of a Popular Faction Since which time it has pleas'd Almighty God so to prosper Your Affairs that without searching into the secrets of Divine Providence 't is evident Your Magnanimity and Resolution next under him have been the immediate Cause of Your Safety and our present Happiness By weathering of which Storm may I presume to say it without Flattery You have perform'd a Greater and more Glorious work than all the Conquests of Your Neighbours For 't is not difficult foâ— a Great Monarchy well united and making use of Advantages to extend its Limits but to be press'd with wants surrounded with dangers Your Authority undermined in Popular Assemblies Your Sacred Life attempted by a Conspiracy Your Royal Brother forc'd from Your Arms in one word to Govern a Kingdom which was either possess'd or turn'd into a Bedlam and yet in the midst of ruine to stand firm undaunted and resolv'd and at last to break through all these difficulties and dispell them this is indeed an Action which is worthy the Grandson of Henry the Great During all this violence of Your Enemies Your Majesty has contended with Your natural Clemency to make some Examples of Your Justice and they themselves will acknowledge that You have not urg'd the Law against them but have been press'd and constrain'd by it to inflict punishments in Your own defence and in the mean time to watch every Opportunity of shewing Mercy when there was the least probability of Repentance so that they who have suffer'd may be truly said to have forc'd the Sword of Justice out of Your hand and to have done Execution on themselves But by how much the more You have been willing to spare them by so much has their Impudence increas'd and if by this Mildness they recover from the Great Froâ—t which has almost blasted them to the roots if these venemous plants shoot out again it will be a sad Comfort to say they have been ungratefull when 't is Evident to Mankind that Ingratitude is their Nature That sort of pity which is proper for them and may be of use to their Conversion is to make them sensible of their Errors and this Your Majesty out of Your Fatherly Indulgence amongst other Experiments which You have made is pleas'd to allow them in this Book which you have Commanded to be Translated for the publique benefit that at least all such as are not wilfully blind may View in it as in a Glass their own deformities For never was there a plainer Parallel than of the Troubles of France and of Great Britain of their Leagues Covenants Associations and Ours of their Calvinists and our Presbyterians they are all of the same Family and Titian's famous Table of the Altar piece with the Pictures of Venetian Senatours from Great-Grandfather to Great-Grandson shews not more the Resemblance of a Race than this For as there so here the Features are alike in all there is nothing but the Age that makes the difference otherwise the Old man of an hundred and the Babe in Swadling-clouts that is to say 1584 and 1684. have but a Century and a Sea betwixt them to be the same But I have presum'd too much upon Your Majesty's time already and this is not the place to shew that resemblance which is but too manifest in the whole History 'T is enough to say Your Majesty has allow'd our Rebels a greater Favour than the Law You have given them the Benâ—fit of their Clergy if they can but read and will be honest enough to apply it they may be sav'd God Almighty give an answerable success to this Your Royal Act of Grace may they all repent and be united as the Body to their Head May that Treasury of Mercy which is within Your Royal Breast have leave to be powr'd forth upon them when they put themselves in a condition of receiving it And in the mean time permit me to Implore it humbly for my self and let my Presumption in this bold Address be forgiven to the Zeal which I have to Your Service and to the publique good To conclude may You never have a worse meaning Offender at Your feet than him who besides his Duty and his Natural inclinations has all manner of Obligations to be perpetually Sir Your Majesty's most humble most Obedienâ— and most faithfull Subject and Servant John Dryden THE AUTHOUR'S Dedication to the French King SIR FRance which being well united as we now behold it under the Glorious Reign of your Majesty might give law to all the World was upon the point of self Destruction by the division which was rais'd in it by two fatal Leagues of Rebels the one in the middle and the other towards the latter end of the last Age. Heresie produc'd the first against the true Religion Ambition under the Masque of Zeal gave birth to the second with pretence of maintaining what the other wou'd have ruin'd and both of them though implacable Enemies to each other yet agreed in this that each of them at divers times set up the Standard of Rebellion against our Kings The crimes of the former I have set forth in the History of Calvinism which made that impious League in France against the Lord and his Anointed and I discover the Wickedness of the latter in this Work which I present to your Majesty as the fruit of my exact Obedience to those commands with which you have been pleas'd to honour me I have endeavour'd to perform them with so much the greater satisfaction to my self because I believ'd that in reading this History the falsehood of some advantages which the Leaguers and Huguenots have ascrib'd to themselves may be easily discern'd These by boasting as they frequently do even at this day that they set the Crown on the Head of King Henry the Fourth those that their League was the cause of his conversion I hope the world will soon be disabus'd of those mistakes and that it will be clearly seen that they were the Catholiques of the Royal Party who next under God produc'd those two effects so advantageous to France We are owing for neither of them to those two unhappy Leagues which were the most dangerous Enemies to the prosperity of the Kingdom And 't is manifest at this present time that the glory of triumphing over both of them was reserv'd by the Divine Providence to our Kings of the Imperial Stem of Bourbon Henry the Fourth subdued and reduc'd the League of the false Zealots by the invincible Force of his Arms and by the wonderfull attractions of his Clemency Lewis the Iust disarm'd that of the Calvinists by the taking of Rochelle and other places which those Heretiques had moulded into a kind of Common-wealth against their Soveraign And Lewis the Great without employing other Arms than those of his Ardent Charity and incomparable Zeal for the Conversion of Protestants accompanied by the Iustice of his Laws has reduc'd it to that low condition that we have reason to
