Germans having received many checks in several places but especially at Auneau in Beausse where the Duke of Guise slew or took Prisoners Three thousand Reistres afterward at Pont de Gien where the Duke d' Espernon took Twelve hundred Lansquenets or Foot and almost all the Cannon willingly hearkened to an agreement which the King caused to be proposed to them and afterwards retired by Burgongne and by the County of Montbeliard but were still pursâ—ed farther in that County by the Duke of Guise Now began the year One thousand five hundred eighty eight which all Judicial Astrologers had called the wonderful year because they foresaw so great a number of strange accidents and such confusion in natural causes that they were assured that if the end of the world came not there would happen at least an Universal Change Their Prognosticks were seconded by a a number of terrible Prodigies which arrived throughout all Europe In France there were great Earth-quakes along the River Loire and likewise in Normandy The Sea was for six weeks together disturbed with continual tempests which seemed to confound both heaven and earth In the Aire appeared divers Phantasmes of fire and on the four and twentieth of January Paris was covered with so horrible a darkness that those who had the best eyes could scarce see any thing at noon-day without the help of lights All these Prodigies seemed to signifie what soon after Arrived the death of the Prince of Conde the Besieging of Paris the Subversion of the whole Realm the Murthering of Messieurs de Guise and in fine the Parricide of Henry the third As for the Prince of Conde he died in the month of March at S. John d' Angeli where he then made his residence Though there had been a secret jealousie between him and the King of Navarre even to the making of two factions in their party yet the King resented this losse with an extreme grief and having shut himself up in his Closet with the Count de Soissons he was heard to cast forth great cries and say that he had lost his right hand However after his grief was a little evaporated he recovered his Spirit and casting all his trust on Divine Protection he came forth saying with a heart full of Christian assurance God is my refuge and my support it is in him alone I will hope and I shall not be confounded It was truly a great losse for him he was now alone to Support all the weight of affairs and being denuded of this assister remained more exposed to the attempts of the League who had now only to give a like blow to his person to remain Conquerours in all their affairs He had therefore just cause to fear their attempts However the Duke of Guise had a heart so Noble and great that whilst he lived he would never suffer such detestable waies The Confidence of the League encreased wonderfully by the death of this Prince they testified extraordinary rejoycings and published that it was an effect of the Justice of God and of the Apostolick curses The Hugonots on the contrary were in an extreme consternation considering that they had lost in him their most assured Chief because they believed him firmly perswaded in their Religion but had not the same opinion of the King of Navarre In effect the Confusion and Disorder was so great amongst them that in all appearance had they continued strongly to prosecute them they might have soon ruined them The King hated them mortally and would willingly have consented but he would mannage things in such manner that their destruction should not prove the agrandizing of the Duke of Guise and his own losse but this Duke knowing his intentions pressed him continually to give him forces utterly to exterminate the Hugonots in whose ruine he infallibly hoped to involve the King of Navarre He had this advantage over the King that he had acquisted the love of the people principally by two means the first by his opposing himself to the new Imposts and the second by continually being at variance with the Favorites nor ever bending before them whilst the doing of things contrary had made the King fall into an extreme low Esteem and had likewise taken away the heat of some of his servants love See here an Example The King had two great men in his Councel Peirre d' Espinac Archbishop of Lyons and Villeroy Secretary of State The Duke d'Espernon who was fierce and haughty would treat them according to his proud humour they grew exasperated against him and thereupon change their affection to the Duke of Guise his party but without doubt still in their hearts remaining most faithful to the King and Crown of France as afterward well appeared especially in the person of Villeroy In the mean time the King lived after the ordinary manner in the profusions of an odious Luxury and in the laziness of a contemptible Retreat passing his time either in seeing Dances or in playing with little Dogs of which he had great numbers of all sorts or else in Teaching Parriquito's to speak or in Cutting of Images or in other Occupations more becoming an Inâ—ant then a King But the Duke of Guise lost no time he made dayly new friends conserved his old ones caressed the people testified a great zeal for the Ecclesiasticks undertook their defence against all would oppress them and every where appeared with the Splendor and Gravity of a Prince but yet without Pride without Arrogancy The Parisians were intoxicated with esteem for him the greatest part of the Parliament and most part of the other Officers attended his motions and testified to him the affection they ought to the service of the King There were an infinite number of people who had signed the League and in the sixteen Quarters or Wards of Paris when they could not gain the Quarteniers or Aldermen they chose one the most violent of the Leaguers to act in their function by reason of which they afterwards called at Paris the Principal of this party and their faction the sixteen not that they were but sixteen for their number exceeded Ten thousand but all dispersed through the sixteen Quarters Now the King principally incited by the Duke d' Espernon resolved to punish the forwardest of these sixteen who in all occasions shewed themselves furious enemies of that Favorite By this means he thought to overthrow the League and absolutely ruine the Credit and Reputation of the Duke of Guise He caused therefore some Troops secretly to enter into Paris and gave order to seize on those persons The Duke of Guise being advised of it posts from Soissons where he then was resolving to perish rather then lose his friends Barricadoes were raised in the month of May even to the Gates of the Louvre and the Kings Troops were all cut in pieces or disarmed The Queen-mother according to her ordinary
