to them and giving to Anthony the Government of Guyenne which had been likewise held by Henry d' Albret his Father-in-law he retrenched him of Languedoc which he had a long time enjoyed About two years after they returned to the Court of France whither they brought their Son aged about four or five years who was the most jolly and best-composed Lad in the world but they stayed but few moneths and returned again to Bearn A little after King Henry the second was slain with a blow of a Lance by Montgomery Francis the second his eldest Son succeeded him and Messieurs de Guise Uncles to Mary Stuart his Queen seized themselves of the Government The Princes of the Blood could not suffer it and therefore Lewis Prince of Condé younger Brother to Anthony called that King into the Court to oppose it During these Divisions the Hugonots contrived the Conspiration d' Amboyse against the present Government and the two Brothers Anthony and Lewis being accused for the Chiefs of it were arrested Prisoners in the State of Orleance and processes made so hotly against the second that it was believed he would have been beheaded if the Death of King Francis the second had not happened Charles the ninth who succeeded him being under age Queen Katherine his Mother caused her self to be declared Regent of the Estates and the King of Navarre first Prince of the Blood was declared Lieutenant-General of the Realm to govern the Estate with her so that by this means he was stay'd in France whither he caused his Queen Jane and his young Son Prince Henry to come But he enjoyed not long this new Dignity for the Troubles dayly continuing by reason of the Surprizes which the new Reformers made of the best Cities of the Kingdome after having re-taken Bourges from them he came to besiege Rouen where visiting one day the Trenches as he was making water he received a Musket-shot in his left shoulder of which he in few days died at Andely on the Siene Had he lived longer the Hugonots had without doubt been but ill treated in France for he mortally hated them though his Brother the Prince of Condé were the principal Chief of their party The Queen his wife and the little Prince his son were at present in the Court of France The mother returned to Bearn where she publickly embraced Calvinism but she left her son with the King under the conduct of a wise Tutor named la Gaucherie who endeavoured to give him some tincture of Learning not by the Rules of Grammar but by Discourses and Entertainments To this effect he taught him by heart many fair Sentences like to these Ou vaincre avec Justice Ou Mourir avec Gloire Or justly gain the Victory Or learn with Glory how to die And that other Les Princes sur leur Peuple ont autorit◠grande Mais Dieu plus fortement dessus les Rois commande Kings rule their Subjects with a mighty hand But God with greater power doth Kings command In the year 1566. his mother took him from the Court of France and led him to Pau and in the place of la Gaucherie who was deceased she gave him Florentius Christian an ancient servant of the house of Vendosme a man of a very agreeable conversation and well versed in Learning but however a Hugonot and who according to the orders of the Queen instructed the Prince in that false Doctrine In the first troubles of the Religion Francis Duke of Guise had been assassinated by Poltrot at the Siege of Orleance leaving his children in minority this was in the year 1563. In the second the Constable of Montmorency received a wound at the battle of St. Dennis of which he died at Paris three days after the Eve of St. Martin in the year 1567. In the third and in the year 1569 Queen Jane rendred her self Protectoress of the Hugonot party being for this effect come to Rochel with her son whom she now devoted to the Defence of that new Religion In this quality he was declared Chief and his Uncle the Prince of Condé his Lieutenant in colleague with the Admiral of Coligny These were two great Chieftains but they committed notable errours and this young Prince though not exceeding thirteen years of age had the spirit to observe them For he judged well at the great skirmish of Loudun that if the Duke of Anjou b had had troops ready to assault them he had done it and that not doing it he was without doubt in an ill estate and therefore should the rather have been assaulted by them but they by not doing it gave time to all his troops to arrive At the battle of Jarnac he represented to them yet more judiciously that there was no means to fight because the forces of the Princes were dispersed and those of the Duke of Anjou firmly imbodied but they were engaged too far to be able to retreat The Prince of Condé was killed in this battle or rather assassinated in cold blood after the Combat in which he had had his Leg broken After that all the authority and belief of the Party remained in the Admiral Coligny who to speak truth was the greatest man of that time of the Religion he took part with but the most unfortunate This Admiral having gathered together new forces hazarded a second battle at Montcontour in Poictou he had caused to come to the Army our little Prince of Navarre and the young Prince of Condé who was likewise named Henry and gave them in charge to Prince Lodowick of Nassaw who guarded them on a Hill little distant with four thousand horse The young Prince burned with desire to engage in person but they permitted him not to run so great a hazard nevertheless when the Avant-Guard of the Duke of Alenzon was disordered by that of the Admiral there had been no danger to let him fall upon the Enemies who were much astonished However they hindred him and he now cryed out We shall loose our advantage and by consequence the battle It arrived as he had foreseen and it was at that hour judged by some that a young man of sixteen years of age had more understanding then the old Souldiers Thus he applyed himself entirely to what he did nor had he onely a Body but a Spirit and Judgement apt Being saved with the remnants of his Army he made almost a turn round the Kingdome fighting in retreat and rallying together the Hugonots troops here and there for five or six moneths during which he suffered so much travel that had he not been elevated in that manner he was he could not have been able to resist it This young Prince always accompanied with the Admiral led his troops into Guyenne and from thence through Languedoc where he took Nismes by stratagem forced several small places and