Souldiers found themselves so encompass'd on every side that they cou'd neither March forward nor retreat nor make the least motion without exposing themselves unprofitably to the inevitable danger of the Musquet shot which the Citizens cou'd fire upon them without missing from behind their Barricades or of being beaten down with a tempest of Stones which came powring upon their Heads from every Window The Marshals d' Aumont and Biron and Villequier the Governour of Paris gain'd little by crying out to the Citizens that they intended them no harm for they were too much enrag'd to give them the hearing and were possess'd with a belief of what Brissac Bois Dauphin and the other Creatures of the Duke of Guise had told them who roar'd out on purpose to envenom them against the Royalists that those Troups which were entred into Paris were sent for to no other end than to make a general Massacre of all good Catholiques who were members of the Holy Union and to give up to the Souldiers their Houses their Money and their Wives Upon this the Musquet shot and the Stones from above were redoubl'd on those miserable men and more especially upon the Swissers to whom the Citizens were most inexorable More than threescore were either slain or dangerously hurt as well in St. Innocents Church yard as below on the Place Maubert without giving Quarter till Brissac who with his Sword in his hand was continually pushing forward the Barricades arriving there and beholding those poor Strangers who cry'd out for mercy with clasp'd Hands and both Knees on the ground and sometimes making the sign of the Cross in testimony of their being Catholiques stop'd the fury of the Citizens and commanding them to cry out vive Guise which they did as loud as they cou'd for safeguard of their Lives he satisfi'd himself with leading them disarm'd and Prisoners into the Boucherie of the New Market by the Bridge of St. Michael which he had already master'd It cannot be deni'd but that this Count was he amongst all the Leaguers who acted with the most ardour against the Royalists on that fatal day As being infinitely exasperated because the King had refus'd him the Admiralty and refus'd it in a manner so disobliging as to say openly he was a man that was good for nothing either by Sea or Land accusing him at the same time that he had not done his Duty in the Battel of the Azores where the Navy of Philippo Strozzi was defeated by the Marquis of Santa-Cruz he burn'd inwardly with desire of Revenge And when he saw the Souldiers inclos'd on all sides by the Barricades which were of his raising and the Swissers at his mercy 't is reported that he cry'd out as insulting on the King with a bitter Scoff and magnifying himself at the same time At least the King shall understand to day that I have found my Element and though I am good for nothing either at Sea or Land yet I am some Body in the Streets In this manner it was that the people making use of their advantage still push'd their fortune more and more and seem'd to be just upon the point of investing the Louvre while the Duke of Guise by whose secret orders all things were regularly manag'd amidst that horrible conâ—usion was walking almost unaccompanied in his own House and coldly answering the Queen and those who came one on the neck of another with Messages to him from the King intreating him to appease the tumult that he was not Master of those wild Beasts which had escap'd the toyles and that they were in the wrong to provoke them as they had done But at last when he perceiv'd that all things were absolutely at his command he went himself from Barricade to Barricade with onely a riding switch in his hand forbidding the people who paid a blind obedience to him from proceeding any farther and desiring them to keep themselves onely on the defensive He spoke also very civilly to the French Guards who at that time were wholly in his power to be dispos'd of as he thought good for Life or Death Onely he complain'd to their Officers of the violent counsells which his Enemies had given the King to oppress his Innocence and that of so many good Catholiques who had united themselves on no other consideration than the defence and support of the ancient Religion After which he gave Orders to Captain St. Paul to reconduct those Souldiers to the Louvre but their Arms were first laid down and their Heads bare in the posture of vanquish'd men that he might give that satisfaction to the Parisians who beheld the spectacle with Joy as the most pleasing effect of their present Victory He also caus'd the Swissers to be return'd in the same manner by Brissac and gave the King to understand that provided the Catholique Religion were secur'd and maintain'd in France in the condition it ought to be and that himself and his Friends were put in safety from the attempts of their Enemies they wou'd pay him all manner of Duty and Service which is owing from good Subjects to their Lord and Sovereign This in my opinion makes it evident that the Duke had never any intention to seize the person of the King and to inclose him