side then the Peasan in the Countrey which makes the Hollander oftentimes bring thither French Salt back again and gain by it One shall see somtimes the poor Roturier or yeoman to go from the market with his pockets cram'd with salt to avoid paying the gabel and women steal it home in their purses Now touching such an affluence of all things in France besides which you insist upon my Noble Cosen it may be so but then surely ther is the worst kind of government there upon earth and the most unproportionablest divident made of that plenty for I dare avouch France doth abound with beggars more then any Countrey under the Sun One cannot ride upon the high way but he shall have swarmes of little mendicants sing before his horse head as also when he remounts the next day The poor Vigneron and Husbandman go in their wooden shooes and canvas breeches to Church upon Sundayes and if their wifes have a buckram petticot she is brave Therfore wheras you say that France is the freest and frankest Countrey in the World and that she draws her etymology thence she may be so to strangers and passengers but for the Natives I beleeve they are the arrand'st slaves upon earth they are of a meer asinin condition not only in relation to the King who so grinds their faces with taxes but they are villains also to their Lords I will produce one example for all The Lord of Chasteauroux or red Castle in Berry had a Tenant that by his industry became Bourgesse of Paris Le seigneur vendica son serf qui s'estoiâ—… retiré et obtint la provision the Lord in open Court demands his slave which the Court could not deny and so pass'd sentence accordingly You say noble Cosen that France is adorn'd with all vertues truly I do not see how vertue can cohabit where such furies do tyrannize I am sure that Scaliger speaks of som parts of France quae ab omni humanitaâ—…e et literis vasta est ubi librorum et bonorum hominum maxima solitudo est Som parts which are void of all humanity and literature where ther is a kind of solitude and wildernesse both of books and good men Touching the magnanimity and prwoesse of the French 't is tru they did achieve som brave things while the German bloud continued fresh in them and untainted Cicero saith that Caius Marius by his divine vertu and valour influentes in Italiam Gallorum Copias repressit that he repress'd those swarmes of French who rush'd into Italie but Caesar who was a better Historian then Cicero saith they were Cimbri and Teutones both which are High Dutch as also those which Brennus brought to sack Rome and afterwards took Delphos from the Greeks Touching the French courage we know the trite proverb that the French are at the first onset more then men and afterwards les then women Indeed Florus sayeth Habent eorum corpora quiddam simile cum suis nivibus quae mox vt caluêrs pugnâ statim in sudorem eunt et levi motu quasi sole laxantur The French bodies bear some analogy with their snowes for as soon as they are heated in fight they vapour into sweat and they are as it were thaw'd by the Sun at the least motion But your Highnesse seems to extol mightily the power of the French King indeed 't is an old saying that Gallum in suo sterquilinio plurimum posse The cock Gallus can do much upon his own dunghill But this power is not so superlatif if we descend into the truth of things for touching the demeanes of the Crown the King cannot alienat one acre therof without the consent of the three Estates as ther is a pregnant example herof in the Assembly of Blois where Bodin lost the favour of Henry the third about this debate For the French King is by the law but an Usufructuary of the Crown possession nor could any of them be sold for the redemption of King Iohn in England though it was then propos'd nor of King Francis in Spain though this was the greatest necessity that could be We well know how often the Parlement of Paris hath clash'd with the King and rejected his Edicts Nor is the single testimony of the King valid enough in France to take away any ones life ther was a notable example herof in Henry the seconds raign who when he had commanded an Italian servant to be clap'd in prison and had solemnly sworn that he had found him in a most foul offence yet the Kings affidavit could not prevail with the Judges but they releas'd the prisoner But now the integrity and stoutnesse of those brave ancient Legislators and Judges in times past is much diminish'd because Kings do use to lend their eares to Parasits Sycophants and Buffons rather then to Helvidius Priscus Monsieur Lavacre or such Sages Ther is a tale of Bajazet the first that he had an Ethiop born in India about him and having upon a march one day his tent pitch'd nere a high tree he call'd the Ethiop and sayed Dre Areb if thou lov'st me go up to the top of that tree the Indian scambled up presently so the Emperour sent presently for som to hew down the tree the poor Ethiop begging his life all the while and that his Counsellors wold intercede for him but nothing prevailing the Ethiop pull'd down his breeches and with his Excrements and Urine did so beray the hewers that they gave over work and in the interim the Ethiop gets down telling the Turks Counsellors Wold all such Privy Counsellors as you were so beray'd whose oouncel cannot do as much as my Excrements The French Kings use to have many such weak Councellors Touching the unlimited power the French Kings have to make pecuniary Levies and lay taxes I pray hear what Philip Comines sayeth one of Lewis the xi chiefest Councellors of State and whom he employ'd in the most intricat and arduous ocasions Nemo omnium est Principum qui jus habeat vel teruncium vnum exigendi a suis praeter constitutum annuum censum nisi populus assentiatur sunt quidem principes quibus hoc frequens est in Sermone vt dicant habere se privilegia vt quantum velint exigant a populo Galliarum vero Rex omnium minimè causam habet vt istud de se jactet nec enim vel ipsi vel cui vis alii licet Ther is no Prince that hath right to raise the least farthing of his subjects besides his settled revenues without the peeples consent 'T is tru ther are som Kings who have it frequently in their mouthes that they have such praerogatives to impose what they please but the King of France hath the least cause to vaunt thus of himself The Exorbitancies of the French Kings this way hath bin the ground of all the warrs that were wag'd pour le Bien public for the common good which have harass'd France so often Charles the
