whereof the noble Baron hath spoken so much they were very valiant indeed when a silly Shepheardesse Anne d' Arc did beat them away from before Orleans pursued them to Paris and so drive them over the Seine to Normandy and when they could not be reveng'd of this Mayd in the Field being taken by a Stratageme they cut her off by a forged accusation that she was a Sorceresse forsooth Then was the time if the English had comported themselves like men of prowesse and policy to have reduc'd all France under a perpetuall subjection King Charles the seventh being driven to such streights that he was constrain'd to fly to Bourges and so for the time was in a jeering way call'd King of Berry But that notable mayd at her execution being tied to the stake was nothing daunted but left prosperity and victory for a legacy to her Countrey men till the English should be beaten quite out of France as they were afterwards for being driven and dogg'd as far as Calais they kept that a while but afterwards they were by a writ of ejectment publish'd by sound of drum and trumpet as also by the Canon Musket of the Duke of Guise thrust out of Calais and so casheer'd quite out of France which sunck so deep and made such black impressions of sorrow upon the heart of Queen Mary of England that she would often say if she were open'd after death the town of Calais would be found Engraven in her heart Now for the piety goodnes and vertu of the English which the noble Baron did so much magnifie you may judge what it was in those dayes by the ingenuous confession of an English Captain who when he had truss'd up his bagg and bagage to go for England as he was going out of the gate he in a geering way was ask'd O Englishmen when will you back again to France The Captain with a sad serious countenance answer'd When the sinns of France are greater then the sinns of England then will the English return to France Nor indeed had the French much cause to affect the English in regard of their insolence and cruelty wherof there be divers examples for in some good successes they had the victory was more bloody then the battaill cutting of prisoners off in cold blood for their greater security But the English must needs be cruell in a Forren Countrey when they use to be so in their own What a barbarous act was that of Edward the fourth to clapp up his own brother George Duke of Clarence in prison and afterwards to drown him in a butt of Muscadin by a new invention of death But to descend to neerer times what an act of immanity and ignoblenes was that in Queen Elizabeth when she promis'd safety welcom to Mary Queen of Scotts and Dowager of France if she came to England for preventing the machinations of her rebellious subjects against her and afterwards to suffer her to be hurried from one prison to another for twenty yeares and then to suffer her head to be chop'd off and by a cunning kind of dissimulation to lay the fault upon Davison her secretary and throw the bloud into his face under pretence that he sent the warrant for her execution without her knowledge Truly this was a most inglorious act and the reproach of it will never be worn out but will stick as a black spot to England while she is an Iland nor can all the water of the Sea about her wash off the stain but it wil continue still indelible But 't is the more strange that Queen Elizabeth should doe this a Queen that had been herself bred up a good while in the school of affliction and might be said to have come from the Scaffold to the Throne I say 't is strange that she should not be more sensible of anothers calamity Dido the Pagan Queen out of a sweet tendernes could say Non ignara mali miseris succurrere disco and it had more becom'd Queen Elizabeth to have said so being a Christian Queen That Queen Elizabeth should do this to her own Cosen and sister Queen one as good as herself who after an invitation to England would never suffer her to have the comfort of her presence all the while That Queen Elizabeth who was cryed up and down the world to be so just so vertuous so full of clemency should do this it doth aggravat the fact much more then if another had done it I must confesse she lost much repute abroad for it Satyres pasquills and invectives being made in every corner of Christendom among others I will recite unto you one that was belch'd out in France which was thus Anglois vous dites qu'entre vous Un seul loup vivant on ne trouve Non mais vous avez une Louve Pire qu'un million de loups No Wolfs ye Englishmen do say Live in your Ile or beasts of prey No but a Wolfesse you have one Worse then a thousand Wolfs alone Among other Kings and Queens of England the example of this Queen and her Father may serve to verifie the saying of Porphyrius which you alledg'd most noble Baron Britannia fertilis Provincia Tyrannorum That Great Britanny is a province fruitfull for Tyrants Now Nimrod was call'd the Robustus Venator the strong Hunter which the Divines do interpret to be a mighty Tyrant And certainly the chasing and hunting of beasts the killing of them the washing of the Kings hands in their blood and feasting with them afterwards must needs make the minds of princes more ferocious and lesse inclinable to clemency wherefore they have a wholsom law in England that no Butcher who is habituated to blood may be capable to be a Juryman to give verdit upon any mans life The Nobles of England may in some kind be call'd Carnificers of some sorts of beasts as the buck and the doe with other such poor harmeles creatures whereof some have no gall in them for having wounded them first and then worried them down with their doggs at last as a signall of victory they bath their fingers in the blood of the poor animall which they call to take the essay but certainly this must conduce to obdurat human hearts and as it were flesh them in blood Now 't is well known there are no Kings on earth such great hunters as the English and who have more of variety of sport in that kind then any for there are more Forests Chaces and Parks besides variety of Royall palaces annexed to the Crown of England then to any other of Europe which might make the Countrey far more copious of corn fuller of cattle and have fewer beggars if they were made arable grounds or turn'd to pasturage Moreover the English Kings may not improperly be call'd Nimrods as Bodin hath it herein considering what rigorous punishments use to be inflicted upon the poor peeple by vertu of the Forest lawes In the book call'd Liber Rufus there