in a Monastery as that Nicholas Poulain who gave in so many false informations and many Writers as well of the one Religion as of the other have endeavour'd to make the World believe For if that had been his purpose what cou'd have hinder'd him from causing the Louvre to be invested as he might easily have done the same day by carrying on the Barricades close to it while the tumult was at the height and for what reason did he return the French Guards and Swissers to the King if his intention had been to have attacqu'd him in the Louvre This was not his business nor his present aim but to defend and protect his Leaguers with a high hand and to avail himself of so favourable an opportunity to obtain the thing which he demanded and which doubâ—less had put him into condition of mounting the throne after the King's decease and becoming absolute Master of all affairs even during his Life In effect the Queen having undertaken to make the reconcilement as believing that thereby she might reenter into the management of business from which the Favourites had remov'd her and having ask'd him what were his pretensions he propos'd such extravagant terms and with so much haughtiness and resolv'dness speaking like a Conquerour who took upon him to dispose at his pleasure of the Vanquish'd that as dextrous as she was in the art of managing Mens minds from the very beginning of the conference she despair'd of her success For inhancing upon the Articles of Nancy he demanded that for the Security of the Catholique Religion in this Realm the King of Navarre and all the Princes of the House of Bourbon who had follow'd him in these last Wars shou'd
Predecessor or be with him because he was satisfied that this Great Man would be able to do him greater Service by staying with the Duke of Mayenne where by his wise Remonstrations and the credit which he had acquir'd with that Prince he might break the measures of the Spaniards and their Adherents He continued this politique management to the end and principally on that occasion whereon depended either the felicity or the unhappiness of this Kingdom according to the resolution which shou'd be taken For the Duke of Mayenne having ask'd him his opinion in relation to what the Legat and Mendoza had propos'd he gave him easily to understand that all those plausible Propositions which were made by the Legat by Mendoza and the Sixteen were intended only to deprive him of his Authority and to subject him and the whole Party of the Vnion under the domination of the Spaniards who wou'd not fail to usurp upon the French and to perpetuate the War thereby to maintain their own greatness That in his present condition without suffering an Head to be constituted above him he had War and Peace at his disposing together with the glory of having sustain'd himself alone both Religion and the State but by acknowledging the King of Spain for Protector of the Kingdom he shou'd only debase himself under the proud Title of a powerful Master who wou'd serve his own interests too well to leave him the means of either continuing the War or of concluding a Peace to the advantage of his Country There needed no more to perswade a man so knowing and so prudent as was the Duke of Mayenne 'T is to be confess'd that he was a Self lover which is natural to all men but he was also a Lover of the Common Good which is the distinguishing character of an Honest Man Since he cou'd not himself pretend to the Crown which he clearly saw it was impossible for him to obtain for many reasons he was resolv'd no Foreigner should have it nor even any other but that only Person to whom it belong'd rightfully Religion being first secur'd He thereupon firmly purpos'd from that time both in regard of his particular interest and that of the State to oppose whatsoever attempts should be made by the Spaniards or by his own nearest Relations under any pretence or colour which was undoubtedly one great cause of the preservation of the State For which reason that he might for ever cut off the Spaniards from all hope of procuring their Master to be made Protector of the Realm of France and consequently of having in his hands the Government of the Kingdom and the concernments of the League under this new Title as the Sixteen who were already at his Devotion had design'd he politickly told them in a full Assembly that since the cause of Religion was the only thing for which the Vnion was ingage'd in this War which they had undertaken it wou'd be injurious to the Pope to put themselves under any other protection than that of his Holiness Which Proposition was so gladly receiv'd by all excepting only the Faction of Sixteen that the Spaniards were constrain'd to desist and to let their pretensions wholly fall And to obviate the design of causing any other King to be Elected besides the Old Cardinal of Bourbon under whose Name he govern'd all things he procur'd the Parliament to verifie the Ordinance of the Council General of the Vnion by which that Cardinal was declar'd King and caus'd him so to be Proclaim'd in all the Towns and Places of their party retaining for himself by the same Ordinance the Quality and Power of Lieutenant General of the Crown till the King shou'd be deliver'd from Imprisonment And at the same time to ruin the Faction of Sixteen which was wholly Spaniardiz'd he broke the Council of the Vnion Saying That since there was a King Proclaim'd whose Lieutenant he also was there ought to be no other Council but his which in duty was to follow him wheresoever he shou'd be Thus the Duke of Mayenne having possess'd himself of all Royal Authority under the imaginary Title of another and having overcome all the designs of the Spaniards took the Field and after having taken in the Castle of Bois de Vincennes by composition which had been invested for a year together he retook Pontoise and some other places which