to the present stāpe of Paris hauing the left hand tied to the crosse and the right hand free or vnbound holding in it a naked sword about which was written this saying Vpon thee and vpon thy bloud Without the three coasts or sides and before there were the falles of Icarus and of Phaeton very well wrought and it made a goodly shew to see the sisters of this young fellow by metamorphosis to be turned into popular trees one of which who had broken her hippe in running to succour her brother did naturally liuely resemble the Dowager of Montpensier all her haire hanging about her eares The first peece of tapistrie nigh to the cloath or chaire of estate was the historie of the golden calfe as it is described in the 32. chap. of Exodus where Moses and Aaron were there represented by King Henry the 3. lately dead and Monsieur late Cardinall of Bourbon Some fitnes in these representations or expositions but the golden calfe was the figure of the late Duke of Guise lifted vp on high and adored by the people and the two tables signified the fundamentall law of the Estates of Blois and the Edict of Iulie made in the yeare 1587. and in the lower part of the peece these wordes are written In the day of vengeance I will visite euen this their sinne The second peece was a great countrie as it were of diuers histories both old of this age distincted and separated one of them from another and notwithstanding very wittily referring themselues to the same perspectiue In the vpper part of it there was to bee seene that goodly entrance by night which Iohn Duke of Burgundie made into Paris and when the Parisiens cryed Christmas from the feast of all Saints At one of the corners was Harelle of Roan where a Merchant called le Gras A good choise and a meet mā for that place that is grosse or fatte was chosen King by the common people At the other corner were the Iacke men of Beuoisin with their Captaine Guillaume Caillet at the corner below were the pretie pigges or hogges of the league of Lions and at the other corner were the noble acts of the ancient Maillotins vnder these Captaines Simonnet Caboche and Iacques Aubriot the Kings of Buchers and Pillers and the whole in men cut short and seruing for nothing but for the countrey But at the bottome and in the midst of the peece there were expressed by figure and liuely set out the barricados of Paris where men might behold a King who was simple plaine and a good Catholike and who had done so many good turnes and giuen so many priuiledges to the Parisiens to be driuen out of his owne house and beset on all sides with tunnes and barrels to take him There were represented also diuers braue stratagems or warlike deuises Meet men to manage such matters of the Sirs or Knights who did leade Tremont Chastigneray Flauacourt and other rammers of the pauement we call them pauiers to the place of honour and in the lowest part of the sayd peece were written these foure verses Iupiter with his tunnes or fats Doth bring vs good and ill also But by these new vpstarts he doth The whole cast downe and ouerthrowe The third peece contained the historie of Absalom that with barricados distressed his father and draue him out of the citie of Ierusalem hauing by vnworthie entertaining and making much of gained and corrupted the most base and beggerly porters of the common people Afterwards there was shewed the punishment that he receiued therefore and how Achitophel his wicked counsellor did accursedly finish his daies all the faces and countenances approched nigh vnto or were like to some of the sayd Estates and there were easily knowne the President Ianin Marteau Ribault others to whom the late Duke of Guise made so many goodly shewes in the assemblie of the Estates at Blois Faire words make fooles faine also there were seene Choulier la Rue Pocart Senault and other butchers and horse coursers euen as base and low as dike-clensers and kennell rakers all people and persons of honour in their occupations which the foresayd dead martyr did kisse on their mouthes for zeale of religion The fourth represented in grosse the feates of armes of the murthers done in old time and in our age also otherwise called Bedouins and Arsacides who feared not to goe and kill euen in the chamber and in the bed those whom their imagined Prince Aloadin It seemeth to me he meaneth the Pope or some that hold that part surnamed the olde of sixe or seuen mountaines should commaund them Amongst others there were two very apparant figures the one of a certaine Countie of Tripoli murthered by a Sarazin zealous of his religion whilest he kissed his hands the other of a King of France and Poland trayterously striken with a knife by a wicked Monke or Frier yet pretending zeale vpon his knees presenting vnto him a letter sent him and vpon the forehead of the sayd Monke or Frier there was written in great letters the transposition of the letters of his name Frier Iames Clement IT IS HEL THAT HATH CREATED ME. In the fift men might behold the battaile of Senlis where Monsieur d'Aumale was made Constable and had giuen him for his labour the winged and hot spurres by Monsieur de Longueville a politike Prince and an arme of yron by la Nouē and Givry his suffragan About the same were written these verses by foures as we say or one foure after another Nature giueth to euery one Feete to succour them from fall Feete saue the man and he Needes but to runne well withall This valiant Prince d'Aumale Though he runne full well in breath And though that he did lose his maile Yet could he not ouerrunne death They that were of his traine Did not sleepe in any place Sauing by their happie flight Of their doublets the fine case When the barricade is ope For feare of blame to come Tarrie not I say behind It needes but well to runne To runne is worth a crowne Runners men honest are Tremont Balagny and Congis The same can well declare To runne well is no vice Men runne to get that is aught It is an honest exercise A good runner was neuer caught He that runnes well is able man And hath God for his stay But Chamois and Meneville Did not runne enough away Oft he that doth abide Is cause of his owne paine But he that fleeth in good tide Perhaps may fight againe It s better to fight with feete To riue the aire and winde Then to be killed and beaten For comming slow behind He that in life hath honour Should therefore death sure shunne When out of life he goeth There needes but well to runne And at the corner of the sayd peece there was to bee seene Pigenat in his bed sicke inraged mad and furious with this fortune and waiting for an
of Aubray which had in charge to speake for the third estate and contested that it did belong to none but to him to speake that day of the barricades and that they were neuer accustomed in Fraunce to make more than three estates and so hee let that the deputie of the new nobilitie was heard as being but a dependence and a member of the saide third estate The said Lord of Angouleuent disputed long time on his part saying that euery one was there for his money and began againe sundry times these three wordes Monsieur the twelfth and at euery time he was interrupted At the last as the rumor increased and this factions for the one and the other were alreadie heate so farre as to come for it to the blowes of the fist the aduocate of Orleans remonstrated that it was no more time now to rest vpon the auncient formes which were but for shoe makers and coblers nor yet vpon the ceremonies of times past saue onely in the fact of faith and religion A strong exception or else that will down also and that the assembly of the said estates should be vnprofitable if they did not all things therein after the new manner And as for him that hee had seene the remembrances and instructions of the new nobility which deserued very well to bee considered of Notwithstanding considering now that it was somewhat late and that Monsieur the Lieutenant was fresh and fasting and the houre of Monsieur the Legates dinner was past hee required Well added for it is not easilie done that the said Lord of Angouleuent should put his speech in writing and deliuer it vp and should holde his tongue if he could otherwise and for defaulte thereof he should be sent to the Countie de Choysie which thing Monsieur the Lieutenant approued with his head And the rumor being by 〈◊〉 and little ceased and the foresaide d' Angouleuent hardly set downe againe the saide Lorde d' Aubray deputie of the third estate hauing laid aside his sword spake his oration very nigh after this manner The oration of Monsieur d' Aubray for the third Estate BY our Ladie Messieurs A patheticall exordium you haue giuen vs a goodly speech There is no neede now that our Curats should preach vnto vs that we ought to drawe our selues out of the mudde and to make our selues cleane As touching that which I see by your discourse It is a maruaile if euer they can come out the poore Parisiens haue enough of it already within their bootes and it will bee very hard to pull them out of the mudde and mire From henceforth it is time for vs to perceiue that the false Catholicon of Spayne is a drugge that taketh men by the nose and that it is not without cause that other nations call vs little quailes because that as poore quailes that are hooded and very credulous the preachers and Sorbonists No vnfit resemblance by their inchaunting quaile pipes haue caused vs euen to giue our selues into the nettes of tyrants who haue afterwards put vs into a cage and shut vs vp within our walles to teach vs to sing wee cannot but confesse that wee are at this time taken and made greater seruants and slaues than the Christians in Turkie or the Iewes in Auignon We haue no more either will or voyce in the chapiter or assembly We haue no more any thing proper or that wee may well say this is mine You Messieurs that set your foote vpon our throate and fill our houses with garnisons haue and possesse all Our priuiledges franchises freedomes and auncient liberties are ouerthrowne and taken away Our towne house which I haue seene to bee the sure refuge of the succors of our kings in their vrgent and weightie affaires A sore change is become a butcherie our court of Parliament is none at all our Sorbonne is a brothell house and the vniuersitie become sauage or wilde And yet the extremitie of our miseries is this that in the middest of so many mischiefes and needes it is not permitted vs to complaine nor to demaunde succor and hauing death as it were betweene our teeth we must of necessitie say that we are in good health A pittifull and iust complaint and that we are very happie to be so wretched for so good a cause O Paris that art no more Paris but a denne of outragious beasts and a citadell of Spaniards Wallons and Neapolitanes a sanctuarie and sure retrait of robbers murtherers and killers Wilt thou neuer thinke againe of thy dignities and remember thy selfe what thou hast been in comparison of that thou art Wilt thou neuer cure thy selfe of this frensie that for a lawfull and gracious king hast begotten vnto thy selfe fiftie little kings or wrens rather and yet fiftie tyrants Beholde thou art in irons The spanish Inquisition beholde thou art in the inquisition of Spayne more intollerable a thousand folde and more hard to bee borne and indured of spirits that are borne liberall and free as French men are than the most cruell deaths that Spaniards can deuise Thou wast not able to beare a small augmentation and increase of taxes and offices or some new edicts The fruites of senseles treason that did not much import thee and yet now thou indurest men to poll thy houses to pill and to sacke thee euen vnto blood to imprison the Senators to driue away and banish thy good citizens and counsellors yea to hang and to murther thy principall magistrates Thou seest this thou indurest this yea thou doest not onely indure it but thou doest approue it and praise it and thou darest not neither canst thou tell how to doe otherwise Thou couldest not support and beare with thy king so gracious so gentle so easie so familiar that made himselfe a fellow citizen with thee and burgesse of thy towne that hee inriched thee that he hath garnished thee with glorious and sumptuous buildings increased thy forts and stately ramperts and adorned thee with honorable priuiledges and immunities What say I couldest not support and beare with It is much worse Kindenes rendred for good Thou hast chased him out of his owne towne out of his owne house out of his owne bed What say I chased him thou hast pursued him what pursued thou hast murthered him and canonized the murtherer for a saint and made bonfires for his death And now thou seest how much that death of his hath profited thee For that is the cause why another is ascended into his place much more watchfull much more laborious and a far better warriour that knoweth better to keepe thee in somewhat more straitely as to thy damage and hurt thou hast alreadie proued I pray you Messieurs if it were permitted to cast yet these last abois in libertie let vs a little consider what good or what profit hath come vnto vs by this detestable death which our preachers did make vs beleeue was the
