of all France it self I may with confidence affirm that I have given more sight to that Eye more life and spirit to that Soul then hath been hitherto communicated in the English Tongue The Realm of France surveyed in the four principal Provinces and the chief Cities of the whole gives a good colour to the title and yet the title hath more colour to insist upon then the description of these Cities and those principal Provinces can contribute towards it For though I have described those four Provinces only in the way of Chorography yet I have took a general and a full Survey of the State of France in reference to the Court the Church and the Civil State which are the three main limbs of all Bodies Politick and took it in so full a manner as I think none and am assured that very few have done before me If it be said that my stay was not long enough to render me exact and punctual in my observations I hope it will be said withall that the lesse my stay was my diligence must be the greater and that I husbanded my time to the best advantage For knowing that we could not stay there longer then our money lasted and that we carried not the wealth of the Indies with us I was resolved to give my self as little rest as the necessities of nature could dispense withall and so to work my self into the good opinions of some principal persons of that nation who were best able to inform me as might in short space furnish me with such instructions as others with a greater expence both of time and money could not so readily attain By this accommodating of my self unto the humours of some men and a resolution not to be wanting to that curiosity which I carryed with me there was nothing which I desired to know and there was nothing which I desired not to know but what was readily imparted to me both with love and chearfulnesse Cur nescire pudens prave quam discere mallem I alwaies looked upon it as a greater shame to be ignorant of any thing then to be taught by any body and therefore made such use of men of both Religions as were most likely to acquaint me with the counsels of their severall parties Nor was I purse-bound when I had occasion to see any of those Rarities Reliques and matters of more true antiquity which either their Religious Houses Churches Colledges yea or the Court it self could present unto me Money is never better spent then wen it is layed out in the buying of knowledge In the last place it may be said that many things have hapned both in the Court and State of France many great revolutions and alterations in the face thereof since I digested the Relation of this Journey for my own contentment which makes this publication the more unseasonable and my consent unto it subject to the greater censure which notwithstanding I conceive that the discourse will be as usefull to the ingenuous Reader as if it had gone sheet by sheet from the Pen to the Presse and had been offered to him in that point of time when it took life from me The learned labours of Pausanias in his Chorography of Greece are as delightful now to the studious Reader as formerly to the best wits of Rome or Athens Nor need we doubt but that the description of the Netherlands by Lewis Guicciardine and of the Isles of Britain by our famous Camden will yeeld as great profit and contentment to future Ages as to the men that knew the Authors The Realm of France is still the same the temperature of the air and soyl the same the humours and affections of the people still the same the Fractions of the Church as great the Government as Regal or despotical now as when the Author was amongst them The Cities stand in the same places which before they stood in and the Rivers keep the same channels which before they had no alteration in the natural parts of that great body and not much in the politick neither The change which since hath hapned by the Death of the King being rather in the person of the Prince then the form of Government Affairs of State then managed by a Queen-Mother and a Cardinal favourite as they are at this present The King in his Majority then but not much versed or studied in his own concernments as he is at this present the Realm divided then into parties and factions though not into the same factions as it is at this present and finally the English then in as high esteem by reason of the alliance then newly made between the Princes as they can possibly be now by reason of the late concluded peace betwixt the Nations Nor hath there hapned any thing not reconcilable to the present times but the almost miraculous birth of the King and his Brother after 20 years barrennesse and the mariage of the Monsieur with Montpensiers Daughter contrary to the generall expectation of all that people and for the first I think I may be bold to say of the world besides These reasons as they may excuse this publication in reference to the work it self so there is one which serves to justifie it in respect of the Author that is to say the manifesting of this truth to all which shall peruse these papers that he is still of the same Judgement and opinion in matters of Religion Gods worship and the government of holy Church of which he was 30 years agoe when the Relation of the first Journey was fashioned by him that he hath stood his ground in all those revolutions both of Church and State which have hapned since that he now holds no other Tenets then those to which he hath been principled by education and confirmed by study and finally that such opinions as he holds be they right or wrong he brought to the Court with him and took not from thence So that whatsoever other imputation may be charged upon him he cannot be accused for a time-server but alwaies constant to himself in all times the same Qualis ab incepto processerâ—… in the Poets language the same man then as now without alteration Compare my late book upon the Creed with these present Journals and it will easily be seen that in all points wherein I have occasion to declare my Judgement I am nothing altered that neither the temptations of preferment nor that great turn both in the publick and my own affairs which hath hapned since have made me other then I was at the very first It 's true in reading over these papers as they were sent to the Presse I found some things which I could willingly have rectified as they passed my hands but that I chose rather to let them go with some Petit errors then alter any thing in the Copy which might give any the least occasion to this misconceit that the work went not to the Presse as it
