was the first Firebrand who kindled that lamentable and long War wherein the Netherlanders traded above fifty years in bloud For intending To increase the number of Bishops To establish the Decrees of the Council of Trent and to destroy the Power of the Council of State composed of the Natives of the Land by making it appealable to the Council of Spain and by adding to the former Oath of Allegiance many particulars for settling the Bloudy Spanish Inquisition and curbing their Consciences in matters of Religion These harsh unreasonable and Illegal Invasions upon their Civil and Religious Rights and Liberties were the first occasions of those dreadful Broyls and Devastations which after happened To appease which Ambassadors were dispatched to Spain from the Netherlands whereof the two first came to violent Deaths the one being beheaded and the other poysoned but the two last Count Egmond and Horn were still fed with false hopes till Philip the second had prepared an Army under the Conduct of the D. of Alva to compose the difference by Arms For as soon as he came to the Government he established the Bloet-Rad as the Hollanders termed it or Council of Bloud made up most of Spaniards Count Egmond and Horn were apprehended and afterward Beheaded Citadels were erected and the Oath of Allegiance with the Political Government of the Countrey in divers things altered This powered Oil on the Fire formerly kindled and put all in Combustion The Prince of Orange retires thereupon his eldest Son was surprized and sent as Hostage into Spain and above 5000 Families leave the Countrey Many Towns revolted which were afterward reduced to obedience which made the Duke of Alva say That the Netherlands belonged to the King of Spain not only by Descent but Conquest After this he attempted to impose the Tenth Penny for maintenance of the Garrisons in the Citadels he had erected at Grave Vtretcht and Antwerp where he caused his Statue made of Canon Brass to be erected trampling the Belgians under his Feet but all the Towns withstood this Imposition so that at last matters succeeding ill with him and having had his dear Friend Pacecio hanged at the Gates of Flushing after he had likewise traced out the Platform of a Citadel in that Town he was recalled back to Spain Don Lewes de Requiseus succeeded him who came short of his Predecessors Exploits and dying suddenly in the Feild the Government was invested for the time in the Council of State The Spanish Souldiers being without a Head gathered together to the number of 1600 and committed such Outrages up and down that they were Proclaimed Enemies to the State hereupon the Pacification at Gaunt was Transacted one Article whereof was That all Forreign Souldiers should quit the Countrey This was ratified by the King and observed by Don John of Austria who succeeded in the Government yet Don John retained the Lands-Knights still as some thought for Invading England He kept the Spaniards also hovering about the Frontiers for all occasions Certain Letters were intercepted which made a Discovery of some Projects and caused the War to bleed afresh Don John was hereupon proclaimed an Enemy to the State and the Arch-Duke Matthias was sent for who being a Man of small Performance and improper for the Times was dismist but upon Honourable Terms Don John soon after dyes some said of the Pox then comes in the Duke of Parma a man as of a different Nation being an Italian so of a differing Temper and more Moderate Spirit and of greater performance than all the rest reducing several Cities and great Towns to the Spanish Obedience He had threescore Thousand Men in Pay the choicest which Spain and Italy could afford At this time the French and English Ambassadors interceding for a Peace had a short answer of King Philip the second who said That he needed not the help of any to reconcile himself to his own Subjects and reduce them to Conformity but what difference there was he would refer to his Cosen the Emperor Hereupon the business was Treated at Colen where the Spaniard stood as high a Tiptoe as ever and notwithstanding the vast expence of Bloud and Treasure he had been at for so many years and that matters began to exasperate yet more which would prolong the War for ever he would abate nothing in point of Ecclesiastic Government but would impose the bloudy Spanish Inquisition upon their Souls and Turkish Slavery upon their Bodies and Estates Hereupon the States perceiving that King Philip could not be wrought either by the solicitations of other Princes or their own supplications so often repeated That they might enjoy the Freedom of Religion with other Civil Rights Freedoms and Infranchisements to which he was obliged by Oath being provoked likewise by that Ban or Proclamation which was published against the Prince of Orange That whosoever killed him should have 5000 Crowns They at last absolutely renounced and abjured the King of Spain for their Soveraign They broke his Seals changed the Oath of Allegiance and fled into France for Succour They set up the Duke of Anjou recommended to them by Queen Elizabeth to whom he was a Suitor for their Prince who attempted to render himself Absolute and so thought to surprize Antwerp but received there an ill-favoured repulse Yet nevertheless the Vnited Provinces for so they termed themselves ever after fearing to distast their next great Neighbour France made a second Offer to that King To desire his Protection and Soveraignty But he had too many Irons in the Fire at home the Vnholy League growing daily stronger against him he therefore answered them That his Shirt was nearer to him than his Doublet Then had they recourse to Queen Elizabeth who partly for her own Security and partly for Interest in Religion reacht them a supporting hand and sent them Men Money and the Earl of Leicester for their Governour who not agreeing with their Humor was soon recalled without any outward dislike on the Queens side for she left her Forces still with them but upon their Expence She lent them afterward some Considerable Sums of Money and received the Towns of Brill and Flushing for her Security and ever after the English were the best Sinews of their War and the Atcheivers of the greatest exploits among them Having thus made sure of the English they held the Spaniard tack many years and during those Traverses of War were very Fortunate against him At last a Treaty of Peace was propounded which the States or seven Provinces would not agree to singly with the King of Spain unless the Provinces that yet remained under him would engage themselves to the performance of the Articles besides they would not Treat either of Peace or Truce unless they were declared free-Free-States and Treated by the Title of The High and Mighty States of the Vnited Provinces all which was granted and so a Truce was Concluded which ended in a Peace that has continued without any
