Forces thorowout all Ireland from the Plaees and Nests where they had setled themselves in greater strength as in regard of the natural Situation of the Places than that was of Kinsale Which were Castle haven Baltimore and Beere-haven Indeed they went away with sound of Trumpet For they did nothing but publish and trumpet all the Reproaches they could devise against the Irish Land and Nation Insomuch as D'Aquila said in open Treaty That when the Devil upon the Mount did shew Christ all the Kingdoms of the Earth and the Glory of them he did not doubt 〈◊〉 the devil left out Ireland and kept it for himself I cease here omitting not a few other proofs of the English Valor and Fortune in their later times As at the Suburbs of Paris at the Raveline at Druse in Normandy some Encounters in Britanny and at Ostend and divers others Partly because some of them have not been proper Encounters between the Spaniards and the English and partly because others of them have not been of that greatness as to have sorted in company with the Particulars formerly recited It is true that amongst all the late Adventures the Voyage of Sir Francis Drake and Sir John Hawkins into the West-Indies was unfortunate Yet in such sort as it doth not break or interrupt our Prescription To have had the better of the Spaniards upon all Fights of late For the Disaster of that Journey was caused chiefly by sickness As might well appear by the Deaths of both the Generals Sir Francis Drake and Sir John Hawkins of the same sickness amongst the rest The Land-Enterprise of Panama was an ill measured and immature Counsel for it was grounded upon a false account that the Passages towards Panama were no better fortified than Drake had left them But yet it sorted not to any Fight of importance but to a Retreat after the English had proved the strength of their first Fort and had notice of the two other Forts beyond by which they were to have marched It is true that in the Return of the English Fleet they were set upon by Avellaneda Admiral of 20 great great ships Spanish our Fleet being but 14 full of sick men deprived of their two Generals at Sea and having no pretence but to journey homewards And yet the Spaniards did but salute them about the Cape de los Corientes with some small offer of Fight and came off with loss Although it was such a new thing for the Spaniards to receive so little hurt up on dealing with the English as Avellaneda made great brags of it for no greater matter than the waiting upon the English a far off from Cape de los Corientes to Cape Antonio Which nevertheless in the Language of a Souldier and of a Spaniard he called a Chace But before I proceed further it is good to meet with an Objection which if it be not removed the Conclusion of Experience from the time past to the time present will not be sound and perfect For it will be said that in the former times whereof we have spoken Spain was not so mighty as now it is And England on the other side was more afore-hand in all matters of Power Therefore let us compare with indifferency these Disparities of times and we shall plainly perceive that they make for the advantage of England at this present time And because we will less wander in Generalities we will fix the Comparison to precise Times Comparing the State of Spain and England in the year 88. with this present year that now runneth In handling of this Point I will not meddle with any Personal Comparisons of the Princes Councellors and Commanders by Sea or Land that were then and that are now in both Kingdoms Spain and England but onely rest upon Real Points for the true Ballancing of the State of the Forces and Affairs of both Times And yet these Personal Comparisons I omit not but that I could evidently shew that even in these Personal Respects the Ballance sways on our part But because I would say nothing that may favour of a spirit of Flattery or Censure of the present Government First therefore it is certain that Spain hath not now a foot of Ground in quiet possession more than it had in 88. As for the Valtoline and the Palatinate it is a Maxim in State that all Countreys of new Acquest till they be setled are rather matters of Burthen than Strength On the other side England hath Scotland united Ireland reduc'd to obedience and planted which are mighty augmentations Secondly in 88. the Kingdom of France able alone to counterpoize Spain it self much more in conjunction was torn with the Party of the League which gave Law to their King and depended wholly upon Spain Now France is united under a valiant young King generally obeyed if he will himself King of Navarre as well as of France And that is no ways taken Prisoner though he be tyed in a double chain of Alliance with Spain Thirdly in 88. there sate in the See of Rome a fierce thundering Fryer that would set all at six and seven Or at six and five if you allude to his Name And though he would after have turned his teeth upon Spain yet he was taken order with before it came to that Now there is ascended to the Papacy a Personage that came in by a chaste Election no ways obliged to the Party of the Spaniards A man bred in Embassages and Affairs of State That hath much of the Prince and nothing of the Fryer And one that though he love the Chair of the Papacy well yet he loveth the Carpet above the Chair That is Italy and the Liberties thereof well likewise Fourthly in 88. the King of Denmark was a stranger to England and rather inclined to Spain Now the King is incorporated to the Blood of England Engaged in the Quarrel of the Palatinate Then also Venice Savoy and the Princes and Cities of Germany had but a dull Fear of the Greatness of Spain upon a general Apprehension onely of the spreading and ambitious Designs of that Nation Now that fear is sharpned and pointed by the Spaniards late Enterprises upon the Valtoline and the Palatinate which come nearer them Fiftly and lastly the Dutch which is the Spaniards perpetual Duellist hath now at this present five Ships to one and the like Proportion in Treasure and Wealth to that they had in 88. Neither is it possible whatsoever is given out that the Coffers of Spain should now be fuller than they were in 88. For at that time Spain had no other Wars save those of the Low Countreys which were grown into an Ordinary Now they have had coupled therewith the Extraordinary of the Valtoline and the Palatinate And so I conclude my Answer to the Objection raised touching the Difference of times Not entring into more secret passages of State But keeping that Character of Stile whereof Seneca speaketh Plus significat
