toys might confesse that he neuer sawe a more strange Metamorphosis or a spectacle more ridiculous to laugh at If at any time they haue receiued a merrie coūtenance of their beloued good God how gay shall you sée them in their apparell howe chéerefull in their countenaunce howe pleasant in their conceiptes how merrie in their moodes then they bathe in brookes of blisse they swim in seas of ioy they flowe in floudes of felicitie they houer all in happinesse they flie in swéete delightes they banish all annoy Contrarily if they receiue a lowring looke then you shall see them drowned in dumpes they pleade with pitious plaintes they crie with continuall clamours they forge they fain they flatter they lie they forswere otherwhiles falling into desperate moodes that they spare not to blaspheme the gods to curse the heauens to blame the planetes to raile on the destinies to crie out vppon the furies to forge hell to counterfeite Sisiphus to playe Tantalus to faine Titius to grone with Prometheus to burne the winter to fréese the summer to lothe the night to hate the day with a thousand other such superstitious follies too long for me to reherse Now if he be learned and that he be able to write a verse then his penne must plie to paint his maistresse praise she must then be a Pallas for her witte a Diana for her chastitie a Venus for her face then shee shall be praised by proportion first her haires are wires of golde her chéekes are made of Lillies and redde Roses her brows be arches her eyes Saphires at the least her lookes lighteninges her mouth Corall her téeth Pearles her pappes Alabaster balles her bodie streight her belly softe from thence downwarde to her knées I think is made of Sugar Candie her armes her hands her fingers her legges her féete and all the rest of her bodie shal be so perfecte and so pure that of my conscience the worst parte they wil leaue in her shal be her soule But what néede I heape vp so many wordes in this matter My penne hath not the power to paint their doating deuises neither do I mind otherwise then to wish the gentlemen should set aside all such trifling affaires and vaine follies to shake off those delightfull desires and rather to indeuour them selues to such exercises which haue gained Hercules Achilles Theseus Caius Marius Epaminondas Themistocles Alexander Pyrrhus Hanibal Scipio Pompeie Caesar with diuerse others such immortall glorie as neither the enuious rage of cruel death may blemishe neither the furious force of fortunes fickle whéele may diminish neither the tracts of deuouring time shal euer be able to remoue frō memorie And I woulde to God that while time doth yet serue vs in England that such care might be had for the training and practising of men that we shoulde not be founde altogether so carelesse that to satisfie all our voluptuous pleasures we neuer consider the preseruation of our countrie and Common wealth So likewise if it be not altogether too late as I feare me it is I would wishe that an other thing were looked vnto and that verie narrowly wherein we haue made such a rod for our owne tayles as there is no question but in the end it must of force endure to be our owne scourge this it is We had in Englande so greate a benefite as it might haue béene vsed as no other countrie inuironing about vs is possessed with the like which is the casting of yron ordinaunce but as the prouerbe is that euerie commoditie bringeth his discommoditie so this commoditie bringeth vs double discōmoditie First in the casting it consumeth vs our woods and timber in such sort that one of the first thinges that England shall want wil be of timber for ships which is all made hauocke on only about those yron mills in the end comes M. merchant who cares not for his own priuat gaine what mischief he worketh to his countrie or somtimes some olde brused souldier that hath serued the Quéene in her warrs about London Lambeth Marshes or the out Iles of Islington all the dayes of his life and in respect of his good seruice must get a commission to sel two or thrée hundred péeces of this yron ordinance out of the realme that betwéene M. merchant and him I dare vndertake there is thrice as muche ordinaunce solde out of the Realme as is within the Realme and that some of our merchaunts haue fealt For Iohn the Frenche man hath béene at host with some of their ships and Dauie dronkarde of Flushing his fellowes haue not béen behinde these with other mo were not able to go so strōgly to the sea were it not that they were furnished with our English ordinance The Spaniards Portingales haue some pretie store of it In Fraunce there is Rochel Rosco S. Mallous Deepe their ships be generally as well furnished with our ordināce as any merchaunts ships in the Thames The mightie hound of Dunkerke the rest of the begels that were of her consort God knowes had béen able to haue made but a slender crie when they had come to chase had it not bin for our English barks The other parts of Flanders Zeland Holland both vppon the walles of their townes also in their shipping are furnisht with the like I haue séene euerie streate in Flushing lie as full of Englishe ordinance as if it had béene the Tower Wharfe of London To be shorte there are diuerse townes in East Freesland with Emden Hambrougbe Denmarke Danske Lubeck Rye Reuell Swethen