The King seeing his men so pressed gave two vigorous Charges during which they drew forth the greatest part of the Baggage out of the Bourg but all the body of the Dukes Cavalry coming on the King lost many of his men and himself ran great danger of being slain or taken prisoner but God permitted that he was only wounded with a Pistol-shot on the Reins which had been mortal if the Bullet had had more force but it pierced only his cloths and his shirt and somewhat razed the skin His valour and his good fortune both equally contributed to draw him out of this peril and to bring after so sharp a check both his person and what remained of his Troops into safety The Duke of Parma admired this action but praysed the Courage which our Henry had testified more then his Prudence for when he was demanded what he thought of this Retreat he answered That in effect it was very gallant but for his part he would never bring himself into a place where he should be forced to retire This was tacitely to say that a Prince and a General ought to secure themselves better And so all the Kings faithful servants came the same evening to intreat him that he would spare his person on which the safety of France depended And the Queen of England his most faithful friend prayed him that he would preserve himself and at least keep within the terms of a great Captain who ought not to come to handy-stroaks but in the last extremity After the raising the siege of Rouen the greatest part of the Kings Army passed into Champagne in pursuit of the Duke of Parma and laid siege before the City of Espernay and took it The Marshal of Byron was killed by a Faulcon-shot which carried away his head as he was viewing the place His eldest Son who was named the Baron of Byron as great a Captain as the Father and much loved by the King was a little after honoured with the same Charge of Marshal of France but he lost his Head somewhat less gloriously then his Father The Duke of Mayenne and the Duke of Parma being parted ill satisfied one with the other it was not difficult to renew the Conferences between the first and the Royalists however things were not yet ripe there were some seeds sown which some time after brought forth fruit for the King consented that he would within six moneths permit himself to be instructed by those means which might not wrong either his Honour or his Conscience He gave leave likewise to the Catholick Lords of his party to depute some towards the Pope to let him understand the duties he applyed himself to and to intreat him to add his Authority and that in the mean time Peace should be dayly treated of The Duke of Mayenne and his party demanded Conditions so advantagious that they were ill resented and to speak truth many things in this Conjuncture did much trouble our Henry that which most of all perplexed him was that the Duke of Mayenne violently pressed by the instances of the Pope and the King of Spain by the remonstrances of those great Cities which took his party and likewise by the necessity of his Affairs had called the Estates-General to Paris to proceed to the Nomination of a King Now this Nomination had been the indubitable ruine of France and possibly caused the absolute expulsion of our Henry For there was much appearance and likelyhood that all the Catholick Potentates of Christendome would have acknowledged that King whom the States should have elected that the Clergy would have done the like and that the Nobility and people who followed not our Henry but because he had the Title of King would not have made conscience to have quitted him for another to whom the Estates had granted it To the end therefore he might hinder this mortal blow he wisely advised with himself to propose a Conference of the Lords of his Party with these pretended Estates The Duke of Mayenne was well content with this Expedient because he saw well that the King of Spain desired that he who should be elected should espouse his Daughter Isabella-Clara-Eugenia and thus the Election could not regard him since he was married and had Children but likewise out of fear lest they should hearken to an acknowledgement of our Henry he under hand stirred up some Doctors to say That this Conference with a Heretick was unlawful and by vertue of this advice he wrought in such manner that the Estates agreed they would not confer with him neither directly nor indirectly touching his Establishment nor touching the Doctrine of the Faith but that they would confer with the Catholicks holding his party for the good of Religion and the publick Repose The Legat knowing well what this would come to endeavoured with all his power to hinder the effect of this Deliberation of the Estates but in the end he was constrained to lend his hand to it The Conference was then concluded and the Deputies of one part and the other assembled at the Borough of Surene near Paris The Estates were assembled in the month of January in the year 1593. and sate in the great Hall of the Louvre There were few Noble-men a great number of Prelates and a sufficient quantity of Deputies of the third Estate but the most part Creatures of the Duke of Mayenne or payed by the King of Spain This Prince desiring at any price soever to have the Crown for his Daughter had destined to send a puissant Army into France which should hasten the Resolutions of the Estates but happily for our Henry the incomparable Duke of Parma was dead and the Spaniard had not in the Low-Countries any Captains capable of great things The Count of Mansfield had order to lead his Troops the Duke of Mayenne went to meet him They re-took Noyon but that was all afterward they melted away and became so weak that not daring to pass any farther they returned into Flanders where Prince Maurice of Nassaw found them sufficient employment During the Siege of Noyon the young Byron to whom the King had newly given the charge of Admiral yeilded up by the Duke of Espernon in change for the Government of Provence had besieged Selles in Berry to take that Thorne out of the foot of the City of Tours The King perceiving that this paltry Town held him too long time had called him thence to go and relieve Noyon which notwithstanding he durst not enterprize These little disgraces wonderfully puffed up the hearts of the Kings enemies cool'd his friends and eâ—boldned the faction The third party who had kept under a covert now began to move and likewise a report ran that there were some Catholicks who had conspired to seize the person of the King in Mantes under colour of snatching him out of the hands of the Hugonots and would carry him