hindred the freedom of commerce and being afterwards willing to regain all the passages of the Seine thereby to establish the communication of Paris with Rouen and to have the Sea open he went to besiege the Fort of Meulan where he lost much time to little purpose while the Legat against whom the Kings Parliament at Tours had made a terrible Decree was labouring at Paris with all his might that no accommodation shou'd be made with the King not even though he shou'd be converted To this effect seeing that the Faction of Sixteen and the Spaniards were extremely weaken'd after what the Duke of Mayenne had done against them and that the Royalists who were generally call'd Politiques had resum'd courage and began to say openly that it was the common duty of all good Subjects to unite themselves with the Catholicks who follow'd the King he oppos'd them with a Declaration lately made against them by the factious Doctors of the Sorboâ—ne on the tenth of February in the same year 1590. For by that Decree it was ordain'd That all Doctors and Batchelors shou'd have in abhorrence and strongly combat the pestilential and damnable Opinions which the Workers of Iniquity endeavour'd with all their force to insinuate daily into the Minds of Ignorant and Simple Men principally these Propositions That Henry de Bourbon might and ought to be honour'd with the Title of King That it Conscience men might hold his Party and Pay him Taxes and acknowledge him for King on condition he turn'd Catholick c. And then they added That in case any one shall refuse to obey this Decree the Faculty declares him an Enemy to the Church of God Perjur'd and Disobedient to his Mother and in conclusion cuts him off from her Body as a gangreen'd Member which corrupts the rest A Decree of this force was of great service to the Bigots of the League because it depriv'd the wiser sort of the License they had taken to perswade the people to make peace And the Legat that he might hinder any from taking it for the time to come bethought himself that a new Oath should be impos'd on the Holy Evangelists betwixt his hands in the Church of the Augustines to be taken by all the Officers of the Town and the Captains of the several Wards which was That they shou'd always persevere in the Holy Union that they shou'd never make Peace or Truce with the King of Navarre and that they shou'd employ their Lives and Fortunes in deliverance of their King Charles the Tenth Which was also enjoyn'd to be taken by all the Officers of
the pulling down or rather the total ruine of the Sixteen wou'd also repair the Loss which the Parliament had suffer'd of its only President remaining now without an Head and acting with absolute Power in the nature of a Soveraign Monarch he created four new Presidents out of their number whom he believ'd to be entirely in his Interests not doubting but they wou'd imploy themselves on all occasions to maintain his Power in that Body after which he was oblig'd to take the Field and to beg as he had done formerly the Assistance of the Spaniards against the King who having made great progress during those Troubles and Divisions which were likely at that time to ruine the Party of the League had laid Siege to Roüen He had already taken Noyon in view of the Enemies Army which which was then stronger than his own And having lately receiv'd the Supplies of Money and of three thousand men which the Earl of Essex the Queen of Englands Favourite had brought him he went with twelve hundred Horse to joyn upon the Frontier on the Plains of Vandy five or six thousand Reiters and above ten thousand Lansquenets which the Vicount de Turenne had brought him from Germany where he negotiated so well with the three Protestant Electors and William Landtgrave of Hesse that he obtain'd this considerable Succour notwithstanding all the Endeavours which the Emperor Rodolphus had us'd to hinder him Which important Service with many others which he had constantly perform'd from time to time during the space of eighteen years that he had serv'd the King was immediately recompenc'd by his Royal Master who having given him the Baston of Mareshall made him Duke of Bouillon and Soveraign Prince of Sedan by giving him in marriage the Princess Charlotte de la Mark Sister and Heir to the Duke deceas'd He also on his side being desirous to let the King understand that he wou'd endeavour to deserve that Honour which was done him by his Majesty and what he might expect hereafter from him did like David who marry'd not Sauls Daughter till he had kill'd an hundred Philistims for as a Preparatory to his Marriage in imitation of that Scripture-Hero he took the Town of Stenay by Scalado the day before his Marriage The King now finding himself strengthen'd with so considerable a Supply went to re-joyn the Gross of his Army before Roüen which the Marshal de Biron had invested As that Town was well attaqu'd so was it better defended during the space of six months by Andrew Brancas de Villars who was afterwards Admiral of France and at that time Lieutenant General in Normandy and Governour of Roüen and Havre de Grace for the League He perform'd on that occasion all that cou'd be expected from a great Captain for the defence of a Town committed to his Charge and by his long and vigorous Resistance twice gave leisure to the Duke of Mayenne to bring him the Relief which he had obtain'd from the Spaniards It was not without much difficulty that he gain'd these Succours but at length having artfully insinuated into the King of Spains Ministers that he wou'd procure the Election to fall upon the Infanta which thing they passionately desird though he fed them only with false hopes of it the Duke of Parma receiv'd such express Orders to march once more into France for the Relief of Roüen that it was impossible for him to resist them though he wou'd gladly have been dispenc'd with