to feare if these Israelites feared so much at the building of an Altar vvhych vvas meant to the honour of God and onely contrary to the outward shevv of the vvordes of the lavve shall not vve tremble at thys Alter vvhich all the charity in the vvorld can not conceiue vvell of as that vvhich hath none vse but to serue the deuil good Nehemiah for one piece of thys our sin found in the people feared the wrath of God proclaymed publike fasting prayer Let vs folovv his example that the Lord may be still our God and remember vs to do vs good Much more haue vve to shake for that thys our turning frō God in straunge mariage and permitting strange Gods vvhich the liuing God turne from vs should be more foule and more grosse thenany of those former vvhiche neuerthelesse deserued and had such plagues For it cannot I dare say be shevved in all the holystory that those people of God in the vvorst mariage emōg them did yet euer make any precedent pact or articulat cōdition aforehand vvith the Idolaters that they should quietly agaynste the lavves of theyr holy land commit Idolatry but rather at firste the Idolaters dissembling theyr ovvne or making semblant of the true religiō fayre foftly vvan by little little through familiarity mutuall conuersation of lyfe after mariage by a stealing insinuation or flattery and creping persvvasion daungerous therefore to haue any sort of felovvship vvith the vvicked an open exercise of theyr paganisme But if any man perswade our Prince in vvhose handes the Lorde hath put and holden a soueraigne scepter of peace novv twenty yeeres and more and by vvhose handes the Lord hath quite expelled Idolatrye he make her and vs thankfull for it vppon cammunication of thys mariage to indent vvith man hovv farre God should be honoured vvhat is thys but to sinne more then the supposed sin of the Reubenites to excede the transgressions of Salomon or Iehoram euen to erecte an Idolatrous altar not in a corner of the Realme but on the hyghest hyll of the land in London vvhich is our Ierusalem and to make an open fault not of infirmitye but by addised composition agaynst the Lord and hys truth not in tvvo shires and a halfe but in the greatest part of the realme and head of the land our prince in so much as it should be safer to set vp a thousande hyll alters for hedgecreping Priestes other where rather then thys high Altar so neere the Court. The sinne of Achan though not in thys kind proues that the sin of one man and hym pryuate doen in secrete and buried close vnder the ground gaue forth such a stench in the Lords nostrels as was contagious to the vvhole host and hys garmente brought the plague emong them Much more shall the hygh sin of a highest magistrate doen and auoued in open son kindle the vvrath of God and set fire on church and common weale And this fire if it fasten on our church it is like wild fyre or fire from heauen that all the seas can not stoppe nor quench but the flakes thereof wyll flye ouer sea and keepe hauoke in the churches both on thys side and beyoind seas Our neighbour vvel builded church of Scotland must needes think hir selfe to haue some what in hand vvhen our wall is aburning The infant churches in the lovv countryes shall loose a nource of vs The elder churches in Garmani a sister of strength And vvhen I remember the poore orphane churches in france I must needes giue the pryce of godlesse impudencie to those vvhich vvyll needes forsooth mayntaine thys mariage as a mean to assure religion in fraunce and to preferue the professors there from more massacres These men haue lyke vnkind mothers put as it vvere theyr owne child the church of England to be nour sed of a french enemy and friend to Rome and novv very kindly they take in both armes the church of fraunce and giue it a priuy deadly nipp vnder colour of offering it their teates vvherein is nought but vvind if not poyson As therefore the ennemies to Gods truth seeke those churches ruin throug hatred to religion so should we who are members of one body vvith them haue a care of them as of our selues The enemies think there kingdom of Antichrist can not stand vnles Christ be put out of these churches let vs knovv as those reformed Churches next vnder God and theyr owne forces haue stoode by good neighbourhood euen so that there standing is our necessary strength Certainly the Pope seeth vvell that one great staye vvhy neyther the French King in Fraunce nor the Spanish king in the low countryes can destroy religion is the helpe and avve of other Princes confessing the gospell emong which our Queene is in regard with the chiefe A game he seeth as vvell that next vnder God one greate cause vvhy hys interdictions against vs take no place in England nor Ireland and that those kings to whom hee hath giuen our land as it vvere to vvhom soeuer occupanti can not come to take possession of vs is because that they of the reformed religion in both those countryes are as a brazen doore and an yron wall agaynst our popish enemies and therefore by thys match he seekes to sunder them from vs and vs from them and so by vnbarring our brazen doore and treading dovvne our vval to lay open hys passage to vs I vvill not therefore vouchsafe this straunge suppositon of these persvvaders the place of an obiection to be aunsvvered in the ende but vvill vse it for an other mayn reason of proofe in thys part that thys mariage is agaynst the church because it is agaynst the churches of Fraunce the vvhich it must needes kill in the place as they say and vvithall giue our church a deathes wound Here is therefore an imp of the crovvne of Fraunce to marye vvith the crovvned Nymphe of Englande It is proued alreadye that his comming shakes the church in Englande and hovv shall he stablish the religion in France VVhat is France to the church of God and to England for religions sake Fraunce is a house of crueltie especially against Christians a principll prop of the tottering house of Antichriste and vvithout vvhich our VVesterne Antichriste had bene ere this sent to his brother Mahomet into Greece vvhether he long sence sent his maisters the Emperoures of Rome The long and cruell persecutions in Fraunce the exquisite torments and infinite numbers there put to death doe vvitnes hovv worthy that throne is to be reckoned for one horn of that persecuting beast the primitiue Empire Thys man is a son of Henrye the second vvhose familie euer since he maryed vvith Catherine of Italie is fatal as it vvere to to resist the Gospell and haue bene euer oney after other as a domitian after Nero as a Traian after domitian and as Iulianus after Traian VVhose manifest cruelties and
father must goe and take Marguerit the daughter of Lewis the eyght for a vvyfe to hys son Henry and for his son Richard tooke Aelix an other daughter of Fraunce vvhich alliances proued such assurances to Henry the second as his last fiue or sixe yeeres vvere nothing but an vnkinde stryfe with his ovvne sons and especially hys sonne Rychard made open vvarre against him and vvan from him a part of Normandie by the helpe of his trustie friend Lewes the French king After thys vvhen Rychard him selfe was king not vvithstanding all the French friendships and alliances at vvhat tyme he vvas taken prisoner in hys returne from Ierusalem the French king vvas not ashamed to excite Iohn the brother of England to seize himselfe of the crovvne The sayd Iohn vvhen he vvas king marieng the daughter of the Earle of Engolesme in Fraunce and his son Henry the third hauing maried first a daughter of the Earle of prouence and secondly french Marguerit sister to Phillip the fayer found in the seueral dayes of theyr raignes the French king to be no better then a pricke in theyr sides taking part against them and prouoking theyr people to be as it vvere thornes in theyr feete Edvvard the second succeding his auncesters aswell in theyr vnhappy folly as in they re kingdome vvill needes marry vvith Isabel daughter to the same Phillip vvhich proued such an assurance to hymselfe as that hys French vvife vvas able to bereaue hym first of hys son carying him into Fraunce and hauing there made a strong part could returne and bereaue her husband of hys liberty and kingdome and in the ende of hys lyfe to after a vvretched captiuitie vnder hys owne son So that of old the alliances of Fraunce dyd