wilt punish me as my sins deserve I offer my head to thy Justice spare not the Culpable but Lord for thy holy mercies sake take pity of the poor Kingdom and smite not the flock for the offence of the shepherd It cannot be expressed of what efficacy these words were they were in a moment carried through the whole Army and it seemed as if some vertue from heaven had given courage to the French The Arch-Duke therefore finding them resolved and in good Countenance durst not pass farther Some other attempts he afterwards made which did not succeed and he retired by night into the Country of Artois where he dismissed his Army In fine Hernand Teillo being slain by a Musquet-shot the besieged capitulated and the King established Governour in the City the Seigneur de Vic a man of great order and exact discipline who by his command began to build a Citadel there At his departure from Amiens the King led his Army to the very Gates of Arras to visit the Arch-Duke he remained three days in battalia and saluted the City with some Volleys of Cannon Afterward seeing that nothing appeared he retired towards France ill satisfied said he gallantly with the courtesie of the Spaniards who would not advance so much as one pace to receive him but had with an ill grace refused the honour he did them The Marshal of Byron served him extraordinarily at this siege and the King when he was returned to Paris and that those of the City gave him a reception truly Royal he told them shewing them the Marshal Gentlemen see there the Marshal de Byron whom I do willingly present both to my friends and to my enemies There rested now no appearance of the League in France but onely the Duke of Merceur yet keeping a corner of Brittany The King had often granted him Truces and offered him great Conditions but he was so intoxicated with an ambition to make himself Duke of that Country that he found out daily new fancies to delay the concluding one imagining that time might afford him some favourable revolution and flattering himself with I know not what prophecies which assured him that the King should dye in two years In fine the King wearied with so many protractions turns his head that way resolving to chastise his obstinacy as it deserved He had been lost without remedy if he had not been advised to save himself by offering his only daughter to the eldest son of the Fair Gabriella Dutchess of Beaufort who is at this day Duke of Vendosme His Deputies could at first obtain nothing else but that he should immediately depart out of Brittany and deliver those places which he held which done his Majesty would grant him oblivion for all past and receive him into his favour But the King being of a tender heart and desiring to advance his natural son by so rich and noble a marriage granted him a very advantagious Edict which was verified in the Parliament as all those of the Chiefs of the League were This accommodation was made at Angiers the Contract of marriage passed at Chasteau and the affiances celebrated with the same Magnificence as if he had been a Legitimate son of France He was four years old and the Virgin six The King made gift to him of the Dutchy of Vendosme by the same right that other Dukes hold them which the Parliament verified not without great repugnancy and with this condition that it should be no president for the other goods of the Kings patrimony which by the Laws of the Realm were esteemed reunited to the Crown from the time of his coming to it From Angiers the King would pass into Brittany He stayed some time at Nantes from thence he went to Rennes where the Estates were held he passed about two months in this City in feasts joys and divertisements but yet ceasing not seriously to imploy himself to hasten the expedition of many affairs For it is to be observed that this great Prince employed himself all the mornings in serious things and dedicated the rest of the day to his divertisements yet not in such manner that he would not readily quit his greatest pleasures when there was any thing of importance to be acted and he still gave express order not to defer the advertizing him of such things He took away a great many superfluous Garisons in this Country suppressed many imposts which the Tyranny of many perticular persons had introduced during the War disbanded all those pilfering Troops which laid waste the plain Country sent forth the Provosts into the Campagne against the theeves which were in great number restored Justice to its authority which License had weakned and gathered four Millions of which the Estates of the Country of their own free will levyed eight hundred thousand crowns So he laboured profitably for these two ends which he ought most to intend to wit the ease of his people and the increase of his treasures Two things which are incompatible when a Prince is not Just and a good manager or lets his mony be managed by others without taking diligent care of his accounts Thus was a calme of Peace restored to France within it self after ten years Civil Wars by a particular grace of God on this Kingdom by the labour diligence goodness and valour of the best King that ever was And in the mean time a peace was seriously endeavoured between the two Crowns of France and Spain The two Kings equally wished it our Henry because he passionately desired to ease his people and to let them regain their forces after so many bloody and violent agitations and Philip because he found himself incline to the end of his days and that his Son Philip the third was not able to sustain the burthen of a War against so great a King The Deputies of one part and the other had been assembled for three months in the little City of Vervins with the Popes Nuntio Those of France were Pompone of Believre and Nicholas Bruslard both Counsellours of State and the last likewise President of the Parliament who acting agreeably and without jealousies determined on the most difficult Articles in very little time and according to the order they received from the King signed the peace on the second of May. The 12. of the same month it was published at Vervin It would be too long to insert here all the Articles of the Treaty I shall say only that it was agreed that the Spaniards should surrender all the places they had taken in Picardy and Blavet which they yet held in Brittany That the Duke of Savoy should be comprehended in this Treaty provided he delivered to the King the City of Berry which he held in Provence And for the Marquesate of Saluces which that Duke had taken from France towards the latter end of the Reign of Henry the third that it should be