he said himself from Page So he had brought his People from Lacquay Not to run up and down for their Laws to the Civil Law and the Ordinances and the Customs and the Discretions of Courts and discourses of Philosophers as they use to do King Henry the Eighth in the twenty seventh year of his Reign was authorized by Parliament to nominate 32 Commissioners part Ecclesiastical and part Temporal To purge the Canon Law and to make it agreeable to the Law of God and the Law of the Land But it took not effect For the Acts of that King were commonly rather Proffers and Fames than either well grounded or well pursued But I doubt I erre in producing so many examples For as Cicero said to Caesar so may I say to your Majesty Nil vulgare te dignum videri possit Though indeed this well understood is far from Vulgar For that the Laws of the most Kingdoms and States have been like Buildings of many pieces and patched up from time to time according to occasions without Frame or Model Now for the Laws of England if I shall speak my Opinion of them without partiality either to my Profession or Country for the Matter and Nature of them I hold them Wise Just and Moderate Laws They give to God they give to Caesar they give to the Subject what appertaineth It is true they are as mixt as our Language compounded of British Roman Saxon Danish Norman Customs And surely as our Language is thereby so much the richer So our Laws are likewise by that Mixture the more compleat Neither doth this attribute less to them than those that would have them to have stood out the same in all Mutations For no Tree is so good first set as by transplanting and Grafting I remember what happened to Callisthenes that followed Alexanders Court and was grown into some displeasure with him because he could not well brook the Persian Adoration At a Supper which with the Grecians was a great part Talk he was desired the King being present because he was an Eloquent Man to speak of some Theme Which he did And chose for his Theme the praise of the Macedonian Nation Which though it were but a filling Thing to praise Men to their Faces yet he performed it with such advantage of Truth and avoidance of Flattery and with such Life as was much applauded by the Hearers The King was the less pleased with it not loving the Man and by way of discountenance said It was easie to be a good Oratour in a pleasing Theme But saith he to him Turn your stile And tell us now of our faults that we may have the profit and not you the praise only Which he presently did with such Quickness that Alexander said That Malice made him Eloquent then as the Theme had done before I shall not fall into either of these extreams in this subject of the Laws of England I have commended them before for the Matter but surely they ask much amendment for the Form Which to reduce and perfect I hold to be one of the greatest Dowries that can be confer'd upon this Kingdom Which Work for the Excellency as it is worthy your Majesties Act and Times So it hath some circumstance of Propriety agreeable to your Person God hath blessed your Majesty with Posterity And I am not of opinion that Kings that are barren are fittest to supply Perpetuity of Generations by perpetuity of Noble Acts But contrariwise that they that leave Posterity are the more interessed in the Care of Future Times That as well their Progeny as their People may participate of their Merit Your Majesty is a great Master in Justice and Judicature And it were pity the fruit of that your Vertue should not be transmitted to the Ages to come Your Majesty also reigneth in learned times the more no doubt in regard of your own perfection in Learning and your Patronage thereof And it hath been the Mishap of Works of this Nature that the less Learned Time hath sometimes wrought upon the more Learned Which now will not be so As for my self the Law was my Profession to which I am a Debter Some little helps I have of other Arts which may give Form to Matter And I have now by Gods merciful Chastisement and by his special Providence time and leisure to put my Talent or half-Talent or what it is to such Exchanges as may perhaps exceed the Interest of an Active Life Therefore as in the beginning of my Troubles I made offer to your Majesty to take pains in the Story of England and in compiling a Method and Digest of your Laws So have I performed the first which rested but upon my self in some part And I do in all humbleness renew the offer of this latter which will require Help and Assistance to your Majesty if it shall stand with your good pleasure to imploy my Service therein THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN OF KING Henry the Eighth LONDON Printed by J. M. for Humphrey Robinson and Sold by William Lee 1670. THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN OF KING Henry the Eighth AFter the Decease of that Wise and Fortunate King Henry the VII who died in the Height of his Prosperity there followed as useth to do when the Sun setteth so exceeding clear one of the fairest Mornings of a Kingdom that hath been known in this Land or any where else A young King about 18 years of Age for Stature Strength Making and Beauty one of the goodliest Persons