power of God intermingled therewith as some say that the spirits intermingle and cast the thunder betweene and within the clowdes in which they make these straunge and fearfull fires that doe very farre and much passe the materiall and elementarie fire I will not say that you were he that chose particularly that wicked fellowe which hell created He meaneth Frier Iames Clement to goe and giue that execrable blowe which the very furies of hell themselues would haue feared to haue done But it is very evident that before he went about this accursed enterprise Sometimes it is not amisse to be a blabbe of a mans tongue you saw him and I could well tell the places where and the times when if I would You incouraged him you promised him Abbeyes Bishoprickes mountaines and meruailes and ye left the rest to bee done to Madame your sister to the Iesuits and to the Prior of his order who passed some what further promised him nothing lesse thē a place in paradise aboue the Apostles if it fell out that he were martyred That it was so that ye were very well aduertised of all the mysterie or secret you caused the people that spake of yeelding themselues to be preached vnto and taught that they would yet haue patience but seuen or eight daies Good reason all lead by one murthering spirit and that before the ende of the weeke they should see some great matter that should set vs in our former rest and quietnes The preachers of Roan of Orleans and of Amiens preached it at the same time and in the same tearmes Afterwarde so soone as your Frier possessed with a diuell was departed you caused to bee arrested and apprehended for prisoners in this citie more than two hundred of the principall citizens and others whom yee thought to haue goods friends and to be of credit with them of the Kings side as a precaution or forewarning wherwith you purposed to serue your selues The name of some diuel signifying therby the murtherer Clement to redeeme that wicked Astaroth in case he were either taken before the facte or after the facte For hauing the pledge of so many honest men you supposed that they durst neuer put that murtherer to death because of the threatning which yee had giuen out that yee would cause to die in the way of change for him those whom you kept prisoners who in truth are much bound to them that in a headlong heate or choller slewe with the blowes of their rapiers that wicked wretch after hee had giuen his stroake And you your selfe ought not lesse to thanke them For had they suffred him to liue as they might haue done and put him into the hands of iustice It is almost as wel discouered now we had had the whole thread of the enterprise naturally and liuely deducted and you had beene there incouched in white clothes for a marke of your disloyaltie and felonie that neuer would haue beene blotted out But God did no so permit it and we know not yet the end wherto he keepeth you For if the examples of former times doe carrie with them any consequence A very large assertion but yet for the most part true to iudge of the affaires of the time present wee neuer sawe yet vassall or subiecte that enterprised to driue his Prince out of his kingdome to die in his bed I will not strengthen this maxime or rule by many histories nor resute those which our preachers alledge to defende and iustifie that horrible act I will speake of no more but two the one out of the Bible and the other out of the Romane histories You haue heard it may be some preach that those that slew Absalom though he were vp in armes against his father his King and his countrie were notwithstanding punished with death A man shall hardly see such iustice in Frāce or Spaine by the commaundement of Dauid against whom hee made warre If you haue read the conflicts that were made between Galba Otho and Vitellius for the Empire of Rome you haue read found that Vitellius put to death more then sixe hundred men who bragged that they had slaine Galba his predecessor had presented a petition to be recompenced therfore It may be he meaneth Machiuel which he did not as saith the author who at this day serueth insteede of an Euangelist to many for the friendship that he caried to Galba nor for the honour that hee ment to doe him but to teach all princes to assure their life and their present estate and to cause them that shuld dare to attempt any thing against their persons to know vnderstand that an other prince their successor though perhaps their enemie after some one sort or other would reueng their death And this is the cause wherefore you Monsieur the Lieutenant had great wrong to make shew of so great ioy Woe to them that laugh now for they shal weepe hauing knowne the newes of that cruell accident that befel him by whose death you should enter into the waies of the kingdome You made bonfires or fires of reioycing where you should indeed haue obserued funerals you tooke indeed a greene scarfe in token of reioycing whereas ye ought to haue doubled and redoubled your blackes in signe of mourning Good imitable exāples You should haue imitated Dauid who caused Saules bones to be gathered together and to bee honorably buried although that by the meanes of his death he remained a peaceable King and lost thereby his greatest enemie Or to haue done as Alexander the great who caused sumptuous obsequies to bee made for Darius or as Iulius Caesar who wept with hotte and bitter reares vnderstanding of the death of Pompey his competitor and deadly aduersary and put them to death that had slaine him What could a man of a base and bad mind doe els But you cōtrarie to the practises of these great personages did laugh make feastes and bonfires and all fortes of ioy when you vnderstoode of the cruell death of him from whome you held all that you and your predecessors had or haue of wealth of honour and of authoritie And not content with these common reioycings which did sufficiētly witnesse how much you approued this accursed acte you caused the murtherers picture to be made shewed it publikely abroad All this whatsoeuer is but the reward of iniquitie as if it had beene of a canonized saint You caused his mother and kinred to be sought out that you might enrich them with publike almes to the end that this might be a lure and a baite for others that would vndertake to giue yet such an other blowe to the King of Nauar vnder hope assurāce which they might receiue by the example of this new martyr that after their death they shuld be so sanctified their kinred wel recōpensed But I wil not further examine your conscience
had ordinarily incomparable processions who haue obscured the glittering and glorie of the goodliest mummeries that euer were seene Wee haue caused to bee sowen vnder hand and that throughout all France the Catholicon of Spayne yea some such Doublons or double Duckets as haue had meruailous effects euen to the blew politike cords What could I haue done more but to giue my selfe to the diuels for the pledge and aduancement of Hyrie as I haue done Reade Iosephus bookes touching the warres of the Iewes for that is as it were such another fact as ours is and iudge whether those hote fellowes Simon and Iohn haue had more inuentions and disguisements of their matters to make stiffe and obstinate the poore people of Ierusalem to dye thorowe the rage of famine then I haue had to cause to dye with the same death a hundred thousand soules within this citie of Paris yea to proceed so farre that the mothers should eate their owne children as they did in that holie citie Reade this historie I pray you and for the cause aboue specified and ye shall finde that I haue not spared any more then they did the most holie reliques and things of greatest vse in the Church that I could cause to bee molten for my affayres I haue a hundred times broken my faith particularly sworne to my friends kindred that I might come to that which I desired without making shewe of it and my cousin the Duke of Lorraine and the Duke of Sauoy knowe well what to say concerning this poynt whose affayres I haue alwayes set behinde the cause of the French Church and mine owne matters And as touching publique faith I haue alwayes supposed that the ranke or degree which I holde did sufficiently dispense with me therefore and the prisoners which I haue held with mee or caused to pay raunsome against my promise or against their composition that I made with them cannot any whit at all vpbrayd me because I haue absolution for it from my great amner and confessor I will not speake of the voyages which I haue caused to me made against the Biarnois to astonish and at once to amaze him where I neuer thought it The cunningest on my side haue been imbarqued therein and haue felt nothing thereof but the freshnes of the rasor Neither should this displease Ville-roy who went not thereto but in good faith as you may beleeue I haue indeede allured others that bragge not of it neither and who haue treated for me to two diuers ends or purposes as well to hasten forward our friends to succour vs as to astonish and amaze our enemies with mustard And if the Biarnois would haue beleeued some one or other of his Councell who haue a graine of this Catholicon vpon their tongue and who haue alwayes cryed out that they must make nothing more sharpe for feare of making all desperate wee should now haue faire play in stead that we see the people euen of themselues disposed to wish and demaund peace a thing that wee ought all of vs to feare more then death and I for my part would loue a hundred times better to become a Turke or a Iewe with the good grace and leaue of our holy father then to see these same relapsed heretikes to returne and to enioy their goods Long prescription which you and I now enioy and that by iust title and good faith a yeare and a day and aboue to O God my friends what will become of vs if we must render all back againe If I must