greedy of Wine so are the Spaniards greedy of another mans wealth and so to interdict the German his wine were the same as to prohibit the Spaniard he shold not robb which was one of the ten Commandements of God Almighty where you shall not find any against drinking And as the peeple of Spain are such robbers so the Kings of Spain are the greatest of all They are Robbers of whole Kingdoms and Countreys they are the Harpies of the earth for whersoever they confine they cast about how to devoure their Neighbours using all artifices and picking any quarrell to that end in so much that those Virgilian Verses may very well quadrat with their practises Armati Terram exercent semperque resentes Convectare juvat praedas vivere rapto The greatnes of this Nation is but Modern and upstart when the fortune of France was a little wayning Spain began to shine first under Ferdinand King of Aragon Grandfather to Charles the V. so that as one sayd Ubi Galli desierunt Rerum potiri ibi Hispani inceperunt This Ferdinand the first Catholique King vail'd and varnish'd all his Enprizes with the plausible pretext of advancing Religion yet were his pen and his tongue double in doing this he carryed oftentimes two faces under one hood and played with a staff of two ends in his greatest negotiations specially in the performance of Articles 'twixt him and the French King Lewis the XII about the division of the Kingdom of Naples that he shold have Calaba and Apulia and the French Naples and Campania But afterwards he sent his great Captain Gonsalvo who conquer'd both He got also the Kingdom of Navarr by a trick for when an English Army who was sent from Hen. the 8. of England for his assistance was to passe from Spain to Aquitain and the King of Navarr who t is tru was then under Excommunication together with the King of France desiring his English son-in-lawes Forces leave to passe through his Country Ferdinand took his advantage hereby with the help of the English to seaze upon the Kingdom of Navar and thrust out Iohn Labretan who was then lawfull King And to make his cause more specious and pretend som right he insisted upon the censure of the Pope saying That they who were enemies to the Holy Father might be assaulted by any Christian King and that his Holines was to give the Countrey to the first Conquerour Now touching the East and West Indies the Spanish title is unquestionable there you will say but let us examin the busines a little The right which the Spaniards pretend to these two Indies is Right of Discovery For the East Indies it hath been so celebrated by ancient Pagan Writers that to hold the Spaniard to be the first De tector therof were to maintain the grossest paradox that ever was For Pliny relates how Hanno the Carthaginian being carryed about from the feet of Gibraltar to the farthest end of Arabia was the first discoverer of India by twice crossing the Equinoctiall And 't is easie to finde in antient Authors that Malacca was call'd Aurea Cherchonesus and that huge Iland Sumatra was known formerly by the name of Tatrobana what is he who is never so little vers'd in Antiquity but hath read the Orientall Brachman Philosophers and of the Sinenses the peeple of China Touching the West Indies they were not unknown to Plato for whereas he placeth Atlantidis at the mouth of the Gaditan Frete which is the mouth of the Mediterranean he sayeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ther is from Atlantidis a passage to other Ilands and from them to a great opposit Continent What doth he intimat herby but the great Canarie with other Ilands in the Atlantique Sea and by the other Ilands Cuba and Hispaniola by the opposit Continent Peru and Mexico Moreover the Spaniards themselfs confesse that in a valley call'd Cautis in the Province of Chyli they found among the Sauvages many pictures and formes of two-headed Eagles in midst of their houses therfore the Spaniards call that part of AMERICA The Imperiall Province to this day because the Armes of the Roman Empire were found there There is a greater evidence then this that the Spaniards were not the first discoverers of America for ther was a Welsh Epitaph found there upon Madoc a British Prince who it seems flying from the fury of the Saxons in England put himself in som Bark to the fortune of the Sea and landed in America And that the old Britains or Welsh were there it may be confirmd further in regard ther are divers British words found amongst them to this day But what shall we wander so far in the Indies We will come neerer home We know well that Solyman the Turk denied Charles the V. the title of Roman Emperor alledging that he himself was the tru successor of Constantin the Great who was Emperour of East and West And that consequently the City of Rome belongd to the Ottoman Empire and Selim Solymans son urgd such an argument when he took Cypres from the Venetians for he sayed that the sayed Ile appertained to the Soldans of Egipt which was now under his dominion But the Apostolicall concession and bounty of Pope Alexandor the VI. entitles the King of Spain to America touching that I pray here what Attabalipa a wild Pagan King sayd when he heard that his Kingdome was given by the Pope to the Spanish King surely said he that Pope must be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 foâ—…l or som injust and impudent Tyrant that will undertake to bestow othâ—…r mens possessions so freely But his title may be just you will say for the propagation of Christian Religion yet Christ enacted no such Law that any free peeple shold be made slaves much lesse murther'd and tortur'd either for refusing the Gospell or continuing in their former Religion ther was not any of the Apostles claym'd a Kingdom for his preaching Saint Paul preaching to the Romans did not demand the Empire Our Saviour sayd Go and preach the Gospell to all Nations The Spaniard's lesson is Go and preach the Roman Religion and the Spanish Empire to all Nations and keep under you or kill whosoever shall resist For the first Doctrine which the Spaniards were us'd to vent in any place was Vos Indiani hujus loci Yee Indians of this place we make known unto you All that there is but one God one Pope one King of Spain which you must all obey Thus Motezuna King of Mexico and Atabalipa Emperour of Peru were brought under the yoke though they gave a house full of Gold for their ransome But the Indians did more upon the Spaniards then the Spaniards could do upon them for they brought more Spaniards to adore the Indian Gold then the Spaniards brought Indians to adore Christ Herupon a company of Indians being ready to fall into the Spaniards hands carryed som Gold into the Market place saying This is the Spaniards God le ts dance
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
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
that tall men are seldoâ—… wise 30 S. Bernards description of Ireland 6â—… A bitter satyre against the Queen of Scot land 64 Buchanan and Knocks censur'd 64 C THey of China an Eagle-eyd pâ—…eple next neighbours to the Rising Sun They disdain all other Nations Their proverb The true appellation of China 8. times bigger then France They are good Artists They have generally flat noses They restrain strangers to come into their Countrey They inhibit the Natives to travell abroad c. 2 in the proeme The character of man 2 in the pro. The Chino is enemies to humanity to the law of Nature 2 in the pro. Cybeles priests were Hermaphrodites 4 in the pro. Charlemain vers'd in many languages a good Poet he caus'd the Grammar to be put in the vulgar toung and German names to be impos'd upon the months in the yeer he divided the winds into twelve he was us'd to be present in the schooles and threatned a degradation to all Nobles that were illiterat 11 Charls the V. had Thucydides alwaies with him in the field 11 A comparison touching Italy 35 Another comparison 36 A comparison of the French Wines 39 A comparison of the French Kings 50 A comparison of Monsieur de la Nove 54 Two comparisons wittily us'd 7 A fit comparison 6 A comparison 'twixt the Germans and Italians 8 Caesar saluted onely the skirts of Germany 8 A comparison of Rivers 9 A comparison of Weeds 9 Ciceroâ—…s complaint of false writing 15 A comparison of Tacitus 17 Caesars saying of the Swablanders 23 A comparison touching Kingdoms 23 Of the Cosacks 23 A high comparison about the praises of Italie 21 A comparison 41 The Italian Wheat is the first the Boetian next the Sicilian the third and the African next that 21 Of Cosmo de Medici and his rare abilities his admirable pietie his golden speech his Epitaph 27 D. THe duty of a Traveller 3. in the pro. Duke of Saxony Orator for Germany 5 His curious Proeme 5 Disswasions from forren Travell 7 Danzick Delph in Low Germany and Rostock Paderborn Brunswick and Breslaw in High Germany the most famous for Beer 18 The Duke of Holyiein had at one time 1000. Maâ—…es and 160 Stallions 19 Of the Danube that watereth a hundred people 19 The Dutch were Grandfathers if not Fathers of the Britains as Caesar writes 23 Of divers that writ upon bald petty subjects as Archippusâ—…ell â—…ell upon the praise of an Asse Passeratius upon his shadow Lucian of a fly Erasmus of folly c. 6 The defects of Italy in not having Navigable Rivers with others 35 Divers places in Italy subject to ill aires 35 Of Duke Godfâ—…ey of Bullen 43 A Discouâ—…se against Elective Kingdomes and what confusions come by Interregnums 47 Dirt of Paris indelible 63 Montague his saying of his Countrymen 64 A Discourse of Forren Travell by the Duke of Saxony 5 Of Duels so much us'd by the French 64 The dangerous opinions of the Jesuits and the various wayes they have to oblige the Gentry 17 Of Sir Francis Drake and his exploits 42 E. The English taunted wittily fol. 6 Eudoxus his Extravagant wish to go near the Sun 6 English sweat 6 Eckius first found found the way of mingling Oyl with Colours 14 An Encomium of Printing 