lately in the Realme of France yet it were easie to proue out of the histories of al times that traytors seditious persons howsoeuer they haue been so bold that they durst in the field incounter the Lords annoynted yet he whom the scripture calleth the author of victorie and the God of battell shall make them to flie when no man followeth shall cause ten thousand of them to bee chased with a thousand and in the day of battell giue victorie to his owne annoynted The rebellioÌ„ that was made in Spayne against the Emperour Charles the 5. in the beginning of his raigne together with the happie successe of his Maiestie may serue as apparant proofe to confirme this seeing the seditious faction was foyled and the most of theÌ„ taken captiue It shall be needles to adde this that in the daies of Queene Mary when first she came vnto the Crowne finding the people to be mutinous and in the land nothing almost but flat rebellion in shorter time then the space of two moneths worthely she was conqueror ouer all her enemies such was the state of Flanders 1566. and three yeares after yet neuer heard of that rebellious sedition preuailed against a lawfull Soueraigne all ages afoorde multitude of examples in this kind the vnnaturall riot of Duras the wonderfull successe of the battell of Dreux in France and after of Poncenas and not to stand in particulars of that country the euent of things hath made known vnto vs that rebellion builded vpon a weake foundation cannot possibly stand if the Lord in anger do blow vpon it neither speake I this to make a Prince more seuere against his rebellious subiects to make the Scepter of a King plow vp the bowels of his owne countrie men but to shew that Loyaltie cannot brooke rebellion that sedition is odious to a good subiect that treason is intollerable in a CommoÌ„ wealth if I lincked with Religion a thing hardly to bee hoped for in this bad age coulde but liue for a small time safe from treason if some of Englands subiects had continuallie remained in my fauor then durst I boldly haue compared with the proudest nation and hauing religion a crowne and loyaltie as a strong defence she might valiantly haue incountered her stoutest foes for I may confidently auouch in the reuerend securitie of an vpright minde that excepting treasons blowne into the heartes of her subiects by forraine enemies England hath been as free from danger as far from distresse in as great prosperitie as euer was Iland in so bad an age Then countriemen giue mee leaue to perswade thus much that the benefite of treason shall bee this if vnhappilie which God forbid you obtaine your purpose your countrie shall bee desolate you your selues shall bee feared and suspected of your enemies and these ample ornaments garlands of long peace shall crowne your enemies for the victories obtained in your conquest I that haue made your children dutifull in whose mindes the name of a Father did extinguish disobedience I that haue made your friendes trustie in whome the name of sacred Friendship was wont to banish all deceite I that haue made your wiues in the honorable reuerence of your loue to respect no perswasion of strangers thereby wantonly to commit adulterie I I say intreate you by these fauours that being children in duetie you bee not disobedient to so good a mother being friendes by promise and that confirmed with a sacred vow you bee not found deceitefull to so dread a Soueraigne lastly being those whom nature religion time and countrie haue matched nearlie for this 36. yeares with so gratious a Prince that you bee not seene to prostitute your bewtie to a stranger to admit Tarquin into your fauour and neuer to bee vnpunished to violate so great an oath for what the seuen Ambassadors commended in their common wealths vnto King Ptolomey that England may iustly vaunt she professeth at this day and where as they in three things compared which should excell England possessing one twentie may iustly in comparison out strip the proudest that Europe hath The Ambassadors of Rome boasted that their Temples were honoured their gouernours obeyed and their wicked punished may not England doe it more iustly if you compare it with those times And yet for honouring our Temples I cannot so much commend vs but onely that that little honor which they haue amongst some it is in true sinceritie The Ambassadors of Carthage iustly boasted that their Nobilitie was valiant to fight their CoÌ„minaltie to take paynes and their Philosophers to teach was there euer countrie I except not Carthage in his best estate where either the Nobilitie is more valiant the CoÌ„minaltie more laborious or the teachers more profound then in England at this day The Ambassadors of Cicely boasted that their countrie executed iustice loued trueth and commended simplicitie neuer Common wealth I dare auouch since the first societie that man had was ruled with more vpright iustice was honored with greater trueth and admired for more simplicitie then generallie is the state of England the Ambassadors of the Rhodians bragged that the old men were honest the young men shamefaste and the women peaceable and may not England iustlie boaste of all these The Ambassadors of Athens that they consented not that their rich should be partiall their people should be idle their gouernours should be ignorant and is not all this now as true in England amongst vs as euer it was in Athens amongst them The Ambassadours of Lacedemon vaunted that there was no enuie because all were equall no coueteousnes because all were common no idlenes because all did labour and are not the same banished from our land howsoeuer procured by a better cause For England wanteth enuie in her selfe not because all are equall but all friends England is not couetous not by reason of communitie but because of conscience And idlenes out of this land was banished long since with the Lorde Dane The Ambassadors of Sictonia glorified iustlie in these three wherein England is supposed to bee farre shorte that they admitted no strangers inuentors of new toyes that they wanted Phisitions to kill the sicke and aduocates to make their pleas immortall wherein I must needes confesse for trueth onely becommeth my talke that howsoeuer in the aboundance of her wealth England hath giuen strangers money for very toyes yet it was not for loue of them but to shew the world that their plentie was not debarde from euery stranger for Phisitions I may truly say thus that the Aesculapins honoring Padâ—â—â—â— in the aboundance of her skill is vnequall to make comparison with vs in England and lastly for our aduocates a slaunder I confesse common but yet most vntrew men so learnedlie wise so wiselie religious and so respectiuely learned wise and religious as if Europe would seeme to contend in this doutles shee should bee