little St. Anthonies being holy Thursday as she returned to her Lodging and being walking in the Garden she felt her self struck with an Apoplexy in the brain The first fury of it being passed she would no longer stay in that house but caused her self to be carried to that of Madam de Sourdis her Aunt near St. Germain of the Auxerrois And all the rest of that day and the morrow she was perplexed with Swoondings and Convulsions of which she died on the Saturday-morning The causes of her death were diversly spoken of but however it was a happiness to France since it deprived the King of an object for which he was about to loose both himself and his Estate His grief was as great as his love had been yet he not being of those feeble souls who please themselves in perpetuating their sorrows and in bathing themselves in their tears received not onely those comforts he sought but still conserved for the Children and particularly for the Duke of Vendosm that affection he had born the Mother All good French-men passionately desired that so good a King might leave legitimate Children They durst not press him to take a Wife capable to bring him forth such so long as Gabriella lived for fear lest he should espouse her and out of the same fear Queen Margaret would not give her consent to dissolve his marriage But when Gabriella was dead she willingly lent her hand to it and her self addressed a Request to the holy Father to demand the dissolution founding it principally on two causes of nullity The first was the want of consent for she alledged she had been forced to it by King Charles the ix her Brother The second the Proximity of Kindred found between them in the third degree for which she said there had never been any valuable Dispensation In like manner the Lords of the Kingdome and the Parliament besought his Majesty by solemn Deputations that he would think of taking a Wife representing to him the inconveniencies and the danger wherein France would be found if he should die without Children These Deputations will not seem strange to those who know our ancient History where it may be seen that neither the King nor his Children married but by the advice of his Barons and this passed in that time for almost a Fundamental Law of the Estate The King touched with these just supplications of his subjects addressed his request to the Pope containing the same reasons as that of Queen Margaret and charged the Cardinal d'Ossat and Sillery his extraordinal Ambassadour whom he had sent to Rome to pursue the judgement of the Pope concerning the restitution of the Marquisate of Saluces to sollicite instantly this Affair The cause reported to the Consistory the Pope gave Commission to the Prelates to judge it on the place according to the rights of that Crown which suffers not French-men to be transported for Affairs of the like nature beyond the Mountains whither it would be almost impossible to bring the necessary proofs and witnesses These Prelates were the Cardinal of Joyeuse the Popes Nuntio and the Archbishop of Arles who having examined both Parties seen the Proofs produced on one and the other and the Request of the three Estates of the Kingdom declared this marriage null and permitted them to marry whom they should think fit Queen Margaret who for many years had deserted the King and voluntarily shut her self up in the strong Castle of Usson in Auvergne had now permission to come to Paris money given her to pay her debts great Pensions the possession of the Dutchy of Valois with some other Lands and right to bear still the Title of Queen She lived yet fifteen years and built a Palace near du Pre-aux-Clercs which was after sold to pay his debts and demolished to build other houses She loved extreamly good Musitians having a delicate Ear and knowing and eloquent Men because she was of a spirit clear and very agreeable in her discourse For the rest she was liberal even to prodigality pompous and magnificent but she knew not what it was to pay her debts Which is without doubt the greatest of all a Princes fault because there is nothing so much against Justice of which he ought to be the Protector and Defender This marriage being dissolved Bellievre and Villeroy fearing lest the King should engage himself in new loves and be taken in some of those snares which the fairest of the Court stretched out for him perswaded him by many great Reasons of State to fix his thoughts on Maria de Medicis who was daughter to Francis and Neece to Ferdinand great Dukes of Toscany The Cardinal d' Ossat and Sillery made known his intention to the great Duke Ferdinand her Uncle and Alincour son to Villeroy whom he had sent to thank the holy Father for his good and brief Justice touching the aforesaid dissolution of his marriage had order to testifie to him that the King having cast his eyes on all the Daughters of the Soveraign Houses of Christendome had found no Princess more agreeable to him The business was managed with so much activeness and vigilancy by the diligence of those which had enterprized it that the King found himself absolutely engaged The contract of the marriage was signed at Florence by his Ambassadors the fourth of April in the year one thousand six hundred And Alincour in seven days brought him the news to Fountain-bleau He assisted at present at that famous Conference or Dispute between James David du Perron Bishop of Eureux afterwards Cardinal and Philip du Plessis Mornay where truth nobly triumphed over falsehood There are particular relations of the solemnities made at Florence the Magnificences of the great Duke the Ceremonies of the Affiancing and Marriage of this Queen of her Imbarking her being convoyed by the Gallies of Malta and Florence and her reception at Marseilles at Avignon and at Lions and therefore I shall speak nothing of it Whilst the Marriage of Florence was treating the King having a heart which could for no long time keep his liberty became enslaved to a new object It is to be understood that Mary Touchet who had been Mistress to Charles the ninth from whom came Issue the Count d' Auvergne had been Married to the Lord d' Entragues and had by him many children amongst the rest a very fair daughter named Henrietta who by consequent was sister by the mothers side to the Count of Auvergne This Count was about the age of thirty years and she about eighteen It is but too well known that Flatterers and wicked Sycophants ruine all in the Courts of great Men and corrupt likewise their persons These are they which sweeten the poyson which embolden the Prince to do ill which make him familiar with vice which seek and facilitate occasions for it and who act as we may say the mystery of