Nature which injoynes mankind in generall to endeare themselves one to another by reciprocall Offices of benevolence and love of Charity and Compassion of comfort and mutual Commerce Such a dotage as this seem'd to have sez'd upon Lycurgus and Plato in point of Opinion The furr'd Muscovit and frozen Russe is possess'd also with it to this day But oh immortall Gods what Infatuation or Frenzy rather transports this people so far from the dictates of reason What a transcendent presumption is it in them to invade as it were the Capitoll of Heaven and violate the Decrees of the divine Providence For we well know that God Almighty himselfe by the mouth of his Chancellour Moses hath commanded Peregrinos non minui ac Cives benignè habendos esse That strangers should be as gently intreated as the Natives themselves Moreover there is a Sanction published by our Saviour love thy Neighbour as thy selfe Nay Nature her selfe doth dictate unto us that man hath the least share in his own Nativity but he is born to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a communicable Creature born to benefit others Therefore that Custome and Constitution of China is dissonant to the Law of the Creator the dictates of nature and disagreeable to humane reason Now whom shal we give credit unto the eternall word of God or the Policy of these men For if as the Canon goes de Imperatoris judicio disputare sacrilegij instar est If to dispute of the judgment of the Emperour be a kind of Sacriledge what Trespasse what Piacle what a flagitious Crime are they guilty of who doubt of the verity of divine Oracles It is the Imperiall Decree of Gratianus Valentinianus and Theodosius confirm'd by all their Successors Qui Divinae legis sanctitatem aut nesciendo â—…mittunt aut negligendo violant offendunt sacrilegium committunt Whosoever doth by ignorance omit or by negligence infringe or offend the Sanctity of the divine Law commits Sacriledge Therefore I may say that the Chineses are Sacrilegious that the Muscovits are likewise so with all their Adherents who unlesse they would go about to overthrow the Rights of the Rationall Creature unlesse they would extinguish all the sparkles of Charity would not put in practise so absurd a Law For it stops the Channels and choakes up the Cisternes of all Hospitality of all kind of Humanity it utterly subverts all increase of knowledge all mutuall Offices of love all Trade and Commerce all improvement of Wealth and plenty all intercourse of Kindnesse and Civility among the Children of Adam For in my judgment this whole Globe of the Earth is no other then the Native Country of all kind of men It is but one common City Domicile and Habitation Therefore that Saying of Socrates was a true Philosophicall one when being askt what Country-man he was he answer'd I am a Cosmopolite I am a Citizen or free Denizon of the World For what an Indignity is it to Captivate the mind of man which Heaven can scarce hold to one territory or clod of Earth What an injustice is it that the Volatils of the Aire should have such liberty to flye and the Fish of the Sea to swim where they please without controulement or interruption and that man who by divine Charter is Lord of all Elementary Creatures should be confin'd within the compasse of one poor tract of ground Therefore as those high Ethereall and heavenly bodies above delight in motion so among men all generous and noble Spirits should take pleasure in Peregrination they should make truce with their domestick Affaires ask their Parents blessing embrace their Kindred bid their Friends farewell and shake hands a while with their own Country to take a view of the World abroad to observe the Customes and Carriage of other people to pry into their Lawes and Government to their Policy and waies of preservation to attain unto the knowledge of their Language to convert every good thing they see into wholesome juice and blood and for the future benefit of their own Country to learn how to converse with all people For the French have no improper saying Un honneste homme est un homme mesle an honest or wise man is a mixt man that is one who hath something in him in point of knowledge of all Nations Truely that I may discover unto you the most Intrinsick thoughts of my Soule I am of Opinion that it is a kind of degenerous thing for any gentile Spirit to sit still at home as it were lurking in the Chimny corner be so indulgent of himselfe as never to see the World abroad Nay a noble mind should resolve with himselfe to undergo any injury of the Elements any roughnesse of waies any difficulty of passage to be acquainted with forreigne Nations he should presently get his Bills of exchange or Letters of credit settle his Servants call for his Boots and Spurs put his Sword by his side and mount a Horseback being invited thereunto by so many noble examples specially by yours most Illustrious Princes who have made such exuberant fruits of your Peregrinations whereof all Germany your deare Country is like to make such a mighty benefit For I know there is none of you here but as the Prince of Poets speakes of Ulisses 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 You have seen the manners of millions of men with so many magnificent Cities Castles Fortifications and Palaces Touching my selfe though I do not travell in body as I have done yet in a contemplative way and upon the wings of Fancy I daily passe through and measure with my thoughts all those most flourishing Kingdomes of Europe I once perlustrated with my eyes I travel still in my imagination and nothing is so delightfull unto me as the Ideas of those various Objects I have seen abroad I confesse there are some and they are too many who abuse this excellent benefit of forreigne Travell if they have but once saluted France they return altogether Frenchified If they have eaten their bread a while tother side the Alpes they come back altogether Italianated if they have cross'd the Pyrenies they return altogether Spanioliz'd They force themselves by affected and fanstastick postures and gestures to imitate forreigne Fashions by their Garb their Cloathes their Speech they would shew themselves Travellers in a kind of Histrionicall Mimick way like Actors or Comedians upon a Stage whose part is to represent others They seem to slight and some of them to scorn the Manners the Custome and Behaviour of their own Country Such a Caprichious Traveller or Stage Player Sir Thomas More that Golden English Knight hath accurately set forth in his own Colours in that witty facetious Epigram which I beleive is not unknown to any of this Illustrious Auditory Amicus sodalis est Lalus mihi c. In the person of Lalus this renowned Chancellor displayes a phantastick Travellor or Landloper rather who having breathed a while the ayre of France returned all
metamorphozed and Frenchifield in the motion of his members in the accent of his words in the tone of his voyce He was become Ex Brittanno Gallus or Capus he came home all transvers'd not only in his braine but in his body and bones having haply left a snip of the Nose he carryed with him behinde him Such sort of Lalie's such Capons are most worthy of Cybeles Priesthood whose Flamins were Hermaphrodites or Capons we finde in the midst of Germany Now as the Spanish mares use to conceive sometimes by the gentle breezes of a Southerly Favonian winde but the colts they bring forth presently languish and dye so these fantastick Landlopers returning home pregnant with some odd opinions or fashions bring back nothing that is serious and solid but their braines are stuffed only with windy fables and frivolous stories And as neer Charenton Bridge in France there is an Eccho that reverberates the voyce thirteen times in atticulate sounds so these Peregrinators do oftentimes multiply what they heare or see As those who reported to have seene Flyes in India as big as Foâ—…es Others to have seen Trees in Russia which could not be shot over and that an Army of men might finde shelter under their branches in foule weather Others had seen Pigmies upon Rams backs going to Warr with the Cranes Some speak of the Generation of Basilisques of the Crocodiles of Aegypt of the Phenix of Arabia of the Rooks of Madagascar of the Scots Clakes and Geese and so come back more arrand Geese then they And what they have haply read of in Pliny Lucian or Brandanus they vapour as if they