POLIMANTEIA OR The meanes lawfull and vnlawfull to IVDGE OF THE FALL OF A COMMON-WEALTH AGAINST the friuolous and foolish coniectures of this age Whereunto is added A letter from England to her three daughters Cambridge Oxford Innes of Court and to all the rest of her inhabitants perswading them to a constant vnitie of what religion soever they are for the defence of our dread soveraigne and natiue cuntry most requisite for this time wherein wee now live Invide quod neque as imitari carpere noli Nil nisicum sumptu mentem oculosque iuvat Printed by Iohn Legate Printer to the Vniversitie of Cambridge 1595. And are to be sold at the signe of the Sunne in Pauls Church-yard in London TO THE RIGHT honourable Robert Devorax Earle of Essex and Ewe Vicount of Hereforde Lord Ferrer of Chartley Borcher and Lovaine Master of the Queenes Maiesties Horse Knight of the noble order of the Garter and one of her Maiesties most Honourable privie Councell IT is easie to gesse honourable Lorde why Schollars flocke under the patronage of men in your place their condition is so weake that unlesse men truly honourable doe defend them they are most of all in this age distressed And yet braue noble Lorde ingeniously to confesse my true meaning it is not that which mooued me at this time but it is the height of admiration which my thoughts conceiued of your honours worth that made me thinke all men bound to offer signes of loue and dutie where both are deserued in so high a measure I take vpon me Englands person and speake like a Common-wealth And therfore howsoeuer it were presumption in me to dedicate papers of so small moment to a personage of so rare worth yet honourable Lorde take them as your cuntries talke vouchsafe to reade them stamped with her name and so all shall be afraide to mislike them beeing graced with yours And yet I weigh not whether others mislike them or no let but your honour for learnings sake a thing which I know you doe say you are content to accept of the meanest trifle and grace it with a good looke and then I contemne what male-contented melancholy can speake against me Your honour be it spoken without envie like Englands Cedar is sprung up to preserue with your shadowe the humblest in all professions from hatreds malice The warlike and braue soldier thinkes him selfe and that in truth is graced to be tearmed but your follower The worthy and kinde passionate Courtier deemes and worthily this his honour to be your fauorite The sober and devout student that dispised doeth walke melancholy takes himselfe and not without cause fortunate to be tearmed your schollar Thus all relye noble Lord upon your favour And I who though I must needs honour yet usually with so deepe affection am not devoted without cause doe so in kindnesse and loue if that be not a word too presumptuous passe over the full interest of my selfe to your dispose as in what kinde soeuer a schollar may doe his dutie I am readie and desirous to be commanded by you then accept noble lorde the willing mind of him that hath nothing else and say that that alone is absolutely sufficient to content you Read it but or if that be to much doe but accept it and so rest where of not doubting in the middest of so many signes of a schollar-respecting honour in dutie I kisse my hand and humbly take my leaue Your honours in all duty most affectionate W C. The Preface to the Reader WEe are fallen into the barren age of the worlde courteous Reader wherein though some fewe trauaile to expell Barbarisme which fortunately they haue done in our English tongue yet a number of idle conceited-wise-foolish heades take vpon them peremptorily to censure other mens paines so that euery man is loath to enter into the viewe whilst Idlenes shall stand controlling and giue her sentence I know it could fit these to write but that magni laboris est quem plerique fugimus Homer wrote of the trauailes of the worthie Graecian Vlysses Curtius of Alexander and Darius Rome had neuer beene so renowmed but for Titus Livius Thucydides eternized Iason and Minotaure and sweet Salust Iugurth and Cateline nay this wise age long since had beene plaine foolish if our painefull forefathers had not trauailed for their good And if any man thinke this age is too wisely learned to read any thing which is but some fewe droppes of that mayne Ocean which ouerflowed in their daies let him knowe this that care added to their industrious trauailes is easily able to perform matters of great importance Learning was let loose ouer all Europe euer since Athens did first flourish excepting a fevve yeares when the Gothes and Vandalls compelled her to liue in exile who flying fast from their furie left Italie and those famous places and planted her selfe so firmely in these poore countreies that euer since amongst vs shee hath liued honourably Thus in the abundance of our knowledge he that hath taken pains stands at the courtesie of euery paltrie fellowe to be censured as it please him In consideration whereof wise men haue deemed it the safest secretly to smile and soberly to say nothing For my paines I much care not I esteeme thee Reader as thou dost me for degenerous minds intreated grow insolent the daies are euill and the argument is fit for these times I knowe diuers haue trauailed in the same kinde whome I but humble without wronging them to speake vnto thy capacitie Nobilitie fully learned made choice to handle the same argument and with such profounde deepe skill performde it as that truth taketh her selfe much bound vnto him who made her to speake eloquently that vseth to be plaine and false prophesies ashamed who so long haue vsurped truths titles From hence maist thou learne or at least remember that the greatest Monarches howsoeuer proud in their owne strength must either fall with an enemies stroake or as Rome did with her owne waight here maist thou see that nothing is so made but subiect to great change And yet least thou desire to knowe what thou oughtest not I haue laboured to make knowne what thou shouldest desire my leisure will not serue to detaine thee long and a short preface is beseeming so small paines I take my leaue and if thou hast deserued I giue thee thanks onely this I must adde further not to accuse others or make an Apologie for my selfe that I neuer yet in the least syllable of the so tearmed loosest line meant either to modestie pietie chastitie time the Muses or kindnes to doe wrong neither should the surmised obiect of my muses song or the dearest which that obiect hath suspect in me but the least shadow of supposed eniurie for I neither ment to make loose poetrie a true historie or thought that wise courtesie would be so suspicious to misdeeme him whose thoughts long since were deuoted to grauer