set husbande and vvife together by the eares as in Henry the second and Edvvarde the second the father and son together as they did Henry the second and hys three sons Henry Rycharde and Iohn brother against brother as Rychard and Iohn the king and hys people togither as they did king Iohn and Henry the thyrd against the people and as they did aftervvard in Rychard the second Henry the sixt vvhich the duke Thomas of Glocester in his tyme vvell foresavv and therefore vpon treaty of the like mariage for Rychard the second vvho hauing novv raigned xix yeeres and being thyrtye yeeres olde fell amourous most vnkindlye and vnkingly vvith a french girle but eyght yeeres of age daughter to Charles the sixt French king he the same Thomas of Glocester vncle to the king stept vp and vvithstode that match hauing belike in these former experiences obserued the truth of that general rule set dovvne vpon the French by that Greeke Emperor And because I find the vvords of thys Duke set dovvne more expresly in a French chronicle then any vvhere els I vvill vse theyr ovvne vvords as the fittest testimony in thys case The alliance of Fraunce sayth that Duke in that french story hath bene the ruine of England and this nevve frendship betvveene these kings sayth the Duke shall neuer make me loke for any assured peace attvvene thē for sayth he ther vvas neuer yet any trust or religiō or truth in the vvord or promises of the french VVhat an auncient hereditary disease of disloyalty is this in the royall seate of Fraunce especially since the Maiors of the housholde became kinges And though thys Dukes voice in thys counsell vvere ouerruled by the multitude or rather by the lust of the king yet did the king and his people and their children feele hovve true it was in sequele For first thys externe amitie with Fraunce bred home enemitye in England It cost vs for an earnest penny the tovvne of Brest in Britanie by meanes of the kings outlandish Queen And poore king Richard vsing in priuate connsaise altogether the French companions such as his vvyfe brought began to disdeyne his ovvne naturall kinsmen and subiects and finallye follovving ouermuch the cruell and riotous counsel of such minions namely the Constable of Fraunce and Erle of S. Pol vvhō the French king sent of purpose to king Rycharde his son in lavve polling the people and putting to death such nobles as his french counsail put in hys head in the end he vvas quite vnkinged by Henry of Lancaster afterwardes Henry the fourth vvho during the tyme that he platted thys enterprise founde hospitalitye in Fraunce for all king Rychards alliance vnder his father in lavves nose The French match it vvas vvhich vvithin one yere brought the king to dishonorable captiuitie death and deposing vvhich appeares for that in story it is rekoned emong other thinges that alienated from him the loue of hys subiects so farre as when he vvas taken hys enemy vvas fayne to saue hys lyfe by garde from hys ovvn people and also it is obiected agaynst hym that he had made thys alliance vvith Fraunce not calling to counsail the thre estates of England Euen the last mariages vve made vvith France vvere lyke vnhappy to the end Henry the fift that noble king had the alliance of Katherin daughter to Charles the seauenth of Fraunce and after had the possession of Fraunce first by right of descent and mariage then by conquest of sword and lastly by couenant agreed with king Charles and his peeres yet coulde he none othervvise hold theyr loue but hauing theyr necks vnder hys yoke VVhych vnion of possession and right to that realme vvas aftervvard fortified by crouning hys sonne Henry the sixt in Paris and by a nevv match betweene hym and Marguerit daughter of a French Charles as most men saien vvhich cost hym first for a princely brybe the dukedome of Angeow and Ereldome of Main and after many miserable destructions of our English cheualry people lost both the new cōquired title ancient heriditarye dominions on that side and finally vvrought an ignominious depriuation of Henry the sixt from this realme I think I might set dovvue all such matches as vnhappy ones and contrarivvise those matches nothing so vnhappy but for the most parte prosperous vvhich were made eyther at home or in other places as vveren al those mariages made since Henry the sixt as by Edvvarde the fourth her Maiesties greatgraundfather and by her maiesties graundfather and by her father And if a sister or daughter vvho had no or dinarye counsail allowed her out of France could yet continually preuaile so much to the trobling of the state and deposing of the king here vvhat peril is it to dravv hether a brother vvho is to haue his ordinarye counsail and some gard of force and continuall-intelligence with the French king and is also to be a leader and executer of any deuise himselfe vvhich a French woman could not doe so vvell the daunger therefore in thys match is encreased beyond that in the former matches for there the party for or by vvhom the danger came vvas a vvoman and therefore
them sauing that they desire the vvorst to befall vs And if there be any perswader of this straunge mariage in whom remaynes yet a simple mind but missed or miscaried I desyre hym or her and I charge thē as they vvill answer to God of theyr truth to their Mistres of England English brethren that they close theyr hand and put theyr fingar to theyr mouth and vvaigh better hereof as vvell by the lavve of God as of humane policie vvhich must no doubt agree vvyth Gods law I cousell them to consider these daungers common to them selues vvith all other and if they looke vvell about them they shall find thys mariage a right vnhappy one and on no side happy vvheresoeuer they turne them For let it be that he haue issue by her and that none but feamal only vve haue hazarded our kingdom for putting it in the hands of the father vvho vnder colour of some tutorship to hys daughter vvill haue her into Fraunce and so eyther adioyne this land to Fraunce or mary her to some French or other stranger at hys lyking and all this vvhyle vve neuer the neere possession of our old right in Fraunce whych vve so much desired for the Salique lavve barres hyr quite And though she should come and dwel in England yet her bringing vp being in Fraunce her father will nousell her in hys own religion and so she comming home shall striue to staplish popery as the late Queene of Scotts did when shee came out of Fraunce vvherupon ensued those bloodshedds and redde vvarres besides the ilfauoured examples of the French Court and kings vvhich vve vvould be loath our English princes shall learne and bring home hether If thys issue by Monsieur should be a son and but one sonne then vvill he translate his Court into Fraunce and leaue thys poore prouence to the mannaging of a viceroy the greuances whereof are ynough set foorth by referring you to the proconsulates of Rome vnder that Empire to the vndergouernours in the former monarchies to the viceroyes and Luogotenenti of Spayn in Naples-Cicil and here nerer in the lovv countryes VVho like boares in a fat nevv broken vp ground by sovving first some seedes of dissentions to breed partialities in the countrye doe roote out the auncient homegrovving nobilitie and turne vnder perpetuall slauery as cloddes the country people yea and perhaps in the end caught with the liquerishnes of gouernment seize thēselfe of the absolute kingdome and deceiue their mayster so did the auncient Monarchies melt so did this pre sent Empire lose her prouinces and is novve become lesse then a kingdom and so may this auncient kingdom be transferred to a rebellious seede Such rough plovvers doe our sins deserue to plovv deepe furrovves on our backs if the Lord in mercy looke not on vs I am not ignorant that some passe easily this incommoditie of viceroy affirming it to bring honor not perill for say they thys son being born here shall be king of both kingdomes with great honor as hath bene heretofore But they be svveete Englishmen if you marke theyr english vve reason of the dishonor and seruitude vvhich comes to the nation and they ansvvere of the honor that comes to the prince more lyke Basciaes to the great Turke then Christian commonvvealthmen as though our Christian and naturall Queen could thinke any thing profitable to her vvhich might any way though