of his time And though he were given to Pleasure yet he was likewise desirous of Glory So that there was a passage open in his Mind by Glory for Vertue Neither was he un-adorned with Learning though therein he came short of his Brother Arthur He had never any the least Pique Difference or Jealousie with the King his Father which might give any occasion of altering Court or Counsel upon the change but all things passed in a Still He was the first Heir of the White and the Red Rose So that there was no discontented Party now left in the Kingdom but all Mens Hearts turned towards him And not only their Hearts but their Eyes also For he was the only Son of the Kingdom He had no Brother which though it be a comfortable thing for Kings to have yet it draweth the Subjects Eyes a little aside And yet being a married Man in those young years it promised hope of speedy Issue to succeed in the Crown Neither was there any Queen Mother who might share any way in the Government or clash with his Counsellours for Authority while the King intended his pleasure No such thing as any Great and Mighty Subject who might any way eclipse or overshade the Imperial Power And for the people and State in general they were in such lowness of obedience as Subjects were like to yield who had lived almost four and twenty years under so politique a King as his Father Being also one who came partly in by the Sword And had so high a Courage in all points of Regalitie And was ever victorious in Rebellions and Seditions of the People The Crown extreamly rich and full of Treasure and the Kingdom like to be so in short time For there was no War no Dearth no Stop of Trade or Commerce it was only the Crown which had sucked too hard and now being full and upon the head of a young King was like to draw less Lastly he was Inheriter of his Fathers Reputation which was great throughout the World He had streight Alliance with the two Neighbour States an ancient Enemy in former times and an ancient Friend Scotland and Burgundy He had Peace and Amity with France under the Assurance not only of Treaty and League but of Necessity and Inhability in the French to do him hurt in respect that the French Kings Designs were wholly bent upon Italy So that it may be truly said there had scarcely been seen or known in many Ages such a rare Concurrence of Signs and Promises of a happy and flourishing Reign to ensue as were now met in this young King called after his Fathers name HENRY the Eighth c. FINIS Characters of the Persons Eusebius beareth the Character of a Moderate Divine Gamaliel of a Protestant Zelant Zebedaeus of a Romish Catholick Zelant Martius of a Militar Man Eupolis of a Politick Pollio of a Courtier
the War carrieth the Defendant to affail and invade the Ancient and Indubitate Patrimony of the first Aggressour who is now turned Defendant Shall he fit down and not put himself in Defence Or if he be dispossessed shall he not make a War for the Recovery No man is so poor of Judgement as will affirm it The Castle of Cadmus was taken and the City of Thebes it self invested by Ehaebidas the Lace demonian insidiously and in violation of League The Process of this Action drew on a Resurprise of the Castle by the Thebans a Recovery of the Town and a Current of the War even unto the walls of Sparta I demand was the Defence of the City of Sparta and the Expulsion of the Thebans out of the ancient Laconian Territories unjust The sharing of that part of the Duichy of Millain which lieth upon the River of Adda by the 〈◊〉 upon Contract with the French was an Ambitious and unjust Purchase This Wheel set on going did pour a War upon the Venetians with such a Tempest as Padoua and Trevigi was taken from them and all their Dominions upon the Continent of Italy abandoned and they confined within the Salt Waters Will any man say that the Memorable Recovery and Defence of Padotia when the Gentlemen of Venice unused to the Wars out of the love of their Countrey became Brave and Martial the first day And so likewise the Readeption of Trevigi and the rest of their Dominions was matter of Scruple whether just or no because it had fource from a Quarrel ill begun The War of the Duke of Vrbin Nephew to Pope Julius the second when he made himself Head of the Spanish Mutineers was as unjust as unjust might be A Support of desperate Rebels An Invasion of St. Peters Patrimony and what you will The Race of this War fell upon the loss of Vrbin it self which was the Dukes undoubted Right Yet in this case no Penitentiary though he had enjoyned him never so strait Penance to expiate his first Offence would have counselled him to have given over the pursuit of his Right for Vrbin Which after he prosperously re-obtained and hath transmitted to his Family yet until this day Nothing more unjust than the Invasion of the Spanish Armada in 88. upon our Seas For our Land was holy Land to them they might not touch it Shall I say therefore that the Defence of Lisbon or Cales afterward was unjust There be thousands of Examples Vtor in Re non dubia Exemplis non necessariis The Reason is plain Wars are Vindicte Revenges Reparations But Revenges are not infinite but according to the measure of the first Wrong or Damage And therefore when a voluntary Offensive War by the Design or Fortune of the War is turned to a necessary Defensive War the Scene of the Tragedy is changed and it is a new Act to begin For though they the particular actions of War are complicate in Fact yet they are separate and distinct in Right Like to cross Suits in Civil Pleas which are sometimes both just But this is so clear as needeth no further to be insisted upon And yet if in things so clear it were fit to speak of more or less clear in our present Cause it is the more clear on our part because the Possession of Bohemia is setled with the Emperor For though it be true that Non datur Compensatio Injuriarum yet were there