four Armies who made war against the Hugonots in the Daulphinate in Guyenne in Languedoc and in Poictou and reduced and might have quite crusht them if their ruine had been resolutely prosecuted in that astonishment wherein he had put them But the Queen-mother who onely desired the war that she might have affairs in agitation and not that they might have their issue perswaded the King her son for certain studied reasons to grant them peace The Treaty being concluded the Queen-mother made a voyage into Guyenne she feigned that it was to cause it to be punctually executed and to carry her Daughter Margaret to the King of Navarre her husband but it was in effect to sow seeds of Discord among the Hugonots to the end she might be Mistress of that party as she had been in that of the Catholicks Henry now kept his little Court at Nerac he had before kept it at Agen where he was beloved of the people by reason of his justice and goodness But it happened that at a Ball or Dance some young people of his own train blew out the Candles to commit insolencies which so scandalized the inhabitants that they delivered their City to the Marshal of Byron whom the King had sent Governour into the Province of Guyenne A little time after Henry likewise lost la Reole by another folly of his young people He had given the Government of it to an old Hugonot Captain named d' Ussac who had his visage horribly deformed his deformity however hindred him not from becoming passionate of one of the Ladies attending the Queen-mother for she had brought many of the most bewitching with her to kindle a fire every where The Viscount of Turenne afterwards Duke of Bouillon aged at present about twenty one or twenty two years with some others of his age would make Raillery of this business our Henry instead of commanding them silence made himself of their party and having a fluent spirit assisted them in lancing out some mocks jeers against this doting Lover There is no passion renders a heart so sensible as this Usac could not suffer this Raillery though proceeding from his Master but in prejudice of his Honour and Religion he yeilded and delivered up la Reole to Duras a Lord who having been in favour with our Henry had quitted him out of envy because he testified less affection to him then to Roquelaire who was without doubt one of the most honest and most pleasant men of his time These two losses of Agen and la Reole gave him and ought to give all Princes two very necessary instructions The first that a Prince ought well to govern his Courtiers the rather because all their disorders are imputed to him and that it is presumed when they do them that it is himself commits them because obliged to hinder them The second that above all things he abstain from Raillery for there is no Vice which makes so many enemies nor which is more dangerous because others may be concealed Such a word as issuing from the mouth of a particular person would be accounted but a light jest is like a stab of a ponyard from that of a Prince and leaves in the heart mortal resentments Nor must great ones be flattered with this opinion that their subjects or their inferiours ought to suffer all things from them for where honour is concerned the more the person that wounds is superiour the greater is the wound as the impression of a body is deeper the more feet it hath and the higher it falls The Queen-mother had taken with her as we have said Queen Margaret to her husband Neither the one nor the other of the two Spouses were over-well content Margaret who loved the splendour of the French Court where she swam if we may so speak in full intrigues believed to be in Guyenne was a kind of banishment and Henry knowing her humour and carriage would rather have chose her room then her company However seeing it a remediless ill he resolved to suffer it leaving her an intire liberty he considered her rather as a Sister of his King then as his Wife He likewise pretended some nullities in the Marriage but attended time and place to make them known In the mean time accommodating himself to the season and to the necessity of his affairs he endeavoured to draw advantages from her intrigues and from her credit He received no small one in the conference which he and the Deputies of the Hugonots had at Nerac with the Queen-mother for whilst she thought to inchant them by the charms of those fair Ladies she had expresly brought with her and by the eloquence of Pibrac Margaret opposed the same Artifices gained the Gentlemen who were near her Mother by the attractions of her Ladies and employed so well her own that she enchanted the spirit and will of the poor Pibrac in such manner that he acted not but by her motion and quite contrary to the intentions of the Queen-mother who not distrusting that a man so wise could be capable of so great folly was deceived in many Articles and insensibly carried to grant much more to the Hugonots then she had resolved Scarce were eight months spent since the peace but the Queen-mother Monsieur and the Guises began to be weary of it The Queen-mother because she would not have the King rest any long time without having need of her Negotiations and intermission Monsieur because by re-kindling the War he thought to render himself redoubtable to the King and to make him give him forces to carry into the Low-Countries which being revolted from Spain demanded him for their Soveraign And in fine the Guises because they feared lest the ardour of the League should by too long a calm grow cold In these wishes they pressed the King to redemand the places of security granted to the Hugonots