a farr off tend to the perpetuall bondage of hyr people here though they subtilly let slippe the assured hurt vvhich hereby falles to the common weale I wyl not forget to shew hovv incertain yea and hovv certainly perillous to the prince thys honor is wherewith they flatter hyr Holy king Henry as they call hym vvhom I suppose they wyll bring in for example vvas crovvned in Paris and yet lost all on that side before he was a man as I remember or soone after and before hys vnhappy death he lost thys land also vvhich losse of both came by striuing for both So that he may with more reason be recorded emong those fallen princes at the lowest of Boccaces vvhele or in our English booke of fallen Maiestrates then to be reconed vp by any faythfull English man for a patern of imitation to our present Queen Elizabeth VVho so vvyl auoyd those feareful effects must auoyd the cause from vvhence they procede and not bring such examples to be followed This example of Henry the sixt vvould proue like to our present case if it vvere pursued For the complection and constitution of Monsieur is not to liue long but to leaue his child in the cradle for the reasons hereafter remébred And if the byrth of thys child should any vvay endanger our Queen the poore infant if he ouerliued shold haue tvvo ouer great scepters to play withall euen as Henry the sixth had and so much the worse as there are euen novve one or tvvo houses in Fraunce vvhich vvould easely be saluted as kings and of whom both Monsieur and the king that novve is may vvell stand in feare perhappes these men wold prouide that this chyld should be borne in Monmouth and not at vvinsor and then they would think all sure Me thinks they should runn headlong on this remedy that are blinded in thys euill Thus it comes oftentimes to passe that flattery vvoundeth princes euen vvyth the very self thinges it so fairely beareth in hand And if he should haue a son and a daughter so as both of them ouer liuing theyr parents the son should be actually king as vvell of hys fathers as of his mothers kingdome and then dye wythout issue hys sister yet liuing is it not more then probable in this case that the next prince of the blood in Fraunce vnder pretence that England vvas once vested in the blood of the French king and vnder theyr gouernment vvyl drawe it also by thys vnity of possession vvith the crown of Fraunce vnder the law Salique and so quite vnqueen the desolate sister for the least color in the worlde ioyned vvith the sword in a stronge highminded kings hande makes a good tytle to a kingdome euen agaynst father mother wyfe brother and sister as storyes witnes and according to that vvhich is sayd No fayth in matter of a kingdome Much more agaynst that poore daughter vvhich then should be a straunger in the house of Fraunce The actuall possession of her brother vvyll make no tytle neyther wyll it be any plea to say that by our lavves lands descended from the mother are guyded to the heyrs of the part of the mother but our issue must be battel vvhich is a tryall most incertain most perilous to the daughter vvho being out of possession shal haue much adoe to find equiualiant champions And if thys Monsieur should haue by our Queen two sons or moe it must needes breed forrain vvars and ciuill partaking thorough disagreement of the brethren vvhyle the younger looking back to the
that is that an old enemy friend is no friend vvhich prouerb though in christian reformed men it may nowe and then be falsified yet do I not see but in men vnregenerate by the gospell it remaynes true and to beleue it false is perilous to prince or priuate person in choyse of friend or allie But if these perswaders vvyll needes haue thys paynted man to be a man and thys no frend to be a friend yet is he of necessity a most daungerous friend by reason of hys largely spred dominion vvhich makes hym esteeme himselfe as the iron pot and vs as the earthen crock vvith whom vvhen he floteth on the sea he weens he can dash vs into shards at hys pleasure according to that embleme of Alciat And though by the might of the hygh potter of mankind framer of kingdoms he hath found our sides as hard as yron and vve haue found hym as brickel in our hands as clay yet the pryde he conceiueth in his owne might vvil make thys dreadles enemy an intollerable and an insolent friend to vs onlesse he may find vs as seruiceable as he found his old friend Scot land vvherein his old rancour styll lurkes and vvyll prouoke him to take any occasion Thus vnder trust on our side shal be shrovv ded treason on theyr part vvhich could neuer haue hys effect yf vve vvere styll enemies standing on our own gard and in nothing trusting them Again a most vnsure and slippery frend he is for they that seke vtilem amicitiam as he now doth vvil also sodenly break friendship inhonestae vtilitatis causa vvherein he hath the start of vs be fore vve ioyne vvhile vve standing on our honor and Christian conscience as it vvere at the listes shall giue none offence but vvith much adoe take any giuen pretermitting the best occasion of resisting in time the beginnings he that hath made ship vvrack of honor and conscience shal make hys profit of our conscience and lye in vvait to fall out for aduantage and to break thorough euen vvhatsoeuer surest band of alliance Furthermore a needlesse friendship is it vvhich vve seeke For hetherto vvithout theyr helpe and in despight of their beard vve continually haue holden our ovvn and many times preuailed vp on theyrr hauing thereforh tryed theyr mallice of 500. yeeres to be contemptible let vs not vvithout any need in the vvorlde accept theyr friendship novv vvhen it is most doubtfull least the title of loue compasse that which hatred could neuer come neere Lastly as in common alliances it is no credit to entertain a reiec ted friendship so is thys french alliance dishonorable to vs in respect it is the refuse of Scotland vvho being vveary of their pride and vntruth haue cast them off novv a good whyle since and all ther old neere felovvship vvith resolute purpose so to continue because they find much more profit and safetie in these more estranged termes of neighbourhode vvherein they stand presently then in theyr false insolent former friendship And to speak truth the honest late dealings of French are such and they so renoumed for an hatefull seede of an hatefull house as I suppose they are not like to find friendship els vvhere vvith any Christian prince of Maiestie especially to ioyne vvith them in this friendship of mariage vvhich made theyr present king Henry the thyrd as haughty as he is to stoupe to a mean mans daughter a vassal of his own And what if it vvere possible to make some thing of this no friend to hold thys vvett Eele by the tayle as they say and to haue his friendship fast and that the same vvould be in any thing needfull profitable vvithout perill and not dishonorable which in no vvise I admit yet vvill our losse be otherwise far greater thē hys friendship can yeld For first this new found french friend of fraunce vvilpresently cost vs our old friend of Burgondy vvhich faythfull societie yf our vallant politîque auncesters preferred before that vntrusty alliance vvith Fraunce enen then vvhen it was not yet maryed to Austrich nor crovvned vvith Spayn vvhen it vvas not yet enlarged vvith hir Italian dominions and midsea Iles nor enriched vvith her golden Indians if also then it were more profitable to vs then Frannce hovv shall Fraunce be novv to be preferred before it or proue more profitable to vs novv then that And it is not onely for peace and vvarr that Burgondy hath ben entertayned before Fraunce but euen to this day the merchaunts vvyll tell you that the onely lovv countryes here at hand of that dominiō are more worth to vs for venting the surplusage and aboundance of our country commodities and for the transporting hither of the most necessary merchandise of forreign parts then is all Fraunce Secondly vve shall for thys ouerthvvart friend of Fraunce a professed enemy of religion vvhich onely knitts the trueloue knott cast of Scotlande a brother in christ vvhose profession as it hath made them nevv men in loue and loyallty to vs so do our deserts tovvard them hither vnto theyr need of our help henceforth make them vvholly ours vndoubtedly And if vve vvere in a