and attended onely by one Page passing the Bridge went to give a visit to the King They entertained one another a long time in two or three Conferences in which our Henry gave great marks of his Capacity and Judgement Their Resolution in sum was to raise a puissant Army to assault Paris which was the principal head of the Hydra and gave motion to all the rest a thing easie for them to do because the King expected great Levies from towards the Switzers whither he had sent Sancy for that purpose adding that the designe of the siege being published it would infallibly draw a great number of Souldiers and Adventurers out of hopes of so rich a pillage The two Kings having passed two days together he of Navarre went to Chinon to cause the rest of his Troops to advance who hitherto had refused to mingle themselves among the Catholicks During his absence the Duke of Mayenne who had taken the Field fell upon the Suburbs of Tours thinking to surprize the City and the King within it by means of some intelligence The Combat was very bloody and the Dukes designe wanted little of taking effect but after the first endeavours having lost the hopes to compass it he easily retired Afterwards the Kings Troops being wonderfully increased they marched conjoyntly he and the King of Navarre towards Orleans took all the little places thereabouts and from thence descended into Beauce and drew together all of a suddain towards Paris All the Posts round about it as Poissy Estampes and Meulan were either forced or obtained Capitulation in which they desired no other security then the word of the King of Navarre to which they trusted more then to all the Writings of Hen. 3. So great a profession made he of keeping his word even to the prejudice of his interests Let us consider a little the different Estate to which these two Kings were reduced by their different conduct The One for having often broken his Faith was abandoned by his Subjects and his greatest Oaths found no belief amongst them and the Other for having always exactly kept it was followed even by his greatest Enemies in all occasions he gave marks of his Valour and Experience in point of War but above all of his Prudence and of those Noble Inclinations he had to good and to oblige all the world He was always seen in the most dangerous places to accelerate Labours animate his Souldiers sustain them in Sallies comfort the wounded and cause Money to be distributed amongst them He observed all inquired into all and would himself with the Marshal of the Camp order the Lodgings of his Souldiers He observed strictly what was done in the Army of Henry 3. where though he often found faults he concealed them out of fear to offend those who had committed them by discovering their ignorance and when he believed himself oblito take notice of them he did it with so much Circumspection that they could not finde any reason to take it in ill part He was never niggardly of giving praises due to Noble Actions nor of Caresses and generous Deport to those came near him he entertained himself with them when he had time to do it or at least so obliged them with some good word that they still went away satisfied He feared not at all to make himself familiar because he was assured that the more men knew him the more they would esteem him In fine the conduct of this Prince was such that there was no heart he gained not nor no friend he had who would not willingly have become his Martyr Paris was already besieged the King lodged at St. Clou and our Henry at Meudon keeping with his Troops all that is between Vanvres to the Bridge of Charenton Sancy was already arrived with his Levies of Suisses and they laboured with Orders to give a general Assault to the end they might gain the Suburbs beneath the River The Duke of Mayenne who was in the City with his Troops expecting those Supplies the Duke of Nemours was to bring was in great apprehensions that he should not be able to sustain the furious shock was preparing when a young Jacobin of the Convent of Paris named James Clement spurred on by a Resolution as devilish and detestable as it was determinate smote King Henry the third with a blow of a knife in the Belly of which he died the morrow after If the frantick Monk had not been slain upon the place by the Kings Guards many things might have been known which are now concealed Our Henry being advertized late in the Evening of this mournful Accident and of the danger in which the King was came to his Lodging accompanied onely by five and twenty or thirty Gentlemen and being arrived a little before he expired he fell on his knees to kiss his hands and received his last Embraces The King named him many times his Good Brother and Legitimate Successour recommended the Kingdome to him exhorted the Lords there present to acknowledge him and not to disunite In fine after having conjured him to embrace the Catholick Religion he gave up the Ghost leaving all his Army in an astonishment and confusion which cannot be expressed and all the Chiefs and Captains in Irresolutions and different Agitations according to their Humours Fancies or Interests The Second PART OF THE LIFE OF Henry the Great Containing what he did from the day he came to the Crown of France until the Peace which was made in the year 1598. by the Treaty at Vervin THE Death of Henry the third caused an entire change in the face of affairs Paris the League and the Duke of Mayenne were transported from a profound Sadness to a furious Joy and the Servants of the Defunct King from a Pregnant Hope to see him Revenged to an extreme Desolation This Prince who had been the object of the peoples hatred being now no more it seemed that that hatred should cease and by consequence the heat of the League relent but on the contrary not only all those who composed that faction but likewise many others who had held it for a Crime to League themselves against Henry the third their Catholick and Legitimate King believed themselves in Conscience Obliged to oppose themselves against our Henry at least till such time as he should return into the bosome of the true Church a qualification they believed absolutely necessary for that him should succeed Charlemagne of S. Lewis So that if the League lost that heat which hatred gave it it gained one much more specious from a zeal to Religion and had likewise a most plausible pretext not to lay down Arms till Henry should Profess the Religion of his Ancestors It was very difficult to judge whether the point of time wherein this unhappy Parricide arrived were good or ill for him for on one side it seemed that Providence had not drawn him from the
not here tell the mischiefs and inconveniencies which this wicked invention hath caused and doth daily cause The most stupid may easily know them and see well that it is a disease whose remedy at present is difficult I will not charge this History with all the Ceremonies and Rejoycings made at the Birth and Baptism of all the Children of Henry the Great nor at divers Marriages of the Princes and Grandees of the Court amongst others of the Prince of Conde and the Duke of Vendosme which were made in the Month of July 1609. The Prince of Conde Espoused Câ—anlatta Margarita of Montmorency Daughter of the Constable who was wonderfully fair and had a presence absolutely noble which the King having considered was more lively struck with her then he had ever been with any other which caused a little after the retreat of the Prince of Conde who carried her into Flanders and thence retired to Milain Not without the Kings extreme displeasure to see the first Prince of his blood cast himself into his enemies hands The Duke of Vendosme Espoused Madamoiselle de Merceur to whom he had been affianced since the year one thousand six hundred ninety seven as we have said before however the Mother of the Lady standing upon high punctilio's of honour brought many troubles to the accomplishment of this Marriage so that it had never been made had not the King highly concerned himself in it This was none of the least difficulties of his life for he had a high and obstinate spirit to bend however he employed only ways of sweetness and perswasion acting in this business only as a Father who loved his Son and not as a King who would be obeyed Now will I speak of his ordinary divertisements Hunting Building Feasts Play and Walking I will adde only That in Feasts and Merriments he would appear as good a Companion and as Jovial as another That he was of a merry humour when he had the glass in his hand though very sober That his Mirth and good Discourses were the delicatest part of the good Chear That he witnessed no less Agility and Strength in Combats at the Barriers Courses at the Ring and all sorts of Gallantries then the youngest Lords That he took delight in Balls and Danced sometimes but to speak the truth with more affection then good grace Some carped that so great a Prince should abase himself to such follies and that a Grey-beard should please to act the young man It may be said for his excuse that the great toiles of his spirit had need of these divertisements But I know not what to answer to those who reproach him with too great a love to playing at Cards and Dice little befitting a great King and that withal he was no fair Gamester but greedy of Coin fearful at great Stakes and humorous upon a loss To this I must acknowledge that it was a fault in this great King who was no more exempt from Blots then the Sun from Beams It might be wished for the honour of his memory that he had been only guilty of this but that continual weakness he had for fair Ladiesâ— was another much more blamable in a Christian Prince in a of his age who was married to whom God had shewed so many graces and who had conceived such great designs in his spirit Sometimes he had desires which were passant and only fixt for a night but when he met with beauties which struck him to the heart he loved even to folly and in these transports appeared nothing less then Henry the Great The Fable saies that Hercules took the Spindle and Spun for the love of the fair Omphale Henry did something more mean for his Mistresses He once disguised himself like a Country-man with a Wallet of straw on his back to come to the fair Gabriella And it hath been reported that the Marchioness of Verneuil hath seen him more then once at her feet weeping his disdains and injuries Twenty Romances might be made of the intrigues of his several loves with the Countess of Guiche when he was yet but King of Navarre with Jacqueline of Bueil whom he made Countess of Moret and with Charlotta d' Essards without counting many other Ladies who held it a glory to have some Charm for so great a King The high esteem and affection which the French had for him hindred them from being offended at so scandalous a liberty but the Queen his wife was extremely perplexed at it which hourly caused controversies between them and carried her to disdains and troublesom humours The King who was in fault endured it very patiently and employed his greatest Confidents and sometimes his Confessor to appease his spirit So that he had continually a reconciliation to make And these contentions were so ordinary that the Court which at first were astonished at them in the end took no more notice Conjugal duty without doubt obliged the King not to violate his faith to his Legitimate Spouse at least not to keep his Mistresses in her sight but if he in this point ought to have been a good husband so he ought to be likewise in that of Authority and in accustoming his wife to obey him with more submission and not perplex him as she did with hourly complaints reproaches and sometimes threats The trouble and displeasure of these domestick broiles certainly retarded the Execution of that great design which he had formed for the good and perpetual repose of Christendom and in fine for the destruction of the Ottoman power Many have spoken diversely but see here what I find in the Memoires or Notes of the Duke of Sully who certainly must know something being as he was so great a Confident of this Kings which makes me report it from him The King said he desiring to put in Execution those projects he had conceived after the Peace of Vervin believed that he ought first to establish in his Kingdom an unshaken Peace by reconciling all spirits both to him and among themselves and taking away all causes of bitterness And that moreover it was necessary for him to choose people capable and faithful who might see in what his Revenue or Estate might be bettered and instruct him so well in all his Affairs that he might of himself take Counsels and discern the good from the ill feasible from impossible enterprizes and such as were proportionate to his Revenues For an expence made beyond them draws the peoples curses and those are ordinarily followed by Gods He granted an Edict to the Hugonots that the two Religions might live in Peace Afterwards he made a certain and fixed Order to pay his debts and those of the Kingdom contracted by the disorders of the times the profusions of his Ancestors and by the payments and purchases of men and places which he was forced to make during the League Sully shewed him an account
