either secretly with raylyng billes or openly with tauntyng songes or els some scoffing common play An other kynd of to bold talkers surpasse all these selly rumors who are called and so will be commō discoursers of all Princes affaires These make a great accompt of them selues and will be commonly formost in any prease and lustly with out blushing shoulder backe others These will seeme to see further needes in any secret affayre then the best and wisest coūsellor a Prince hath These be the open flatterers and priuy mislikers of all good counsellors doynges And one common note the most part of this brotherhode of discoursers commōly cary with them where they be bold to speake to like better Tullies Offices then S. Paules Epistles and a tale in Bocace then a story of the Bible And therfore for any Religion earnest setters forth of present tyme with consciences confirmed with Machiauelles doctrine to thincke say and do whatsoeuer may serue best for profite or pleasure But as concernyng flatterers and raylers to say mine opinion whether I like worse surely as I haue read few men to haue bene hurt with bitter poysons so haue I heard of as few great men to haue bene greatly harmed with sharpe talke but are so ware therin that commonly they wil complaine of theyr hurt before they feele harme And flattery agayne is so sweete that it pleaseth best when it hurteth most and therfore is alwayes to be feared because it alwayes delighteth but in lookyng aside to these hye climers I haue gone out of the way of mine owne matter To returne to Duke Maurice he saw that Duke Frederickes fallyng might be his rising and perchaunce was moued with some old iniuries but beyng of young yeares and of nature full of desire and courage he was a trimme pray for old practises to be easely caryed away with fayre new promises sounding altogether to honor and profite and so he forsoke his father and his frend and became wholy the Emperours till hee had brought both them into prison Duke Fredericke was taken in the field and so became the Emperours iust prisoner Yet as long as the Lansgraue was abroad the Emperour thought his purpose neuer atchieued and therefore practised a new with duke Maurice to get him also into his hāds Duke Maurice with Ioachim Elector of Bradenburge became meanes betwixt the Lansgraue and the Emperour Conditions both of mercy from the one and of amendes from the other were drawen out Maurice and the Marches bound them selues sureties to the Lāsgraues children for their fathers safe returne for amongest the rest of cōditions this was one of the chiefest that he should come in no prison And so at Hala in Saxony he came boldly to the Emperours presence who receiued him not very cherefully nor gaue him not his hand which in Germany is the very token of an assured reconsiliation The Duke of Alua made the Lansgraue a supper and called also thether Duke Maurice and the Marches of Bradēburg where they had great chere but after supper it was told Duke Maurice and the Marches that they might depart for the Lansgraue must lodge there that night On the morrow they reasoned of the matter wholly to this purpose that the Emperours promises not the Lansgraues person ought to be kept Aunswere was made that the Emperour went no further then conditions led him which were that he should not be kept in euerlastyng prison and they agayne replyed he ought to be kept in no prison When I was at Villacho in Carinthia I asked Duke Frederickes Preacher what were the very wordes in Dutch wherby the Lansgraue agaynst his lookyng was kept in prison He sayd the fallacion was very pretty and notable and tooke his penne and wrote in my booke the very wordes wherin the very controuersie stode duke Maurice sayd it was Nicht in emig gefengknes .i. Not in any prison The Imperials sayd no but thus Nicht in ewig gefengknes .i. Not in euerlastyng prison And how soone emig may be turned into ewig not with scrape of knife but with the least dash of a pen so that it shall neuer be perceiued a man that will proue may easely see Moreouer Luice d'Auila in his booke doth reioyce that the Lansgraue did so deceaue hym selfe with his owne conditions in makyng of which as d'Auila saith he was wont to esteeme his own wit aboue all other mens Well how so euer it came to passe the Lansgraue was kept in prison And from that houre Duke Maurice fell from the Emperour thinckyng hym selfe most vnkyndly hādled that he by whose meanes chiefly the Emperour had won such honor in Saxony must now be rewarded with shame in all Germany and be called a traytor to GOD and hys countrey his father and his frend And though he was greeued inwardly at the hart yet he bare all thynges quietly in coūtenance purposing though he had lost will yet would he not leese his profite and so hiding his hurt presently whilest some fitter time should discouer some better remedy he went with the Emperour to Augusta where accordyng to hys promise he was made Elector Yet