brotherly perpetuall league vvith that state such as both our professions requires of vs both and such as our peculiar neighbourhode begs of vs who haue one bounds of the sea and but a small brooke that partes vs doubtles our mutual friendship vvould proue more mutually stronge and profitable then vvith any potentate seuered from vs by seas vvhose fayth if vve could assure our selues of yet can vve not haue it at all needes but must tary for the vvind and tyde All the religious states of Germany and other vvhosoeuer that haue gon from Rome vvill at once throvv avvay theyr Christen estimation of vs Those protestant princes vvho hauing tryed the faithlesnes of thys generation doe set their bodyes possessions and honors in the gappe for defence of Gods people in seuerall countryes from sclauery of conscience bodies goods vvyues and children vvyll in theyr lour lament our vnhappines that wil not not be vvarned by theyr harmes vvherein I merueil not a little at some vvho regarding neither modestie nor conscience for the aduauncing of thys mariage do sclaunder those religious princes as recommenders to vs of thys mariage agaynst vvhich their deedes doe speake and theyr vvords cry out And for all these losses I knovv not vvhat nevve friend comes in by thys house of Valoys in Fraunce oneles it be the house of Ottoman the great Turke vvith vvhom though Fraunce haue holden not a truce for a time but a continual amitie vvhich mought vvell ynongh be the cause vvhy the Pope decked hym vvith hys tytle of most christian king yet haue vve of England euer defyed hym vvith the rest of those kingdomes that beare the name of christ and it vvyll be for our Christian honor that no match vvorke the contrary
that may so earnestly send hym hither he is here apparant to Fraunce dangerous therefore in respect of reasons otherwhere alledged for hym to be absent espetially the present king being so far gon and spent in the disease as some of these perswaders vvill say vvhen they wyll further thys match And if he should come in with that honorable shew becomming hys greatnes and as any other such man wyll come that woeth with good meaning and feareth not any detectioÌ„ of hydden trecheryes â–ª hys voyage hyther would be mightely chargable a thing ill becomming hym vvho is already drawen drye to the botom and extremely indetted vvith hys other coloured voyage into Flanders And onelesse some notable practise pricked hym hyther the very passage ouer the sea vvould appall this fresh water soldiar hauing read that betvvene thys and Normandye there perished in one bottom three kingly children but vtterlye vvould he be discouraged by thaduenture of honour whych he makes in sayling hyther vpon so slender likelihoode of speeding or rather vpon great reason of repulse if his care of honor vvere not lesse then his greedines to accomplish hys other mischiefe And if he should speede which God forspeake yet must he com to a people that loues hym not nor hys trayne and vvhere neuerthe lesse he must haue hys gardes and trayne prescribed and limitted in regard of the state And thys people if heretofore it hath bene so manly as to mayster thys generation of Capet in hys own or rather our home of Fraunce me thinks thys Monsieur can come with small hope to finde good seruice at our handes vvhose fingers wyll itch at hym in our home of England But aboue all vvho can thinke that he being the last of hys fathers ligne and the onely forlorne hope of raysing vp seede to hys brothers would match heare vvith so farr gon hope of hauing issue endaungering by that means a vvylling translation of the crown of France from hym and hys fathers posterity to another prince of the blood No no no the king hys brother and hys mother haue some other meanyng agaynst the church state and person of our prince euen to haue an eye in the heade of our Courte if they can bring it to passe and an hand in the heart of this realm to vvorke our ruin and theyr great hatreds and that as the mother hath long time ruled and turned the wrong side outvvard of Fraunce so she might haue thys land another while for hyr stage she is dressing hir Prologue to sende him in trust him not The players be tragicall though he vveare peacible laurell on his head Yea the wordes that escape from some of them that are come on thys message doe bewray hovv lovvdly they vvyl speake here after I pray God they to vvhom it belongs may keepe avvay such gamsters And sith the Lord for hys own name sake of his loue to the gospel vvhich we haue emoÌ„g vs hath weakned the hands of our forreine enemyes broken the deuises of theyr heads hither to since he hath engraueÌ„ such a searing loue in hyr subiects harts as children beare to there mother and such a reuercut note of souereignete in hir person as he is wont to sett on them vvhom he calls by hys owne name and are his ordinances in so much as it may be sayd of hir most truely it is the Lord by vvhoÌ„ kings reign since I say the blessed vvord of Christ hath made hir sword as the svvord of Gâ—deon keeping hir safe from many practises agaynste hyr person while other kings and Queenes haue thorowe Gods iudgement for theyr manifest sins bene subiect to tombling and suffered change in person and estats Let vs styll rest in those maenes and approue that vvhich vve haue proued for good It is a foly to seeke forreine ayde but vpoÌ„ extreme necessitye It is lyke desperate phisick vvhen one is giuen vp by al phisitions it sends hym speedely eyther one vvay or other They suffer themselues to be abused vvhich beleeue the french men vvhen they say that England is vnfurnished of friends neyther in perfect league nor good opinioÌ„ nor neere allyed with any prince in Christendome Our alliances are better then his and more assured as in another place it is shewed vve haue the Lords right hand on ourside and all the hatts and handes of those of our religion Yea vve were able by Gods mercy to throvv out popery euen then vvhen it had more friends vvithin the land and vvhen diuerse princes and multitudes vvere enemies to vs for our religion that are since become religious euen to the death vve doubt not therefore but much more easely vve shall be able to hold our prince vvorthy of hyr I can not chuse but say that this prince of Fraunce of all other vnmaried princes is moste vnworthye of hyr for euen that Christianity vvhich hir Maiestie is called vnto and hyr princely priesthoode in Christ Iesus is as farr aboue all hys pryde in fleshe as heauen is aboue earth hir earthly septer being added to the former excellency settes him at hir foote or rather driues him from hir presence in iudgement of God and men being but a subiecte in the kingdom of Fraunce as yet no enrolled citesin in thouvvard kingdom of heauen The assured and great euils that grovv here out to our head the Queene make no lesse agaynst the vvell doing of the lesser limes of the land For to let passe the doings of auncient and present kings vvho vvhen by such meanes they vvinne a countye into theyr pavves first dispatch the auncient Nobilitye destroye the greatest kindreds and scatter the meane sort into seruile vnlearned and vnarmed trades for thentreaty that our Nobility and Gentry are to looke for I vvyll note but thys one vvord euen of thys very family of Hugh Capet the first of thys third and present kingly race in Fraunce vvhen by such meanes as theyr ovvn chro nicles doe mention he had vvrested the sceprer from the handes of theyr Mayster and soueraign seede of great Charles Peppines son the first deede they did vvas to prouide that the chiefe of that ligne might dye the death perhaps some of them did chuse some pinig death at Orleance but die they must This is a slip of Hugh Capet and the practise of theyr mother and them in their ovvn country at this present is to raze all auncient french houses and to reare vp new bringing al as neere as they can A la Turkesque that all being there creatures may fall dovvn and vvorship them And if the present vvoeng messenger a man of so bace place and petie coÌ„panion in the french court is yet so sausie as to be checkmate vvith our Queen and to enter malapart comparison vvyth our Noble men doubt you not but the friends of of the brydegroome vvyll be euery man a petie king ouer our English Nobilitye Our
