors But now againe to our Infant Dauphin which the English with other call Dolphin commonly but very corruptly for 't is not from a fish but a faire Province that he derives this appellation the very instant he comes into the world the ground whereof was this Humbert last Dauphin of Viennois having lost his eldest sonne in that famous battaile of Crecy against the English and his tother sonne having died of a fall from betwixt the Fathers armes as he was dallying with him The said Humbert being oppressed by the Duke of Savoy and others transmitted and bequeathed as free gift the brave Province of Dauphinè unto Philip of Valois then King of France with this proviso that his eldest sonne and so of all successive Kings should beare the title of Dauphin to perpetuity during their fathers lifes holding it as he did and his progenitors had done in fee of the Empire This was the sixteenth Dauphin since the first who was Charles the wise in the yeare 1349. whereby I observe that the precedent title of the presomptif Heire of the Crowne of France is not so ancient by halfe a hundred of yeares as the title of Prince of Wales to the Heire apparant of England which begun in Edward the firsts time who conferred that honour upon his sonne Edward of Caernarvon 1301. But this title of Dauphin seemes to have a greater analogie with the Dukedome of Cornwall which title was confer'd first upon the black Prince because this as that of Dauphin needes no creation for ipsissimo instante the very moment that any of the King of Englands sons come to be Heire apparant of the Crowne he is to have liverie and seisin given him of the Dutchy of Cornwall with all the honours and lands annexed for his present support Touching those publike passages of State that happened during the Dauphinage of Lewis the thirteenth while Henry the fourth lived we will nor meddle with them because we would not confound the actions of the father with those of the sonne He was educated with that speciall care and circumspection wherewith the Dauphins of France are wont to be bred as also with that freedome from overmuch awe and apprehensions of feare which is observed in the French breeding generally because the spirits may not be suppressed and cowd while they are ductible and young and apt to take any impression He was not much taken with his booke nor any sedentary exercise but with pastimes abroad as shooting at flyes and small hedge birds to which end his Father put to him Luynes who had many complacentious devices to fit his humour that way for which petty volatill sports he soard at last to the highest pitch of honour that a French subject could flie unto for of a gentleman in decimo sexto he was made Duke Peer and Lord high Constable of all France But he had the advantage to have the managing of his masters affection
who were kill'd but he had them gratis Soubize afterwards came with five hundred from Rochell and so the English Army march'd towards Saint Martin in the way there was the little Fort calld Lapree wherein as there was advice had afterwards there was but one old woman Soubize counsell'd the Duke to march another way through the Vineyards and to leave the Fort this prov'd fatall and indeed the greatest cause of the ruine of the English for had they tane that little Fort it might have serv'd for a handsome retreat Being come before Saint Martins Fort Sir Io Burrowes view'd it and said positively it was impregnable but by starving and so advis'd the Duke to take what booty could be had in that Isle and go to Oleron but this counsell took not While the English Army lay before Saint Martin there was an Engineer came out of the Castle who desired conference with the Duke but being suspected by his looks he was search'd and a poyson'd dagger was found about him wherewith being put to the torment he confess'd to have bin sent to kill the Duke so he had no quarter All the time the Duke was there though it was concluded by the Counsell of War 't was impossible to take the Fort but by famin yet no intrenchments were made all the while to block them up but a way was taken to raise batteries before the Army had made its approaches which prov'd chargeable and fruitlesse for with the infinit company of shot made against the Hill there was nothing done by way of breach but more powder and shot spent then the spoyles of the Isle was worth and still the passage was open for the Town round about to carry in any thing At last the English began to entrench yet they could not hinder provision to come by Sea from the main at last a sicknes happned in the Army whereby many dropp'd away Sir Iohn Burrowes was kill'd and divers other ilfavor'd accidents fell out and discontents began to be fomented for there came divers messages from the Cittadell to the Duke which he made shy to impart to the Counsell of war whereat there was some distast taken The King of France was