the same night after hys solemne creation two verses set vppon his gate might more greue him then all that honour could delight hym which were these Seu Dux seu Princeps seu nunc dicaris Elector Mauricij Patriae proditor ipse tui After that he had gotten that he looked for he gat him home into his countrey from whence afterward the Emperour with no pollicie could euer bryng hym he alwayes alledgyng the feare that he had of some sturre by Duke Frederickes children Hetherto the Germaines much mislyked the doynges of Duke Maurice But after that he had felt him selfe so vnkyndly abused as for his good seruice to be made the betrayer of his father he tooke such matters in hand brought them so to passe as he recouered the loue of his countrey and purchased such hate of his enemyes as the Spanyardes tooke their displeasure from all other and bestowed wholly vppon the Duke Maurice ▪ and yet he bare him selfe with such wit and courage agaynst them as they had alwayes cause to feare hym and neuer occasion to contemne hym Yea if he had liued he would sooner men thinke haue driuen all Spanyardes out of Germany then they should haue hurt hym in Saxony for he had ioyned vnto him such strength and there was in him such pollicie as they durst neuer haue come vppon him with power nor neuer should haue gone beyond hym with wit. He had so displeased the Emperour as he knew wel neither his lādes nor his life could make amendes whē x. poundes of Benefites which he was able to do could not way with one ounce of displeasure that he had already done and therefore neuer after sought to seeke his loue which he knew could neuer be gotten but gaue him selfe wholy to set vp Maximiliā who beyng him selfe of great power and of all other most beloued
next mornyng vppon a solemne scaffold in the sight of his wife children and the whole Citie of Wittemberg This write signed with the Emperours own hand was sent ouer night to the Duke who whē the write came vnto hym was in hys tent playing at Chesse with his Cosin and fellow prisoner the Lansgraue of Lithenberg and readyng it aduisedly ouer layd it downe quietly beside and made no countenance at all at the matter but sayd Cosin take good heede to your game and returnyng to his play as quietly as though he had receiued some priuate letter of no great importance dyd geue the Lansgraue a trim mate The Emperour I doubt not chiefly moued by God secondly of his great wisedome and naturall clemency when he vnderstode his merueilous constancie chaunged his purpose and reuoked the write and euer after gaue him more honour and shewed him more humanitie then any Prince that euer I haue read of haue hetherto done to his prisoner He is also such a louer of learnyng as his Librarie furnished with bookes of all tounges and sciēces passeth all other Libraries which are yet gathered in Christendome For my frend Ieronimus Wolfius who translated Demosthenes out of Greeke into Latine who had sene the Frēch kings Library at Augusta hath told me that though in six monethes he was not able onely to write out the titles of the bookes in the Fuggers Library yet was it not so byg as Duke Frederickes was which he saw in Saxony I thinke he vnderstandeth no straunge toung saue somewhat the Latin and a litle the French And yet it is merueilous that my frend Iohannes Sturmius doth report by writyng what he heard Phillip Melancthon at a tyme say of this noble Duke that he thought the Duke did priuately read write more euery day thē did both he and D. Aurifaber which two were counted in all mens iudgementes to be the greatest readers and writers in all the Uniuersitie of Wittemberg And as hee doth thus read with such diligence euen so he can report with such a memory what soeuer he doth read and namely histories as at his table on euery new occasion he is accustomed to recite some new story which hee doth with such pleasure and vtterance as men be content to leaue their meat to heare him talke and yet hee hym selfe is not disdaynfull to heare the meanest nor will ouerwhart any mans reason He talketh without tauntyng and is mery without scoffyng deludyng no man for sport nor nippyng no man for spight Two kindes of men as his Preachers did tell me at Vilacho he will neuer lōg suffer to be in his house the one a commō mocker who for his pride thincketh so wel of his owne wit as his most delight is to make other mē fooles and where God of his prouidence hath geuen small wit he for his sport wil make it none and rather then he should leese his pleasure he would an other should leese his wit as I heare say was once done in England and that by the sufferaunce of such as I am sorry for the good wil I beare them to heare such a report the other a priuy whisperer a pickthācke a tale teller medling so with other mēs matters as he findeth no leysure to looke to his owne one such in a great house is able to turne and tosse the quietnes of all Such two kinde of men sayth the Duke besides the present