Selected quad for the lemma: england_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
england_n	john_n	king_n	prisoner_n	3,229	5	8.3987	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A05410	A discourse of the vsage of the English fugitiues, by the Spaniard	Lewkenor, Lewis, Sir, d. 1626.; Wadsworth, James, 1572?-1623, attributed name.; Scarlett, Thomas, attributed name.	1595 (1595)	STC 15562; ESTC S106916	37,206	82

A DISCOVRSE OF THE VSAGE OF the English Fugitiues by the Spaniard LONDON Printed by Thomas Scarlet for Iohn Drawater and are to be solde at his shop in Pater noster row at the signe of the Swan 1595. THE COPIE OF A Letter sent out of the Low countries by a Gentleman entertained by the King of Spaine in pension To a yong Gentleman his Kinsman in ENGLAND MY very good Cosin vnderstanding as well by your Letters as by the message lately done vnto me by the mouth of A. T. of the great longing and desire you haue to draw your self into these parts to imploy your selfe here in seruice of the Spanish king perceiuing also as well by your sayd Letters as by the Gentleman that brought the same and by the reporte of diuerse other young Gentlemen of our Countrie there bee manye that are of your minde in that point Some thereunto as I doo gesse moued of a youthfull and vaine tickling humour to bee wandering abroade in strange and forreine Countries Others in hope there to growe to greate preferment aduancement imployment and wealth Other some pretending matter of conscienee seeme to haue sure confidence that there they maye liue with more libertie and ease of minde then that within our Countrie they inioye I haue thought good for the particular loue which I beare and alwayes haue borne towardes you vnto whome I wish as to my selfe but chiefely in respecte of the sincere faythfull reuerent and loyall fidelitye and regarde I haue to the person of our sacred renowmed and most gracious Soueraigne the QVEENES most excellent Maiestie and to my natlue Countrie and Countrye-men to sette downe some notes and obseruations vvhich by long and painefull troubles and experience in this place I haue gathered by which I hope I shall make manifest not onelye to you but also to all others my most deare Countrye men if I maye haue the fauour to haue it published in which point I mean to labor by my best friends to such of the greatest persons as may permit the same how greatly you and they that desire to repaire hether by any of the motions before expressed or in anye hope of good to be receiued from the sayde King doo erre and are deceiued I hartely and most earnestly desire you all other that shall reade the same deepelye to iudge consider of these points which I shall set downe which God willing I will do with such fidelitie true meaning and sinceritie as that no parte of the same shall bee truly to bee gaynsayd or refelled and my selfe by the persons times and places and other circumstances shall make most manyfest and plaine to anie that shal doubt of the truth of the same or any part thereof I shal take great ioy comfort if my self hauing vndertaken an vntowardlye dangerous course though with better successe then hath happened to many hundreds may be as a caueat to all the young Gentlemen of our Nation how they hazard themselues so dangerouslie And that my painfull experience may be to you as a looking Glas wherein they maye beholde the spots errours of theyr conceyued fansies or as markes sette vp for them whereby they maye auoide the perilles most daungerous rockes and shelfes to them yet vnknowen lying hidden vnder the smooth fayre and delightful conceiued and fantasied pleasures forged in their imaginations THE METHOD OF the insuing Discourse THE method and manner that I intend to vse in this Discourse shall bee after this sort First I will directe my speeches to the vnexperienced Gentlemen desirous to serue here in Spaine shewing them in what point of their hope and expectations they doo faile and are deceiued Secondly to our credulous Papistes at home vpon whose grosenes and simplicitie our rebellyous traitors heere abroade doo build their chiefest foundations of all their villanies whom while they entertaine with vaine expectations in the meane time with spies Priests and traitours which they daily send ouer they abuse with trecherous practises to the irrepiable ruine and ouerthrow of them and theirs Thirdly because many of our countrie men liuing in great happinesse at home doo yet in their conceits mislike surfetting with ease the blessed estate they liue in and what withall the maner of her Maiesties most gracious and mercifull gouernment I haue thought it my dutie somewhat to expresse these few things which