little St. Anthonies being holy Thursday as she returned to her Lodging and being walking in the Garden she felt her self struck with an Apoplexy in the brain The first fury of it being passed she would no longer stay in that house but caused her self to be carried to that of Madam de Sourdis her Aunt near St. Germain of the Auxerrois And all the rest of that day and the morrow she was perplexed with Swoondings and Convulsions of which she died on the Saturday-morning The causes of her death were diversly spoken of but however it was a happiness to France since it deprived the King of an object for which he was about to loose both himself and his Estate His grief was as great as his love had been yet he not being of those feeble souls who please themselves in perpetuating their sorrows and in bathing themselves in their tears received not onely those comforts he sought but still conserved for the Children and particularly for the Duke of Vendosm that affection he had born the Mother All good French-men passionately desired that so good a King might leave legitimate Children They durst not press him to take a Wife capable to bring him forth such so long as Gabriella lived for fear lest he should espouse her and out of the same fear Queen Margaret would not give her consent to dissolve his marriage But when Gabriella was dead she willingly lent her hand to it and her self addressed a Request to the holy Father to demand the dissolution founding it principally on two causes of nullity The first was the want of consent for she alledged she had been forced to it by King Charles the ix her Brother The second the Proximity of Kindred found between them in the third degree for which she said there had never been any valuable Dispensation In like manner the Lords of the Kingdome and the Parliament besought his Majesty by solemn Deputations that he would think of taking a Wife representing to him the inconveniencies and the danger wherein France would be found if he should die without Children These Deputations will not seem strange to those who know our ancient History where it may be seen that neither the King nor his Children married but by the advice of his Barons and this passed in that time for almost a Fundamental Law of the Estate The King touched with these just supplications of his subjects addressed his request to the Pope containing the same reasons as that of Queen Margaret and charged the Cardinal d'Ossat and Sillery his extraordinal Ambassadour whom he had sent to Rome to pursue the judgement of the Pope concerning the restitution of the Marquisate of Saluces to sollicite instantly this Affair The cause reported to the Consistory the Pope gave Commission to the Prelates to judge it on the place according to the rights of that Crown which suffers not French-men to be transported for Affairs of the like nature beyond the Mountains whither it would be almost impossible to bring the necessary proofs and witnesses These Prelates were the Cardinal of Joyeuse the Popes Nuntio and the Archbishop of Arles who having examined both Parties seen the Proofs produced on one and the other and the Request of the three Estates of the Kingdom declared this marriage null and permitted them to marry whom they should think fit Queen Margaret who for many years had deserted the King and voluntarily shut her self up in the strong Castle of Usson in Auvergne had now permission to come to Paris money given her to pay her debts great Pensions the possession of the Dutchy of Valois with some other Lands and right to bear still the Title of Queen She lived yet fifteen years and built a Palace near du Pre-aux-Clercs which was after sold to pay his debts and demolished to build other houses She loved extreamly good Musitians having a delicate Ear and knowing and eloquent Men because she was of a spirit clear and very agreeable in her discourse For the rest she was liberal even to prodigality pompous and magnificent but she knew not what it was to pay her debts Which is without doubt the greatest of all a Princes fault because there is nothing so much against Justice of which he ought to be the Protector and Defender This marriage being dissolved Bellievre and Villeroy fearing lest the King should engage himself in new loves and be taken in some of those snares which the fairest of the Court stretched out for him perswaded him by many great Reasons of State to fix his thoughts on Maria de Medicis who was daughter to Francis and Neece to Ferdinand great Dukes of Toscany The Cardinal d' Ossat and Sillery made known his intention to the great Duke Ferdinand her Uncle and Alincour son to Villeroy whom he had sent to thank the holy Father for his good and brief Justice touching the aforesaid dissolution of his marriage had order to testifie to him that the King having cast his eyes on all the Daughters of the Soveraign Houses of Christendome had found no Princess more agreeable to him The business was managed with so much activeness and vigilancy by the diligence of those which had enterprized it that the King found himself absolutely engaged The contract of the marriage was signed at Florence by his Ambassadors the fourth of April in the year one thousand six hundred And Alincour in seven days brought him the news to Fountain-bleau He assisted at present at that famous Conference or Dispute between James David du Perron Bishop of Eureux afterwards Cardinal and Philip du Plessis Mornay where truth nobly triumphed over falsehood There are particular relations of the solemnities made at Florence the Magnificences of the great Duke the Ceremonies of the Affiancing and Marriage of this Queen of her Imbarking her being convoyed by the Gallies of Malta and Florence and her reception at Marseilles at Avignon and at Lions and therefore I shall speak nothing of it Whilst the Marriage of Florence was treating the King having a heart which could for no long time keep his liberty became enslaved to a new object It is to be understood that Mary Touchet who had been Mistress to Charles the ninth from whom came Issue the Count d' Auvergne had been Married to the Lord d' Entragues and had by him many children amongst the rest a very fair daughter named Henrietta who by consequent was sister by the mothers side to the Count of Auvergne This Count was about the age of thirty years and she about eighteen It is but too well known that Flatterers and wicked Sycophants ruine all in the Courts of great Men and corrupt likewise their persons These are they which sweeten the poyson which embolden the Prince to do ill which make him familiar with vice which seek and facilitate occasions for it and who act as we may say the mystery of
thrown down forty years before and gave a considerable sum of money to rebuild it All France during this holy Jubilee had instantly demanded of Heaven that it would be pleased to give them a Daulphine to deliver them from those misfortunes wherein they should be plunged if the King should die without Male-children Their vows were heard and the Queen happily brought to bed of a Son at Fontainbleau on the day of St. Cosmo being the twenty seventh of September They gave him at his Baptism the Name of Lewis so sweet and dear to France for the memory of the great St. Lewis and of the good King Lewis xii Father of the people Afterwards was appropriated to him the surname of Just and we at present believe his having been the Father of Lewis the wise and victorious none of the least worthy of his Titles His Birth was preceded by a great Earthquake which happened some days before The Birth was very hard and the infant laboured till he was all of a purple-colour which possibly ruined within the principal Organs of Health and good Constitution The King invoking on him the Benediction of Heaven gave him likewise his and put his Sword in his hand praying to God That he would give him the grace to use it onely for his glory and for the defence of the people The Princes of the Blood which were with him in the Chamber of the Queen all of them saluted the Daulphine one after another I omit how express Curriers carried this News into all the Provinces the publick rejoycings throughout the whole Kingdome particularly in the great City of Paris who as much loved Henry the great as they had hated his Predecessor the Complements the King received on his part from all the Potentates of Europe and the accustomed Present of the holy Father in like occasions to wit the blessed swathling bands which he sent by Seigneur Barbarino who was afterwards Cardinal and Pope named Urban the viii Five days before the Queen of Spain was brought to bed of her first Childe which was a Daughter whom at the Font of Baptism they named Anne The Spaniards rejoyced no less then if it had been a Son for in that Country the Females succeed to the Crown Those amongst the French who penetrated farthest into things to come took likewise part in this joy but for another reason which was that this Princess being of the same age with the Daulphine it seemed that Heaven had made the one be born for the other and that she ought one day be his Spouse as in effect Lewis xiii had this happiness and France still possesses it admiring in all occasions the rare Wisdom the exemplary Piety and heroick Constancy of this great Princess In acknowledgement of the grace which God had done to the King in giving him a Daulphine which was the sum of his wishes he redoubled his care and diligence to acquit himself well of what he ought to his Estate to better as he said the succession of his Son We will here recount some Establishments and Orders he made to that purpose Need of monies having obliged him during the Siege of Amiens to create Triennial Officers in his Revenues when it was passed he knew that there was no need of so many people to rifle his purse and that it was impossible but some little should every day remain in the hands of every one of these and therefore he suppressed these new Officers and commanded that the ancient and Alternative ones should re-imburse the Triennial From this suppression were excepted the Treasurers of the Exchequer and those of casual Forfeitures or Fines Rosny had so well bridled both the Gatherers and the Farmers that they could no longer devour those great Morsels they did heretofore But this was not yet enough they were in such manner gorged before he was Superintendent that the King with infinite justice ordained a Tribunal composed of a certain number of Judges chosen out of the Soveraign Courts and called it The Chamber-Royal whom he charged to make an exact search of the misdemeanours of those who had managed the Kings monies This Chamber made a great many disembogue however a great part found the means to escape them some out of a Consideration of their Alliances others by force of money gaining those who were near the King principally his Mistrâ—sses and corrupting the Judges themselves So much is it true that Gold pierces every where and that nothing is proof against this pernitious Metal We need not then wonder if those people filled their Coffers as full as they could since the fuller they heaped them the more facile was their justification I have already said it and I say it again for it cannot be too often nor too much observed that there is no remedy to hinder this disorder which is the greatest of all disorders in the Estate and the cause of all others save onely the vigilance and exactness of the King He must himself hold the strings of his purse have his eye still upon his Coffers know punctually what is in them what comes out of them what ways his monies accrue to what uses they are employed who are they that manage them and above all he must make them give a good account as our Henry did that if they be honest men they cannot be corrupted and if they are knaves not have the means to act their knavery He was made to know that there were two other disorders in his Realm which extreamly impoverished it and drew from it all the Gold and Silver The one was the transportation of it to strange Countries into Italy Germany and Switzerland where the little Potentates melted it and made money of a â—aser Alloy The other was the Luxury which consumed likewise a great quantity in Embroyderies Silver and Gold Lace on Cloaths and no less in the gilding of Wainscots and Chimnies and divers Moveables He made two severe Edicts which prohibited these two abuses For the first he renewed the ancient Orders concerning the transport of Gold and Silver adding the punishment of the Halter to the Transgressors and commanding all Governours to watch diligently the Observation of these his Prohibitions and not to give any Pass-ports to the contrary otherwise he declared them partakers in such Transports By the second he prohibited under the penalty of great Fines for the first time and of imprisonment for the second the wearing of Gold and Silver upon Cloaths or employing it in Gildings This Edict was rigorously observed because it excepted no person the King himself submitting to the Law he made and having looked with an ill Countenance on a Prince of the Blood who obeyed not this Reformation There was likewise expended a prodigious quantity of money in Silks by the buying of which all our money was gotten into strangers hands The King seeing that and considering that the use of these Stuffs