and under-hand Monsieur and the Queen-mother caused it to be told to our Henry that he should not surrender them but hold it out that his cause was just and that his safety consisted in his Arms. Margaret who knew his weakness and who likewise wisht the War excited him by the perswasion of Ladies whom she fostered to this designe and by the same means animated alike all those braves who approached her nor spared she her self with the Viscount of Turenne for this purpose so that this Prince possibly with very little justice and certainly to very ill purpose was carried to a rupture and engaged the Hugonots in a new Civil War which was named for the reasons I but now spake of The War of the Lovers This was the most disadvantagious they ever yet made by it they lost a great quantity of strong places and were in such manner weakned that had the pursuit of them been finished they could never have regained strength But Monsieur who desired to transport all the forces
all Europe by the esteem of his Vertue In effect since the first foundation of the French Monarchy the History furnisheth us not with any Reign more memorable by reason of the great Events more repleat with the wonders of Divine Assistance more glorious for the Prince and more happy for the People then his and it is without Flattery or Envy that all the Universe hath given him the surname of Great not so much for the greatness of his Victories however comparable to those of Alexander or Pompey as for the greatness of his Soul and of his Courage for he never bow'd either under the Insults of Fortune or under the Traverses of his Enemies or under the Resentments of Revenge or under the Artifices of Favorites or Ministers he remained always in the same temper always Master of himself In a word he remained always King and Soveraign without acknowledging other Superiour then God Justice and Reason Let us then proceed to write the History of his Life which we shall divide into three principal Parts The first shall contain what happened from his Birth till his coming to the Crown of France The second shall speak what he did after he came to it until the Peace of Vervin And the third shall recount his Actions after the Peace of Vervin until the unhappy day of his death But before all it is necessary we speak something briefly of his Genealogie He was Son to Anthony de Bourbon Duke of Vendosme and King of Navarre and of Jane of Albret Heiress of that Kingdome Anthony descended in a direct and Masculine Line from Robert Count of Clermont fifth Son to King St. Lewis This Robert espoused Beatrix Daughter and Heiress to John of Burgoyne Baron of Bourbon by his Wife Agnes for which cause Robert took the Name of Bourbon but not the Arms still keeping those of France This sage Pre-caution served well to his Descendants to maintain themselves in the Degree of Princes of the Blood which those of Courtnay lost for not having acted in the same manner And besides the Vertue which gave a splendour to their Actions the good management and oeconomy which they exercised to conserve and augment their Revenues the great Alliances in which they were very diligent to match themselves ever refusing to mingle their Noble among Vulgar Blood and above all their rare Piety towards God and that singular goodness wherewith they acted towards their Inferiors conserved them and elevated them above Princes of elder Branches for the People seeing them always rich puissant wise and in a word worthy to command had imprinted in their spirits as it were a prophetick perswasion that this House would one day come to the Crown and they on their side seemed to have conceived this hope though it were at great distance having taken for their Word or Device Espoir or Hope Among the younger Branches which issued from this Branch of Bourbon the most considerable and most illustrious was that of Vendosm It carried this Name because they possessed that great Country which came to them in the year 1364. by the marriage of Katharine Vendosme Sister and Heiress to Bouchard last Count of Vendosme with John of Bourbon Count of the Marches At present it was but a County but was after made a Dutchy by King Francis the first in the year 1514. in favou◠of Charles who was great grand-childe to John and father of Anthony This Charles had seven Male-Children Lewis Anthony Francis another Lewis Charles John and a third Lewis the first Lewis and the second died in their infancy Anthony remained the eldest Francis who was Count of Anguien and gained the Battel of Cerisoles died without being married Charles was a Cardinal of the title of Chrysogone and Archbishop of Rouen this is he who was named The old Cardinal of Bourbon John lost his life at the Battel of St. Quintin The third Lewis was called The Prince of Condé and by two Marriages had several Male-Children from the first descended Henry Prince of Condé Francis Prince of Conty and Charles who was Cardinal and Archbishop of Rouen after the Death of the old Cardinal of Bourbon There were eight Generations from Male in Male from St. Lewis to Anthony who was Duke of Vendosme King of Navarre and father to our Henry As for Jane d' Albret his Wife she was Daughter and Heiress to Henry of Albret King of Navarre and of Margaret du Valois Sister to King Francis the first and Widow to the Duke of Alenzon Henry d' Albret was son to John d' Albret who became King of Navarre by his Wife Katherine du Foix Sister to King Phoebus deceased without Children for that Realm had entred into the House of Foix by marriage as it 〈…〉 afterwards into that of Albret and since into that of Bourbon Ferdinand King of Arragon had invaded and taken the Higher Navarre that is that part which is beyond the Pyraenean Hills and the most considerable of that Realm from King John d' Albret so that by consequence there rested to him onely the Lower that is that beneath the Mountains towards France but with it he had the Countries of Bearn of Albrett of Foix of Armagnac of Bigorra and many other great Signories coming as well by the House of