somewhat more Colour to detain the Palatinate as in the nature of a Recovery in Value or Compensation if Bohemia had been lost or were still the Stage of War Of this therefore I speak no more As for the Title of Proscription or Forfeiture wherein the Emperor upon the matter hath been Judge and Party and hath justiced himself God forbid but that it should well endure an Appeal to a War For certainly the Court of Heaven is as well a Chancery to save and debar Forfeitures as a Court of Common Law to decide Rights And there would be work enough in Germany Italy and other Parts if Imperial Forfeitures should go for good Titles Thus much for the first Ground of War with Spain being in the Nature of a Plaint for the Recovery of the Palatinate Omitting here that which might be the Seed of a larger Discourse and is verified by a number of Examples That whatsoever is gained by an Abusive Treaty ought to be restored in Integrum As we see the daily Experience of this in Civil Pleas For the Images of great things are best seen contracted into small Glasses We see I say that all Pretorian Courts if any of the Parties be entertained or laid asleep under pretence of Arbiterment or Accord and that the other Party during that time doth cautelously get the start and advantage at Common Law though it be to Judgement and Execution Yet the Pretorian Court will set back all things in statu quo prins no respect had to such Eviction or Disposition Lastly let there be no mistaking As if when I speak of a War for the Recovery of the Palatinate I meant that it must be in lineae rectae upon that Place For look into Jus faeciale and all Examples and it will be found to be without scruple That after a Legation ad Res repetendas and a Refusal and a Denunciation or Indiction of a War the War is no more confined to the Place of the Quarrel but is left at large and to choice as to the particular conducing Designs as Opportunities and Advantages shall invite To proceed therefore to the second Ground of a War with Spain We have set it down to be A just Fear of the subversion of our Civil Estate So then the War is not for the Palatinate onely but for England Scotland Ireland our King our Prince our Nation all that we have Wherein two things are to be proved The one that a Just Fear without an Actual Invasion or Offence is a sufficient Ground of a War and in the Nature of a true Defensive The other that we have towards Spain Cause of Just Fear I say Just Fear For as the Civillians do well define that the Legal Fear is Justus Metus qui cadit in constantem Virum in private Causes So there is Justus Metus qui cadit in constantem Senatum in causa publica Not out of Umbrages light Jealousies Apprehensions a far off But out of clear Foresight of imminent Danger Concerning the former Proposition it is good to hear what time saith Thucydides in his Inducement to his Story of the great War of Peloponnesus sets down in plain Terms that the true Cause of that War was The Overgrowing Greatness of the Athenians and the fear that the Lacedemonians stood in thereby And doth not doubt to call it A Necessity imposed upon the Lacedemonians of a War Which are the Words of a meer Desensive Adding that the other Causes were but specious and Popular Verissimam quidem sed minime sermone celebratam
the growing Power of the Venetians But yet so as the Confederates had a perpetual eye one upon another that none of them should overtop To conclude therefore howsoever some School-men otherwise Reverend Men yet fitter to guide Pen knives than Swords seem precisely to stand upon it That every Offensive War must be Ultio A Revenge that presupposeth a precedent Assault or Injury yet neither do they descend to this Point which we now handle of a Just Fear Neither are they of Authority to judge this Question against all the Presidents of time For certainly as long as Men are Men the Sons as the Poets allude of Prometheus and not of Epimetheus and as long as Reason is Reason A Just Fear will be a Just Cause of a Preventive War But especially if it be Part of the Case that there be a Nation that is manifestly detected to aspire to Monarchy and new Acquests Then other States assuredly cannot be justly accused for not staying for the first Blow Or for not accepting Poliphemus Courtesie to be the last that shall be eaten up Nay I observe further that in that passage of Plato which I cited before and even in the Tenet of that Person that beareth the Resolving Part and not the Objecting Part a Just Fear is justified for a Cause of an Invasive War though the same Fear proceed not from the fault of the Foreign State to be assailed For it is there insinuated That if a State out of the distemper of their own Body do fear Sedition and Intestine Troubles to break out amongst themselves they may discharge their own ill Humours upon a Foreign War for a Cure And this kinde of Cure was tendred by Jasper Coligni Admiral of France to Charles the Nineth the French King when by a vive and forcible Perswasion he moved him to a War upon Flanders for the better Extinguishment of the Civil Wars of France But neither was that Counsel prosperous Neither will I maintain that Position For I will never set Politiqu's against Ethicks Especially for that true Ethicks are but as a Hand-maid to Divinity and Religion Surely Saint Thomas who had the largest heart of the School Divines bendeth chiefly his stile against the depraved Passions which reign in making Wars speaking out of St. Augustine Nocendi Cupiditas ulciscendi Credulitas implacaius implacabilis Animus Feritas Rebellandi Libido Dominandi si quae sunt similia haec sunt qu ae in bellis jure culpaniur And the same St I hom as in his own Text defining of the just Causes of a War doth leave it upon very general Terms Requirilur ad Billum Cause justa ut scilicet illi qui impugnaniur propter al qu im culpam Impugnationem mereantur For Impugnatio Culpae is