took care before his death to treat of the marriage of his Son with Margaret Daughter to the Arch-Duke of Grats and that of his dear Daughter Isabella with the Cardinal-Arch-Duke Albert of the same blood with her and gave him for Dowry the Low-Countries and County of Bourgongne on Condition of its Reversion if she died without issue He had already signed the Articles of the peace but this mortal sickness permitted him not to give Oath to it with the same solemnities as the King and Arch-Duke had done Philip the third his Son and Successour acquitted himself of this Obligation on the one and twentieth of May in the year 1601. in the City of Vallidolid and presence of the Count of Rochepot Ambassodour of France The license of the War having for many years permitted mischiefs with impunity there were yet found a great number of Vagabonds who believed it still permitted them to take the Goods of others at pleasure and others there were who thought they had right to do themselves justice by their arms not acknowledging any Laws but force This obliged our wise King to begin the Reformation of the Estate by the Re-establishment of publick Security To this effect he forbad all carrying of Fire-arms to all persons of what quality soever upon pain of the Confiscation of their Arms and Horses and a Fine of two hundred Crowns for the first fault and of Life without remission for the second permitting all the world to arrest any who carried them except his light-horsemen his Gens d' Arms and the Guards of his body which might bear them onely when they were in service To the same purpose and to ease the Country of the multitudes of his Souldiers he dismissed not onely the greatest part of his new Troops but likewise reduced the one half of his old He reduced the Companies of the Ordinance to a very little number and took off the Guards of the Governours of the Provinces and Lieutenants of the King not willing to suffer any whatsoever besides himself to have that glorious mark of Soveraignty about their persons The Wars had spoiled all Commerce reduced Cities into Villages Villages to small Cots and Lands to Deserts nevertheless the Receivers constrained the poor Husband-men to pay Taxes for those Fruits they had never gathered The Cries of these miserable people who had nothing but their Tongues to lament with touched in such manner the very Entrails of so just and so good a King that he made an Edict by which he released them of all they owed him for the time past and gave them hopes to ease them more for the future Moreover having understood that during the Troubles there were made a great quantity of false Nobles who were exempted from the Tax he commanded that they should be sought forth nor did he confirm their Usurpation for a piece of mony as hath been sometimes done to the great prejudice of other taxed people but he would that the Tax should be re-imposed upon them to the end that by this means they might assist the poor people to bear a good part of the burthen as being the richer He desired with much affection to do good to his true Nobility and repay them those Expences they had been at in his service but his Coffers were empty and moreover all the Gold in Peru had not been sufficient to satisfie the Appetite and Luxury of so many people For King Henry the third had by his example and that of his Minions raised expences so high that Lords lived like Princes and Gentlemen like Lords for which purposes they were forced to alienate the Possessions of their Ancestors and change those old Castles the illustrious marks of their Nobility into Silver-lace Gilt-coaches train and horses Afterwards when they were indebted beyond their credit they fell either upon the Kings Coffers demanding Pensions or on the backs of the people oppressing them with a thousand Thieveries The King willing to remedy this disorder declared very resolvedly to his Nobility That he would they should accustom themselves to live every man on his Estate and to this effect he should be well content that to enjoy themselves of the peace they should go see their Country houses and give order for the improvement of their Lands Thus he eased them of the great expences of the Court and made them understand that the best treasure they could have was that of good management Moreover knowing that the French Nobility would strive to imitate the King in all things he shewed them by his own example how to abridge their superfluity in Cloathing For he ordinarily wore gray Cloath with a Doublet of Sattin or Taffata without slashing Lace or Embroydery He praised those who were clad in this sort and chid the others who carried said he their Mills and their Woods and Forests on their backs About the end of the year he was seized with a suddain and violent sickness at Monceaux of which it was thought he would die All France was affrighted and the rumours which ran of it seemed to re-kindle some factions but in ten or twelve days he was on foot again as if God had onely sent him this sickness to discover to him what ill wills there were yet in the Kingdome and to give him the satisfaction to feel by the sorrows of his people the pleasures of being loved In the strength of his Disease he spoke to his friends these excellent words I do not at all fear death I have affronted it in the greatest dangers but I avow that I should unwillingly leave this Life till I have put this Kingdome into that splendour I have proposed to my self and till I have testified to my people by governing them well and easing them of their many Taxes that I love them as if they were my Children After his recovery continuing in his praise-worthy designes of putting his Affairs in order he came to St. Germain in Laya to resolve the Estates of the expence as well of his House as for the Guard of Frontiers and Garisons entertainment of Forces Artillery Sea-Affairs and many other Charges He had then in his Council as we may say we have at present very great men and most experienced in all sorts of Matters but he still shewed himself more able and more understanding then they He examined and discussed all the particulars of his expence with a judgement and with a clearness of spirit truely admirable retrenched and cut off all that was possible allowing onely what was necessary Amongst other things he abridged the superfluous expences of the Tables in his house not so much that he might spare himself as to oblige his subjects to moderate their liquorish prodigality and hinder them from ruining their whole houses by keeping too great Kitchins In sum by the example of the King which hath always more force then Laws or then Correction Luxury was