Foix as that of Albret Henry his Son had onely one Daughter Jane who was called The Minion of Kings for King Henry her Father and the great King Francis the first her Uncle with Envy to each other strove most to cherish her The Emperour Charles the fifth had cast his Eyes on her and caused her to be demanded of her Father for his Son Philip the second proposing this as a means to pacifie their Differences touching the Kingdome of Navarre but King Francis the first not thinking it fit to introduce so puissant an Enemy into France causing her to come to Chastellerault affianced her to the Duke of Cleves and after releasing her of that Contract married her to Anthony of Bourbon Duke of Vendosme and the Marriage was solemnized at Moulins in the year 1547. the same year that Francis the first died The two young Spouses had in their first three or four years two Sons both which died at Berceau by accidents very extraordinary the first because its Governess being her self cold of nature kept it so hot that she stifled it with heat and the second by the carelessness of the Nurse who playing with a Gentleman as they danced the Childe from one to another let it fall to the ground so that it died in torment Thus Heaven deprived them of these two little Princes to make way for our Henry who merited well both the Birth-right and to be an onely Son Let us now come to the History of his Life The First PART OF THE LIFE OF HENRY the Great Containing his History from his Birth until he came to the Crown of FRANCE
burned the suburbs of Toulouse in such manner that the sparkles of that fire flew into that great City The War being thus kindled in the heart of France he shewed himself on the other bank of the Rhone with his troops gained by storms the City of St. Julien and St. Just and obliged St. Estienne en Forez to capitulate From thence he descended to the banks of the Saone and afterwards into the middle of Burgongne Paris trembled the second time at the approach of an Army so much the more formidable because it seemed to be re-inforced by the loss of two-battles and to have now gained some advantage over that of the Catholicks which the Marshal de Cosse commanded The Counsel of the King fearing to hazard all by a fourth Encounter judged it more to the purpose to plaister up a peace with that party it was therefore treated of the two Armies being near each other and concluded in the little City of Arnay-le-Duc on the eleventh of August This Peace made every one retire home the Prince of Navarre went to Bearn King Charles the ninth married with Elizabeth Daughter to the Emperour Maximilian the second and nothing else seemed thought of but Feasts and Rejoycings In the mean time the King having found that he could never compass his Desires on the Hugonots by force resolved to make use of meáns more easie but much more wicked he began to caress them to feign that he would treat them favourably to accord them the greatest part of those things they desired and to lull them asleep with hopes of his making War against the King of Spain in the Low-Countries a thing they passionately desired and the better to allure them he promised as a gage of his faith to marry his Sister Margaret to our Henry and by these means drew the principal Chiefs of their party to Paris His mother Jane who was come before to make preparations for the marriage died a few days after her arrival a Princess of a Spirit and Courage above her Sex and whose Soul wholly virile was not subject to the weaknesses and defaults of other women but in truth a passionate Enemy of the Catholick Religion Some Historians say that she was poisoned with a pair of perfumed Gloves because they feared that she having a great spirit would discover the designe they had to massacre all the Hugonots but if I be not deceived this is a falsity it being more likely which others say that she died of a Tissick since those that were about her and served her have so testified Henry her Son who came after her being in Poictou received news of her death and presently took the Quality of King for hitherto he had onely born that of Prince of Navarre So soon as he came to Paris the unhappy Nuptials were celebrated the two parties being espoused by the Cardinal of Bourbon on a scaffold erected for that purpose before the Church of Nostre-Dame Six days after which was the day of St. Bartholomew all the Hugonots which were come to the solemnity had their throats cut amongst others the Admiral and twenty other Lords of remark twelve hundred Gentlemen three or four thousand Souldiers and Burgesses and through all the Cities of the Kingdome after the example of Paris near an hundred thousand men Execrable action which never had nor ever shall again if it please God finde its parallel What grief must it needs be to our young King to see in stead of Wine and Perfumes so much Blood shed at his Nuptials his best friends murthered and hear their pitiful cries which pierced his ears into the Louvre where he was lodged And moreover what trances and fears must needs surprize his very Person for in effect it was consulted whether they should murther him and the Prince of Condé with the rest and all the murderers concluded on their death nevertheless by a miracle they after resolved to spare them Charles the ninth caused them to be brought to his presence and having shewed them a mountain of dead bodies with horrible threats not hearkning to their reasons told them Either Death or the Mass. They elected rather the last then the first and abjured Calvinism but because it was known they did it not heartily they were so straitly observed that they could not escape the Court during those two years that Charles the ninth lived nor a long time after his death During this time our Henry exquisitely dissembled his discontents though they were very great and notwithstanding those vexations which might trouble his spirit he cloathed his visage with a perpetual serenity and humour wholly jolly This was without doubt the most difficult passage of his Life he had