had seen them all and that with strong asseverations and sometimes with oathes De nihilo magna de parvo maxima fingunt They make Mountaines of Molehills and Whales of Sprats But the most judicious sort of Noble Germans make other use of Peregrination it makes them not to disdaine their owne Countrey afterward or to be infected with any affected forraine humour but continue constant to themselves and true Germans in point of naturall affection But now Most illustrious Princes and Noble Lords whom I see present at this splendid Convention may you please now to reduce into an Oratory methodicall way those discourses and Forraine observations wherewith you have been used to season your Tables and meetings at other times confining your selves to the Kingdomes and Common-wealths of Europe according as you have pleased to assigne every one his particular task that at last we may make a conjecture which Country of Europe may merit the Palme and Prerogative of all the rest I know by proposing this my boldnesse is as great as my request but I shall endeavour to make some retaliation unto you most Noble Princes and brightest eyes of Germany when any opportunity whatsoever doth present it selfe and shall court all occasions to do it And now you my most Illustrious Cozen Francis Charles Duke of Saxony c. be pleased to begin THE ORATION OF PRINCE FRANCIS CHARLES DUKE OF Saxony Angaria and Westphalia c. FOR GERMANY Most Excellent Prince and Princes with the rest of this Illustrious Assembly BEfore I launch out into the maine of this large Sea of matter and that my Sayles be filld with the gentle breezes of your favourable attention I have something to say while I remain yet in the Port of Perigrination or Forren Travell which your Excellency hath already approved of and applauded in such a high straine of Eloquence Yet for my part I wold after the example of the Chineses were I worthy to give Counsell herein prohibit Forren travell under pain of a penalty as the times go now or at least I wold prescribe som exact Lawes to regulat Peregrination Now whereas the young Traveller shold apply himself principally to the knowledg of that which might prove pertinent and profitable to the publique good of his own Countrey let him make account before hand that he cannot find that every where as he passeth For as a man cannot expect to find out in a Taylors Shopp in Hungary a suite of Clothes that will fitt a Spaniard or in Spain a suite that will fitt a Frenchman though his next Conterranean Neighbour their modes of habit being so different So every Countrey hath som municipall constitutions and customes peculiar and proper to themselfs which are not onely disagreeable but incompatible with the Goverment of other Nations and one of the chiefest curiosity and care the prime judgment of a Traveller shold be to distinguish betwixt such Lawes But helas how many go now abroad of whom ther are high hopes conceav'd that at their return they might act the part of Agamemnons but having so journed som yeeres in Italy and other hott Countreys in the flower and spring of their youth they com back grown old men before their time bringing home Winter in their faces and so are rather fitt to act the part of Thersites then Agamemnon How few do rerurn true Germans having habituated themselves to softness Effeminacy and Lux or to some il-favour'd posture either by shrinking in the Shoulders by cringing with the kâ—…ee and sweeping the earth with their feet or by ducking down their necks by poudring their Dublets by extenuating the tone of their voice after a womanish fashion or by jetting dancing or pratling up and down the Streets with other loose and affected Modes Now as Paris in Homer when he went abroad fell enamour'd with Helen which was the onely fruit of his Travels So these never looking after serious things hunt after toyes and bables Or as Physitians observe of Horse-leeches that when they apply them to the body they use to suck onely the ill corrupted blood So these Travellers draw in the worst things and it were well if it remained onely with them but the mischiefe is that they disperse the poyson among others and infest them by their touch or breath For where can be found a greater Lux in Apparrell then in Germany where a greater vanity in cloathing dead Walls while poor living Soules who beare the Image of God Almighty go naked Where is there greater excesse in Dyet in Queckshoses Made-dishes and Sawces And all this may be imputed to Peregrination Where is there more crisping of haire more boring of Eares to hang in Rings where is there more dead mens haire worn upon the heads of the living And we may also thank Peregrination for this How many have gone to France with some Religion and come back without any How many have gone to Spain with cheerfull and well-dispos'd humours but come back with a kinde of dull Melancholy How many have gone o're the Alpes with plain and open hearts but return'd full of cunning and mentall reservation How many have gone to England ' and come home with Tobacco-pipes in their mouths How many have gone to Holland gentile men but come back meer Boors And we may thank Peregrination for all this The
some malevolent spirits reported afterwards that the next after his resignments was the first day of his repentance But now I will speak something of the heroik Valour and Fortitude of our Nation whereby Europe hath stood unshaken so many ages And truely to dilate this my words must needs com short of the matter and herein it was the disadvantage of Germany to be destitute of Writers for our Progenitors were more for the Pike then the Pen bipennem non pennam tractabant And it was enough for other Nations to extoll their own feats not ours so that it may be sayed of the Children of this Noble Continent Vixere Fortes ante Agamemnona Multi sed omnes illachrymabiles Urgentur ignotique longa Nocte Carent quia Vate sacro The memory of Dido had rotted with her body in her Grave had not Maro preservd it so had Ulisses without Homer Mecaenas had it not bin for Horace Lucilius without Seneca and divers other Heros whose names were made indelible and immortal by the quil Therefore as Bodin sayeth one of the greatest motives that inducd the Scythians and Goths to burn Libraries was because the fame of other Nations as well as their own reproaches might perish Yet those fragments of stones which are found up and down in our Archives shew well what heroique Spirits this Clime hath bredd and what Martiall men in comparison of whose Preliations and Fights those of the Greeks were but Combats twixt Froggs and Mice I will not go so far as Tuisco Mannus Ingavo Istaevon Hermion Marsus Gambrivius Suevus and Vandalus But I will come neerer our times it is enough we are Germans ergo All men and manfull according to the etymon of the word Tacitus sayeth it was an infamous Crime among us to leave our Colours behind in the field or to com thence alive the Prince being killd For it was held a kind of Religion to protect and defend his Person as also to assign the glory of all exploits to him So terrible we were to our Neighbours the Gaules that the very name of a German was a Scarecrow unto them for Gallia lay alwaies open to us though they never took foot of ground in Germany How did Andirestus trounce them making them flye to Iulius Caesar and implore ayd so pittifully or at least his intercession to make peace twixt them and the Teutoniques Hereupon Iulius