whereof the noble Baron hath spoken so much they were very valiant indeed when a silly Shepheardesse Anne d' Arc did beat them away from before Orleans pursued them to Paris and so drive them over the Seine to Normandy and when they could not be reveng'd of this Mayd in the Field being taken by a Stratageme they cut her off by a forged accusation that she was a Sorceresse forsooth Then was the time if the English had comported themselves like men of prowesse and policy to have reduc'd all France under a perpetuall subjection King Charles the seventh being driven to such streights that he was constrain'd to fly to Bourges and so for the time was in a jeering way call'd King of Berry But that notable mayd at her execution being tied to the stake was nothing daunted but left prosperity and victory for a legacy to her Countrey men till the English should be beaten quite out of France as they were afterwards for being driven and dogg'd as far as Calais they kept that a while but afterwards they were by a writ of ejectment publish'd by sound of drum and trumpet as also by the Canon Musket of the Duke of Guise thrust out of Calais and so casheer'd quite out of France which sunck so deep and made such black impressions of sorrow upon the heart of Queen Mary of England that she would often say if she were open'd after death the town of Calais would be found Engraven in her heart Now for the piety goodnes and vertu of the English which the noble Baron did so much magnifie you may judge what it was in those dayes by the ingenuous confession of an English Captain who when he had truss'd up his bagg and bagage to go for England as he was going out of the gate he in a geering way was ask'd O Englishmen when will you back again to France The Captain with a sad serious countenance answer'd When the sinns of France are greater then the sinns of England then will the English return to France Nor indeed had the French much cause to affect the English in regard of their insolence and cruelty wherof there be divers examples for in some good successes they had the victory was more bloody then the battaill cutting of prisoners off in cold blood for their greater security But the English must needs be cruell in a Forren Countrey when they use to be so in their own What a barbarous act was that of Edward the fourth to clapp up his own brother George Duke of Clarence in prison and afterwards to drown him in a butt of Muscadin by a new invention of death But to descend to neerer times what an act of immanity and ignoblenes was that in Queen Elizabeth when she promis'd safety welcom to Mary Queen of Scotts and Dowager of France if she came to England for preventing the machinations of her rebellious subjects against her and afterwards to suffer her to be hurried from one prison to another for twenty yeares and then to suffer her head to be chop'd off and by a cunning kind of dissimulation to lay the fault upon Davison her secretary and throw the bloud into his face under pretence that he sent the warrant for her execution without her knowledge Truly this was a most inglorious act and the reproach of it will never be worn out but will stick as a black spot to England while she is an Iland nor can all the water of the Sea about her wash off the stain but it wil continue still indelible But 't is the more strange that Queen Elizabeth should doe this a Queen that had been herself bred up a good while in the school of affliction and might be said to have come from the Scaffold to the Throne I say 't is strange that she should not be more sensible of anothers calamity Dido the Pagan Queen out of a sweet tendernes could say Non ignara mali miseris succurrere disco and it had more becom'd Queen Elizabeth to have said so being a Christian Queen That Queen Elizabeth should do this to her own Cosen and sister Queen one as good as herself who after an invitation to England would never suffer her to have the comfort of her presence all the while That Queen Elizabeth who was cryed up and down the world to be so just so vertuous so full of clemency should do this it doth aggravat the fact much more then if another had done it I must confesse she lost much repute abroad for it Satyres pasquills and invectives being made in every corner of Christendom among others I will recite unto you one that was belch'd out in France which was thus Anglois vous dites qu'entre vous Un seul loup vivant on ne trouve Non mais vous avez une Louve Pire qu'un million de loups No Wolfs ye Englishmen do say Live in your Ile or beasts of prey No but a Wolfesse you have one Worse then a thousand Wolfs alone Among other Kings and Queens of England the example of this Queen and her Father may serve to verifie the saying of Porphyrius which you alledg'd most noble Baron Britannia fertilis Provincia Tyrannorum That Great Britanny is a province fruitfull for Tyrants Now Nimrod was call'd the Robustus Venator the strong Hunter which the Divines do interpret to be a mighty Tyrant And certainly the chasing and hunting of beasts the killing of them the washing of the Kings hands in their blood and feasting with them afterwards must needs make the minds of princes more ferocious and lesse inclinable to clemency wherefore they have a wholsom law in England that no Butcher who is habituated to blood may be capable to be a Juryman to give verdit upon any mans life The Nobles of England may in some kind be call'd Carnificers of some sorts of beasts as the buck and the doe with other such poor harmeles creatures whereof some have no gall in them for having wounded them first and then worried them down with their doggs at last as a signall of victory they bath their fingers in the blood of the poor animall which they call to take the essay but certainly this must conduce to obdurat human hearts and as it were flesh them in blood Now 't is well known there are no Kings on earth such great hunters as the English and who have more of variety of sport in that kind then any for there are more Forests Chaces and Parks besides variety of Royall palaces annexed to the Crown of England then to any other of Europe which might make the Countrey far more copious of corn fuller of cattle and have fewer beggars if they were made arable grounds or turn'd to pasturage Moreover the English Kings may not improperly be call'd Nimrods as Bodin hath it herein considering what rigorous punishments use to be inflicted upon the poor peeple by vertu of the Forest lawes In the book call'd Liber Rufus there
underneath Touching the large Province of York whereas you averre that Constantine and his Mother Helen were Britaines and born there Nicephorus makes a question of it and would have them to be of Bithynia Towards Richmond there are such squalid uncouth places and horrid Mountaines that the English themselves call them the Northern Alpes and there be such roaring streames of water which rush out of them that the inhabitants name them Hell-becks that is Infernal or Stygian Rivers Now for Scotland Good Lord what a pittifull poor Country is it It were no petty kinde of punishment to be banisht thither for it is a Country onely for those to dwell in that want a Country and have no part of the earth besides to dwell upon In some parts the soyl is such that it turns trees to stones and wheat to oats apples to crabbs and melons to pumpions In some places as you pass along you shall see neither bird in the aire nor beast on the earth or worm creeping on the ground nor scarce any vegetall but a black gorsie soyl a raw rheumatique air or some craggy and squalid wild disconselate hils And touching Woods Groves or Trees as Stephen might have scap'd stoning in Holland for want of stones so if Iudas had betrayed Christ in Scotland he might as one sayd have repented before he could have found out a tree to have hang'd himself upon And most noble Auditors you may make easie conjectures of the poverty of Scotland by the demeans of the Crown which scarce amount to a hundred thousand Dollars a year which you know is the ordinary