haue come to my knowledge touching the innumerable benefits blessings with which it hath pleased God to adorn her royall Maiestie together with the flourishing estate of that noble soile since the time of her Maiesties raigne so flourishing with peace prosperity and abundance in glorie of warres so renowmed and victorious in arts so curious and excellent in iustice euen to the verie enemie so admirable and which surpasseth all the rest in the free sweet and comfortable vse of the true religion so aboue all others blessed and fortunate that I haue hearde the verie Spaniardes themselues saie they feare Iesus Christ is become a protestant Withal I make some comparison betweene this and the tyrannicall gouernment of the Spanish tyrant his cruell and inhumane vsage of his miserable subiects their abolition of their priuiledges and in fine the vnspeakable bondage slauerie and desolate despaire in which they liue languishing A matter though farre vnfit for me to handle or treate but worthie of the most graue and experienced men of qualitie and highest degree yet considering I shall not presume to treate of matters of high state or secrets but such as euerie good subiect may find and pick out of the heroicall actions of the one and the tyrannicall insolence of the other both don in the appearance of the world I hope and so with all lowlynesse most humbly desire her most gracious and benigne Maiestie to pardon me if I come farre short of that which men fitter for the handling therof could say or intreat And so most humbly also make petition that I may therein bee censured according to the loyall zeale I beare to her most princely Maiestie and not to the basenes and simplicitie of my stile or the handling thereof But to come to my Discourse to the end that you and the rest of your opinion may cleerly and plainly discerne those things which hetherto your eies blinded with the vaile of partialitie haue not bin able to view I will begin with the good vsage honor aduancement that you and other Gentlemen addicted to this seruice are heere to expect bringing vnto you for example sundrie braue and worthie Gentlemen Captaines and souldiers that haue taken the like course before you wherby you shal perceiue it is not all gold that glistreth but that whatsoeuer shew the Spaniarde make vnto vs yet in his hart he mortally abhorreth vs by al means possible seeketh our destruction ruine subuertion as it euidently appeareth by his vsage of troups companies of our nations that haue serued him For

or knowe of anie one King or Queene that dyd with greater mildnesse of lenitie tollerate or suffer within his or her dominion a sect of religion opposite to the lawes by him or her establyshed especiallye the same hauing sundrye times rebelliously attempted against their crown state and dignitie Let them looke if there be men of iudgement into the ages passed euen amongest the Heathen and into the present time among all the Princes of Europe and if there bee not anie to be found that hath dealt with the lyke lenitie as her Maiestie hath done why then doo they so falselye slaunder her Doe they not knowe that shee is the sacred and annointed Queene appointed by God to gouerne them If they doo why doo they not then with all penitencie and humilitie loue honor and obey her and praying to God to conuerther seeing such is theyr desire and not by traiterous mischiefe seek to murther and depriue her They learned not that of the ancient Christians in the primitiue church But they will saie she hath executed many seminary priestes I confesse she hath in deed by cutting them off preserued her realme from many diseases that rankled within the same But yet hath shee proceeded therein in so gracious and mercyfull a sorte that shee hath witnessed sufficientlye to the worlde howe loth shee is to come vnto bloud so long as there is anie other remedie in the world to bee vsed For her MAIESTY knoweth her councell knoweth you and I and the whole worlde knoweth that the comming of these Seminaryes priestes and Iesuites to reconcile men as they tearme it to the obedience of the Romane church is directlye and absolutely to alienate and diuerte their minds from her Maiestie and to incline them to bee readie to assist anie enemie eyther within or without the Realme that shall colour his cause vnder the pretext of religion Her Maiestie I saie and Councell and all good subiectes knowing this and foreseeing the daunger that might thereof insue forbadde by Act of Parliament these Seminaryes to enter into her Realme or to vse or exercise anye such seditious doctrine limiting there withal a time to such as were within the Realme to departe out of the same But this sufficed not