now recover'd and he his Cardinal were come before Rochell there were all means under heaven us'd to preserve Toiras the Cittadel of Ré whereupon the King writ his Letter encouragement unto him Monsieur Toiras understanding the rare vertis and courage wherewith you and the rest that are in that Cittadel do defend your selfs against the English I was willing to express unto you by this Letter the singular satisfaction that I receive thereby Therefore you ought to beleeve that I will acknowledge such signal service to every one who shall have a share therein in such a manner that they shall beare all the dayes of their life 's some mark of honor according to their merits Therefore I desire you would send Me the names of all those that are shut in with you in that Cittadell that neither Gentleman Officer or Soldier remain without his reward This Letter being safely arriv'd to Toiras it rais'd every ones spirit to a great height of resolution as also the Kings Person being come so neer them There were divers complements pass'd 'twixt the Duke and Toiras during the siege and Master Io. Ashburnham being sent to the Cittadel upon a Message and afterwards to the King of France himself Toiras was complaining of want of Melons the Duke sent him a basketfull the next day He return'd the Duke some bottles of Orenge flower water for which the Duke gave the Messenger twenty Iacobuses whereas Troiras gave but five for the Melons When the English had planted a serious siege before the Town Buckingham sent Toiras this Letter Monsieur The desire I have to witnesse upon all occasions how much I esteeme and prize persons of quality and merit shall make me alwayes proceed towards them with all courtesie I think I have comported my self towards you in that manner hitherto as far as the law of armes would permit me In poursuance whereof before the quality of my affaires obligeme to take other counsels and to alter my procedure I thought good to exhort you to the consideration of your necessities which you have already endured with much patience and your courage haply might transport you to continue under vain hopes of succour to the prejudice of your safety For these reasons and for the regret I should have to see greater displeasure befall you we judge it convenient to invite you to render your self into our hands with those that are of your company and under your command and withall the place possess'd by you upon such termes of honor that you may not expect hereafter if you oblige me to poursue the means I have in hand to accomplish my dessein and that you let matters go on to extremity So expecting your answer accordingly I rest Sir your most humble and most obedient servant Buckingham Toiras returned this Answer Monsieur Your courtesies are known to all the world and being done with that judgement they use to carry with them they ought to be chiefly expected by them who do good actions Now I do not find there can be a better then for one to employ his life for the service of his King I am here to that purpose with a number of brave men 'mongst whom he that is the least resolut would not beleeve to have satisfied himself if he did not surmount all difficulties to help to conserve this place In so much that neither despair of succour nor fear of being ill us'd in point of extremity are able to make me quit so generous a dessein Besides I should judge my self unworthy of any of your favors if I should omit the least point of my duty in this action the issue whereof must needs be honorable And the more you shall contribut to this glory the more I shall be oblig'd to be Monsieur Your most humble and most obedient servant Toiras The English assayed all means imaginable to render themselfs Masters of the Cittadell by their Ships and inventions at Sea and by assaults and storming a shore nor did they fayle in any thing that human strength and courage could contribut They took divers bottoms as they were transporting provisions from the Continent but at last the Marshall of Schomberg had the hap upon a high floud and in a dark night to bring safely into the Cittadell a mighty supply of all things that might conduce not only to releeve but to raise the spirits of the souldier so the approach of Winter sicknes with other inconveniences forc'd the English to be gone which the Duke though often advis'd and importun'd by the Counsell of War was loth to do having provision for two moneths longer and that he must be forc'd to leave a number of sick men behind to the mercy of the enemy But after a conference with