Income of a German Prince and this both Boterus and Bodin do testifie who were Eagle-ey'd Inspectors into the Revenues of all Kingdomes and States And the answer which the Duke of Norfolk made Queen Elizabeth when she reprehended him for his presumption to marry the Queen of Scots doth verifie this Madam said he it is no great presumption in me to attempt this for my Revenues are not much inferiour to the King of Scotlands This induced the Queen Elizabeth to give King Iames her Godsonne and Successor a Pension every year Nor were the Revenues of the Crown of England any thing considerable till of late years that Trade began to encrease so infinitely and consequently the Customes with Suits in Law since the demolition of Abbeyes and the alienation of Church-Lands to the Crowne with the First-fruits Fines and other perquisites by Offices and Courts of Justice I say before these additions to the Crown the Revenue of the Crown of England was but very contemptible in comparison of other Princes I must confesse indeed that in these late Wars the Wealth of England as well as the Strength thereof hath wonderfully appear'd for I believe on both sides there hath been above two hundred Millions consum'd And there is now coming into this new Republique I beleeve above twelve Millions of Crownes every year And for her Strength one may say England was like a Horse she knew not her own strength till now for who would have thought that England could have put forth a hundred thousand foot and forty thousand horse all arm'd besides her power at Sea I say who could have thought it Yet there were so many in number at least betwixt King and Parliament at one time But to reflect again upon Scotland as the Country is pittifully barren insomuch that long Keale and short Keale which is a kind of Cabbidge that they can dress twenty sorts of wayes is one of their principall food besides fish and some odde fowle as the Solan Goose which is their greatest Regalo yet the Eater must stop his nose when he takes a bit into his mouth the smell is so rank and strong I say as the Country is so steril so is the people sordid and subject to vermine Good Lord what nasty little huts and holes shall you finde there up and down what dirty courts and stables above the anckle deep cramm'd with dung The sight of an ordinary Scots woman is a remedy against Lust for they are as big as Cows in the middle Nature seems to make no distinction there between the two sexes but the women commonly are as bigge limb'd as the men These short commons at home drive the men commonly abroad to seek their fortunes in Swethland Denmark and Poland where they are in such multitudes that in case of necessity the King of Poland might put in the field thirty thousand Scots Pedlars though they passe by the name of Merchants for if one can come up to a horse and a pair of panniers he presently assumes that name unto him Now though abroad the Scots are kept under a strict discipline that they cannot steal yet at home they are notable theeves and indeed the Caledonians were ever so to a proverb they goe now under the names of Mossetroupers Hear I pray what their own Country man Iohn Lesley the Bishop of Rosse speaks of them Noctu turmatim per invia loca perque multos maeandros è suis finibus exeunt interdiu in prostitutis latibulis equos viresque suas recreant donec eò tandem per tenebras quo volunt perveniant Arrepta praeda similiter noctu per circuitus devia loca dunt axat ad sua redeunt Quò quisque peritior Dux per illas solitudines anfractus praecipitia media caligine tenebris esse potest is ut ingeniâ—… excellens majore in honore habetur tanta calliditate hi valeut ut rarissimè praedam sibi eripi sinant nifi canum odoratu quorum ductu rectis semper vestigiis insequentium ab adversariis non nunquam capiantur In the night time the Scots doe use to steal forth by troups through odde invious places and divers Meanders and windings they bait in the way in some odde nook or cave where they refresh themselves and their horses untill they come unto the places they aime at where they had intelligence there was booty for them which when they have got they return by some other devious passage wheeling about until they are come to their own home He who is the most cunning conductor through these unfrequented and craggy by-places in the dark is cried up to be a very knowing man and consequently he is held in greatest esteem And so cautious crafty they are in their art this way that their prey is seldome or never taken away from them unlesse they be pursued with Dogs But these Borderers or Mossetroopers which this description aimes at are far inferiour to the Highlanders or Redshankes who sojourne 'twixt craggs and rocks who in the art of Robbery go much beyond all other insomuch that it is a Law in Scotland St quis ex aliqua illorum gente damna intulerit quicunque captus fuerit aut damna resarciat aut capite luat When any of the Highlanders commit any Robbery let the next that is taken repair the losse or suffer death I
and Lorenzo de Medici 23 Reasons that Great Britain may stand in competition for the primacy of Europe 50 Raphael Urbin design'd by Leo the tenth to be a Cardinal 37 Reasons why Great Britain cannot deserve the preheminence of other Countries 67 The Russe seldom travels abroad 2. in the Pro. Rodolphus the Emperours wise speech to a Traveller 6 The Rule of Providence not to powre down all blessings at once 8 Of Regiomontanus 10 A Remarkable passage of Everard Barbatus Duke of Wirtemberg 21 The Roman Emperours had a guard of Germans for their fidelity Of the Renowned Families of Germany and their antiquity and extent through all Europe 26 Rhodope a rich Courtisan built one of the Pyramids of Egypt 2 Rome in one Cense that was made had in her two millions and a half of soules 2 Rome when Pagan had above 400 Temples now Christian she hath scarce the 4th part 2 The sorry report the French gave of Poland at their return with Hen. 3 6 Rome often ravished 28 Rome shrunk into a Pigmey's skin from that Gigantick shape she was 34 The hugenesse of Rome conjectur'd by many arguments 34 S. SCotsmen Men-eaters 63 Spain first attempted and at last subdued by the Romans 2 Spain preferr'd before all countries by Charles the 5 1 Spain with her commodities laid opâ—… 2 Spain the fragrantst Country 2 In Spain Milk cannot turn to Whey in some places 2 Spain the Queen of horses 2 Of the chief Cities of Spain 3 Of the Mines of Spain 4 The site and form of Spain 4 Of the 150 Rivers that water Spain 4 Spain hath a bridge twenty miles long whereon cattle feed 4 Spanish Crown made of her own gold 4 Spain describ'd by Claudian 5 A Spanish Guard about Iulius Caesar Augustus had a Band of Biscainers 6 A notable example of the Spanish valour 6 The Spaniards right justified to the West Indies 7 The Spanish Discoverers of the West Indies the Discoverers of the East 7 Spaniards the sole Grandees of this Age 8 Spain hath bred notable Spirits 8 Of the Jesuits founded by a Spaniard 9 The Spanish Monarchy the vastest since the Creation 10 The Sun alwaies shines upon some part of the Philippian Monarchy 10 Sacriledge to dispute of the Emperours power 2. in the Pro. Spain taunted 6 Seneca's notable Speech against Forren Travell 6 Satan doth commonly