with diuerse other cities and towns of those East parts that she is but a verie meane and simple Hulke aperteining to any of these places which hath lesse then a dozen or sixtéene péeces of our English ordinaunce in her Such hath béene the carelesnes of this our peaceable time that it hath not onely made vs weake by our owne neglecting the feates of armes but also with our owne artillerie and our warlike munitions we haue made such stronge as be our doubtfull friendes nay rather I may saye our assured enimies as I feare me wee shall finde if they were at quietnesse amongest themselues And thus once againe I can but wish that such consideration might be had of the time that is present as in the time that is to come we shoulde not haue cause to rue it And here although I knowe my skill will not serue me nor my occasion at this time may well permit me to speake of Martiall discipline howe farre it is decayed from the first ordinaunce and institution yet gentle reader not doubting but thou wilt beare with me aswell for the want of the one as for the necessitie of the other I wil aduenture to speake some thing thereof The fourth parte conteining the decay of Martiall discipline I Haue alreadie shewed in the first parte of this booke howe vppon sundrie quarells warrs may be attempted without any offence to
sense or this is no true Englishe here he hath bene something to tedious and this matter asked longer circumstance this maner of phrase is but bad and by this he shewed his eloquence was but small and here it is not well poynted and so forth with many other faultes I know not what Wherefore I would these superficial heades would take this for myne answere that what I haue written it hath not bene to prooue my selfe artificiall or eloquent but to shewe things more needfull which I haue noted by experience Some others there be which are of such excellent memorie that there is nothing may be written which they do not already knowe and wil say This is but borowed in such a place and this I haue read in this or in that booke Surely I must confesse I haue vsed the helpe of sundrie writers but not of so many as I would haue done if I had bene in place where I might haue come by them for what I haue written was onely done in Ireland where there is no great choyce of bookes to be had ▪ But what then Is this sufficient cause to condemne what I haue written is not the bee accustomed to gather out of euery flower what liketh her best wherewith she maketh hony Or I pray you what is the medicine the worse although the Physition be sometimes driuen to borowe a handful of herbes out of his neighbours garden shal his composition be any thing the vnwholesomer because the simples were not al his owne There is yet an other sorte that because they thinke it a shame to reade ouer any thing not to be able to minister some correctiō because they wil not be thought to be so dul witted wil finde some fault if it be but with the Orthographie and wil say It was pitie this man would take in hande to write before he could spell To these I answer As great folly might be ascribed to those that were their bringers vp that would learne them to goe before they had taught them to speake well But such is the delicacie of our readers at th◠time that there are none may be alowed of to write but such as haue bene trained at schoole with Pallas or at the lest haue bene fostered vp with the Muses and for my parte without vaunt be it spoken I haue bene a trauayler I haue sayled in Grauesende Barge as farre as Billings gate I haue trauayled from Buckelers bery to Basingstocke I haue gone from S. Pankeridge church to Kentish towne by lande where I was combred with many hedges ditches and other slippery bankes but yet I could neuer come to those learned bankes of Helicon neither was I euer able to scale Parnassus hyl although I haue trauailed ouer Gaddes hyll in Kente and that sundrie tymes and often No marueill then good reader although I want such sugered sape wherwith to sauce my sense whereby it might seeme delightfull vnto thee such curious Coxcombes therefore which can not daunce but after Apollos pype I wish them to cease any further to reade what I haue written but thou which canst endure to reade in homely style of matters more behooueful and necessarie then eyther curiouse or fyled goe thou forward on Gods name and I doubt not but by that time thou hast perused to the end thou shalt find some thing to satisfie thy desire whereby thou wilt confesse that al thy labour hath not bene bestowed in vayne And thus I bid thee hartily Farewell To the valiant Captaynes and renowmed Souldiours of Englande Barnabe Riche wisheth for their better encouragement encrease of credit estimation and necessarie maintenance according to their due desertes ALthough right noble Captaynes and worthie Souldiours I may seeme too rashe and bolde to enter into those discourses so farre surpassing my capacitie the which I knowe I haue finished not according as the argument hath required but according as the slendernes of my skyll would permit me yet I protest I haue not taken in hand to write for any vayne glory or presumption in my selfe but rather to incite some one amongst you that is more able sufficient to performe a greater enterprise to a much better perfection and for my parte I haue but