consisting of Forty Thousand Housholds He was kindly received into Mexico by the affrighted King whom he caused to acknowledge himself a Vassal to Spain and to present him in the name of a Tribute with so much Treasure as amounted to an hundred and threescore thousand Castellins of Gold A quarrel growing not long after the Spaniards were driven out of the Town But Cortez aided with the whole Forces of the Tlascalans and a recruit of more Spaniards sent thither upon a design against himself he made up an Army of an hundred Thousand Indians 900 Spanish Foot 80 Horse 17 pieces of Ordinance and having with great Diligence made ready a Navy of 13 Galliots and 6000 Canoes or Boats he laid siege to Mexico by Sea and Land wherein the Admirable Courage of that King is very remarkable for having for three Moneths most valiantly defended the City and endured therein all manner of inconveniencies he was at the taking thereof unhappily delivered up alive into the hands of the Spaniards his Enemies upon condition to be used as became a King during his Imprisonment he said or did nothing but what became that Title but after the Victory the Spaniards not finding that quantity of Gold which they had promised themselves though they had left no place unsearcht to discover it they then proceeded by the most cruel and horrible Tortures to force those Prisoners they had taken to confess where they had hid it But unable to prevail this way finding the Indians hearts more strong than their Torments they thereby grew so inraged that contrary to all Law of Nations and against their solemn Vows and Promises they condemned the King himself and one of the Chiefest Princes of his Court to the Rack in the sight of each other The Prince being encompassed with hot burning Coals and being overcome with the extraordinary Torment at last turned his dying Eyes in a most lamentable manner toward his Master as if he begged his Pardon that he could endure the pain no longer The King fixing his Eyes fiercely upon him seemed to upbraid him with pusillanimity and want of Courage and with a stern and setled voice spoke thus to him What Supposest thou that I am in a cold Bath Am I at more ease than thou art Whereat the miserable Prince immediately fainted under the Torture and gave up the Ghost The King being half rosted was carried away not so much for Pity for what Compassion could enter into such Barbarous Wretches who only upon supposing to get some odd Vessel or piece of Gold would broyl a Man to death before their Eyes and not only a Man but a King and a King of such mighty Grandeur and Renown but because his undaunted Constancy baffled their inhuman Cruelties they afterward hanged him for Couragiously attemping by Arms to deliver himself from his long Captivity and miserable subjection and thus he ended his wretched life Wonderful even to Amazement was the Magnificence of the famous Cities of Cusco and Mexico and admirable the Curiosities of this King who had all the Trees Fruits Herbs Plants according to their Order and full bigness in the Garden most Artificially framed in Gold He had likewise in his Cabinet all the Living Creatures that his Countrey or his Seas produced cast in Gold besides abundance of exquisite Works in Precious Stones Feathers Cotton and Painting After a siege of three Moneths Mexico was Taken Plundered and Burnt Aug. 13. 1521. but afterward rebuilt more beautifully than before and thus fell this mighty Kingdom into the hands of the Spaniards by the Valour and good Fortune of Cortez a private Adventurer who was rewarded for that Service by Charles the fifth with many fair Estates in the Province of Mexico and dignified with the Title of Marquess de Valla. Montaigne's Essays Lib. 3. The woful deaths of the 2 Mighty Emperors of Peru Mexico by the Spaniards Page â— Atabaliba came with Twenty five Thousand unarmed Men in Ostentation of his greatness and without any design of making resistance of which this treacherous Pizarro taking the advantage picked a quarrel with him and suddenly charged upon him with his Horse and Ordnance slaying his Guard without resistance and coming neer the Kings Person who was carried upon mens Shoulders upon Rafters or Beams of Massy Gold in a Chair of State also all of Gold they killed several of the Bearers to make him fall endeavouring to take him alive but as soon as one of them fell another presently succeeded in his place so that he could never be brought down or made to fall what slaughter soever was made of these People till a Horseman furiously rid up and taking him by his Clothes pulled him down and took him Prisoner They took as much Gold with him as amounted to fourscore Thousand Castellans and as much Silver as amounted to seven Thousand Marks of his Houshold Plate every Mark weighing eight Ounces and in the soyl of Caxamala they found almost infinite Riches The wretched King they set at so excessive a ransom as exexceedeth all belief which though he truly paid and though by his Conversation he had given apparent Signs of a great and undaunted Soul and of a generous and ingenious Mind yet these insolent Conquerours having exacted from him an House piled upon all sides with Gold and Silver amounting to a Million three hundred Twenty five thousand and five Hundred pound weight in Gold besides the silver and other precious things which came to as much more so that even their Horses were shod with Massy Gold yet they Villainously and Traiterously contrived a false Accusation against him pretending that he designed to raise his Subjects against them for procuring his Liberty upon which they condemned him to be publickly hanged and strangled having first made him to be baptized as he went to Execution thereby to prevent the Torment of being burned alive wherewith they threatned him He took his Death patiently and with a Royal Gravity and undismayed Constancy without the least discomposure either in Words or Countenance The Treasures here gotten were so great that besides the fifth part which Pizarro sent to the Emperour and that which Pizarro and his Brethren kept to themselves every Footman had 7 Thousand 200 Duckets and every Horseman ' twice as much for their part of the Spoil beside what they had gotten in way of Plunder But Vengeance persued these horrid Murtherers though the Spaniards put many fair pretences upon their Actions few of the greatest undertakers going to the Grave in peace for all that were consenting or accessary to the death of this King came to wretched ends but especially his four Brethren Ferdinand Gonsal John Martin of Alâ—antara and Diego of Almagro who as they were principal in the Actions so were they in the punishment and first John Pizarro was surprized in the City of Cusco and slain by some of King Atabaliba's Souldiers then there happened such differences between Francis Pizarro and