THE DISCOVERIE OF A GAPING GVLF VVHEREINTO ENGLAND IS LIKE TO BE SWALLOvved by an other French mariage if the Lord forbid not the banes by letting her Maiestie see the sin and punishment thereof Saue Lord let the King here vs in the day that vve call Psal. 20. verse 9. Mense Augusti Anno. 1579. IN all delibrations of moste priuate actions the very heathen are wont first to consider honesty and then profit Some of thē also many times not without some blind regard to a certain diuine nature which they vvorshipped before the altar of the vnknovven god Oh the strange Christianity of some men in our age vvho in their state consultations haue not so much respecte to Pietie as those first men had to honesty nor so much regarde to honestie as they had to profit are therfore iustly giuen vp of the Lord our God to seeke profit vvhere in deed it is not and deceiued by theyr lusts to embrace a shewing false Good in stead of that vvhich is the good End of a vvise man Yea vvho neglecting the holy and sure vvisedome of God in his vvord vvherein are the onely honorable enstructions for polytyques and honestest rules of gouering our houses and ovvne person do beate their braines in other bookes of vvicked vile Atheistes and sette before them the example of Turkish and Italian practises wherby the Lorde many times thrustes theyr hands into the neste of vvaspes and hornets vvhile they seek the hony of the svvete bee Thys sicknes of mynd haue the french dravven from those Easteern partes of the vvorld as they did that other horrible disease of the body and hauing alreadie too far VVestvvard communicated the one contagion doe novv seeke notably to infecte our minds vvith the other And because this infection spreeds it selfe after an other maner from the first they haue sent vs hither not Satan in body of a serpent but the old serpent in shape of a mā vvhos sting is in his mouth and vvho doth his endeuour to seduce our Eue that shee and vve may lose this Englishe Paradise VVho because she is also our Adam soueraigne Lord or lordly Lady of this Land it is so much the more daungerous therfore he so much the more busily bestirres him Novv although the truth be that vppon further ripping vp of this serpentine attempt vve shall find the Church notably vnder mined by the Pope the verye foundations of our common vveall dangerously digged at by the french our deere Queene Elizabeth I shake to speake ledd blyndfold as a poore Lambe to the slaughter yet should not my feare be so great knovving her Maiesties vvisedome sufficient to teach her in such a matter as this neither to trovv a Frenche man nor once here speake a dayly hearer of masse for she may knovv him by his hissing and lisping but that some English mouthes professing Christ are also persvvaders of the same And though this ship fraughte vvyth Englands bane vvere already vndercrossed saile vvith the freshest gale of winde in her sterne that can blovv in the skye for our best port yet had vve counter puffes and counterbuffes ynough to keepe him aloofe and to send him backe againe into the deepes if he had none but onely french maryners and onely french tackle But alas this ship of vnhappy loade hath emong vs of our selues I vvould not in Princes Court those vvho with all theyr might and maine helpe to hale it in and as though the blustring vvindes of our enemies malice and the broade sayles of our sins were not sufficient to giue it a speedy passage hither our ovvne men vvalke on thys shoare and lay to theyr shoulders with fastened lynes and cables to draw it in This is our mischiefe thys is the swallowing Gulfe of our bottomles destruction els myght vve thinke our selues impregnable It is not the feeble assault of this carpet squire that vvold make vs come to the vvalles or once shut the gates against him Therefore albeit I wote vvell you vnderstand already in generall what is that great calamitie thus imminent ouer our heades whereof I speake and albeit the bare consideration of some fevv apparant circūstances of thys strange sought mariage by Fraunce vvith England do suffyciently moue and affecte euerye Christian hart in respect of the hurt to the Church of Christ euery English hart in respect of the detriment to England and euery honest affectionate hart of anye her maiesties louing true seruant in regard of the greate daunger thereby comming to her royall Person yet to th ende our mindes may be the more earnestlye stirred vp by more particularly vveighing the euills of this matter vve vvill enter into the partes of thys practise and gage the verye bellye of this great horse of hidden mischiefes falshoode meant to vs And according as those not halfe taughte Christians and halfe harted Englishmen vvhiche persvvade and sollicite thys french mariage haue in theyr mouthes nothing but the churche and common weale pretending hereby eyther against their own conscience or of some other humor that blindeth them to bring greate aduauncement to religion and aduauntage to the state vvith many smooth wordes of I wot vvhat assurance to her maiesties person I will likewise dravv al my reasons to those chiefe heads of Religion and the Pollicie shevving prouing I hope that this is a counsaile against the Church of Christ an endeuor of no vvell aduised Englishman as vvell in regard of the commō state as of her maiesties good estate to euery of which it is pernitious and capitall In the ende I vvill aunsvvere such of they re aduerse or peruerse reasons as shall be lefte vndisproued in thys my proofe And first if a man vvould here bring in the Church to speake for her selfe standing vpon the doctrine of her Prophetes and Christ the Lord leaning vpon the piller of truth vvhose crovvne and garlond is to suffer rather then to vse any vayne helpe of mā against Gods lavve mild thoughe she be without all gale in her hart and haue no vvords in her hony swete mouth but of a most louing mother yet vvould she with sharpe reproofe take vp these goodly procurers of her vvelth as very practisers of her vvoe she vvoulde call them to account vvhy they take her holy name in their mouthes and she vvould scarce repute them for her chyldren vvho vvill nedes forsoth be her fathers for to reason vvith these Politiques in their ovvne professyon can they thinke anye counsaile holesome to the state or becomming good counsailours which can not be once deliberated of much les put in execution without both despising of the Prince and contemptuous breach of the country lavves they must needes say noe if they haue any sincerity or playne dealing left at least they wyll saye nay for feare And think they that any their vayneglorious deuise can proue to the lyfe or health of the church which is offered her with shamefull
dishonour to her spouse vvith the separating her from her Lord God and vvith the treading vnder foot of that precious lavve vvhich îs her holy rule for order and souereigne preseruatife againste all headlong confusion if they say yea vve say nay and proue it nay Namely that this procuration of mariage is a breach of Gods lawe and not onely for the sinne thereof is against the church because it hasteneth vengeaunce but vve shevve by demonstratiue reasons that it goeth to the very gorge of the Church I trust I shall not neede to proue to these mens consciences this Maior proposition or Maxime that is to say Syn prouoketh the wrath of God and that greate sinnes call down great plages and mighty sinners are mightily punished This argument The vvorld sinneth such a citie sinneth such a land sinneth such a try be such a kindred such a family such a soule sinneth Ergo the vvorld such a city land trybe kindred family soule shall feele the vengeance of that high lavvgeuer against vvhom they sinne is a most necessary consequence This next though it be but the Minor in order and vvill not perhappes vvithout farther proofe be yelden vnto by thys kynde of protestātes yet is it as true as the former that is that it is a sin a greate and a mightye sinne for England to geue one of Israels daughters to any of Hemors sonnes to match a daughter of God vvith one of the sonnes of men to couple a Christian Ladye a member of Christ to a Prince good sonne of Rome that Antichristian mother citie For the inuincible manifestastion therfore of this truth let vs first consider England as a region purged from Idolatry a kingdome of light confessing Christ and