16 The Excellencies of the German Cities 17 England call'd Transmarina Saxonia 24 Entringh Castle a memorable passage that happen'd in it 24 The Encouragement the Pope gives Merchants to buy his Allum 22 Aeneas Sylvius his witty Distic to the Poets 37 Extravagant wishes of two Brothers in Padoa whereby they both perished 42 The Excesse of speech that Maximilian us'd touching France 37 A notable example of a drunken woman in France 62 Of the English Kings 39 The English made Trade to flourish first in Flanders 40 Of Queen Elizabeth 40 The English great Reverencers of their Kings 40 The Earth is the Native Country of all men she is but one Mansion 3. in the Pro. The marvellous Eccho of Charenton bridge in France that reverberates 13 times 4. in the Pro. Of the Escurial in Spain the eighth wonder of the world 3 Notable Examples of the Spanish constancy 6 Edgar row'd by four Kings 38 The Exploits of the English in France 38 The English formidable in France as by example 38 The English King pray'd for more often than any other 41 Queen Elizabeth caused the Great Turk to expell the Jesuits out of Pera 19 The English censur'd 67 Englands Inconveniencies 61 The English and Dutch compar'd in point of drinking 37 Examples of Drunkards 37 F. A Fantastick Traveller 3. fol. in the Pro. Set forth by Sir Thomas More in the person of Lalus a meer Ape or Mimick c. 3. in the Pro. He turns a Sprat to a Whale 4. in the Pro. France taunted 6 Forren Travel the best Academy 7 The famous Divines of Germany muster'd up the famous Politicians the famous Physitians and Philosophers 12 Germany the first Correctresse of the Kalender 12 The Fantastick humour of Petrus Bembus touching the Latin tongue 13 France the center of Europe she enjoyes a delicate temper able to unite or hinder the conjunction of the forces of Europe her comodious situation 38 The four Loadstones of France according to Boterus 38 Without France Spain might starve for Bread 39 Of the French Wines 39 Of the French Hemp 39 Of the French Salt compar'd with that of other Countries 39 Of divers other French comodities wherewith the Country abounds 39 The bad fruits of forren Travell 6 Friburg famous for Crystal work 13 Florence a City to be seen on Holydaies as Charls the Emperour sayd 16 Of the French Mines 40 A Fish in France that changes with the Moon 4 Of the French Rivers and how commodiously they lie for Navigation 40 France the eye and pearl of the world 41 France hath 102 Episcopal Cities whereof four are Metropolitan she hath 30000. Parishes 41 Of the French Towne and of Paris in particular 42 France the freest Country upon earth and the reasons 42 The Freedome of France exemplified by two notable instances 42 Of the French Martial Kings 43 Of the French Church and the vast Revenue thereof 43 A Frenchman the first Latin Lecturer in Rome when Cicero was a boy 43 Of the great Learned men of France and the Colledge of Sorbon 44 Of the French Academies 44 Of the French Tongue and of Ioseph Scaliger the Dictator of Literature 46 The best French spoken upon the banks of Loire 46 Of the French Kings and their excellencies 46 The French Crown not tied to a Distaffe and the reason alledged 46 French Kings never die example thereof 47 France prohibits the Imperial Law 48 French Kings beginne to raign inchoativâ—… at 14 48 Their high Prerogatives and of the Parliament of Paris 49 French King more glorious than the Emperor in gards c. 50 The French King cures the Struma and the manner of it 50 Of the late French Kings and
the first restaurator of learning in Germany 10 Leunclavius compild the History of the Mahumetans while he was Ambassador for Rodolphus in Constantinople 11 Lovain had 4000. Weavers loomes in the yeer 1330 13 The English first taught to make cloth by the Lovantans 13 Lubecks beer medicinall 18 Of Lorenzo de Medicis a memorable passage 22 Leo the tenth born for the restauration of letters 24 London and Genoa compar'd in Ingratitude and why 26 Latin toung two thirds Greek 38 Languages descanted upon 61 Laval in the raign of Francis the first a corpulent gentleman was the first Inventor of Coches 63 Lipsius his opinion of Oxford 44 Of London Englands Imperiall chamber 44 A Libell in Spain against the Jesuitts and another in France 18 Of love to ones Countrey 31 M MAn not tied to one place no more then a bird or fish 3. in the proeme Man Lord of all elementary creatures by divine charter 3. in the pro. Machiavill rebukes his Countrey men because they us'd German Mathematicians 10 Magdeburg the Metropolis of Germany 16 Many errors of the Ancients musterd up 17 The monstrous trade of Antwerp in times pass'd 20 The marvailous riches of Antwerp when she was plundred by the Spaniards 20 The memorable History of a Duchesse of Bavaria of conjugall love to Guelpho her husband 22 The miraculous story of a Countesse in Holland who brought forth so many children as dayes in the yeer 24 Lituania in some parts doth offer sacrifices to the Devil the maner of their worship 7 M. T. Cicero the great standard bearer of Orators 23 A maxime of Ilanders 35 A modest saying of Iulius the third though an odd one 37 A mighty clash 'twixt the Pope and the King of France 39 Moses Gods Chancelor 2. in the pro. Mets put bounds to the conquests of Charles the fift 43 Of the great Massacre in France and the horrid comet that follow'd a little after the eminent men that were slain 54 Medalls with the inscriptions after S. Bartholome massacre 55 Of Marseilles in France a Greek proverb 61 The Marquis of Ancre most barbarously murtherd 63 Of Maurice Prince of Orenge his speech upon his death bed 37 N NAtures Great Ordinance 2. in the pro. Nilus hath a strange property 7 Norimberg one of the most ingenious towns in Europe 13 A notable saying of Valentinian touching the French 24 The Normans a valiant peeple issued from Germany 25 How they came to be call'd Bygods 25 The Normans elegantly characteriz'd by Roger Hoveden 25 Notable exploits of the Germans against the Romans 25 The Normans chas'd first the Saracens out of Sicily 25 A notable resolution of the Gosack 5 No learning at all left in Greece at this time 37 A notable saying of Borgia Pope Alexanders son when he had lost 100000. crowns at dice 37 The notable cunning of Aeneas Sylvius touching Rome 39 Nogaret the French Ambassador takes the Pope a cuff under the eare 39 A notable letter the Greek Churches writ to Iohn the third 39 The notable speech of Charles the fift to Seldiâ—…s at Flushing 11 No River so full of Meanders as the Sein in France 14 Narbon curiously characteriz'd in Latin verse 41 A notable example of sacrilege 49 Of Nations in general their dexterity 51 Three notable stories in Germany 34 O THe occasion of this meeting 1. in the pro. Otho the Emperour scap'd imprisonment in Greece because he spoak the language so well 11 Of Mary Q. of Hungary a remarkable passage 21 Of the glory of the Emperor the Electors 26 Of Charlemain the first founder of the German Empire 26 Of the famous men in Poland 3 Of ploughs and culters of wood to which the pole doth attribut a kind of Divinity 7 Of some positions of the Canon Law 38 Of the Canonists who are great champions for the Pope 38 Of divers Emperours who summond Generall Councells 41 Of divers Popes who were elected and chastiz'd by Emperors 41 Of Italy France and England a proverb 57 Of the Jesuits their rise their progresse and policy all factors for Spain their strange tenets how they tugg'd to get into Paris how they were banish'd Venice Of the Indispositions of the Spanish monarchy 26 Of the gastly death of Philip the second and many circumstances belonging to it his Epitaph Of Portugall and her pittifull sterility Of the strongest Forts upon earth 34 The Opinion of an Italian touching the strength of England 38 The Order of the golden Fleece more proper to England then to any Countrey els 40 Of York the Seat of Emperours 47 Of Scotland 48 Of Ireland 49 Of the lightnes of the Britains 53 Of the prerogatives of the Emperour 48 Of curing the Kings evill by the French King the opinion of Crescentius 68 Of the base Ingratitude of the Scotts 65 P IN praise of Peregrination 3. in the pro Poyson cur'd in a strange way 6 A proverb the Italians have of the Germans 12 In the praise of Poland 1 Of the Perusian Ambassadors employed to the Pope a facetious passage 1. in Pol. Poland hath salt pitts under ground like palaces 1 Poland a very plentifull Countrey 2 A Polonian marchant nam'd Vernicius being Consull of Cracovia was rich to admiration famous entertainment he gave to 3 Kings 2 The Pole delights not much in sumptuous buildings 2 There were nine score talents erogated out of Garlik Onions and Leeks towards the building the pyramids oâ—… Egypt 2 The Pole measures his house by his own body 2 The Pole goes beyond all for manly attire 2 The Pole confines upon two potent neighbours the Turke and the Russe 4 The brave answer that Stephen King of Poland gave the Turk 4 Potts found naturally shapen in the earth neere Streme 4 Poland hath had very victorious Kings they are reckon'd up 4 King of Poland created a perpetuall friend to the Empire 5 Philip the second would not refer to the Pope the right to Portugall 39 The prerogative of the German Diet 1. in the proeme Plato against forren travell 1. in the pro. The famous pilgrimage of Otto the third to a saint in Poland the story belonging to it 4 The Pole can bring into the field 150. thousand fighting men 5 Of the Polish Nobility 5 The Poles three parts of foure are Arrians 8 In some Polish words there are 10. consonants to one vowell 9 The Polish words as so many stones thrown at a mans brain A proverb of Hungary 19 The power of Pisa in times pass'd when she had 100 gentlemen that could put every one a gally to sea upon his own charge 27 The power of Genoa in times pass'd ibid. Of Philip the second his consciousnes before he invested Portugall his sage cariage about his son before he died 12 Of the perfidiousnes of the English against the old Britains 34 Of Printing and Gunns 39 R. ROme recovered Learning by Urban the 4. who sent for Thomas Aquinas 23 As also afterwards by Cosmo