returne to my old condition how shall I maintaine my plate and my gards Must I passe thorow the Secretaries and treasurers of the Exchequer and warriors altogether new fellowes wheras ours passe thorowe mine owne hands Let vs dye yea let vs dye rather then come there It is a braue buriall euen the ruine and destruction of so great a kingdome as this is vnder which it is better for vs to be buried if we be not able to graspe or catch that which is aboue There was neuer man that ascended so high as I am that would come downe but by hie force There are many gates to enter into the power which I haue but there is but one onely issue to get out of it and that is death This is the cause why I seeing that a heape of politikes that are amongst vs would offer vnto vs the head of their peace and of their French monarchie haue aduised my selfe to present vnto them a maske and mummerie of the Estates after that I had differred it as long as I could to illude and make to waxe cold the present pursuites of their deputies and I haue called you here together with you to giue order thereto to turne ouer together their quiers that so I may know where the disease holdeth them and who are our friends and who are our enemies But yet not to lye vnto you herein A mā of good conscience I doe it for no other purpose then to shut vp their beakes and bils and to make them beleeue that we trauaile very much for the publike good and minde very willingly to make an agreement for the good people notwithstanding all this shall not pisse much better contented I know there are none here but our friends no more thē there was in the Estates at Blois by cōsequent I assure my selfe that al of you would do as much for me as for euery one of you namely that I or some one Prince of our house might be King If you be not deceiued and you shall finde that the best for you Yet so it is that this cannot be done so soone and there is yet a Masse to bee sayd and there must be made a great breach in the kingdome because it will be conuenient that we giue a good part of it to them that should helpe vs in this busines On the other side you well foresee the daungers and inconueniences of peace which setteth all things in order and yeeldeth right to whom it appertaineth and therefore it is much better to hinder it then to thinke of it And concerning my selfe I sweare vnto you A holie and religious oath by the deare and welbeloued head of mine eldest sonne that I haue no veine that reacheth not thereto and I am as farre from that as the earth is from heauen for although I haue made shewe by my last declaration by my subsequent answer that I do desire the conuersion of the King of Nauarre I pray you to beleeue that I desire nothing lesse and that I loue rather to see my wife my nephew and all my cousins and kinsfolkes dead then to see this Biarnois at Masse that is not the place where I itch I haue not written and published it but with a purpose and deuise euen no otherwise then Monsieur the Legate maketh his exhortation to the French people And all those escripts or writings which Monsieur of
Lions hath made and will make concerning that subiect or matter are not but of an intent to hold the people in wayting for some good aduenture you vnderstand me well which the fathers Iesuits will procure to make a second holie martyr And from elsewhere it is as much diuision and as great weakening and infeebling to our enemies and as great preparatiues for the third side where wee haue also a good part as being a great meane if it clatter and make a noise for vs well to performe our businesses and for the aduancement wherof I pray you to employ your alliances and intelligences as I do mine not to constraine the heretike to turne his coate for I neither desire it nor meane it and I assure my selfe that he will neuer doe nothing that way he hath so great an obstinate hart which is the thing I demaund to the ende that he may alwayes remaine in his skinne which will get vs very many good Catholike Apostolike and Romane friends inspired with the holie spirit which wil much hinder him on their behalfe and will put him into a great accessorie and I assure my selfe that the King which they will make will not counterpoise me in the ballance It were hard if not moÌ„strous that he should Whatsoeuer fall out we haue sent thick threefold our agents to Rome as Monsieur the Cardinall of Pelue my good master can witnesse vnto you to ouerthrow the negotiation of the Cardinall of Gondy who will not chafe therefore more then he ought and the practises of the Marquis of Pisani who is too good a Frenchman for vs who are gone to Rome to seeke finde if they can a good way for peace But wee haue stirred vp our Ambassadors of Spayne to protest against their audience and against that that the Pope would doe concerning the pretended conuersion of the Biarnois Monsieur the Legate hath ayded vs to make our remembrances and instructions and for his part will imploy therein all his abilities and strong confederations of the Consistorie Strong props And if his holines doe otherwise I know well how we must haue reason therein and bring him thereto namely by threatning him that wee are very well able to make in this case our owne agreement and accord with the politikes and that with the losses and disaduantage of the Church of Rome Also would you not counsell me that for one Masse which the King of Nauarre should cause to bee sung which God forbid I should demise my selfe from the power that I haue and of a halfe King that I am to become a seruant that so I might cause the tempest of this warre to fall vpoÌ„ the head of these good Catholike Spanyards our friends Good teachers for such schollers who will teach vs to beleeue in God It is very true that if the sayd conuersion fall out in good earnest I shall be in great paine and trouble and shall hold the woolfe by the eares Notwithstanding Monsieur of Lions and our good preachers haue taught me that it is not in the power of God to pardon a relapsed heretike and that the Pope himselfe cannot giue him absolution no not in the very article or poynt of death which wee ought to holde for the thirteenth article of our faith New Creedes ioyned and adde it to the Apostles Creed yea that if the Pope would intermeddle in it wee would make him himselfe to bee excommunicate by our mother of Sorbonne who knoweth more Latin then he Good praise and drinketh more Catholikely then the Consistorie of Rome This then is the poynt vpon which we must principally insist by what meanes we shall hinder the peace and shall make immortal warre in France Monsieur of Lions knoweth very well that the King of Spayne and I haue promised him vpon our honour a red hat if he can doe so much by his rhetorike to come to that end and his sister hath alreadie receiued for pledges a carcan or little chest of three thousand Duckets and a chaine of Catholike pearles with a hundred thousand Doublons or double Duckets Wee haue also certaine politikes in the conuenticle and simple Senate of the enemies who spinne alreadie some cordes or strings of the sayd red hat and if we send them but a little crimosin silke to make the reines of their mule they will ayde vs well and much hinder that these wicked Huguenots our of their wits shall not enter into the Estates and that nothing shall bee done or passed there to the hurt and dishonor of our holy father and the holy Apostolike sea no though that the priuiledges of the French Church should be lost therefore I coniure then all this holie assemblie to hold their hand and to imploy wet and drie euen all that they haue that the Parisiens other townes come not vpon vs to breake the head of their peace but that they take death in good part and suffer their vtter ruine rather then to thinke of it or to open their mouth for it Wee must rase out of the Church prayers these grieuous wordes Giue peace O Lord as Monsieur the Legate will by and by giue you to vnderstand that they are not of the essence of the Masse nor words appertaining to the Sacraments onely let vs make colour and good shew No scarsitie of bad men If Ville-roy be wearie of it we haue Zamet who for the pleasure that my good cousin the Duke of Elbeuf hath done to him wil not complaine of his paines and voyages and will easily suffer himselfe to be abused vpon the hope of his salt lofts Whatsoeuer it bee yea fall out what can if wee vnderstand our selues well and continue our intellgences with this happie third side we shall so well iumble together the affayres that they of Bourbon shall not see themselues these thirtie yeares where they thinke to be for I will neuer make any more account of them The Cardinall of Bourbon then I made of their vncle whom I let dye in prison and in necessitie without remembring or caring any whit at all for him after he had serued vs for a pretext and a planke whom these Huguenots called a rotten planke to mount to the place where I am for I know very well that so long as there shall be of this race of Bourbon that maketh better proofe then my selfe of the descent from S. Lewes neuer neither I nor any of mine shall raigne without quarrell This is the cause why you ought not to doubt that I will doe all that I am able to ridde my selfe of them At the least one thing comforteth me which is that if the enemies hold Saint Denis where the ancient Kings are buried wee possesse the iewels reliques and kingly ornaments therof which are freed from them by the holie deuotion of my brother of Nemours who caused the Crowne to be molten But which is more Confesse and be â—â—nged as they say the
part of the Prelats and of the Magistrates yea the most cleere sighted who make shewe to haue in horror As they should indeed this holy and miraculous chaunge For what is there in the world more admirable And what can God himselfe doe more strange then to see all turned vpside downe in a moment valets and varlets to become masters small ones made great ones the poore rich the humble insolent and proude to see them that obeyed to command those that borrowed to lend to vsurie those that iudged to bee iudged those that imprisoned to bee imprisoned and those that were faine to stande to sit O meruailous case O great mysteries What man wither wilt thou O the secrets of the profound casket of God vnknowne to mortall caytifes The yards elles of shoppes are turned into partisanes the penners into muskets the breuiaries or portuises into targets the copes into corselets and the hoods into beuers and salades Is it not another great and admirable conuersion of the greatest part of you Messieurs the zealous Catholikes among whom I will name for honours sake the Lords de Rosne de Mandreville la mothe Serand the cheualier Breton Mo then a good many and fiue hundred others of the most famous of our side which would make me make a hyperbaton and ouer long parenthesis and that they whom I name not would not take it well at my hands Is not this I say a great matter that you were all not long sithence in Flaunders bearing armes politikely and imploying your persons and goods against the archicatholike Spanyards in the fauour of the heretikes of the Low Countries and that you are now so catholikely ranged euen all at once into the lap of the holie Romane league Fit fellowes for such seruice that so many good sots or fooles banquerouts saffron sellers desperate persons hault-gourdiers forgers or counterfeiters all people giuen to the spoyle and worthie of the rope should so couragiously set themselues forward and be of the first in this