Caesar employing some Ambassadours to Ariovistus then in Suabland that he would appoint an indifferent place for a Parley He answerd that if Caesar had any businesse with him he might com to him accordingly at he wold do if he had any businesse with Caesar Hereupon a War was denouncd but certain Travellers and Merchants telling the Gaules what huge mighty men both for stature and spirit the Germans were and how habituated to Armes being abroad in the fields without houses such apprehensions of fear and terror did seize upon that Army of Gaules which Caesar had levied against Ariovistus that they durst advance no further but retire such was the high valour of the Suevians at that time which made Caesar himself break out into this confession Suevis ne Deos quidem immortales pares esse posse reliquum quidem in Terris esse neminem quem non superare possint Galli vero paulatim assuefacti superari multisque victi praelijs ne se quidem ipsi cum Germanis virtute comparabant The immortall Gods are not like the Swablanders there are none upon earth but they are able to overcom them but the Gaules being accustomed to be beaten and discomfited in many Encounters did not hold themselfs by their own confession equall to the Germans When Iccius and Ambrogius came Ambassadors to Caesar among other things they told him that the Belgians were the valiantst of all the Gaules who were descended of the Germans who had crossd the Rhine to settle themselfs there for more commodiousnesse by the expulsion of the Gaules which Countrey was calld for distinction sake Ciâ—…-Rhenana Germania which is now calld the Netherlands or Belgium the Inhabitants wherof have Dutch for their naturall language therfore they were usd to call Germany Magnam patriam their Great Countrey Now as Cities use by degrees to grow greater and have outwalls and Suburbs and as great Rivers do not tie themselfs to one direct even Channell but oftentimes inound and gain ground so Kingdoms have their fate It is not therfore the Rhin the Danube and Vistula that confines Germany though they run like great veines of bloud through her body but beyond them she hath Belgium the Swisserland the Grisons and Alpes Styria Carniola Carinthia Austria a great part of Sarmatia Denmark Swethland Norway Finmark with other most potent and patent Regions who glory in the name and language of Germans Moreover touching the Gaules the Germans may be termd their Fathers as well as their Conquerors for Ammianus Marcellinus sayeth In Galliam vacuam populos quosdam ab insulis extremis tractibus trans-Rhenanis crebritate bellorum alluvione fervidi maris sedibus expulsos Som peeple from the outward Islands and Territories beyond the Rhin by the fury of Warr and the encroachments of the tumbling Sea were driven to Gallia and whence can this be but from Germany Nor was a great part of Gallia alone but Great Britany also was Colonizd by Germans wittnesse the words of Caesar who sayeth Germanos si non patres tamen Britannorum Avos esse The Germans if they were not the Fathers yet they were Grandfathers to the Britains And as the hither parts of Gallia so the southerly parts also towards the Pyreneys and Spain were Colonizd by Germans I mean Languedoc and this is plain argumento ducto ab Etymologia the word Languedoc being derivd from Langue de Goth though som would foolishly draw it from Langue d' ovg or Languedoc But let us go neerer to work and with more certainty I pray whence hath France her last and present appellation but from the Franconians in Germany Hear what a famous Author writes Francos Francos nostros sequamur Gentem omnium quotquot magna illa vasta Germania tulit generosissimam acerrimos libertatis propugnatores Let us follow the French the French one of the most generous peeple that huge Germany ever bore and the greatest propugnators of their liberties And this revolution or transmigration happend upon the decay of the Roman Empire in the time of Valerianus and Gallienus the one being taken Captif by the Persian the other eclipsing the Empire with Luxury and sloth so Pharamond the German rushd into France then Gallia and his Successor establishd there a Monarchy which hath continued in three races of Kings above these twelve hundred yeers T is tru the whole Countrey was not all reducd at once by the Franks but by degrees and being once settled nothing could resist their valour but they still got more ground Whence that Proverb hath its rise from Valentinianus Augustus
took Numantia For their fidelity the Spaniards have bin very signal in all ages which induc'd Iulius Caesar to have a gard of them and Augustus Caesar a band of Biscayners or Cantabrians But how far the vertu and valour of the Spaniards prevailed against the Romans let Paterculus be heard to speak Per ducentos annos in Hispanis multo mutuoque certatum est sanguine For the space of 200. yeers ther were so many and mutuall conflicts of bloud that many of the Roman Emperours and Armies being lost much reproch and sometimes great danger resulted to Rome How many of their Scipios were destroyed there how VIRIATUS for ten yeers together did shake them what a disgracefull truce Pompey made and Mancinus a more disgracefull In all Sertorius his time it was doubtfull whether Spain shold be tributary to Rome or Rome to Spain But why do I fly to Pagan instances when ther are so many Christian Examples at hand Sancho King of Castile I pray listen attentively to this stupendous story I say Sancho King of Castile took Tariffa from the Moors but he being anxious and doubtfull whether he shold keep it or no by reason of the vicinity of the enemy and the great expences that it wold put him to Alfonso Perez rise up and told the King that he wold undertake to secure keep the place Thereupon the Moore by the help of the King of Morocco came with a numerous Army before the Town and Alphonso's Son being taken prisoner at a sallie the Generall of the Moores desiring a parley upon the walls with Alfonso he shewed him his Son protesting unto him that he wold torture and slay his Son unlesse he wold yeeld up the place Alphonso being not a whit abash'd told him that if he had a hundred Sons he would prefer his honour and Countrey before all so the Moor having barbarously kill'd young Alphonso They of the Town made such a resolut sallie the next day that they utterly routed the Moores and took so many prisoners that he offered 100. Moors for a Victime for his son To this Alonso the Family of the illustrious Dukes of Medina Sidonia ow their rise The Spaniards are admirable for their military discipline being exactly obedient to their Comanders and lesse subject to mutiny then any peeple They are allwayes true to their trust witnes that Spanish Centinel who was found dead in the morning in a Tower upon the Cittadel of Antwerp with his Musket in his hand in a defensive posture and standing on his leggs all frozen Moreover ther is no people so mutually charitable and carefull of their nationall honor then the Spaniards For their modern exploits the name of Alvaro Sandeo is terrible to this day among the Moors for having invaded Barbary with 4000. Spaniards and beat before him above 16. miles 20000 Moores with but 800. of his own The memory of the 2000. Spaniards is irksome to the French to this day who routed and quite discomfited Gaston de Foix who had quintuple the nomber Gonzalo call'd the great Captain 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is much