vveaker the party to vvhom the match fell out so hurtful vvas a man and therefore stronger here the peril strenghtned for the party bringing the perill out of Fraunce is a man and the partie endaungered is a vvoman These thinges deserue vvell the vveighing and may not be passed ouer vpon euery lisping vvord and crouching curtesie of a French Ambassador or other flattering petie messenger And if our wise and renoumed forefathers of England passed vvithout stombling ouer the threshold of suspecting the french aliance euen then whā the french men professed held the lavves of atmes vvyth theyr enemies as soldiers let vs not be nicely fearefull to passe the boūds of honorable modestie in iudgeing of the present princes vvhich professe to deceiue and break fayth vvith such as vve are yea let vs boldly vvisely cast this doubt that they vvhose frendships vvhē they had not so il purposes but thought it their honor to match with vs wrought vs yet thys woemust nedes novv hurt vs according to their hateful falshod in dealing with vs whō they esteme according to their doctrin of Rome no better then dogs Novve as there is daunger on the parte of the French for great troubles to follovve by thys mariage as vvell for that they haue nevv fangled and stirring common wealth heads lusting after Innouations as also for the ielousie of tvvo so neere bordering kingdomes euen so vvill it be harder then yron for Englishmen to digest with quiet stomake the french insolencies and disdaynefull brauades For if the Spaniard comming in vppon hys honor and being an auncient friend at that tyme of one religion did neuertheles beare away harde intreadie for hys vnwonted pryde towards vs more danger vvill theyr be least these needie spent Frenchmen of Monsieurs traine being of contrary religion and who are the scome of the kings Court which is the scomme of all France vvhich is the scomme of Europe vvhen they seeke like horseleaches by sucking vpon vs to fill theyr beggerly purses to the satis fieng of theyr bottomlesse expence the poore playne and rude Englishman firste giue him the elbovve in the strete then the fist and so proceeding to farther bicquerings in pryuate quarrels great troubles ryse of small beginnings for as touchinge the humble mild persecuted and religious Frenchmen that we receiue him as a vvelbeloued brother and that our old grudging nature against the french in this respect is expelled as it wer vvith a fork that comes by the force of religion the Lord hauing wrought it in our heartes But against these irreligious haughtye and faithlesse frenchmen that bring in a religion contrarye to ours haue no cōscience nor loue to vse vs kindly our English nature vvil return a main to his own course which thinges also may euidtēly appeare to any mā that wold but mark how sadly heauily with hovv sorovvful coūtenances all the multitude of English both nobilitie comminaltye looke casting vp theyr hands eyes to heauen vvhen they doe but talke of the matter This stinging straunger of Fraunce muste vve keepe vvarme in our bosom at our ovvn intollerable charge which is another reason not to be neglected sith treasure is a principall sinevv of any state and therefore vvould not be wasted much lesse therevvyth to buye our own harme For they are ouer credulous to be beleeued vvho vvith the emptie name of Monsieur and of the French kings brother wold promise such other fooles as list credit them mountaines of golde and great gaine to thys royall state by hys vvorshipfull reuenues forsooth bringing in king Phillip vvho serues them in thys deuise for all in all for theyr example Fyrst vvho knowes not thys in generall that euery prince though neuer so rich will hoard vp hys owne treasure and spend of the straunge purse and it is a notable policie for our french enemye by this meanes to weaken the verye knees and hammes of our Realm Novv that vvhich other princes do of worldly vvisedom Monsieur must doe of meere necessitie for let his receiptes be great for a subiect yet shall they not be sufficient to maintain his mind in state of so great a priuce companiō to our Queen for euē alreadie his debtes expences are sayd to be farther at odds with his reuenues thē many yeres receipts can yeld the arerages But these perswaders as men hauing theyr eyes daseled vvyth the golden sun are ouer affectioned to thys match and can not see that Monsieur hath not moe countyes then king Phillip had archdukedomes nor so many dukedoms as king Phillip had kingdomes and that he is not able to dropp halfe testons for king Phillips pîstelas nor vvith siluer to weighdowne his gold as also that king Phillip for al those dominiōs mines of treasures was content to be pingling vvith our purses made Queene Mary to aske moe extraordinary and frequent subsides and taskes then had bene seene in so short a raigne further causing her to borow more loanes of hundred powndes forty pounds tvventy pounds and ten poundes of her subiects then vvere euer payd agayn by a great sort thus gleaning the monie from the subiects by armefuls lading out of the eschequer that both the land and the Eschequer was left as empty to the Queenes maiestie that novv is as it vvas many a daye The very bodyes of our men vvere fayne to be employed in hys seruice and forraigne warres there to abide the formost force and to be as a vvall betvvene the honorable Spainard and the Canon vvhich vvars nothing in our ovvne quarrell besides the present losse of noble men and good soldiars there at the place cost vs in a backe reckoning the richest and strongest towne of vvar that the Queene then had And yet must vve haue king Phillip broughte in for example of a gainefull mariage to England