holie part to doe their affayres and should become Catholikes with double eares very long before others Very passionate exclamations O very patternes of the prodigall childe whereof the Gospell speaketh O deuoute children of the Masse at midnight O holy catholicon of Spayne that art the cause that the price of Masses is redoubled the holie candles and lights cherished againe and made more dead offerings augmented and saluez multiplied that art the cause that there are no more traitors robbers burners falsifiers cutthroates and theeues sith that by this holie conuersion they haue changed their name and haue taken this honorable title of zealous Catholigues Quid non mortaâ—ia pectora cogis auri sacra fames and of souldiers of the Church militant O deified double Duckets of Spayne that haue had this efficacie to make vs all young againe and to renue vs into another better life this is that which our good God speaking vnto his father sayth in S. Matthew the 11. Thou hast hid them from the prudent and wise and hast reuealed them to babes Certainly Messieurs me thinkes I see againe that good time in which the Christians to expiate and satisfie for their offences crossed themselues and went to make warre beyond the sea as pilgrims against the miscreants and infidels O holie pilgrims thou of Lansac and thy good brother the bastard Bishop of Comminges who haue caused to be inrolled by throngs and troupes in your quarters so many honest people who being like vnto minstrels had nothing in so great hate as their house I will not here comprehend many Gentlemen and others who are of the wood whereof some haue made them whatsoeuer it be and haue the shewe of it and shewe themselues valiant cockscombes vpon the pauement of Paris who hauing been pages on foote or seruing the Catholike princes or their adherents haue bound themselues in liuelines of heart If this bee not good tell vs what is to followe their parte yea if they should become Turkes liking better to bee traytors to their King and countrie then to fayle of their word to a master who is himselfe a seruant and subiect of a King In trueth we are greatly obliged to these people loe as well as to those who hauing receiued some storme or dammage of the tyrant or his followers haue thorough indignation and a spirite of reuenge turned towards vs and haue preferred their particular wrong to all other duetie and we ought also as much to thanke them who hauing committed some murther or notable wickednes and robberie on the enemies side haue catholikely cast themselues into our armes to escape the punishment of iustice and to finde amongst vs all freedome and impietie Hee would haue saide impunitie for these more than none other are bounde to holde good and that euen vnto death for the holy vnion And this is the cause why you must not distrust the baron d'Alegree nor of Hacqui ville gardien of Ponteau on the sea nor of the Iailor of Vienne and others who haue giuen so faire blowes and stroakes to gaine paradise with the dispensation of their oath nor likewise those which haue couragiouslie put their hand to blood and to the imprisonment of politike magistrates in which Monsieur the Lieutenant hath a great deale of dexteritie to ingage them and to cause them to doe things irremissible and which deserue not euer to haue any pardon no more than that which he hath done Cursed counsell But let vs take heede of those nobles that say they are good Frenchmen and that refuse to take pensions and double ducketts of Spaine and haue conscience to make warre against merchants and labourers these are dangerous people I cannot tell you and are able to make vs false sleuces For they brag that if the Biarnois would goe to Masse their swordes should neuer cut against him or his Remember you the enteruiewes and parlements which some make so often at Saint Denis and of the passeports that they receiue and that they send so easilie on the one side and on the other These people Messieures heare not masse but on one knee A heinous offence neither take they holy water in entring into the church but in their bodie forbidding it O would to God that they were all like to that holie pilgrime confessor and catholike zealous martyr Monsieur de la Mothe Serrand who being in the prisons at Tours for yeelding testimonie to his faith refused to dine and take his refection of porridge vpon a friday fearing least they had put some fatte in his soppe and this champion of the faith Stumble at a straw leap ouer a blocke this Macabee this deuoute martyr protested to suffer death rather than to eate any other soppe than that which was catholike O famous assistants chosen and tried at all aduentures for the dignitie of this notable assembly the very pure creame of our
lowe countries is the cause that his separaâ—e and disioyned Lordships cost him more than they are worth For aboue all nations hee feareth the French No lie surely Beare with bragging and lying a little as that which he knoweth to be most noble and to haue the greatest valure and impatience against the rest and rule of a strange people And that is the cause why being wise prouident and well counselled as hee is since that hee was constrained to make that miserable peace which was sealed and signed by the death of our good King Henry the second Ah wilie foxe but yet well discouered subtiltie and not daring either openly to gainesay the same or beginne waire whilest that France was flourishing vnited agreed and of the same minde and will together hee indeuoured to sowe diuision and discord amongst vs our selues and so soone as hee sawe our princes to be miscontent or to iarre amongst themselues he did secretly and closely conueigh himselfe into the action and incouraged the one of the sides to nourish and foster our diuisions and to make them immortall and to busie our selues to quarrell and fight one with another yea to kill one another that whilest these troubles were amongst vs hee might bee left in peace and so long as we did inweaken our selues to grow increase without losse and lessening Plaine pregnant proofes This was the course and proceeding that hee held after that hee sawe the princes of Vendosme and of Condie malecontent who also drew and caried with them the house of Montmorencie and of Chastillon and to set themselues against the aduantageable aduancements and proceedings of your father and of your Vncles Monsieur Lieutenant who had inuaded and vsurped all authoritie and kingly power Bleare eyed men and barbers as it is in the prouerbe are acquainted therewith in the time of young King Frauncis their nephew I speake nothing but that all Fraunce euen to the smallest and basest of them yea that the whole worlde knoweth For all the bloudie tragedies which since that time haue been plaied vpon this pitifull scaffold of France haue all of them been borne and proceeded from these first quarrels and not from the diuersitie or difference of religions as without reason men doe yet to this day make the simple and idiots to beleeue I am old and haue seene the affayres of the world as much as another yea by the grace of God and the goodnes of my friends I haue been Sheriffe and prouost of the merchants also in this citie in the time that men proceeded thereunto by free election and that they did not constraine nor vse violence to men for their suffrages and voyces as you haue done Plaine speech and particular application Monsieur Lieutenant not long sithence minding and purposing to continue Monsieur Boucher at your deuotion But I remeÌ„ber yet those old times as if it were but yesterday past or this day present I can remeÌ„ber well from the beginning of the quarell that fell out betweene Monsieur your late father and late Monsieur the Constable which proceeded from no other cause but from the iealousie of one of them ouer another both of them being the great minions and fauourits of Henrie the second their master Figulus figuluÌ„â—dit as it is in the prouerbe as wee haue seene also Messieurs de Ioyeuse and d'EspernoÌ„ vnder King Henrie the third his sonne Their first falling out was for the estate of great Master which the King had giuen to Monsieur your father when he made Monsieur of Montmorency Constable who had been great Master before and who had the Kings promise that the sayd estate should be reserued for his sonne Another cause of their ill husbandrie or bad carriage of themselues was the Countie de Dampmartin which both of them had gotten after diuers sorts Sum ego mihi metipsi proximus I loue my selfe best and being entred into suite about the same Monsieur the Constable got it by an arrest or decree This did so alter and chaunge them that either of them indeuored to cast his coÌ„panion out of the saddle or as we say to set him beside the cushion And from thence proceeded the voyage that Monsieur your father made into Italie where he did no great matter because that Monsieur the Constable who caused him to bee sent thither that so he might the more quietly wholly and alone possesse the King it may be hindred or slacked the affayres but he remained not long vnpunished for it for he was taken afterwards on S. Laurence day while your father was absent who being returned did by a certaine good happe and the same indeed very wonderfull It was well done of the Guise to ouercome euil with well doing take againe the townes of Picardie which wee had lost and Calais besides And that he might the better reuenge himselfe of the euill dueties that he knew were done against him in his voyage caused also the imprisonment of Monsieur the Constable to bee prolonged and forgot no arte that might hinder or delay his deliuerance which gaue an occasion to my Lords of Chastillon to desire the ayde and to cast themselues into the armes and protection of the King of Nauarre this Kings father and of Monsieur the Prince of Conde his brother who had married their neece Also these two great houses fell into factions and partakings which were yet stirred vp and incensed by the contention begun betweene the Prince of Conde Monsieur d'Aumale your vncle for the office of the colonel of the light horse there was as yet no meÌ„tion of religion or Huguenots Hardly did any know what was the doctrine of Caluin and Luther A little fire maketh a great flame but by the death of them that we sawe burne stiffe in their opinions and yet notwithstanding the matter of the warres and of the enimities that we haue seene were then in preparing and hath continued vntill this present time But the trueth is that when my Lords of Chastillon very couragious men and not able to indure the iniuries offered them saw that the fauour of your house did ouertoppe theirs and that they had not any meane to finde credite and fauour about the King by reason of the lets that they of your race house cast in the way they were counselled to withdraw themselues from the Court and as they were in their retraite they shewed themselues but whether it were in good earnest or of policie and prudence I know not to fauour the new Lutherans who till then preached no where but in caues and dennes and by little and little ioyned themselues with them in faction and intelligence It is not good to fall into the clawes and pawes of vnreasonable men the rather to defend and keepe themselues from your father your vncle then to attempt any stirring or bringing in of noueltie except then when the King at the prouocation of your