Physicians had left him as a person whose case was utterly desperate and his Servants eager after the spoil enter his Chamber and seize upon all the Ornaments of it They took down the Hangings Pictures Statues carry out the Carpets Cushions and the very Clothes of their Master yea his Cardinals Gown while he yet breathed and looked upon them The Cardinal kept an Ape and he observing how his Fellow servants had been busied comes also himself into the Chamber looks round about him to see what was left for him he finds nothing but only the Cardinals Cap which lay neglected upon the ground this the Ape merrily takes up and puts upon his own head This Spectacle moved the almost dying Cardinal to an extream laughter the laughter broke the Impostume and after he had well vomited he was restored to his health and to the recovery of his imbezelled Goods Wanly's Hist Man pag. 631. LI. In the year 1602. saith the famous Crollius I saw at Prague a Bohemian Countrey Fellow named Matthew aged about 36 years this man for 2 years together with a strange and unheard of Dexterity in his Throat used often in Company of such as sate drinking to take a knife af the usual bigness with a haft of Horn and this after the manner of a Jugler he would put down his Throat and drink a good draught of Ale after it which was given him for his pains But he could recover it at his pleasure and with a singular Art take it by the point and draw it out But by I know not what misfortune the day after Easter the same year he swallowed the same knife so far that it went down into his very Stomach and by no Artifice of his could be drawn back any more He was half dead through the apprehension of death that would undoubtedly follow but after he had retained the knife in manner aforesaid for the space of seven weeks and two days entire by the use and means of Attractive Plaisters made up with Loadstone and other things the knife point by a natural impulse began to make its way out near the Orifice of the Stomach which the Patient perceiving though by many perswaded to the contrary because of the imminent hazard of his Life was very earnest that incision might be made and so the knife drawn out which he at length obtained to be done by many intreaties and upon Thursday after Whitsontide about seven a Clock in the Morning all was happily performed by Florianus Mathis of Brandenburg the chief Chirurgeon both of the City and Kingdom The Knife is laid up amongst the Emperors Rarities and shewed as an incredible miracle by the Courtiers and others in the City the length of this Knife is nine Inches and the colour of it was so changed as if it had all that time lain in the Fire The Countrey Fellow in some few weeks by the care of his expert Chirurgion without any further Sickness or Trouble and contrary to the Judgment of Physitians recovered his former health so perfectly that soon after he married and lived many years Crollius Chymistry pag. 125. LII This mans Recovery was very admirable but that which follows seems yet more strange being much more likely to kill than cure as having been the occasion of many a mans Death but however since a credible Author reports it I shall do the same Paleologus the Second Emperor of Constantinople was dangerously sick and when Nature nor the Art of his Physitians could any way help him and that he had kept his Bed for a whole year to the great prejudice of the State His Empress was informed by an old Woman that it was impossible her husband should recover unless he was continually vexed and provoked by her harsh dealing and ill usage for by that means the humors that were the occasion of his sickness would be dissipated and discharged This advice was approved and by this way of contrary cure as one would think the Empress proceeded For she began continually to vex and torment him to an exceeding height scarce observing him in any one thing that he commanded with these frequenâ— and incessant vexations the malignant Humors were dispersed by the Augmentation of heat and the Emperor did so perfectly recover that throughout those twenty years in which he afterward lived even to the sixtieth year of his Age he remained sound and well Camerarius's Spare Hours Cent. 3. LIII A certain man saith Solenander lay sick upon his Bed and in all appearance entring upon the last moments of his life at which time came an Enemy of his and inquires of his Servant where his Master was He is said he in his bed and in such a condition that he is not likely to live out this day But he as the manner of the Italians is resolving he should dye by his hands enters his Chamber and giving the sick Person a desperate Stab departs but by the Flux of Bloud that issued from that wound and the diligent attendance of his cure the man recovered receiving as it were a new life from him who came for no other purpose than to assure himself of his death Schenk Observat lib. 5. LIV. Sir John Cheek was once one of the Tutors to King Edward the 6th and afterwards Secretary of State much did the Kingdom value him but more the King for being once desperately sick the King carefully enquiring of him every day at last his Physitian told him there was no hope of his Life being given over by him for a dead man No said the King He will not dye this time for this morning I begged his life from God in my prayers and obtained it which accordingly came to pass and he soon after contrary to all expectation wonderfully recovered This saith Dr. Fuller was attested by the old Earl of Huntington bred up in his Childhood with King Edward to Sir Thomas Cheek who was alive in 1654. and eighty years of Age. Lloyds State Worthies pag. 194. LV. Duffe the Threescore and eighteenth King of Scotland laboured with a new and unheard of Disease no cause was apparent all Remedies insignificant his body languishing in a continual sweat and his strength apparently decaying insomuch that he was suspected to be bewitched which was increased by a rumor that certain Witches of Forrest in Murray practiced his destruction arising from a word which a Girl let fall That the King should dye shortly who being examined by Donald Captain of the Castle and Tortures shewed her Confessed the Truth and how her Mother was one of the Assembly And when certain Souldiers were sent in search they surprized them roasting the waxen Image of the King before a soft Fire to the end that as the wax melted by Degrees so should the King dissolve by little and little and his life should waste away with the Consumption of the other But the Image being broken and the Witches hanged for this Treason the King recovered his wonted