oppose himselfe against the Persian Cyrus This being done the Assyrians Empyre was spoyled Croesus conquered and the Monarchie translated to Cyrus There is one especiall example farre surpassing all that antiquitie mentioneth of Satans subtiltie whereby apparantly he shewed the intent and effect of his whole treacherie It was that of the great contemplatiue diuine Iamblicke who desirous to knowe the name of him that should in the Empyre succeede the Emperour Ualens that then raigned he made trial of it by a certain foolish be it spoken with reuerence to so wise a man and most vnlearned diuination in this manner He caused the Greeke Alphabet written to bee put by distinct letters in the ground and vpon euery one he placed a graine of Barley in the midst a Cock the letters where the Cocke scraped the Barley should signifie the thing he so much desired Now it happened that the Cock bared these foure letters 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yet now likewise he remained vncertain of the name which these letters should portend to discerne whether it were Theodosius or Theodotus Theodorus or Theodectes The Emperour Ualens seeing the euent of all this fearing some false play made Herod like all such to be put to death as those letters did poynt out He commaunded likewise to search foorth the Diuine Iamblicke fearing the crueltie of the Emperour by reason of the fault which he had committed for it was not lawfull in Rome to enquire into the succession of the Empyre during the life of the Emperour poysoned himselfe But we shall finde for the most part that the diuell the more to delude men by these diuinations gaue his answers hid darke double and doubtful especiallie when himselfe which often happened was vncertaine of the euent being only led by suspicious and sleight coniectures without euidence of diuine reuelation as appeared by the doubt of that name which those foure letters might portend for not knowing the trueth he talketh by circumstances and darke signes sometimes telling the trueth to gaine credit to his false lyes seeing by a malicious instinct he striueth to obscure the trueth to the great dammage of mortall men For his delight is in falshood and his ioy is in our fall That is the reason why hee vseth these doubtfull vncertaine answers to the intent to abuse men by his ridiculous apish mockeries and finally to bring them by a certaine feare and a sorrow of things to come to most abominable wickednesse in executing the self same euil which before he had told vnto him that inquired of it We haue a most famous example and worth the marking of an Oracle in respect of their doubtfull answers which was found in Greece vnder the shadowe of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth both man and light if the accent be not rightly placed for the ancient Greekes were not careful in this as it is well noted by Iustus Lypsius then the doubt of the foresayd Oracle by reason of the ambiguitie of the word made them vncertaine whether their sacrifice should be of humane flesh or some other thing euen so now we see oftentimes that he hath told the euent of things whereof he is the author yet notwithstanding for al that because God hath admirable meanes in his counsell for to gouerne all that is in the world and because Satan is ignorant of the euent or chaunge of things disposed by GOD himselfe whether it bee a punishment or a release of his rigor which he vseth sometimes in the execution of his iustice he vttereth his diuinations predictions in obscure manner ballanced with an equal yet difficult interpretatiō which may as well agree to this as to that not only for the doubtfull sense but for the double reading of it Of this kind was this Croesus Halym penetrans magnā peruertit opum vim Likewise the fraudulent example of the answere which the diuel gaue vnto Pope Borgias of eleuen yeares and eight moneths may serue to confirme this Furthermore the diuell not only knoweth by diuine prophesies the subuersions ruines and restroings of Monarchies but he intrudeth himselfe often into the handling of them entermedleth in the counsel of Kings and Princes enforcing them by all means possible to bring in a confusion to trouble the estate to oppose themselues one against another to disperse Realmes to debase lawes tending to the good gouernment of the Common wealth He is alwayes hammering of some newes daily to hinder good and sound counsell and in stead of them to set abroach other fatall to the Church and the Common wealth he enflameth the hearts of the mightie with an ambitious desire of ruling to this end he perswades them to followe bad counsell seruing for the execution of their dissignments Such as these are plentifull in the holie scripture Thus he moued the Chaldeans to come to rob and spoyle Iob of his riches and to sley his seruants Thus he plotted like an anciēt states man to hinder the rebuilding of the Temple of Ierusalem after the returne from Babylon perswading king Cambyses by meanes of the Courts flatterers to make warre against the Aegyptians which hee did And for feare lest the Iewes should enter into alliance with them of Aegypt the king commanded in plain termes to hinder the work of the Temple which was then begun and thus Satan compassed his intended scope When he asked leaue to enter into the heard of swine hee had more craft then a common politicke He did the Gaderens a displeasure in their religion by that meanes foreseeing they would entreat Christ to go out of their kingdome and so runne headlong with their swine into eternall destruction Againe he stood at the right side of the Sacrificer in Ierusalem to hinder that no good thing might bee done in that citie Hee attacheth as it were with a contagious infection the most part of publique persons the better by that meanes to obtaine his purpose by reason of the charge which they sustaine for to preserue others Then seeing that Satan intermingleth himself in the midst of affayres publique and that by a diuine permission he insnareth both one and other ayming continually to subuert the state especiallie of Monarches knowing besides that their ruine and change shall happen it is no meruaile that hee oftentimes foresees the euents whereof he is the cause and afterward forgeth Diuinations to the intent to deceiue both one and other But although that God oftentimes permit Satan by reason of our demerits to exercise his tyrannie ouer the principall states of the world yet notwithstanding that permission is not infinite for God keepeth gardeth and defendeth Realmes to the intent that being shaken they may not be altogether ruinated causing his holie spirit to watch ouer them against an enemie so mightie in giuing them wholesome counsel for the