from that expedition He therefore advanc'd but very slowly with a strong Army of thirteen or fourteen thousand old Soldiers Spaniards and Walloons and seven or eight thousand French Lorrainers and Italians which last were the remainders of the Duke of Mayennes and Montemarciano's Forces The King in person went to meet them on their way with part of his Cavalry to harrass them in their March and advanc'd as far as Aumale that he might defend that Passage against them But considering that he had not strength enough to maintain it and that their whole Army which he went on purpose to view and to observe was coming to fall upon him and might easily inclose him by passing the River either above or below that Burrough he thought it necessary to make a speedy Retreat 'T is true that this Retreat which he made in view of so great an Army was very brave and that he never show'd the greatness of his Courage and undaunted Resolution more than on this occasion which was the most dangerous in which he had ever been ingag'd but the great Captains of that time all concurr'd in one Opinion that he perform'd it rather like a valiant Soldier who was well seconded by Fortune than like a prudent General whose duty it is to take his Measures so justly that he may not absolutely depend on the inconstancy of chance which often by one sudden blow has ruin'd the most fix'd and solid Undertakings For that he might give his men the leisure of retiring with the Baggage he plac'd an hundred Arquebusiers at the enâ—rance of the Burrough and putting himself at the Head of two hundred Horse he advanc'd almost half a League towards the Enemy coming up within Pistol-shot of them and made many discharges upon the Carabins which march'd at the Head of the Army whom he immediately stopp'd But the Duke of Parma having receiv'd information that he was there in Person so weakly attended and out of his Generals Post first sent out his light-Horse against him and after them the Body of his men at Arms who drove him back into Aumale His hundred Arquebusiers were there almost all of them cut in pieces and he was in danger to have been inclos'd and either kill'd or taken had not the night come on apace during which the Enemies unwilling to ingage themselves any farther without having first discover'd the Country he fortunately brought off his men in that dangerous Retreat in which he was shot in the Reins with a Pistolâ—Bullet but the Discharge being made at too great a distance it only raz'd his Skin without farther harm His Enemies themselves and principally the Duke of Parma in this Combat admir'd his Valour and his good Fortune but gave no great commendations to his Conduct and the Marshal de Biron who us'd to speak his mind freely cou'd not hold from telling him at his return that it was unbecoming a great King to do the duty of a Carabin In the mean time Villars willing to make advantage of his Absence perform'd one of the most gallant Actions which were done in the course of the whole War For being inform'd by his Spies in what order the Camp of the Besiegers lay he on the twenty sixth of February made a furious Sally out of all the Gates which were opposite to the Key which in effect was worth to him the gaining of a Battel For having surpris'd the Enemy and carry'd all the Quarters which look'd towards those Gates at a
are obvious to the most common capacities at the first glance The Proposition was made in the plainest and most intelligible terms without the least ambiguity in their meaning that there shou'd be a conference betwixt the Catholiques of the two Parties to consider of the safest ways which cou'd be found for the preservation of Religion and the State yet the Cardinal Legat consulting only the violent passion which he had to support the Faction of the Sixteen against the King and to exclude him from the Crown cry'd out that this Proposition of the Catholique Royalists was contrary to the Law of God who forbids any communication with Heretiques and the Doctors who were devoted to the League to whom that message was sent to be examin'd declar'd it to be schismatical and Heretical But the Duke of Mayenne who had another prospect of things than the Leaguers and Spaniards and who was resolv'd to hinder the election of a King manag'd that affair so dexterously that it was concluded in the States that the conference shou'd be accepted betwixt those only who were Catholiques of the two Parties in the same manner as it was propos'd Notwithstanding which it was not held till two months after at the end of April in the Burrough of Surenne because the Duke of Mayenne who desir'd only to gain time for the compassing his ends was gone before he return'd his answer to meet the Spanish Army which was commanded by Count Charles of Mâ—nsfield That Duke was of opinion that with their assistance he might take all the places on the Seine both above and below which inconvenienc'd Paris But the Army being so very weak that with his own Forces which were added to it there were not in all above 10000 Men all that he cou'd do was only to take Noyon which employed his time after which it was so much diminish'd by the protraction of that Siege which had cost so much blood that the Count was forc'd to return to Flanders As for the Conference though it was made with much more preparation and magnificence than all the former it had yet the same destiny attending it because the two Heads of the Deputation on either side Renaud de Beaunâ— Archbishop of Bourges for the Royalists and Peter d' Espinac Archbishop of Lyons for the League two of the most dextrous and eloquent men of that Age were both of them somewhat too well conceited of their own parts and maintain'd their opinions with too much wit and too great vehemence to come to an agreement in their disputations against each other The Archbishop of Bourges in the three Speeches which he