In dede vve had great cause to thank the Lords mercy vvho deliuered vs from that king his power as vve had to thank our sins that vve vvere giuen into hys hand but vve may say vve scaped a scouring for but that he vvas newly setled in his owne kingdome and could not tary to be warme in his bedd here the end vvould haue ben vvorse then the beginning he wold haue holdē hard if not for the soile of the kingdom yet for the nauie for the ordinance and other chiefe moueable treasures and reall Ievvels of the land All vvhich thinges come in a more daunger with thys Prince because if he be king of fraunce he shal be neerer and readier by colorable polices to vvythdravv by little and little all thinges from hence in her Maiesties lysr by force to chalenge them if VVhich God say nay to she shoulde be hys vvife and dye before hym There is another daungerous daunger in thys forreine french match that aryseth yet far higher in that he is the brother of childles Fraunce So as if Henry the thyrd novv king should dye
but that in thys poynt vve may styll hold vvyth them as vvell in respect of our common detestation to hys blasphemous Mahomet as for that of all other christians vve least need to feare hys might being so farr separate as Europe is large If any man think that vve may hold al these old latter friendships and that thembracing vvith Fraunce is not streightwayes an vnfolding vvith all the rest he neyther considers the differēce in religion betvvene Scotland and Fraunce nor the diffidence betvven Fraunce and Spayn for the lovv countryes the vvhich as Spayn hath in possession so doth Fraunce many tymes mut-ter a title thereto This vniuersall perswader I say of all friendships and especially with Fraunce forgets hovv in times passed our king Henry the eyght could not be at once friend vvith the Emperor and the french king but the league vvith one vvas present diffiance to the other and that Scotland so long as they held Fraunce vvas euer at deadly foode vvith England and since they clapped hand with England they haue not missed al most enemy lyke attempts of Fraunce And to put hym out of doubt hovv odious all Germanny will hold vs for our felovvship sake vvith Monsieur let hym remēber hovv farr from the dignity of a prince they enterteyned Henry then not single Monsieur and onely a brothrr of Fraunce as is our Monsieur Fraunces but elect king of Poland a piece of Germany vvhen to take reall possession thereof he passed thorough theyr territories some of them vvith much ado and after many reproches for his cruell falshods sending him onely a bare pasport which the deuil might haue had to be quickly packing as did the duke of Saxony to his vvorthy and princely prayse Some of them graunting hym a more free saufconduit yet vvould not vouchsafe to see thys great French prince as the prince Palatine that good man vvhose blame vvas more in that action for hys ouermuch mildnes then vvas hys prayse for curtesie Other of those states as Spire bending turning the mouthes of al theyr great ordinauce vppon him on vvhich side of the city or streets soeuer he vvent as it had ben at a common enemy of mankind Other as in Franckford saluting hym by the vnkingly name of the king of butchers in fraunce vvhich though it vvere by the mouth of one principall man among them yet vvas it ratified by the vvhole state vvhen he complayning to the Burgmaisters of thys reproch as of a high vvrong they thought it not cryminall nor to be pursued Exofficio against the accused but onely at the cōplaynants pryuate action vvherin he fearing euidēce enough so proue the saying true durst not put in cautiō but departed with shame enough and bare the reproch avvay on his backe In all those states and cities hys welcome vvas such as vvhen he came againe stealing out of Poland he would not come back that vvay to thank them or to haue the like but chused rather to goe about by sea and land the farther and more daungerous vvay The smal reckoning vvhich that man like nation makes of Fraunce appeares by the many happy aydes from thence vvhich haue bidden base to Valols at his owne gole in hys own field and at the gates of hys strongest vvalles hunting the French vvolfe in defence and reliefe of the french oppressed lambs A vvise man vvithout descending into these sensible particulars vvould in his vnderstanding see the very generall nature of suspitious frendship betvvene neighbour kings hovv lyke it is to the loue betwene a iealous man and his wyfe in this one poynt they be both of them feareful and iealous of theyr ovvn states can not patiently endure that theyr ally should be any thyng great vvith an other confine gouernment but streightvvay euery countenance breedes a suspition and euery suspition a restraint of entercourse and trafique or open vvar I might fetch examples farther of and ovvt of tholder storyes of Grecians and others vvhere euer the societye withone neigh bor was enemity with another state according to that one great social lavv emong others vvhich is that frends and enemies must be common But it is more then manifest hereby hovv vngodly and dangerous how incertain needles hovv dishonorable vnprofitable thys neer French coniunction is in it selfe again it is detected as euidently hovv many friends in Christ hovv many confederacies in old frend ship how many alliances in blood and hovv many sworn brotherhoods in vvars this one forsworn brotherhode of Fraunce vvil loose vs. It followeth then necessarily vpon that vvhich hath ben sayd that we who already beare the floure delice quartarly receiue no honor by ioyning with it Par pale And sith our Queen rightfully beares it as king of Fraunce and he occupieth it as