a far more general word than Vltio Injurae And thus much for the first Proposition of the Second Ground of a War with Spain Namely that A just Fear is a just Cause of a War And that A Preventive War is a true Defensive The Second or Minor Proposition was this That this Kingdom hath Cause of Just Fear of Overthrow from Spain Wherein it is true that Fears are ever seen in dimmer lights than Facts And on the otherside Fears use many times to be represented in such an Imaginary fashion as they rather dazle Mens eyes than open them And therefore I will speak in that manner which the Subject requires That is probably and moderately and briefly Neither will I deduce these Fears to present Occurrences but point onely at general Grounds leaving the rest to more secret Counsels Is it nothing that the Crown of Spain hath enlarged the Bounds thereof within this last sixscore years much more than the Ottomans I speak not of Matches or Unions but of Arms Occupations Invasions Granada Naples Milan Portugal the East and West Indies All these are actual Additions to that Crown They had a minde to French Britain the lower Part of Piccardi and Piemont but they have let fall their Bit. They have to this day such a hovering possession of the Valtoline as an Hobby hath over a Lark And the Palatinate is in their Tallons So that nothing is more manifest than that this Nation of Spain runs a race still of Empire when all other States of Christendom stand in effect at a stay Look then a little further into the Titles whereby they have acquired and do now hold these new Portions of their Crown and you will finde them of so many varieties and such natures to speak with due respect as may appear to be easily minted and such as can hardly at any time be wanting And therefore so many new Conquests and Purchases so many Strokes of the Larum-Bell of Fear and Awaking to other Nations and the Facility of the Titles which hand over head have served their turn doth ring the Peal so much the sharper and the louder Shall we descend from their general Disposition to enlarge their Dominions to their particular Disposition and Eye of Appetite which they have had towards us They have now twice sought to impatronize themselves of this Kingdom of England once by Marriage with Queen Mary And the second by Conquest in 88. when their Forces by Sea and Land were not inferiour to those they have now And at that time in 88. the Counsel and Design of Spain was by many Advertisements revealed and laid open to be That they found the War upon the Low 〈◊〉 so churlish and longsome as they grew then to a Resolution that as long as England stood in state to succour those Countreys they should but consume themselves in an endless War And therefore there was no other way but to assail and depress England which was as a Back of Steel to the Flemmings And who can warrant I pray that the same Counsel and Design will not return again So as we are in a strange Dilemma of Danger For if we suffer the Flemmings to be ruined they are our Cut-work and we shall remain Naked and Dismantled If we succour them strongly as is fit and set them upon their feet and do not withal weaken Spain we hazard to change the Scene of the War and to turn it upon Ireland or England Like unto Rheums and Destuxions which if you apply a strong Repercussive to the Place affected and do not take away the Cause of the Disease will shift and fall straightways to another Joynt or Place They have also twice invaded Ireland Once under the Popes Banner when they were defeated by the Lord Grey And after in their own name when they were defeated by the Lord Mountjoy So as let this suffice for a Taste of their Disposition towards us But it will be said This is an Almanack for the old Year Since 88. all hath been well Spain hath not assailed this Kingdom howsoever by two several Invasions from us migh tily provoked It is true but then consider that immediately after 88. they were embroyled for
a great time in the Protection of the League of France whereby they had their hands full After being brought extream low by their vast and continual Embracements they were enforced to be quiet that they might take breath and do Reparations upon their former Wastes But now of late Things seem to come a pace to their former Estate Nay with far greater Disadvantage to us For now that they have almost continued and as it were arched their Dominions from Milan by the Valtoline and Palatinate to the Low Countreys We see how they thirst and pant after the utter Ruine of those States Having in contempt almost the German Nation and doubting little opposition except it come from England Whereby either we must suffer the Dutch to be ruined to our own manifest prejudice Or put it upon the hazard I spake of before that Spain will cast at the fairest Neither is the point of Internal Danger which groweth upon us to be forgotten This That the Party of the Papists in England are become more knotted both in Dependance towards Spain and amongst themselves than they have been Wherein again comes to be remembred the Case of 88. For then also it appeared by divers secret Letters that the Design of Spain was for some years before the Invasion attempted to prepare a Party in this Kingdom to adhere to the Foreigner at his coming And they bragged that they doubted not but to abuse and lay asleep the Queen and Council of England as to have any fear of the Party of Papists here For that they knew they said the State would but cast the eye and look about to see whether there were any Eminent Head of that Party under whom it might unite it self And finding none worth the thinking on the State would rest secure and take no apprehension Whereas they meant they said to take a course to deal with the People and particulars by Reconcilements and Confessions and Secret Promises and cared not for any Head of Party And this was the true reason why after