was very good and commodious thought it best to introduce the Manufacture into France to the end the French might gain what was now gained by the strangers To this purpose he gave order for the planting of a great number of white Mulberry-trees in those Countries where they would best thrive and particularly in Touraine to nourish Silk-worms and that people should be provided who understood how to prepare the Webs and put to work the labour of these pretioâ—â— Caterpillers If care had been taken â—â—ter his death to maintain this Order and to extend it to other Provinces it might have spared France more then five Millions which it every year sends out to provide silk Stuffs besides a Million of persons useless for other labours as are old people Maids and Children might have gained a living by it and the Employers more easily have afforded to pay the Imposts and Taxes out of the profit they had made of their industry There was yet a much greater mischief which as we may say dryed up the very Intrails of the Kingdom this was the excessive Usury The ill Husbands that is to say the greatest part of the Nobility borrowed money at ten or twelve in the hundred In which there was two great inconveniences The first That the Interests undermining by little and little in seven or eight years dug up the foundations of the richest and most ancient Houses which are as we may say the Props and Pillars that uphold the State The second That the Merchants finding this conveniency of laying out their money to so great profit and without any hazard absolutely abandoned all Commerce the streams of which once dryed up there must needs follow a famine of Gold and Silver in the Kingdome for France hath no other Mines then its Traffick and the distribution of its Merchandizes These Considerations obliged the King not onely to prohibit all Usuries but lay a penalty of the Confiscation of the sum lent and great Fines beside Afterwards the Parliament deputed some Counsellours in all Provinces to make inquisition after Usurers and to reduce all Interests or Hypothecated Rents to six and a half in the hundred They were before at ten or twelve as we have said The reason of which was because when they were constituted money was much more scarce now since it was extreamly multiplyed since the discovery of the Indies it was just to abate its interests And it was for this reason that it was afterwards put at six and may possibly one day be reduced lower Out of the same designe to enrich his people and to bring abundance and plenty into his Kingdome the King continually received all Proposals which might serve to enlarge Commerce to bring Commodity to his people and to till and make fruitful the most sterile places He endeavoured as much as was possible to make Rivers Navigable He caused to be repaired all Bridges and Causways and the great Roads to be paved knowing that whilst they are not well kept Carriages find but a difficult passage and Commerce is by that means interrupted From whence happen the same disorders in the oeconomy of an Estate as doth in that of a mans body when it findes Obstructions and when the passage of the blood and spirits are not free When he passed through the Countries he curiously regarded all things took notice of the necessities and disorders and immediately remedied all with a great diligence Under his favour and protection were established in many places of the Kingdom Manufactures of Linen and Woollen Cloths Laces Iron-ware and many other things After his example the Burgesses repaired their houses which the War had ruined The Gentlemen having laid by their Arms with onely a switch in their hand dedicated themselves to manage their Estates and augment their Revenues All the people were attentive to their work and it was a wonder to see this Kingdom which five or six years before had been as we may say a Den of Serpents and venemous Beasts being filled with Thieves Robbers Vagrants Rake-hells and Beggers changed by the diligence of the King into a Hive of innocent Bees who strove as it were with envy to each other to give proofs of their industry and to gather Wax and Honey Idleness was a shame and a kinde of Crime and indeed it is as the Proverb says the Mother of all Vices That spirit which takes no care to employ it self seriously in something is unprofitable to it self and pernitious to the publick And for these Reasons did the Provosts in that time make diligent search after Loyterers Vagabonds and idle persons and sent them to serve the King in his Gallies to oblige them perforce to work There is no happiness so stable and assured but it may be easily troubled there arrived this year two things which might have overturned all France had not the King in a good hour subverted them The Assembly of the Notables or Chiefs at Rouen which was held in the year 1596. to raise money for the King to continue the War and pay his debts had granted him as we have said the imposition of a Sol pour livre on all Merchandizes carried into walled Cities The Estate says Tacitus the greatest Polititian among Historians cannot be maintained without Forces nor the Forces without Payment nor they paid without Impositions by consequence therefore they are necessary and it is just that every one should contribute to the expences of an Estate of which he makes a part as well as partake of those Conveniences and that protection it enjoys But these impositions ought to be moderate proportionate to the power of every one and every one ought to bear his part Moreover it should be easie to perceive that the expence of raising them exceed not the principal that they be not laid so as to appear odious as on Merchandizes which nourish the poor and that in fine they be blood drawn gently from the veins and not marrow forced from the bones Now the imposition of a Sol pour livre was of this nature It was very oppressive for in every City they searched the Merchants Goods opened their Bales and saw what every one brought so that liberty was quite lost in the Kingdom Moreover it was excessive for any Merchandize being ten or twelve times sold it was found that it paid as much Impost as it was worth Moreover there was great expence in the sale of it for men were forced to employ as many Factors as would have composed an Army who desiring all to make themselves rich as well as their Masters were so vexatious to the Merchants that they became desperate And that was most strange was that there were in the Kings Council Pensioners to these Farmers who supported them in their violences and upheld them against all Complaints made of their misdemeanours The people are always subject to this Criminal Errour That when