IT hath not been precisely known in what place Henry the Great was conceived The common opinion holds that it was at la Fleche in Anjou there where Anthony of Bourbon his father and the Princess of Navarre his mother sojourned from the end of February anno 1552 until the middle of May in the year 1553. But it is certain that she first perceived her conception and felt it move at the Camp in Picardy where she was with her husband who was Governour of that Province and who was gone from la Fleche to command an Army against Charles the fifth It was most just that he who was destined to be an extraordinary Prince should begin the first motions of his life in a Camp at the noise of Trumpets and Cannon as a true childe of Mars His grandfather Henry d' Albret who yet lived having understood that his daughter was with childe recalled her home to him desiring himself to take care for the conservation of this new fruit which by a secret pre-sentiment he was wont to say ought to revenge him of those injuries the Spaniards had done him This couragious Princess taking then leave of her husband parted from Compeigne the fifteenth of November traversed all France to the Pyrenaean mountains and arrived at Pau in Bearne where the King her father was the fourth day of December not having stay'd above eighteen or nineteen days on her journey and the thirtieth of the same month she was happily brought to bed of a son Before this King Henry d' Albret had made his Will which the Princess his daughter had a great desire to see because it was reported that it was made to her disadvantage in favour of a Lady that good man had loved She durst not speak to him of it but he being advertised of her desire he promised to shew it her and put it in her hands when she should shew him what she carried in her womb but on condition that at her delivery she should sing a Song to the end said he that thou bringst not into the world a weak and weeping infant The Princess promised him and had so much courage that maugre the great pains she suffered she kept her word and sung one in the Bearnois language so soon as she understood he was entred into the chamber It was observed that the infant contrary to the common order of Nature came into the world without weeping or crying Nor was it fit that a Prince who ought to be the joy of all France should be born among tears and groans So soon as he was born his grandfather carried him in the skirt of his Robe into his own chamber giving his Will which was in a box of gold to his daughter telling her My daughter see there what is for you but this is for me Whilst he held the infant he rubbed his little lips with a clove of Garlick and made him suck a draught of Wine out of a golden cup that he might render his temperament more masculine and vigorous The Spaniards had formerly said in Raillery concerning the birth of the mother of our Henry O wonder the Cow hath brought forth an Ewe meaning by that word Cow Queen Margaret her mother whom they called so and her husband Cow-keeper alluding to the Arms of Bearn which are two Cows And King Henry resting assured of the future greatness of his little grandchilde taking him often in his arms kissing him and remembring the foolish Raillery of the Spaniards spoke with joy to all those who came to visit him and congratulate this happie birth See said he how my Ewe hath now brought forth a Lion He was baptized the year following on Twelfth-day being the sixth of January 1554. For this Baptism were expresly made Fonts of silver richly gilded in which he was baptized in the Chappel of the Castle of Pau. His Godfathers were Henry the second King of France and Henry d' Albret King of Navarre who gave him their Name and the Godmother was Madam Claudia of France after Dutchess of Lorain Jaques de Foix then Bishop of Lescar and after Cardinal held him over the Font in the name of the Most Christian King and Madam d' Andovins in the name of Madam Claudia of France He was baptized by the Cardinal of Armagnac Bishop of Rhodez and Vice-Legat of Avignon He was however difficult to be brought up having seven or eight Nurses of which the last had all the honour At his being weaned the King gave him for Governess Susan de Bourbon wife of John d' Albret Baron of Miossens who elevated him in the Castle of Coarasse in Bearn situated amongst the rocks and mountains His grandfather would not permit him to be nourished with that delicateness ordinarily used to persons of his quality knowing well that there seldom lodged other then a mean and feeble soul in a soft and tender body He likewise denied him rich habiliments and childrens usual babies or that he should be flattered or treated like a Prince because all those things were onely the causers of vanity and rather raised pride in the hearts of infants then any sentiments of generositie but he commanded that he should be habited and nourished like the other infants of the Country and likewise that they should accustom him to run and mount up the rocks that by such means he might use himself to labour and if we may speak so give a temperature to that young body to render it the more strong and vigorous which was without doubt most necessary for a Prince who was to suffer so much to reconquer his Estate King Henry d' Albret died at Hagetmau in Bearn on the five and twentieth of May 1555. being aged about fifty three years or thereabouts He ordained by his Will that his body should be carried to Pampelona to be interred with his predecessors and that in the mean time it should be laid in State in the Cathedral of Lescar in Bearn This Prince was couragious of a great spirit sweet and courteous to all the world and so nobly liberal that Charles the fifth once passing thorow Navarre was in such manner received that he protested he had never seen a more magnificent Prince After his death Jane his daughter and Anthony Duke of Vendosme his son-in-law succeeded him They were at present at the Court of France and with much difficulty obtained their leave to retire to Bearn for King Henry the second pressed to it by ill Counsel would have deprived them of the Lower Navarre which yet remained to them pretending that all that was below the Pyrenaean Mountains belonged to the Realm of France They knew how justly to oppose against him the Estates of the Country and the King durst not too much pursue this subject for fear lest despair should force them to call the Spaniards to their assistance but he still remained troublesome
likewise Meulan on the Seine seven leagues off Paris and laid Siege before Dreux At the noise of these Conquests the Duke of Mayenne was obliged in reputation to come forth of Paris to assemble his Troops and to receive contrary to his inclination fifteen hundred Lanciers and five hundred Carabines from the Duke of Parma Governour of the Low-Countries these forces were Commanded by the Count d' Egmont After this Duke had regained several little places which incommodated Paris and the Country adjacent he passed the Seine o'er the Bridges of Mantes to go succour Dreux imagining he might do it without hazarding any thing The King so soon as he had advice of his advance raises his siege but with an intent to fight him and came to this effect to lodge at Nonâ—ncourt on the passage of the River of Eure. Two things principally obliged him to that resolution of giving him battail the one because wanting money he could not long keep his Troops in the body of an Army and had he led them into Normandy he should unprofitably have spent all the revenue of that Province which alone he valued above all others he held The other because he perceived so great a rejoycing throughout all his Army who seemed to leap for joy when they were told they should go to find out their enemy demonstrating by their outward appearances that a day of fighting should be unto them as a day of feasting The Duke of Mayenne was not of opinion that he ought to engage his fortune and honour to the hazard of one day especially considering the valour of the Kings forces in comparison of his the great experience and incomparable vertue of that Prince and with all this his great fortune which had already gained so great an ascendant over his that he believed he could no better overcome him then by avoyding encounters with him But the reproaches of the Parisians the instances of the Legat which the Pope had sent to support the interests of the League the Spanish Cabal which on which side soever fortune turned it self promised themselves great advantages from this battail and in fine the shame to have lost more then forty places in six months without having endeavoured to succour any of them led him as it were perforce to the relief of Dreux and when he was so near it the false advice he had that the King retired towards the City of Verneuil au Perche and the Bravadoes of the Count of Egmont who boasted himself capable with his Troops alone to defeat the Army of the King engaged him with an extraordinary diligence to pass the River of Eure over the Bridge of Yvry To speak truth both the King and he were equally surprised the King to understand that he had so soon passed and the Duke to see that the King whom he believed to have taken the way towards Verneuil came directly towards him but now though they would they could neither withdraw but of force must come to a battail which happened on the fourteenth of March neer the Bourg of Yvry The Histories do at large declare the description of the field of the battail the order of both Armies the Charges which the Battalions and Squadrons both on the one and the other side made and the faults of the Chiefs of the League We shall therefore speak nothing but what concerns the person of our Prince His rare intelligence his wonderful genius and his indefatigable activity in the Mystery of War were all admired It was wondred how he knew how to give orders without perplexing his intellectuals but with as little Confusion as if he had been in his Closet how he could know so perfectly to range his Troops and how having observed the enemies design he could in a quarter of an hour change the whole order of his Army How during the fight he could be every where take notice of every thing and himself give orders as if he had had a hundred eyes and as many armes The noise confusion dust and smoak augmenting rather then troubling his judgement and knowledge The Armies being ready to joyn he lifted up his eyes to heaven and joyning his hands called God to witness of his intention invoking his assistance and praying that he would reduce the Rebels to an acknowledgement of him whom the order of Succession