French Disease the English Sweat the Hungarian Scab the African Leprosie the Spanish Calenture came into Germany by Peregrination The Physitians observe that if a man hath drunk Poyson and be presently clap'd into the belly of a Mule he may recover and if one Mule will not serve another must be kill'd I was told of one that was preserv'd so by the death of ten but I beleive if all the Mules of Barbary were sacrificed they would not be enough to cure our German Gentlemen who have suck'd in so much Venome abroad under the tast of Hony Now if there be a strict Law among us to punish those severely who import counterfeit Merchandises by way of Commerce And if it be death to bring in base Sophisticated Coine how much more do they deserve to be punisht who indroduce Vice instead of Vertue bad Customes for good to pervert the manners the dispositions and nature of the whole Nation I know this itch of Travelling and to wander abroad is no where greater then among us How many thousands of us are found in Paris at this time How many hundred in Padua and Venice England is full of us and many other Countries Prince Rodolphus discoursing with one that had been a great Traveller told him Iam vidisti Orbem terrarum universum qui nihil aliud est quam colles Montes Valles Planities syluae hujus generis alia I finde thou hast gone over most part of the earthly Globe which is nothing else but Hills and Dales Mountaines Vallies Plaines and Champians Woods and Groves with such like things Eudoxus wish'd and implor'd the Gods that he might but have power to go neer the body of the Sun to behold his Beauty Magnitude and Matter and he would willingly be content to be afterwards burnt with the Beames thereof So many of our Country-men are so greedy of Peregrination that they will venture upon it though they shorten their lives thereby Let us heare how Seneca that grave Philosopher descants upon Peregrination when he writes thus to Lucilius Quid per se prodesse Peregrinatio cuiquam potuit What hath Peregrination of it selfe profited any man It hath not bridled lust attemper'd pleasure repress'd anger nor broke the unâ—…amed violence of love It hath roâ—…ted no ill out of the minde it hath not improv'd the judgment nor rectified errour but it hath detain'd us a while with new Sights as Boyes are with Rattles It provokes the inconstancy of the minde and by tossing it to and fro makes it more light and moveable Therefore men use to be quickly cloy'd with those places they formerly did so much covet and like Birds flye away thence almost before they have taken any footing Peregrination will give you knowledge of Nations it will shew you new shapes of Mountaines of Fields and Meadowes with the course and nature of some River As how Nilus swels in the Sommer Solstice and Tygris is suddenly snatch'd away from our sight but passing a little under the Earth recovers her former greatnesse How Meander which hath afforded the Poets so much matter and sport is intangled with so many windings and often-times rushes into her Neighbour before she can recover her selfe but she growes thereby neither better nor wiser Beleive me my noble Country-men unlesse this strange itch of forreigne Travell be cured in us or at least-wise unlesse there be some Lawes and Cautions prescribed to regular Peregrination that there be better returns made our Ancestors Ghosts will rise up against us and Posterity will bewaile our Incogitancy and weaknesse too late for they will hardly be able to finde out among us what were the Primitive manners the continence the constancy and nature of a true German And now to the task impos'd upon me but before I buckle my selfe for the businesse I make it my humble request that those touches I have given of Peregrination may be understood in a sane sense It is not out of any dislike I have of it for there is no Creature on earth hath a greater esteem thereof then my selfe acknowledging it to be the ripest Schoole and principall Academy for the study both of men and manners and the World affoords not more gallant Students and Proficients herein then I finde now before me in this Princely Assembly but what hath dropt from me was touching the abuse thereof as also in order to the method we have propos'd to our selves to discourse of things pro con and to answer in part to that incomparable Speech of your Highnesse made in praise of Peregrination And now I will enter into the Province I have under-taken which is high Germany and for performance of your desires most Excellent Prince which are Commands to me I will compose my voice and tongue accordingly and at the very first will unmask my minde unto you in three words Germania Europae Princeps Germany is the Princesse of Europe And truly never any Opinion proceeded more impartially and more from the Center of my heart then this For the maintenance of which Tenet there wants not much Oratory or any moving perswasions and allurements of words which the ancient Orators both Greek and Latine did use when they delivered their mindes in any doubtfull or desperate matter The greatest difficulty I finde in this businesse is out of such a hugh heap of matter to cull out and put before you the choicest and best peeces And as Geographers in describing the World use by little lines to shew the course of mighty Rivers as Danube Nile Ganges Thames Tyber Tagus with others As also in small points to describe Rome Constantinople the gran Cayre Paris London and Ghent the greatest wall'd Towne in Europe So will I be as briefe and as punctuall as possibly I can in setting forth the praises of this mighty Country and Nation But to speak the worst at first I pray hear what Cornelius Tacitus the Critique of his times writes of it Quis prater periculum horridi ignoti Maris Who without the dangers of a doubtfull and unknown Sea would leave Asia Affrique or Italy to seek Germany an informed peece of earth a rough clime a Land unmanured full of thick horrid Woods huge Lakes impatient of fruitfull Trees yet full of Cattle though small In stead of Silver Vessells they have them of the same stuff as themselves of pure earth They have no Cities they are given to sleep sloth and gluttony being ignorant of the secrets of Letters they use Dice among their serious affaires with so much rashnesse in winning or losing that at one cast they will hazard their bodies and liberty Caesâ—…r also saith that the Germanes hold it a kind of policy to have large vast Wildernesse about them wherin they permitt Robberies for the exercise of their young men and avoyding of idlenesse c. Such speeches Caesar and Tacitus give of the Germans but will you know the reason of it Because the one in divers conflicts was soundly
others that it is a temperat clime that one need not throw off his Cloke for immoderat heat nor keep it on for cold Indeed Ioseph Acosta sayeth That at the Vernall Equinoctiall he found himself so cold that he went to the Sunshine to get heat by aprication What Aristotle and many others write of the Swan that shee sings her own dirge before her death we find to be false sundry other things the old Wisards deliver for truth which our experience find to be false therfore we must not give credit to all that Tacitus writes whom Budaeus stiles the wickedst of all Writers Tertullian calls him lyingst and Orosius the flatteringst what a simple grosse error was that in him to derive the Etymologie of the Jewes Iudaei from the Mountain Ida in Crete But the Epithetts that were given him were a little too bitter for I must confesse with Lipsius that he may be well rankd among the prudentst and soundest of all the Roman Historians but ther 's no Pomgranet but may have som rotten grains Now put the case that Barbarisme did once cover the face of this Countrey as it did all other at first how marvellously is it civilizd since Open the Windowes and look about and where will you now find such uncouth Fenns and horrid Woods as Tacitus speaks of 'T is tru that the Herâ—…ynian Forest might be once nine daies jorney broad and whose beginning after sixty dayes travell none could find as Caesar reports but now t is otherwise for it may be easily survayd and all other places are cultivated and made commodious for mans use This most noble Duchie of Wirtemberg may be calld the marrow of Germany Alsatia and those Territories upon the Rhin may be termd the Garden of Germany Westphalia Hassia Saxony Bavaria Silâ—…sia Thuringia and Misnia may be calld the Granaries of Germany Franconia Silesia Thuringia and Tirol the Pantry of Germany Styria and Austria what are they but a kind of Paradis What is all Germany but a Pandora's Box Ther is no kind of ground whither sandy fenny or rocky but is made usefull som way or other among other places â—… will instance in Holland which though by her low situation she be nothing else but a Moore or Marsh I pray what character Ioseph Scaliger gives of her who sings thus to Dousa Ignorata tuae referam miracula Terrae Dousa peregrinis non habitura fidem Omnia Lanicium hic lassat textrina Minerva Lanigeros tamen heic scimus abesse greges Non caâ—…iunt operas fabriles oppida vestra Nulla fabris tamen heic ligna ministrat hâ—…mus Horrea triticeae rumpunt heic frugis acervi Pascuus heic tamen est non Cerealis Ager Heic numerosa meri stipantur dolia cellis Quae vineta colat nulla putator habet Heic nulla aut certé seges est rarissima lini Linifici tamen est copia major ubi Heic medijs habitamus aquis quis credere posset Et tamen heic nullae Dousa bibuntur aquae Both Italy and hungry Spain with divers other Countries tast often of the fatnesse of Germany T is well known that som yeers since the City of Rome being reduc'd to such extremity that all the Jews and Courtisans being commanded out of the City eight ounces of bread was allow'd to every mouth but the