which death saith hee shall happen in the yeare 1590. But concerning any certaintie or true coniectures in numbers either of yeares or such like wherein Master Bodin others are too curious I let them passe as matter impertinent and things of too nice nimble coniecture Then by the difference of dreames whereof wee haue spoken before by the distinction of their kinds likewise by the generall exposition of diuinations lawfull and vnlawful it may be vnderstood and easily knowne how to applie them to the alteration and chaunge of a Common wealth There be also other sorts of Diuinations besides these but because they cannot serue to iudge of the change of states by requiring a whole treatise themselues being most learnedly handled of others I haue determined wholly to let them passe as onely purposing to note out the principall and generall rules seruing for this purpose But as of all the meanes and rules which haue been obserued from antiquitie to confirme the iudgement concerning the chaunge and fall of a Common wealth there is none necessarie although God sometimes permit things to fall out according to their naturall course therfore it becommeth vs likewise to attend patiently the ende the euents of all things as God hath determined in his immutable counsell without presuming too farre by too great a curiositie vnbeseeming our blind and dull capacities And although by reason of our weaknes wee cannot sound the vnderstanding of the depth of those predictions which GOD hath made sometime by one meane sometime by other yet notwithstanding wee must not cast aside his threatnings seruing to aduertise vs of what must happen to the intent to auoyde the scourge of his wrath nor yet esteeme them as necessarie and that God cannot turne them to good but on the contrarie wholly rely vppon his mercie which is infinite towards them which repent in fit and conuenient time consider what wee haue obserued by discourse of histories and according to our capacitie touching diuinations in this kinde lawfull and vnlawfull to the intent that by their difference it may bee the better iudged what shall happē for the chang and ruines of Common wealths and of the estate of Realmes and Empires not to the intent to set downe certaine rules whereby to diuine generally of things to come against the might and authoritie of God or to giue occasiō to some to relye vpon superstitious and foolish vanities but to the intent to iudge by things past of thinges to come and by that which hath bin of that which may bee according to the naturall course appoynted vnto all things by God himselfe The chiefe kindes of Diuination vnlawfull 1. By obseruation of the flying of foules Deut. 18. 10. 2. By obseruation of Dreames Leu. 19. 3. By Sorcerie or lottes Deut. 18. 4. Per Pythones by inspiration of the diuell Leuit. 20. 5. By false and counterfeit apparitions of the diuell 1. Sam. 28. Effecta nulla futura per se cognosci possunt ab vllo Intellectu praeterquam à diuino cui omnia sunt praesentia Zanch. de oper lib. 6. cap. 2. ENGLAND TO HER THREE DAVGHters Cambridge Oxford Innes of Court and to all her Inhabitants IF from the depth of intyre affection I take vpō me to deale more plainely then your honorably augmented dignities will well permit or from too feruent a loue ouerweyingly valew you at too high a rate perswade your selues if these be my faultes that the name of a mother hath a priueledge to excuse them both and howsoeuer a mother to her daughters might more fitly speake in secret and not hard yet seeing my naked trueth desires not to shroude it selfe from my greatest enemie I challenge those kingdomes that haue had children to be witnesse of my talke and if either there be folly in me for to loue so much or fault in you to deserue so little then let thē blame me of too blind affection and accuse you of not deseruing and so speedily from Fames book will I cancel out your praise and recant my loue to a mothers shame But if I iustly fortunate haue high cause to commend you Europe for your sake hath greater cause to commend mee then may I not lawfully with a mothers loue shew the affection of a grandmother to commend your children And although my reuenewes are such as I cannot giue you large patrimonies yet from my mouth shall the whole world take notice to giue you eternal praises The time was and happie time may I say when in the glorie of my age in the prime of my youth in the honor of my dayes in the fame of my desert in the multitude of my friends I matched with Sigebertus sometimes my louing husband and howsoeuer my behauiour was farre from lightnes my manners from loosenes and my modestie from the least suspect yet I was taken in the corrupt mindes of some fewe to be too familiar with Cantabrus the K. of Spayne the supposed father of Cambridge my eldest daughter but to excuse my selfe though there was no cause I protest I was free from such adulterie lawfullie married to Sigebert by him was be gotten my eldest daughter Cambridge and the suspitiō only proceeded from this that Cantabrus seeing me happie for so sweete a childe was desirous to christen it and calde it Cambridge and after from Athens sent for some to nurse her Then after Sigebertus death sweete daughter sigh that he died so soone for legacies farre greater would he haue left thee courted deuoutly I matched at last wearie of my widdowhood with worthie Alfred of him sweet daughter Oxford was thou borne and howsoeuer some shadowes of discord haue bin betwixt you two a thing vsually incident to your sex which of you might challenge the first place yet I must needes confesse this I liued long comforted only with one childe doubting I should haue been aged and past childbearing and then to my perpetuall comfort sweete Oxford was thou borne And howsoeuer thy elder sister may challenge that she hath liued longer yet cā she not boast that either I haue loued her better or that she her selfe hath deserued to be loued better More fruitfull Oxford hast thou bin neither herein doe I cōmend thee but more proudly iealous Cambridge of thy honor hast thou been yet both of you so deare to me so equally beloued so worthily accounted of so walled with priuiledges so crowned with all kinde of honor as both vnequall to bee compared with each other may in the highest tearmes bee preferred before the most famous that Europe hath thē striue not betwixt your selues but both be vnite together ioyne hands and if famous Alexandria that sometime liued with high honour who now lieth buried in her own ashes were flourishing to make comparison let her knowe that within your walles howsoeuer you reuerēce hers for their age are many as famous as