had given them for Legitimate Sovereign But Lord said he if it pleaseth thee to dispose otherwise or that I should be of the number of those Kings whom thou dedicatest to thy anger deprive me of my life with my Crown consent that I may this day fall a victim to thy holy will let my death deliver France from the Calamities of War and my blood be the last that shall be shed in this quarrel Immediately after he caused to be given him his Habiliment for his head on the top of which he had a plume of three white feathers and having put it on before he pulled down his Viziere he told his Squadrons My Companions if you this day run my fortune I shall likewise run yours I will overcome or dye with you let me only conjure you to keep your rankes and if the heat of the Combat make you quit them think as soon of rallying it will be the gain of the Battail you may do it between those three trees which you see there on high on your right hand they were three Pear-trees and if you lose your Ensigns Cornets or Banners lose not the sight of my white Feather which you shall always find in the Road to Honor and Victory The Decision of the Battail having been a long time uncertain was in the end favourable to him The Principal glory being due to himself alone so much the more because he Charged most impetuously on that formidable body commanded by the Count of Egmont and that having entred that forest of Lances with his sword in his hand rendred them useless and constrained them to come to their short Arms at which his had a great advantage because the French are more agile and active then the Flemings so that in less then a quarter of an hour he pierced them dissipated them and put them to rout the cause of the entire gain of the Battail Of sixteen thousand men which the Duke had there were scarce four thousand saved There remained above a thousand horse on the place with the Count of Egmont four hundred prisoners of Note and all the Infantry for the Lansquenets were all cut in pieces They took all his Baggage Cannon Ensigns and Cornets to wit twenty Cornets of Cavalry the white Cornet of the Duke the Colonel of his Reistres or German horse the great Standard of Count Egmont and sixty Colours of foot The Duke of Mayenne behaved himself as valiantly as he ought and many times endeavoured to make some rally but in the end for fear of being encompassed he retired toward the
The King seeing his men so pressed gave two vigorous Charges during which they drew forth the greatest part of the Baggage out of the Bourg but all the body of the Dukes Cavalry coming on the King lost many of his men and himself ran great danger of being slain or taken prisoner but God permitted that he was only wounded with a Pistol-shot on the Reins which had been mortal if the Bullet had had more force but it pierced only his cloths and his shirt and somewhat razed the skin His valour and his good fortune both equally contributed to draw him out of this peril and to bring after so sharp a check both his person and what remained of his Troops into safety The Duke of Parma admired this action but praysed the Courage which our Henry had testified more then his Prudence for when he was demanded what he thought of this Retreat he answered That in effect it was very gallant but for his part he would never bring himself into a place where he should be forced to retire This was tacitely to say that a Prince and a General ought to secure themselves better And so all the Kings faithful servants came the same evening to intreat him that he would spare his person on which the safety of France depended And the Queen of England his most faithful friend prayed him that he would preserve himself and at least keep within the terms of a great Captain who ought not to come to handy-stroaks but in the last extremity After the raising the siege of Rouen the greatest part of the Kings Army passed into Champagne in pursuit of the Duke of Parma and laid siege before the City of Espernay and took it The Marshal of Byron was killed by a Faulcon-shot which carried away his head as he was viewing the place His eldest Son who was named the Baron of Byron as great a Captain as the Father and much loved by the King was a little after honoured with the same Charge of Marshal of France but he lost his Head somewhat less gloriously then his Father The Duke of Mayenne and the Duke of Parma being parted ill satisfied one with the other it was not difficult to renew the Conferences between the first and the Royalists however things were not yet ripe there were some seeds sown which some time after brought forth fruit for the King consented that he would within six moneths permit himself to be instructed by those means which might not wrong either his Honour or his Conscience He gave leave likewise to the Catholick Lords of his party to depute some towards the Pope to let him understand the duties he applyed himself to and to intreat him to add his Authority and that in the mean time Peace should be dayly treated of The Duke of Mayenne and his party demanded Conditions so advantagious that they were ill resented and to speak truth many things in this Conjuncture did much trouble our Henry that which most of all perplexed him was that the Duke of Mayenne violently pressed by the instances of the Pope and the King of Spain by the remonstrances of those great Cities which took his party and likewise by the necessity of his Affairs had called the Estates-General to Paris to proceed to the Nomination of a King Now this Nomination had been the indubitable ruine of France and possibly caused the absolute expulsion of our Henry For there was much appearance and likelyhood that all the Catholick Potentates of Christendome would have acknowledged that King whom the States should have elected that the Clergy would have done the like and that the Nobility and people who followed not our Henry but because he had the Title of King would not have made conscience to have quitted him for another to whom the Estates had granted it To the end therefore he might hinder this mortal blow he wisely advised with himself to propose a Conference of the Lords of his Party with these pretended Estates The Duke of Mayenne was well content with this Expedient because he saw well that the King of Spain desired that he who should be elected should espouse his Daughter Isabella-Clara-Eugenia and thus the Election could not regard him since he was married and had Children but likewise out of fear lest they should hearken to an acknowledgement of our Henry he under hand stirred up some Doctors to say That this Conference with a Heretick was unlawful and by vertue of this advice he wrought in such manner that the Estates agreed they would not confer with him neither directly nor indirectly touching his Establishment nor touching the Doctrine of the Faith but that they would confer with the Catholicks holding his party for the good of Religion and the publick Repose The Legat knowing well what this would come to endeavoured with all his power to hinder the effect of this Deliberation of the Estates but in the end he was constrained to lend his hand to it The Conference was then concluded and the Deputies of one part and the other assembled at the Borough of Surene near Paris The Estates were assembled in the month of January in the year 1593. and sate in the great Hall of the Louvre There were few Noble-men a great number of Prelates and a sufficient quantity of Deputies of the third Estate but the most part Creatures of the Duke of Mayenne or payed by the King of Spain This Prince desiring at any price soever to have the Crown for his Daughter had destined to send a puissant Army into France which should hasten the Resolutions of the Estates but happily for our Henry the incomparable Duke of Parma was dead and the Spaniard had not in the Low-Countries any Captains capable of great things The Count of Mansfield had order to lead his Troops the Duke of Mayenne went to meet him They re-took Noyon but that was all afterward they melted away and became so weak that not daring to pass any farther they returned into Flanders where Prince Maurice of Nassaw found them sufficient employment During the Siege of Noyon the young Byron to whom the King had newly given the charge of Admiral yeilded up by the Duke of Espernon in change for the Government of Provence had besieged Selles in Berry to take that Thorne out of the foot of the City of Tours The King perceiving that this paltry Town held him too long time had called him thence to go and relieve Noyon which notwithstanding he durst not enterprize These little disgraces wonderfully puffed up the hearts of the Kings enemies cool'd his friends and eâ—boldned the faction The third party who had kept under a covert now began to move and likewise a report ran that there were some Catholicks who had conspired to seize the person of the King in Mantes under colour of snatching him out of the hands of the Hugonots and would carry him
then well-speaking I aspire to those glorious Titles of Redeemer and Restorer of France Already by the favours of Heaven by the counsels of my faithful Servants and by the sword of my brave and generous Nobility from which I distinguish not my Princes the Quality of Gentleman being the fairest Title we passess I have delivered it from Slavery and Ruine I desire at present to restore it to its former force and to its ancient splendour Participate my Subjects in this second glory as you have participated in the first I have not called you hither as my Predecessors have done to oblige you blindly to approve my will I have caused you to be assembled to receive your counsels to believe them to follow them and in a word to put my self in Guardianship under your hands This is a desire which seldome possesses Kings grey-hair'd and victorious like my self but the love I bear my Subjects and the extream desire I have to conserve my Estate makes me finde all things facile and honourable The Assembly moved even to the bottom of their hearts by such tender words laboured with affection to finde wherewith to continue the War and to this effect they ordained should be gathered one years payment of all Officers Salaries and that for two years only there should be be imposed one Sol per livre on all which entred into walled Cities except onely for Corn which is the nourishment of the poor This last means caused much trouble in the Provinces beyond the Loire But Rosny whom the King had some moneths before made Superintendant no less able then faithful as we shall speak otherwhere joyned to this stock a great sum of money which the Receivers had diverted and which he made return to the Kings Coffers In the mean time the King of Spain finding the forces both of his body and minde to diminish by a languor which after degenerated into a horrible malady feared lest his weakness should cause Revolts in his Countries so distant one from the other Moreover he had expended his Revenues and passionately desired to give the Low-Countries to his dearest Daughter Isabella and for these Reasons had made known to the holy Father that he desired peace and his Holiness had sent the General of the Cordeliers to dispose him more particularly to it But now when some progress was made in it there happened an accident which retarded it for more then a year Hernand Teillo Governour of Dourlens for the Spaniard being advertized of the evil order which the Burgesses of Amiens kept in the Guard of their City surprized it one morning about nine of the Clock when they were at Sermon it being Lent-time having caused the Gate to be pestred with a Cart laden with Nuts of which a sack was purposely spilt to amuse the Souldiers of the Guard So troublesome news astonished the King so much the more because he was at present rejoycing and divertizing himself at Paris He had given order that all important packets should be brought directly to him and not to others and that they should bring him them at what hours soever so that being in a profound sleep after dancing a Ball a Currier came to waken him to tell him this accident He immediately leapt out of bed and sent for three or four of his greatest confidents to consult with them They all judged that it arrived in a very unhappy conjuncture because the Duke of Merceur was powerful in Brittany the rest of the factions being yet concealed under their ashes