Hansiatique Townes fetching a huge compas by Hercules Pillars kept them from starving by a Fleet of Corn Ships which they sent into the Tyber And the Pope did gratifie the first bringer in of the newes with a thousand Ducates Among other places let Bern in Swizzerland shew the fertility of Germany which though it be inferior far to Wirtemberg and Alsatia yet is it compard to the great Plain about Milan which is accounted one of the best corn Countries in Italy According to the Proverb Berna il Bernese vale Milano il Milanese And for Wine Germany hath divers most generous sorts of her selfe which are carried to England Poland Moscovie and other Regions What 's more delicat then that of the Rhine What Wine 's more pure then that of the Neccar what 's stronger then that of Franconia what 's sweeter then that of Austria And so excellent are the German Wines that Bacchus himselfe it seemes desired to be worshipped here more then any where els As appeers by an Altar that was erected to him in the lower Palatinat call'd Bacchara where the choicest Grape growes Now the plenty of Wines seem to contend with their plesantnes Augustus Caesar delighted more in German Wine then in any so did Tiberius Charles the 4th drunk no other then Backragg and divers Emperours have preferr'd the Franconian Wines before the Falernian And t' will strike a wonder in any man to see what a world of huge butts ther are in Wrisburg call'd Herbipolis of old and dedicated to Diana where she had a sumptuous Fane Go to Stutgard and there you will find a Proverb among them that they have more Wine then water Insomuch that the Wines of Stutgard besides their own Provision may affoord the value of 100000. rose Nobles in Marchandize But if you travell upon a wooden Horse upon the Danube what a world of Vineyards may you behold about Vienna which though the Countrey was not com to that perfection of industry as it is now nor the City half so much peepled yet Aeneas Sylvius neer upon 200. yeers since speaks of her thus It is incredible what a world of Provision is thrust into Vienna every day what a company of Carts come in laden with Eggs and Crabfish with bread with fish with Volatills tame and wild yet in the Evening you shall find nothing in the Market The Vintage lasts here a matter of forty daies there 's not a day passeth but there are 300. Carts employ'd laden with Wine and some laden twice or thrice There are above a thousand Horses us'd in the Vineyards their Caves are of that depth and so spacious that the Subterranean places may compare with those above ground and such an exuberance of Wine ther is in som places of Germany that they will exchange a butt of Wine for one of water nay they use in som Towns to mingle Wine with their Morter and macerat their Lime with it If you go to other drinks in Germany you will find Sr. Iohn Barly-corn as well as Bacchus to be there in his Kingdom Nay in som places he may compare for strength with Bacchus himself witnesse the powerfull beer of Rostock of Brunswik of Breslaw of Danzik of Delph and Paderborn The like may be sayed of Mede which surpasseth Candy wine in sweetnesse And for beer the World knowes what a Medicinall vertu Lubecks beer hath to heal bruises and other distempers What shall I speak of the Austrian Saffron of the Frankincense and Myrrh of Moravia of the Licorish of Franconia of the Mader for Diers in Silesia of the Ambar of Thuringia all which are accounted the
prime and purest property of idiotisms seems as it were to dwell upon the banks of the Loire and principally in Blois and Orleans Insomuch that as the Attique was esteem'd the choicest dialect among the Greeks so the Aurelian is by the French Now for language vertu and learning the French have perfected all three with a marvailous dexterity and promptitude of nature and a rare vigor of all the senses inward and outward which makes Iulius Scaliger to break out thus into their praises I find there is a fiery kind of vigor and mature celerity in the French which other Nations have not To whatsoever they apply themselves they become notable proficients and arrive to a perfection in a short time whether it be in the mystery of Marchandising in letters armes or Arts Paulus Meâ—…ula gives this testimony of them I have observ'd and became astonish'd that among the French some will argue and discourse extempore of any probleme and that with such an admirable method as if they had studied the theme many daies before Therfore sure Servius was deceav'd in the French when he sayes they are pigrioris Ingenii so was Iulius Firmicus wheen he calls them stolidos foolish so was Iulianus when he terms them stupidos et rusticitatis amantes blockheads and lovers of homelinesse so was likewise Polybius where he saith that doctrinae et artibus operam non dant they apply themselves neither to Learning nor Arts I know Diodorus Athenaus and Clemens Alexandrinus say that they are faithlesse and given to gluttony and drunkenes Livie brands them to be light and effeminat Mela accuseth them to be greedy after gold proud and superstitious Solinus calls them vain-glorious Plutark writes they are insatiable of money and Cicero sayeth Gallos minimè vlla Religione moveri The Gaules are not mov'd at all by any Religion Surely these Writers took all these reports a far off and upon trust For they who have had intimacy with the French and studied the nation in general will say otherwise of them But that which is most noble in France and which elevats Her above all other Empires is the Majesty of her Kings wherof ther have bin so many brave heroique Monarks who have don such exploits that one may speak more of them in telling truth then can be spoken of Others in vapouring out hyperboles and lies Pope Gregory writing to Childebert King of France Quantò caeteros homines Regia dignitas antecellit tantò caeterarum gentium regna Regni vestri culmen excellit As much as Kings excel other men so far doth the glory of yours exceed the Kingdomes of other Nations Honorius the third said that the Kingdom of France was the unexpugnable wall of Christendom Urban the fourth saith that the King of France is the morning Star in the midst of the Western clowds He is an Earthly God in his own Kingdom he is above all Kings Ejúsque umbrâ totus mundus regitur and all the World is govern'd by his shadow saith Baldus Nay St. Thomas saith that he who prayeth for the King of France hath 100. daies indulgence granted by Pope Clement and 10. added by Innocent the fourth Moreover France is not subject to the distaff as other Kingdoms are but the Salique Law proclaimes aloud Gallorum Imperii Successor masculus esto For this is not only consentaneous to reason but hath a congruity with nature her self Because that in man the mind the body the voice and all things els are more strong and strenuous They are fitter for action and attract more awe and reverence unto them In the female all things are softer and lighter which may attract more affection but there is a kind of contempt that mingles with it In the one authority and Majesty appeers in the other fears and jealousie And how preposterous is it to the law of nature for man to be a vassal to that sex which should be under him The Pagan Epigrammatist can tell you in oeconomical government Inferior maetrona suo sit Prisce marito Non aliter fuerint foemina Virque pares I cannot deny but ther may be examples produc'd of som notable Heroique Queens as Zenobia Pulcheria Semiramis Isabella of Castile and of Elizabeth Queen of England a Lady that was prudent beyond her sex and ador'd with literature she understood Greek and Spanish indifferently well but for Latin French Italian English and the old British she spoak them familiarly which made Pope sixtus the fifth break out into this wish that he had a greater desire to see one woman and one man then all the race of mankind besides and they were Queen Elizabeth of England and Henry of Navarâ—… to whom were they not tainted with heresie he had things of mighty consequence to communicat But we may not forget what kind of Queens other women have bin as Athaliah Cleopatra Messalina Faustina Iane of Naples and Fredegunda of France which made Eumolpus or Porphyrius under Constantine to break out into this harsh tetrastique Crede ratem Ventis animum ne crede puellis namque est faeminâ—…a tutior vnda fide Faemina nulla bona est et si bona contigit ulla nescio quo fato res mala facta bona est Ther is another prerogative that the Kings of France are said to have which is never to die whereupon Maria de Medicis being struck with a consternation when she heard of the death of her husband Henry the fourth and cryeng out Helas that the King is dead No answer'd the Chancelor the Kings of France never die And the reason that they die not is because they are born Kings and perpetuat themselves so in their own bloud And as in all successions according to the mode of speaking in France le mort saisit le vif so in an hereditary Kingdom Uno avulso non deficit Alter Surculus The next a kin succeeds though a thousand degrees off by right of bloud Which cours doth not only foment and encrease affections 'twixt the Prince and his peeple but it prevents all tempests of ambition and pretences that may happen during the vacancy or interregnum and propps the Crown with columnes of eternity But in Elections what expectations and stirrs what sidings and factions do use to happen Besides what Prince will care for another mans as much as for his own inheritance which he is assured will descend upon his own issue and bloud Moreover in Elective States what a nundination what a buying and selling of suffrages is ther The Roman Empire presently after Claudius who was the first Caesar that was chosen by the Soldiers whose alleageance he bought with rewards did fall upon vile and base heads by that kind of Election or rather by that kind of Emption for it may be sayed that the Empire lay under the spear expos'd to publique sale What contestations happen'd 'twixt the Senat and the Legions In so much that ev'ry Province might be sayed to have their several