that the Seminaries began to blossom and to make Missions into England which was about the three and twentieth year of Queen Elizabeth at what time also was the first suspition of the Spanish Invasion then and not before grew the sharp and severe Laws to be made against the Papists And therefore the Papists may do well to change their thanks And whereas they thank Spain for their Favours to thank them for their Perils and Miseries if they should fall upon them For that nothing ever made their Case so ill as the Doubt of the Greatness of Spain which adding Reason of State to Matter of Conscience and Religion did whet the Laws against them And this Case also seemeth in some sort to return again at this time except the Clemency of his Majesty and the State do superabound As for my part I do wish it should And that the Proceedings towards them may rather tend to Security and Providence and Point of State than to Persecution for Religion But to conclude These Things briefly touched may serve as in a Subject Conjectural and Future for to represent how just Cause of Fear this Kingdom may have towards Spain Omitting as I said before all present and more secret Occurrences The third Ground of a War with Spain I have set down to be A Just Fear of the Subversion of our Church and Religion Which needeth little Speech For if this War be a Defensive as I have proved it to be no Man will doubt That a Defensive War against a Foreigner for Religion is lawful Of an Offensive War there is more Dispute And yet in that instance of the War for the Holy Land and Sepulchre I do wonder sometimes that the School-Men want words to defend that which St. Bernard wanted words to commend But I that in this little Extract of a Treatise do omit things necessary am not to handle things unnecessary No man I say will doubt but if the Pope or King of Spain would demand of us to forsake our Religion upon pain of a War it were as unjust a Demand as the Persians made to the Grecians of Land and Water Or the Ammonites to the Israelites of their Right Eyes And we see all the Heathen did stile their Defensive Wars Pro Aris Focis Placing their Altars before their Hearths So that it is in vain of this to speak further Onely this is true That the Fear of the Subversion of our Religion from Spain is the more just for that all other Catholick Princes and States content and contain themselves to maintain their Religion within their own Dominions and meddle not with the Subjects of other States Whereas the Practice of Spain hath been both in Charles the Fifth's time and in the time of the League in France by War And now with us by Conditions of Treaty to intermeddle with Foreign States and to declare themselves Protectors General of the Party of Catholicks through the World As if the Crown of Spain had a little of this That they would plant the Popes Laws by Arms as the Ottomans do the Law of Mahomet Thus much concerning the first main Point of Justifying the Quarrel if the King shall enter into a War For this that I have said and all that followeth to be said is but to shew what he may do The Second main Part of that I have propounded to speak of is the Ballance of Forces between Spain and us And this also tendeth to no more but what the King may do For what he may do s of two kindes What he may do as Just And what he may do as Possible Of the one I have already spoken Of the other I am now to speak I said Spain was no such Giant And yet if he were a Giant it will be but as it was between David and Goliah for God is on our side But to leave all Arguments that are Supernatural and to speak in an Humane and Politick Sense I am led to think that Spain is no Over-match for England by that which leadeth all Men That is Experience and Reason And with Experience I will begin For there all Reason beginneth Is it Fortune shall we think that in all Actions of War or Arms great and small which have happened these many years ever since Spain and England have had any thing to debate one with the other the English upon all Encounters have perpetually come off with honour and the better It is not fortune sure She is not so constant There is somewhat in the Nation and Natural Courage of the People or some such thing I will make a brief List of the Particulars themselves in an Historical Truth no ways strowted nor made greater by Language This were a fit Speech you will say for a General in the Head of an Army when they wére going to Battel Yes And it is no less fit Speech to be spoken in the Head of a Council upon
being disputed with by any fight of importance I remember Drake in the vaunting stile of a Souldier would call this Enterprize The Cingeing of the King of Spains Beard The Enterprize of Eighty Eight deserveth to be stood upon a little more fully being a Miracle of Time There armed from Spain in the year 1588. the greatest Navy that ever swam upon the Sea For though there have been far greater Fleets for number yet for the Bulk and Building of the Ships with the Furniture of great Ordnance and Provisions never the like The Design was to make not an Invasion onely but an utter Conquest of this Kingdom The number of Vessels were one hundred and thirty whereof Galliasses and Gallions seventy two goodly Ships like floating Towers or Castles manned with Thirty thousand Souldiers and Mariners This Navy was the Preparation of five whole years at the least It bare it self also upon Divine Assistance For it received special Blessing from Pope Zistus and was assigned as an Apostolical Mission for the Reducement of this Kingdom to the obedience of the See of Rome And in further token of this holy Warfare there were amongst the rest of these Ships Twelve called by the name of the Twelve Apostles But it was truely conceived that this Kingdom of England could never be over-whelmed except the Land-Waters came in to the Sea-Tides Therefore was there also in readiness in Flanders