the Hugonots making Cabals or secret Councels the consternation of Paris being very great which beheld it self by this means become a Frontier But this Heroick courage whom so many perils could not affright was not startled by this on the contrary he resolved to encounter it at first and go immediately to invest Amiens before the Spaniards were longer setled in it His greatest Captains were not of this advice but notwithstanding that he who had greater knowledge and more constancy then them all enterprized it couragiously not so much said he out of opinion of humane means as out of the confidence he had in God who had alwaies done him the grace to assist him And in truth it may be said that he assisted him more visibly in this occasion then he had ever done For he discovered many conspiracies against his person amongst the rest of one under Religious orders whom an agent of the King of Spain as it was said would have induced to kill him and very dangerous Cabals which the mony of the same King upheld at Paris which observed all his motions and had designed one day to seize his person at his Castle of St. Germaine in Laye Moreover his people answered as they ought to his Paternal affection not denying him any thing that he demanded to hasten the fiege and all the Leaguers desiring to testifie to him their resentments for all his goodnesses served him so faithfully and vigorously in this occasion whilst others wavered and kept their stations that he was obliged to say that he acknowledged that the greatest part of that people hated not his person but only the Hugonot Religion The siege was long difficult and doubtful and if the King of Spain would have imployed all his power the King could never have succeeded in it but he was become very Melancholy he desired onely repose and cared no more for Conquests so that he gave not any of those assistances which the Arch-Duke demanded The Arch-Duke ceased not however to use the greatest endeavour he could to raise the siege He presented himself before the Quarter of Long-Pre with very great forces on a day when he was not expected which put the French into so great a fear and disorder that had he known how to serve himself of the occasion and had not lost time in consultation he had put those three thousand men into the City which he had destined for it The King returning from Hunting whither he was gone found a general fear throughout his Army and likewise some of his principal Chiefs quite daunted In so great a danger neither his heart nor his head failed him he dissembled his fear gave orders without passion and shewed himself every where with a cheerful countenance and with discourses as resolute as after a victory He made his forces nimbly draw into the field of battail which he had chosen three daies before eight hundred paces from the lines From this place having considered the excellent order of the Spanish Army the little assurance of his and the weakness of his Posts where he had not had leasure to fortifie himself he was a little moved and doubted of the success of the day When leaning on the Pummel of his Saddle with his hat in his hand and lifting up his eyes to heaven he uttered these words with a loud voice Oh! Lord if it be to day thou
wilt punish me as my sins deserve I offer my head to thy Justice spare not the Culpable but Lord for thy holy mercies sake take pity of the poor Kingdom and smite not the flock for the offence of the shepherd It cannot be expressed of what efficacy these words were they were in a moment carried through the whole Army and it seemed as if some vertue from heaven had given courage to the French The Arch-Duke therefore finding them resolved and in good Countenance durst not pass farther Some other attempts he afterwards made which did not succeed and he retired by night into the Country of Artois where he dismissed his Army In fine Hernand Teillo being slain by a Musquet-shot the besieged capitulated and the King established Governour in the City the Seigneur de Vic a man of great order and exact discipline who by his command began to build a Citadel there At his departure from Amiens the King led his Army to the very Gates of Arras to visit the Arch-Duke he remained three days in battalia and saluted the City with some Volleys of Cannon Afterward seeing that nothing appeared he retired towards France ill satisfied said he gallantly with the courtesie of the Spaniards who would not advance so much as one pace to receive him but had with an ill grace refused the honour he did them The Marshal of Byron served him extraordinarily at this siege and the King when he was returned to Paris and that those of the City gave him a reception truly Royal he told them shewing them the Marshal Gentlemen see there the Marshal de Byron whom I do willingly present both to my friends and to my enemies There rested now no appearance of the League in France but onely the Duke of Merceur yet keeping a corner of Brittany The King had often granted him Truces and offered him great Conditions but he was so intoxicated with an ambition to make himself Duke of that Country that he found out daily new fancies to delay the concluding one imagining that time might afford him some favourable revolution and flattering himself with I know not what prophecies which assured him that the King should dye in two years In fine the King wearied with so many protractions turns his head that way resolving to chastise his obstinacy as it deserved He had been lost without remedy if he had not been advised to save himself by offering his only daughter to the eldest son of the Fair Gabriella Dutchess of Beaufort who is at this day Duke of Vendosme His Deputies could at first obtain nothing else but that he should immediately depart out of Brittany and deliver those places which he held which done his Majesty would grant him oblivion for all past and receive him into his favour But the King being of a tender heart and desiring to advance his natural son by so rich and noble a marriage granted him a very advantagious Edict which was verified in the Parliament as all those of the Chiefs of the League were This accommodation was made at Angiers the Contract of marriage passed at Chasteau and the affiances celebrated with the same Magnificence as if he had been a Legitimate son of France He was four years old and the Virgin six The King made gift to him of the Dutchy of Vendosme by the same right that other Dukes hold them which the Parliament verified not without great repugnancy and with this condition that it should be no president for the other goods of the Kings patrimony which by the Laws of the Realm were esteemed reunited to the Crown from the time of his coming to it From Angiers the King would pass into Brittany He stayed some time at Nantes from thence he went to Rennes where the Estates were held he passed about two months in this City in feasts joys and divertisements but yet ceasing not seriously to imploy himself to hasten the expedition of many affairs For it is to be observed that this great Prince employed himself all the mornings in serious things and dedicated the rest of the day to his divertisements yet not in such manner that he would not readily quit his greatest pleasures when there was any thing of importance to be acted and he still gave express order not to defer the advertizing him of such things He took away a great many superfluous Garisons in this Country suppressed many imposts which the Tyranny of many perticular persons had introduced during the War disbanded all those pilfering Troops which laid waste the plain Country sent forth the Provosts into the Campagne against the theeves which were in great number restored Justice to its authority which License had weakned and gathered four Millions of which the Estates of the Country of their own free will levyed eight hundred thousand crowns So he laboured profitably for these two ends which he ought most to intend to wit the ease of his people and the increase of his treasures Two things which are incompatible when a Prince is not Just and a good manager or lets his mony be managed by others without taking diligent care of his accounts Thus was a calme of Peace restored to France within it self after ten years Civil Wars by a particular grace of God on this Kingdom by the labour diligence goodness and valour of the best King that ever was And in the mean time a peace was seriously endeavoured between the two Crowns of France and Spain The two Kings equally wished it our Henry because he passionately desired to ease his people and to let them regain their forces after so many bloody and violent agitations and Philip because he found himself incline to the end of his days and that his Son Philip the third was not able to sustain the burthen of a War against so great a King The Deputies of one part and the other had been assembled for three months in the little City of Vervins with the Popes Nuntio Those of France were Pompone of Believre and Nicholas Bruslard both Counsellours of State and the last likewise President of the Parliament who acting agreeably and without jealousies determined on the most difficult Articles in very little time and according to the order they received from the King signed the peace on the second of May. The 12. of the same month it was published at Vervin It would be too long to insert here all the Articles of the Treaty I shall say only that it was agreed that the Spaniards should surrender all the places they had taken in Picardy and Blavet which they yet held in Brittany That the Duke of Savoy should be comprehended in this Treaty provided he delivered to the King the City of Berry which he held in Provence And for the Marquesate of Saluces which that Duke had taken from France towards the latter end of the Reign of Henry the third that it should be
the true Religion The King answered plainly and prudently to those that made him these reports That he knew the heart of Byron that it was faithful and affectionate that in truth his tongue was intemperate but that in favour of those good actions he had done he could pardon his ill discourses Now two things compleated his loss and obliged the King to search into the very bottom of his wicked designs The first was the too great number of his friends and the affection of the Souldiery which he made boast of as if they had been absolute dependants on his Command and capable to do whatever he would The second the most particular friendship he had with the Count d' Auvergne brother by the Mothers side to Madamoiselle d' Entragues who was called the Marchioness of Verneuil For by the one he begat a jealousie in the King and made himself be feared and by the other he rendred himself odious to the Queen who imagined and possibly not without cause that he would make a party in the Kingdom to maintain that Rival and her Children to her prejudice Now the King desiring to search the farthest he could into this affair sends for Laffin who comes to Fountain-bleau more then a month before the King departed towards Poictou He had at first some very secret entertainments with him afterwards very publick ones and gave him great quantities of Papers amongst other those Memoires or Notes written by Byrons own hand of which we have before spoken That which Laffin revealed to the King begat great inquietudes in his spirit so that in all the voyage of Poictiers he was observed extremely pensive and the Court after his example was plunged in a sad astonishment though none could divine the cause of it At his return from Poictiers to Fountainbleau he sent for the Duke of Byron to come to him The Duke at first doubted to go and excused himself with many weak reasons He presses him and sends to him some of his Esquires afterwards the President Janin brought him word that he should receive no harme which was provided he put himself into an estate to receive grace and aggravated not his crime by his pride and by his impenitence Byron knew that Laffin had made a voyage to Court but he was more assured of that man then of himself Moreover the Baron of Lux his confident who was then there had told him that Laffin had without doubt kept his Counsel and not revealed any thing which might hurt him De Lux believed so because the King after having entertained Laffin had told him with a merry countenance I am glad I have seen this man he hath eased