Duke of Guise in the Reign of King Henry the third of France that a bloody Catastrophe would dissolve that Assembly he had then occasioned of the Estates The Almanacks had well observed it It was generally reported in the Estates that the Exececution should be on St. Thomas his day the very Evening before the Dukes death the Duke himself sitting down to dinner found a scrole under his Napkin Advertising him of a secret design of the King and his Party against him but he writ underneath with his own hand they dare not and threw it under the Table seeing therefore that no warning would abate his confidence nor awake his security This Murder was performed on this manner Upon December 23. 1588. The King Assembles his Council having before prepared seven of his Gentlemen that were near his Person to Execute his Will The Duke of Guise came and attending the beginning of the Council sends for an Handkerchief Pericart his Secretary having fresh notice of the Plot and not daring to commit the News to any mans report tyes a note to one of the Corners thereof wherein was written Come forth and save your self or else you are but a dead man But Larchant the Captain of the Kings Guards staid the Page that carryed it and caused another Handkerchief to be given him by St. Prix the Chief Groom of the Kings Chamber The Spirit of man doth often Prophesie the mischief that doth persue him The Duke in the Council complains of strange alterations and extraordinary distemperatures and amidst his distrust a great fainting of his heart St. Prix presents unto him some Prunes of Brignolles he eats and thereupon the King calls him into his Cabinet by Revol one of his Secretaries of State as if to confer with him about some secret of importance The Duke leaves the Council to pass into the Cabinet and as he lift up the Tapestry with one hand to enter no less than forty five persons waited with Ponyards Rapiers and Partisans to dispatch him and so he was there slain Hist France Pag. 821. LXVII As by the foregoing Instances many mischiefs have happened by the intemperance of the tongue so by taciturnity and secresy great Enterprizes have been conducted with safety which might otherwise have proved frustrate or hazardous The secret Councels of the Senate of Rome saith Valerius Maximus were divulged by no Senators for many Ages together Only Caius Fabius Maximus and he also through imprudence meeting with Crassus as he went into the Countrey told him of the Third Punick war secretly decreed â—n the Senate for he knew he was made Questor three years before but knew not that he was yet chosen into the order of the Senators by the Censors which was the only way of admittance But though this was an honest error of Fabius yet he was severely reprehended by the Consuls for it since they would not that Privacy which is the best and safest bond in the Administration of Affairs should be broke Therefore when Eumenes King of Asia a Friend to Rome had declared to the Senate that Perseus King of Macedon was preparing to War upon the people of Rome it could never be known what he had said in the Senate house or what answer the Senators had made to him till such time as it was known that King Perseus was a Prisoner So that you would have thought that which was spoken in the ears of all was heard by none Valerius Maximus Lib. 2. LXVIII It was formerly a custom that the Senators of Rome carryed their Sons with them to the Senate house and thither did Papirius Praetextatus follow his Father Some great Affair was consulted of and deferred to the next day charge being given that none should disclose the Subject of their debate before it was decreed The Mother of the young Papirius at his return inquired of him what the Fathers had done that day in the Senate who told her that it was a secret and that he might not discover it The woman was the more desirous to know for this answer he had made her and therefore proceeds in her inquiry with more earnestness and violence The boy finding himself urged invented this witty Lye It was said he debated in the Senate which would be most advantagious to the Common wealth that one man should have two wives or one woman should have two husbands The woman in a terrible fright leaves the house and acquaints divers other Ladies with what she had heard The next day came a Troop of women to the door of the Senate house crying and beseeching That rather one woman might Marry two men than that one man should Marry two women The Senators entring the Court inquire what meant this intemperance of the women and what their request intended Hereupon young Papirius stept into the midst of the Court and told them what his Mother had desired to know and what answer he had given They commended his wit and secresie and then made an order that no Senators sons should enter their Court save only that one Papirius Wanly Hist Man Pag. 232. LXIX The Ambassadors of the King of Persia were at Athens invited to a Feast whereat also were present divers Philosophers who to improve the Conversation discoursed of many things both for and against amongst which was Zeno who being observed to sit silent all the while the Ambassadors pleasantly demanded what they should say of him to the King their Master Nothing said he farther than this that you saw at Athens an Old Man who knew how to hold his Tongue Metellus the Roman General was once asked by a young Centurion what design he had now in hand who told him That if he thought his own shirt was privy to any part of his Counsel he would immediately pluck it off and burn it Plutarchs Morals 506. LXX Leaena was an Athenian Strumpet who could play well upon an Harp and sing sweetly to it she was familiarly acquainted with Harmodius and Aristogiton and privy to their Plot and Project touching the murder of Pisistratus the Tyrant yet would she never reveal this purpose or intention of theirs to the Tyrant or his Favourites though she was put to most cruel and painful torments about it The Athenians therefore desirous to honour this woman for her resolute and constant secresie and yet loath to be thought to make so much of such an Harlot as she was devised to represent the memorial of her and her Act by a Beast of her name and that was a Lyoness the statue of which they gave order to Iphicrates to make and that he should leave out the tongue in the head of this Lyoness for some say That fearing least her torment should cause her to betray her friends she bit it off and spit it in the face of the Tyrant and Tormenters Pliny Lib. 3. LXXI When the King of Ala goes to War saith Mr. Purchas he Assembles his chief men into a Grove near the Pallace