seruing the liuing God Contrariwise Fraunce a den of Idolatrye a kingdome of darkenes confessing Belial and seruing Baal Then let vs remember vvhat was the first institution of mariage which is set before vs as a directory rule for vs in our mariages for euer and vvhereunto Christ teacheth vs playnly in al cases and other incidentes of mariage to looke back vvhen vpon a case put of mariage he aunsweres IN THE BEGINNING IT VVAS NOT SO. The first mariages were betvvene payres in Religion and in the feare of god And the first vvritten commaundements that are giuen by Moses touching mariage haue their regard to that first institution as it were to the oldest lavve The vvhich Moses rightly vnderstanding and according to the interpretation of al lawes vvhen they bid or forbid any thing do therevvith forbid or bid the contrarye He also in Denteronomie forbad those matches vvherein the sonnes of God vvere giuen to the daughters of mē adding thys reason for saith he such mariages wil make thy children to fal from me And this place at once may expound those other many places vvhere it is sayd least they make thy children to commit Idolatry to be added as a certaine punishment by the iudgement of God and not for a doubtfull reason as some vvould fayn haue it that seke to dravv the lavves of God to their lustes who should rather rule theyr lustes by the lawes VVhich pure institution of mariage S. Paul also continues when enlarging the holy vse thereof to all sortes of men he yet hath this restraint that it be in the Lord that is to saye in his feare as it was from the beginning and according to his former commaundements in his vvorde It is more then enough to breake the holy ordinaunce instituted of God vvhich ought to gouerne vs without further enqui rye of reason or commodity But as the holinesse of his lavves is holesome to vs euen in this life by obedience so doth theyr trāsgression breede vs infinite incommodities For the ende of this holy kind of mariage is our mutuall helpe and vpholdiug one an other in the feare of god vvhich appeareth by the reason of forbidding those vnholy mariages vvhich is least sayth the spirit of God their sonnes drawe your daughters or their daughters your sonnes from the lord Nowe as the one comes to passe vvhere thorder of God is kept so the contrary effect must iustly followe vpon neglect especially if such a mariage be made in a gospellike land vvhere the lavv of God is preached and contrarye to warning giuen out of Gods booke Then vvithout peraduenture all blessing is taken awaye and the plague follovveth And to teach our politiques by reasonable argumentes what other reasons haue the lavves of all lands to ioyne like to like in mariage but for the norishing of peace and loue betvvene man and vvife and for the vvell bringing vp of the children in euery familye vvherby to make them profitable members in some seruiceable vocation considering that families are the seedes of Realmes and petie partes of common vveales where if there be good order the vvhole land is vvell ordered and contrary as in anye instrument if euery string or many strings be out of tune the whole musick is marred and who so vvill preserue any entier must conserue euery part so if the families be distempered and out of tune the vvhole land is disturbed Thinke you that the common vveal can haue this care for her lesse partes and thus prouide for the vvell trayning vp of her chil dren that the church of England vvherin this holy lavv of religious matching marying the faithful vvith the faythful is giue by Christ to this end that their children might be sanctified and holily brought vp in christian religion thinke you I say that the church wil easely depart vvith her deere daughter her daughter of hiest honor Elizabeth the Queene of England vvho is the tēple of the holy ghost and vvill not hold her fast in her louing armes as being loath to giue her to a straunger one that hath shevved no signes of regeneration and her selfe vvant thassistaunce of a faythfull husband and her children of her body if any she haue vvhich receiue outvvard sanctification and entry into the bosom of the church thorough the promise of their faythfull parentes be in danger to be profaned before they be borne and to be corrupted after they are borne and thorovvout al their education S. Paul speaking of contrary couplings together compareth them to the vneuen yoking of the cleane Oxe to the vncleane Asse a thing forbidden in the lawe And here againe the lawes of men vvhieh medle but vvith the distribution of the things of this life haue learned this equitie of the lavves of God that it is a greate disparagement for health to be ioyned in mariage vvith any foule disease for beuty vvith deformity youth vvith decrepite age or to tender a townes man daughter to a gentilman of birth A citizen of Rome vvoulde hold foule scorne to mary a Barbariane And the common vvealthes of England Fraunce I dare say vvould meruail if eyther our Queene or Monsieur being both great princes borne and of
the morrovv after our mariage and Monsieur repare home as we may be svre he would into hys natiue country a larger and better kingdom then by all likelihode eyther must our Elizabeth goe vvith him out of her ovvne natiue country and svvete soyle of England vvhere she is Queene as possessor and inheritor of thys imperial crovvne vvithall regall rights dignities perogatiues pre heminences priuileges autorities and iuredictions of thys kingly office and hauing the kingrike in her owne person into a forrain kingdome vvhere her vvritt doth not runn shal be but in a borovved Maiestie as the moone to the sonn shining by night as other kings vvyues and so she that hath ruled all this vvhile heere shal be there ouer ruled in a straung land by some belledame not vvithout avve perhapps of a sister in lavv and vve hyr poore subiects that haue bene gouerned hetherto by a naturall mother shal be ouerlooked at home by some cruel and proud gouernour or els must she tary here vvithout comfort of her husband seing her selfe despised or not vvifelike esteemed and as an eclipsed son diminished in souereinty hauing such perhappes appoynted to serue hyr and be at her commaundement after the french phrase vvhich in playn English vvill gouerne her and her state In thys great matter vvhat an illuding ansvver is it agayn by the particular example of the king of Spayne to put avvay thys reason grounded vpon these tvvo generall rules The first is that a straunger mighty king brought into a realme to ayde them as vvas the Turke and his sarasins or vpon any lighter occasion vvill hardly be gotten out againe The second a straunger king dravven in by our sins and sent by Gods iustice for our punishment is not ridd vvithout Gods extraordinary help Novv syr because vve vvere once happily dispatched of Spayne therefore vve shall once againe commit thys gross follye and contemne that generall rule of policie And because the Lord in mercy dyd once deliuer vs from Spayn therfore vve vvill tempt him agayn by deliuering our selues into the hands of Fraunce Alas for these men if king Phillip had neuer maryed Queene Mary and if thys matter had ben to dispute xxvij yeeres agoe then had they had no one reason for theyr side nor no ansvver to escape any of our arguments and thys absurd manner of reasoning is very Macciauelian logick by particular examples thus to gouern kingdoms and to set dovvn general rules for his prince vvhereas particulars should be vvarranted by generals But there mayster vvrested hys vngratious vvit euer to the mayntenance of a present state and these foolish schoolers put forth theyr gross conceipts to the ouerthrovv of thys present in hope of I vvot not vvhat futur common vvealth of their ovvn head Some subtilty ther is also in this aunsvver that vvhen vve are to deliberate of Fraunce vvhych is the more nere and more auncient therfore more daungerous enemy to anoy vs vvith his forces and to hold vs if he once haue vs they bryng vs in example Spayn a more remote potentate an auncient friend one that vvas at that tyme of one religion vvith thys kingdom and therfore not so pricked to hasten some chaung in our state as thys man vvho being ledd by Antichrist must not endure vvith any patience that state vvher Christ is Moreouer our dispofitiō more ready to vvarr