Earth to Mount Adrian Nor doth this huge Mote give security alone to the Inhabitants but it brings them many other inestimable benefits it animates by vertue of the salt-waters the heat of the contiguous Earth it nourisheth the air with pregnant vapours to make wholsom showres for the irrigation and refreshment of the Earth it takes in and lets out many brave Rivers for navigation which are replenished with all store of Fish Among other kind the benefit that is made of Herrings is beyond belief which swimme in huge shoales like Mountains about the Iland Towards the Summer Solstice they seek the Coasts of Scotland then towards Autumne they retire to the English and it is incredible what huge quantities are taken twixt Scarborough and the Thames mouth from the month of August to September then they move more Southward to the British Sea and find matter for fishing till Christmas then having as it were fetch'd a compasse about Britain they seek the Western Sea and the Irish Coast where they keep till Iune and then set forward for Britain again when they are grown fat and numerous by multiplication Thus Britany like a Microcosm of her selfe is seated in the midst of a turbulent and working Sea yet she within is still quiet serene and safe And now I will take a survay of this Noble Iland as one would doe of some stately Castle and to do that exactly one must not onely view the Trenches and outworks which are about but pry into the recesses and roomes within and observe what fashion of men they are that keep it therefore I will make a progresse into the Center and bowells of Britain Touching the people who inhabit Her they are the wellfavourdest and best complexion'd people of any upon the surface of the Earth they have excellent Intellectuals sucking Capacities and spacious Understandings they add unto and perfect any invention that is brought them And truly wee Germans should be very ingrateful unlesse we should acknowledge to have receiv'd great benefit by them for in point of Religion and literature they have been Doctors and Parents unto us They brought Christ and the Standard of the Crosse first amongst us they dispell'd the black clouds of Faganism and ignorance from amongst us and let in the sweet raies of piety and knowledge to enlighten us This unlesse wee brand our selfs with the ugly mark of ingratitude we must ingeniously confesse Now it is observ'd that the Britans were alwaies by a special instinct very much addicted to Religion And as in the Discipline of the Druyds whose founders they are held to be they antecell'd all others for Caesar records that the Gaules went over to be instructed by the British Druyds so when the name of Christ was known among them with flagrant desires and fervent affections they embrac'd that beliefe with a wonderful ready devotion and as the glorious Sun when he culminates and appears in the East doth as it were in a moment illustrate the whole Hemisphear so the beames of Christianity displayed themselves with marvellous celerity all the Hand over But this had very good helps to advance this work for in the infancy of the Church as Baronius doth assert Ioseph of Arimathea a Noble Decurion arrived there and Claudia Rufina Wife to Aulus Pudens the Roman of whom the Poet Martial nay Saint Paul himself makes honorable mention Simon Zelotes having made a hot progresse through Barbary died in Britain Nay some say that Saint Paul being freed from Nero's shackles encreas'd the propagation of grace there Hereupon the Britains having had the advantage of such great lights applyed themselves to erect Oratories and Churches for the publique exercise of devotion wherein they grew so zealous that Lucius a British King left his Crown with all earthly pomp and made a spontaneous pilgrimage to Rome in the time of Eleutherius the year 150. after the Incarnation and spent the rest of his life in holy Meditations and practices of piety Now what a glory it is for Britain to have had the first Christian King that ever was Nay the first Christian Emperor Constantine the Great And to speak truth no Region produc'd more constant professors of Christianity then Britain did and more fincere Propagators thereof which will appear if we look into the Catologe of Saints Martyrs and Confessors In so much that in lieu of that malitious character which Porphyrie gives of her who hated her for being such a zealous Christian by calling her feracem tyrannorum provinciam a Country fruitful for Tyrants she may more deservedly be call'd Regio sanctorum faecundissima a Region most abounding with Saints Nor were the Britans such Zelots only at home but they cross'd the Seas to disperse the beams of Christian Knowledge abroad and their paines prov'd very successful herein Germany was beholden to Winfridus and Willebrod that she was converted France was beholden to Alcuin for establishing the Academy of Paris though Paschasius a cavilling Author denies it Touching us Germans among other testimonies of gratitude to Britain let this of an excellent Almain Poet serve for one Haec tamen Arctois laus est eterna Britannis Quod post Pannonicis vastatum incursibus Orbem Illa bonas Artes Graiae munera linguae Stellarumque vias magni sidera caeli Observans iterum turbatis intulit oris Quin se Relligio multùm debere Britannis Servata latè circum dispersa fatetur Quis nomen Winfride tuum quis munera nesâ—…cit Te Duce Germanis pietas se vera Fidesque Infinuans caepit ritus abolere prophanos Quid non Alcuino facunda Lutetia debet Instaurare bonas ibi qui faeliciter Artes Barbariemque procul solus dispellere caepit To these British Champions of Christianity we may add Bede who hath the Epithet by the consent of the universall Christian Church of Venerable given him I will bring upon the stage next Io. Dunscotus who was so supereminent in Divinity and the spiny art of Logique that he was call'd by the whole commonwealth of learning Subtilis Doctor and he was a man of such large esteem that he founded a sect who are call'd Scotistae to this day he also was call'd lima veritatis the file of truth He was so great a man that as many Cities contended for the Nativity of Homer so did many Kingdoms strive for him Ireland Scotland England and France yet what a strange destiny befell this famous Doctor for being surpriz'd by an apoplexy and given for dead he was buried alive for it was found that he breath'd his last in the Grave After him I may instance in Iohn Wicklif a great Artist and Theolog next to him I rank William Ockam patrem Nominalium who establishd a sect calld the Nominalls but both these were strong enemies to Rome as appeers yet by their penns There was another great Doctor calld Doctor Resolutus by the Italians for his acute way of disputation and he was Io Baconthorp
one of the deepest clerks of his time What a rare man and of heavenly speculations was Io de sacro bosco the Author of the sphaere which remaines yet engraven upon his tomb in Paris some ages after these the world of learned men did much esteem Reginald Poole Iohn Colet William Lillie Linacre Pace Cardinall Fisher Bishop of Rochester Sir Thomas More Latimer Tindall Baleus Tunstall men inferior to none as well for sanctimony of life as for rare erudition and knowledg Toby Matthew Archbishop of York another Chrysostom Thomas Stapleton Nic. Wotton Iewell Cheek Humphreys Grindall Whitgift Plowden Ascham Cooke Smyth Whitaker Perkins Mountagu those great speculative Lords Baeon and Herbert Andrews Usher that rare Primat Selden who knows as much as both the Scaligers Camden the English Strabo Owen another Martiall with divers excellent Dramatique Poets and it is a great wrong to the Common-wealth of learning that their works are not made intelligible in a larger toung then that Insulary Dialect Add hereunto that for Physicians and Lawyers both Civill and Common there are as profound spirits there as any on earth And as for learning so for prowess and magnanimity the Inhabitants of Great Britain have been and are still very celebrous And though there hath been alwayes an innated kind of enmity twixt the French and the English yet they have extorted prayses out of their enemies mouths witnes Comines Froissard and Bodin who write so much in honor of the English Nor do they herein complement or flatter a whit What a bold Britain was Brennus who liv'd long before the English took footing there what notable feates did he perform in Italy Greece and Asia so that the old Britains or Welsh in honor of that Heroe call a King after his name to this day viz. Brennin and there is a Castle in Wales of his name to this day How manfully did the ancient Britains tugg with the Romans who receav'd fowler defeats there then in any other Region which one of their Poets seemes to confesse when he saith Invictos Romano Marte Britannos The Silures who are a peeple but of a few small shires in Wales viz. Monmouth Brecknock and others being animated by the courage of their King Cataracus and provok'd by the menaces of the Emperour Claudius who threatned to extinguish the very names of them met his army in open field and cutting off an auxiliary Regiment which was going to recreut the Emperour under Marius Valens they utterly routed him In so much that Ostorius the propraetor of Britanny for the Romans resenting this dishonor died out of a sense of grief Charles the Great had to doe with them in three battailes wherein there was such a slaughter of his men that he cryed Si vel semel tantùm cum illis adhuc depugnandum foret ne unum quidem militem sibi superfuturum If he were to encounter the Britains but once more he should not have a soldier left him a saying proceeding from such a man as Charlemain that tends much to the reputation of the Britains But the Gaules are they whom the Britains galld having in so many victories left their arrowes