and finally containing but one half of the work which is here presen 〈…〉 Faults and infirmities I have too many of mine own Nam vitiis nemo sine nascitur as we know who said and therefore would not charge my self with those imperfections those frequent errors and mistakes which the audaciousnesse of other men may obtrude upon me which having signified to the Reader for the detecting of this imposture and mine own discharge I recommend the following work to his favourable censure and both of us to the mercies of the Supreme Judge Lacies Court in Abingdon April 17. 1656. Books lately printed and reprinted for Henry Seile DOctor Heylyn's Cosmography in fol. Twenty Sermons of Dr. Sanderson's ad Aulam c. never till now published Dr Heylyn's Comment on the Apostles Creed in fol. Bishop Andrewes holy Devotions the 4 Edition in 12. Martiall in 12. for the use of West minster School John Willis his Art of Stenography or Short writing by spelling Characters in 8. the 14 Edition together with the School master to the said Art SYLLABUS CAPITUM OR The Contents of the Chapters NORMANDIE OR THE FIRST BOOK The Entrance THe beginning of our Journey The nature of the Sea A farewell to England CHAP. I. NORMANDY in generall the Name and bounds of it The condition of the Antient Normans and of the present Ortelius character of them examined In what they resemble the Inhabitants of Norfolk The commodities of it and the Government pag. 4. CHAP. II. Dieppe the Town strength and importance of it The policy of Henry IV. not seconded by his Son The custome of the English Kings in placing Governours in their Forts The breaden God there and strength of the Religion Our passage from Dieppe to Roven The Norman Innes Women and Manners The importunity of servants in hosteries The sawcie familiarity of the attendants Ad pileum vocare what it was amongst the Romans Jus pileorum in the Universities of England c. p. 9. CHAP. III. ROVEN a neat City how seated and built the strength of is St. Katharines mount The Church of Nostre dame c. The indecorum of the Papists in the severall and unsutable pictures of the Virgin The little Chappell of the Capuchins in Boulogne The House of Parliament The precedency of the President and the Governor The Legend of St. Romain and the priviledge thence arising The language and religion of the Rhothomagenses or people of Roven p. 19. CHAP. IV. Our journey between Roven and Pontoyse The holy man of St. Clare and the Pilgrims thither My sore eyes Mante Pontoyse Normandy justly taken from King John The end of this Booke p. 26. FRANCE specially so called OR THE SECOND BOOK CHAP. I. France in what sense so called The bouuds of it All old Gallia not possessed by the French Countries follow the name of the most predominant Nation The condition of the present French not different from that of the old Gaules That the heavens have a constant power upon the same Climate though the Inhabitants are changed The quality of the French in private at the Church and at the table Their language complements discourse c. p. 33. CHAP. II. The French Women their persons prating and conditions The immodesty of the French Ladies Kissing not in use among them and the sinister opinion conceived of the free use of it in England The innocence and harmelesnesse of it amongst us The impostures of French Pandars in London with the scandall thence arising The peccancy of an old English Doctor More of the French Women Their Marriages and lives after wedlock c. An Elogie to the English Ladies p. 41. CHAP. III. France described The valley of Montmorancie and the Dukes of it Mont-martre Burials in former times not permitted within the wals The pros cuting of this discourse by manner of a journall intermitted for a time The Iown and Church of St. Denis The Legend of him and his head Of Dagobert and the Leper The reliques to be seen there Martyrs how esteemed in St. Augustine ' s time The Sepulchres of the French Kings and the treasury there The Kings house of Madrit The Qeen Mothers house at Ruall and fine devices in it St. Germains en lay another of the Kings houses The curious painting in it Gorramburie Window the Garden belonging to it and the excellency of the Water-works Boys St. Vincent de Vicennes and the Castle called Bisester p. 50. CHAP. IV. Paris the names and antiquity of it The situation and greatnesse The chief strength and Fortifications about it The streets and buildings King James his laudable care in beautyfying London King Henry the fourths intent to fortifie the Town Why not actuated The Artifices and wealth of the Parisians The bravery of the Citizens described under the person of a Barber p. 64. CHAP. V. Paris divided into four parts Of the Fauxburgs in generall Of the Pest-house The Fauxburg and Abbey of St. Germain The Queen Mothers house there Her purpose never to reside in it The Provost of Merchants and his authority The Armes of the Town The Town-house The Grand Chastellet The Arcenall The place Royall c. The Vicounty of Paris And the Provosts seven daughters p. 73. CHAP. VI. The University of Paris and Founders of it Of the Colledges in