prepared for you the materiall stuffe with which you haue built this proued attempt with your foot to hold the crowne of France hauing left in your hand first great riches great estates the chiefe offices charges of the kingdome great gouernments many souldiers bound by good turnes done them many seruants also great intelligences with the Pope the King of Spayne and other Princes your kinsfolkes and allies and which is more a great opinion amongst the common people that you were good Catholikes and sworne enemies to the Huguenots You knew very well how to make great profite to your selues by these preparations and sundrie sorts of stuffe which ye found after his death all readie to bring vnto the worke When I say you I meane your self brethren and cousins After King Charles his death many things succeeded well to you one after another Diuers deuises to strengthen the Guisian faction and to very good purpose First the barrennes of the King or of your cousin his wife then the retraite and absence of the King of Nauarre of which you were in part a cause for the distrusts into which you brought him and after that the diuision and dissention between the King and Monsieur the Duke his brother whereof you were the onely authors and promoters vnder hand and closely sharpening the spirits of the one against the other and secretly promising them to ayd them Another thing wherewith you thought to strengthen your selues well was the assistance that Messieurs the Princes of Conty and of Soyssons yeelded for a time to the King of Nauarre their cousin germane when they sawe that the things you went about were directly against all their familie and that you boasted you would supplant or vndermine them for thereupon you vndertooke the matter which you haue neuer since forsaken or forgotten namely to cause to be comprehended by and vnder the Popes bull If Spayne play not a part in this pageant nothing can be done and by oths and protestations of the King of Spayne neuer to approue hereticall princes nor the children of heretikes and then ye found out and first deuised these goodly names of adherents and fautors of heretikes After all this ye made your practises with the King of Spayne more openly and assured your conditions and couenanted then for your pensions promising him the kingdome of Nauarre Bern for his share with the townes that should serue his turne in Picardie and Champagne and ye communed with him concerning the meanes that you would vse to get hold of the estate And the pretext that ye pretended thereto was the wicked gouernment of the king Good pretexts to countenaÌ„ce a bad cause the prodigalities which he bestowed vpon his two minions Esperon and Mercurie whereof you drew one to your owne line which was thought neuer a whit the better You imployed all your diligence to make the poore prince odious to his people you counselled him to raise the taxes to inuent new imposts to create newe officers by which you your selues profited for some did maintaine to Monsieur your brother at Chartres after the barricades that he had receiued halfe the money of three edicts made to fill the purse and which also were very pernicious or hurtfull Fine deuises to shred him of his kingâ—ome whereof notwithstanding you cast and layd the hatred vpon that poore king whom you made to muse vpon and dwell in ridiculous deuotions whilest you your selues sued for the good fauour of the people and contrarie to his liking tooke vpoÌ„ you the charge and conducting of great armies drawing vnto you the heads and captaines of warre courting and making much of in words the very simple and meane souldiers that ye might get them to bee on your side practising the townes buying the gouernmeÌ„ts and putting into the best places gouernours folke at your owne deuotion And this was then that you conceiued the kingdome present almost euen as the appetite commeth many times by eating when you sawe King Henry without hope of issue the chiefe Princes accounted for heretikes He must needs goe that the diuell driueth or fautors of heretikes the Consistorie of Rome to lay the raines or bridle in your necke and the King of Spayne to giue you the spurre You had no more to hinder you but the late Monsieur who was a shrewd hollow dreamer and who vnderstood well with what wood you warmed your selues He must be dispatched out of the way and Salcede his testament discouered vnto vs the meanes of it Who can staÌ„d against such deadly atteÌ„pts but force preuailing not poyson did the deede All your seruants foretold this his death more then three moneths before it came to passe Afterwards ye made no more small mouths or spake closely for the dissembling of your purpose you went no more creeping as cunnies nor in secret but you plainly layd open your selues And yet notwithstanding the better to set forward your affayres you would make honest people beleeue that this was for the publique benefite and for the defence of the Catholique religion Catholike religion a fayre pretext which is a pretext and cloake that seditious persons and stirrers vp of nouelties haue alwaies taken to couer themselues withall Into this insensible net you drew that good man Monsieur the Cardinall of Bourbon a prince without malice and ye were able so cunningly to turne and wind him that yee seized him with a foolish and vndiscreet ambition that in the end ye might deale with him as the cat doth with the mouse that is to say after ye had plaied with him to eate him vp No vnapt coÌ„parison No vntrue exposition You drew thereunto sundry Lordes of the Realme diuers gentlemen and captaines many cities townes and communalties and amongst others this miserable citie which suffered it selfe to bee taken as it were with birde lime partly by reason of the hatred that they had against the misdemeanours of the late King partly also by reason of the impression which you put into them that the Catholike religion would vtterly be ouerthrowne if the King did die without childreÌ„ the succession of the kingdom shuld come to the King of Nauar who called himself the first prince of the blood Hereupon you forged framed your first declaration or manifestatioÌ„ that had not in it so much as one only word of religioÌ„ but you did indeed demaund therein They will hardly agree with others that dissent froÌ„ themselues that al the states gouernments of this kingdome shuld be taken from them that possessed them and were not at your deuotion which escape you amended in your second declaration by the counsell of Rosne who to the end hee might set al on a fire said that there needed nothing else but the setting out of religion and then you preached vnto vs of a Synod at Montauban A fine deuise to foster the fire of faction in Fraunce and of
thing Afterwards you ceased not to practise and solicite all the world They will prophecie for old shoes euen openly and principally the preachers and curates vpon whom you bestowed some small part of your double duckets you sent another armie into Guyenne whereof you made great account and which you thought should either haue shut vp or taken the King of Nauarre Oh goodly things you went and thrust headlong euen into death and destruction that yong Lord being ouer presumptuous of the hopes that you had giuen him that he should be the King of Tholoze Your brother had other forces on foote that stood him in good steed to beaâ—e backe the Reisters Pride goetâ— before shame that came to the succour of the Huguenots of Guyenne and you Monsieur the Lieutenant must needs goe thither in person and yet you were not able to hinder their passage And if he had had no more but you and yours who would needs meddle therewithall whatsoeuer thing ye would make men beleeue to the contrary they had come to drinke our wine euen at our gates and you had beene brought to a marueilous exigent And yet forsooth you would haue all the glory of their ouerthrow giuen to you and robbe therof the King and his good seruants who temporizing therein and setting themselues against their passage ouer the riuer Seyne brought and wrought the greatest effects thereof Some grow great by other mens actions that indeed got you a great deale of honor and fauour amongst the Parisiens the greatest part whereof knewe not as yet at what you aimed but they that were partakers of your secretes and that then first tooke the name of zealous catholikes made alreadie a God of your brother called vpon him in their affliction and had recourse vnto him when men did threaten them with the King iustice Whereupon he became so proud rash and headie that he durst enter into this citie with eight horse only and that against the very expresse forbidding that the King had giuen him concerning the same although we know well enough that hee had appointed fiue or sixe hundred horsemen No pageant without the Pope play a part that should the same day approch draw nigh vnto him Pope Xistus the fifth could well declare what punishment that deserued when he vnderstood the newes of it and would not haue failed to haue done and executed the same had such a thing fallen out to him But the good mother and the counsellors made by her hand It is vnnatural to be for others against her sonne and according to her humor of whom wee haue yet too many remaining were able so aptly to staÌ„pe and imprint feare in the feeble spirit of this poore prince that he durst enterprise nothing lest hee should exasperate the Parisiens and lest he might yet bring againe the troubles and miseries of warre into his kingdome For albeit he loued not the Huguenots more than you yet so it fell out that hauing a long time tried their selfe willednes and stubbornes and seeing that to no purpose they went about to ouercome them and to carry them to reason by the violence of warre hee resolued with himselfe no more to assay or vse forcible meanes or waies Or rather lesse crueltie but by a more gracious remedie began to drawe them vnto his obedience and to the acknowledgement of their former faultes depriuing them of his court and of his company of honours charges gouernements offices and benefices from which the greatest part of them were grieued to see themselues excluded which fell out so prosperously Mischieuous policie that I cannot but aduow that their forces were lesse earnest and more diminished by fiue or sixe yeeres of peace than by tenne yeeres of open warre And there sprong vp no new Huguenots the old waxing colde and wearie also of the length of their troubles and the greatest number of them permitting their children to become catholikes that so they might bee made partakers of honors and benefits or good turnes as well as others But you and yours being impatient of peace and hauing alwaies small regard of religion so that you might come to your attempts and purposes would not suffer this traÌ„quillitie Fit similitude which was not healthfull or good for you You had learned that fishing was the best when the water was most troubled so that indeede you neuer had had rest had you not seene borne this goodly day of the barricades which hath ruinated and ouerthrowne both vs to you and you to vs. Albeit it bee notorious and euident enough and your brother were he liuing would not deny it and all they that were of the enterprise or attempt and are here present will confesse it with mee that if the King would haue vsed his power and authoritie wee had beene that day all cast away he being very certaine that you were preuented and ouertaken three whole dayes and that the day of the exploit which should haue been done was not appointed but vpon the Sunday So well that the King When men will not take opportunitie and vse the meanes God