actuall french king I beleeue it will pose the king of Heraltes of eyther realm to make alouing agreement and in one Eschocheon vvell to marshal according to theyr rules the selfe same cote of the vsurper vvith the selfe same kingly cote of the right heire hauing no difference For though it may be in other noble gentlemens cotes it vvyll hardly be don in kings cotes For Heraltes vvhych are vpright iudges in these causes must imagin but one king in a land as but one son in the heauens perhappes to salue this sore they vvill take vp the old french coate of crawling Toades But the noble Lyon vvill chuse him no such feere hys nature is to abide no venemous thing in hys denn hovv should he then embrace a Toade for his make This difficultye of Heraltes is the least of a thousand might soone be dispatched vvere not those other great ones vvhich euen by this small difficulty also in that kind are bevvrayed that is that thys mariage seemes to striue vvithall lavves that of armes and al. Those therefore that persvvade this band of strange alliance must needs be such Englishmen as find themselues not aduanced in thys state according to that desert vvhich they conceiue in thē selues and therefore disdeyn at others good estate or els such as are past hope heare and hauing nothing knovve they can loose nothing what change or tombling soeuer come but these be degenerate dangerous Englishmen vvho for the satisfieng of theyr disdainful or hongry humor care not to let the common vveale blood euen in her Basilica vaine vvho hauing now liued by Gods grace and through the great loue of hir subiects tovvards hir many yeeres in a miraculous peace and ben a beholder and iudge of other lands troubles should now by thys mariage throw as it vvere into the sea not her ring vvith Policrates but hir precious selfe and putting hir prosperitye to the plunge send it to flote or sinck by dravving into England a great spark of that family which hath ben a fyre brand in Europe VVe can not hold this fire in our bosome and not be burned therevvith Novv that
to thyrd and fourth generation as I vvould my poore lyfe might redeeme the ioyning of Queene ELIZABETH to such one in that neer knot vvhich must needes make hir halfe in the punishments of those his sinnes Hir Maiesties father had a law passed by parliament in his tyme that whoso had vnlawfully knovven that vvoman with vvhom the king was to mary and did not before mariage come in and bevvray it shold vpon the matter aftervvard detected be holden litle better then a traytor Hys care to haue a good woman vvas Christian and royall he vvyst vvell as the preambles of those statutes purport beside the pryuate contentation to him selfe that as vvel the sinnes of father mother as the plague of theyr sins descends to the children and considering hys chyldren were to be left gouernours of the land which mightso also haue part in these punishments his care vvas so much more to be approued because it vvas also for the common vveale The same reason is to moue in vs all a harty desire thas hir Maiesty should mary vvith such a house and such a person as had not prouoked the great vengeance of the lord And surely considering the haynousnes of the sin in euery person with the concurrant circuÌ„stances in this case of a prince the law was a iust law vve can haue no such law against strangers therfore in hir Maiesties name I require at the hands of al English Ambassadors other trauayling EnglishmeÌ„ abrod of all vvise men at home that they vvilbe hir diligent espialls herein geuing faithful aduertisement not of such seldome or small fautes as men corruptly call tryckes and pranks of a young gentilman but vvhither hys lyfe hath ben so monstrously wicked as is reported for it is no small matter for a Queene the head of the lande to ioyne in any maner with that person ouer vvhom the ineuitable plages of the most true Lord do hang. This is to approch to the plague when it commeth and not as Salomons wise man doth to withdrawe hymselfe when he seeth it His youth of yeeres is an apparant inequalitie of this match a secret discouery of his mynd not singlie affected vvith true and simple loue to that he should chiefely seeke for emong vs of the meaner sort not one in a thousand of those younger men that seke ther elder matches but doth it in side respects and hovv can vve thinke other wise in a young prince heire apparant of france It is quite contrary to his young appeties which vvyll otherwise haue theyr desire It is therefore eyther for want of liuing and mayntenance to hys mynd and then is he not fit for this realme or els is it certenly for some other notable practise vvhich muste needes be dangerous because so great a man must be the instrument and because it is not disclosed He is differing from hir Maiestie in religion thagreement wher in as it worketh by Gods blessing a most neer knot of good vvill and perfect liking in all things euen emong straungers so by the vvords of Christ a disagrement in this kind brings the svvord betvvene father and children brethern and sisters betvvene a man and hys vvife Yea vve haue seene in our dayes parentes and husbands being papistes thorough the vnnaturall cruelty of that Italian heresie vpon the least occasion and vvithall gredinesse to haue deliuered vp to death their children vvife And if al bands be little enough to hold loue and to worke a comfortable lyfe here in earth against the many miseryes of this noysome pilgrimage let vs not dispise that vvhich is the chiefest and strongest And which I may not forget who so marieth with any popevvorshipper can not tell vvhen to be sure of him for they haue one knife to vnloose all alliances vvith