spoken of amongst them to this day for having with such admirable fortitude taken away the Kingdom of Naples from Lewis the 12. and being return'd to Spain the King took off a Gold chain from off his own neck and hang'd it about his Antonio de Leiva was a stout and sedulous Commander so was the Count de Fuentes Don Pedro Encques who did not only defend but extend the boundaries of Belgium for the King his Master and in the midst of a double warr took such Towns that might be in the wish but not in the hope of the Flemish The Italians do yet tremble at the name of Don Fernand Alvarez Duke of Alva and his ghost who wold not take Rome when he could He who terrified France secur'd Hungary subdued Afrique and appeas'd both Germans high and low He who chastis'd Spain He who first after the death of Don Sebastian told King Philip that it was fitting he shold see the rites of buriall to be perform'd in Lisbon for King Sebastian Then Henry being dead in lesse then 50. dayes space he enter'd survay'd and subjugated all Portugall And it was said se regnum Lusitanieum eo modo quo regnum caelorum acquiritur cepisse c. That he had taken the Kingdom of Portugall in the same manner as the Kingdom of Heaven is got that is by eating bread and drinking water and abstaining from other mens goods And this was sayd because his Souldiers liv'd upon their allowance only having no benefit of booty in any Towns as they passed such a regular and strict Order was observed in his Army We Germans do yet contemplat with admiration the exploit that a band of Spanish Soldiers did perform in the Saxon warr when stripping themselfs naked they leap'd into the Elve with their Swords in their mouths and swimming to the other side did fight for new cloathes and did notable feats afterwards Don Christopher Mandragon did do things in the low Countreys beyond belief I could produce here a long scrowle of other late notable Spanish Commanders therfore all things well ponder'd it may be justly said Hispania Rerum potitur in Europa The Spaniards are the men of Europe and their King the considerablest Monark for he hath not only all Spain united under him and reduc'd to one Empire but he hath taken footing both in Germany and France by the House of Burgandy He possesseth above half Italy by having the Duchie of Milan with the Kingdomes of Naples and Calabria the first is the heart of Lombardy and the second the very marrow of Italy Then hath he Sicily Sardinia the Baleares and all the Ilands in the Mediterranean He hath Piombino in Toscany Port Hercules Telamon Orbitello Porto Longone all which bind the Italians to their good behaviour towards him Genoa is as it were under his protection like a Partridge under a Faulcons wings who can seize upon the prey when he lift That Citty being his scale for conveyance of his tresure is grown infinitely rich by his money and tied to him by an indissoluble knot Nay Rome her self by making som of the Cardinalls his Pensioneries is much at his devotion The Spaniard hath don more then Alexander the Great for he hath not only got much of the old world but conquered a new one for which the Greek sighed so much And if we beleeve the Civill Lawyers he hath don this justly for 't is the sentence of the Almighty Quicquid calcaverit pes tuus Wheresoever thou shalt tread with thy foot shall be thine the Heavens is the Lords but he hath given the Earth among the Sonns of Men. Moreover Reason dictats unto us that men who live like brute Animalls or wild Beasts shold be reduc'd to civility and to the knowledg of the true God Besides it is the Law of Nations Quae bona nullius sunt ea fieri Occupantium Those goods
Spain expand themselfs further The Sun doth perpetually shine upon som part of the Phillippean Monarchy for if it sets in one clime it then riseth in another He hath dominion on both the Hemisphers and none of all the four Monarchies could say so much nor any Potentat now living but himself Therfore he may well joyn the Sphear of the world to his armes and better share Empires with Iove then Augustus Caesar could his Scepter points at the four Cardinal corners of the world East West North and South for of those 360. degrees in the Aequinoctiall Portugall alone is said to occupie 200. Iupiter in coelis in Terra regnat Iberus Most Illustrious Auditors you have hitherto heard the magnitude of the Spanish Monarchy but that which tends most to the glory of Spain is her policy and prudence in governing so many distinct Regions so many squandred Kingdoms so many millions of people of differing humours customes and constitutions To be able to Rule so many Nations is more then to raign over them the one is imputed to the outward strength of bodies the other to the Sagacity of the brain but for Spain her self ther is that sweet harmony twixt the Prince and peeple the one in obeying the other in bearing rule that it is admirable and here the Spanish King hath the advantage of all other Imperando parendo He is neither King of Asses as the French is nor the King of Devills as the English is nor the King of Kings as the Emperour glories to be but the King of Spain is Rex Hominum the King of Men he may also be termed the King of Princes according to the Character which Claudian gives Spain that she was Principibus faecunda piis There also as he signs Fruges aeraâ—…ia Miles Vndique conveniunt totoque ex orbe leguntur Haec generat qui cuncta regunt Therfore let Candy the Cradle of Iove let Thebes the Mother of Hercules and Delos the nurse of two Gods yeeld to Spain It was she who brought forth Trajan to the world who was as good as Augustus was happie she gave Hadrian the Emperour she gave Theodosius the first and the first of Emperours for Morality and Vertue who rays'd and rear'd up again the Roman Monarchy when she was tottering Ferdinand the first who was an Infant of Spain a Prince who for liberty and justice for mansuetude and munificence for assiduity and vigilance for piety and peace was inferiour to none of his progenitors and to this day they keep in Spain the Cradle and Rattles he us'd when he was a child in Complutum where he was born which Town enjoyes to this day some speciall immunities for his Nativity there But Spain gave all these Princes to other Nations how many hath she affoorded her self she gave Ferdinand of Aragon a Prince of incomparable piety and prowesse who first lay'd the foundation of the Spanish Monarchy by matching with Donam Isabella Queen of Castile a heavenly Princesse she gave Philip the second call'd the prudent and so he was to a proverb how cautious was he in administration of Justice how circumspect in distribution of Offices how judicious in rewarding of Men c. how wary in conferring of honors for he was us'd to say that honors conferred upon an unworthy man was like sound Meat cast into a corrupt Stomack What a great example of Parsimony was he yet Magnificent to a miracle witnes the eighth wonder of the world the Escuriall which stupendous fabrick he not only saw all finished before his death though the building continued many yeers but he enjoy'd it himself twelve yeers and carried his own bones to be buried in the Pantheon he had built there He was so choyce in the election of his Servants that he had no Barber for his Ambassador nor Taylor for his Herald nor Physition for his Chancellor as we read of Lewis the XI of France nor a Faukner to his chief Favorit as the last French King had But that which was signall