out for the Duke of Anjou the French quickly hearkens unto them so there was a Treaty at Narbona whither they sent twelve persons of quality for hostages and an Order issued out that he should be branded with a hot iron who spake of any accommodation with Castile It was agreed upon that upon putting themselfs under the Royall protection of the most Christian King he should furnish them with an Army of six thousand foot and two thousand horse to be maintain'd by the Catalans Whereupon three Commissioners were sent to Paris one for the Clergy another for the Nobility and a third for the Gentry and Cominalty They who were most busy herein and indeed the chiefest bellowes that blew this terrible fire were the Preaching Fryers and Monks who in lieu of obedience and conformity to Government and compliance with the necessities of the King having so many irons in the fire did teach and obtrude to the people nothing more then common priviledge and resumption of liberty whereby the affection of the vassall was imbitter'd and at last quite poyson'd against his Prince whence this Aphorisme may be collected That the best Instruments misapplied do greatest mischief and prove most dangerous to any State And as of the sweetest wines is made the sharpest Vineger so Churchmen who by their holy function and white robes of innocence should be the sweetest of all professions who should breath nothing but peace unity allegeance and love if they misapply their talent and abandon themselfs to the spirit of faction they become the bitterest enemies the most corroding cankers and worst vipers in any Common-wealth and most pernicious to the Prince In regard that they having the sway ore the conscience which is the Rudder that steers the actions words and thoughts of the rationall creature they transport and snatch it away whither they will making the Beast with many heads conceive according to the colour of those rods they use to cast before them The French having thus undertaken the protection of the revolted Catalan and cut the Spaniard work enough that way he did miracles against him about this time in the Netherlands for he made the Rat to eat the Cat and a Cow to spin out a bundle of Flax by rendring himself Master of Arras the chiefest Town of the Province of Artois after a strong stubborn siege which place the Flemins held to be inpregnable and as impossible to take as it was for the Rat and the Cow to do what was above said His Generall also in Italy the Count of Harcour did do strange exploits who having entred Piemont was besieg'd by the Spaniard in Chieri but he got through routs the enemy and succours Casal This he did with 1500. horse and a few foot who were nothing equall in number to the Spaniards who were thrice as many This ventrous achievement which some interpreted rashnes rather then true valor got him a mighty reputation Then he marcheth to Turin and besiegeth it but the gates were open'd to him within a short time so he made a glorious entrance into the Town and returns triumphantly ore the Hills to France having setled the King his Master in the protection of the Infant Duke of Savoy his Nephew which protection or tutele the Emperour seconded by the Spaniard alledg'd did belong to him by Imperial right during his minority There came a Messenger of State to Paris who brought notice of the Great Turks death in the flower of his youth though of a robust huge constitution He died by excesse of drinking some sorts of wine wherewith he was us'd to be oft distemper'd notwithstanding the strict law of Mahomet who us'd to preach this Doctrine That there was a Devill in every berry of the grape and therefore absolutly interdicted the use of wine in his Alchoran But such is the power of sensuall appetit in man that the spirit oftentimes is too weake to resist the motion of sense though the conscience should dictat that Hell it self stands gaping for him in the very fruition of the pleasure The genius of this great Potentat is very remarkable for when he came first to sit upon the throne of that mighty Empire he was of a mild gentle and peacefull nature but the Janizaries who may in time prove the bane of that Tyranicall Monarchy having violently cut off many of his great Officers and committed other acts of high insolencies whereat he had conniv'd and looked on as a sufferer a great while at last patience so often abus'd and stretch'd as it were upon the Tenter turn'd to fury in him and that in so high a degree that it came to alter and quite change his disposition and the very instinct of nature in him for of a soft easie and candid humour he became afterwards having bin so often provok'd by such bloudy spectacles as cruell and sanguinary as any that ever sway'd the Ottoman Empire And he order'd matters so that he found an opportunity to be reveng'd of all those that had affronted him before and bereft him of his Favourits and Officers He commonly carried with him a Ghelad an Executioner who at his sudden beck and in his sight took off many heads to offer up as Victimes for the life 's of his slain servants He grew to be so flesh'd in bloud that he was scarce capable of any compassion or appre hension of fear notwithstanding that his predecessor had been