hath giuen them good reason they should smart who knew all the enterprise though those that came neerest vnto his persoÌ„ indeuoured to disswade him and to turne him away from beleeuing the reportes which wee made vnto him thereof had his Swissers and his gards and other men of warre all readie before day who had alreadie taken the places foure corner streetes or wayes and quarters of the citie the morninge before that your brother or any of his enterprisers or accomplices were awake who as you know vnderstanding vpon his awaking that which was passed thought himselfe so surprised ouertaken and vndone that hee expected nothing else but that they would come to besiege and take or kill him in the house of Guise where he was resolute to defend himselfe with his sworde onely hauing for that purpose as yet made no preparation of any armour or weapons least they should come thither to search and to take away al suspition concerning him After the same manner the sixteene and the most mutinous of the faction hid themselues in caues and holes and in their friends and neighbours houses looking for nothing but present death Euery one that euill dooth hateth the light yea there was none of them so hardie as that he durst be seene or appeare in the streete except it were more than eyght or nine of the clocke at night So that the King was able enough and that without any resistance to haue seized vpon them and vpon your brother also and absolutely to haue established his authoritie againe if hee would haue suffered his men of warre to haue laide about them with their hands and to haue charged the first that aduanced themselues to make the barricadoes and to stoppe the passages of the streetes But his fearefulnes A mitigation but how true let meÌ„
to salute for the sleÌ„der accouÌ„t that I make of theÌ„ I am a friend to my couÌ„try as becoÌ„meth a good burgesse citizen of Paris I am iealous for the preseruation of my religion and am in all that I am able your seruaÌ„t the seruant of your house To be short euery one is wearie of warre in which we now very well perceiue there is no more question touching our religion but concerning our bondage and to whom amongst you the carcases of our bones shall remaine That is the point indeed Thinke not to finde in time to come so many men as you haue done that in liuelines of heart will cast themselues away and be troth or marry themselues to desperation for the rest of their life and of their posteritie also Wee very well perceiue that you your selues are in the snares of the King of Spaine and that ye can neuer come out of them but wretched and as it were forlorne You haue done like the horse A fable but yet good in the morall and meaning of it who to defende himselfe from the hart who he perceiued was more liuely and full of strength than he called for man to his succour But man put a bridle in his mouth sadled him and betrapped him afterwards he put on his spurs backed him brought him to the hunting of the hart and to euery other place where he thought good 〈…〉 comming on of his backe nor taking off his bridle and saddle and by this meanes made himselfe subiect to the hollie crap and to the sput to serue his turne in euery worke in euery charge yea and in the very cart it selfe as the King of Spaine hath done with you And doubt ye not of this but if by your meanes he were once made master of the kingdome This is no lye for he hath practised it vpon others as nigh to him as he but that he would very quickly be rid of you by poyson by flauÌ„ders or otherwise for this is the fashion that he vseth wherwith he commonly saith hee must needes recompence them that betray their prince and their countrie Let them serue for witnesses and examples that wickedly deliuered vnto him the kingdome of Portugall who comming vnto him to demaund the recompence which hee had promised them before he was in possession of it sent them vnto that councell of his which is called the councell of conscience where answer was giuen them that if they had brought Portugall into the hands of the King of Spaine as a thing appertaining vnto him they had done nothing but that which good and loyall subiectes should haue done and they should haue their recompence and hire for it in heauen But if they deliuered it vp beleeuing that it did not appertaine vnto him meaning so to take it from their master they deserued to be haÌ„ged as traytors And this is the wages that you must looke for A good reason for of like sins there should be the like punishment after that you shall haue deliuered vs vp vnto such people which we for our parts are not purposed to endure We knowe too well that the Spaniards and Castillians and Bourguignons are our auncient and deadly enemies which of two thinges demaund the one either to bring vs vnder Spaine hath a double practise and purpose in assaulting Fraunce and to make vs slaues if they can that so they may ioyne Spaine Fraunce and the low countries in one tenure and vnder one gouernement or else if they cannot as indeed the best aduised and most wise amongst them doe not hope for that yet they may at the least in weaken vs and bring vs so low that neuer or for a long season we should neuer bee able to relieue our selues nor withstand them to the face For the King of Spaine which is an old foâ— knoweth wel the iniurie that he doth vs vsurping against all right and iustice the Kingdome of Naples the Duchy of Millan and the Countie of Roussillon which belong vnto vs he knoweth the natural disposition of the french nation that knoweth not how any long season to continue in peace without setting vpon their neighbours Whereof the Flemmings haue made a prouerbe which saith A wittie sentence that when the Frenchman sleepeth the diuell rocketh the cradle Besides he seeth his estates and countries deuided and almost all of them vsurped by violence against the good will and liking of the inhabitants who are ill affected to him wâ—rd He seeth himselfe to be olde and brittle and his eldest sonne smally valiant of euill health and the rest of his familie to be in two daughters one whereof he hath married with the most ambitious and yet needie prince of Europe The Duke of Sauoy and the other that maketh a partie and cannot faile but find a great one If after his death which cannot in the very course of nature be very farre off his estates and countries should bee deuided and that one of his sonnes in law should set vpon his owne sonne he knoweth that the Frenchmen would not sleepe and that they would wake againe their olde pretenses titles and claimes Doth hee not then herein play the part of a very prudent fore seeing prince to infeeble vs by our selues to bring vs to so low an estate that wee shall not bee able to hurt him no not after his death You see also how hee hath caried himselfe in the succours that hee hath sent vs All bewraieth the treachery of Spaine the greatest part in paper and in hope the waiting for whereof hath wrought vs more euil then the comming thereof hath done vs good His double duckets and his men came not but euen wheÌ„ we had a long time drawn out breath and were not able to doe any more although hee might much more soone haue succoured relieued vs. He maketh vs not fatte to sell vs as the butchers doe their hogges but for feare we should die ouer soone and minding to reserue vs to a greater destruction hee prolongeth our languishing life Weigh these comparisons with a little water brued and tossed with crummes of browne bread which also hee giueth vs with a licked or cleane finger as iaylors nourish and feede condemned persons the better to reserue them to the execution of punishment What is become of so many millions of double duckets which he braggeth he hath spent for the safetie of our estate And why should not the people haue them seeing it is the price of themselues except you wil sell them for nothing We see none of them amongst the people the greatest parte thereof are in the hands of our aduersaries or amongst you Messieurs the princes gouernors captaines and preachers who keepe them very fast locked vp in your coffers there remaineth to the people nothing but redde or copper coyne for the stamping whereof we haue imployed al our kettles caldrons chafers weights chaynes and
so presumptuous so bolde and so hie That with his lift vp head he thought to touch the skie Is fallen and that into a grieuous ruine and decay Whither Gods wrath did carrie him and harry him away God is known by executing iudgement the wicked is snared in the workes of his owne hands Higgaion Selah At S. Denis he is founde starke and stone dead Fallen also into the snares that for others himselfe spread For his pride there fell vpon him this grieuous wrath and vengeance Neare vnto the tombes of the auncient Kings of France Whose brused and broken bones in that same place doe rest And seeme Gods iustice therein religiously to haue blest Who for the truth and faith that this wretch did violate Would haue this sacrifice to the Kings there to be immolate As Hatto the Archbishop of Mentz was deuoured with rattes while he liued And that his bodie with mise eaten vp should be As great a wanton of the dames of Paris as was he Before that to iust buriall men could in season bring His bodie full of filth and rottennes stinking To cause the greatest of the leaguers to vnderstand That thus dooing still they shall be punished by his hand Another touching the same matter written in Latine and translated out of the same Two examples as before applied As the virgine of Priamus did fall vpon the Phrygiā shore And at the marble of her foes tombe was constrained to dye therefore And as Caesar with many wounds at his son in lawes picture Hauing conquered others for all that fell at the feete of the conquered sure So at the tombe of his own Kings a foe to Kings in breath Falles dead and imbloodeth the ground with a iust deserued death Wherfore ye godly men euen now reioyce for why this offring odde Both at kingly tombes is punished sheweth there is a God Against the same Cheualier d'Aumale This man by mightie guile did take S. Denis towne of fame Oh how vnsearchable are Gods waies and his iudgements past finding out But takes he in taken towne was caught and perished in the same A Sonnet vpon the retiring of the Duke of Parma But where is now this power so huge so mightie so great An abrupt patheticall exordiū but fitte for the purpose That when it came to vs it seemed all the Gods themselues to threat And that promised to it selfe to breake and downe to the ground to fling The famous french nobility with their armed prince or king This preparation great proud to smoke or winde is turnd And that great Duke that thought himselfe So God confoundeth pride of hart all the worlde to haue burnd Without dooing ought constrained is into Flanders to retire Hauing lost his people his time his fame that hee did desire Henrie our great king as a hunter good doth him pursue and chase He presseth him he followeth him and the fox flieth apace With his nose to the ground ashamd despised and blamed brought to danger Yee Spaniards proude learne this of mee Spaniards learne in time neuer yet did any stranger Intrap or take a Frenchman but with losse dāger shame The Frenchman is not vanquished but by one of the same name A Sonnet to all them of the League To all French generally O ye vnnaturall Frenchmen and bastards of this land That tamed cannot be but by your owne force and hand Now put ye off this courage inhumane and vnnaturall That pufs you vp with pride by