kingdoms and fayth giueÌ„ to princes that is the popes dispensation vvhich is so iust in it self as vvhither it bynd or loose it may not be examined if therefore after our mariage vvhich God first let the changeable decree of a pope vvill pronounce the mariage no mariage eyther vpon some nevv aduantage to the church of Rome either els because Monsieur could haue no children by our Queen for that there must of necessity sit vpon that throne some of the blessed seed of Medices vvhich vvas sent into Fraunce from a pope no doubt this son of the pope in Fraunce is as much bound by popish obedience to leaue against Gods lavv his vvife as his son of Spayne vvas to take against Gods forbodd his own sisters dauâ—â—ter And as much conscience vvill the holy father make to breake a lavvfull mariage for his aduauntage as to licence a lavvles vvhat a feare of dishonor vvorse then the dishonor vvere this to depend vpon the incertain pope vvhither vve shall at any time hereafter be decreed to haue liued in vnlavvfull mariage yea or no. If any man anusvver hereto that this doubte is too farre fetched and hath no reason to be conceiued let him at once take this replye for maintenance of thys and diuers other like reasons that are may be made That vvhosoeuer is carefull of the life and honour of a prince casts more doubts then for a common person In theyr palaces they must haue more gards for night and day more porters more hus shirs and more doers to come to them euen in time of peace then common persons haue But vvhen the enemy of a prince comes to be considered of then princes will vse theyr longest hands of strength theyr tendred nosed couÌ„sailors most percing sight of theyr vvise and faythfull seruants and who wold not suspecte any trechery from that Roman ennemy of enemyes vvhich like a iugling Aegiptian playes fast and loose with all the vvorld and is singularly a deuowed enemy to our Queene as he vvas lately to hir Maiesties father because he refused and reiected one of his like godlesse dispensations for a lyke lawles mariage An other reason might be made a gainst thys mariage that if thorough his ambitious mind not so blamevvorthy in such a prince as hurtfull to such as should chuse him during the life of his brother he should be chosen king elsvvhere it might cause his absence litle to hir maiesties comfort But this reason I bring not for the force of it or for vvant of other for I suppose the late honorable leauing of Poleland vvilbe a lesson to any kingdome or state of free election how they shall chuse this brother If therefore as Qu. Maries counsailors had that respect to hir high honor that they did not mary hir to K. Phillip till he â–ª was a king in the lyfe of his father so likewise these men vvould not talke of Monsieur til he were hir maiesties peere by being chosen king by the franke election of any â–ª state I vvould not feare thys matter The onely cause therefore vvhy I thought this reason worth any meÌ„tion is by that
that may so earnestly send hym hither he is here apparant to Fraunce dangerous therefore in respect of reasons otherwhere alledged for hym to be absent espetially the present king being so far gon and spent in the disease as some of these perswaders vvill say vvhen they wyll further thys match And if he should come in with that honorable shew becomming hys greatnes and as any other such man wyll come that woeth with good meaning and feareth not any detectioÌ„ of hydden trecheryes â–ª hys voyage hyther would be mightely chargable a thing ill becomming hym vvho is already drawen drye to the botom and extremely indetted vvith hys other coloured voyage into Flanders And onelesse some notable practise pricked hym hyther the very passage ouer the sea vvould appall this fresh water soldiar hauing read that betvvene thys and Normandye there perished in one bottom three kingly children but vtterlye vvould he be discouraged by thaduenture of honour whych he makes in sayling hyther vpon so slender likelihoode of speeding or rather vpon great reason of repulse if his care of honor vvere not lesse then his greedines to accomplish hys other mischiefe And if he should speede which God forspeake yet must he com to a people that loues hym not nor hys trayne and vvhere neuerthe lesse he must haue hys gardes and trayne prescribed and limitted in regard of the state And thys people if heretofore it hath bene so manly as to mayster thys generation of Capet in hys own or rather our home of Fraunce me thinks thys Monsieur can come with small hope to finde good seruice at our handes vvhose fingers wyll itch at hym in our home of England But aboue all vvho can thinke that he being the last of hys fathers ligne and the onely forlorne hope of raysing vp seede to hys brothers would match heare vvith so farr gon hope of hauing issue endaungering by that means a vvylling translation of the crown of France from hym and hys fathers posterity to another prince of the blood No no no the king hys brother and hys mother haue some other meanyng agaynst the church state and person of our prince euen to haue an eye in the heade of our Courte if they can bring it to passe and an hand in the heart of this realm to vvorke our ruin and theyr great hatreds and that as the mother hath long time ruled and turned the wrong side outvvard of Fraunce so she might haue thys land another while for hyr stage she is dressing hir Prologue to sende him in trust him not The players be tragicall though he vveare peacible laurell on his head Yea the wordes that escape from some of them that are come on thys message doe bewray hovv lovvdly they vvyl speake here after I pray God they to vvhom it belongs may keepe avvay