friends that had been condemned for the default of Limoges he came to Court where he received more Houours and Kindnesses then ever This was the custome of that great King He had a heart like a Lyon against the Proud and against Rebels but he was pleased to relieve with an unparallell'd goodness those he had overcome when by their submissions they rendred themselves worthy to receive his grace And the Duke of Bouillon who perfectly knew his Nature for they had lived and made War a long time together was not wanting in this Conjuncture to comport himself with all that Prudence and Compliancy which an understanding man as he was could be capable of Notwithstanding this great generosity and goodness of the King his Kingdome was no less turmoiled with incredible infidelities and conspiracies such were the treason of l' Oste the attempt on the City of Marseilles by Merargues and another on Narbonne and Leucate by the Luquisses L' Oste was Clerk to Villeroy and his God-son the employment he had under him was to copy out the dispatches This unfortunate man revealed all the secrets of the Kings Affairs to some of the Council of Spain who had corrupted him with twelve hundred Crowns of Pension which they promised him whilst he was in that Country with the Ambassadour Rochepot His treachery being discovered he fled and as he was pursued by the Provosts of the Marshal he drowned himself in the River of Marne near the Ferry of Fay. It may easily be judged that Villeroy whose fidelity by this means remained exposed to the Kings just suspitions and to the calumnies of his enemies was sensibly troubled He had had without doubt some difficulty to clear himself of this business if the King who saw him in an extraordinary affliction had not had the goodness to go visit him himself and by that honour brought him the comfort of justifying him against all calumnies the Envious might sow against him Merargues was a Provincial Gentleman of a very good House who having assurance that he should the following year be Viguier or Sheriff of Marseilles had promised to deliver that City to the Spaniard during his Sheriffalty He was so imprudent and so foolish as to discover his designe to a Slave of the Gallies of Marseilles who gave advice of it to the Court to the end possibly that he might gain his liberty Upon this advice Merargues who was then at Paris was watched so diligently that they found him conferring with the Secretary of the Ambassadour of Spain and speaking so loud that almost all they said was heard They searched him and found in the fold of his Garter a Note containing the model of his Enterprize He was arrested and had his head cut off by sentence of the Parliament of Paris on the nineteenth of December His body was quartered and his Quarters fixed before the City-gates his head carried to Marseilles to be planted on a Pole on a Tower of one of the principal Gates The Secretary of the Ambassadour was arrested as well as he and had been in great danger if the King had been as furious as those counselled him who desired a rupture with Spain This Rencounter gave subject to the Polititians to discourse diversly concerning the Rights of Ambassadours and their people but Henry the Great decided himself the Question in this manner The Ambassadours said he are sacred by the right of Nations now they first break them when they contrive any treason against the State or against the Prince to whom their Master sent them and therefore by consequence this right ought not secure them from being sought out and punished Moreover it is not to be presumed that they are either Ambassadours or that they represent the Soveraign who sends them when they commit those treacheries and infidelities which their Masters would neither act nor avow However there is more generosity in not using in this point the utmost rigour but reserving the advantage to chastise them without doing it And to this purpose being well read in History he alleadged that example of the Roman Senate who having discovered that the Ambassadors of the Allobroges were concerned in the Conspiracy of Catiline contented themselves with commanding them to depart the City This was his Opinion and as he always followed the most generous Maximes he forbad that any process should be made against the Secretary to whom the Judges were about to give the Question In the mean time the Ambassadour thinking to cloak this perfidy by his Exclamations came to complain to him that the rights of Nations were violated and in them the Dignity of Ambassadours and that the King his Master would have that resentment of it which became a great Prince when offended The King answering him with a wise coldness represented unto him what his Secretary had acted with Mirargues The Ambassadour not willing either to own the Man or approve his Action turned the business another way and complained that the King had made the first breach of the peace of Vervin by assisting the Hollanders both with men and money The King replyed that for the men they went not by his Orders and that there were Frenchmen in the service of the Arch-Duke as well as in the Hollanders but for his money that it was in his power to do with it what he pleased and to lend it or give it without offending any The Ambassadour was very hot and there past some high words both on one part and the other In fine the King returned him his Secretary as he had resolved to do before he spake As for the Luquisses they were two Brothers Genoways by extraction who had made agreement with the Governour of Perpignan to deliver to him Narbonne and Lucate It is certain that it was not in their power to execute this designe and that there was more ill will in them then danger that the thing should succeed Nevertheless they were taken and carried to Tholouse where the Parliament sent both the one and the other to the Gibbet It seemed that not onely the malice of men but even folly it self conspired now against France for the same day that Merargues was executed an unhappy Fool made an attempt on the sacred person of the King throwing himself upon him with a Dagger in his hand as he passed on horse-back over the Pont-Neuf returning from hunting The Foot-men of the King running in made him loose his aim and had killed him on the place if the King had not forbad it who caused him to be carried Prisoner to For-l ' Evesque He was called John de l' Isle Native of Vineux near Senlis He was presently examined by the President Janin who could get no reasonable answer from him for he was indeed quite out of his senses He believed himself-King of all the world and said that Henry the fourth having usurped and taken France