considerable Interruption even to this day These Wars did much drain and impoverish the King of Spain by reason of the distance from thence to the Netherlands for every Souldier that he sent from Spain and Italy cost him near an Hundred Crowns before he came into Flanders So that notwithstanding his Silver and Gold Mines of Mexico and Peru it plunged him deeply in debt insomuch that having taken up moneys in all the chief Banks of Christendom he was forced to dispense with himself from Payment by a Declaration published to that purpose alledging That he could not pay it having imployed those moneys as he said for the Publick Peace of Christendom This broke many great Bankers and his Credit was not good in his own Towns of Sevil and Lisbon and which was worse while he was thus wrestling with his own Subjects the Turks took the Opportunity to seize the two strong Forts of Tunis and Goletta in Africa which were the Trophies of Charles the fifth his Father So eager was he in this Quarrel that he employed the utmost of his strength and Industry to reduce this People to his Will in regard he had an Intent to make these Provinces his Main Rendevouz and Magazine of Men of War which his Neighbours perceiving and that he had an Aim to be a Western Monarch they stuck close to the Hollanders not so much it may be out of Love as Reasons of State and this was that Bone which Secretary Walsingham told Q. Elizabeth he would cast to the King of Spain that should last him twenty years and perhaps make his Teeth shake in his head And so it happened for it was said That he might have paved the Streets of Madrid with Silver and covered the Houses thereof with Gold with the money that he spent in the Wars of the Netherlands Thus this great Prince by embracing violent and unreasonable Counsels and endeavouring to deprive his Subjects of their Liberties contrary to the Obligations of Honour and Conscience was unfortunate in all his Enterprizes and at last obliged to acknowledge them who were willing to have been his Subjects to be as it were his Equals and Competitors Howels Letters pag. 81. CII The Adventures and Dangers of Mr. John Watts are no less remarkable than any yet mentioned which are related by himself as followeth This John Watts being about 18 years of Age shipt himself at Deal in the Peachtree of London of about 60 Tun in June 1668 The Ship had not been long in the Downes but a fair Gale presenting they hoisted Sail The first place they touched at was the Gold Coast and from thence they went to Old Calabar in the by th of Guinney They entred a River called Cross River into Pirates Island After they had taken in their Negroes and ready to Sail the Master calls up the Boatswain and three men more whereof Watts was one and commands them to look out the Copper Bars that were left and carry them on shore to try if they could sell them The Boatswain with his small Company desired that they might have Arms with them not believing the common Report that they were an harmless Innocent People They took with them three Muskets and a Pistol and so rowed toward the shore but not far from it our Match fell unhappily into the Water and our ship being fallen down from that narrow part of the River nearer the Sea quite out of our sight we were consulting what would be safest for us to do we were not willing voluntarily to destroy our selves and were ashamed to return to our Ship before we had dispatched our business At length the Boatswain sent the Relator John Wats on shore to the first house to light our Match that we had recovered out of the Water after it was extinct which he readily obeyed But before he was twenty Rods from the Waterside he was seized on by two Blacks or rather Tawny Moors and by them haled above half a mile up into the Countrey and thrown with great violence upon his Belly and so compelled to lye till they stript him and more Company coming to them they were so eager for his poor Canvas Apparel that some they tore off others they cut off and with that several pieces of his Flesh to his Intolerable pain with these rags they made little Childrens Aprons to cover their Privities Linnen and Woollen being very scarce there The Boatswain seeing John Wats thus carried away was resolved with his two Companions to have him again with the venture of their Lives They Arm themselves but whilst they were consulting whether to venture on shore or not of a sudden they were beset with about a Dozen men in several Canoes but they valiantly maintained their Boat for three hours for after two or three Musquets were discharged they defended themselves with the Oars and Boathooks The Boatswain received a mortal wound in his Groin and fell down in the Boat the other two adventured into the River endeavouring by swiming to escape the merciless hands of Cruel Infidels But the Negroes with their swift Canoes soon overtook them and brought them on shore to the place where John Wats was The Negroes took the Boatswain out of the Ships Boat and instead of endeavouring to preserve his life they presently cut off his head with a sharp weapon before his Companions Faces and whilst he was yet reeking in his Bloud they barbarously cut off peices of Flesh from his Buttocks Thighs Arms and Shoulders and broiling it on the Coals they with great impatience eagerly eat it before our faces as a most rare Banquet to our great terror and astonishment About fourteen days after one of the Company fell sick but instead of being Physitians to cure him they were his Butchers to murther him They served him as they did the Boatswain cut off his head and broiled and eat up his flesh and rejoyced exceedingly at this pleasant Entertainment Ten days after the third fell sick whom they used in the same manner These dreadful Executions much affected John Wats who expected hourly to taste of the same Cruelty but through Divine providence notwithstanding the Alteration of the Climate want of Clothes and the strangeness of the Food which was only Herbs he continued in good health and the Natives who daily expected another Banquet were disappointed either their Customs or the overruling power of Heaven not suffering them to destroy him while he was well His Master therefore resolved to sell him with whom he was pretty free to discourse Wats having about three years before been in the West-Indies where he had learned the Tata Language which is easily attained being comprehended in a very few words and all the Negroes speak it He desired to know of his Master the reason of their Cruelty who bid him be satisfied since unless he were sick he should not have his head cut off In the Boat with which they went first ashore one Musquet of the three was