vsed the office of the meanest labouring man as it were haue but brought lyme and stone together wherewith the master workeman maye erecte his building in braue and sumptuous sorte Thus crauing pardon for this my bolde attempt I submit altogether what I haue done to your noble iudgementes to correcte and amende what you shall see needfull and requisite And thus I rest yours to dispose Barnabe Riche To my very louing friend Captaine Barnabe Ryche I Haue perused your booke as farre as the shortnes of the tyme would suffer me which was not so farre by a great deale as I gladlyest would if it might haue longer continued with me Your trauaile and good mynde most iustly deserueth in my opinion both thankes and commendations of all your countrey men I wish with all my heart it may so be accepted of those in whose handes the only remedie lyeth that some good order may be deuised for the reliefe and encouragement of such vertuouse myndes as are contented with the expens of their bloud to benefite their countrie Which kinde of men aboue all others ought most to be esteemed as the very sinowes and strength of euery common weale howe mighty or wealthie so euer shee be For according to the opinion of a late learned writer Pertinet autem maxime ad Reipub. fortitudinem vti milites peritos exercitatos habeat Sic enim tranquilla vita fruetur a terroribus tumultibusque vacua erit The onely strength of euery common wealth is To haue skilfull and well trayned souldiers so shall they liue in happines being free from all kinde of terrour and tumult And agayne Dum belli furor insurgit hostisque Reipub. bonis occupandis inhiat eorū in manibus Reipub. Salus Religio Fides Libertas est reposita When the rage of warres doth suddainly burst out and the enemie at hand gaping for the spoyle of the countrey then both Safety Religion Faith and Libertie resteth wholy in the hande of the souldiours who are the onely terrour to the enemie defende their countrey from present danger and bring the common wealth to safetie and quietnes But our countrey hath alwayes had that faute and I am afrayde will neuer be without it of being vnnaturall and vnthankfull to such as with their great hazard paynes and charges haue sought to attayne to the knowledge of armes by which shee is chiefly mainteyned succoured and defended To bring one example amongst thousands ▪ What a number was there of noble Gentlemen and worthy souldiours that in the dayes of that victorious prince King Henry the fifth after the honourable behauing of them selues as well at Agincort as other places to the discomfiture and vtter ouerthrowe of the whole Chiualry of Fraunce
found Ynough to eate the Spanyardes vp had they bene bakte in pyes or had bene brued in double beere because the Flemings gyes Do better serue to drinke then eate the Spaniardes had bene dead they would haue drunke them all vp quite without a byt of bread But here ynough to make my proofe and stil of this be sure where Mars is had in no accompt no state may long endure May rebels thinke you scape his scourge may such cōtempt go quite will Mars the mightie god of warre be had in such despight No no he may deferre a time ere he reuengement take but in the end he payes them home the stoutest then doth quake O England would thou didst regard what plagues in time do hap to such as so without respect are luld in pleasures lap And feares no force of future fits that after may ensue till dangers doe beset them round and then to late to rue And would to God by others harmes thou mightst so warned be that thou into thine owne estate wouldest vouchsafe to see And tel me then yf Mars be had in honour like a god yf not how thinkest thou to escape the rigour of his rod May peace procure so great contempt and alter kind so farre that yr should make thee quite forget there is a god of warre Shal martiall feates be stil neclect as though we were so sure that this our time of pleasant peace should euermore endure Would God it might but so to wish I know is but in vaine our foes are ready prest no doubt they seeke but time to gaine What though in secret yet they lie who knowes not why they stay their quarrell is not now to seeke they hope but for a day Loe here the cause that vrged me first to take in hand to wright this blunt discourse good reader here presented to thy sight Which yf thou wilt vouchsafe to read do iudge as thou shalt finde giue sentence then and I wil mend yf ought mislike thy minde FINIS Felix quem faciunt aliena pericula cautum The first parte entreating of warre I Doubt not but a great number wil thinke I haue taken paynes more then ynough to write of warres or of warlike disciplines First because warres haue euer bin accompted a most grieuouse plague and of it self is reputed so euill so straunge and so pernitious that it comprehendeth and surmounteth al other kind of euils for it afflicteth as well the poore and innocents as those that be wicked and euil disposed for by it good lawes are decayed humanitie is defaced equitie is suppressed holy places are prophaned murthers are committed virgins are defloured chaste matrons are defiled kingdoms be subdued cities be ruinated as warlike Numace sumptuouse Corinth stately Thebes delicate Tyre learned Athens holy Ierusalē contentious Carthage mightie Rome and now lastly wealthy Antwerpe These