am loath to vpbraide your vnthankfulnes by remembring of my fauours Haue you not had and so long may haue vnlesse your selues be iniurious to your selues a Princesse truelie nobled with all vertues a Queene matchles in whome honors vnsteined pure die hath set foorth such liuely colours as enemies must and doe feare friendes ought and should loue whome the age now present must admire and the time following still praising wonder at more courteous then the churle-sauing Abigal more courtly then the friendes-honoring Hester more valiant then prince-killing Iudith who blessing me by her meanes with a plentious peace beautifying her courte with eternall praise hath made both to bee enuies marke in her enemies eye the shadowing Cedar to her distressed friends and the force conquering sworde to her professed foes Here might my muse dare to flie a matchles pitch but that faintinglie I feele my Icarian wings to melt with the heate of so bright a sunne this onelie shall snffice without further repeatings of her worth thereby to make your faulte far greater conceiued with teares accented with sighes and vttered by truethes naked oratresse that what praise euer wisdome gained as al praise is but wisedomes due that same is and shall bee your sacred princesse her inheritance who hath so often contended whether her glorie might mount higher vnto fames tower blowne vp with the vowes of mortall men or her thankes ascend further vnto heauen conueyed by thousand Seraphins Liue thē though sorrowfull to see mee sad diuine and renowmed Empresse earths glorie religions comfort admired wisdomes inheritrix here perpetuallie to bee praised of men and else where immortallie to be crowned of God himselfe Haue you not had thousands of worthie and braue ladies bewtifying poore me who all seeme vestall-like to haue lighted virginities lampe from the euer-burning taper of chaste Elizas vertues Haue you not had in me things hardlie found else where sage and wise Nestors such whose state guiding wisedomes were able to equalize if it were not your faulte mee a poore Iland to the former monarchies were but those famous and neuer enough commended lawes made by them in their deepe scanning iudgements practised by you then how shuld I iustly pride it in my worth bee valiantly couragious where now I feare haue you not had for the space of these many yeares though but two yet eternallie famoused vniuersities Cambridge and Oxford where Englands youth haue learned such worthie precepts as ill beseemes thē to requite me with such ingratitude These serue to beautifie in their want my plentie with their wisedom whilest you vngratefull you in your plētie seeke through their want to contemne their wisedome here could I iustly complaine for them but that I want teares to expresse my owne sorrowe for I see those who most are bound if benefites receiued might binde to respect them in the iniurious opinion of learned-modest-naked-humilitie wrongfully to depriue them of things necessarie And least they should grow too glorious to obscure thē too farre to learnings infamie I cease to repeate the smaller fauours matters iustly deseruing a thankfull loyaltie content my selfe with these that for the greatest benefites that euer inhabitants enioyed since Paradices first erection I distressed Iland haue by discord of my owne lamentably indured the greatest wrongs my enemies haue seene into the seed plots of my discord long since and haue found them to threaten my ruine they haue bred dissentions and make me nourish them to my owne destruction they haue strook fire into the tinder of my soft heart and haue made me blow it till I burne to ashes Is it the inequalitie of cōdition that makes this discord Is it the might of some few ouershadowing the meaner that fils you with enuie against mee I cannot liue howsoeuer Plato foolishly dreamed but my harmonie must bee made of diuers sounds my sinewes must bee of sundrie strength and my states full of inequalitie yet for all this the meanest can haue no wrong the greatest shall do no violence I wil liue neuer to permit a tyrannie both equal deare to me whereof neither can suffer danger but I must needes perish for thus to see either my Nobility a thing not yet heard of or my Cleargie a thing too vsuall or my cities a thing too commō or my subiects a thing too lamentable fondly to disagree what is it els but to breede within my borders wolues which I banished long since by my Edgars means and to nourish that flame which consumed Greece I meane the enuie between her two eyes Athens and Lacedaemon to the great contentment of their sworne enemie Philip the King of Macedon and shall not your hatred discord and such like tennising your owne infamies to make others smile make me perpetually mourne as solde to sorrowe and the Spanish Philip more ioyfull then the King of Macedon Let vs not stay till we bee vnited by our enemies crueltie as Xerxes oftē caused the Greekish vnion Shall they perswade you degenerous mindes to bee perswaded that it is better to suffer tyrannie of a stranger then inequalitie of a friend Deare countrimen and so still to be reputed vntill extreamely you deserue otherwise in a humane bodie doe the hands the feete and the head fall at discorde among themselues Is not a wound sometimes as deadly in the heele for so perished the thrise valiant Achilles as dangerous in the head Are not my parts so vnited amongst themselues that the least iarre is a fault the least discord a fall Were I made so absolute that I could stand haue no parts then might iarres be and I in tune were I not a mother that bred you both then might you dissent and I not fall Suppose some part of my Iland hath bewtie of townes yet other parts haue fertiltie of soile some place hath wise inhabitants yet others are valiant some are plaine full of all pleasure yet others are walled as it were with mountaines and full of all saftie some are shadowed with thicke trees to auoid heat yet others are compassed with siluer streames to beget colde thus all partes of my Iland and the particulars of my state are such that each imparting dignitie all of them make mee partaker of an absolute happines so that whilst vnitie is maintained amongst my people I vniuersallie enioye those benefites which I lacke as looselie being dispersed by cruell discord alas in what Common wealth can equalitie bee founde Thinke you if I were sould to strangers you were free from emulation vnlesse it were by this meanes by being miserable the Philosophers sometimes desired this in their Common wealths but foolish men are ignorant of the trueth not sounding into the depth of eternities wisdome who ordained the inequalitie of things to preserue each other amongst the elements is not the fire tempered with the water in the bodie