such gamsters And sith the Lord for hys own name sake of his loue to the gospel vvhich we haue emoÌ„g vs hath weakned the hands of our forreine enemyes broken the deuises of theyr heads hither to since he hath engraueÌ„ such a searing loue in hyr subiects harts as children beare to there mother and such a reuercut note of souereignete in hir person as he is wont to sett on them vvhom he calls by hys owne name and are his ordinances in so much as it may be sayd of hir most truely it is the Lord by vvhoÌ„ kings reign since I say the blessed vvord of Christ hath made hir sword as the svvord of Gâ—deon keeping hir safe from many practises agaynste hyr person while other kings and Queenes haue thorowe Gods iudgement for theyr manifest sins bene subiect to tombling and suffered change in person and estats Let vs styll rest in those maenes and approue that vvhich vve haue proued for good It is a foly to seeke forreine ayde but vpoÌ„ extreme necessitye It is lyke desperate phisick vvhen one is giuen vp by al phisitions it sends hym speedely eyther one vvay or other They suffer themselues to be abused vvhich beleeue the french men vvhen they say that England is vnfurnished of friends neyther in perfect league nor good opinioÌ„ nor neere allyed with any prince in Christendome Our alliances are better then his and more assured as in another place it is shewed vve haue the Lords right hand on ourside and all the hatts and handes of those of our religion Yea vve were able by Gods mercy to throvv out popery euen then vvhen it had more friends vvithin the land and vvhen diuerse princes and multitudes vvere enemies to vs for our religion that are since become religious euen to the death vve doubt not therefore but much more easely vve shall be able to hold our prince vvorthy of hyr I can not chuse but say that this prince of Fraunce of all other vnmaried princes is moste vnworthye of hyr for euen that Christianity vvhich hir Maiestie is called vnto and hyr princely priesthoode in Christ Iesus is as farr aboue all hys pryde in fleshe as heauen is aboue earth hir earthly septer being added to the former excellency settes him at hir foote or rather driues him from hir presence in iudgement of God and men being but a subiecte in the kingdom of Fraunce as yet no enrolled citesin in thouvvard kingdom of heauen The assured and great euils that grovv here out to our head the Queene make no lesse agaynst the vvell doing of the lesser limes of the land For to let passe the doings of auncient and present kings vvho vvhen by such meanes they vvinne a countye into theyr pavves first dispatch the auncient Nobilitye destroye the greatest kindreds and scatter the meane sort into seruile vnlearned and vnarmed trades for thentreaty that our Nobility and Gentry are to looke for I vvyll note but thys one vvord euen of thys very family of Hugh Capet the first of thys third and present kingly race in Fraunce vvhen by such meanes as theyr ovvn chro nicles doe mention he had vvrested the sceprer from the handes of theyr Mayster and soueraign seede of great Charles Peppines son the first deede they did vvas to prouide that the chiefe of that ligne might dye the death perhaps some of them did chuse some pinig death at Orleance but die they must This is a slip of Hugh Capet and the practise of theyr mother and them in their ovvn country at this present is to raze all auncient french houses and to reare vp new bringing al as neere as they can A la Turkesque that all being there creatures may fall dovvn and vvorship them And if the present vvoeng messenger a man of so bace place and petie coÌ„panion in the french court is yet so sausie as to be checkmate vvith our Queen and to enter malapart comparison vvyth our Noble men doubt you not but the friends of of the brydegroome vvyll be euery man a petie king ouer our English Nobilitye Our
father must goe and take Marguerit the daughter of Lewis the eyght for a vvyfe to hys son Henry and for his son Richard tooke Aelix an other daughter of Fraunce vvhich alliances proued such assurances to Henry the second as his last fiue or sixe yeeres vvere nothing but an vnkinde stryfe with his ovvne sons and especially hys sonne Rychard made open vvarre against him and vvan from him a part of Normandie by the helpe of his trustie friend Lewes the French king After thys vvhen Rychard him selfe was king not vvithstanding all the French friendships and alliances at vvhat tyme he vvas taken prisoner in hys returne from Ierusalem the French king vvas not ashamed to excite Iohn the brother of England to seize himselfe of the crovvne The sayd Iohn vvhen he vvas king marieng the daughter of the Earle of Engolesme in Fraunce and his son Henry the third hauing maried first a daughter of the Earle of prouence and secondly french Marguerit sister to Phillip the fayer found in the seueral dayes of theyr raignes the French king to be no better then a pricke in theyr sides taking part against them and prouoking theyr people to be as it vvere thornes in theyr feete Edvvard the second succeding his auncesters aswell in theyr vnhappy folly as in they re kingdome vvill needes marry vvith Isabel daughter to the same Phillip vvhich proued such an assurance to hymselfe as that hys French vvife vvas able to bereaue hym first of hys son carying him into Fraunce and hauing there made a strong part could returne and bereaue her husband of hys liberty and kingdome and in the ende of hys lyfe to after a vvretched captiuitie vnder hys owne son So that of old the alliances of Fraunce dyd set husbande and vvife together by the eares as in Henry the second and Edvvarde the second the father and son together as they did