in this wise K. was that he never attempted any great busines but he wold first refer it to the Councel of Conscience And before the Acquisition of Portugall he shewed a notable example hereof For King Sebastian being slain in a rash War against the Moores and Henry dying a little after ther were many Candidates and pretenders for the Lusitanian Crown first Philip himself then Philibert Duke of Savoy after him Farnessius Duke of Parma then Iohn Duke of Bragansa and lastly Katherine de Medici King Philip though t was in vain to compasse this businesâ—… by Legations therfore he did it with his Legions yet he paus'd long upon the busines referring it to the debate of the learnedst Theologues and Civill Doctors where it was eventilated and canvas'd to and fro with all the wit and arguments the brain of man could affoord pro con At last the title and right being adjudg'd for him and having fairly demanded it in a peaceable way and being put off he raiseth an Army answerable to the greatnes of the work and yet being advanc'd to the borders he made a halt and summons again both Divines and Civillians to deliver their knowledg and consciences herin conjuring them by God and the sacred Faith to do it with integrity and freedom Herupon they all unanimously concur'd in the confirmation of their former judgment as Ripsius doth testifie After this great transaction he sends the Duke of Alva with an army to take possession of his right wherin he was so prosperous that he invaded survay'd and subjugated the whole Kingdom of Portugall in a very short time utterly defeating Don Antonio whom though King Philip might have surpriz'd a good while before lurking in a Monastery yet he would not do it Besides he caus'd the Duke of Bragansa's Son being Captif among the Moores to be redeem'd at his own charge and when he could have detained him yet he suffer'd him to go where he would Now having debell'd and absolutely reduc'd the Kingdom of Portugall among many others who were his Opposers the Doctors of Conimbria were most busy yet he sent them not only a generall pardon but encreased the exhibitions of the University This mighty King was also a great Lover of his Countrey preferring the publick incolumity therof before his own bloud his only Son Charls who being a youngman of a restles ambitious spirit and being weary of the compliance he ow'd his Father was us'd to carry Pistolls ready cock'd about him in the day and put them under his pillow in the night He confest to his ghostly Father that he had a purpose to kill a Man and being denied absolution from him he desir'd that he would give him unconsecrated bread before the Congregation to avoid publick offence King Philip being told of this confin'd his Son and put him over to the Councell of the Inquisition The Councell deliver'd their opinion and humbly thought that since his Majesty
about him and worship him for so he may command the Spaniards not to be â—…oruell unto us Ther is not far from Conimbria in Spain a Well call'd 〈◊〉 which swallowes any thing that 's cast into it and yet she is never full as 't is found by experience it seems the Spaniards have an Analogie with that Well in reference to Gold which they have swallow'd in the Indies and yet are never satisfied And as the Spaniard is covetous so is he extreamly cruell for how many millions of men hath he made away in America Bartholome de Casa affirmes that in 45. yeers there were above ten millions of humane soules though Savage kill'd in the new world as they call it in so much that the Indian Husbands forbore to lye with their wives for fear they should prove with child and bring more slaves for the Spaniards These millions before mention'd were kill'd out right and if we add to them those who have died of working in the mines of doing the offices of Asses Oxen and Mules to what a number do you thinke will they accrew som of them carry burdens upon their back of 160. pound weight and that above 300. Miles How many of these poor wretches have perished by water as well as by land being forc'd to dive so many fadomes deep for the fishing of Perl and to stay there somtimes halfe an houre under water panting and drawing in the same breath all the while and being fed of purpose with corse bisket and dry things to be long-winded for that work And if what is reported be tru they hunt the poor Indians with doggs to find them sport wherupon ther goes a tale of a Spaniard who to exercise his dog and make himself some sport with an old Woman made shew as if he sent her with a letter to the Governor of the next town hard by the poor woman being gone a flight shot off he let slip his dog after her which being com neer she fell down on her knees saying Senior dog Senior dog do not kill me for I am going with letters from your Master to the Governour the dog it seems was mov'd with compassion and so only lift up his legg and piss'd upon her One may easily imagine how detestable the Spaniards became to these poor Pagans for these cruelties there is a tale of Hathu Cacico a stout Indian who being to dye was perswaded by a Franciscan Fryer to turn Christian then he shold go to Heaven Cacico ask'd whether ther were any Spaniards in Heaven yes said the Fryer 't is full of them Nay then said he I had rather go to Hell then have their company But how hath the Indian discovery prosper'd or what profit hath it brought to Europe It cannot be denyed but we brought among them all slavery and cruelty and I beleeve more vices and infirmities then we found we brought them the small Pox the gastliest disease that can befall a humane body and in exchange they gave us the Venerean Pox Touching the tresure that hath been transported thence it hath fomented all the Warrs of Europe ever since upon this a French Poet descants wittily Par Toy superbe Espagne lo'r de tes doublons Toute la pouvre France insensez nous troublons Et si de tes doublons qui causent tant de troubles Il ne nous reste rien a la fin que de doubles Plutarch speakes of Attinius Asiaticus who brought Gold first into Peloponnesus but it was found that it became an instrument of corruption therfore Attinius was accounted a publick enemy to his Countrey the Indian Gold in Europe hath not bin only the cause of corruption but of the effusion of an Ocean of bloud Nor hath it much prosper'd with the Spaniard for although such a Masse of tresure hath been transported from time to time yet Spain hath the least of it for the common coyn there is copper and no countrey fuller of it Moreover Spain may be said to furnish all the world yea the great Turk with tresure to fight against her self and the rest of Christendom This Indian tresure hath wrought another disadvantage to the Spanish King for it hath puff'd him up with a pride and an ambition that hath no horizon it makes him flatter himself that he shall be at last Monark of the Western world which drawes upon him not onely the Emulation but the hatred of all his Neighbours who are ready ever and anon to confederat and bandy against him for fear he shold swallow them up one after another to satiat his ambition It was a witty saying of King Iames when he was only King of Scotland when he receav'd a caveat from his Godmother Queen Elizabeth of England to take heed of the Spanish fleet He answer'd Se non aliud ab Hispano beneficium expectare quam quod Ulyssi Polyphemus promiserat scilicit ut aliis devoratis postremus degluriretur For his part he desir'd but one