ignorāce destroyes you all To the Lorrainists He meaneth the Pope or the Spanyard or both To the Parisiens Ye pettie princes of Lorraine shake off your hope therefore The error of that Cumane asse follow ye not any more Who clothed with the skinne of the Romane lion great Seeing the very lion stout doth hart and hope forget And you ô ye Parisiens recourse whither will you haue You must needs whether you will or no voyd of hope your selues to saue Subiect your selues to that dutie to which the laws you bind But if against your selues you stirre your king that is so kind Chastened you shall sure be for on babes and fooles we spend Some chastisement or els indeed they will neuer sure amend Touching the Lords of Vitry and of Villeroy who haue acknowledged the King The vnion her selfe her force doth still vntie Vitry and Villeroy witnesse doe this thing To God therefore alone be infinite glorie Praise vnto them honour to the King This Lieutenant in false conceit This great piller sweld with wind and no more That thought the King to counterfeit The Duke du Mayne Shall be grosse Iohn euen as before The League it selfe to destroy goes about Wherewith confounded are the wicked race A house diuided in it selfe cannot stand The seede thereof shall sure be put out By torture sharpe swords or some other strange case Ye people of bloud of spoyle and the rope And still will be named zealous as yet The Leaguers Cry the King mercie so may you haue hope Or els from hence ye shall goe to the gibbet Ye sixteene Mount falcon calleth for you The sixteene appointed to gouerne Paris To morrow the crowes will crie very lowd The sixteene pillers of his chappell new Shall be your tombes wherein you shall be shrowd To the King concerning his very great clemencie Amongst the goodly virtues this is one very excellent Pitifull to be to the vanquisht and to pardon all But take heed of too much chiefly to rebels impenitent Too much pitie spoyleth a citie yea a kingdome For Caesar as great a prince as your selfe did thereby fall Concerning the same matter in Latin and turned into English Pitie in a great prince is a great virtue indeed A good thing can hardly be too oftē repeated And to be willing alwaies his enemies to spare But yet too much pitie is not safe as we may reade By the bloudie death of Caesar a prince very rare Vpon the same matter Heretofore it was a virtue fit for a couragious king To the greatest of his foes grace and pardon to show But sith Caesar was murthered and that for this thing From a virtue to a vice it is become as many moe In Latin but translated out of it In former time for captains great pity was a virtuous trade But sith that Caesar was destroied this virtue a vice is made To the King O thou victorious prince and now the best of all that liue God out of his hand into thine two scepters great doth giue France Nauarre And in a throne of long'st indure hath placed thee againe In spite of all the sore attempts of that coniured Spayne The wishes of all Frenchmen good are heard yet at the last Thou race of Lewes S. shalt reigne in peace and sit full fast That which the heauens giue thee sure no man can take frō thee Though voyd
because that the aforesayd peece was not large enough to couer the doore of the entrie or cōming in there was tacked vnto it halfe a peece of the Apotheosis or canonization of the foure Euangelists and Martyrs Saints Louchard Ameline Anroux and Aymonnot making a long letter or writing at their feet was writtē these 4. verses You crack ropes lewd wicked mē that Iudges hang on hie Impunitie vnto your selues you doe pretend thereby But you ought cleane the cōtrarie attēd wait again A wicked wretch neuer yet could put his righteous Iudge to pain The twelfth and the last neere vnto the windowes did containe at length and that very well drawne the portraiture of Monsieur the Lieutenant attired as Hercules Gallicus holding in his hand innumerable bridles wherwith also there were haltered mousled calues colts without number Ouer his head as if it had bin a clowd there was a nymph which had a writing cōtaining these words Looke that you play the calfe A goodly poesie promise And from the mouth of the said Lord Lieutenant there issued another wherein were written these proper termes I will doe it And this is that as neere as I was able to obserue and marke it which was in the sayd tapistrie As concerning the benches seates where Messieurs or my Lords the Estates should sit they were couered al with tapistrie be sprinkled with little crosses of the Lorraines some blacke and some red and with armes parted in two of true and false argent the whole being more emptie then full for the honour of the feast Touching the order held and obserued for their seates or places AFter that the assembly was entred somewhat forward within the great hall drawing neere vnto the steps where the cloath or chaire of estate was exalted and the chaires were prepared there was place assigned to euerie one by a Herault of armes intituled Courte ioy A fine fiction for the same or as we say short ioy S. Denis who called them very lowd three times together after this manner Monsieur the Lieutenant Monsieur the Lieutenant Monsieur the Lieutenant of the estate and Crowne of France come vp on high into this kingly throane in the place of your master Monsieur the Legate place your selfe at his side Madame representing the Queene Mother or the grandmother set your selfe on the other side Monsieur the Duke of Guise Peere of the Lieutenancie of the estate and Crowne of France place your selfe very finely the first for this time without preiudice or dammage of your right to come It may be it shall neuer be so againe Monsieur the most reuerend Cardinal of Pelue Peere though but for a while of the Lieutenancie place your selfe right ouer against him but at no hand forget your Calepin or Dictionarie Madame the Dowager of Montpensier as a Princesse of your estate seate your selfe vnder your nephew Madame the Lieutenant of the Lieutenancie of the estate without preiudice of your pretenses claimes set your selfe ouer against her Monsieur d'Aumale Constable Peere of the Lieutenancie aduaunced into Peereship by reason of your Countie of Boulongne place your selfe side to side by the most reuerend Cardinall but beware that you rend not his cope with your great spurres High and mightie Countie of Chaligny that haue this honour to haue Monsieur the Lieutenant for your younger brother take your place and feare no more Chiquot that is dead Monsieur the Primat of Lyons and without doubt he that shal be Cardinall of the vnion and now is Peere Chancellor of the Lieutenancie He kept her as his concubine leaue your sister there and come hither to take your place in order Monsieur de Bussie the Clerke heretofore the great penitentiarie of the Parliament and now the great Steward spirituall of the towne and castle of Paris set your selfe at the feete of Monsieur that Lieutenant as the great Chamberlaine of the Lieutenancie Monsieur de Saulsay Peere and great Master of the Lieutenancie Yea of a better for default of another take this staffe and goe very gently to sit in this soft seate prepared for you And you Messieurs the Marshals of the Lieutenancie de Rosne Dom Diego Bois-daulphin and Seignior Cornelio loe here is a bench for you foure sauing that you may bee augmented or diminished if the case so fall out and require the same Messieurs the Secretaries of the Estate Marteau Pericard de Pottes and Nicolas A tall man belike this fourme below is for you foure if Monsieur Nicolas buttocks or breech can reach so high Monsieur de S. Paul Countie of Rethelois but yet vnder the title of hiring it and hauing it at a price come not so nigh Monsieur de Guise least you ouerheate him but keepe your selfe nigh to the Lord de Rieux Messieurs the Ambassadors of Spayne Naples Lorraine and Countie of Bourgongne this bench on the left hand is for you and the bench on the right hand appoynted for the Ambassadors of England Portugall Venice the Lords Counties and Princes of Germanie Suisserland and Italie and are absent or appeare not shall be for the Ladies and Damosels according to the date of their impression Furthermore let all the deputies take place according to their pensions And this was almost the sitting of Messieurs the Estates all without disputation or debating by reason of the great presences Churchmen striue for high places sauing that the warden of the Franciscane Friers and the Prior of the Iacobins made some small protestation which of them should goe formost but Madame de Montpensier rising vp A goodly drudge and a worthie reason of conclusion gaue the first place to the Prior of the Iacobins for remembrance as she sayd of S. Iaques Clement There was also a little garboyle betweene my Ladies of Belin and of Bussie by reason that the one of them hauing let goe a certaine euil pseudcatholike winde Madame de Belin spake very loudly and loftily to Ladie Bussie Let vs go Mistris Proctoresse the taile doth befume vs you come hither belike to perfume the crosses of Lorraine But Monsieur the great Master of Saulsay hearing this noyse knowing the cause thereof cried vnto them holding his staffe in his hand Good words Mes dames ye come not hither to trouble and disquiet our estates It is an euill bird that defileth his owne neast as mine owne sister not long time since daunced the galliard of the late king in this very hall it selfe The noise being pacified and the ill sent or sauour past Monsieur the Lieutenant began to speake after this manner with the great silence and attention of Messieurs the Estates The speech of Monsieur the Lieutenant MEssieurs you shall all be witnesses that since I haue taken armes for the holy League I haue alwayes had mine owne preseruation in such great recommendation and respect No lye that I haue with a very good