with many other moe by warres haue bene sacked spoyled robbed defaced and sometime layde waste and desolate for warre pestilence and famine are the three dartes which the almightie God is wont to shoote against the earth when he is displeased and is holden so yrcksome amongst vs that in our letanie we daily vse this praier From plague pestilence famine battell and murther good Lord deliuer vs. A second reason why I should be condemned is this Because as the warre of it selfe is an euill and that so lothsomly detested euen so to be professours followers and ministers in the same is esteemed a thing more fitte for ruffians roysters blasphemers and people of the vylest condicion rather then an exercise for honest men in whom there is any feare of God or any loue towardes their neighbour in so much that Cornelius Agrippa sayeth That if you would cal a tyrant a blasphemer a murtherer a robber a spoyler a deflowrer an oppressour with many other such like if you would saieth he include all these into one short name you may call him by the name of a souldiour But now thirdly and especially I knowe a number will scorne me and thinke me to be to simple to write any thing of warres in this so peaceable a time but would rather haue allowed of my discretion if I could haue framed some conceite according to the time some pleasant discourse some strange nouell some amorous historie some farre fette or vnknowen deuice this might haue purchaced me credit the Printer might haue gayned by selling of my booke but to giue men sodayne Allarmes of warre that be quietly minded pleasantly disposed and peaceably pretended I knowe it is but a mockerie and euen nowe I begin to muse with my selfe what madnesse at the first should driue such a conceyte into my brayne but seeing I haue begun to enter into this fondnesse pardon me I pray you the hearing of my excuse which I trust you shall fynde to be reasonable Then first to speake of warre because I knowe there be many whose consciences be so scrupulous that they thinke no warres may be lawfully attempted allowed of by Gods worde or agreeing with true christianitie for the number of outrages which by it are committed I thinke it therefore conuenient to see what proofes may be alleadged in the defence of warre although not in generall yet in the holy Scriptures where they haue bene allowed of and many times commanded by the almightie God him selfe In the 14. Chapter of Genesis it is written When Abram hearde his brother was taken hee harnessed his fresh yong men borne in his owne house three hundred and eighteene and followed on them vntyll Dan and he was set in array vpon them by night hee and his seruants and he smote them and pursued them vnto Hoba which lyeth on the left hand of Damascus and recouered all the goods and brought agayne his brother Lot and his goods c. By this it seemeth that Abram executed as well the part of a King as the duetie of a Captaine in that he tooke vpon him to leauy a bande and to enter into battell with these that before had oppressed his friendes which hee dyd of his owne head and yet this parte did nothing offend God as the sequele doth euidently prooue But in the 31. Chapter of Numeri by the expresse commandement from God Moses is willed to make warre vpon the Madianites the wordes bee these And the Lorde spake vnto Moses saying Auenge the children of Israel of the Madianites and afterward shalt thou be gathered vnto thy people And Moses spake vnto the folke saying Harnesse some of you vnto warre and auenge the Lorde of the Madianites c. And in the 8. chapter of the booke of Iosua And the Lord spake vnto Iosua Feare not neyther be thou faint harted take all the men of warre with thee vp get thee to Hai Beholde I haue giuen into thy hand the King of Hai and his people and his citie and his lande and thou shalt doe to
he that would take thy cloke thou must likewise giue him thy coate But I trust they will not maintayne by this that a Prince when he is oppressed by any tyrant should surrender vp his crowne seigneurie for that he should be counted a quiet man and the childe of God or that Gods worde doth any where forbid a Prince to maintayne his right or that it should not be lawful for him to enter into warres either for the maintenance of Gods true religiō either for his owne securitie as did the Athenians against king Philip eyther for the subuersion of any tyrant or oppressour or such as shall wrongfully vsurpe vpon any other that are not able to defend their owne cause And in the ancient time it hath bene thought very cōuenient that where a tyrant doth raigne ouer his own people with crueltie rauine rape murther or other like oppressions wherein a Prince may do his subiects manifest wrong and is not by them to be redressed for that it is not lawful for the subiect to stande in armes against his Prince it hath bene alwayes therefore thought requisite that such Princes as haue bene borderers next vpon him should chastise and correct so great enormities to the ende that the name of a King might not seeme odious hatefull to the common sort of people as was Nero Heliogabulus Dionysius and others This gote Hercules such immortal glory that he was rekoned amongst the number of the gods only for his valiance and prowesse vsed vpon monsters tyrants oppressours and such other But