the tediousnesse of the way The first thing we met with observable was the Town and Castle of Piquigni The Town poor and beggerly and so unlikely to have named the Province as Mercator would have it besides the disproportion and dissimilitude of the names The Castle situate on the top of the hill is now a place of more pleasure then sâ—…rength as having command over an open and goodly Countrey which lyeth below it It belongeth as we have said to the Vidamate of Amiens and so doth the Town also This Town is famous among the French for a Tradition and a truth the Tradition is of a famous defeat given unto the English near unto it but in whose reign and under whose conduct they could not tell us Being thus routed they fled to this Town into which their enemies followed with them intending to put them all to the sword but at last their fury being allaied they proposed that mercy to them which those of Gilead did unto those of Ephraim in the Scriptures life and liberty being promised to all them which could pronounce this word Piquigni It seemeth it was not in those dayes a word possible for an English mouth for the English saying all of them Pequenie in stead of Piquigni were all of them put to the sword thus far the Tradition The Truth of story by which this Town is famous in the writers of both Nations is an enterview here given betwixt our Edward IV. and their Lewis XI upon the concluding of their nine years truce A circumstance of no great moment of it self had not Philip de Comines made it such by one of his own observations Upon this meeting the Chancellor of England being Bishop of Ely made an oration to both Kings beginning with a prophesie which said that in this place of Piquigni an honourable peace should be concluded between the two Kingdoms on this ground which himself also is the only man that relateth he hath built two observations the one I have not the originall by me That the English men are never unfurnished with Prophesies the other That they ground every thing they speak upon Prophesies How far those times were guilty of that humor I cannot say though sure I am that we are not the only men that were so affected Paulus Jovius in some place of his Histories I remember not the particular hath vindicated that quarrell for us and fastned the same imputation on the French So true is that of the Tragedian Quod quisque fecit patitur authorem scelus repetit And now being past Piquigni I have lost the sight of the Church of Amiens The fairest Fabrick and most rich to see That ere was guilty of mortalitie No present Structure like it nor can fame In all its bed-rols boast an equall name Let then the barbarous Egyptians cease So to extoll their huge Pyramides Let them grow silent of their Pharus and Conceale the other triumph of their Land And let the Carians henceforth leave to raise Their Mausolaea with such endlesse praise This Church alone doth them as much excell As they the lowest Cottages where do dwell The least of men as they those urnes which keep The smallest ashes which are laid to sleep Nor be thou vext thou glorious Queen of night Nor let a cloud of darknesse mask thy light That renownd Temple which the Greeks did call The worlds seventh wonder and the fair'st of all That pile so famous that the world did see Two only great and high thy fame and thee Is neither burnt and perisht Ephesus Survives the follies of Erostratus Onâ—…y thy name in Europe to advance It was transported to the Realm of France And here it stands 〈◊〉 robb'd of any grace Which there it had nor altred save in place Cast thy beams on it and t will 〈◊〉 be prov'd Thy Temple wâ—…s not 〈◊〉 but remov'd Nor are thy rites so chang'd but thou'â—… aver This Christian is thy old Idolater But oh goâ—…d God! how long shall thy decree Permit this Temple to Idolatrie How long shall they profane this Church and make Tâ—…se sacred wals and pavements to partake Of their loud sins and here that Doctrine teach 'Gainst which the very stones do seem to preach Reduce them Lord unto thee make them see How ill this building and their â—…ites agree Or make them know though they be still the same This house was purpos'd only to thy name The next place of note that the water conveied us to was the Town and Castle of Pont d' Arme a place now scarce visible in the ruines and belonging to one Mr. Quercy It took name as they say from a bridge here built for the transportation of an Army but this I cannot justifie Three leagues down the river is the Town of Abbeville a Town conveniently seated on the Some which runneth through it It is of greater circuite within the wals then the City of Amiens and hath four Parish Churches more then it but is not so beautifull nor so populous For the houses here are of an older stampe and there is within the Town no scarcity of wast ground I went round about the wals and observed the thinness of the houses the largeness of the fields which are of that capacity and extent that for ought I could apprehend the Town need never fear to be compelled by famine if those fields were husbanded to the best advantages The wals are of earth within and stone without of an unequall breadth and in some places ruinous A Castle it once had of which there is now scarce any thing remaining In stead of which and in places more convenient they built out three Bastions very large and capacious and such well manned need not yeeld upon a summons There are also a couple of mounts raised nigh unto the wall at that place where the Countrey is most plain upon which good Oâ—dinance would have good command but at this time there were none upon it Without the wals it is diversly strengthned having in some places a deep ditch without water in some a shallower ditch but well filled by the benefit of the river in others only a moorish and fennie levell more dangerous to the enemie and secure to the Town then either of the rest and therefore never guarded by the Souldiers of the Garrison But the chief strength of it is five Companies of Swiss 100 in a company proper tall fellowes in appearance and such as one would imagine fit for the service It was my chance to see them begin their watch to which imployment they advanced with so good order and such a shew of stomach as if they had not gone to guaâ—…d a Town but possesse one Their watch was at Porte de Beyes and Porte St. Valery the first lying near un Hesdin a frontier Town of Artoys the other five leagues only from the Sea and Haven of St. Valery From â—…hose places most danger was feared and therefore there kept