troubling of others neuer or seldome come to good end them selues He loueth not also bold and thicke skinned faces wherein the meanyng of the hart doth neuer appeare Nor such hid talke as lyeth in wayte for other mens wittes But would the wordes should be so framed with the toung as they be alwayes ment in the hart And therfore the Duke him selfe thincketh nothyng which he dare not speake nor speaketh nothyng whiche hee will not do Yet hauyng thoughtes grounded vppon wisedome his talke is alwayes so accompanied with discression and his deedes so attende vppon true dealyng as he neither biteth with wordes nor wringeth with deedes except impudency follow the fault which Xenophon wittely calleth the farthest point in al doyng and then he vseth to speake home as he did to a Spanyard this last yeare at Villacho who beyng of the Dukes garde when he was prisoner and now preasyng to sit at his table when he was at libertie Because many nobles of the Court came that day to dine with the duke The gentleman Husher gently desired the Spanyard to spare his rowme for that day for a great personage ▪ But hee countenancyng a braue Spanish bragge sayd Seignor ye know me well enough and so sat him downe The Duke heard him and preuentyng hys mans aunswere sayd In deede you be to well knowen by the same tokē the last tyme you were here you tooke a gobblet away with you therfore when you haue dyned you may go without farewell and haue leaue to come agayne when ye be sent for In the meane while an honest man may occupy your place But in remembryng so good a Prince I haue gone to farre from my matter And yet the remembraunce of him is neuer out of place whose worthynes is neuer to be forgotten Duke George of Saxony a litle before he dyed hauyng no child did dishinherite Duke Henry his brother by his last wil because he was a Protestant and gaue away his whole inheritaunce to Ferdinando kyng of Romaines But Duke Iohn Fredericke by force of armes set and kept his Cosin Duke Henry in his right And he dying soone after left behynd hym two sonnes Duke Maurice and Duke Augustus who likewise in their youth were defended in theyr right by the wisedome and force of Duke Iohn Fredericke Duke Maurice was brought vp in Duke Iohn Frederickes house as if hee had bene hys owne sonne and maryed the Lansgraues daughter After it came to passe that the Emperour attempted to establish Papistry in Germany with the sword agaynst which purpose the Lansgraue and duke Iohn Fredericke armed them selues not to resist the Emperour as the Papistes say but to kepe Gods Religion vp if any by violence would pull it downe refusing neuer but requiryng alwayes to referre them and theyr doctrine to a lawfull and free generall Councell where truth in Religion might be fully tryed in the hearyng of euen and equall iudges and that by the touchstone of Gods Canonicall Scriptures Duke Maurice in the begynnyng of his warre was suspected neither of the Lansgraue nor of Duke Fredericke beyng sonne in law to the one and nighe kinsman to the other and agreeyng in Religiō with both Yea he was not onely not suspected But as I heard skilful mē say he was ready with his counsell promised his ayde to helpe forward the enterprice or els Hance Fredericke beyng a Prince of such wisedome would not haue left at home behind hym an enemy of such a force Francisco Duke Maurice Agent with the Emperour was
⧠A REPORT and Discourse written by Roger Ascham of the affaires and state of Germany and the Emperour Charles his court duryng certaine yeares while the sayd Roger was there AT LONDON ¶ Printed by Iohn Daye dwelling ouer Aldersgate ¶ Cum Gratia Priuilegio Regiae Maiestatis per Decennium ⧠John Astely to R. Ascham I Now finde true by experience which I haue oft heard of others sometymes read my selfe that mē make no such accompt of commodities when they haue thē as when they want thē I meane this by our frendly fellowshyp together at Cheston Chelsey and here at Hatfield her graces house our pleasant studies in readyng together Aristotles Rethorike Cicero and Liuie our free talke mingled alwayes with honest mirth our trimme cōferences of that present world and to true iudgementes of the troublesome tyme that followed These commodities I now remēber with some grief which we then vsed with much pleasure besides many other fruites of frendshyp that faythfull good will could affourd And these thinckynges cause me oft to wish either you to be here with vs or me to be there with you but what wishyng is nothyng els but a vayne waylyng for that which will wanteth ▪ I wil cease from wishyng and seeke the true remedy for this sore And that is whilest we mete agayne in deede in the meane while to ease our desires with oft writyng the one to the other I would in deede I had bene partaker in your company of that your pleasant absence out of your countrey And because I was not I pray you let me be partaker by your letters of some fruite of that your iourney We heare of