hacked to peeces not long before by one of his meanest soldiers for attempting to remove his Court from Constantinople t'other side the Hellespont to Damasco to be reveng'd of his cowardly Janizaries who would not fight the yeer before against the Pole as also of the Constantinopolitans for refusing to furnish him with moneys for that war Hence may be drawn this Caution That Princes natures are ticklish things to be tamper'd withall that it is dangerous to trench too far upon the softnesse of their dispositions as appears in this Monark who by often irritations fell from one extreme to another The horrid flames we spake of before which were kindled amongst those fiery Mountains the Pyreneys in Catalonia the chiefest part of Hispania Tarraconensis according to the old division did rage with such fury that the sparkles of them by a strong East-wind were caried into Portugall of old Hispania Lusitanica And as one torch lights another or any other thing whose matter is combustible and apt to take so this other Revolt was kindled by the first and Portugall was very well prepar'd to receive it as well for the aversnes and strong disaffection her Inhabitants have to the Castillan for I have heard them complain often that the greatest misery which could befall them was to lose their King Don Sebastian and to fall under the yoak of the Castillan as also for divers other causes First she complain'd that the King neglected to protect her against the Hollander in Brasil where he had taken Fernanbuck her chief
to his youngest brother Armand whose life we write But afterwards by his meanes the Carthusian Fryer was brought to accept of the Archbishoprick of Aix in Provence then of Lions and so ascended to be Cardinal He had also two sisters Frances maried to the Baron of Pont de Curlay who had of her the Duchesse of Esguillon And Nicola his second sister was maried to the Marquis of Brezé Marshall of France and first French-Viceroy of Catalonia in Spain upon the late revolt who hath a son and a daughter by her Iohn Armand the son was Generall of the French Army in the West and employ'd Ambassador extraordinary to congratulat the new King of Portugall Clara Clemente the daughter was maried lately to the Duke of Anguiern eldest son to the Prince of Condé When his brother Alphonso had transmitted unto him the Bishoprick of Lusson he went to Rome for a Consecration and Paul the Fifth dispenc'd w th his incapacity of age for he was but 21 yeers old Some report that the Pope observing the height and activity of his spirit was overheard to say That that young Prelat would overturn the world being return'd to France from Rome and brought to kisse Henry the Fourths hands he was somewhat taken with him telling him that he was come from that place whence one day should descend upon him the greatest honor that Rome could affoord a Frenchman and afterwards he was us'd to call him his Bishop For divers yeers he applied himself altogether to the function of his Ministery and us'd to preach often in the Kings Chappell In the Assembly of the three States he was chosen Orator for the Ecclesiastiques where his pregnancy of wit first appeer'd publicly in matters of State Where upon he got footing afterward at Court and was made great Almoner Then his abilities discovering themselfs more and more he was nominated Ambassador extraordinary for Spain to accommode the differences then a foot 'twixt the Dukes of Savoy and Mantova when the Princes started out in discontent and put themselfs in armes to demolish the Marshall of Ancre some Privy Counsellors were outed of their Offices at Court amongst others Monsieur Villeray had his Writ of ease for being any more Secretary of State and the Bishop of Lusson was thought the fittest man to succeed him and to receive the Seales which he did and this diverted him from his forren employment to Spain When the Marquis of Ancre was Pistol'd and his wife beheaded there was a new face of things at Court another generation of Officers grew out of the corruption of the old among others Villeroy steps in to be Secretary of State again in the room of the Bishop of Lusson yet was the King willing he should sit still at the Counsell Table and Monsieur de Vignobles brought him an intimation of the Kings pleasure to that purpose But the Queen Mother retyring from Paris to Blois he chose rather to go with his old Mistresse then stay with a young Master as the pulse of the Court did beat then By some ill offices that were done 'twixt the King and his Mother by factious spirits many jealousies were dayly fomented between them Hereupon the Bishop of Lusson had order to withdraw himself from her Court so he retir'd to his Priory of Caussay but that distance being thought not sufficient he betook himself to his Bishoprick at Lusson and that place also being suspected to be too neer he was sent to Avignon the Popes Town which