made for the establishment of his Proposition and for the confirmation of it by refuting those answers which were made him omitted no force of Arguments which cou'd be drawn from Reason to induce those of the League to a belief of these three points which he maintain'd constantly and with great vigour to the end as Truths indubitable The First was That there is an indispensable obligation of Acknowledging and Honouring as King Him to whom the Crown belongs by the inviolable right of Lawful Succession without regard to the Religion he professes or to his way of Life And this he prov'd first by the Testimonies of Jesus Christ and his Apostles who command us to honour Kings and Higher Powers and to pay them that obedience which is due to them even though they shou'd be Unbelievers and wicked men declaring that every man ought to submit himself to the powers which are ordain'd by God and that to do otherwise is to resist his Will and trouble the order and tranquillity of the Publick Secondly By examples drawn from the Old Testament where we see that Zedekiah was sharply reprehended and punish'd by God for having revolted against the King of the Chaldeans that the People of Israel obey'd Nebuchadnezzar in the Babylonish Captivity by the Command of God and that the Prophets Ahijah and Elijah were content to reprove those Kings who believ'd not in God as Ieroboam and Ahab without ever revolting against them Thirdly By the Example of the Christians in all Ages who had suffer'd peaceably the dominion of Idolatrous Emperors Tyrants and Persecutors of the Church and had not refus'd to acknowledge for their Soveraigns those Emperors who had fallen into Heresie such as Constantius Valens Zeno Anastasius Hâ—raclius Constantine the Fourth and the Fifth Leo the Third and Fourth Theophilus and the Gothique Kings in Italy the Vandals in Affrica and the Visigoths in Spain and in Gaul though they were all of them Arians From thence passing to the second point he added That by a more convincing reason they were bound to obey the present King who by Gods Grace was neither Pagan nor Arian nor a Persecutor of the Church and of Catholiques whom he protected and maintain'd in all their Rights who believ'd with them in the same God the same Jesus Christ and the same Creed And though he was divided from them by some errors which he had suck'd in as we may say with his milk and which he had never renounc'd but by a forc'd conversion with the Dagger at his Throat yet this notwithstanding it cou'd not be said that he was confirm'd in them with that obstinacy which constitutes Heresie since he was wholly resolv'd to forsake them as soon as he shou'd be instructed in the truth which occasion'd him with all modesty to maintain that he ought not to pass with them for an Heretique That for the rest by Gods blessing there was great probability of hope that he wou'd suddenly be converted that he was already altogether inclin'd to it as appear'd by the permission which he had given to the Catholique Princes and Lords to send at his proper costs and charges the Marquess of Pisany to our Holy Father and to make this present Conference with them That he had even uncover'd his Head with great respect in beholding a Procession at Mante which pass'd by his Windows that not long before this time he had solemnly renew'd the promise which he had made to cause himself to be instructed and that he wou'd infallibly accomplish it with the soonest And upon this to acquit himself of what he had propos'd in the third place he set himself to adjure them with the strongest reasons and the most tender expressions he cou'd use that they wou'd joyn themselves with the Kings Party for the accomplishment of so good a work and bear their part in that Instruction and consequently Conversion of so great a King who receiving at their hands that duty to which they were oblig'd wou'd assuredly give them the satisfaction which they wish'd and which he was not in a capacity of giving â—hem at a time when they demanding it with Arms in their hands it wou'd have appear'd that he had done it only on compulsion On the other side the Archbishop of Lyons who was not endu'd with less Eloquence and Knowledge than the
authorize that horrible revolt which they design'd was of opinion to propose to the College of Sorbonne not onely by a verbal request but by an Authentique Act which was sign'd by the Magistrate and Seal'd with the Town Seal these two important cases of Conscience the one was Whether the French were effectively discharg'd from the Oath of Allegiance and Faith which they had made to the King the other Whether in Conscience they might Arm and unite themselves and whether in order to it they might raise Money and Contributions for the defence and preservation of the Catholique Apostolique and Roman Religion in France in opposition to the detestable designs and endeavours of the King and all his Adherents since he had violated the publique Faith at Blois in prejudice of the Catholique Religion the Edict of the Holy Vnion and the natural liberty of the Estates On which occasion the Faculty assembling on the Seventh of Ianuary to the number of Seventy Doctors after a solemn Procession and a Mass of the Holy Ghost concluded for the affirmative on both the points by a common consent without so much as the opposition of one man as the Decree it self informs us and that this resolution shou'd be sent to the Pope to the end he might approve and confirm it by his Authority desiring that he wou'd have the goodness to succour the Gallicane Church which suffer'd under great oppressions To confess the truth this Decree gave great scandal and the Huguenots who were not wanting to report it word for word and to make an Examen of it in their Writings drew a great advantage from it to insult over our Divines of whom they had reason to say that both their Doctrine and their