set up his Chappel near Gods House 9 Scaligers witty saying of â—…lavius 12 Scaligers coÌ„parison 'twixt thunder canon 14 Scaligers witty saying of Printing of Canon Wheele-clocks 16 Scaligers Elogium of Antwerp 16 The Swisse scarce knew the use of Gold and Silver til the overthrow they gave the Duke of Burgundy near Granson 19 Spanish Souldiers made hilts of swords of massie Gold at the plundring of Antwerp 20 A notable speech of Philip the second when his Father resign'd him his dominions 22 The wondrous strength of Sigismund King of Poland who could crack a horshooe 8 Slavonique the most spacious Tongue 8 Strange examples of some learned men that lost their memory as not to remember their own names 34 Scaligers tart opinion of Rome 35 Sicily call'd by Gâ—…cero Romes Nurse and the peoples Pantry 35 Sannazarius writ three books of Jesus Christ and yet never names him 38 Spain hath afforded many brave Emperors 11 The Spanish Grandezas expressed and reasons alledged that the Spanish King is to be preferrred before all other Potentates 11 In Spain the Mule fares sometimes better than the Master 1â—… The sterillity of Spain discovered by a pleasant tale of the Count Palatin of the Rhine 15 Of the Spanish pride some examples 21 How Spain came to this greatness 22 A question whether the Spaniards were first discoverers of the East and West Indies 22 Of the Spanish cruelty in the Indies 23 Spanish King not so potent as we take him to be and the reasons 24 The Spanish valour question'd 26 Divers Spanish Rodomantadoes 26 The Spanish Fleet the highest Grandeza that ever was 27 The sharp sight of the Spaniard 27 A memorable story of a Spanish Captain in Flanderâ—… 27 Though the King of Spain be in perpetuall war and infinitely indebted yet there is no appearance at all in his Court 27 T A Traveller compar'd to a Horsleech and Paris of Troy 6 Tacitus his notable speech against Germany 7 Thuanus saith that Cambray makes 30000 linnen cloths yearly 13 Tacitus like to have been lost had he not been received in a monastery of Westphalia 15 Typography casts a bridle into times mouth 15 Typography Ars memoriae Mors oblivionis 15 Tacitus his opinion of Germany rectified 17 The Tower of Strasburg 574 foot high 17 Tacitus call'd by Budaeus the wickedest of all writers by Tertullian the lyingst by Orosius the flattringst 17 Tyrol abounds most with Mettals of any Country 17 The Turks call all Christians Freinks and the Abyssins call them Alfrangues 24 The Great Turk prefers the Christian Emperours Ambassador before all others 26 The temple of Ephesus 22 years a building 2 The Pope a great temporal Prince proud 33 A tart censure of the Italian 36 A tart saying touching Saints 37 V ULms excells in Drapery of all sorts 13 Utrecht stands betwixt 50 Cities whereof the remotest but a dayes journey 16 Vienna describ'd by Aeneas Sylvius 18 Vladislaus the perjur'd K. of Poland the horrid judgment that fell upon prince peeple 8 The Yew poysonous to those that sleep under it a brasse nayl beaten in takes away the poyson 40 The vertu of Iron 40 A strange vision Henry the 3 of France had before his death 56 How he was murther'd with his Epitaph ibid. Vulcan hath his chief forge and Mars his Armory in Bilbo 4 Of Viriatus the valiant Portuguez 6 A question discuss'd whither the old world got more by the new or the new by the old 8 The vanity of the Portuguais 20 Of the Spanish Inquisition 20 The three vowes of Solyman 29 W BOdin wittily taunted 53 A witty Epigram on Katherin de Medicis Q of France 54 A witty saying of Henry the 4. of France 57 A witty comparison touching Bodin 60 A witty character of the French by Pontumarinus 60 A witty Chronogram 12 Witty reparties 'twixt a German and a Dutchman touching their languages 61 A witty Epigram for drinking 38 A wise law of the Lacedemonians touching lascivious books 62 A witty saying touching the order of Knighthood in France 63 Two witty comparisons 64 A wise saying of an English Captain 57 A witty letter of Câ—…ligni to the French King 64 A witty Epigram upon Spain 24 A witty saying how Philip got the Kingdom of Portugaâ—…l 6 A wise saying of Philip the second 11 His wise speech at his death 11 A witty simile touching Spain 14 A witty speech of Henry the fourth touching Spain 14 The witty speech of King Iames touching the Spaniard 24 Whither the Indian gold hath done more hurt or good to Europe 24 Some witty sayings of the wild Indians reflecting upon the Spaniards 23 A witty saying of Robert Duke of Normandy 10 A witty speech of K. Iames touching Tobacco 5 A wise saying of Cosmo de Medici 27 Walloons that fled from the fury of the Duke of Alva in Flanders taught the English to make Bays and Serges 13 A witty character of a King 15 The Wines of Germany 18 Wine fo plentifull in Germany that in some places they macerat their lime and mingle their morter with it 18 The Walls of Babylon 200 foot high and 60 miles in compas 2 Of the seven wonders 2 Where the Turks horse sets his foot the grass never grows 4 A witty answer of Charles the sift 21 A wise saying of Scaurus 33 A wise saying of Sigismund the Emperor and of Aâ—…phonso of Aragon touching Learning 37 A witty Epigram upon Henry the 4 19 A wise speech of the Pontano Duke of Venice to the Popes Ambassadors 39 A wise sanction made at a Diet against the Popes power in the election of the Emp. 39 A wise saying of the Duke of Alva 24 Witty answers of som Emperors to the Pope 41 A witty saying of an Ambassadour 1 The witty answer of Hen. 4. to the Parisians 42 Of brave women 47 A witty saying of Hen. the 2. King of France 49 A witty saying of Lewis the 12 50 A witty saying of a Spanish Ambassadour 50 A witty Epigram upon Sir Francis Drake 42 Ward the English Pirat did a world of mischief to Christendom 36 A witty saying of a Spanish client to K. Phil. 26 A witty Pasquil against Spain when the Goletta was lost 26 A witty comparison of Europe 29 A witty Spanish Proverb 29 A Welch Prince freed England of Wolves 40 Why Woolsacks are in the House of Peers 40 The wise speech of King Canutus 43 A wise speech of Charles the 5 1 Of the 〈◊〉 of Wales 46 Women did ride astride til Queen Anne wife to Richard the second 54 Of Câ—…rdinal Wolsey 55 The weakness of the Empire 32 A witty Anagram 56 A witty comparison made to the French by Florus 66 A wise saying of the Emperour Frederique 46 Of the Warrs of the Low-Countries and the grounds of them 46 A wise answer of Tiberius 47 A wise answer of Q. Eliz. to the Hollanders 48 A witty comparison that Florus makes of the French valour 66 The witty saying of an Aethiop 67 Water in Moravia of great vertue 68 A witty saying of Henry the fourth 19 The wise speech of Paschasius against the Jesuits 19 A witty saying touching the Philosophers stone 20 A witty saying touching Portugall 20 A witty revenge of a Secretary 49 The witty answer of an Empress 36 A witty saying of Katharine de Medici 35 The woful catastrophe and last words of Henry the 8 58 To the Reader The plenâ—…y of matter wherewith this book doth swel might have made a larger Index but that the Authour had a regard to the Rule of Proportion viz. that the posterâ—…-gate should not prove too big for the Fabrique Errata Edw. the 6. for Hen. 6. pag. 38. best for left p. 31. Charls the first for fift p. 11.