in their thighs in their breasts and some sticking in their hearts which makes Bodin complain Gallos ab Anglis in ipsa Gallia clades accepisse ac pene Imperium amisisse That the French receaved many overthrowes in France herself by the English and had almost lost their Kingdom whereupon the Poet sings wittily Anglorum semper virtutem Gallia sensit Ad Galli cantum non fugit iste Leo. For how often have the French Kings with their Nobles been routed defeated and discomfited by the English Gray-goose-wing how often hath it pierc'd the very center of the Kingdom what notable rich returnes have the English made from France And what pittifull looks must France have when Edward the fourth got such a glorious victory at Cressy where above thirty thousand perish'd among whom the King of Bohemia was found among the dead bodies ten Princes eighty Barons twelve hundred Gentlemen and the flower of the French fell that day and King Philip of Valois did hardly escape himself to a small town which being ask'd at the gate who he was qui va la answer'd la Fortune de France the Fortune of France This made France weare black a long time But in another battail she had as ill luck wherein her King Iohn and David King of Scots where taken prisoners and attended the prince of Wales to England yet such was the modesty of that prince though conquerour that he waited upon King Iohn bareheaded at table this was such a passage as happen'd in King Edgars raign who had foure Kings to row him upon the river Dee hard by Westchester viz. Kennad Kind of the Scots Malcolm King of Cumberland Maconus King of Man and another Welsh King The English reduc'd France to such a poverty at that time that she was forc'd to coin leather money In divers other battailes in the raignes of Charles the fift sixt and seventh and Lewis the elevenths time the English did often foyl the French untill the war pour le bien public begun by the Duke of Burgundy Such a large livery and seifin the English had taken in France that for three hundred and fifty years they were masters of Aquitain and Normandy Nay Henry the sixt of England was crowned King of France in Paris And so formidable were the English in France that the Duke of Britany when he was to encounter the French army in the field thought it a policy to cloth a whole Regiment of his soldiers after the English mode to make them more terrible to the French What shall I say of that notable Virago Queen Elizabeth who did such exploits again Spain by taking the united provinces of the Low Countreys under her protection How did she ply the Spaniard and bayt him by Sea and Land how did she in a manner make him a Bankrupt by making him lose his credit in all the banks of Europe And all that while Spain could do England no harme at all touching the strength of which Kingdom you may please to hear what a judicious Italian speaks of it Il Regno d'Ingliterra non há bisogno d'altri per la propria difesa anzi non solo é difficile mà si può dir impossible se non é divisione nel Regno che per via de force possa esser conquistato The Kingdom of England stands in no need of any other for her own defense so that it is not only difficult but a thing impossible unlesse there be some intestin division to make a conquest of that Countrey Philip offer'd very fairly for her in the year eighty eight when he thought to have swallowed her with his Invincible Fleet which was a preparing three yeers she consisted of above 150. saile 8000. Mariners 20000. foot besides voluntiers she carried 1600. Canons of brasse 1000. of iron
sway'd the Scepter as politiquely prudently and stoutly as any of those Kings which wore swords before her or after her she raigned four and forty years in a marvellous course of prosperity and all the world yea her enemies did confesse that there was never such a Virgin and a Virago upon earth Her subjects lov'd her as their most indulgent Mother her foes fear'd her as a just Revengresse her Neighbour Princes and States did attribute their safety to her and all Europe yea the great Turk and the Emperour of Russia to whom she first open'd the way of commerce did behold her though a far off with the eyes of admiration They esteem'd her as a great Heroina and the Arbitresse of Christendome for she might as well as her Father have taken that Motto cui adhaereo praeest He whom I sti◅k to prevailes Nay she did more truly verifie that saying of her Father's Galliam Hispaniam esse quasi lances in Europae libra Angliam esse lingulā sive libripendem That France and Spain were like the Beams of the great balance of Christendom and England was the handle of that balance Touching the observance and fidelity which the English us'd to bear towards their Soveraign Prince it hath been us'd to be rare and exemplary They reverence him in his absence as wel as when he is present for whersoever the Chaire of State stands all goe uncover'd they honour his very shadow they serve him upon the knee The Preacher makes three profound reverences in the Pulpit before he beginnes his Sermon They pray for him five times in the publique Liturgy and for his Queen the Heir apparent by name with the rest of his children which I beleeve is not done so often to any Christian Prince Their fidelity and affectionate Allegiance is also very remarkable and may serve for a pattern to all subjects when the Spaniard by internunciall negotiation and secret practises did treat with the Duke of Norfolk and the Earle of Ormond that the one in England the other in Ireland should rise against Queen Elizabeth the people were so eager in the cause especially on the Sea side that it is wonderfull how they flocked to all the Ports voluntarily of themselves to prevent an Invasion insomuch that there came a command to restrain such confluences of people and that every one should retire home to his dwelling and business till there were occasion When Prince Charles return'd from Spain in safety what exultations of joy was in every corner of the Kingdome specially in the great City of London what huge Bonefires some of big massy timber were up and down streets which made them as lightsome in the night as if it had been noon insomuch as one said the flames of the fires might be seen as far as Spain what barrels of Beer Ale and Wine were brought out to drink carouses to his health But most Illustrious Princes in regard this Iland is so delicate a peece of Earth I 'le take her into parcels and present her to your view I will beginne with the Southernst part with Cornwall a Province which abounds with diversity of necessary commodities whereof Spain hath every year a good share being the nearest part of the Iland towards Her here besides Gold and Silver and Marble there is great store of Tinne digg'd out which is so pure and white that it may passe for Silver when it is hammer'd into Vessells This commodity is transported and dispers'd into all parts of the World rich returnes made of it Then they have a savory Fish call'd Pilchards which Spaniards call Sardinas which is found in incredible quantities in the Sea near that Coast whereof there be huge Cargasars carried to Spain and Italy every year and for barter they will give you Silke Wine Oyle Cotton and the best Commodities they have About November this Fish is taken and they shape the course of their Voyages so that they may be in Spain Italie a little before Lent which is the convenientest for their Market because in those Catholick Countries that season is observ'd so strictly There is in this Province of Cornwall a wonderfull thing and it is a great famous Stone call'd Mainamber a little distant from a small Market Town call'd Pensans That stone though it be as bigg as a little Rock and that a multitude of men cannot carry it away yet you may stirre and move it sensibly with your little finger Prince Arthur one of the 9. Worthies was born there who is so much celebrated through the World and by such a number of Authors among other things for his round Table which was made of stone about which a selected number of Chivalrous Kinghts were us'd to sit with him and they had special Orders and Lawes made among themselves which they were bound to observe punctually Good Lord what a Heroe was this Arthur being an old Britain born he overcame the Saxons in twelve several battells In so much that an ingenious Poet sung of him thus Prisca parem nescit aequalem postera nullum Exhibitura dies Reges supereminet omnes Solus praeteritis melior majorque futuris From Cornwall I passe to Devonshire where there is also quantity of choice Tinne not inferior in purity to that of Cornwall there is a place there also where Loadstone is found Winfrid who was the Apostle of the Germans was borne there at Kirton who converted the Thuringians and Friselanders to Christianity I will leave Exeter the Provincial Town Neat Rich and large and wil go to Plimouth a most comodious and safe well frequented Port. Here Sir Francis Drake was born for Naval glory and skill the ablest that any age hath afforded he did circumnavigate and compasse the World I mean the Globe of the Earth he saild further into the Southern Seas into mare pacificum then any other where starres are so scant to guide one's course by for there are but three of the first magnitude to be seen there He gave part of America a new name call'd new Albion Among other prizes he tooke from the Spaniard the Shippe Caga fuego was one which had seventy pound weight of Gold in her thirteen great Chests cramm'd with Patacoons and a huge quantity of barrs and sowes of silver which serv'd for Ballast This rich ship this English Iason brought with him to England with his own ship the Publican in safety But the Spanish Captain broke this jest for all the losse of his treasure that his ship and Drakes ship should change their names and that his should be call'd Caga plata and Drakes Caga fuego Thus this English Drake swom like the great Leviathan to the new and old World of whom that most ingenious Epigrammatist Owen hath this Hexastic Drake pererrati quem novit terminus Orbis Quemque semel mundi vidit utrumque latus Si taceant homines facient Te sidera notum Atque loqui de Te discet uterque polus Plus