a mighty strong Army of Land-Forces to the number of Fifty thousand veterane Souldiers under the Conduct of the Duke of Parma the best Commander next the French King Henry the Fourth of his time These were designed to joyn with the Forces at Sea There being prepared a number of Flat-bottom'd Boats to transport the Land Forces under the Wing and Protection of the Great Navy For they made no account but that the Navy should be absolute Master of the Seas Against these Forces there were prepared on our part to the number of near one hundred Ships Not so great of Bulk indeed but of a more nimble Motion and more serviceable Besides a less Fleet of 30 Ships for the Custody of the Narrow Seas There were also in readiness at Land two Armies besides other Forces to the number of Ten thousand dispersed amongst the Coast Towns in the Southern Parts The two Armies were appointed One of them consisting of Twenty five thousand Horse and Foot for the Repulsing of the Enemy at their landing And the other of Twenty five thousand for safeguard and attendance about the Court and the Queens Person There were also other Dormant Musters of Souldiers throughout all Parts of the Realm that were put in readiness but not drawn together The two Armies were assigned to the Leading of two Generals Noble Persons but both of them rather Courtiers and Assured to the State than Martial Men yet lined and assisted with Subordinate Commanders of great Experience Valor The Fortune of the War made this Enterprize at first a Play at Base The Spanish Navy set forth out of the Groyne in May was disperst and driven back by Weather Our Navy set forth somewhat later out of Plimouth and bare up towards the Coast of Spain to have fought with the Spanish Navy And partly by reason of contrary Winds partly upon advertisement that the Spaniards were gone back and upon some doubt also that they might pass towards the Coast of England whilest we were seeking them afar off returned likewise into Plimouth about the middle of July At that time came more confident Advertisement though false not onely to the Lord Admiral but to the Court that the Spaniards could not possibly come forward that year Whereupon our Navy was upon the point of Disbanding and many of our Men gone ashore At which very time the Invincible Armada for so it was called in a Spanish Ostentation throughout Europe was discovered upon the Western Coast. It was a kinde of Surprize For that as was said many of our men were gone to Land and our Ships ready to depart Nevertheless the Admiral with such Ships only as could suddenly be put in readiness made forth towards them In so much as of one hundred Ships there came scarce thirty to work Howbeit with them and such as came dayly in we set upon them and gave them the chase But the Spaniards for want of Courage which they called Commission declined the Fight casting themselves continually into Roundels their strongest Ships walling in the rest and in that manner they made a flying march towards Callis Our Men by the space of five or six days followed them close fought with them continually made great slaughter of their Men took two of their great Ships and gave divers others of their Ships their Deaths wounds whereof soon after they sank and perished And in a word distressed them almost in the nature of a Defeat We our selves in the mean time receiving little or no hurt Near Callis the Spaniards anchored expecting their Land-Forces which came not It was afterwards alledged that the Duke of Parma did artificially delay his Coming But this was but an Invention and Pretension given out by the Spaniards Partly upon a Spanish Envy against that Duke being an Italian and his Son a Competitor to Portugal But chiefly to save the Monstrous Scorn and Disreputation which they and their Nation received by the Success of that Enterprize Therefore their Colours and Excuses forsooth were that their General by Sea had a limitted Commission not to fight until the Land-Forces were come in to them And that the Duke of Parma had particular Reaches and Ends of his own underhand to cross the Design But it was both a strange Commission and a strange Obedience to a Commission for Men in the midst of their own blood and being so furiously assailed to hold their hands contrary to the Laws of Nature and Necessity And as for the Duke of Parma he was reasonably well tempted to be true to that Enterprize by no less Promise than to be made a Feudatary or Beneficiary King of England under the Seignorie in chief of the Pope and the Protection of the King of Spain Besides it appeared that the Duke of Parma held his place long after in the Favour and Trust of the King of Spain by the great Employments and Services that he performed in France And again it is manifest that the Duke did his best to come down and to put to Sea The Truth was that the Spanish Navy upon those proofs of Fight which they had with the English finding how much hurt they received and how little hurt they did by reason of the Activity and low building of our Ships and skill of our Sea-men And being also commanded by a General of small Courage and Experience And having lost at the first two of their bravest Commanders at Sea Petro de Valdez and Michael de Oquenda durst not put it to a Battel at Sea but set up their rest wholly upon the Land-Enterprize