who haue been forward in my cause who haue plentifullie bestowed their wealth to maintaine mee and who haue not feared to dye to doe mee good And shee perswading that Trueth sent her to direct them hath so much preuailed with a great number that howsoeuer for other faultes in the bloodie woundes of an afflicted conscieuce there is none either so careles without remorse or so profanely wicked without feare but that relenting at the faultes which they haue done remaine grieued yet falselie suborned by her meanes neither the most fatall warres dragging the infants from their mothers breasts drawing them from out their wombes slaying them in their cradles rauishing their wiues and daughters wasting their countries burning their houses defacing their temples violating their sepulchers performing all crueltie forgetting all curtesie to those that were borne amongst them nor the ciuill slaunders in the time of peace performed against them in malicious manner who sought my prosperitie aboue their owne safety these and such like I say and if ought else can bee thought of greater then these are are done and without remorse vpon the false surmife of true Religion Iudge now if euer creature of my innocencie and I may boldly stand to iustifie my own integrity hath had greater cause to complaine of wrong more iust reason to suspect violence more true grounds of vndoubted feare then I that haue sued and am not heard haue lowdely spoken and not regarded haue infinitelie deserued and not rewarded It is obiected against me that the first murder was committed by my meanes that Cayn had neuer laide violent hands vpon Abel if in religion he had not been farre more righteous And if the Persians had not supposed that to bee prophane which the Greekes beleeued to bee most holy Xerxes had not come from Asia to Grecce he had not spoyled their townes burnt their temples and done them thousand wrongs but falsely supposed by my meanes Thus discord grew betwixt the Egyptians and the Hebrues and both contended which should bee my followers but if I had not been proudly confronted with a base strumpet and that my honour had not been therein hazarded wherein it was infamie to cōtend I had quietly rested though with some disgrace and had liued contented though with losse of credit Nay rather giue me leaue womanlike to complain though hopelesse without reliefe of wrongs offered to my person in stead of offering I haue suffered in stead of doing I haue receiued such manifest violence such apparant wrongs such secret disgraces such open iniuries as when I shall make report what I haue indured for my names sake the red sea shall disagree as once it did and part a sunder the Sunne shall be amazed as sometimes it was and stand still Nay shame shall darken it and it shall hide it selfe to heare the reports but what I haue suffered at first I was put to flie out of Aegypt with sixe hundred thousand besides women and children pursued by Cencres the King of Aegypt and if heauen in the middest of my distresse had not made the raging sea to be a drie land so many had perished for my sake But then I must needes confesse after a tempest came a calme for humiliation I had honor authoritie for feare and in stead of Aegypt I possessed Canaan and although the power of my almightie from whence I came casting a snaffle into the mouth of the red sea made him that he durst not attēpt to doe me violence yet I liued not long in the land of Canaan but like a Nightingale I had thornes to awake me to keepe me singing and soone after false she that tearmed herself by my name caused dissention amongst her children brought me in daunger by my owne followers thē were my fauorers diuided together with Roboam and Ieroboam their Kings not long after was I with Israel cut off from the house of Dauid and first transported into Assyria where I remained captiue then with Iuda making my habitation within Ierusalem I was pitifully afflicted lamentablie spoyled cruellie taken by Nabuchadnezzar the King of the Assyrians who pulled downe her walles burned her temple the Kings pallace tooke away the golden vessels dedicated by Salomon to my vse put out Sedechias eyes bound him with brasen chaines and spoyled the bookes of my lawe which after miraculously were restored by my Scribe Esdras thus was I handled by the Greekes Alexanders successors ruling in Syria who would haue compelled my people to haue yeelded to their maners especially that proudly famous and so tearmed King Antiochus who tooke the ornaments and vessels of the Temple which had been restored by them of Persia ruinating againe Ierusalem new built forbad my burnt offerings sacrifices and such like to deface me and make me basely an exile to the Greekish ceremonies neither was I onely thus handled by them but those who at this day are my sworne enemies I meane the Romanes who extended their Empire into that corner where I dwelt placing their Images within my Temple setting their Eagles ouer my portals from whence proceeded abundance of superstitions but I had been throughly wounded before that by my owne countrimen at Christs death who had giuen mee so great a blow as that in iustice for my sake they were sacked by the Romanes and to this present wheresoeuer they abide they are poore practising base trades as Usurie and Broaking made subiect to extreame tributes paying continual tasks and yet without houses lands or other possessions not retaining so much as the shadowe of a Common wealth since that I cruelly was banished frō amongst them yet notwithstanding all the calamities which they suffered could not keepe them from contending amongst the Christians they grounded their false poynts vpon the old Testament so that after al this they were chased from France England Spayne by reason of blasphemies which they vomited out against Christ Iesus thus the Mahometists tearmed my people Miscreants vowed themselues for their sworne enemies And howsoeuer these were harmes which in the weaknes of my fauourers I could not defende without flight yet if among Christians themselues I had not been pursued with as great hatred at this time I should not neede to haue complained of wrong But now seeing bloudie warres haue happened betwixt those that were my owne children where I their mother intreating in most kind tearmes was not free from daunger nor could exempt them from spoyle let the world iudge if euer any receiued greater wrong thē I haue suffered The Greekes and the Romanes both contended so long for my fauour till both were content to forsake me quite and to make me perish if it had been possible for vndoubtedly I had dyed but that I was immortall Arrius came from Aegypt to sheath his sword within my
dayes of Theodosius the younger when the Sarracins came to helpe the Persians against whome hee fought the Angels from heauen like the starres against Sisera troubled the Sarracens that in Euphrates there was drowned a hundred thousand thus Iulian whilest he was my friende made Italie Afrike stoope to the Roman Empire but sodainely perished whē he had reuolted thus Heraclius conquered the Persians till hee became a Monothelite I could alleadge histories of these latter times but being a controuersie for the true religion howsoeuer indeede it is without controuersie I will not doe them that wrong to grounde vpon a thing that is not yet graunted the contentions for my cause and the apish pollicies of other countries hath pittifully perswaded them to become Atheists I haue encountred the Papists and tolde him he mistakes the trueth his religion is meere erronious and whilst I went about soundely to perswade this Satan raised vp the lewde faction of irreligious Brownists to tell the worlde that England was not so happie to haue a Churche that titles of honour were things impertinent to trew religion that decencie was a matter of