something the better to satisfie such as in their opinions are so precise to thinke that no warres howe soeuer it bee attempted may bee eyther good or godly I will therefore here recyte the wordes of that learned and excellent man Hieronymus Osorius in order as they bee written in his booke intituled Of Christian nobilitie which followe in this maner First therfore I can conceiue no reason why they should despise warfare when it is rightfully begunne and taken in hand in the defence of religion whereas we see it wonderfully extold in innumerable places of holy scripture which thei do not denie but what say they many things say they were conteyned in the olde law which rather for the tymes sake were tolerated then worthy dewe commendation as to make a diuorce to take vsurie of foraine countreys of which sorte they say is to make warres vpon our enemies but what semblance or similitude hath either vsurie or diuorces with martial affaires for they were not cōmended but tolerated because of mens weakenes and imbecillitie but he that durst presume not to obey when commandement was giuen to wage battell committed an offence so heynous that he could redeeme the same by no satisfactiō For in what place read we that it was decreed that he shuld eyther abyde a payne or bee subiect to a curse if any man whereas after the first offence his wife counted it was lawfull so to doe did not departe from his wife or exacted no vsurie of forriners and strangers but in many places wee haue wel noted that men rauished and replenished with the holy spirit haue decreed that they should dye the death which through cowardise refused to come foorth into the fielde But what should I in this place make mention of Debora who being inspired with the holy ghost curseth thē which for as much as in them lyeth take not in hand the warres of the Lord and inueyeth against their cowardise in sharpe vehement wordes And agayne they lay to our charges circumcision the offering vp of a lambe old sacrifices which were in olde tyme with great deuotion kept and after the comming of Christ did want their wonted reuerence as though warfare dyd any whit appertayne to the ceremonies and mysteries of holy things and were not rather ordayned for the preseruation of the common wealth for those holy rightes in which were foreshadowed the expresse signes and tokens of Iustice and saluation to be procured by our high and mightie Sauiour Christ after the cōming of the thing it self which was by those signes declared were by good right and iust desert abrogated and disanulled but this can not be thought of the noble knowledge of feates of armes for as much as it is not comprised vnder the nature of ceremonies but embraced for the maintenance and preseruation of the common safetie and wholy appertayneth to ciuill policie and to confound those thinges which are to be distinguished it is eyther the propertie of extreme madnes or an argument of wonderfull temeritie and rashenes And whereas the state of the common wealth can not be established but it must needes be stayde and as it were propped vp with strength and force of armes for as much as all things in the time of peace to be practised and exercised are vnder the tuition and defence of martiall prowesse he that taketh away the knowledge of feates of armes worketh the ouerthrowe of the common wealth which thing if it had happened through christian discipline then madde men mooued with some reason might laye to our charge that some common wealth by meanes of Christian discipline was ouerthrowen which slaunderous accusatiō how wicked and vayne it is we haue afore declared For Christe would not that the state of ciuill policie should bee ouerthrowen but rather established and confirmed and therefore as he hath not wrested the sword out of the hande of a Magistrate so neyther would he haue a souldiour to wante his weapon to the intent that a Magistrate beeing armed with authoritie of lawes might with seueritie of the same lawes suppresse wickednes amongst the members and inward partes of the common wealth and the souldiour clad in armour might with dint of sworde repelle and put aside from the common wealth all imminent daunger For this cause Iohn neuer exhorted men from applying themselues to the knowledge of feates of armes but prescribeth lawes vnto souldiours of harmelesse vsage and temperat behauiour And Paul calleth those Magistrates the seruantes of God which with the sword punishe wicked and desperate persons Truely nothing were more hartily to be desired of a Christian man then that all men would refrayne them selues from wickednes and sinfull lust but for as much as that can not alwayes fall out and in stead of continencie vnbrideled lust in steade of iustice either forayne force or ciuill broyles vse to arise then of necessitie eyther force of the enemie is with weapons and maine strength to be beaten backe or the outrage of our citizens with sworde to be repressed That say they is contrary to christian charitie as thogh any kind of crueltie were greater thē to be dissolute and negligent in a general distresse and miserie Christ hath cōmanded that we shuld not be reuenged of our enemies no doubt it is the propertie of perfect and absolute vertue when priuately wee sustayne wrongs and iniuries to shewe a singular and wonderful