to do with a furious King and with his two Brothers to wit the Duke of Anjou a dissembling Prince and who had been educated in massacres and with the Duke of Alenzon who was deceitful and malitious with Queen Katherine who mortally hated him because her Divines had foretold his reign and in fine with the house of Guise whose puissance and credit was at present almost boundless He was doubtless necessitated to act with a marvellous prudence in the conduct of himself with all these people that he might not create in them the least jealousie but rather beget a great esteem of himself make submission and gravity accord and conserve his Dignity and Life in the mean time he dis-engaged himself from all these difficulties and from all these dangers with an unparallell'd address He contracted a great familiarity with the Duke of Guise who was about his own age and they often made secret parties of pleasure together but he agreed not so well with the Duke of Alenzon who had a capritious spirit nor was he over-much troubled at his ill accord with him because neither the King nor Queen-mother had any affection for this Duke However he gave no credit to the ill counsel of that Queens Emissaries who endeavoured to engage his contending in Duel against him so much the rather because that he considering him as the brother of his King to whom he ought respect he knew well it would have proved his loss and that she would not have been wanting to take so fair a pretext to ruine him He shunned likewise other snares laid for him but yet not all for he suffered himself to be overtaken with the allurements of some Ladies of the Court whom it is said that Queen served her self expressly of to amuse the Princes and Nobles and to discover all their thoughts From that time for Vices contracted in the blossome of youth generally accompany men to their tomb a passion for women was the greatest feebleness and weakness of our Henry and possibly the cause of his last misfortune for God punisheth sooner or later those who wickedly abandon themselves to this criminal passion Besides this he contracted no other
not here tell the mischiefs and inconveniencies which this wicked invention hath caused and doth daily cause The most stupid may easily know them and see well that it is a disease whose remedy at present is difficult I will not charge this History with all the Ceremonies and Rejoycings made at the Birth and Baptism of all the Children of Henry the Great nor at divers Marriages of the Princes and Grandees of the Court amongst others of the Prince of Conde and the Duke of Vendosme which were made in the Month of July 1609. The Prince of Conde Espoused Câ—anlatta Margarita of Montmorency Daughter of the Constable who was wonderfully fair and had a presence absolutely noble which the King having considered was more lively struck with her then he had ever been with any other which caused a little after the retreat of the Prince of Conde who carried her into Flanders and thence retired to Milain Not without the Kings extreme displeasure to see the first Prince of his blood cast himself into his enemies hands The Duke of Vendosme Espoused Madamoiselle de Merceur to whom he had been affianced since the year one thousand six hundred ninety seven as we have said before however the Mother of the Lady standing upon high punctilio's of honour brought many troubles to the accomplishment of this Marriage so that it had never been made had not the King highly concerned himself in it This was none of the least difficulties of his life for he had a high and obstinate spirit to bend however he employed only ways of sweetness and perswasion acting in this business only as a Father who loved his Son and not as a King who would be obeyed Now will I speak of his ordinary divertisements Hunting Building Feasts Play and Walking I will adde only That in Feasts and Merriments he would appear as good a Companion and as Jovial as another That he was of a merry humour when he had the glass in his hand though very sober That his Mirth and good Discourses were the delicatest part of the good Chear That he witnessed no less Agility and Strength in Combats at the Barriers Courses at the Ring and all sorts of Gallantries then the youngest Lords That he took delight in Balls and Danced sometimes but to speak the truth with more affection then good grace Some carped that so great a Prince should abase himself to such follies and that a Grey-beard should please to act the young man It may be said for his excuse that the great toiles of his spirit had need of these divertisements But I know not what to answer to those who reproach him with too great a love to playing at Cards and Dice little befitting a great King and that withal he was no fair Gamester but greedy of Coin fearful at great Stakes and humorous upon a loss To this I must acknowledge that it was a fault in this great King who was no more exempt from Blots then the Sun from Beams It might be wished for the honour of his memory that he had been only guilty of this but that continual weakness he had for fair Ladiesâ— was another much more blamable in a Christian Prince in a of his age who was married to whom God had shewed so many graces and who had conceived such great designs in his spirit Sometimes he had desires which were passant and only fixt for a night but when he met with beauties which struck him to the heart he loved even to folly and in these transports appeared nothing less then Henry the Great The Fable saies that Hercules took the Spindle and Spun for the love of the fair Omphale Henry did something more mean for his Mistresses He once disguised himself like a Country-man with a Wallet of straw on his back to come to the fair Gabriella And it hath been reported that the Marchioness of Verneuil hath seen him more then once at her feet weeping his disdains and injuries Twenty Romances might be made of the intrigues of his several loves with the Countess of Guiche when he was yet but King of Navarre with Jacqueline of Bueil whom he made Countess