with Fraunce then vvith Spayn is holpē by more continual occasions giuē of both sides by more cōueniencie of means to perform sodenly vvhich vvill make them let no opportunity slyp that may bring so com bersome a neighbour vnder thē as vve are And better may they do it novv then might the king of Spayn then for thē was Spain at vvars with Fraunce neyther vvas it lyke that Fraunce would haue bene holden by any frendship while he should haue suffered a more pnissant neighbour set hys foote heere vvhom he might so easely let by helping vs But now is there no enemity betvvene Fraunce and Spayne to let thys practise they are of kin by the flesh and by theyr religion and the holy leage ties them togither in that respect as it vvere faggotstiks And in truth Spayn being so far and Fraunce so nere Fraunce hath great aduantage in thys cōparison and cannot be so letted of Spayne as Spayn may be by him These daungers vvherein this daungerous pactise of mariage vvrappeth Queen Elisabeth in hyrlyfe time and hyr England together alike vvill I doubt not moue those in authority to auoyd them and others that are priuate to pray against them most seruently But these calamities alas end not vvith thys age For wher as these persvvaders lay for a chiefe ground theyr certain expecting issue of hyr Maiesties body vpon thys match and the commodities therof ensuing therby perswading thys strange conceipt I vvill at once dispatch that reason that might be obiected agaynst me make it a chiefe argument for I esteeme it my second politique reason to diswade the French mariage especially If it may please her Maiestie to cal her faythfullest vvyse phisitians and to adiure them by their conscience tovvards God theyr loyalty to hyr and fayth to the whole land to say theyr knovvledg simply without respect of pleasing or displeasing any and that they consider it also as the cause of a realm and of a Prince how excedingly dangerous they find it by theyr learning for her maiestie at these yeeres to haue hyr first chyld yea hovv fearfull the expectation of death is to mother and chyld I feare to say vvhat wyll be theyr aunswer and I humbly besech hyr Maiesty to enforme hyrselfe throughly euen in hyr loue to the vvhole land whych holds deere hyr life and peace and vvhich as it hath hetherto deutifully sought hyr mariage whyle hope of issue vvas desiring it as the chiefest common wealth good and vvithall that feare God English or straunger vvould haue reioyced to see that the reigne of Queen Elizabeth might haue ben dravven foorth as I may say in hyr faythfull ligne yet dare we not novv otherwyse craue it but so as it might be by such afather as had a sound body and holy soule and yet not thē neither onles she may first find it to stand with her lyfe and safety And vvhen I think more earnestly of thys matter me thinkes it must needes come first of a verye French loue to our Queene and land to seeke thys mariage euen now so eagerly at the vttermost tyme of hope to haue issue and at the very poynt of most daunger to her Maiestie for childbearing whereby they think if her Maiestie haue issue to see eyther the mother die in childbedd vvhich the Lord forbid and the land left again as theyrs hath bene to an infant or els to see both mother and childe put in a graue and so the land left a spoyle to forrein inuasion and as a stack of vvood to ciuill vvars All is one to
credit emong the protestants in Fraunce as they vvould trust him for a leader and not hold him stil for a suspect could hys goodly aydes offered to the states in the low countryes vvith personall taking vpon him their defence preuaile so farr that he could come any farther vvithin them then that they could by their own forces vvel auoyde hym No no the hurtfull helpe of thys shiuering reede hath appeared by the euent in both countryes and that it is no staffe of trust Most vnhappy therefore are they that may take heede by others whose hands it hath hurt and vvill not But let vs against our con science admit Monsieur to be in this matter simply seely or simply bonest yet is he set a work and ruled by his brother and mother and this sute follovved for him vvith the manifest goodwyll of hys mother the motherpractiser of France VVith the winking of the pope vvho though against the mariage of the king of Nauarre to their sister and against Monsieurs voyage in to Flanders he sent his legat yet here he sits quiet vvhich is a token that hee lookes through his fingers This sute is pursued vvith the good alovvāce of the french king For Monsieurs messenger hath continuall conuersation at home and abroade and one table vvyth the kings Ambassador a thing playnely arguing the kings good liking and continuall intelligence vvith Monsieur for the proceedings herein The strange papistes and our rebelles are in deepe silence not one opens his mouth against this mariage Thys prince can not but eythe◠for loue or feare be great with the Guysian duke and in deede of very late more theu euer euen vvhen ît vvas sayd he should come ouer hither he vvas neerely in vvard and in deepe conferences vvith that duke vvho is to vs an enemy by kind and for neer consanguinity a fast friend to the late scottish Queen vvho is the most hidden and pestilent aduersary creature that liues to our Prince state The fayrest daugh ter of the pope and shotanchor of all papistes for as the holye league hath tyed all these great on s togither by oth and their duty to the pope vvhom they wyll not displease to hate to the death all religious princes so haue they voued it in the fourth degree agaynst our prince as chiefe support of religion and in vvhose life or death as they thinke dependes the exercise or not exercise of the Gospell in England and elsvvhere Againe besides theyr afectiō in many other respects to this late Scottish Queen they haue set her down as the onely loadestone that should drawe traytors together and rent our kingdome that should set vp I dolatrous altars from S. Michils mount to Barvvick and make al the Israel of England and Scotland to sinne Hyr iniurious challenges in Fraunce hir great and disloyall attempts in england hir confederacies vvith the Spanish Generalls or regents in Flaunders vvyl easely tell a wise man vvhat deuotion she hath to the Queene vvhat impatient greedines to snatch the crowne from hir heade by oportunity or importunity vvhich so euer come first There open and violent attemptes of this purpose haue bene by Gods grace frustrate as enemyes they can doe no thing agaynst hyr Maiestie Now must some great meane be vsed and that vndercloke of loue vvhich is euer the last popish practise From no place more fitly then out of Fraunce can they fetche thys instrument of our vvoe Fraunce is a neighbour therefore conuenient by the place It is a land ful of a vvell trayned soldiar hath all ready great numbers mustered that abyde but theyr vvatch vvord it is now at peace vvithall and therefore at leasure onles they vvyll make vvarrs to themselues for cruelty they are approued to execute any thing For treason they are so embrewed in blood as they are like to assent vnto what soeuer plat neuer so barbarous And thys is also a deuice fit ynough for such a soliciter as is that false Scot prelate Rosse mortall enemy hether vvho is presently in Fraunce and like ynoug hyr agēt to procure this deuise Yea onlesse vve our selues close our owne eyes vvee may see that it is a very french popish vvoeng to sende hyther smooth tongued Simiers to glose and glauer hold talk of mariage and yet in the meane while Iaques Fitzmaurice who hath bene in France and conuersant vvith Rosse and euen novv came immediatly thence into Ireland to inuade our Queenes dominion there and assemble the trayterous papistes in nomine domini domini papae Is it possible for the breath of mariage vvell meant to England and vvarr performed in Ireland to come out of one mouth She hath already cost vs ynough of our Englishe blood and she cares not though she make hauock of nobilitye people she seekes hyr own turne by hooke or crooke Aboue all the dangers to hir Maiestie I wold she had one that might eueryday cry vvith a loud voyce TAKE HEEDE OH ELIZABETH OF ENGLAND AND BEVVARE OF SCOTTISH MARY The Lord hyr God defend hyr from all hyr popish enemies Let other mens squaymish iudgements keepe them in vvhat temper of suspecting it