ceremonie which was no sooner bruted in the worlds eare but the Papists began scoffingly to contemne my trueth and the Atheist prophanely to thinke there was none at all But I am loath to rake in the dead cinders of polluted Machiuell whō though Satan made an instrument to disgrace me and with his dregges dangerouslie poysoned the best states yet shall my trueth like the sunne from vnder a cloude shine clearely in the dayes of Elizabeth And men famouslie learned in all knowledge as some haue done in other places shall openly shew vnto the worlde that such pollicies are but cankers to a Common wealth such discordes weapons sheathed in the wombe of true religion and those great promises nothing but Cannon shot to vndermine if it were possible the rocke where vpon I stand And concerning the other which in a forwarde pretended zeale haue desired to cleare the mudde that hath troubled the fountaine to roote out the weedes that haue hindered the corne to trie out the drosse that hath dimd the golde haue vnawares howsoeuer some of them politickelie malicious stopped the fountaine plucked vp the corne and confounded the treasure of true religion so that if they might haue preuailed as they might haue preuailed if diligent care had not been taken in this respect the Churche must haue withered as wanting springs the people must haue famished as wanting corne and religion must haue begged as wanting treasure In deede iust faultes haue been founde for that many insufficient haue taken vpon them so great charge that the Bishops haue paultered their liuings in so base a manner that forgetting their honor they haue seemed to be familiar with meane persons that they haue suffered the patrons of their liuings to present any nay that which is most intollerable that they haue consented whilest patrons haue paused so long a thing needelesse so neere an Vniuersitie to finde one sufficient to take the charge that either a haruest must quite the cost that the patron hath had by many suters or if it can bee compasfed it shall bee plainelie temporall I feele my selfe both too feeble to complaine and too farre spent to remedie so great a mischiefe faultes will bee yet religion must bee the daies are euill but my charge is not to leaue England whilest the world endureth and if I must being her companion I will dye valiantly in her cause LOYALTIES SPEECH TO ENGLANDS CHILDREN AFter abundant triall of my many fauours giue me leaue not vpbrayding you with benefits you haue receiued only in equall comparison of other countries to shew the wealth of Englands subiects the happines of her land the increase of her honor the contentment and the euerlasting fame of her three children and of all these obtained by my meanes Now as the religious dutie to your Prince the kind affection to your countrie and the common care amongst your selues one towards another are things not onely requisite for your good but likewise commanded by the lawes of God and nature so rebellion a thing which I quake to heare of sedition a thing which I hope I shal neuer heare of are both so capitall in themselues and so detested of all ages as the people must needs be barbarous that liue to doe them and the Prince land and people lamentably miserable that liue to suffer them And if it were not that false pretences an vsuall cloak for the greatest faults did make men thinke they were lesse offensiue neuer traitor would intend his Princes death but take punishment of himselfe for so bad a thought neuer subiects would draw their swords in seditious manner but sheath them in the guiltie intrals of their owne bowels And therfore those who haue intended to alter or vsurpe the state of their superiours which we call rebellion not to bee branded with so foule a shame not to be noted with so blacke a marke not to be called by so bad a name haue indeuoured to signifie their sinisters practises by a good pretence and haue imployed such for the effecting of them as inconstancie hath made desirous of a chaunge Atheisme careles by what meanes Prodigalitie beggars and full of want and lastly want hath made them to growe desperate The trueth hereof is apparantly knowne both by ancient histories and of later time not onely within these small dominions hemmed with the narrow seas but in populous and large Italie within the walles of proud stately and commaunding Rome where the often Secessions of the cōmon people to the Mount Auentin may plainly testifie that malecontented they pretēded a reformation of the rich Nobilitie So that the horrible strange and detested practises of our time which some most irreligiously haue plotted to obtaine their purpose being nothing in trueth but an ouerflowing ambition an insatiable desire to rule haue been smoothed ouer with the fine tearmes of a common good of the freedome of the people of iustice of religion of reformation and such like things onely mentioned in name and no further intended then in a bare shewe thus delt they that sought to alter the Romane Empire by lighting the torch of ciuill dissention pretending the more easily to winne the people to free them from subsidies and oppression which then seemed by their gouernours to lye vpon them making a shew to the common sorte that they tendered their case in so great a measure that they could not longer indure to see them afflicted in so bad a manner These pretences wee reade to haue been made in France these haue been made in our countrie and there was neuer either subiect seditious in the Commō wealth or heretike hatefull to Gods Church but they desired to be accounted Euangelike and Apostolike reformers their bad conuenticles Cockatrices to hatch
graced Anthonie deserueth immortall praise from the haÌ„d of that diuine Lady who like Corinna conteÌ„ding with Pindarus was oft victorious Sir Dauid Lynsay Matilda honorably honored by so sweet a PoeÌ„ Diana Procul hinc procul ite profani England to be defended by schollers Your learned Doctors Cherish your youth The fault of Vniuersities England too kind She speaketh not to those that haue fled the land Rome altered The commoÌ„ wealth miserable that hath her foes within her selfe Excesse of these times Not safe for a countrey to bragge of wealâ—h if the Spaniard know it The fault of Empires Lawes for sobrietie the sinewes of a Kingdome Plentie and ease the Ca kers of a Kingdome Proud Kingdomes must fall How Rome fell Loose pleasure begets treason Discord vntieth the armour of a common wealth Happy daies Miserable state that is so Let the traitors accuse me if they can A thing done in other countries Yet these no causes to be rebellious Discorde Whom God keepeth in despigth of them A thing ofteÌ„ attempted Lybels No Iland caÌ„ remember greater benefits to her inhabitants Elizabeth No pen able to praise sufficiently No land so many Graue and wise Counsellers hath England still had The streÌ„gth of a kingdom are lawes and their execution the meanes to