Interest and Pretensions to that Crown The Nobility and People of Portugal were without doubt extreamly amazed to see themselves so suddenly surprized and made subject to a Forreign Prince and especially to a Prince of that Nation against whom they had a natural hatred and antipathy but finding themselves in a condition not able to make resistance they thought they should gain more by freely submitting to the King than to be forced to it They therefore made their humble submission which King Philip met as it were half way and condescended in the Parliament or General Assembly of Estates of that Kingdom to be sworn to these Articles or Capitulations following 1. That the said Philip King of Spain c. Should observe all the Laws Liberties Priviledges and Customs granted to the People by the former Kings of Portugal 2. That the Vice King or Governour should be always the Son Brother Vncle or Nephew of the King or else a Native of Portugal 3. That all the Chief Officers in Church or State should be bestowed upon the Natives of Portugal and not upon strangers Likewise the Governments of all Towns and Places 4. That all Countreys now belonging to the Portugals should so continue to the Commodity and benefit of the Nation 5. That the Portugal Nation should be admitted to all Offices in the Kings House as well as the Spaniards 6. That because the King could not conveniently be always in Portugal he should send the Prince to be bred up amongst them These Articles were shut up or concluded with a Blessing upon such Kings as should observe and keep them and a curse on those who should break or violate them And some Authors likewise affirm that there was another clause added to them signifying That in case which God forbid the King which then was or his Successors should not observe this Agreement or should procure a Dispensation for this Oath the Three Estates of the Kingdom might freely deny subjection and obedience to the King without being Guilty either of Perjury or Treason Though these Articles were thus sworn to and the Cardinal Albertus Archduke of Austria Son to the Emperor and Nephew to the King of Spain appointed Vice-King of Portugal King Philip durst not yet in Person leave the Kingdom for he perceived by their Murmurs and visible discontents that their submission to him proceeded more out of Fear than Love and that as he had in a moment gained that Kingdom so he should as soon lose it if he gave them but the least opportunity For that the People were highly discontented it did easily appear by their Attentive listening after Old Prophecies among which was one of an Old Hermit who told Alphonso the First King of Portugal of the great Victory he should obtain over the five Kings of the Moors and That his Posterity should reign happily Kings of Portugal but that in the sixteenth Generation his Line should fail but that God at length should have mercy again upon them and restore them Others had regard to a Letter written by St. Bernard to the same King Alphonso the Original of which is reported to have been given to the Portugal Ambassador by Lewis 13 King of France in 1641 the substance whereof was That he rendred Thanks to him for the Lands bestowed upon him and that in recompence thereof God had declared unto him that there should not fail a Native of Portugal to sit upon the Throne unless for the greatness of their Sins God would chastise them for a time but that this time of Chastisement should not last above threescore years Other Prophesies there were of this Nature and to this Effect which put the People in hope of a Deliverance and many flattered themselves that Don Sebastian was yet alive and would come and deliver them nay so foolish were some of them that though they believed him slain at the Battle of Alcazer in Barbary yet they thought he should live again and miraculously come to Redeem them But that which most of all exprest the Peoples discontents was what was publickly spoken by the Mouths of their Orators the Priests in their Pulpits who would ordinarily in their Sermons utter Speeches much to the prejudice of the Spaniards Title and in Favour of the Dutchess of Braganza nor did they spare to do so even in the presence of King Philip himself who would therefore often say That the Portuguez Clergy had made the sharpest War with him Father Lewes Alvarez a Jesuit preaching one day before the Spanish Vice-Roy took his Text Surge attolle Grabatum tuum ambula Take up thy Bed and walk and turning himself to the Vice-Roy Sir said he the meaning of this is Arise take up your pack and be gone home But above all the discontents might be observed in the Noblemens Chappels especially in the Duke of Braganza's where they were used to sing the Lamentations of Jeremiah applying all the scorn and reproach of the Israelites to themselves as Aquam nostram pecunia bibimus We have drunken our water for money c. because of the Excise laid upon Wine and other necessaries by the Spaniards And that other Servi Dominati c. Servants have ruled over us c. And The Crown is fallen from our Heads Most commonly ending with this Prayer and Invocation Recordare Domine c. Remember O Lord what is come upon us consider and behold our Reproach Our Inheritance is turned to Strangers and our Houses to Aliens c. Yet did King Philip bear all these Affronts with an incomparable Patience dissembling with an Admirable Prudence his Passion if he had any for these discontents for he knew the only way to win this Nation to an Obedience and Compliance must be mildness at first whatever he intended to practice afterward and that he had by his exact keeping his Word and Oath won much upon this People appears in that during his whole Reign and that of his Successor King Philip the third who followed his Fathers Footsteps though not with that Craft and Dissimulation they made no Attempts nor were inclinable to revolt only some small bustles with Antonio the Bastard aforementioned and one or two Counterfeit Sebastians not worth mentioning for they as was said keeping their words in most things though they infringed some of their Priviledges had almost brought the People to a willing Slavery But King Philip the fourth committing the whole charge of the Government to his Favourite Count Olivarez who though without doubt an able Statesman yet would seem to have a way in Policy by himself which no body else could understand the reasons of and thereby lost this whole Kingdom and all its Territories For such were the new rigorous ways which he used in the Government of Catalonia and Portugal both People very tender of their Priviledges the least breach of which should have been seconded by a potent Force to have suppressed them in case they should attempt an Insurrection