Sessions There confines to the Province of York the Bishoprick of Durham a County Palatine whereof the Bishop is perpetuall Sherif there is a sumptuous antient Cathedrall Church belongs to it and the soyl is so fat that the fertility thereof doth contend with the labour of the Tiller Then there is Lancashire that brings forth goodly Oxen with larger hornes than ordinary besides that Country produceth the handsomest and best favour'dst women of any in the whole Iland VVestmerland excells in the Town of Kendall for curious Artists in all sorts of Wooll Cumberland is singular for abundance of Fish and doth upbrayd the negligence of the Inhabitants who might make a farre greater emolument of them there runnes there the precious River of Irt which affords plenty of Pearle This County also hath Mines of Copper amongst which is found some Gold ore which Mines were first discovered by a Countryman of ours Gemanus Augustan insomuch that Caesar Cicero were in the wrong when one saith that he was forc'd to bring brasse to Britany for Coining of Money the other saith neque Argenti scrupulum ullum esse in Insula Britannica for in Cardigan in Wales there is both a Silver Mine and a Mint which emploies about three hundred men every day in the week and makes them rich returnes And for other Minerals there is not onely enough to satisfie the Natives but to furnish other parts of the World besides which is done by frequent transportation The most Northern County of England is Northumberland which is full of Warlike stout people for every Gentlemans house there is built Castlewise with Turrets and Motes I have hitherto most noble Princes spoken of the best part of Great Britain which is England I will now crosse Offa's Dike which is a continued Mount of Earth that extends from Sea to Sea which the Romans did cast up to make a partition twixt England and Scotland there is another Water-partition that Nature hath put betwixt them which is the Tweed but before I part with England I will give you that Character which Pope Innocent the 4th gave of her Anglia est verè hortus deliciarum puteus inexhaustus England saith he is a true Garden of delicacies and an inexhaustible Well But there is not any who can make a true estimate of England but he who hath seen her auget praesentia famam Touching this Elogium of mine I confesse it too barren to set forth her fertility I will now to Scotland which by King Iames was united to England he was the first who may be said to break down the partition-wall by way of descent Henricus Rosas Regna Iacobus Henry the eighth joyn'd the two Roses and King Iames joyn'd the two Kingdomes And here it is worth the observing how Keneth the Pict being utterly destroyed carried with him a fatal stone out of Ireland and placed it in a woodden chaire in Scone-Monastery with this inscription engraven upon it Ni fallat Fatum Scoti quocunque locatum Invenient lapidem regnare tenentur ibidem If Fate failes not The Scots where e're they find This stone there they shall raign and rule mankind This Northern Kingdome is fenc'd with the same salt ditch as England is It is much longer then it is in latitude in so much that there is never a house there that is much above twenty miles distant from the Sea There is plenty of Fish Foule and Flesh there In Sutherland there are Mountaines that afford fair white Marble and among the craggs of Craford there was a Gold Mine discover'd in the time of Iames the fourth But that which redounds most to the glory of Scotland is that they can shew a cataloge of Kings for above twenty ages which come to the number of 109. from Fergusius to Charles the first There hath a strong antient league been struck betwixt this Nation and the French who confederated alwaies with them against England upon all occasions In so much that the French King hath a gard of Scots ever about his person call'd la Garde de la manche then there is a gard of Swisse and the French is last I passe now from Scotland to Ireland which is no long voyage it is but twelve leagues distance over a working and angry Sea full of Rocks and little Ilands whereof there are hundreds about the two Iles call'd the Orcades and Hebrides Ireland is a Noble and very considerable Region if you explore either the fatnesse of the soyl the conveniency of Ports and Creekes the multitudes of fresh Rivers and huge loughs as also the Inhabitants who are a robustâ—… nimble and well timbred people In so much that Giraldus saith Naturam hoc Zephyri regnum benigniori oculo respexisse Nature did look upon this Western Kingdom with a more benign aspect then ordinary The temper of the air is such that neither the summer solstice forceth them to seek shades or Caves against the violence of the heat and in the Winter solstice they may make a shift to be without fire against the rigor of the cold There are cattle there in an incredible abundance In so much that in one of the four Provinces alone there were reckon'd there hundred and twenty thousand head of cattle at one time Bees do thrive and swarm there infinitely in hollow trees up and downe as well as in hives They were Christians with the first for Saint Patrik a Britain born did convert them where he did many miracles They so adore the memory of him that it is a common saying among them That if Christ had not been Christ when he was Christ Saint Patrik had been Christ. Hereupon many famous men flourished in Ireland both for sanctitie of the life and Doctrine which the Roman Ecclesiastic history speakes of as Caelius Sedulius the Priest Columba Colmannus Aidanus Gallus Kilianus Maydulphus Brendanus and divers of a holy and austere Monastique life who contemned the World with the vanity and riches thereof For it is recorded of Columbanus who being offered great matters by one of the Kings of France if he would not depart the Country as Eusebius writes also of Thaddeus he answer'd non decere videlicet ut alienas divitias amplecterentur qui Christi nomine suas dereliquissent It was not fitting that any should embrace other mens riches who for Christ's sake had abandoned their own Nay it is recorded in good story that the Saxons now English cross'd over those stormy Seas to the mart of learning which was then famous in Ireland so that you shall find it often mentioned in the English Annalls how such a one amandatus est in Hyberniam ad disciplinam he was sent to Ireland to be taught and in the life of Sulgenus who lived neere upon 700. years since these verses are found Exemplo patrum commotus amore legendi Ivit ad Hybernos sophiâ mirabile claros According to the example of his Ancestors he went to Ireland for love
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
Country is full of boggs of squalid and unfrequented places of loughs and rude Fenns of huge craggs and stony fruitlesse hills the air is rhumatique and the Inhabitants odiously nasty sluggish and lowsie Nay some of them are Pagans to this day and worship the new moon for the kerns will pray unto her that she would be pleas'd to leave them in as good health as she found them For all the paines the English have taken to civilize them yet they have many savage customes among them to this day they plow their ground by tying their tacklings to â—…he horses taile which is much more painful to the poor beast then if they were before his breast and on his back They burn their corn in the husk in stead of threshing it which out of meer sloth they will not do for preserving the Straw But to set forth the Irish in their own colours I pray hear how Saint Barnard describeth them when he speakes of Saint Malachias a holy Irish Bishop of a place call'd then Conereth a man that had no more of his Country rudenesse in him then a fish hath saltnesse of the Sea Malachias inquit Barnardus tricesimo ferme aetatis suae anno consecratus Episcopus introducitur Conereth hoc enim nomen Civitatis Cum autem caepisset pro officio suo agere tunâ—… intellexit homo Dei non ad homines se sed ad bestias destinatum Nusquam adhuc tales expertus fuer at in quantacunque barbarie nusquam repererat sic protervos ad mores sic ferales ad ritus sic ad fidem impios ad leges barbaros cervicosos ad disciplinam spurcos ad vitam Christiani erant nomine Re Pagani Non decimas non primitias dare nec legitima inire conjugia non facere confessiones paenitentias nec qni peteret neâ—… qui daret penitus inveniri Ministri altaris pauci admodum erant sed enim quid opus pluribus ubi ipsa paucitas inter Laicos propemodum otiosa vacaret Non erat quod de suis frâ—…ctificarent officiis in populo nequam Nec enim in Ecolesâ—…iis aut praeâ—…icantis vox aut cantant is audiebatur Quid faceret Athleta Domini aut turpiter cedendum an t periculosè certandum sed qui se pastorem non mercenarium agnoscebat elegit stare potius quam fugere paratus animam suam dare pro ovibus si oportuerit Et quanquam omnes lupi Oves nullae stetit in medio luporum pastor intrepidus omnimodo argumentosus quomodo faceret oves de lupis Malachias saith Saint Barnard in the 33. year of his age was consecrated Bishop of Conereth but when he began to officiate and to exercise his holy function he found that he had to deal with beasts rather then with men for he never met with the like among any Barbarians He never found any so indocil for manners so savage in customes so impious in their faith so barbarous in their lawes so stiffnecked for discipline so sordid in their carriage They were Christians in name but Pagans in deed There were none found that would pay tiths or first fruits that would confine themselves to lawfull wedlock that would confesse or doe any acts of penitence For there were very few Ministers of the altar and those few did live licentiously among the Laiques Neither the voice of the Preacher