expell feare from her subiects England may iustly glory of her three daughters 1. CaÌ„bridge 2. Oxford 3. Innes of court Note this A thing miserable when the Vniuersities are poore A wicked policie An vndoubted truth The Spaniard Pope Frenchmen Scots and all laugh at our discord The cause of discorde A Kingdom can not stand without inequalitie The moderation of inequalitie Lamemtable times Greece perished by discord Beware true English meÌ„ Dangerous cause of vuion The praise of inequalitie Equality not to be hoped for of strangers Low countries dangered by emulation Discord * And chalenge him 1594. If Christians ioyne not together A true rule Note A thing to be respected As some haue done A thing lamentable If we our selues be vnited A thing too miserable if it should be so England can not perish but by English men The Spaniard is foolish to hope so Note this Trust him not Giue him an inch he will take an ell An vsuall policy at this day Offered to Iudas to betray his Master True English men Truth in a few is often victorious Ualour begets loue As still you haue beene Note this Dangerous to ioyne with Spaine Fraunce poore by warres Not so faithfull as they should be Why Spaine is so constant in her free offers No great ods betwixt theÌ„ if they had equall peace Beware of them both To Parry Babington c. Lopez executed the 7. of Iune 1594. Spaine not onely an enemie for religion Too great simplicitie to thinke so Take heede by others Inconstancie in religion is the mother of Atheisme The Spanish colonie Note this An exhortation to England Spaniards like Iewes Spanish Haman They preteÌ„d Religion but intend trechery Absolon a right Spaniard Take heede trust theÌ„ not Let Spaine answere Note this Note this Impossible to be so Let the Spaniard credit me S. George Fides Hispanica God himselfe will punish traytors Note this O happie England if this happen Discord fatall to great attempts The late mortalitie more lamentable then the losse of Aegypts first borne Religion brought froÌ„ heauenly loue Religion falsly accused Religions Apologie Religion no true cause of miseries in a common wealth Note this Mans ignorance makes false religioÌ„ Superstition Religion and superstition at continuall warres In England many religious fanorers Harmes for religion grieue not either the dooer or the sufferer Miserable blindnes So doth Romoaldus Scotus Superstition is most zealous Among the Atheists of this age Afalse accusation of religion Xerxes Zealte false Religion impatient of an indignitie The wrongs are infinite which religion hath suffered for being called relig Religion hath had coÌ„tinuall and great enemies Anno mundi 1517. God knoweth how to deliuer his Affliction may endure for a time but deliuerance is not farre from Gods church So the fier for the three children Superstition maketh dissention in the Church Libertatis amor stultuÌ„ quid decipis orbem â— King 24. 2. Chron. 36. Religion still perfecuted How Gods enemies seek to deface all parts of religion The Romans enemies to religion The Iewes sinne the cause of their punishment Iewes Vsurers A miserable state where there is no religion Many of theÌ„ still persist in their sinnes Religion in great danger amongst her owne friends Contention the ground of Atheism Arrius and so Heretikes grow mighty in the middest of contentions Heretikes neuer want followers Constantius an Arrian 105. Bishops Arrians Holar contra ConstaÌ„tium Alex. Athan Iudge if religion haue not suffered wrong Religion no where safe in earth A famous victory After King of France Godfrey of Bolloygne Whereof sweet Tasso song Martyrs all Religion hateth discord England the seate of religion The happines of England by religioÌ„s meanes The discorde of other countries England in peace Peace the child of religion begetteth plentie that kils the grandmother England note this In the dayes of our dread Soueraigne Essex Willowbie Norris Sir Francis Uere c. A false slander to make traytors Martyrs Neuer martyr was a traytor Iustitia Britannica Campia Martyrium Anvsuall fault Gregorie 13. Pius 5. Sixtus 5. Exceeding pittie Miraculous preseruation of Gods Church I feare to thinke of it Iusticia Britannica A greater number Stapleton Parsons This can not be denied In Queene Maries time Slander is neuer tongue tied In their libel against the English Iustice Papa pius moritur quintus res mira tot inter pontifices tantum quinque suisse pios Leaue giuen to Parsons Campion by Gregorie 13. 1580. April 14. to interpret the bull of Pius 5. Henry the 2. King of Fraunce his edict against the Pope Anno. 1550. King Philip once feared not the Popes Buls Duke of Albany with an armie against the Pope 1527. Whom he kept in Adrians tower 7 moneths Let the Pope marke this Cardinall Pole offended with the Pope Henry the 8. shaked off the Pope Religions enemies The Atheist and the Puritan so called Religion no states man but of counsell with theÌ„ Dangerous for a Prince Machiuell confuted States in Europe ruinated by Machiuell A certaine prophesie Note this Relig Princes doe still triumph Gen. Exo. Ios. Iudg. King Machab. Aug lib. 5. de ciuit cap. 25. Cap. 26. Lib. 5. histor cap. 24. Socrat lib. 7. histor cap. 18. Euagr. lib 4. histor cap. 16. ibid. cap. vlt. By sundry Doctors of great learning Brownists a sect to support Atheisme As since they haue written in their bookes Ambr. Catharinus Archiep. CoÌ„pusonus Ioh. Molanus Ioh Boterus Anonymos Petrus Corotus Posseuinus Iesuit Learned Puritans By wise authoritie and learned answers L. Archb. of Canturbury Bancroft Bilson Sutcliff Hooker c. A true fault in Englands Church Cruell patrons pittie the church hath not the fauour of an ordinarie ward Loyaltie vrgeth her benefits Loyaltie can not abide to heare of treason or sedition Understanding misled begets treason What is rebellion What men are traytors False pretenses in traytors and rebels Note this As may appeare by the six articles written in french Sir Iohn Cheeke wrote of Sed. Alex. Neuill Euer bad things haue good pretenses So may I say to the English traytors By Ket A thing vnlikely and impossible Reade the chronicles Mercy vndeserued Peace to enemies but not to traytors With open enemies out of her selfe Rome fell by clemencie to traytors If we can not suffer the lie much lesse treason An exhortation A necessary caueat Mercy often cruell Not safe to trust a traytor Charles the fift Some of the nobilitie Note this A thing lamentable What loyalty hath done Plutar. in lib. de exiâ—io 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Enuied of other nations Lourdane 7. Learned Iudges Serieants Counsellers As they account it Tell it not in Gath c. The ancient and graue counseller The misery of captaines Elius Spar. Loyaltie vehement against treason Traytors coÌ„pared with Uerres God A happie sight 4. King 15. Iudg. 4. 23. Iudg. 5. 20. 21. So the Spanish fleete In confutat Summarij Rat. Against my L. Keeper others The conclusion