represented to him the present declining condition of the Spanish Monarchy not only by reason of the disorders in Flanders and Italy and the preparations of the Turks but more especially because their most Potent Enemies the French were now in Assistance of the revolted Catalonians entred Spain That it highly concerned His Catholick Majesty to drive them out of his Territories which could not be done without a very powerful Force That he being one of the Prime Grandees of the Kingdom might by his presence in the head of a good number of his Tenants encourage others to a suitable Assistance That to this purpose His Catholick Majesty expected him every moment having designed for him great Honours Priviledges and Dignities suitable to his merit But as cunning an Angler as Olivarez was yet he failed of his Mark this bait would not hook in the Fish For though the Duke of Braganza was accounted no great Polititian yet his own safety taught him to know that all these great Offices and fair Promises were but guilded allurements to draw him to his destruction Having therefore supplyed the King with a considerable number of his Tenants and Friends he found excuses for his own not going in Person And to prevent all suspition he retired again to his Country-house Thus these 2 great Personages endeavoured by Craft and Dissimulation to supplant each other only one strove the others destruction the other only studied his own safety and preservation During all these passages the Vice-Queen Margarita was very Vigilant in her Government and foreseeing in reason what might be the issue of those proceedings writ very importunately to the King assuring him that if it were not suddenly prevented the Kingdom would be infallibly lost To which she recieved no answer only Olivarez slighting her Judgment as fitter to govern a private House than a Kingdom sent her word That if her capacity would not reach to the height and drift of those mysteries of State yet that her wisdom would keep her from discovering them But without doubt Olivarez was inwardly perplexed to see all his Plots thus fail and foul means he durst not openly attempt such was both the Dukes Power and the great Love the people bore him he therefore at last had recourse to treachery and gives secret order to Don Lopez de Ossis and Don Ant. Oquendo that when they had relieved Flanders with Men and Money they should with their whole Fleet put into Portugal and that as soon as the Duke should according to the duty of his new Place and Office come aboard they should immediately set sail and bring him away to Cales But this Plot was by a strange Divine Providence prevented for that Fleet was totally ruined by the Hollanders upon the Coast of England in 1639. And now was the time come wherein according to St. Bernards Prophesie the Kingdom of Portugal was to be released from the Tyranny of Strangers and restored again to the Government of a Native King to which all things seemed so well to concur that it cannot be imagined to have less than a Divine hand in it for though all Plots failing against the Duke of Braganza the Spaniards being fearful of somewhat drew as many Portugal Souldiers out of the Kingdom as conveniently they could thinking to lessen the ill humours which began now to appear yet thereby they did but the more inflame those discontents which were taken at Vasconsello's managing all Affairs of State For though Margarita of Mantoua was a Princess of great Judgment and Knowledge in State Affairs yet she was too much over-ruled by Vasconsellos's Secretary of State whose Government was insufferable to the Portuguez who hated as much his obscure birth as his evil customs being a man Composed of Pride Cruelty and Covetousness knowing no moderation but in excesses Small faults were by him made Capital Crimes using all severity to those whom he did but suspect to be dissatisfied with his Government and exercising with all rigour the Spanish Inquisition punished not only the actions but the very thoughts of men The infringing the greatest priviledges of the Portugal Nation seeming to him but a Trifle which continued oppressions in the end so exasperated the whole people that incouraged by the knowledge of their own strength by the many distractions of the Spanish Nation by the late example of the Catalonians and stirred up by the absolute ruin which they saw hung over their heads there being six Thousand Portugals listed every year and forced to serve the Spaniard in his Forreign Wars From all these considerations they resolved to loose the yoak from off their Necks and to disclaim all obedience to him by the Election of a King of their own Some thought that this conspiracy was of at least 10 years standing and agreed to by most of the Grandees of Portugal but it being a State Mystery is hard to be decided I will therefore recount only what was publickly acted Upon Saturday Feb. 1. 1640. and Saturdays have been often observed to be favourable to the Portuguess Nation all the Nobility of that Kingdom led on by the Marquesses of Ferriera and the Earl of Vimioso took Arms and assisted with a great multitude of the Inhabitants of Lisbon and some Portuguez Souldiers came to the Castle scituate in the midst of Lisbon which was the Residence of the Vice-Queen and serves both for a Palace and a Castle to which place all the Magistrates for Governing the Kingdom were Assembled The Guards were 2 Companies of Spaniards and 2 of High Dutch who being either gained before by secret Intelligence or affrighted with the great numbers of the Portugals or else from a desire of Novelty or perhaps unwilling to make resistance against those to whom most of them were joyned by Friendship or Marriage but however they forsook their Guard without the least opposition and gave them free admittance into the Castle At this time Vasconsellos was in the Chambers of his Office upon some reasons he had to suspect an Insurrection because of the discontents of the People and was at that instant writing into Spain of the Alienation of the minds of the Portuguez Nobility from the Spanish Government and earnestly pressing that some rigorous resolution might be taken to prevent it which Letters being afterward seized did sufficiently demonstrate his ill will to the Portuguez Nation whilst he was thus busied the confused noise of the Souldiers pierced his ears and wondring at the cause thereof he came forth accompanied only with one Dutchman and one of the Guard he would have gone down but was hindred by the Portugals who came running up crying kill the Traytor kill the enemy of our blood Whereupon not knowing where to save himself he fled with those accompanying him into an inner Chamber and there with his sword in his hand assisted by those with him disposed himself to sell his Life at the dearest rate he could but his valour stood him in no stead for