Henry the second and hys three sons Henry Rycharde and Iohn brother against brother as Rychard and Iohn the king and hys people togither as they did king Iohn and Henry the thyrd against the people and as they did aftervvard in Rychard the second Henry the sixt vvhich the duke Thomas of Glocester in his tyme vvell foresavv and therefore vpon treaty of the like mariage for Rychard the second vvho hauing novv raigned xix yeeres and being thyrtye yeeres olde fell amourous most vnkindlye and vnkingly vvith a french girle but eyght yeeres of age daughter to Charles the sixt French king he the same Thomas of Glocester vncle to the king stept vp and vvithstode that match hauing belike in these former experiences obserued the truth of that general rule set dovvne vpon the French by that Greeke Emperor And because I find the vvords of thys Duke set dovvne more expresly in a French chronicle then any vvhere els I vvill vse theyr ovvne vvords as the fittest testimony in thys case The alliance of Fraunce sayth that Duke in that french story hath bene the ruine of England and this nevve frendship betvveene these kings sayth the Duke shall neuer make me loke for any assured peace attvvene thē for sayth he ther vvas neuer yet any trust or religiō or truth in the vvord or promises of the french VVhat an auncient hereditary disease of disloyalty is this in the royall seate of Fraunce especially since the Maiors of the housholde became kinges And though thys Dukes voice in thys counsell vvere ouerruled by the multitude or rather by the lust of the king yet did the king and his people and their children feele hovve true it was in sequele For first thys externe amitie with Fraunce bred home enemitye in England It cost vs for an earnest penny the tovvne of Brest in Britanie by meanes of the kings outlandish Queen And poore king Richard vsing in priuate connsaise altogether the French companions such as his vvyfe brought began to disdeyne his ovvne naturall kinsmen and subiects and finallye follovving ouermuch the cruell and riotous counsel of such minions namely the Constable of Fraunce and Erle of S. Pol vvhō the French king sent of purpose to king Rycharde his son in lavve polling the people and putting to death such nobles as his french counsail put in hys head in the end he vvas quite vnkinged by Henry of Lancaster afterwardes Henry the fourth vvho during the tyme that he platted thys enterprise founde hospitalitye in Fraunce for all king Rychards alliance vnder his father in lavves nose The French match it vvas vvhich vvithin one yere brought the king to dishonorable captiuitie death and deposing vvhich appeares for that in story it is rekoned emong other thinges that alienated from him the loue of hys subiects so farre as when he vvas taken hys enemy vvas fayne to saue hys lyfe by garde from hys ovvn people and also it is obiected agaynst hym that he had made thys alliance vvith Fraunce not calling to counsail the thre estates of England Euen the last mariages vve made vvith France vvere lyke vnhappy to the end Henry the fift that noble king had the alliance of Katherin daughter to Charles the seauenth of Fraunce and after had the possession of Fraunce first by right of descent and mariage then by conquest of sword and lastly by couenant agreed with king Charles and his peeres yet coulde he none othervvise hold theyr loue but hauing theyr necks vnder hys yoke VVhych vnion of possession and right to that realme vvas aftervvard fortified by crouning hys sonne Henry the sixt in Paris and by a nevv match betweene hym and Marguerit daughter of a French Charles as most men saien vvhich cost hym first for a princely brybe the dukedome of Angeow and Ereldome of Main and after many miserable destructions of our English cheualry people lost both the new cōquired title ancient heriditarye dominions on that side and finally vvrought an ignominious depriuation of Henry the sixt from this realme I think I might set dovvue all such matches as vnhappy ones and contrarivvise those matches nothing so vnhappy but for the most parte prosperous vvhich were made eyther at home or in other places as vveren al those mariages made since Henry the sixt as by Edvvarde the fourth her Maiesties greatgraundfather and by her maiesties graundfather and by her father And if a sister or daughter vvho had no or dinarye counsail allowed her out of France could yet continually preuaile so much to the trobling of the state and deposing of the king here vvhat peril is it to dravv hether a brother vvho is to haue his ordinarye counsail and some gard of force and continuall-intelligence with the French king and is also to be a leader and executer of any deuise himselfe vvhich a French woman could not doe so vvell the daunger therefore in thys match is encreased beyond that in the former matches for there the party for or by vvhom the danger came vvas a vvoman and therefore