might be call'd a banishment for it was out of the Dominion of France Discontents growing higher twixt the King and his Mother till at last they broak out into a War and there being Armies on both sides in motion Luynes writ a Letter to the Bishop to repaire to Angoulesme to which Letter there was a Postscript annex'd all of the Kings own hand to the same effect The Queen Mother was fled thither from the Castle of Blois and by means of the Duke of Espernon with others had considerable forces a foot Here was a brave opportunity offer'd for the Bishop to shew his head-peece in atoning matters 'twixt the Mother and the Son for which end he was inordred to repaire thither He negotiated the busines so succesfully by his dextrous addresses and flexaminous strains of eloquence that he took away the inflamation of the wound and so made it easily curable A Treaty was agreed upon and the Capitulations being drawn he brought them to the King who receiv'd him with much shew of grace and so all matters were accommoded But this accommodation did not heale quite and consolidat the wound for it had not search'd it to the bottome therefore it began to fester and more putrified matter broak out of it then formerly The Mother and the Son take up armes again and the Bishop of Lusson was one of the prime Instruments to re-compose the busines which was done at last very effectually The merit of these high services got him a Red Hat and the dignity of Cardinal though some difficulties and many delayes interven'd before the finall dispatch came from Rome Then was he chosen Provisor of the ancient Colledge of Sorbon where he procur'd of the King that a new Chair of Controversie should be erected He also repair'd and much beautified that Colledge Then upon the instance and by the advice of the Queen Mother he was elected Prime Minister of State and Director in chief under the King of all matters concerning the public Government of the Kingdome so he came to be call'd the Argos of France The first great action that was performed by his guidance when he was clim'd to this Plenipotentiary power was the Mariage with England the Marquis of Vieu ville had been employ'd in this great busines but the Cardinal got some of the Capitulations better'd and more to the advantage of France alledging that it was not fit his Master being the Eldest Son of the Church should have conditions inferiour to those of Spain With this Match with England there was an alliance also made about the same time with Holland for a summe of Money These were the two first Coups d' estat stroaks of State that he made and it was done with this forecast that France might be the better enabled to suppres them of the Religion which the Cardinal found to be the greatest weaknes of that Kingdom Some of them being Pensioners to other Princes to embroyle France upon all occasions He found then that the House of Austria had got some advantage and encrease of power by certain holds it had seiz'd upon in the Valtolin He adviseth his King to ligue with the Venetian and the Savoyard which he did and so spoil'd the design of the Spaniard that way The King being told that upon the beheading of the Count of Chalais and the imprisonment of the Marquis of Ornano about Monsieurs Mariage his Cardinal had thereby got divers enemies he appointed him a band
long He must also make an exact research for the curious books of Metagenes wherein he teacheth how to compound a beuverage whereby to make a judiciary Astrologer and take the Circle of the seven Planets which knowledge would be very usefull for the most eminent among mortals to foresee what will become of him and to be able the better to prevent his enemies for the Europaean Astrologers have cousen'd him in divers praedictions specially in that of the ruine of the House of Austria and in the translation of the Empire They had also assur'd him that in such a yeer he should be Pope and in such a yeer King of Austrasia The Lord Ambassadour shall try to get the Beast Marticora which is of a red colour and hath the head of a man lancing out sharpe prickles from behind The spirit which moves the stars shall take this for his Crest The Lord Ambassadour shall not faile to enquire if it be possible to recover the pourtrait of the Great Talamoque or that huge Galeasse which the Egiptiens sent two thousand yeers since to the Indian Seas because the most eminent among mortals would build the like having already cut down a good part of the Forests of Britany to make such an Engine that may be able to crush the English Ships by being higher deck'd then the tops of their Masts It shall be call'd the Great Armand which shall be able to swallow all the Bottomes on the Ocean whereon the Picture of the most eminent among mortals shall be put who cannot live but amongst waves amongst troubles and tossings and tumblings besides he fears nothing more then the earth