prevailed with to recal those insolent Extortioners and most imprudently made his incensed Enemies his reconciled Confidents And intrusts them with the sole Management of all Affairs who now conceal their Malice against him but forgot not to Study revenge and being backed with his Authority by their Extortion they grind the face of the People enrich themselves render their Master odious to his Subjects endeavour by all Arts to defraud him keep back his Souldiers pay and Provision thereby to occasion Mutinies hold correspondence with the Rebels not acquaint him with the danger that Threatned both him and his Empire and at last admit the whole Army of the Traytors into the very Walls of the City Peking the sad Consequences whereof we shall find hereafter It was in the year 1640 when two Rebels at the same time revolted against their Lawful Soveraign one of them was called Ly or Licungz the other Cham or Changien and though they were but private Subjects of the Emperor of China and Persons of no Consideration either by their Quality or Birth yet they both equally aspired to the Supream Dominion And having drawn to them great numbers of the choicest Souldiers in the Empire they began to make incursions upon the Northern Provinces which border upon Tartary The Emperour in the mean time did not take sufficient care to stifle this Revolt In all likelyhood the Complaints and Informations of those Commanders who guarded the Frontiers never entred the Court so far as to reach the Emperors Ears The Ministers of State and Officers of the Court stopped the Passage having already sold the Empire and their Master by abusing his mild Disposition The saying of Dioclesian is but too True That though a Prince be Good Prudent Observant Careful and Vigilant yet he cannot prevent Treachery if those who are in imployment under Him who ought to serve and advise him Faithfully do contrariwise combine together to surprize him and make ill use of his Authority Either the Ability and Fidelity of the Counsellors must strike a Terror into Rebels or they will soon make themselves a Terror both to the Prince and His Counsellors The two Cheifs of this Rebellion took such advantage by this Pernicious Negligence that those Counsels which if at first executed would with great facility have put an end to these Troubles became now both unfit and impossible to be put in Execution In a short time they gained themselves the Renown of Great and most Valiant Commanders and by this advantage they quickly had Forces enough not only to defend themselves but to inlarge their Conquests their Confederates increasing daily so that by force of Arms they made themselves Masters of Five Provinces The Rebel Cham went to establish himself in that Province which of the five was the most remote from the Emperors Court and took upon him the Title of King with full Resolution to extend his Conquests to the Neighbouring Provinces The other Rebel called Ly having as it appeared framed to himself greater designs approached nearer the Court and had already in his Imagination conquered the whole Empire But judging from the advantage he had received from Cham's Confederacy with him at the beginning how great an obstacle so powerful a Competitor might be to him in process of time he did in all likelihood make him away either by secret Treachery or open Violence some Historians affirming he was cut off by a Party sent against him by Ly or Lincungz who having now no Competitor that could aspire to the Soverainty began to noise abroad his vast Projects and settled himself in the Capital City of the Province Xensi called Singansuase He caused himself to be crowned and took upon him the Title of Emp. of China kept an Imperial Court and acted like a Soveraign Prince threatning in a short time to make himself Master of the Emperors Court and to join Pequin which is the Chief to the five other Provinces It is not certainly known what was the first rise of these 2 Usurpers only it is famed that they were both Generals in the Emperour of China's Armies who perceiving themselves nor Souldiers to be neither regarded nor recompenced for their Services but to be ill used by the Ministers of State they revolted against their King and conspired together to be their own Pay-masters resolving to make the Grandees of the Court understand That those who serve their Prince in his Armies are without Comparison better capacitated to serve or disserve the State than those whose sole Imployment it is by their Court Artifices to ingratiate themselves with their Prince They began at first with Complaints and from Complaints they came to Arms and having once began the Trechery they thought themselves engaged most vigorously to prosecute it Whilst the Flame of Rebellion and Civil War which every day increased threatned the whole Empire of China with a General Ruin and Revolution the Tartar did most attentively and vigilantly watch for some pretext to enter into some or all the Provinces yet he would imbrace none but what was honourable having solemnly sworn Peace with the Royal Family of China and therefore he could not resolve with himself as great an Idolater as he was to violate that Oath which he had taken in the presence of his Idols A great Example to those who boast of the True Religion and yet swear and promise without regarding the performance either of their Oaths or Promises Finally the Tartar judged very truly that if he joined his Forces with any one of the 2 Parties he should in a short time make himself Umpire and Master of one or both he therefore joined with neither but kept an Army under strict discipline on the Frontiers hoping for some favourable Opportunity of passing into China without falsifying his Faith which he desired to keep inviolable Ly in the mean time resolved to secure the whole Empire to himself though it could not be done without difficulty since the Chineses have such a tender and passionate Love to their Soveraigns that they seem rather to Idolize than love them and the present Prince was no less Beloved than any of his Ancestors which the Tyrant being sensible of for his own security took care to pay his Souldiers and resolved with all possible speed to compleat the entire Invasion of the whole Empire But first he thought fit to acquaint his most resolute Commanders and his greatest Confidents with his Resolutions which he did in these Terms My Friends said he the Lot is cast we must now either gain all or lose all we cannot hereafter be greater Rebels than we are already therefore let us dispatch with all expedition the Conquest of the other Ten Provinces of China now that we have made 5 Provinces feel the power of our Swords But most assuredly when we shall have subdued the rest none will be so audacious and rash to call us Rebels and Vsurpers Rebels if Victorious cease to be Rebels and