request of the Spaniard such a one that Polyphemus had promis'd Ulysses that when he had devour'd others he wold swallow him last of all Now as among those poor Pagan Indians the cruelty of the Spaniard was so much discover'd so was it here in Europe among Christians witnes els the Tyranny of the Duke of Alva who may be call'd the sponge of Belgian bloud for he bragg'd that he had dispatch'd to the other world above 18000. Belgians either by Fire Water the Rack or the Axe his principles being that a Rebell must be us'd like a madd dogg for whom ther is no cure but to be knock'd in the head and we know mortui non mordent Now touching the Gigantik power of the Catholique King if it be well weighed in the ballance of a knowing judgment is not so great as we conceive it to be the unsociable distance of his territories the infinit sommes he owes to the Genowayes and others the vigilance and Emulation with the apprehensions they have of his still growing greatnes the Universall dis-affection and a kind of antipathy that all Nations have to the peeple themselfs is a great weaknes to him one way as his riches and power another way For matter of Justice who is the Queen of Vertues I beleeve she raigns as little in Spain as among any peeple unlesse it be among themselfs nor universally among themselfs but only the Castilians may have her with more ease and lesse expences then their Conterraneans and the rest of their Fellow-subjects I will produce an example of an Arragonez who having a sute there long depending which put him to mighty expence and attendance at last he came to the King himself Philip the second who opening his businesse unto him gave him this absolute Answer Ther 's nothing that you have propos'd can be granted Sir answer'd the Aragones I thank you that you have refuted the lies of threescore Ministers of yours in so few words who with much expence
lay my head upon is fill'd with Amazonian hair my Cushion is made of a Turban took off from the Sultans head my Coverlet is the skin of that Nemean Lion which Hercules kill'd my Courtains are made up of colours and Ensignes taken in divers battailes when I march into the field I commonly carry two drumms as pendants at my eares I am lul'd asleep by noyse of trumpets and brasse kettles and Perillus bull stretch'd along serves me for a pillow The month and day of my Nativity was Mars who was then the predominant Planet and my Ascendant I came into the world about break of day Sol himself then suffer'd an Eclypse Saturn stood astonish'd and dull Iove and Mercury hid themselfs and Cynthia took in her hornes for fear but Mars and Venus did cast benign influences being then in Conjunction yet that morning it rain'd blood the streames of the greatest River turn'd redd Mongibel and strombola belch'd out more fire then ordinary terrible Earth-quakes happen'd in divers places Eolus blew very furious which rais'd such impetuous stormes that made Neptune to tumble and swell very high Nere the place which I was nurst in ther was a den of Lions that I might be inur'd to their roaring and one time my Mother caus'd a yong cubb to be slain of purpose to feed me with the bloud thereof To conclude I am that Invincible transcendent great Captain Basilisco Espheramonte Generalissimo of all the Melitia of Europe I am he who useth to swallow mountains to breath out whirlwinds to spit Targets and sweat Quicksilver By this Rodomontado you may give a guesse at the vanity and extravagant humour of the Spaniard who though he be not so big yet he looks higher then any other Nation in his own conceit which makes them have that vapouring saying of themselfs in point of valour that Tres espanoles son quatro diables en Francia three Spaniards are fower Devills in France When Mendoza was Ambassador in France he wold break out often into this prophane Ostentation Dios es poderoso en el Cielo y Don Felipe en Tierra Gods power is in Heaven and King Philips on earth he can command both Sea and Land with all the Elements to serve him When the English Drake swomme to Santo Domingo and plunder'd the place ther was a Pyramis erected in the Market-place whereon was engraven this arrogant Motto Non sufficit Orbis one world will not suffice Don Philip yet that Philip that invincible Philip was overcom at last by a Regiment of poor contemptible things for Herod-like he went out of the world by the pediculary disease which made no mean modern Poet to sing Rex Ille Philippus Tot populis Terrisque potens lateque Tyrannus Occiditu â faedo rosus grege Vermieulorum Carnificesque suos miserando corpore pavit Vivens atque Videns propria funera planxit Som imputed this foul gastly kind of death to his lasciviousnes and lust som gave out it was a judgment upon him for doing away his Son Don Carlos others gave out that hé suffer'd for Alva's Tyranny in Flanders som gave out it was for bereaving Portugall of her right Heir But most affirm'd it was a visible judgment from Heaven because the bloud of so many hundred thousands of poor American souls did cry for vengeance who for their Gold and Silver were made away and extinguished by so many kindes of deaths according to the Italian proverb La coda condanna spesso la volpe alla morte per esser troppo lunga The Foxes tayl condemns him to death because it is too long How far further could I enlarge my self on this subject but I will grate the eares of so princely an auditory no longer therfore I will conclude with a character which a most ingenuous Poet gives of one part of Spain when he sayld thence to France Iejuna misera tesqua Lusitaniae Gebaeque tantùm fertiles penuriae Valeta longùm At tu beata Gallia Salve bonarum blanda nutrix Artium Caelo Salubri fertili frugum solo Umbrosa colles pampini molli comâ Pecorosa saltus rigna Valles fontibus Prati virentis picta campos floribus Velifera longis Amnium decursibus Piscosa stagni rivulis lacubus mari Et hinc illinc portoso littore Orbe receptans hospitem atque Orbi tuas Opes vicissim non avara impertiens Amaena Villis tuta muris turribus Superba testis lauta culta splendida Victu modesta moribus non aspera Sermone comis patria gentium Omnium Communis animis fida pace florida Iucunda facilis Marte terrifico minax Invicta rebus non secundis Insolens Nec sorte dubia fracta cultrix numinis Syncera ritum in exterum non degener Nescit calores laenis aestas torridos Frangit rigores bruma flammis asperos Non pestilentis pallet Austri spiritu Autumnus aequis temperatus flatibus Non ver solutis amnium repagulis Inundat agros labores elicit Ni Patrio te Amore diligam colam Dum vivo rursus non recuso visere Iejuna miserae tesqua Lusitaniae Glebaeque tantùm fertiles penuriae Valete longùm Thus the Scottish Poet descants upon France making Portugall a foyl to her and so he might have made his own Countrey as well And now most Highborn Princes I hope ther is not any of this Auditory that will wrong his judgment so far as to think that Spain for any respects shold carry away the Palm and claime precedencie of the rest of the Provinces of Europe DIXI THE REPLY OF Prince GEORGE Baron of Studenberg c. in behalf of SPAIN Most Illustrious Auditors THis Oration of the excellent Baron of Limburg though flowing with powerful eloquence hath not under favour wrought so much in me as that gallant Encomium of yours Prince Magnus in the behalf of Spain therfore I concurr still with you in opinion that she may deserve the primacy and if the comparison that Strabo makes be admitted that Europe is like an Eagle whose head is Spain the neck France Germany the back and breast Italy and England the two Armes the thighs and leggs those huge tracts of Earth Northward I say if this Simile be allow'd ther is no question but Spain may challenge the priority and head-ship But my noble Cofen of Limburg I much wonder what came into your mind to throw so much dirt into the face of Spain and her children If you were now in the Escuriall and made such a speech before Philip the fourth I believe we shold heare no more of you but you shold be buried alive in the Inquisition all your life time But is Spain so hungry as you say that she must eat grasse Is she so weak that she needs Crutches Is she so abandond to Vice that she hath quite shaken off all Vertu and a good Conscience Surely no Touching the first she may be call'd the Exchequer of all Christendom for Money and I