Paraphrastically thus in English Whether thy choice or chance thee hither brings Stay passenger and wayle the fate of Kings This little stone a gâ—…eat Kings heart doth hold Who rul'd the fickle French and Polaques bold Whom with a mighty warlike host attended With fatal steel a couled Monster ended So frayl are even the highest earthly things Go passenger and wayle the happ of Kings Now though that nefarious conjuration of the Ligue was partly dissipated by the fortitud and felicity of Henry the 4th yet this inundation settling it self so long upon the fair continent of France left a great deal of scruffy odd dreggish stuff behind it as it happens often when the pestilence ceaseth the infection may a long time continue in beds and clothes For though it happen'd 22. yeers after yet it was by one who was impell'd by the Genius of the old Ligue and he must needs go whom the devil drives that Henry the fourth was kill'd by Ravillac so in revolution of not much above half an age ther were 3. Henries all Kings of France died violently two by knifes and the first by the splinter of a Lance all contemptible instruments the first was kill'd on horseback the second in his closet the third in his coach Now as all is not gold that glisters no more was the last Henry so Peerles a Prince as he is cryed up to be we know well how he shrunk from that Religion he had professed nere upon forty yeers how it was his common practise to lye 'twixt other mens sheets what a nomber of known natural children he left behind besides those that were father'd by others We know how he repudiated his first wife of better Extraction then himself and being all gray maried a young Princesse to whom he mought have bin a granfather for age We know also how he wrought Birons head to be chop'd off and others who were the chief that put the French Crown upon his head How he broke with Queen Elizabeth of England in the performance of many promises who had done him such signal courtesies c. I will conclude this period of my discourse with a proverb worth the knowledg Quand Italie sera sans poison Angleterre sans trahison Et la France sans guerre Lors sera le monde sans Terre When Italie doth poyson want And Traytors are in England scant When France is of Commotions free The World without an Earth shall be I com now most noble Auditors to the third Eryâ—…nis or Furie of France Injustice Injustice and this fury compar'd to the first may change places with her and take the precedency ther is nothing so great an opposit and profess'd enemy to the Queen of Vertues as Injustice she is covetous revengeful and ambitious in the superlatif degree yet she goes commonly under the holy and wholsom name of Justice wherwith she doth vayl and varnish all her actions and yet while she palliats her proceedings she doth perpetrat a world of mischiefs of rapine of tyrannical exactions and extorsions with a thousand villanies more she spares the nocent and so wrongs the innocent nay she spils the bloud of the guiltlesse oftentimes and swallowes bribes by gobbets Her brain is alwaies at work to find new Monopolies new projects new devices to rack and rend money to grind the face and excoriat the poor peasan that she leaves him neither eyes to bewayl nor toung to bemoan his misery This Henry the 4th found to be true for he observ'd that ther was a double tribute us'd to be payed one to the King the other to his Officers but the first was made intolerable by the second so that it was impossible but that both Prince and peeple â—…hold be abus'd wherof in the last civil warrs ther was a notable instance happen'd in a president of Normandy who being inordred to raise 30000. Crowns upon the Reformists it was discover'd that he had levied 300 thousand crowns in lieu of the 30. But among other ocasions and bayts of Injustice in France the nundination and sale of Judiciary offices which lye prostant for him who gives most is one of the greatest and dishonorablest for it is lawful for him who buyes to sell again Insomuch that it often falls out that they who buy by detayl do sell again in grosse Others clean contrary do buy in grosse and sell by detayl as Butchers use to do in buying a beast for the slaughter whom they afterwards cut into parts and haply make one quarter to pay for the whole It is recorded by a modest Author that in the compasse of 20. yeers ther came to the Kings coffers above 26. millions of crownes this way And they wold justifie this by the example of the Venetians who to support the war they had against Lewis the twelfth they rais'd 5. millions by selling Offices by outcry under a spear to the highest bidder and by this way they were said to have levied 100. millions since to preserve S. Marks bank from breaking But the rate of Offices in France is mounted now to its highest pitch La vente des Offices aujourdhuy est montés a sa periode A President 's or Attorney Generals place is valued at about 20000. franks 2000. l. sterling which the poor client in a short time payes treble again It was a brave law of Theodosius and Valentinian that none shold be promoted to publique honors or Magistracies for money but for merit and that the party advanc'd shold be liable to an oath that he came to his place with clean hands without gratuity price or compromise directly or indirectly Now as Covetousnesse is sedulous so she is ingenious as appeers by the Edict of the Paulette wherby it is enacted that if the Officer doth not transmit it to another 40. daies before he dies the Office returns to the King therfore to be free of this casualty they either give the more at first or they give an annual pension wherby most of the places of Judicature in France are not onely vendible but hereditary This was the device of one Monsieur Paulet at first therfore when one hath bought an office he useth to say j'ay Paulette or j'ay payé la Paulette Besides this institory and marchandising way of handling Justice 't is incredible what multitudes of gown'd cormorants ther are in France as Advocates Proctors Scribes Clerks Solliciters who prey upon the poor Client and suck his vital spirits they are call'd the souris de Palais the mice of the Court and the Judges the ratts they are as thick as gnats and able to corrupt ten worlds Stephen Paschasius recordeth and he was a man of great ingenuity and integrity that the King of France might raise an Army of 200 thousand Scribes or Chicanears as they term common Barretors and Clerks and VVolfangas Prisbachius thinks ther are more of those in Paris alone then in all Germany which is estimated to be two parts in three larger then
and a hundred and twenty thousand granados of all sorts The Fleet stood the King in every day thirty thousand Duckets insomuch that Bernardin Mendoza the Spanish Ambassadour in France being in a private conference one day with King Henry the fourth assured him that viis modis that Fleet had stood his Master in above tenne Millions first and last from the time that she set sayl from Lisbon This Fleet look'd like a huge Forrest at Sea as she made her way Good Lord how notably did that Masculine Queen bestirre her self in viewing her Armies in visiting her Men of Warre and Ships Royall in having her Castles and Ports well fortified in riding about and in the head of the Army her self in discharging the Office of a true Pallas wearing a Hat and Feather in lieu of a Helmet Henry the fourth of France sent her seasonable notice hereof so that most of the Roman Catholiques up and down were commanded to retire to the I le of Ely a fenney place and others were secured in Bishops houses till this horrid cloud which did threaten the destruction of England should be overblown But this prodigious Fleet being come to the British seas how did the little English vessels pelt those huge Gigantick Galeons of Spain whereof those few which were left for all the rest perisht were forc'd to fetch a compass almost as far as Norway in 62. degrees and so got to Spain to bring the sad tidings what became of the rest There were Triumphs for this not onely in England but all the United Provinces over where a Medal was coyn'd bearing this Inscription on the one side Classis Hispanica The Spanish Fleet on the other side Venit â—…vit fuit She came she went she was But had the Duke of Parma come out of