then the City and better built the streets larger and the people richer most of the Merchants living in it because it lyeth upon the Haven But that which made this low Town most pleasing to me was a 〈◊〉 procession that passed through the streets of it intending to pacifie Gods anger and divert the plague which at that time was in the City In the first front there was carried the Crosse and after that the holy or sanctified Banner next unto it followed all the Priests of the Town bare-headed and in their Surplices singing as they went the Services destinate to that occasion After them followed the men and next to them the women of the Town by two and two it being so ordered by the Roman Rituall Ut laici a clericis foeminae a viris prosequantur se paratae On the other side of the street went the Brethren De la Charitè every one of them holding in his hand a little triangular Banner or a Pennon after them the boyes and wenches In this method did they measure solemnly every lane and angle of the Town the Priests singing and all the people answering them in the same note At the Church they began it with prayers and having visited all the Town they returned again thither to end it with the same devotion An action very grave and solemn and such as I could well allow of were it not only for one prayer which is alwayes said at the time of this performance and the addition of the Banners The Prayer is this Exaudi nos Deus salutaris noster intercedente beata gloriosa Viigine beato Sebastiano Martyre tuo this Sebastian is their Aesculapius or tutelary Saint against the Sicknesse omnibus Sanctis populum tuum ab iracundiae tuae terroribus libera misericordiae tuae fac largitate securum Amen This only excepted there is nothing in all the liturgie of it which can be offensive to any conscience not idlely scrupulous These Processions were first instituted by Pope Stephanus 〈◊〉 who beâ—…an his Popedome anno 752. the intent of them as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it Ad placandam Dei iram The fiâ—…st place that ever they went to in procession was the Church of our Lady in the Shambles or Ad 〈◊〉 Dei 〈◊〉 ad praesepe as the Historiian calleth them As for the Lâ—…ny which is a principall part of it it was first compiled by Mamereus Bishop of Vienna in Daulphine in the time of Pope Leo the first which was 308 years before the time of Stephanus The motive of it was the often danger to which France was subject by reason of the frequency of Earth quakes Since those beginnings which were fair and commendable the Romish Church hath added much to them of magnificence and somewhat of impiety and proâ—…anenesse As for the â—…thren Dela Charitè I could not learn any thing of their originall but much of their Office for they are bound to visit all such as are infected with the Plague to minister unto them all things necessary and if they die to shrowde them and carry them to their graves These duties they performe very willingly as being possessed with this fancie that they are priviledged from contagion by virtue of their Order And to say the truth they are most of them old and so lesse subject to it and indeed such saplesse thin unbodies fellowes that one would think almost no disease could catch them Yet hath their prerogative not always held to them of 33 of them in Calice three only surviving the disease about four yeers since But were the danger to which themselves are liable all the inconveniency of it I should not much disallow it There is a greater mischief waiteth upon it and that is the infecting of others they immediately after their return from the Pest house mixing themselves with any of their neighbours A most speedy means to spread the Pestilence where it is once begun though neither they nor the people will be perswaded to it The City or the high Town standeth as we have said on the top of the hill environed with deep ditches a strong wall and closed with a treble gate and two draw bridges A little small Town it is not much above a flights shot thwart where it is widest and hath in it but one Church beâ—…ides that of Nostre Dâ—…me which is Cathedrall The â—…reets not many and those narrow unlesse it be in the Mâ—…rket-place where the Corpus du â—…uarde is kept What the out works are or whether it have any or no I cannot say Evâ—…n in this time oâ—… League and Peace their jealousie will not permit an English mâ—…n to walke their wals either within or without the Town A Castle they said that it hath but such a one as servâ—…th more for a dwelling then a Fort. The Garrison of this Town consisteth of five Companies 60 in a Company which amount in all to 300 their Governour being Mr. D' Aumont son to the Marshall D' Aumont who so 〈◊〉 adhered to Henry IV. in the beginning of his troubles The cause why this Town being so small is so stâ—…ongly Garrisoned is the safe keeping of the Haven which is under it and the command of the passage from the Haven up into the Countrey The first of the services it can hardly performe without much injury to the low Town which standeth between them but for the ready discharge of the last it is dâ—…intily seated for though to spare the low Town they should permit an enemie to land yet as soon as he is in his march up into the higher Countrey their Ordinance will tear him into pieces But for the immediate security of the Haven their Ancestors d d use to fortifie the old Tower standing on the top of the hill called La tour d' ordre It is said to have been built by Julius Caesar at the time of his second expedition into Britaine this Haven being then named Portus Gessoriaeus This Tower which we now see seemeth to be but the remainder of a greater work and by the height and situation of it one would guesse it to have been the Keepe or Watch-tower unto the rest It is built of rude and vulgar stone but strongly cemented together the figure of it is six square every square of it being nine paces in length A compasse too little for a Fortresse and therefore it is long â—…ince it was put to that use it now serving only as a Sea-marke by day and a Pharos by night Ubi 〈◊〉 noctu 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The English man calleth it The old man of Boulogne and not improperly for it hath all the â—…ignes oâ—… age upon it The Sea by undermining it hath taken from it all the earth about two squares of the bottom of it the stones begin to drop out from the top and upon the least riâ—…ing of the wind you would think it were troubled with the Palsie In a word two hard Winters seconded