of Moret and with Charlotta d' Essards without counting many other Ladies who held it a glory to have some Charm for so great a King The high esteem and affection which the French had for him hindred them from being offended at so scandalous a liberty but the Queen his wife was extremely perplexed at it which hourly caused controversies between them and carried her to disdains and troublesom humours The King who was in fault endured it very patiently and employed his greatest Confidents and sometimes his Confessor to appease his spirit So that he had continually a reconciliation to make And these contentions were so ordinary that the Court which at first were astonished at them in the end took no more notice Conjugal duty without doubt obliged the King not to violate his faith to his Legitimate Spouse at least not to keep his Mistresses in her sight but if he in this point ought to have been a good husband so he ought to be likewise in that of Authority and in accustoming his wife to obey him with more submission and not perplex him as she did with hourly complaints reproaches and sometimes threats The trouble and displeasure of these domestick broiles certainly retarded the Execution of that great design which he had formed for the good and perpetual repose of Christendom and in fine for the destruction of the Ottoman power Many have spoken diversely but see here what I find in the Memoires or Notes of the Duke of Sully who certainly must know something being as he was so great a Confident of this Kings which makes me report it from him The King said he desiring to put in Execution those projects he had conceived after the Peace of Vervin believed that he ought first to establish in his Kingdom an unshaken Peace by reconciling all spirits both to him and among themselves and taking away all causes of bitterness And that moreover it was necessary for him to choose people capable and faithful who might see in what his Revenue or Estate might be bettered and instruct him so well in all his Affairs that he might of himself take Counsels and discern the good from the ill feasible from impossible enterprizes and such as were proportionate to his Revenues For an expence made beyond them draws the peoples curses and those are ordinarily followed by Gods He granted an Edict to the Hugonots that the two Religions might live in Peace Afterwards he made a certain and fixed Order to pay his debts and those of the Kingdom contracted by the disorders of the times the profusions of his Ancestors and by the payments and purchases of men and places which he was forced to make during the League Sully shewed him an account
difficult and very rare for those who are born to a Crown and bred up to a near hope to mount into a Throne after the death of their father or who finde themselves too soon raised to it ever to learn well the Art of raigning be it their not being so happy as to be educated under the care of a Mother so vertuous and so affectionate as that great Queen who hath so diligently caused to be instructed King Lewis the 14 her son in all good Rules and in all Maximes of Christian Policy or so happy as to be blessed with a Minister so wise and so interested for their good as that young Monarch hath found in the person of Cardinal Mazarine The reasons of this are that ordinarily those persons into whose hands they fall in their infancy desiring to conserve to themselves the Authority and the Government in stead of obliging or indeed constraining them to apply their spirits to things solid and necessary act so cunningly that they employ them onely in trifles unworthy of them and amuse them with so much subtilty that it is impossible that a young Prince can know it In stead of laying incessantly before their eyes the true Grandeur of Kings which consists in the exercise of their Authority they feed them onely with appearances and images of that greatness as are exteriour pomps and magnificences wherein there is onely pride and vanity In fine in stead of instructing them diligently in what they ought to know and in what they ought to do for all the knowledge of Kings ought to be reduced into practice they keep them in a profound ignorance of all their Affairs that they may always be Masters and that they may never be able to be without them From whence it happens that a Prince though he be great knowing his own weakness judges himself incapable to govern and from that moment wherein he is possessed with this opinion he must needs renounce the conduct of his Estate if that he have not indeed extraordinary natural qualities and a heart truly Royal. Moreover these persons would seize themselves of all Avenues and hinder â—onest men from approaching those tender ears or if they cannot hinder their approaches they are not wanting to render them suspected or to deprive them of all belief in the spirit of these young Princes making them pass with them either for their enemies or people ill affected or else for ridiculous or impertinent Moreover they have some Emissaries who infatuate them with flatteries with excessive praises and adorations who never let them know any thing but what shall be to their ends who improve their defaults by continual complacences who make them believe they have a perfect intelligence of all things when they know nothing who make them conceive that Royalty is onely a Soveraign Bauble that travel befits not a King and that the functions of Royalty being laborious are by consequence base and servile In this manner they soon disgust them with their own Command they accustom them to have Masters because they have yet neither so much knowledge nor so much courage as to be Masters And thus these poor Princes being not at all contradicted but always adored nor having any experience of themselves or ever suffered pain or necessity become often presumptuous and absolute in their fancies and believing their puissance to have Peerage with that of Gods they begin to consider nothing but their passion their pleasure and humour as if Mankinde were