Flanders with his Land Army then it might have prov'd a black day to England and herein Holland did a peece of Knight-service to England for she kept him from comming forth with a squadron of Men of Warre How gallantly did the English take Cales the Key of Spain and brought home such rich plunder How did they infest the Indies and what a masse of Treasure did Drake that English Dragon bring home thence he made his Sailes of Silk and his Anchors of Silver Most noble Princes you have heard something though not the tyth that might be said of the early Piety and Devotion of the exquisite Knowledge and Learning of the Manhood and Prowesse of Great Britain but these praises that I give her is but a bucket of water cast into her Seas Now touching both King and people it is observ'd that there is such a reciprocation of love betwixt them that it is wonderfull the one swayes the other submits obeyes and contributes to the necessities and preservation of the honour and majesty of the King for which he receives protection and security Touching the Regall Authority and absolute Power and Prerogatives of the Kings of Great Britain it is as high and supreame as any Monarchs upon Earth They acknowledge no Superior but God himself they are not feudetary or homageable to any they admit no forraign jurisdiction within the bounds of their Kingdomes and herein they have the advantage of the Kings of France and Spaine yea of the Emperour himself who is in a kind of vassalage to the Pope and may be said to divide authority with him in their own Dominions No they have long time shaken off that servitude and manumitted the Crown from those immense sums which were erogated and ported from England to pay for First fruits for Indulgences for Appeales Palls and Dispensations and such merchandises of Rome How many hundred of years did England pay Tribute though it went under the name of Peter-pence to Rome think you no less than near upon a thousand from the reign of King Inas the Saxon to Henry the eighth From the Power of the Kings of Great Britain let us goe to their Justice let us descend from the Throne to the Tribunall Now such is the Divinitie of the Kings of Great Britain that they cannot doe any Injustice it is a Canon of their Common Law that the King can doe no wrong if any be done it is the Kings Minister the Judge Magistrate or Officer doth doe it and so is punishable accordingly such a high regard the English have of the honour of their King and such a speciall care the Kings of England have us'd to take for punishing of Injustice and corruption such a care as King Edgar had to free the Iland from Wolves and corrupt Officers are no better than Wolves which he did by a Tribute that he impos'd upon a Welsh Prince for his ranson which was to bring him in three hundred skinnes of Wolves every year this produced â—…o good effects that the whole race of Wolves was extirpated in a short time so that it is as rare a thing to see a Wolf now in England as a Horse in Venice Touching the care that the Kings of England us'd to have to enrich their subjects hath been us'd to be very great and to improve the common stock Edward the third that Gallorum malleus the hammer of the French he quell'd them so was the first who introduced the art of making of Cloth into England whereby the Exchequer with the publique and private wealth of the Kingdome did receive a mighty increment for Wooll is the Golden Fleece of England and the prime Staple-commodity which is the cause that by an old custome the Judges Masters of the Rolls and Secretaries of State in Parliament time doe use to sit upon Woolsacks in the House that commodum lanarum ovium non negligendum esse Parliamentum moneatur that they put the Parliament in mind that the commodity of Wool and Sheep be not neglected The Swede the Dane the Pole the German the Russe the Turk and indeed all Nations doe highly esteem the English cloth The time was that Antwerp her self did buy and vend two hundred thousand English cloths yearly as Camden hath it And great and antient are the priviledges that the English have in Belgium for since the year 1338 which is above three hundred yeares agoe when Lewis Malan Earl of Flanders gave them very ample immunities in the Town of Bruges since which time it is incredible how all kind of commerce and merchantile affaire did flourish among the Flemins for which they were first obliged to the English for the English Wooll hath been a Golden Fleece also to the Flemins as well as the English themselves because it was one of the principal causes of enlarging their Trade whereunto the Duke of Burgundy related when he established the order of the Golden Fleece Guicciardin makes a computation that the Traffique and Intercourse betwixt England and Flanders amounted to twelve millions yearly where of five was for woollen manufactures What an Heroique incomparable Princesse was Queen Elizabeth who wore the English Crown and
of learning who were marvellously famous for wisdom and knowledge This Iland doth partake with Creet now Candie in one property which is that she produceth no Venemous creature as Toads Vipers Snakes Spiders and the like and if any be brought thither they die It is wonderfull what huge confluences of birds do flutter about the shores of this Iland as also of Scotland which offuscate the broad face of Heaven sometimes and likewise such huge shoales of Fish A thousand things more might be spoken of these Ilands which are fitter for a Volume then a Panegyrical Oration I will end with the end of the World and that is the I le of Shetland which most of your great Geographers take to be that ultima Thule that terminates the Earth which lyeth under 63. degrees and the most Northern point of Scotland And now most Noble Princes since the most generous I le of Great Britain and her handmaid Ilands which indeed are without number doth as it were overflow with abundance of all commodities that conduce to the welfare and felicity of mankind and is able to afford her neighbours enough besides as the Hollander confesseth when he saith that he lives partly upon the Idlenesse and superfluity of the English Since the antient Britaines were the first displayers of Christianity in most part of the Western World Since of late years they have been such Navigators that they have swom like Leviathans to both the Indies yea to the other Hemisphere of the Earth among the Antipodes since that in the Newfound World they have so many Colonies Plantations and Ilands yea a good part of the Continent of America annexed to the Crown of England And since that Her inhabitants for Comelines and courage for arts and armes as the Romans themselves confessed whose conquests in other places had no horizon Invictos Romano Marte Britannos I say that all circumstances and advantages Maturely considered Great Britain may well be a Candidate and conte nd for priority and the Dictatorship with other Provinces of Europe For my part according to the motto upon Saint George his Garter Hony soit quimaly pense let him be beraid who thinks any hurt by holding this opinion which neverthelesse I most humbly submit to this Princely Tribunall ANOTHER ORATION OF THE Lord WOLF ANGUS BARON of STUBENBERG For GREAT BRITAIN Most Illustrious President and Princes MY most dear Lord and Cosen the Baron of Eubeswald hath made an Elogium of the noble I le of Great Britain as copious and as full of Eloquence as the I le itself is full of all things that are requisite for humane accommodation but most humbly under favour in this survey there are some things pretermitted which are peculiar to Great Britain and worthy the taking notice of one is the generous strong-bodied and dauntless race of Dogs which that I le produceth whereof Claudian makes mention Magnaque taurorum fracturi colla Britanni Britain hath Dogs that will break the huge necks of Buls I do not mean by these Buls those fierce and truculent White-buls which are found in the woody Caledonian hils of Scotland who are so wild that they will not touch any thing that men have handled or blown upon for they cannot only repell but they contemn the assaults of any Dog It was the custom of the Romans to bring in huge Irod Cages the British Dogges to Rome which in their Amphitheatres were put to tugge with huge wild beasts