quam loquitur Here I would pass over from Matter of Experience were it not that I held it necessary to discover a wonderful Erroneous observation that walketh about and is commonly received contrary to all the Account of Time and Experience It is that the Spaniard where he once getteth in will seldom or never be got out again But nothing is less true than this Not long since they got footing at Brest and some other parts in French Britain and after quitted them They had Calais Ardes and Amiens and rendred them or were beaten out They had since Verseilles fairly left it They had the other day the Valtoline and now have put it in deposite What they will do with Ormus which the Persian hath taken from them we shall see So that to speak truly of later Times they have rather poched and offered at a Number of Enterprizes than maintained any constantly quite contrary to that idle Tradition In more antient times leaving their Purchases in Africk which they after abandoned when their great Emperor Charles had clasped Germany almost in his fist he was forced in the end to go from Isburg and as if it had been in a Masque by Torch-light and to quit every foot in Germany round that he had gotten which I doubt not will be the Hereditary Issue of this late Purchase of the Palatinate And so I conclude the Ground that I have to think that Spain will be no Over-match to Great Britain if his Majesty shal enter into a War out of Experience Records of time For Grounds of Reason they are many I will extract the principal and open them briefly and as it were in the Bud. For Situation I pass it over though it be no small point England Scotland Ireland and our good Confederates the United Provinces lie all in a plump together not accessible but by Sea or at least by passing of great Rivers which are Natural Fortifications As for the Dominions of Spain they are so scattered as it yieldeth great choice of the Scenes of the War and promiseth slow Succours unto such Part as shall be attempted There be three main parts of Military Puissance Men Money and Confederates For Men there are to be considered Valour and Number Of Valour I speak not Take it from the Witnesses that have been produced before Yet the old observation is not untrue That the Spaniards Valour lieth in the Eye of the Looker on But the English Valor lieth about the Souldiers Heart A Valor of Glory and a Valor of Natural Courage are two things But let that pass and let us speak of Number Spain is a Nation thin sown of People Partly by reason of the Sterility of the Soil And partly because their Natives are exhausted by so many Employments in such vast Territories as they possess So that it hath bin accounted a kind of Miracle to see ten or twelve thousand Native Spaniards in an Army And it is certain as we have touched it a little before in passage that the Secret of the Power of Spain consisteth in a Veterane Army compounded of Miscellany Forces of all Nations which for many years they have had on foot upon one occasion or other And if there should happen the Misfortune of a Battel it would be a long work to draw on Supplies They tell a Tale of a Spanish Ambassador that was brought to see the Treasury of St. Mark at Venice and still he lookt down to the ground And being asked why he so lookt down said He was looking to see whether their Treasure had any Root so that if it were spent it would grow again as his Masters had But howsoever it be of their Treasure certainly the Forces have scarce any Root Or at least such a Root as buddeth forth poorly slowly It is true they have the Wallons who are tall Souldiers but that is but a Spot of Ground But on the other side there is not in the world again such a Spring and Seminary of brave Militar People as in England Scotland Ireland and the United Provinces So as if Wars should mowe them down never so fast yet they may be suddenly supplyed and come up again For Money no doubt it is the principal Part of the Greatness of Spain For by that they maintain a Veterane Army And Spain is the onely State of Europe that is a Money grower But in this Part of all others is most to be considered the tick lish and brittle State of the Greatness of Spain Their Greatness consisteth in their Treasure their Treasure in their Indies And their Indies if it be well weighed are indeed but an Accession to such as are Masters by Sea So as this Axeltree whereupon their Greatness turneth is soon cut in two by any that shall be stronger than they by Sea Herein therefore I refer me to the Opinions of all Men Enemies or whomsoever whether that the Maritime Forces of Great Britain and the United Provinces be not able to beat the Spainard at Sea For if that be so the Links of that Chain whereby they hold their Greatness are dissolved Now if it be said that admit the Case of Spain be such as we have made it yet we ought to descend into our own Case which we shall finde perhaps not to be in State for Treasure to enter into a War with Spain To which I answer I know no such thing The Mint beateth well And the Pulses of the Peoples Hearts beat well But there is another Point that taketh away quite this Objection For whereas Wars are generally Causes of Poverty or Consumption on the contrary part the special Nature of this War with Spain if it be made by Sea is like to be a Lucrative and Restorative War So that if we go roundly on at the first the War in continuance will find it self And therefore you must make a great difference between Hercules Labors by Land and Jasons Voyage by Sea for the Golden Fleece For Confederates I will not take upon me the knowledge how the Princes States and Councels of Europe at this day stand affected towards Spain For that trencheth into the secret Occurents of the present Time wherewith in all this Treatise I have forborn to meddle But to speak of that which lieth open and in view I see much Matter of Quarrel and Jealousie but little of Amity and Trust towards Spain almost in all other Estates I see France is in competition with them for three noble Portions of their Monarchy Navarre Naples and Millain And now freshly in difference with them about the Valtoline I see once in 30 or 40 years cometh a Pope that casteth his eye upon the Kingdom of Naples to recover it to the Church As it was in the minds of Julius 2. Paulus 4. and Zistus 5. As for that great Body of Germany I see they have greater reason to confederate themselves with the Kings of France and Great Britain or Denmark for the