Morals in this respect are directly opposite to the word of God which teaches us the quite contrary But 't is easie to answer them by letting them know what is most true namely that this Decree was pass'd by a faction of seditious Doctours Boucher Prevost Aubry Bourgoin Pelletier and seven or eight old Doctors who were violent Leaguers and also of the Council of Sixteen drew after them by their Cabals and by their inveterate malice fifty or threescore Doctors the greatest part of whom were those young hot-headed and turbulent â—ellows whom we have already mention'd and the rest in fear of their lives if they shou'd dare to oppose them assented onely upon compulsion to this Decree which the Sorbonne it self at all times when it was free has held abominable and which Doctor Iohn Le Fevre at that time Dean of the Faculty resisted what he cou'd without gaining any thing upon that wretched faction which constrain'd him at last in spight of his opposition to Subscribe it with them In like manner the King who complain'd extremely of this proceeding having Assembled at Blois twenty Bishops and twelve Doctors of the Sorbonne who were of the number of the Deputies when that Decree was read to them they all concluded without the least hesitation that it was execrable and cou'd never have pass'd without compulsion and for safeguard of their lives from the rage and fury of the Parisian Leaguers In the mean time it must be acknowledg'd in what manner soever it were gain'd yet being of the Sorbonne whose name and authority were had in singular veneration through all Europe and particularly in France that Decree was the Trumpet to the general Revolt which was made in Paris and from thence in a short time after extended it self through the greatest part of all the Cities in the Kingdom For as soon as it was publish'd in that great Town by the most furious and giddy-brain'd Preachers of the League who exalted it to the People in their declamatory style they ran on the sudden into such horrible extremes and such transports of rage so contrary to the duty of Subjects to their lawfull Sovereign that though our Writers have made them publique yet I believe it more decent to suppress them than to profane my History by a Relation which wou'd render it unpleasant and even odious I shall onely say that at the same time when by virtue of this damnable Decree they bereft him of the title of King leaving him onely the bare name of Henry de Valois they heap'd upon him all sorts of outrages and villanies which the impotent fury of the Rabble cou'd produce They vented their rage against him in Satyrs Lampoons and Libels infamous Reports and Calumnies and those too in the fowlest terms of which the most moderate were Tyrant and Aposltate And that they might not be wanting to discharge their fury in the most brutal manner they cou'd invent they extended it even to his Arms his Statues and his Pictures which they tore in pieces or trampled under their feet or dragg'd about the Streets through the mire and dirt or burn'd them or cast them into the River with a volee of curses and imprecations against him in the mean adoring the Duke of Guise and his Brother the Cardinal as Martyrs and placing their Images upon Altars At last this blind fury went so far that after the Decree the Curats and Confessours of the Faction of Sixteen abusing the power which was given them by their Sacred Ministry of binding and loosing refus'd Absolution to those who acknowledg'd to them in Confession that their Conscience wou'd not suffer them to renounce Henry the third their lawfull King This impious practice was the first effect that was produc'd by the Decree of the Faculty the news of which was receiv'd by the King with much sadness at the same time when he was busied in paying his last duties to the Queen his Mother who deceas'd at the Castle of Blois on the fifth of Ianuary in the seventy second year of her age whether it were out of melancholy for the death of the Guises which was upbraided to her by the old Cardinal of Bourbon or of a Hectique Fever or a false Pleurisie Certain it is that there was no mean or moderation us'd either in praise or dispraise of that Princess who indeed has afforded sufficient matter to Historians to speak both good and ill of her and either of them in excess Both the one and the other are easie to be discern'd by what I have related of her in this History and in that of Calvinism I shall onely add this last touching to finish her picture that it cannot be deni'd but that she was endued with great perfections of mind and body a carriage extremely Majestical a certain air of Greatness and Authority worthy of her high Estate her Behaviour noble and engaging her Wit polite her Apprehension prompt her Judgment piercing a great talent for Business and Treaties and a singular address of managing and turning others to her own bent a Royal Magnificence Constancy and Fortitude of mind extraordinary in her Sex a masculine courage and greatness of Soul which naturally carri'd her to the highest undertakings In one