therefore there was an Officer call'd Procurator Cynegiâ—… in Britannis Ventensis The Keeper of the Dog-house among the Britains which Cuiacius would have to be Gynaecii not Cynegii viz. a Work-house for Women not a Kennell for Dogges And Pancirollus is of the same opinion when he saith Gynaecia illa constituta fuisse texendiâ—… principis militumque vestibus navium velis stragulis linteis aliis ad instruendas mansiones necessariis That those Gynecia or Female Work-houses were appointed to weave Garments for the Prince and Souldiery as also Sailes for Ships Beds Tents and other necessaries for furnishing of houses But Wolfangus Lazius holds to the first opinion Procuratorem illum canes Imperatoribus in illa Venta curavisse That the said Procurator did keep and provide Dogges for the Emperour Strabo saith further that Britanni canes erant milites the English Dogs were Souldiers and the old Gaules made use of them so accordingly in their Wars They are also rare Animals for Hunting and herein it is wonderfull what Balaeus hath upon record that two hundred and seventy years before the Incarnation Dordanilla King of Scotland did commit to writing certain precepts for Hunting and to be observed by his subjects which are yet in force Great Britain hath also the most generous and sprightfull Cocks of any Country and 't is a great pleasure to be in one of their Pits at that sport where one shall behold a Cock fight out his eyes and yet retain still his naturall vigour to destroy the other and if these brute Animals Beasts and Birds be thus extraordinary couragious we may well think the rational creatures may hold analogy with them THE ORATION OF THE LORD DANIEL VON WENSIN AGAINST GREAT BRITAIN Most Excellent Lord President and Princes NOw that I am to speak of the Britains I will begin my Oration with that of Ausonius Nemo bonus Britto est No good man is a Britain which ever since grew to be a Proverb God forbid this should be verified of all but I believe I shal rectify the judgment of those noble princes who spoak before me that as I observ'd when I sojourn'd there neither the Countrey of Great Britain nor her Inhabitants are generally so good as they by their perswasive and powerfull Oratory would induce you to give credit unto For as the English sea is unfaithfull and from Beerfleet in Normandy almost to the midst of the chanell is full of rocks and illfavourd ragged places wherin prince VVilliam son to Henry the first and Heir apparant to England and Normandy was cast away by shipwrack together with his sister and a great many noble personages besides so the nature of the Britains may be said to be full of craggs and shelfs of sands that vertue cannot sayle safely among them without hazarding a wreck England is not such a paradis nor the Angli such Angeli though styld so by a Popes mouth which you make them to be most Illustrious Baron of Ewbeswald First for the Countrey it self it is not sufficiently inhabited notwithstanding there be some Colonies of Walloons Hollanders among them The earth doth witnes this which wants culture and the sea is a greater witnes that wants fishermen Touching the first it is a meere desert in some places having no kind of agriculture though she be capable of it And for the other the Hollanders make more benefit upon their coasts then they themselves and which is a very reproachfull thing they use to buy their own fish
his hunting venery and pleasure But the judgements of Heaven fell visibly upon his Children for Richard his second Son died of a Pestilential air in the same Forest. William Rufus another Son of his succeeding him in the Kingdome was kill'd there also by the glance of an arrow from Sir Walter Terrell Henry also his Granchild Sonne to Robert his first begotten breath'd his last there like Absolon hanging at a bow while he was a hunting 'T is true that Barkshire hath one goodly structure which is Winsor Castle but most of the Country about is inhabited by savage beasts who may be said to live better then the people thereabouts For Surrey you should have remembred what a perfidious act Godwin Earl of Kent perform'd at Guilford who betraying to Harald the Dane a young Prince that was sent from Normandy to receive the Crown of England was delivered to Harald the Dane Sussex is infamous for the murther of King Sigebert by a Swineheard And the Province of Kent will never wash away the foul stain she received for the sacrilegious murther of Thomas Becket a Saintlike man which assassinate was perpetrated in the very Church near the high Altar for which crying and flagitious deed they say that the race of the murtherers have ever have since a white tuffe of hair in their heads and the wind blowing in their faces whersoever they go For Glocestershire her inhabitants there are worthy of reproach that by idlenesse and ignorance they would suffer the Vineyards there to decay utterly and in lieu of Wine be content with windy Sider In Oxfordshire was that lustful Labarynth made at Woodstock where Henry the second kept Rosamond his Concubine whom the revengful Queen poysoned Now touching the City of London the Metropolis of Great Britain she may be well call'd a Monster for she being the head bears no proportion with the rest of the body but is farre too bigge for it and might serve a Kingdom thrice as bigge but what Saint Hierom spoake of Constantinople Eam nuditate omnium civitatum constructam fuisse that she was made up of the nakednesse and ruine of other Cities so may London be said to grow rich out of the poverty of other Towns She is like the Spleen in the natural body by whose swelling the rest of the members pine away And herein let me observe the poor policy of the fatheaded English who suffer this one Town to be pamperd up while other places though situated in as convenient places for Navigation are ready to starve for want of trade 'T is true that Queen Elizabeth King Iames and King Charles his Son did put forth Proclamations for restraint of building in London and that all the gentry should retire to their Country dwellings in the Vacation time and at Christmas but these Proclamations were like a fire put under a green wood which did flash a little but suffer'd presently to go again so those Royal Proclamations were put in hot execution for a while yet they quickly grew cold again But indeed such is the crossgrain'd and contumacious perverse nature of the Londoners specially the schismatical part that they suspect or repine at any new command that comes from authority For whereas there was a secure and comely durable way of structure inordred them that every one should build for the future with stone or brick and not with lath and wood and that they should build regularly for the beauty prospect and evennesse of the streets as also that the Houses might not be subject to firing Yet this obstinate selfwitted people do stand still in their own light and fall againe to build with lath and lime notwithstanding that they know well enough the great advantages that would redound to the City by the other mode of Edifice In so much that in England ther 's not near that Elegance of building generally as in other Cities nor are their streetes so streight and lightsome by reason the Houses paunch out and are not so uniform as else where I could condescend to the praises you give of Essex Suffolk were it not that in the one at Saint Edmunds Berry there have happened so many popular tumults twixt the Monks and Citizens And were it not for a sordid tenure that lands are held by them of Hemingstone where Baldwin call'd le Petteur held lands from the Crown by sarieanty pro quibus debuit Die Natali Domini singulis annis coram Domino Rege Angliae unum saltum unum suflatum unum bumbulum for which lands he was to pay one leap one puff and one crack of the taile before the King upon Christmas day every yeare under paine of forfeiting his Tenure O brave Knight service O Noble homage O brave devotion upon the birth day of Christ. Touching the Norfolk men they are naturally wranglers and Cavillers The Fenny situation of Cambridge is such that I cannot wonder sufficiently how that place should be chosen out to be made a seat for the Muses Huntingtonshire Countrymen have such a rustiquenesse that hardly admits any civility Northhampton and Leicestershire