me of many distrusts and suspitions of spirit In the mean time the friends of Byron writ to him that he should not be such a fool as to bring his head to the Court that it would be more secure for him to justifie himself by Attorny then in person But notwithstanding this advice and against biting of his own conscience after having some time deliberated he took post and came to Fountain-bleau now when the King no longer expected him but prepared to go seek him The Histories of that time and many other relations recount exactly all the circumstances of the imprisonment process and death of that Marshal I shall content my self to relate onely the chief The insolence and blindness of this unhappy man cannot be sufficiently admired at nor on the contrary the goodness and clemency of the King be enough praised who endeavoured to overcome his obstinacy Confession of a fault is the first mark of repentance The King taking him in private instantly conjured him to declare all those intelligences and Treaties he had made with the Duke of Savoy engaging his faith that he would bury all in an eternal oblivion That he knew well enough all the particulars but desired to understand them from his mouth swearing to him that though his fault should be greater then the worst of crimes his confession should be followed by an absolute pardon Byron in stead of acknowledging it or at least excusing himself with modesty as speaking to his King who was offended insolently answered him that he was innocent and that he was not come to justifie himself but to understand the names of his back-biters and demand justice which otherwise he would do himself Though this too haughty answer aggravated much his offence the King ceased not sweetly to tell him that he should think farther of it and that he hoped he would take better counsel The same day after supper the Count of Soissons exhorted him likewise on the part of the King to confess the truth concluding his Remonstrance with that sentence of the Wiseman Sir know that the anger of the King is as the Messenger of Death But he answered him with more fierceness then he had done the King On the morrow morning the King walking in his Gardens conjured him the second time to confess the Conspiracy but he could draw nothing from him but protestations of innocency and threatnings of his accusers Upon this the King felt himself agitated even at the bottom of his soul with divers thoughts not knowing what he ought to do The affection he had born him and his great services withheld his just anger on the other side the blackness of his crime his pride and obstinacy gave reins to his justice and obliged him to punish the criminal Besides that the danger with which both his Estate and Person were threatned seemed impossible to be prevented but by cutting off the head of a conspiracy whose bottom was scarce visible In this trouble of spirit he retired into his Closet and falling on his knees prayed to God with all his heart to inspire him with a good resolution He was accustomed to do thus in all his great affairs esteeming God as his surest Counsellour and most faithful assistance At his coming from prayers as he said afterwards he found himself delivered from the trouble wherein he was and resolved to cast Byron into the hands of Justice if his Council found that the proofs they had by writing were so strong that there need no doubt be made of his Condemnation He chose for this purpose four persons of those which composed it to wit Bellievre Villeroy Rosny and Sillery and shewed them the proofs They all told him with one voice that they were more then sufficient Yet after this he would make a third trial on this proud heart He employed this last time Remonstrances Prayers Conjurations and assurances of pardon to oblige him to acknowledge his crime but he answered still in the same manner adding that if he knew his accusers he would break their heads In fine the King wearied with his Rhodomontadoes and obstinacy left him giving him these for his last words Well then we must learn the truth in another place Farewel Baron
of Good-fortune who foretold that he should be a very great Lord but that he should have his head cut off at which being troubled he outragiously beat him That another Diviner told him he should be King if a blow of a sword behinde hindred it not And another that he should die by the hand of a Burgonian and it was found that the Executioner who cut off his head was a Native of Bourgongne Divers others were reported but to speak the truth the most of these Predictions are ordinarily known after the Events and though they do effectually precede the event it must be believed by chance and not by knowledge the Prognosticators telling so many stories that it is impossible but some should happen It is therefore a great wisdome to disabuse our spirits of these sorts of curiosities for besides that they have no foundation in Reason we offend God by believing them and give money to let our selves be fool'd and led by the Noses nor do ever wise men give any faith to them though sometimes they serve to deceive the simple Laffin and Renaze had their full pardon One named Hebert Secretary to Marshal Byron suffered the ordinary and extraordinary Question without confessing any thing yet he was condemned to perpetual imprisonment but a little after the King gave him his liberty yet the resentment of what he had suffered having more power over him then the favour he fled into Spain where he finished his days The Baron of Lux Byrons chief Confident came to Court on the Kings word He told him all that he knew and possibly more by which means he obtained his pardon in what form he pleased and was confirmed in his Charges and in the Government of the Castle of Dijon and the City of Beaune The King kept the Government of Bourgongne for Monseur le Dauphine and gave the Lieutenancy to Bellegarde who afterwards was Governour in chief Montbarot Lord Breston was put into the Bastille upon some suspitions had of him but being found innocent the Gates were soon opened to him The Baron of Fontanelles a Gentleman of a very good house had not the same fortune for for having a hand in the conspiracy and besides that treating of his own accord with the Spaniards to deliver to them a little Island on the Coast of Bretany he was broke on the Wheele in the Greve by sentence of the great Council The King in consideration of his house which was very illustrious granted to his Kindred that in the sentence he should not be called by his proper Name but History could not be silent in it The Duke of Bouillon finding himself likewise somewhat involved in Byrons business judged it convenient to retire into his Viscounty of Turenne where the King being advised that he yet plotted something sent for him to come and justifie himself In stead of coming he writ to him a very eloquent Letter by which he represented to him That having understood that his Accusers were both extreamly wicked and very cunning he entreated him to dispense with his coming to Court and think fit that to satisfie his Majesty all France and his own Honour his Process should be made at the Chamber of Castres by vertue of the priviledge he had granted to those of the pretended Religion and that he would send thither his Accusers and Accusations In pursuance of which he came to Castres presented himself to the Chamber and took an Act of his appearance The King was not at all pleased with this Answer blamed the Judges of Castres for having given him that Act and sent to tell him that there was yet no question of leaving him over to Justice and that therefore he should the rather come Being advertized by those friends he had at Court of the Kings resolution who had sent to him the President Commartin to let him understand his will he departed from Castres went to Orange passed by Geneva and so retired to Heidelberg to the Prince Palatine saying like a sage Politician as he was That he ought neither to Capitulate with his King nor yet go near him whilst his anger lasted This business lay a breeding some years we shall see in its place how it terminated It must here be acknowledged that the favour of Rosny served in this time for a pretext to almost all the discontents and all the conspiracies of the great ones The King had truely raised him by four or five great Charges because he believed he could not sufficiently recompence those services he had rendred him And in that this Prince merits onely praise for a good Master cannot do too much for a good and faithful servant But though the troublesome and discontented Spirits might complain that the King gave him too many Charges and Employments yet they could not lament his giving him too much power or that he gave it to him alone for we may with truth sayâ— that Rosny had not the liberty to do the least grace of his own accord He was forced in all things to address himself directly to the King who would himself distribute his favours and recompences to those he knew worthy that they might acknowledge the whole Obligation and dependence from him This great Prince knew well That he who gives all may do all and that he who gives nothing is nothing but what it shall please him who gives all He had too much Honour and too much Glory to suffer that another should act in the most noble Function of his Royal Authority Whatever favour or whatever familiarity any had with him if they were wanting to conserve it with a profound respect or should speak or act with him otherwise then with their Master and with their King they would doubtless as soon fall into disgrace and this was as we have observed one of the causes of Byron's loss Judge then if he who would not that any should in any thing in the world act the Companion with him would have endured that they should act the Soveraign Judge if he would have been contented that his Ministers should simply have taken his consent in a business or that they should speak to him of things in manner of discharge after having themselves resolved them No without doubt He would that all Resolutions should come from his own Head and from his own Motion that the choice should be his that he alone should have the power to raise and throw down and that none but himself should be Arbitrator in the Fortunes of his Subjects Not but that he considered as it was just the Recommendations of the great ones of his Estate and of his Ministers in the conferring of his Favours Employments and Charges but it was still in such a manner that he made them to whom he gave them know that they ought onely to hold them from him which the following Example well demonstrates The Bishoprick of