lykes them I can not be so blockish but to thinke that it is more then lykely he comes for thys Mary to the end that vvhereas yf there be any rebellious papists at home which can do nought for want of a leader those fugitiue rebels abrode can doe nothing onlesse there be first some hurliburly in the land this man may be he vvhere they shall firste make head and so grovv into a body of rebelliō which aftervvard they meane to ayde vvith theyr forrein forces to the destruction of those foolish rebelles as vvell as of vs And though in truth with out flattery she be inferior to our Queene in all the best gyftes yet may I vvell ynough thinke that Monsieur vvyll stoope to hir as vvell as king Phillip theyr old example vvhome yet againe they vse euen here did stoop in Flaunders and other vvhere most lowly in that respecte and beyonde all curtesie euen in Queene Maryes lyfe yea I doe not see vvhy I should not make these gyfts and excellencies of our Queene so many arguments to proue great likelihood of impossibilitye to knit fast to hyr the mind of Monsieur so contrarily qualified For loue is a knitting of lyke myndes togyther first then of bodyes by accident And though foule bodyes be oft in loue vvith the outvvard beauty of others yet vvas there neuer foule vicious and Irreligious mind in loue vvith a vertuous and religious soule If any man yet againe thinks it an vnvvorthy suspition of so hygh a prince let hym heare once agayne that one of that brotherhood dyd compasse as vnvvorthy a purpose and all by laying to gage that vvorthines vvhych hys maiesty myght chalenge and by hys personall action vvhych he iudged no man vvould once suspect in a mariage of hys
honorable Counsailors â—udges and other Maiestrates mai not hold their honors authorities For if the mother being a forraigner to Fraunce vvhere al maner gouernmeÌ„t is denyed hir by their lavves can depose natural Maiestrates and help hir couÌ„trimeÌ„ to the richest offices promote an Italian to be high Chanler there make hir halfe Italians to be marshals of fraunce you may be sure a french husband will easely aduaunce his Italianate french meÌ„ to our English preferments Our lavvyers shall be fain to learn some other occupation For nevv maisters new men and new Lords new laws No doubt the lavvs of fraunce vvil preuaile against the lavves of Normandy yea the forrein lavv called ciuil wâ—l eate vp our free customs natural lavves Our soldiars of necessiâ—y must be sent out vnder some Ioab for some more desperate seruice then S. Quintin one vvay or other to be dispatched and cut in pieces For of all English people they vvill be worse loued of these french Our Lord bishops may think it ther greatest honor to take such part as other poore men doe sure they are all to loose theyr dignities and riches and so many of them as euer vvere votarie priests must part froÌ„ wiues and children Our Merchants and poore richmen they may quickly without any counters cast vp theyr bookes of reckonings by that time such factors and malefactors as these men haue ransaked their coffers Touching the meanest sort of men euen in france it selfe this ve ry day al be contemptible pesants and Lackeys And if ther own natural poore labouring men find no better condition of life vnder these vncourteyus kings it vvere madnes for vs to looke for so good vve must doubtles be one degree at least beneath vile pesants â–ª Lackeis And if these nevv surueiers come into this land we may bid farevvel to thold English liberall measure of syxtene foote and a halfe to the pole our Ortyards must be measured by the foote our houses by the stories vvindowes chimnies and accordingly nevv rents raysed vpon them our children shall not come freely into the world without some vnnaturall excise for euery birth as the earnest penny of a trybu tary lyfe our maydens vvho in some coÌ„mon vveals are vvont to be bestowed wyth the publike purse must vnder thys vyle stranger yeld a share of their own mariage portions vvhich Impositions I neyther dravv from old Tyrans nor Imagin here of myne own head but they are such as the french king very lately demanded and such as hys subiectes euen novv denye vvherevpon the former trobles are lyke to reuiue notvvithstanding his mothers late ryding about france vvith fayre promises for the release of such brutishe exactions Much might be sayd in these particulars by thys lyttle the noble gentle and others vvhat soeuer may learn to hate strange coÌ„maunders and to esteeme our naturall regiment to detest the Turkish tyrany of Valoys to thank God for the kind gouernment of Queen Elizabeth which the Lord grant hir happely to hold on and finally to end as she began But I had rather we shold feele our griefe in the ache of our head the Queen theÌ„ to esteme our gteuances apart Farre from vs then is this great assurance imagined to hyr Maiesties selfe by thus matching euen as farr as certein peril is from safety vvhere is the preseruation of Religion vvher is the streÌ„gth and gayn to the land vvhere is thys honor to our kingdom euen as farr from thys mariage as preseruatife is from poyson gayn froÌ„ spoyle and beggery and honor from danger of perperual slauery I should haue bene afrayd to haue spoken thus much had not the streight of this necessitie driuen me and my words ben the words not of a busie body speaking at all aduentures but of a true Englishman a sworne liegeman to hir Maiestie gathering these necessary consequences by theyr reasonable causes And sith the faith of a man is broken sometime asvvel in not doing or not saying as in doing or saying I humbly besech that vvhatsoeuer offence any thing here sayd may breed it be vvith fauor construed by the affection of my hart vvhich must loue my country and Queene though it shold cost me my lyfe yea rather let them of this land vvho excel seuerally in all good professions hauing wisedom disposition vvords at vvil that hearing so publickly famously notoriously a mariage to be practised by the pope vvhich is against al lavves of God and man vnvvritten and vvritten of nature and nations of the land and of policie of armes peace tending to the losse of our religion to the subuersion of our state and freedome to the captiuity of our Queene and hir people vnder our hateful foe the french can not yet be stirred vp to any pietye tovvards theyr God theyr country or theyr prince to handle this matter in theyr seuerall skils as it requires You Noble men and high counsailors ioyne to your vvisedoms courage and adding to them both the feare of God remember you be born chosen for fathers of aduise to the prince and in a secondary degree assisting Tutors to the common vvee le render to the Queene that faythfull counsaile vvhich she may vvel chalenge for aduauncing you to thys honor and pay to vs again that duety of carefull loue vvhîch our reuerence of honor most vvyllingly acknowledged to you doth deserue You bishops and others who sometime speak in the eares of our prince let not your study be to leern french for the entertayning of thys stranger as though then you should be ioly gentilmen vvith the rest but learn to speak the word of God and speak it boldly for keeping out this stranger You vvhosoeuer in Court honored by hir Maiestie vvith any speciall fauoure and grace alas that none of you vvill doe hyr that right as to tell hyr hovv farr more precious hir royall person is and vvith hovv farr greater daunger thereto it is then that this odd fellow by birth a french man by profession a papist an Atheist by conuersation an instrument in Fraunce of vncleannes a fly worker in England for Rome and Fraunce in this present affayre a sorcerer by common voyce fame shold haue such free and gracious accesse to hyr chayre of estate great presence vvho is not fir to looke in at hir great chamber doore All England in a tenderiealous loue to hyr person besecheth God to preserue hir prayeth hir to take heed of popish french men You of the meaner sort throughout the land all priuate ones knovv your place to be in all subiection peaceable patience vvith your prayers to sollicite the Lorde for his church for this common vveale and for the Queen that of his great mercy he vvill turne away this plague of a stranger in Christian Israel and forreigne frenchmen in England The onely noise of whose making hither toward gaue al these causes