or singing man was heard in the Church Now what should the Champion of God do He must recede with shame or strive with danger but knowing that he was a true Pastor and not a hireling he chose to stay rather then flye being ready to sacrifice his life for his sheep And though they were all Wolfs and no sheep yet the faithful shepheard stood fearlesse in the midst of them debating with himself how he might turn them from Wolfes to sheep It seems this holy Father S. Bernard was well acquainted with Ireland by this relation for ther 's no Countrey so wolvish they are in up and down heards in some places and devoure multitudes not only of cattle but men In deed of late yeers Ireland I must confesse was much improv'd both in point of civility as also in wealth and commerce Their mud cottages up and down specially in Dublin where the Court was turnd to fair brick or free-stone-houses Ireland was made to stand upon her own leggs and not onely to pay the standing English army which was there and us'd to be payd out of the Exchequer at Westminster but to maintain the Vice-Roy with all the Officers besides of her self and to affoord the King of England a considerable revenu every yeer and this was done by the management and activity of the last Lord Deputy after whose arrivall the Countrey did thrive wonderfully in traffic which is the great artery of every â—…land and in all bravery besides In so much that the Court of Dublin in point of splendidnes might compare with that of England But that refractory haf-witted peeple did not know when they were well But now I will leave the Irish to his Bony clabber and the Scot to his long Keall and short Keall being loth to make your eares do penance in listning to so harsh discourses Therefore to conclude most noble Princes I conceave it a high presumption in Great Britain to stand for the principality of Europe considering how many inconveniences attend her for first though she be most of all potent at sea yet she cannot set a ship under sayle in perfect equipage without the help of other Countreys she hath her cordage pitch and tarr she hath her masts and brasse Canons from abroad onely she hath indeed incomparable Oke and knee timber of her own she abounds 't is true with many commodities but they are rustic and coorse things in comparison of other Kingdoms who have silk for her wooll wine for her beer gold and silver for lead and tinne For arts and sciences for invention and all kind of civilities she hath it from the Continent Nay the language she speaks her very accents and words she borroweth els where being but a dialect of ours She hath a vast quantity of wast grounds she hath barren bad mountains uncouth uncomfortable heaths she hath many places subject to Agues and diseases witnes your Kentish and Essex Agues what a base jeer as their own Poet Skelton hath it have other Nations of the English by calling them Stert men with long tailes according to the verse Anglicus a tergo caudam gerit ergo caveto What huge proportions of good ground lieth untill'd in regard of the sloth of her Inhabitants she suffers her neighbours to eat her out of trade in her own commodities she buyeth her own fish of them They carry away her gammons of bacon and by their art having made it harder and blacker they sell it her againe for Westphalia at thrice the rate she hath affronted imprisond deposd and destroyd many of her Kings of late yeers
contented only that the Vassall kisse their hands or hem of their Garment Nor doth the Pope return reverence to any other potentate by rising up bowing his head or uncovering his head to any onely to the Emperor after he hath kiss'd his feet he is afterwards admitted to kisse his hand and then he riseth a little and giveth him a mutuall kisse of Charity with an Embracement There is a cloud of examples how diver Emperors and Kings came to Rome to do their filial duty to the Holy Father and to have their Coronations confirm'd by him Iustinian did so to Constantine Pipin to Stephen the second Charles the Great to Leo the 3. Lodovicus pins of France to Sergius the 2. the Emperor Henry the forth to Paschall the 2. Frederic the first to Adrian the 4. But that was a notable Signal reverence which Lewis of France and Henry the second of England did to Alexander the 3. Who came both together and jointly attended the Pope a good way to his lodging he being on horsback and they both a foot Now it is one of the high Tenets of the Catholiques That the Pope is the only Free independent Prince upon Earth not accountable to any for his actions but unto Christ himself whose Vicegerent he is He cannot onely command but make Kings at least confirm them The King of Spain did not hold himself perfectly established King of the West-Indies till the Holy Father pleas'd to allow of it and confirm him Now touching the Title of Emperor there is a notable letter upon record which Adrian the 4. writ to the three Ecclesiastic Electors of Germany Romanum Imperium a Graecis translatum est ad Alemannos ut Rex Teutonicorum non ante quam ab Apostolica manu coronaretur Imperator vocaretur ante consecrationem Rex post Imperator Unde igitur habet Imperium nisi a nobis ex electione principum suorum habet nomen Regis ex consecratione nostra habet nomen Imperatoris Augusti Caesaris Ergo per nos imperat c. Imperator quod habet totum a nobis habet Ecce in potestate nostra est ut demâ—…s illud cui volumus propterea constituti a deo super gentes Regna ut destruamus evellamus ut aedificemus plantemus The Roman Empire saith Adrian the 4. was transferr'd from Greece to Germany therefore the King of the Teutons cannot be call'd Emperor till he be apostolically Crown'd before his consecration he is but King and Emperor afterward Whence therefore hath he the Empire but from us by the Election of his Princes he hath the name of King but he hath the Title of Emperor of Augustus and Caesar by our consecration Therefore he is Imperial by us c. that which he hath of Emperor he hath wholly from us behold it is in our power to give the Title to whom we please therefore are we constituted by God himself over Nations and Kings that we may destroy and pluck up build and plant c. Nor doth the Papall power extend to give Titles to Emperors but to make Kings It is upon record how Pope Leo made Pipin King of Italy Sergius made Stephen King of Hungary Pope Iohn made Wenceslaus King of Poland Alphonso King of Portugal was made by Eugenius the 3d. Edgar was made King of Scotland by Urban the 2d. Iohn de Brenna was made King of Ierusalem by Innocent the third Pope Pius the 5. gave Cosmo de Medici the Title of Gran-Duke of Tâ—…scany notwithstanding the opposition of Maximilian the 2d. and Philip the 2d. of Spain I saw in the Archives of Rome the names of those Kings who are Vassalls to the Pope and they are rank'd in this order and Bodins Cataloge agrees with it Reges Neapolis Siciliae Arragoniae Sardiniae Hierolosymorum Angliae Hiberniae Hungariae all these are or should be at least feudetary and hommageable to the Bishop of Rome Nor can the Holy Father entitle Emperors and make Kings and Gran-Dukes but he can as he alledgeth depose them if they degenerate to Tyrants or Heretiques he can absolve their subjects from all ties of allegeance As among other examples Innocent the 3. did to Iohn King of England and Sixtus quintus did to Queen Elizabeth Innocent the 1. did not onely thrust Arcadius out of his Throne but out of the society of Christians Anastasius the Emperor was excommunicated by Anastasius the 2. Pope Constantine anathematiz'd the Emperor Philippicus Gregory the third delivered over to Satan Pope Leo Isaurus and took from him all Italy Gregory the 7. excommunicated the Emperor Henry the 3. and Boleslaus King of Poland The Emperor Lewis the 4. was barr'd to come to Church by Benedict the 12. Otho by Innocent the 3. Frederic the 2. by Innocent the 4. and Peter King of Castile was quite thrust out both of his Throne and the holy Church by Vrban the 5. who made Henry the bastard capable to succeed him by a bull of legitimation and indeed that Peter was a hatefull Tyrant having murtherd many of his own Subjects and his Queen or the house of Bourbon with his own hands There is another high prerogative which the Roman Bishop claimes which is to summon Generall Councells which Montanus who was president of the Councell of Trent from the Pope did avouch in open assembly upon a design of removing the Councell to Bolonia where he among other things did positively assert and pronounce Caesarem nempe non Dominum aâ—…t Magistrum esse sed Ecclesiae filium esse se verò Collegas qui adsint Romane sedis Legatos esse penes quos ordinandi transferendi concilii jus erat Caesar was not Lord nor Master but Sonne of the Holy Church But he and his Colleagues there present were Legats of the Roman See whose right it was to ordain and transferre General Councells Moreover the Bishop of Rome hath a great stroake in preserving the Universal peace of Christendom and keeping Earthly Potentates from clashing one with another In so much that the Pope may be compar'd to that Isthmos of land which runns twixt the Ionian and Aegaean Seas keeping their waters from jusling one with another Nor is the Bishop of Rome thus powerfull only by his spirituall Authority by vertue whereof besides Patriarkâ—… Archbishops and a world of Bishops he hath 70. Cardinalls who are accounted equal to Princes and who as they are all of his making so are they at his devotion which number of 70. was limited by a solomn diploma or Bull of Sixtus Quintus and the election to be alwaies in December so many daies before Christmas which is a general Jubile of rejoycing for the Nativity of our Saviour And as these Cardinals are Princes Companions so have they revenues accordingly from the Common aerarium or Treasury of the Church which is an unknown thing and inexhaustible For as long as men have soules within them and believe there is a Heaven or Hell the