credit emong the protestants in Fraunce as they vvould trust him for a leader and not hold him stil for a suspect could hys goodly aydes offered to the states in the low countryes vvith personall taking vpon him their defence preuaile so farr that he could come any farther vvithin them then that they could by their own forces vvel auoyde hym No no the hurtfull helpe of thys shiuering reede hath appeared by the euent in both countryes and that it is no staffe of trust Most vnhappy therefore are they that may take heede by others whose hands it hath hurt and vvill not But let vs against our con science admit Monsieur to be in this matter simply seely or simply bonest yet is he set a work and ruled by his brother and mother and this sute follovved for him vvith the manifest goodwyll of hys mother the motherpractiser of France VVith the winking of the pope vvho though against the mariage of the king of Nauarre to their sister and against Monsieurs voyage in to Flanders he sent his legat yet here he sits quiet vvhich is a token that hee lookes through his fingers This sute is pursued vvith the good alovvāce of the french king For Monsieurs messenger hath continuall conuersation at home and abroade and one table vvyth the kings Ambassador a thing playnely arguing the kings good liking and continuall intelligence vvith Monsieur for the proceedings herein The strange papistes and our rebelles are in deepe silence not one opens his mouth against this mariage Thys prince can not but eythe◠for loue or feare be great with the Guysian duke and in deede of very late more theu euer euen vvhen ît vvas sayd he should come ouer hither he vvas neerely in vvard and in deepe conferences vvith that duke vvho is to vs an enemy by kind and for neer consanguinity a fast friend to the late scottish Queen vvho is the most hidden and pestilent aduersary creature that liues to our Prince state The fayrest daugh ter of the pope and shotanchor of all papistes for as the holye league hath tyed all these great on s togither by oth and their duty to the pope vvhom they wyll not displease to hate to the death all religious princes so haue they voued it in the fourth degree agaynst our prince as chiefe support of religion and in vvhose life or death as they thinke dependes the exercise or not exercise of the Gospell in England and elsvvhere Againe besides theyr afectiō in many other respects to this late Scottish Queen they haue set her down as the onely loadestone that should drawe traytors together and rent our kingdome that should set vp I dolatrous altars from S. Michils mount to Barvvick and make al the Israel of England and Scotland to sinne Hyr iniurious challenges in Fraunce hir great and disloyall attempts in england hir confederacies vvith the Spanish Generalls or regents in Flaunders vvyl easely tell a wise man vvhat deuotion she hath to the Queene vvhat impatient greedines to snatch the crowne from hir heade by oportunity or importunity vvhich so euer come first There open and violent attemptes of this purpose haue bene by Gods grace frustrate as enemyes they can doe no thing agaynst hyr Maiestie Now must some great meane be vsed and that vndercloke of loue vvhich is euer the last popish practise From no place more fitly then out of Fraunce can they fetche thys instrument of our vvoe Fraunce is a neighbour therefore conuenient by the place It is a land ful of a vvell trayned soldiar hath all ready great numbers mustered that abyde but theyr vvatch vvord it is now at peace vvithall and therefore at leasure onles they vvyll make vvarrs to themselues for cruelty they are approued to execute any thing For treason they are so embrewed in blood as they are like to assent vnto what soeuer plat neuer so barbarous And thys is also a deuice fit ynough for such a soliciter as is that false Scot prelate Rosse mortall enemy hether vvho is presently in Fraunce and like ynoug hyr agēt to procure this deuise Yea onlesse vve our selues close our owne eyes vvee may see that it is a very french popish vvoeng to sende hyther smooth tongued Simiers to glose and glauer hold talk of mariage and yet in the meane while Iaques Fitzmaurice who hath bene in France and conuersant vvith Rosse and euen novv came immediatly thence into Ireland to inuade our Queenes dominion there and assemble the trayterous papistes in nomine domini domini papae Is it possible for the breath of mariage vvell meant to England and vvarr performed in Ireland to come out of one mouth She hath already cost vs ynough of our Englishe blood and she cares not though she make hauock of nobilitye people she seekes hyr own turne by hooke or crooke Aboue all the dangers to hir Maiestie I wold she had one that might eueryday cry vvith a loud voyce TAKE HEEDE OH ELIZABETH OF ENGLAND AND BEVVARE OF SCOTTISH MARY The Lord hyr God defend hyr from all hyr popish enemies Let other mens squaymish iudgements keepe them in vvhat temper of suspecting it lykes them I can not be so blockish but to thinke that it is more then lykely he comes for thys Mary to the end that vvhereas yf there be any rebellious papists at home which can do nought for want of a leader those fugitiue rebels abrode can doe nothing onlesse there be first some hurliburly in the land this man may be he vvhere they shall firste make head and so grovv into a body of rebelliō which aftervvard they meane to ayde vvith theyr forrein forces to the destruction of those foolish rebelles as vvell as of vs And though in truth with out flattery she be inferior to our Queene in all the best gyftes yet may I vvell ynough thinke that Monsieur vvyll stoope to hir as vvell as king Phillip theyr old example vvhome yet againe they vse euen here did stoop in Flaunders and other vvhere most lowly in that respecte and beyonde all curtesie euen in Queene Maryes lyfe yea I doe not see vvhy I should not make these gyfts and excellencies of our Queene so many arguments to proue great likelihood of impossibilitye to knit fast to hyr the mind of Monsieur so contrarily qualified For loue is a knitting of lyke myndes togyther first then of bodyes by accident And though foule bodyes be oft in loue vvith the outvvard beauty of others yet vvas there neuer foule vicious and Irreligious mind in loue vvith a vertuous and religious soule If any man yet againe thinks it an vnvvorthy suspition of so hygh a prince let hym heare once agayne that one of that brotherhood dyd compasse as vnvvorthy a purpose and all by laying to gage that vvorthines vvhych hys maiesty myght chalenge and by hys personall action vvhych he iudged no man vvould once suspect in a mariage of hys