created for them whilst they were created wisely to order and govern Mankind who let profusion and waste be made of the life and goods of their subjects and who with an unparallel'd insensibility hearken no more to their Laments and Groans then to the Lowings of a slaughtered Ox. On the contrary those who come to the Crown at a greater distance and in a riper age are almost always better instructed in their affairs they apply themselves more strongly to Govern their Estates they will alwaies hold the Rudder they are juster more tender and more merciful they know better how to manage their Revenues they conserve with more care the blood and the goods of their subjects they more willingly hear their complaints and do better Justice they do not with so much vigor use their absolute power which oft-times makes the people despair and causes strange revolutions If the reasons why they are so be sought they are because they have been in a Post or place where they have often heard truth where they have understood what ignominy it is for a Prince not to enjoy his own personal power but to leave it to another where though they have had some flatterers they have likewise had open enemies who by censuring their faults have induced a Reformation where they have heard blamed the faults of that Government under which they were and have blamed them themselves so that they are obliged to do better and not to follow what they have condemned where they have studied to govern themselves wisely because they were dependants and fearful of punishment where they have often heard the complaints of particular persons and seen the miseries of the people in fine where they have understood by suffering what evil is and to have pity of those who suffer injustice because they themselves have proved the rigour of a too high and severe Government We have two fair Examples in Lewis the twelfth surnamed the Father of the people and in our Henry two of the best Kings who in the last ages have born the Scepter of the Flowers de Lis. Now who would gather together and worthily compose all the Heroick vertues the Noble actions and Eminent qualities of Henry the Great would make him a Crown much more precious and resplendent then that wherewith his head was adorned on the day of his Coronation That treasure of freedom and sincerity free and exempt from malice from gall and bitterness should be the matter more precious then Gold His Renown and his Glory which will never have end should be the Circle His Victories of Coutras of Arques of Yvry of Fontaine-Franzoise his Negotiations of the peace of Vervin of his accommodations between the Venetians and the Pope of the Truce between the Spaniard and the Hollander and that great League with all the Princes of Christendom for execution of the designe of which we have spoken should be the branches Then his war like valour his generosity his constancy his credit his wisdome his prudence his activity his vigilance his oeconomy his justice and a hundred other virtues should be the precious stones Amongst which that Paternal and Cordial love he had for his people would cast a fire more lively and bright then the Carbuncle The firmness of his courage alwaies invincible in dangers would bear the Price and Beauty of a Diamond And his unparallel'd Clemency which raised up those enemies he had overthrown would appear like an Emerald which
Secretary His punishment The Ambassadours Secretary arrested Several discourses concerning Ambassadours priviledges The King forbids any process against the Secretary The Ambassadour makes a great noise and threatens his Kings resentment Treason of the Luquisses A fool makes an attempt on the Kings person Those who desire war whet the Kings spirit upon these Conspiracies Character of Philip 3. of Spair A good profitable reflection In what the courage of a Soveraign principally consists The goodness of Henry the Great But the King hastens not the War He makes himself Arbitrator of the differences of Christendom 1606. After the death of Clement 8. he causes to be chosen Leo xi who soon dies and Paul 5. succeeds A great difference between Paul 5. and the Venetians The Venetians had made a law to bound the Acquisitions of the Clergy They make other Decrees Paul 5. offended at these Decrees He sends Briefs to revoke them He Excommunicates the Senate They declare his sentence of Excommunication null and abusive 1607. Henry the great undertakes to accommodate the difference He sends to this purpose Cardinal Joyeuse who concludes an accommodation The Pope absolves the Signory There was nothing but the reestablishment of the Jesuites not obtained 1608. The King endeavours an accommodation between the Hollander and Spaniard He underhand assists the Hollander with men and money Janin sent for this accommodation They come presently to an eight months truce The King makes an offensive and defensive League with the Hollander The Spaniards Alarm'd at this League Don Pedro de Toledo makes great complaints to the King Things very curious which passed betwixt the King and Don Pedro. Their entertainments Lively and quick replies Don Pedro kisses the Kings Sword Two obstacles in the Treaty of the Hollanders surmounted by the King The Treaty ends in a twelve years Truce Great praise given by the republick of Venice to our Henry All desire his friendship and protection He will not protect Subjects against their Soveraign What the Maurisques were The Spaniards treat them ill * An avanie is when by a false accusation money is forced from any person They demand assistance of Henry the Great He refuses it The King of Spain banisheth them all They are horribly ill Treated by the Spaniards and by the French They are carried into Affrica but some stay in France The great designe of Henry 4. for the extent of the Christian Religion in the Levant He sends some to spy the Country He seeks means to raise mony without burthening his people He would disengage his demain * The Greffes is a due to the King of 63 â— 9 d. Tours upon the sale of wood in several