Dame a man commendable for his Integrity and Learning and to whom the Chapter of the Metropolitane of Paris is much acknowledging for his rare Library which he has bestow'd on it This then was the snare which Bussy Le Clerc laid for the Parliament thereby to pick an occasion of treating them with the most unworthy usage which they cou'd possibly receive For without expecting an answer to his insolent request finding that they debated it much longer than he thought fitting he return'd into the great Chamber with his Sword in his hand follow'd by five and twenty or thirty men arm'd Breast and Back and with Pistols and after having told them at the first that the business was delay'd too long and that it was well known that there were those amongst them who betray'd the Town and held correspondence with Henry de Valois he added that he had order to secure them and commanded with an imperious voice that they whom he shou'd name shou'd immediately follow him if they had a mind to avoid worse usage At which when looking over his list he had nam'd the first President Achilles de Harlay the Presidents de Blanc Mesnil Potier de Thou and the most ancient Counsellours all the rest rose up as by common consent protesting that they wou'd not abandon their Head whom they follow'd to the number of about threescore of all the Chambers walking two and two after Bussy Le Clerc who led them as it were in triumph through an infinite multitude of people to the Bastille where those of them onely were imprison'd who were known to be inviolably faithfull to the King's service The most considerable of them in desert as well as dignity was the great Achilles de Harlay whom to name is to commend a Magistrate every way accomplish'd and of that illustrious house which having for four hundred years together signaliz'd it self in Arms has since added to that glory all that can be acquir'd by the highest preferments of the long Robe and of the Church I shou'd be ungratefull to their memory if I did not justice to the merit of those Senatours who follow'd their Head and if I made not their names known to posterity which are not found in our Historians but which I have collected from the forementioned Manuscripts of Monsieur Loysel the Advocate who knew them all Besides the Presidents already nam'd the Counsellours who were imprison'd in the Bastille with them were Chartier Spifame Malvault Perrot Fleury Le Viry Molé Scarron Gayant Amelot Iourdain Forget Herivaux Tournebu Du Puy Gillot de Moussy Pinney Godard Fortin Le Meneur and the Sieur Denis de Here. This last was a man of Wit and of Quality one of the most resolute of the whole Company who from a warm Leaguer as formerly he had been out of an ill guided Zeal was now become a great servant of the King having discovered at last the pernicious designs of the League of whose extraordinary merit Henry the Fourth after his conversion made great account Insomuch that he had the credit to get his name struck out of the Catholicon in which the Authour of that witty Satyr had plac'd it but little to his advantage For whereas in the first Edition of the year 1594. Machaut and Here were nam'd as great sticklers for the League in all the rest of the Editions we find Machaut and Baston That hot-headed Baston who was so furious a Leaguer that he sign'd the Covenant with his own bloud drawn from his hand which remain'd lame after it and who after Paris was reduc'd to the King's service chose rather to go out of it with the Spaniards and retire to Flanders where he di'd sterv'd than to stay in France and live at his ease under the Government of his lawfull King Thus you have the names of those Loyal MEN WORTHY of the Parliament who were clapt up in the Bastille with their first President There were others of them whose names I cou'd not recover but who well deserve to be known and had in veneration by the world The rest of them whether they turn'd Leaguers for company or seem'd to turn for fear of Death or that by such their dissimulation they thought they might put themselves in a way of doing the King some considerable service having engag'd to be faithfull to that party were left at their liberty and continued in their stations with the President Brisson who from the next morning began to sit and take the Chair as Head of the new Parliament of the League with which it was believ'd he held correspondence on purpose to procure himself this new dignity An action much unworthy of a man who had so high a reputation for his rare learning who ought rather to have lost his life than to have so basely abandon'd his King and to have made himself a Slave to the passions of his mortal Enemies under pretence that all he did was onely to shelter himself from the violence of the Faction as he privately protested But so it is that the greatest Clerks are not always the wisest Men and that good sense accompanied with constancy of mind and an unshaken fidelity in our duty is imcomparably more usefull to the Service of God and of the State than all the knowledge of Books and Learning of Colleges huddled together in a Soul without integrity and resolution And truly it manifestly appear'd that all these good qualities were wanting to this pretended Parliament at that time for about nine or ten days after that action all the Members of it to the number of an hundred and twenty comprehending in that account the Princes and the Prelates swore upon the Crucifix that they wou'd never depart from their League and that they wou'd prosecute by all manner of ways their revenge for the death of the two Guises against all those who were either Authours of it or accomplices in it This protestation which was dispatch'd away to all the Towns that held for the party of the League increas'd the fury of the people who every day grew worse and worse even to that degree that some of them by an abominable mixture of Sacrilege Paricide and Magical Enchantments made Images of Wax resembling the King which they plac'd upon the Altars and prick'd them in divers parts pronouncing certain Diabolical words at every one of the forty Masses which they caus'd to be said in many Churches to make their charms more powerfull and at the fortieth they pierc'd the image to the heart as intending thereby to give their King the stroke of death And in the mean time their Bedlam Guincestre shewing in the midst of his Sermon certain little Silver Candlesticks made an hundred years before and curiously cast into the shape of Satyrs carrying Flambeaus which had been found amongst the rich ornaments of the Capuchins Oratory and the Minimes of the Bois de Vincennes lately plunder'd by the Rabble accus'd the King himself of Sorcery saying that