of fear and wrong thus much hitherto said to be written as it were vvith the teares of an english hart And his soden arryuall here with all the maner and circumstances thereof would yeelde nevve argumêts of an other much lōger discourse For first his cōming hither as it vver in a maske bewraies a strange melancholik nature in himself who delights to make all his iourneis in such sullē solitary sort therfore belike an ill companion to liue withall in any felovvship Then yt shewes his extreeme want of abilitie to defray the expence of woeng in a bountiful shew sitting such a prince as cōmeth to obtein out Queen This his secrete comming departing discouers a mistrustfulnes in him towards our people and therefore no loue which must needs come frō his own ill conscience of fearing french measure in England for on our part the Lord be thanked we haue not committed such villenies all men deeme him vnworthy to speed who comes in a net as though he were loath to auow his errand Some men may think he is ashamed to shevv his face but I think verely that he meanes not sincerely who loues not light wil not com abroade The last noble princely gentlemā that went out of Englād to vvin a Queen in france gaue trial shew of vvisdome manhod behauiour and personage by open cōuersatiō performing al maner of knightly excercises which makes vs in England to find very strange this vnmanlike vnprincelike secrete fearful suspitious disdainful needy french kind of woeng in Monsieur we can not chuse but by the same stil as by all the other former demonstratife remonstrāces conclude that thys french mariage is the streightest line that can be dravvne frō Rome to the vtter ruine of our church the very rightest perpendicular downfal that can be imagined frō the point france to our English state fetching in vvithin one circle of lamentable fall the royal estate of our noble Queen of hir person nobility and commons vvhose Christian honorable healthful ioyful peaceful and long souereigne raigne without all superior ouerruling commander especially french namely Monsieur the king of kings hold on to his glory and hyr assurance of true glory in that other kingdom of heauen Amen Amen Amen The church Sin draweth vengeance This mariage is sin Iustitution of mariage The first Lavves Deut. 7. 3. The end of holy maria The hurt of vnholy ma. The disparagement of such mariages Examples Gene. 24 3. Gene. 28. 1. Gen. 34. 14. Iudg. Psal. Salomon Nehe. 13. 23 Papist Cananite Pagan Moabite Ammonite Ishmalite Edomite King. 1. 11. Idolatrous Israelites Athalia Conclusiō againste England The Kings sin striketh the Land. Monsieurs masse no priuate mas Iudgemēts for Idolatry 1. Kin. 15. 13 2. Chr. 15. 16 The hurt of this church hurts others Especially the french churches France Valois Medices Henry the. 2 Francise 2 Charles 9. Henry 3. Monsieur Queene Pope France marieth vvith Spaine and Piemont Parisien mariage Feeble hope of Monsieurs change Two tryals of these persvvaders The first The second tryall Common vveale A forraign match Forreigne againste kind This state Lawes of England Aliē enimy Alien friend Aliē denizē Priors aliens Frenchmen Alteration of gouernment K. of Spayn Contrary religion Valois Examples modern Examples auncient Henry first Henry 2. Prince H. Rychard 1. R. Iohn 1. Henry 3. Edvvard 2 Richard. 2. A vvitnes vvithour ecception Henry 5. Henry 6. Home mariges happy Englishmē K. of Spayn A charge to the Realme Monsieur heir asparāt of Fraunce the dangers therby Spanish K. strange ayd French mariage more dangerous thē spanish Issue dangerous to the Queene Note Issue female onely Issue male one onely Viceroy Mark vvell these Englishmen Henry the sixth no good example to persvvade by Issue male and female Two sons or moe These faire vvords make no wise man fayne Dominiō Reuenue As the wise is subiect to hir husband so is hir coūtry to hys land English French little vvorth Alliance with fraunce what it is The sely great party of Monsieur Monsieurs companiōs Counsailors Seruants Enterprises VVoeng messenger Fraunce an old foe A new friēd A dāgerous friend An vnsure friend A needlesse friend A dishonorable alliāce A dammage able friendship Burgundy Scotland Allemain Ottoman the great Turke Duke of Saxe Palsgreue Spires Frankford No plurality or totquot in stately friendship Lavves of armes Tode Lyon. The Queen in hir natural and priuate consideratiō Dislike to mariage in generall Monsieur no Paragon His person His ill spent youth hither to His youth presently His religion Pope playes fast loose in mariages His absence by being chosen K. dls where A capitall perill iustly suspected The credit that the french king lends his brother His sister not trusted by hir husb Monsieur his owne credit This mach no stopp to practises of competition or popery Qu. mother the mouer Pope vvinketh vvils French king denieth not Papistes forrain rebel silent Guyse Scottish Mary New french falshod nevv English wisedome This match no snaffle to Spayne The lovv countryes Artoyes and Henault Gant. This match no bridle to Fraunce This vvoing comes not of loue to our Queen Mother King. Monsieur England can not loue Monsieur It is the lord by whome Queen Elizabeth reignes vvhile other princes dye and are deposed Keepe couenant with thy God O Queen and defie thys alliance Forrein ayds Englande needes no friends especially out of Fraunce Nobilitye Gentry of England Hugh Capet Carrola manus Maiestrates Iudges Lawyers Lavves soldiar L. bishops Merchants richmen People strange tallages