soon converted into a Frugality very necessary for the State He had chosen for his Council very able and faithful Ministers as Chiverny Bellievre Sillery Sancy Janin Villeroy and Rosny I speak not here at all of his gallant Men for War as the Marshal of Byron Lesdiguieres Governour of the Daulphinate the Duke of Mayenne the Constable of Montmorency the Marshal de la Chastre the Marshal d' Aumont Guitry la Noue and many others of whom he served not himself in the Administration of State-affairs though he often entertained himself with them and for their honour sometimes communicated to them things of consequence demanding their advice The Chancellour of Chiverny who had been raised to this charge under the reign of Henry the third was a man cold dissembled and considerate but as his Enemies said he was a much better Pleader then Counsellour of State He died the year following and in his place the King constituted Pompone de Bellievre a man perfectly accomplished in the knowledge of the Rights and Interests of France and a most expert Negotiator as he well shewed in the Treaty of Vervin He was old when the King gave him this Charge and therefore said himself That he onely entred into it to go out of it He counselled the King to make a severe Act against Duels He established a very good Order in the Council and ordained That none should be received Master of the Requests but who had been ten whole years in one of the Soveraign Companies or sixteen in other of the Subalternate Seats Nicholas Bruslard de Sillery President of the Cap to the Parliament of Paris who was his Son-in-law and who had been his Companion at Vervin was of a spirit sweet facile and circumspect It hath been said that the Publick never beheld any passion either in his Countenance or Discourse Harlay-Sancy was a man free bold and dauntless who feared no person when he acted for the service of the King but he was a little rugged and spoke to him too freely witness what he said concerning Madam Gabriella who knew how to return it to him As for Janin President of the Parliament of Bourgongne and Villeroy chief Secretary of State they had both taken part with the League and yet very profitably served both the King and France having in what they acted endeavoured onely for the defence of the Catholick Religion and not been moved out of a spirit of faction They had hindred the Spaniards from planting themselves in this Realm and the Duke of Mayenne from absolutely casting himself upon them as his despair had often perswaded him to do They agreed both in this point that they loved the Estate and Royalty with passion and that they had great judgement but for the rest of their humours they were very much different Janin was an old Gaul who would manage his Affairs by the ancient forms according to the Laws and Ordinances a good Lawyer firm and resolute who went directly towards his end and who knew no subtile turnings and windings but entirely loved the publick good Villeroy was one of the wisest and most exact Courtiers that was ever seen he had a spirit clear and neat which would unravel with an incredible facility the most embroyled Affairs explain them so agreeably and intelligibly as nothing more and who turned them as himself pleased He was wonderfully active withal and most excellent at finding Expedients taking his business by so sure hold that it was difficult to escape him The King often conferred with these Counsellours for they were now so called and not Ministers as they had been for above thirty years before He spoke to them of his Affairs sometimes to be instructed and sometimes to instruct them which he did either in the Council-chamber or walking in the Gardens of the Tuilleries Monceaux St. Germain and Fontainbleau He discoursed often with them apart calling them one after another and he did so either to oblige them to speak to him with more liberty or not to tell them all together what he would onely tell to some particularly or for some other reason which he without doubt deduced from good policy He said That he found none amongst them who satisfied him like Villeroy and that he could dispatch more business with him in an hour then with the others in a whole day As for Maximilian de Bethune Baron of Rosny and after Duke of Sully he had been bred up with the King in the Hugonot Religion and the King had known his capacity and affection in divers affairs of consequence but above all that his genius carried him to the good management of Revenues and that he had all qualities requisite for that purpose In effect he was a man of good order exact a good husband a keeper of his word not prodigal nor proud nor carried away by vain follies or expences or play or women or any other things not convenient for a man entrusted with such an Employment Moreover he was vigilant laborious expeditious and one who dedicated almost his whole time to his affairs and little to his pleasure and withal he had the gift of piercing into the very bottome of matters and unravelling those twistings and knots with which Treasurers when they are not trusty and faithful endeavour to conceal their deceits We have already said how the King desired above all things to provide for a good Government in his Revenues and the reasons for which he had been obliged to leave Francis d' O in the charge of Superintendant After this man was dead he gave that charge to five or six persons whom he believed both capable and honest men he was perswaded that he should be better served by them then by one alone imagining that they would serve as checks and controulers to one another But the quite contrary happened every one discharged himself on his Companion nothing was advanced and if any would act the others were not wanting to cross him by their jealousies so that they only agreed in this point that every one looked that his Salary was well paid him which cost the King six times more then if he had had only one Superintendent whilst he drew no profit from this multitude Knowing then that so many people did onely imbroil his Revenues he returned them again into the hands of one and this was Sancy But a short time after finding him more proper for other Employments then that he gave him Rosny for a Companion and after made Rosny alone Superintendent Rosny before he entred into this Charge was provided with all necessary knowledges to acquit himself well of it he knew perfectly all the Revenues of the Kingdom and all the expences which were necessary He communicated all he knew to the King who on his part had likewise studied all these things so that an hundred Crowns could not be laid out but he would