these good fellowes thinke no lawes good or to bee obeyed but such as they make themselues In they came as fast as before greate numbers of them were taken and imprisoned whom though her Maiestie deseruedly and with great iustice especially the daylye mischiefe stirred vp within the Realme by theyr seditious practises considered might haue executed as traitours and rebelles yet the greatnesse of her princely clemencie and compassion was so loth to come vnto bloud that shee caused them all once more to bee pardoned and to bee put out of the Realme but with expresse commaundement neuer to returne in lyke sorte in dooing otherwise they should bee sure to finde no fauour All this woulde not serue theyr turnes but in despight of her Maiestie and contempt of her lawes sundrie of them returned of which some of them beeing taken haue receiued the hire of theyr gracelesse disobedience and rebellious attempte But that her Maiestie seeketh not bloud as they most falsely giue out appeareth by her clemencie vsed to sundrie of them taken by her souldiers in the Lowe Countries who though they were of sir William Standley his crewe and adherents her most professed enemies yet seeing they were not taken within England shee graciously pardoned them and caused to be set at libertie in giuing some litle recompence to those souldiers that had taken them prisoners Where is then her rigour you speake of I hope the king of Spaine keepeth another manner of rule in his Countries ouer all Spaine Portugall Lombardie Naples and Cicilia whosoeuer speaketh a word or maketh the lest sign in the world to mislike his religion there established or anie one pointe or ceremonie thereof his cruell ministers the Inquisitours cause without remission to bee burnt aliue as for example There was this last yeere a Citizen in Antwarpe one Gyles Rat a shoomaker that going into Spaine about some busines was apprehended for smiling at the Image of our Ladie brought before the Inquisitours and by them presentlye condemned to fire and with him an English-man for the lyke cause whose name the Gentleman that sawe them burned knew not but hee tolde mee that at the time of their execution there mounted on a scaffolde thereby two Iesuites forbidding the people vpon paine of Excommunication to praie for them saying that they had deliuered them both ouer in bodie and soule to the deuill as those that died obstinate and wilful heretikes I woulde faine knowe how hee would doo with Ministers if hee shoulde catch them in Spaine as the Queene hath done priests in England As for his Lowe Countries I neuer heard but of two taken and that was at the siege of Dermond and they were both put in to sackes by the Spaniardes and throwen into the riuer This is in deede tyrannie and not that which her Maiestie doth who is alwaies readie to receiue into grace and fauour those of whome shee hath anie hope that they will become good subiects and hath as I haue heard offered euen at the houre of their death her princely mercy and fauour to some of them if they woulde haue promised to become good subiects Oh how different from this is their proceeding heere which you see so highly commended But it is the nature of men especiallye of those whose iudgements are not setled as they shoulde bee alwaies to mislike and loath those thinges to which they are accustomed thinking other to them vnknowen far better If you did but once see the tyranous vsage explication that is vsed in matter of religion to the poore people vnder the Spanish gouernment in this Countrie I doubte not but you would be of another opinion especially the woful slauerie considered in which the cleargie or rather the rauening multitude of Iesuites Friers Monkes and priests doo keepe their minde subiected It is not sufficient that they holde their mindes in a perpetuall despaire pronouncing vppon euerie friuolous point damnation vnto them but withal they compell them perforce to offeringes to buying of pardons and indulgences to giue them money towardes the reparation of their Churches pictures images and waxe candles alwaies hauing one deuice or other in hand to robbe them and to drawe from them their substance for whosoeuer yeeldeth not to euerie of these demands is presentlie an heretike The best houses in the Towne they take violently from the true owners and appropriate vnto themselues saying it is meete that God should first be serued before man There is no one daie but the poore citizens are punished and pestered with one or other of their orders of Friers Monkes Mendicants Capuchines Candles and monie towardes the reparation of their Churches and which they must not bee denied vnlesse you will bee presently accused for an