Then shall the Lord Ambassadour passe by the Persian Gulph and then to the red Sea and so through the Deserts of Lybia he shall enter into Egypt and so advance to Ethiopia to see Prester Iohn He shall endevour to perswade him that he being of the Race of the Q. of Sheba he ought to have a curiosity to come to hear the wisdom of the most eminent among mortals who knows more then Solomon If my Lord Ambassadour passe by Fez and Morocco he shall endevour to incite them also against the Spaniard When his Excellence the Duke of Sabin Ambassadour extraordinary for the most eminent among mortals to all the Great Monarques of the World shall be return'd to Christendom he shall advertise all Princes as he passeth along that his Eminence is resolv'd there shall be no Peace in Europe specially 'twixt France and the House of Austria howsoever that there may be a way given for Treaties to amuse the world untill both parties become equall in power therefore as he shall passe through Italy the foresaid Lord Ambassadour shall procure one of those Scales wherein Cosmo de Medici balanc'd all the Princes of the Western World for the most eminent among mortals intends to do the like most exactly and weigh every State to the least grain c. This was the substance of the rambling Instructions that were given the Chymericall Ambassadour which kept more noise in Christendom then any thing that ever was written of him Another compares him to Hercules and the Q. Mother to Iuno whose animosity put Hercules to quell Monsters and perform his twelve labours which were held impossibilities in others At Sea Hercules himself did not so many feats as he for being High Admiral his Galeon the great Armand broak often through his pillers He rays'd every day new tempests wherein Dolphin-like he lov'd to tumble and sport and by this restles humour of motion he drive his Master into a vast Ocean of trouble and danger his sayles having no other wind to fill them but ambition and ayrie hopes of honor And while he labour'd thus to have his great Masters name and his own to fill future story some doubt whether they were not expung'd out of the Book of life in regard they pass'd to their last Port through a Red Sea the one a young man upon the matter being but 42. the other not old being but 57. and the reason may be drawn out of the Sacred Text That the bloud-thirsty man shall not see half his dayes This Sanguinary humor in him was sutable to the colour of his habit which more incited and praecipitated the French and others his Confederats to Armes as we read it to be the custom of the Indians to present Scarlet colours and other bloody red objects before their Elephants to make them more furious when they are employ'd in the wars This made him turn the very dust to soldiers as he pass'd and make swarms follow him as well for the colour of his coat as also for that holines which some held to be inhaerent in it I will conclude all kind of Satyrs of him with these Latin ones which may be instar omnium for they give a shrewd Character both of his nature his actions and of his whole life and t is in forme of an Epitaph and penn'd by one of the prime wits under that Clime Primùm quod a te postulo Viator est ut Deum opt max laudes quod haec in Gallia securus leges Deinde miraberis tantillo spacio claudi mortuum quem Terra non capiebat vivum Illam ubi commovit coelum movere voluit is qui hoc symbolum sibi arrogavit Mens sydera volvit Ut intelligas qualis haec Intelligentia fuerit industria fuit sagaci sed inquieta pacis publicae propriae tranquillitatis hostis In magno quod plurimi suspexerint Ingenio magnam pauci familiares deprehenderunt mixturam dementiae Animum ejus laedebant omnia sanabat nihil Potentissimi Regis non tam benevolentia quam authoritate diu stetit Rerum exitu non consiliorum prudentia foelix Dei solius infelix indignatione cum turpibus morbis perpetuo conflictatus locum ignoravit felicitatis quam sua aliorum infelicitate quaerebat nunquam sibi visus beatus ut nec iis probus qui beatum nuncupabant Utrique bili vitae carnificibus obnoxius flavos ignes at atras fuligines continuò passus est sic venenum quod in aliorum perniciem effudit non sine sua continuit Supra omnes Mortales ambitione laboravit supra plurimos avaritia Regiae pecuniae prodigus alienae parcus Crudelis offensus ubi offenderat crudelior extitit Regiae Matris beneficiis ditatus curis promotus potestate potentior factus illam gratiâ regis libertate bonis Galliâ ac demum extorrem Coloniae vitâ privavit ne mortuae parceret supremas ejus voluntates rescindi et insepultum cadaver per quinque menses post quos et Ipse extinctus est in cubiculo relinqui voluit Fratris Regis dignitatem violavit personam opprimere studuit Non solùm a Matre filium a fratre fratrem sed ab uxore virum aliquando avertit Marillacum cum summa injuria Montmorentium summo jure Saint Marcum jure cum injuria Thuanum