heart courage continually preferred mine owne particular interest before the cause of God who knoweth wel inough to keepe himselfe and it without mee and to reuenge him of all his enemies Yea I can say further and that in trueth that the death of my brethren hath not so farre caused my passions to breake forth whatsoeuer goodly shew I made thereof as the desire I haue to walke in the waies and paths that my father and my good vncle the Cardinall had traced out before me and which my brother the Balafre was happily entred You knowe that vpon my returne from my expeditiō of Guyenne which the politikes call vp and downe vp and downe I did not effect in this citie that which I thought by reason of the traytors The Duke de Maynne was none who aduertised the tyrant their master and I receiued no other fruite by my voyage but the taking of the inheritresse of Caumont whom I did appoynt for wife vnto my sonne but the chaunging of my affayres haue made me at this presēt to dispose otherwise therof Moreouer you are not ignorant that I would not ingage mine armie to any great exployte or hard siege wherein notwithstanding Castillon deceiued mee which I thought to take and carrie away in three daies to the end that I might keepe my selfe more whole and sound and the better able to execute my Catholike purposes Concerning mine armie in Daulphin I caused it alwaies to stop and stay and I kept me on my skoutes to attend and waite whether in the Estates of Blois ye should haue neede of me But the matters there hauing taken the left foote and falling out crosse to our wishes and attempts you sawe with what great diligence I came to finde you in this citie and with what dexteritie my cousin the Constable d'Aumale here present So holy a man could not but giue so holie a thing caused likewise the holie spirit in haste to come downe vpon a great part or companie of my Masters of Sorbonne For as soone as it was said it was as soone done And frō thence haue proceeded all our goodly exployts of warre from that haue taken their first originall these hundred thousands of holie French Martyrs which are dead by the sword by famine by fire by rage by desperation and other violēce for the cause of the holie vnion from thence hath come the correction of so many braggers and boasters which would play the galants and compare themselues with Princes from thence hath proceeded the ruine and ouerthrow of so many Churches Monasteries which hurt the safetie of our good townes from this hath flowen such great sacke and pillage as our good souldiers free archers and nouices haue committed in many cities townes and villages who also haue serued in stead of a Curat for the faith to the deuout children of the Masse at midnight yea from hence hath it been that so many faire daughters and women without marriage and against their wils haue been filled with that which in marriage they loue best of all And God knoweth whether these young Monkes and Friers A great doubt their chastitie considered newly turned out of their frocks or gownes these disordered priests haue therein deuoutly turned the leaues of their portuise and gotten plenarie pardons To be short Ful cups make men of sharpe iudgement this is the onely cause of the prompt and zealous decree of my Masters of our mother Sorbonne after that they haue drunke wel which hath caused in the end many stroakes from heauen to clatter and sound And through our good diligence wee haue brought to passe that this kingdome which was nothing els but a pleasurefull garden of all pleasure and aboundance A very good change is now become a great and large vniuersall buriall place full of all violences faire painted crosses coffins gallowses and gibbets As soone then as I was arriued in this towne after that I had sent to heale the citie of Orleans of too much ease and to forbid the trade and traffique of the Loire The name of a ruine passing by it which maintained their delights I ment to doe as much in this towne also And it fell out well in which Madame my mother my sister my wife and cousin d'Aumale who are here to giue mee the lye for it if I doe not speake true did very catholikely assist me For they and I had no more great paine and care then to lay a ground worke for the warre and in so doing to comfort and discharge all the deuout habitants good Catholikes of the weight of their purses and to giue them leaue curiously to roue vp and downe with their feete and their hands to seeke and to seaze for vs the rich iewels of the Crowne belonging vnto vs in the collaterall line and by the forfeiture of Lord of the fee. We found much vnprofitable treasure we discouered with a little expence by the reuelation of a catholike mason and the holie innocencie of Monsieur Machaut whom I name here for honours sake the goodly and large muguot of Molan Because he serued your turne notwithstanding his diuels and familiar spirits that kept it whom the sayd Machaut knew powerfullie and skilfully to coniure secretly filling the bottome or soules of his host with crownes of the summe And without this diuine succour Messieurs you know that we knew not yet of what wood to make arrowes for which the holie vnion is greatly indebted to the painfull labour and great good husbandrie of the sayd Molan who did so honestly refuse his master and all his friends to aide them with money and to preserue it for vs A right recompense of treason namely idolatrous seruices Adde drunkēnes vnto thirst and glorie in your owne shame so fitly for our purpose And forget him not to cause to be sung to him a salue or good morrow whatsoeuer it be forget not to promise him a Masse to be sung with holding vp of hands when he shall bee constrained to make his will quite and cleane contrarie I will not forget the costly moueables of gold siluer tapistrie and other riches which wee made to bee taken sold yea to make port sale of them appertaining to these wicked politikes fauouring the King wherein my cousin d'Aumale did her dutie very well foyling her selfe in the coffers and caskets yea stouping so low that she went to the ditches and holes where she knewe that there was vessell of siluer hidden In so much that afterwards our dearly beloued cousin her husband she her selfe and her chiefe page did greatly performe their businesses and were healed of their catholike iaundise wherewith they were made yellow from the time of the warres that they had for their Countie of Boulongne catholikely lawfully deuolued vnto them by the merite of their Pater-nosters and deuout processions and not by vsurpation or domestical the euerie as these relapsed heretikes say This being done
sole and the onely meane to make vs blessed The great difference betweene good gouernement and tyrannie But I cannot discourse vpon this poynte but with very great griefe to see things in the estate in which they are in comparison of that they were then At that time euery one had yet corne in his garner and wine in his seller euery one had his vessell of siluer or plate as we call it his tapistrie and his costly moueables the women had then their girdles halfe of siluer the reliques were hole and sound they had not so much as touched the iewels of the crowne But now who is there that can boast that he hath whereof to liue for three weekes vnles it be these theeues and robbers that haue made themselues fat with the wealth of the people and that haue on all hands pilled and polled the moueables both of present and absent Haue we not by little and little consumed all our prouisions sould our moueables molten our vessell and pledged all that wee haue to the garments on our backs to liue not onely poorely but verie wretchedly and caytife like Where are our halles and our chambers so well garnished and so decked with diaper and tapistrie Where are our feastes and bankets and our licorous and daintie tables Loe we are brought to milke and white cheese like the Swissers Our bankets are of a bitte of biefe yea the biefe of a cowe for all the messes and seruices wee were wont to haue and happie is he that hath not eaten the flesh of horses and of dogges and happie is hee that alwaies hath had oaten bread and coulde make a little paste of it with the broath of brawne sold at the corner of the streetes in the places where heretofore they did sell the delicious and daintie tongues young quailes and legges of mutton And it hath not been long of Monsieur the Legate and of the Embassador Mendoza that we haue not eaten our fathers bones as the sauage and wilde people of new Spayne doe If he can he is a man of no sense Can any man thinke of or remember all these things without teares and without horror And they that in their conscience knowe well inough that they are the cause thereof can they heare speake of these things without blushing and without apprehending the punishment that God reserueth for them for so many euils and mischiefes whereof they are authors Yea when they shall represent vnto themselues the images of so many poore citizens as they haue seene fallen in the streetes all starke and stone dead through famine the little infants and sucking babes to die at the breasts of their languishing mothers drawing the breast for nothing and not finding what to sucke the better sorte of the inhabitants and the souldiers to goe through the towne leaning vpon a staffe pale and feeble more white and more wanne than images of stone resembling rather ghosts than men If they be so good how bad are the rest and the inhumaine and discourteous answer of some euen of the Ecclesiasticall persons who accused them and threatned them in steed of succouring or comforting them Was there euer barbarousnes or crueltie like to that which we haue seene and indured Was there euer tyrannie and domination matchable to that which we see and indure Where is the honour of our vniuersitie Where are the colledges Where are the schollers Where are the publike readings and lectures to which people did run from all the partes of the world Bookes turned into blades a good change Where bee the religious students in the couents They haue all taken armes and beholde they are become all of them vnruly and wicked souldiers Where are our chaffes Where are our precious reliques Some of them are molten and eaten vp other some are buried in the grounde for feare of robbers and sacreligious persons Where is that reuerence that men caried once to the people of the Church or Clergie and to the sacred mysteries The diuell a lie it is Euery one now maketh a religion after his owne manner and diuine seruice serueth for no other vse but to deceiue the world through hypocrisie the priests and preachers haue so set themselues on sale and made themselues so contemptible by their offensiue life that men regarde them no more nor their sermons neither but when they are to be vsed to preach and spread abroade some false newes Where are the princes of the blood that haue been alwaies sacred persons euen as the pillars and staies of the crowne and of the French Monarchie Where are the Peeres of France that should be the first here to opē to to honor the Estates Al these names are no more but the names of porters wherof some make litter for the horses of the Messieurs of Spayne and of Lorraine Where is the Maiestie and grauitie of the Parliament heretofore the defender of Kings and the mediator betweene the people and the Prince A prison as we would say here the Fleete or Tower You haue caried it in triumph to the Bastille and authoritie and iustice ye haue led them captiue more insolently and more shameleslie than the Turkes woulde haue done You haue driuen away the best sorte of people and retained none but rascals or of scourings who are either full of passions or else base minded Besides euen of them that doe remaine ye will not suffer so few as foure or fiue to say what they thinke and you threaten them also Hee meaneth some kinde of torture or torment to giue them a billet as vnto heretikes or politikes And yet you would make men beleeue that that you doe is for no other respect but for the preseruation of religion and of the estate This is well said but let vs a little examine your actions and the cariage or behauiour of the King of Spayne towards vs and if I lie one word A fearefull execration let Monsieur Saint Denis and Madame Saint Genuiefue the great patrons of Fraunce neuer helpe me I studied a little while in the schooles and yet not so much as I desired but since I haue seene diuers countries and trauailed into Turkie and thorow out all Natolia and Sclauonia euen vnto Archipelagus and mare maior A good touchstone indeede and Tripoli of Syria where I found the saying of our Sauiour Christ to bee true By their fruites yee shall know them Men knowe sufficiently enough what are the intentions and inuentions of men by their works and by their effects First I will speake it and yet with an honorable preface that the King of Spayne A mannerly man is a great prince wise subtill and very aduised the most mightie and hauing the greatest territories of all Christian princes and that he should be yet so much the more if all his lands countries and kingdomes were sure and ioyned one of them to another But France which is betweene Spayne and the