difficult and very rare for those who are born to a Crown and bred up to a near hope to mount into a Throne after the death of their father or who finde themselves too soon raised to it ever to learn well the Art of raigning be it their not being so happy as to be educated under the care of a Mother so vertuous and so affectionate as that great Queen who hath so diligently caused to be instructed King Lewis the 14 her son in all good Rules and in all Maximes of Christian Policy or so happy as to be blessed with a Minister so wise and so interested for their good as that young Monarch hath found in the person of Cardinal Mazarine The reasons of this are that ordinarily those persons into whose hands they fall in their infancy desiring to conserve to themselves the Authority and the Government in stead of obliging or indeed constraining them to apply their spirits to things solid and necessary act so cunningly that they employ them onely in trifles unworthy of them and amuse them with so much subtilty that it is impossible that a young Prince can know it In stead of laying incessantly before their eyes the true Grandeur of Kings which consists in the exercise of their Authority they feed them onely with appearances and images of that greatness as are exteriour pomps and magnificences wherein there is onely pride and vanity In fine in stead of instructing them diligently in what they ought to know and in what they ought to do for all the knowledge of Kings ought to be reduced into practice they keep them in a profound ignorance of all their Affairs that they may always be Masters and that they may never be able to be without them From whence it happens that a Prince though he be great knowing his own weakness judges himself incapable to govern and from that moment wherein he is possessed with this opinion he must needs renounce the conduct of his Estate if that he have not indeed extraordinary natural qualities and a heart truly Royal. Moreover these persons would seize themselves of all Avenues and hinder â—onest men from approaching those tender ears or if they cannot hinder their approaches they are not wanting to render them suspected or to deprive them of all belief in the spirit of these young Princes making them pass with them either for their enemies or people ill affected or else for ridiculous or impertinent Moreover they have some Emissaries who infatuate them with flatteries with excessive praises and adorations who never let them know any thing but what shall be to their ends who improve their defaults by continual complacences who make them believe they have a perfect intelligence of all things when they know nothing who make them conceive that Royalty is onely a Soveraign Bauble that travel befits not a King and that the functions of Royalty being laborious are by consequence base and servile In this manner they soon disgust them with their own Command they accustom them to have Masters because they have yet neither so much knowledge nor so much courage as to be Masters And thus these poor Princes being not at all contradicted but always adored nor having any experience of themselves or ever suffered pain or necessity become often presumptuous and absolute in their fancies and believing their puissance to have Peerage with that of Gods they begin to consider nothing but their passion their pleasure and humour as if Mankinde were created for them whilst they were created wisely to order and govern Mankind who let profusion and waste be made of the life and goods of their subjects and who with an unparallel'd insensibility hearken no more to their Laments and Groans then to the Lowings of a slaughtered Ox. On the contrary those who come to the Crown at a greater distance and in a riper age are almost always better instructed in their affairs they apply themselves more strongly to Govern their Estates they will alwaies hold the Rudder they are juster more tender and more merciful they know better how to manage their Revenues they conserve with more care the blood and the goods of their subjects they more willingly hear their complaints and do better Justice they do not with so much vigor use their absolute power which oft-times makes the people despair and causes strange revolutions If the reasons why they are so be sought they are because they have been in a Post or place where they have often heard truth where they have understood what ignominy it is for a Prince not to enjoy his own personal power but to leave it to another where though they have had some flatterers they have likewise had open enemies who by censuring their faults have induced a Reformation where they have heard blamed the faults of that Government under which they were and have blamed them themselves so that they are obliged to do better and not to follow what they have condemned where they have studied to govern themselves wisely because they were dependants and fearful of punishment where they have often heard the complaints of particular persons and seen the miseries of the people in fine where they have understood by suffering what evil is and to have pity of those who suffer injustice because they themselves have proved the rigour of a too high and severe Government We have two fair Examples in Lewis the twelfth surnamed the Father of the people and in our Henry two of the best Kings who in the last ages have born the Scepter of the Flowers de Lis. Now who would gather together and worthily compose all the Heroick vertues the Noble actions and Eminent qualities of Henry the Great would make him a Crown much more precious and resplendent then that wherewith his head was adorned on the day of his Coronation That treasure of freedom and sincerity free and exempt from malice from gall and bitterness should be the matter more precious then Gold His Renown and his Glory which will never have end should be the Circle His Victories of Coutras of Arques of Yvry of Fontaine-Franzoise his Negotiations of the peace of Vervin of his accommodations between the Venetians and the Pope of the Truce between the Spaniard and the Hollander and that great League with all the Princes of Christendom for execution of the designe of which we have spoken should be the branches Then his war like valour his generosity his constancy his credit his wisdome his prudence his activity his vigilance his oeconomy his justice and a hundred other virtues should be the precious stones Amongst which that Paternal and Cordial love he had for his people would cast a fire more lively and bright then the Carbuncle The firmness of his courage alwaies invincible in dangers would bear the Price and Beauty of a Diamond And his unparallel'd Clemency which raised up those enemies he had overthrown would appear like an Emerald which
utmost parts of the Kingdom where he was like a banished man and led him by the hand to the fairest Theatre in France but only to make known his goodness and virtue and put him in an Estate to gain that Succession to which had he been absent he had never been called But on the other side when the multitude of his Puissant enemies which armed themselves against him are considered the small Treasure and few Forces he had the Obstacle of his Religion and a thousand other difficulties it could not be certainly judged whether the Crown was ordained for him to enjoy or fallen upon his head to crush him in Pieces and there might be reason to say that if this Conjuncture Elevated him it was upon a Throne trembling and erected on the brink of Precipices Whilst Henry the third was in his Agony our Henry held many Tumultuary Councels in the same lodgings with those whom he Esteemed his most faithful Servants So soon as he understood he was expired he retired to his quarter at Meudon and attired himself in the mourning Purple he was presently followed by a great quantity of Noblemen who accompanied him as well for Curiosity as affection The Hugonots with those Troops which he had led presently swore Allegiance to him but this number was very small Some of the Catholicks as the Marshal d' Aumâ—nt Givry and Humieres swore Service to him until death and that willingly without desiring any Condition of him but the greatest part of the others being either estranged by inclination or exasperated by some discontent or else believing now to have found the time to make their Services be bought kept at a greater distance and held several little Assemblies in divers places where they formed a number of Fantastick designs Each of these proposed to make themselves Sovereigns of some City or some Province as the Governours had done in the decadence of the house of Charlemagne The Marshal of Byron among others would have had the County of Perigord and Sancy not to reject him spoke to the King This Proposition was very dangerous for if he denied it he incensed him and if he accorded to his demand he opened the way to all others to make the like and so the Kingdome would be rent in Peices It was only his great spirit and understanding which could walk safely in so dangerous a path he therefore charged Sancy to assure him on his part of his affection of which he would willingly in time and place give him all the markes a good Subject could expect from his Sovereign but at the same time he furnished him with so many puissant reasons wherefore he could not accord to what he desired that Sancy being himself first perswaded found it not difficult to work the same effect on the spirit of Byron whom he obliged not only to renounce that pretence but likewise to protest that he would never suffer any peice of the Estate to be dismembred in favour of whomsoever We may without doubt conclude that the great Henry did reason puissantly and that he explained his reasons in the best manner since he could in occasions so important perswade such able Spirits against their proper interests Byron being thus gained went with Sancy to assure themselves of those Suisses which Sancy had brought to the deceased King but who being of the Catholick Cantons made some difficulty to bear Arms for a Hugonot Prince and that without new order from their Superiour As for the French Troops of the Defunct King it was not so easie to gain them The Lords who Commanded them or who had their Chiefs under their dependance had every one divers designs one would have one thing and the other another according to their several interests or Caprichio's There were six Princes of the house of Bourbon to wit the old Cardinal of Vendosme the Count of Soissons the Prince of Gonti the Duke of Montpensier and the Prince of Dombes his Son which in stead of being his firmest Prop gave him no little inquietude because there was none of them which had not his particular pretence which proved to him a continual Obstacle Many of the Lords which were in the Army were not very well intentionated particularly Henry Grand Prior of France Natural Son to Charles the ninth after Count of Auvergne and Duke of Angoulesme the Duke of Espernon and Termes Belle-garde who out of the fear they had formerly had lest he should deprive them of the favour of their Master had opposed him in divers Rencounters For the Courtiers as Francis d' O and Manou his brother Old-Castle and many others they knowing that our Henry detested their Villanous Debaucheries and that he would not prove a person of so ill management as to lavish out his Revenues to supply their Luxury had no great inclination for him Nevertheless hoping to find things better they resolved to declare in his favour but with such Conditions as should restrain and bridle him and in some manner oblige him to depend on them For this purpose there met an Assembly of some Noblemen at d' O's Palace a man Voluptuous Prodigal and by consequence not very scrupulous but who at present made Conscience a Cloak to render himself necessary who there resolved not to acknowledge him till he were a Catholick Francis d' O accompanied with some Noblemen had the confidence to carry to the King the Resolutions of this Assembly and added a studied discourse to perswade him to return to the Catholick Religion but the King who had already past over his greatest fears made them an answer so mixt with sweetness and gravity with spirit and reservedness that Couragiously repulsing them without too severely taunting them he testified to them that he desired to conserve them his but that after all he feared not much the loss of them Some time after the Nobility after divers little Assemblies held a great one with Francis de Luxembourg Duke of Piney There many Propositions being made at last the Dukes of Montpensier and Piney subtilly Matraged the Spirits and Steered the Opinions of the most importunate to this Resolution That they would acknowledge Henry for King upon these Conditions 1. Provided that he would cause himself to be instructed for they presupposed conversion must necessarily follow instruction 2. That he should not permit the exercise of any but the Catholick Religion 3. That he should neither give charge nor employment to the Hugonots 4. That he should permit the Assembly to depute Agents to the Pope to let him understand and agree to the Causes which Obliged the Nobility to remain in the Service of a Prince separated from the Romane Church The King had the knowledge of this Resolution from the Duke of Piney he thanked them for their zeal for the Conservation of the Estate and the affection they had for his person promising them that he would sooner