great sturres in those parties and how the Emperour a Prince of great wisedome and great power hath bene driuen to extreme shiftes and that by the pollicie of mean men who were thought to be hys frendes and not by the puisantnes of others who were knowne to be his open enemyes I know you were wont in markyng diligently and notyng truely all such great affaires And you know lykewise how desirous I am alwayes to read any thing that you write Write therfore I pray you that we your frendes beyng at home may enioye by your letters a pleasant memory of you in this tyme whilest you be absent abroad Farewell in Christ from Hatfield .xix. Octobris 1552. ⧠R. Ascham to Iohn Asteley SAlutem Plurimam in Christ◠Iesu. That part of your letters from Hatfield decimo nono Octob. renewing a most pleasaunt memory of our frēdly fellowship together full of your wonted good will towardes me I aunswered immediatly from Spires by Fraunces the post whiche letter if it be not yet come to your hand ye might haue heard tell of it in M. Secretary Cicels chamber in the Court. As concernyng the other part of your letter for your wish to haue bene with me in this mine absence from my countrey and for your request to be made partaker by my letters of the sturre of these times here in Germany Surely I would you had your wish for then should not I now nede to bungle vp yours so great a request when presently you should haue sene with much pleasure which now peraduēture you shall read with some doubt lesse thynges may encrease by writyng which were so great in doyng as I am more afrayd to leaue behind me much of the matter then to gather vp more then hath sprong of the trouth Your request conteineth few wordes but cōprehendeth both great and diuers matters As first the causes of the open inuasion by the Turke of the secret workyng for such soddeyne brechesse in Italy and Germany of the fine fetches in the French practises of the double dealyng of Rome with all partes thē more particularly why Duke Octauio the Prince of Salerne Marches Albert and Duke Maurice brake so out with the Emperour which were all so fast knit vnto hym as the bondes of affinitie loyaltie bloud and benefites could assure him of them Octauio being his sonne in law the Prince one of hys priuy chamber Marches Albert hys kynsman and Duke Maurice so inhaunsed with honor and enriched with benefites by hym as the Duke could not haue wished greater in hope then the Emperour performed in deede Here is stuffe plenty to furnish well vp a trimme history if a workeman had it in handlyng When you and I read Liuie together if you do remember after some reasonyng we cōcluded both what was in our opinion to be looked for at his hand that would well and aduisedly write an history First point was to write nothyng false next to be bold to say any truth wher by is auoyded two great faultes flattery and hatred For which two pointes Caesar is read to his great prayse and Iouius the Italian to hys iust reproch Then to marke diligently the causes coūsels actes and issues in all great attemptes And in causes what is iust or unjust ▪ in coūsels what is purposed wisely or rashly in actes what is done couragiously or fayntly And of euery issue to note some generall lesson of wisedome warines for lyke matters intime to come wherin Polibius in Greeke and Phillip Comines in French haue done the duties of wyse and worthy writers Diligence also must be vsed in kepyng truly the order of tyme and describyng lyuely both the site of places and nature of persons not onely for the outward shape of the body but also for the in ward dispositiō of the mynde as Thucidides doth in many places very trimly and Homer euery where and that alwayes most excellently which obseruation is chiefly to be marked in hym And our Chaucer doth the same very praise worthely marke hym well and conferre hym with any other that writeth of in our tyme in their proudest toung whosoeuer lyst The stile must be alwayes playne and open yet sometime higher and lower as matters do ryse and fall for if proper and naturall wordes in well ioyned sentences do lyuely expresse the matter be it troublesome quyet angry or pleasant A man shal thincke not to be readyng but present in doyng of the same And herein Liuie of all other in any toung by myne opiniō carieth away the prayse Syr Thomas More in that pamphlet of Richard the thyrd doth in most part I beleue of all these pointes so content all men as if the rest of our story of England were so done we might well compare with Fraunce Italy or Germany or in that behalfe But see how the pleasant remembraunce of our old talke together hath caried me farther then I thought to go And as for your request ▪ to know the cause and maner of these late sturres here ye shall not looke for such precise order now in writyng as we talked on then No it is not all one thing to know perfectly by reading and to performe perfectly in doyng I am not so vnaduised to take so much vpō me nor