was one law enacted in Canutus time Omnis homo abstineat a Venerijs meis super poenam vitae Upon pain of life let every man refrain from my deer and my hunting places The Swainmote Courts have harsh punishments and amercements and for the poor Husbandman ther 's no remedy for him against the Kings dear though they lye all night in his corn and spoile it Sarisburiensis a reverend and authentic Author comprehends all this in a few words when he speaks of the exorbitancies of England in this kind Quod magis mirere ait pedicas parare avibus laqueos texere allicere nodis aut fistula aut quibuscunque insidijs supplantare ex edicto saepe fit genus criminis vel proscriptione bonorum mulctatur vel membrorum punitur salutisque dispendio Volucres coeli pisces maris communes esse audieras sed hae Fisci sunt quas venatica exigit ubicunque volant manum contine abstine ne tu in poenam laesae majestatis venantibus caedas in praedam Anovalibus suis arcentur Agricolae dum ferae habeant vagandi libertatem illis ut pascua augeantur praedia subtrahantur Agricolis sationalia insitiva Colonis cùm pascua armentarijs gregarijs tum alvearia a floralibus excludunt ipsis quoque apibus vix naturali libertate uti permissum est But that which is more to be wondred at saith Sarisburiensis is that to lay netts to prepare trapps to allure birds by a whissle or to supplant them by any kind of wile becomes oftentimes a kind of crime by the Edicts of England and is punish'd either by amercement or some corporall punishment whereas in other climes the birds of the Air and the fish of the Sea are common but not in England they belong to the Fisk or some particular person you must hold your hand and refraine for fear of comitting treason The Yeoman is hunted away from his new plowd fields while wild beasts have liberty to wander in them at pleasure nay sometimes cattle are kept from pasture and the Bees are scarce permitted to use their naturall liberty of sucking flowers But the English tyranny doth not terminat onely in the King but it difuseth it selfe further among the Nobles In so much that as Camden relates there were in King Stephens raigne as many tyrants in England as there were Castellans or Governors of Castles Stephani Regis temporibus tot erant in Anglia tyranni quot Castellorum Domini Who arrogated to themselves regall rights and prerogatives as coyning of money marshall law and the like For now there is no Kingdom on earth Naples excepted where there have been more frequent insurrections then in England for as the Kings have been noted to be Tyrants so the subjects are branded for devills In the Civill warrs that happen'd in Comines time there were above fourescore that were slain by the fortune of war and otherwise of the blood Royall besides the Kings themselves that perish'd Whereupon when the Queen of Scots heard of the fatall sentence that was pronounc'd against her with an intrepid and undaunted heart she said as an Author of credit hath it Angli in suos Reges subinde caedibus saevierunt ut neutiquam novum sit si etiam in me ex eorum sanguine natam itidem saevierint If the English have been often so cruell in the slaughter of their own Kings it is no new thing then that they have grown so cruell to me that am descended of their blood What a horrid and destructive conjuration was that subterranean plot of the Gunpowder Treason so bloody a designe no age can parallell It was like the wish of Caligula who wish'd the peeple of Rome had had but one neck that he might cut it off at one blow He had it onely in wish but these had a reall attempt to blow up not onely the blood Royall but all the Nobility and chief Gentry of the Kingdom And Guido Faux who was to set fire to the powder did shew so little sign of feare and repentance that he boldly said It was none but the great Devill of Hell who had discovered the plot and hindred him from the execution of it that God Almighty had no hand in the discovery and prevention of that meritorious work Which if it had taken effect one of the Conspirators sayd it would have satisfied for all the sins of his whole life had he liv'd a thousand yeers after And whereas my Noble Baron you travelled in your highstrain'd and smooth Oration through all the Shires of England and pointed at some things extraordinary in every one of them you shall find that they have as many blemishes as they have blessings When you extoll the Province of Cornwall so much you should also have made mention of their Pyrrhocoracas their Sea-theeves and Pirates which are so thick as choughes among them And whereas you magnifie Drake so much he was no better then a Corsary or a Skimmer of the Seas and an Archpyrate who notwithstanding there was an Ambassador here resident from Spain and a firm peace twixt the two Crownes yet was he permitted to steal and robb by land as well as by Sea among the subjects of the King of Spain Nor did he exercise cruelty on the Spaniards and Indians only but upon his own Countrymen as for example when he landed at Port San Iulian and finding a Gallowes there set up by Magellan he hang'd up by his own power a gentleman better then himself which was Mr. Iohn Doughty meerly out of envy because he might not partake of the honor of his Expeditions You praise Devonshire and the Town of Exeter especially about which there growes nothing but thin Oates and eares without grains in many places but you should have remembred that whereas Henry Duke of that City had married Edward the fourths Sister yet in tattered raggs and barefooted he was forc'd to begge his bread up and down in Flanders Whereas you speak also of Dorsetshire you should have call'd to mind the tyranny of King Henry the third against de Linde for killing one of his Dear which was made a Hart in White Forrest for which he was not onely amerc'd in a great sum of money but the Tenants of those Gentlemen that hunted with him were condemn'd to pay every year such a tax call'd White heart Silver every year to the Exchequer You passe also over Portland a poor naked Iland without Woods or any kind of Fuel but the ordure of beasts which they use for fyring For Somersetshire what huge tracts of wast grounds are found there up and down without Inhabitants which makes it so subject to theeves and Robbers Touching Hampshire what a large act of sacriledge did King William commit there by demolishing divers Churches and takeing away the Glebes from God and men the space of thirty miles and upwards making it a wild Forrest to plant and people the Country with bruite beasts useful only for