but I with my Gray Jacket will give you good effects I am all Gray without but you shall find me Gold within I will see your desires and answer them the most favourably I can possible All his Prudence and all his Address were not too much to teach him to govern himself so that both the Catholicks and Pope might be content with his Conduct and the Hugonots have no cause to be alarmed or cantonize themselves His Duty and his Conscience carried him to the assistance of the first but Reason of State and the great Obligations he had to the last permitted him not to make them despair To keep therefore a necessary temperature he granted them an Edict more ample then the precedent It was called The Edict of Nantes because it was concluded the year before in that City whilst he was there by this he granted them all liberty for the exercise of their Religion and likewise license to be admitted to Charges to Hospitals to Colledges and to have Schools in certain places and preaching every where and many other things of which they are since deprived by reason of their Rebellions and divers Enterprizes The Parliament strongly opposed it for more then a year but in the end when they were made understand that not to accord that security to the Hugonots who were both powerful and quarrelsome were to rekindle new War in the Kingdom they confirmed it On the other side to sweeten the Pope who might be troubled at this Edict the King shewed him all possible manner of respect and strenuously embraced his interests as appeared in the action of Ferrara in the years 1597. and 1598. This Dutchy is a Fief Male of the holy Seat of which the Popes had formerly invested the Lords of the house of Est in charge of its reversion in default of legitimate Males Alphonso d' Est second of that name and last Duke died in the year 1597. without Children and had left great Treasures to Caesar d' Est Bastard to Alphonso the first his Kinsman He had done what possibly he could to obtain the Investiture of the Dutchy on this Bastard who not able to obtain it yet ceased not to take possession of it after the death of Alphonso the second resolving to maintain it by force of Arms. Clement the eighth was obliged to make War against him to dispossess him the Princes of Italy took part in the Quarrel and the Dukes of Guise and Nemours were upon the point to undertake the defence of Caesar whose near Kinsmen they were being the issues of Anne d' Est Daughter of Hercules the second Duke of Ferrara and of Madam Renee de France for that Anne in her first marriage had espoused Francis Duke of Guise and in her second James Duke of Nemours The King of Spain likewise favoured him underhand not desiring that the Pope should grow greater in Italy by the re-union of that Dutchy But Henry the great was not wanting to take this occasion to offer his Sword and his Forces to the holy Father The Allies knowing it were extreamly disheartned and he constrained to treat with the Pope to whom he surrendred all the Dutchy of Ferrara There remained to him onely the Cities of Modena and Regia which the Emperour maintained to be Fief of the Empire and of which he gave him the Investiture From whence came the present Dukes of Modena If the heat which the King testified in this occasion for the interests of the holy Seat sensibly obliged the Pope that care which he made dayly appear to bring back the Hugonots into the bosome of the Church was no less agreeable to him He acted to this purpose in such a manner that from day to day many of the most understanding and of the best quality were converted But that which was more important was his taking the young Prince of Conde from the hands of the Hugonots who had kept him diligently at St. John d' Angely ever since the death of his Father which happened in the year 1587. and brought him up in the false Religion with great hope to make him one day their Chief and Protector The King considering how it would be both prejudicial to the safety of the young Prince and to his own interests to leave him longer there knew so well how to gain the principal of the party that they suffered him to be brought to Court and he gave him for Governour John Marquess of Pisani a Lord of a rare merit and of a wisdome without reproach who forgot not to instruct him well in the Catholick Religion and in the truest sentiments of Honour and Vertue He was yet but seven or eight years old when he came to nine the King gave him the Government of Guyenne loving him tenderly and cherishing him as his presumptive Successour During this calm of the peace nothing was spoken of but rejoycings feasts and marriages That of the Infanta of Spain Isabella-Clara-Eugenia and of the Arch-Duke Albert was solemnized in the Low-Countries and that of Madam Katherine sister of the King with Henry Duke of Bar eldest son to Charles the second Duke of Lorrain at Paris Katherine was forty years of age more agreeable then fair having one Leg a little short She was very spiritual loved Learning and knew much for a woman but was an obstinate Hugonot The King feared lest she should marry some Protestant Prince who by this means might become Protector of the Hugonots and be like another King in France by reason of which he gave her to the Duke of Bar thinking moreover to gain more belief among the Catholicks by allying himself with the house of Lorrain Before this he had used all possible means to convert her even to the employing of threats but not being able to do it he said one day to the Duke of Bar My Brother it is you must vanquish her There was some difficulty about the place and the Ceremony of Celebration of this marriage the Duke would have it done at the Church and the Princess by a Hugonot-Minister The King found a mean he caused it to be done in his Closet whither he led his Sister by the hand and commanded his natural Brother who had for about two years been Archbishop of Rouen to marry them This new Archbishop at first made some refusal of it alledging the Canons but the King representing to him that his Closet was a consecrated place and that his presence supplyed the default of all solemnities the poor Archbishop had no longer power to resist him This Marriage being made for the good of the Catholick Religion it seemed that the Pope should have been content Nevertheless not willing to suffer an ill that a good might come of it he declared that the Duke of Bar had incurred Excommunication for having without the dispensation of the Church contracted with an Heretick nor ever could the Duke
what submission soever he made obtain Absolution It was necessary for God to lend his hand This Princess died three years after with sadness and melancholy to see her self live in a discontented manner with her Husband who dayly pressed her to turn Catholick Besides the solemnities of these Marriages many other things entertained the Court. Two notable Changes one of the Duke of Joyeuse the other of the Marchioness of Bel ' Isle caused its astonishment The Duke of Joyeuse who had quitted the habit of Capuchin to become chief of the League in Languedoc on a fair day without saying any thing to any body went and cast himself into his Convent at Paris and re-took the habit Few days after there was much astonishment to see him with that habit of penitence preach in the Pulpit whom they had seen the week before dancing of Balls as one of the most Gallant It was said that the holy Exhortations of his Mother who from time to time put him in remembrance of his Vow and some ambiguous words which the King had thrown out in converse with him made him think that he could no longer live in the world either with safety of Conscience or with Honour The Marchioness of Bell ' Isle sister to the Duke of Longueville and Widow of the Marquess of Bell ' Isle eldest son of the Marshal de Retz having received some secret displeasure renounced likewise the world and went and shut her self up in the Convent of the Feuillantines at Tolouse where she took the veil and finished her days After this came News to the Court that Phillipin Bastard to the Duke of Savoy was killed in a Duel by the Seigneur de Crequy of whom it might be without flattery said That he was one of the most gallant and bravest men of his time The History of this Combat may be found written in so many places and is yet so firm in the memory of all that wear swords that it would be superfluous to recount the particularities The Chase was now the Kings ordinary divertisement It is recounted that Hunting in the Forest of Fountain-bleau accompanied by many Lords he heard a great noise of Horns Hunters and Dogs which seemed to be a great way distant but all of an instant approached them Some of his company who were twenty paces before him saw a great black man among the Bushes who affrighted them in such manner that they could not tell what became of him but they heard him cry out to them with a rank and affrightful voice M' attendez-vous or m' entendez-vous or amendez-vous that is Do you hear me or Do you understand me or else Amend your selves The Wood-men and Country-people thereabouts said That it was no extraordinary thing for they had often seen this black man whom they named the Great Hunter with a pack of Hounds which hunted at full cry but never did harm to any Infinite account is made in all Countries in the world of like illusions in Hunting If we may give any credit to them we may believe them either to be the tricks of Sorcerers or of some evil spirits to whom God gives permission to convince the incredulous and make them see that there are substances separated and a being above man Now if Prodigies are signes as some have said of some great and dire Events it may be believed that this presaged the strange death of the fair Gabriella which happened some days after The love which the King had for her instead of being extinguished by enjoyment was come to such a point that she had dared to demand of him that he should acknowledge his fault and legitimate his Children by a subsequent marriage nor durst he absolutely refuse her this grace but entertained her still with hopes Those who love the glory of this great King can difficultly believe that he would have done such an action which had without doubt begot a low opinion of him and again thrown him under his peoples hatred However it was to be feared that the allurements of this woman who had found his weakness with the flattery of the Courtiers whom she had almost all gained either by presents or kindnesses might engage this poor Prince to a dishonour And without dissembling he had his soul too tender towards Ladies He was Master of all his other passions but he was a Slave to this nor can his memory be justified from this reproach for though he were admirable in all other parts of his life he ought not to be imitated in this In the mean time Gabriella flattering her self with a hope to be ere long his Wife deduced from those hopes himself had given her acted so well that she obliged him to demand of the Pope Commissioners to judge of the Divorce between him and Queen Margaret And the King that he might finde favour with the holy Father and render him more facile to his intentions caused to be said underhand that he would marry Maria de Medices his Neece Sister to the Duke of Florence for whom nevertheless it was believed that he had not then any desire And the Pope were it that he distrusted his intention or that he saw that Queen Margaret lent not her hand to it protracted the business and returned onely ambiguous Answers It was likewise said that being one day much pressed by the Cardinal d'Ossat and by Sillery to give content to their Master for want of which said they he may pass further and espouse the Dutchess he was so astonished at this discourse that he immediately remitted the conduct of this Affair to the hand of God commanded a Fast through all the City of Rome and went himself to Prayers to demand of God to inspire him with what should be best for his glory That at the end of his Prayer he cryed out as if he had been revived from an Extasie God hath provided and that in few days after there arrived a Courrier at Rome bringing News of the death of the Dutchess In the mean time the King grew impatient at these delays and it was to be feared lest a disdain to be neglected should cast him into the same inconveniencies it had formerly done Henry the eighth King of England or by the counsel of some flatterers forcing the goodness of his nature be perswaded to rid himself of Queen Margaret in any manner soever Gabriella was at present great with her fourth Childe when the feast of Easter approaching the King desiring to do his Devotions for that holy time far from all object of scandal sent her to Paris accompanying her just half way She with no small grief parted from him recommending to him her Children with tears in her eyes as if she had some secret presentiment telling him that she should never more see him Being at Paris lodged in the house of Zamet that famous Treasurer after having dined with him and heard Tenebres at