are so bald that you can hardly see a tree as you passe through them The people of Lincolnshire are infested with the affrightments of Crowlands Daemonical spirits Notinghamshire doth delude the labour of the husbandman with the Sandinesse of their soyl God deliver us from the Devills Posteriors at the Peak in Darbishire Warwik is choaked up with wood there as well as in Lincolnshire The Ordure of the Sow and Cow Doth make them fire and Sope enough I should like Worcester but for cold flatulent Perry Stafford relates many odde fables of her Lake and the River of Trent In Shropshire the sweating sicknesse took its first rise which dispers'd it self not onely all England over but cross'd the Seas found out and infested English bodies in other Regions Chester complaines for want of corn to make her bread In Herefordshire there are walking Mountains for in the year 1571. about 6. of the clock in the evening there was a hill with a Rock underneath did rise up as if she were awaken out of a long sleep and changing her old bed did remove herself to a higher place carrying with her trees and folds of sheep she left a gap behinde of forty foot broad and eighty ells long the whole peece of earth was above twenty Acres and the motion lasted above a natural day that the sayd Moantain was in travell Radnor with her crags would frighten one for the rest of Wales though the inhabitants be courteous and antient yet the country swels with such a conglobation of Mountains that strangers would be hardly invited to visit her which Mountaines in some places are so high and yet so near one to another that Shepheards may talk one to another from the tops of them and not be able to meet one another in a whole day by traversing from one Mountain to the other through the valley and precipices
of their Princes are no better what I pray is the Gran Duke of Florence what are the Clarissimi of Venice what are the Senators of Genoa but all Marchants yet every broker and pedler is there termed by Vostra Signoria which is your Lordship The meanest Prince in Italy must be called Serenissimo a title used to be given only to the Archdukes of Austria they scorn to be call'd Excellentissimi or Illustrissimi Nay the Duke of Savoy return'd the Senats letters to Venice because mention being made in them of the Dukes children they termed them Excellentissimi not Serenissimi But learning and the sciences you say doe florish in Italy more then any where Indeed I confesse literature is a rare vertu it enables one for any profession and no profession unlesse it be mechanique can be without it The Emperour Sigismund did make high esteem of it in so much that he preferrâ—…d a Doctor before a Knight and his reason was that he could make twenty Knights in a day but not one Doctor You all know the famous apophthegm of Alphonso King of Aragon Rex illiteratus est Asinus coronatus an illiterat King is an Asse with a crown on his head The Genoa Lady was of another opinion who saied penna non facit Nobilem sed penis 'T is true we are beholden to Italy for learning and she to Greece But as poore Greece is now so degenerated in this point that she who call'd all the world Barbarians yea the Italians among others is now become Barbary Herself in point of literature and scientificall knowledge In Honorius time there dwelt but a few Marchants of honey in Athens And I wish the same fate may not befall Italy for her nefandous crimes which are rife there but touching learning I pray heare what Muretus speaks In media Italia in medio Latio in media Magna Graecia vix centisimum quemque invenias qui Latinè aut Graecè loqui sciat In the midst of Italy in the midst of Latium in the midâ—…t of Magna Graecia you shall not find the hundreth man that can understand Greek or Latin or any kind of letters And I pray how doth Italy use to encourage and reward learned men Look upon Philelphus the leaâ—…nedst man of his time yet they were forc'd to sell his books to bury him in Bolonia And who would have thought that Aeneas Sylvius or Pope Pins the second who was beholden to the Muses for all his fortunes and promotion I say who would have thought that being congratulated by sundry peeces of Poetry when he came to be Pope in lieu of reward he put them off with this distic Pro numeris numeros a me sperate Poetae Carminaque est animus reddere non emere O Poets expect numbers for numbers I use to return not buy verses But it seems that Homers fate of inevitable poverty is devolv'd by way of inheritance to all poets Paul the second next successor to Aeneas had a mischievous designe to demolish all learning in so much that he esteemed students and philosophers no other then Heretiques or Conjurers And now that I have fallen among the Popes I beleeve you have heard of the common saying amongst them Nos accipimus pecuniam mittimus asinos in Germaniam We receive money and send Asses to Germany There were two Popes I know not who was the wiser who was the simpler of the two viz. Iohn the eighth or Calixtus the third The first sold the Crown of France to Charles the bald for a vast summe of money depriving the right heirs The other put Edmund of England and Vincent of Spain into the catalogue of Saints whereupon when Cardinall Bessarion heard of it Novi hi sancti de veteribus mihi dubium movent These new saints puts me in some doubt of the old Alexander the sixt scrap'd up so much treasure by the nundination and sale of Indulgences that Caesar Borgia his son loosing a hundred thousand crownes one night at dice sayed Germanorum tantum haec peccata sunt These are onely the sinns of Germany Iulius the third intending to advance Montanus to a Cardinalship and the consistory disswading his holines from it because he was of very meane birth and no parts answered no lesse modestly then wittily Then what thinke you I pray of me whom you have constituted Prince of the Christian Commonwealth Leo the tenth had a purpose to creat Raphael Urbinus a meer painter to be a Cardinall if he had liv'd to it But touching the strange humors and extravagancies of some Popes I put you over to Platina who was secretary to so many of them But to revert a little touching the older sect of Italians Authors there is more vice then vertu to be found in most of them witnes those triumvirs of wanton love Catullus Tibullus and Propertius Ovid might be called a pander to Venus in some of his works what spurcidicall and obscene things doe we read in Martiall and Iuvenall what a foolish humor was that in Persius to study obscurity so much And in Virgil whom we cry up so highly what was he but a meere Ape to Homer Theocritus and other Greek Poets I have seene Homer's picture in a posture of vomiting and all the Latin poets about him licking up what he had spewd but Virgil lapp'd up more then all the rest Now Cicero whom we magnifie above all if we well observe him we shall find that he sate often upon two stooles Petrus Bembus was such a slave to Cicero and so sworn to his words that he infected Longolius with the same humor who would use no other Latin words but what he found in Cicero Therefore the Senat of Venice is alwayes call'd by him Patres Conscripti Dukes and Dukedoms Reges Regna The sophy of Persia and Gran Turk Reges Armeniae Thracum Faith is call'd by him persuasion Excommunication Interdiction of fire and water Nunns are call'd Vestalls The Pope Pontifex Maximus The Emperour Caesar c. In so much that he holds any word barbarous that is not found in Cicero But touching learning and eloquence we well know that Greece hath been the true source of both whence the Romans have fill'd their cisterns Nay for the Latin toung herself we know she is two thirds Greek all her scientificall words and tearms of art are deriv'd from the Greek In so much that it is impossible for any to be a perfect Latinist unlesse he understand the Greek also I will go a little back to Bembo again who as you have heard was so fantasticall that he would use no words but pure Ciceronian but this fancy drew him to a pure prophanes for it brought him to contemne the Epistles of S. Paul and in a kind of slighting way to call them Epistolaccias disswading his friends from reading them least they should corrupt their eloquence What shall I say of Sanazarius that in three books he writ of Jesus Christ he hath not