places and take off the Impost by buying the Salt-Marishes He is constrained to acquit himself of old scores to make some new imposts creations He makes not always use of innocent means Inquisition of the rents of the City-house cause disturbance * Hostel de Ville is the same at Paris as Guild-hall at London Miron Provost of the Merchants sustains the interest of the people Some would incense the King against him The people rise to defend him The King counselled to take him by force The Kings wise answer worthy a great Polititian He will not pursue this business of the Rents Establishment of the Paulete Justice formerly administred in France by Gentlemen How it fell into the hands of the Plebeians who made profit of it The Parliament of France meddle with particular affairs and is made sedentary at Paris They make all other Judges subalternate to them The number of the Officers of Parliament small How Offices became vendible under Francis 1. * He had often said that fat Boy would spoile all and Henry 2. How this might be remedied But on the contrary is made incurable by the Paulete Which causes great abuses 1609. Marriage of the Prince of Conde And of the Duke of Vendosme What were the Kings divertisements He loved Play too much He was extremely given to women This passion made him do shameful things Three or four of his Mistresses This causes often contentions with his wife And hinders his great design What that was The means with which he served himself to put it in Execution To this purpose he grants an Edict to the Hugonots and pays his debts Which regains the reputation and credit of France He joyns to him all Christian Princes by promising his conquests He reunites them by accommodating their differences The Princes he made his friends How he would have accommodated the Protestant Princes with the Pope He treats with the Electors With the Lords of Bohemia Hungary Poland With the Pope Model of the designe of Hen. 4. He would part Christendome into fifteen equal Dominions To wit eleven Kingdoms and four Republicks What the Pope had had The Signory of Venice The Italian Common-wealth Duke of Savoy Republick of the Swisses The Low-Countries Kingdome of Hungary The Empire with free election Bohemia Hungary elective A general Council of sixty persons Three others of each twenty Order to hinder tyranny and rebellion and to assist the Provinces adjoyning to Infidels Three general Captains two by Land and one by Sea to war against the Turks What forces what train None but the house of Austria had suffered by this establishment In Italy the Pope Venetians and Savoyard would consent In Germany many Electors and had chosen the Duke of Bavaria Emperour In Bohemia and Hungary the Lords and Nobility The business of Cleves happens to give a beginning to the great designe The Cities of Flanders should revolt The Kingâ— Army should have lived in great order The King would have reserved nothing of his Conquests He had with other Princes prayed the Emperour to rerestore the Cities of the Empire to liberty Bohemia Hungary Austria had made the same request The Duke of Savoy had demanded the Dower of his wife from the Spaniard The Pope and Venetians to become mediators of the difference of Navarre Naples Savoy c. And the King had yeilded his right They had perswaded the King of Spain or else forced him The great Prudence and moderation intended by the King in the pursuit of his design The preparations he made The forces he had The Prince of Oranges Army That of the Electors German Princes That of the Venetians and Savoyard His Exchequer for defraying this great designe He would make the War powerfully that it might be short Great appearance it might have succeeded having no Princes to oppose it but the Dukes of Saxony and Florence What was the business of Cleves and Juliers Death of John Duke of Juliers without issue His succession disputed by many particularly by Brandenbourg and Newbourg The Emperour said it was devolved to the Empire He invests Leopold of Austria who whilst Brandenbourg and Newbourg dispute seizes Juliers They implore the Kings assistance who promises to march in person But tells him he intended to conserve the Catholick Religion in that Country Answer made to the Ambassador of the Empire He establishes good order in the Kingdom before his departure Leaves the Regency to the Queen but gives her a good Council He establishes little Councils in the Provinces who refer to the great one 1610. Some put it into the spirit of the Queen that she should be installed before the Kings departure He though unwillingly consents The instalment of the Queen Many Prognosticks which seemed to presage the death of Henry 4. Advice from several places that his life should be attempted He seems to believe them and fear Who Ravaillac was He is induced to kill the King but it is not known by whom The King departs the Louvre to go to the Arsenal What persons were with him His Coach stopt in the street of the Ferronnerie Ravaillac killeth him He is torn with burning pincers and drawn in pieces by four horses The Kings body opened and found that he might yet live 30 years He is buried at St. Denis The Queen made Regent The great desolation in Paris when they knew of the Kings death His age and the time of of his reign His two wives Margaret and Mary He had three Sons by Mary and three Daughters He had eight Natural children of divers Mistresses Two Sons and a Daughter of Gabriella A Son and a Daughter of the Marchioness of Verneuil Of the Countess of Moret one Son Of Madam d' Essards two daughters He loved all his children and would have them call him Papa Summary recital of the Life of Henry the Great Parallel of his adversities and prosperities * There are more then fifty conspiracies against his person His adversities whet his spirit and courage Why Princes who come young to the Crown seldome learn to govern well Those who come to a Crown at greater distance and a more ripe age are more capable and better The reasons of it A mystick Crown to the glory of Henry the Great