general Marriage when permitted to the Rectors of them The small maintenance allowed the Scholars in the Universities of France The great Colledge at Tholoza Of the Colledge of the Sorbonne in particular that and the House of Parliament the chief Bulwarks of the French liberty Of the Polity and Government of the University The Rector and his precedency the disordered life of the Scholars there being An Apologie for Oxford and Cambridge The priviledges of the Scholars their degrees c. p. 80. CHAP. VII The City of Paris seated in the place of old Lutetia The Bridges which joyn it to the Town and University King Henry's Statua Alexander ' s injurious policy The Church and revenues of Nostre Dame The Holy water there The original making and virtue of it The Lamp before the Altar The heathenishnesse of both customes Paris best seen from the top of this Church the great Bell there never rung but in time of Thunder the baptizing of Bels the grand Hospital and decency of it The place Daulphin The holy Chappel and Reliques there What the Antients thought of Reliques The Exchange The little Chastelet A transition to the Parlament p. 90. CHAP. VIII The Parliament of France when begun of whom it consisteth The digniiy and esteem of it abroad made sedentarie at Paris appropriated to the long robe The Palais by whom built and converted to seats of Justice The seven Chambers of Parliament The great Chamber The number and dignity of the Presidents The Duke of Biron afraid of them The Kings seat in it The sitting of the Grand Signeur in the Divano The authority of this Court in causes of all kinds and ever
by their blind and infatuated people what would they have said or rather what would they not have said Questionlesse the least they could do were to take up the complaint of Vigilantins the Papists reckon him for an Heretick saying Quid necesse est tanto honore non solum honorare sed etiam adorare illud nescio quid quod in vasculo transferendo colis Presently without the Chappell is the Burse La Gallerie des Merchands a rank of shops in shew but not in substance like to those in the Exchange in London It reacheth from the Chappell unto the great hall of Parliament and is the common through-fare between them On the bottome of the staires and round about the severall houses consecrated to the execution of Justice are sundry shops of the same nature meanly furnished if compared with ours yet I perswade my self the richest of this kind in Paris I should now go and take a view of the Parliament house but I will step a little out of the way to see the Place Daulphin and the little Chastelet this last serveth now only as the Gaole or Common-prison belonging to the Court of the Provost of Merchants and it deserveth no other imployment It is seated at the end of the Bridge called Petit Pont and was built by Hugh Aubriot once Provost of this Town to represse the fury and insolencies of the Scholars whose rudenesse and misdemeanors can no wayes be better bridled Omnes eos qui nomen ipsum Academiae vel serio vel joco nominossent haeereticos pronunciavit saith Platina of Pope Paul the II. I dare say it of this wildernesse that whosoever will account it as an Academy is an Heretick to Learning and Civility The Place Daulphin is a beautifull heap of building situate nigh unto the new Bridge It was built at the encouragement of Henry IV. and entituled according to the title of his Son The houses are all of brick high built uniforme and indeed such as deserve and would exact a longer description were not the Parliament now ready to sit and my self sommoned to make my appearance CHAP. VIII The Parliament of France when begun of whom it consisted The dignity and esteem of it abroad made sedentarie at Paris appropriated to the long robe The Palais by whom built and converted to seats of Justice The seven Chambers of Parliament The great Chamber The number and dignity of the Presidents The Duke of Biron afraid of them The Kings seat in it The sitting of the Grand Signeur in the Divano The authority of this Court in causes of all kinds and over the affaires of the King This Court the main pillar of the Liberty of France La Tournelle and the Judges of it The five Chambers of Enquestes severally instituted and by whom In what cause it is decisive The forme of admitting Advocates into the Courts of Parliament The Chancellour of France and his Authority The two Courts of Requests and Masters of them The vain envy of the English Clergy against the Lawyers THe Court of Parliament was at the first instituted by Charles Martell Grandfather to Charlemaine at such time as he was Maire of the Palace unto the lasse and rechlesse Kings of France In the beginnings of the French Empire their Kings did justice to their people in person afterwards banishing themselves from all the affaires of State that burden was cast upon the shoulders of their Maiors an office much of a nature with the Pâ—aefecti praetorio in the Roman Empire When this office was bestowed upon the said Charles Martell he partly weary of the trouble partly intent about a businesse of an higher nature which was the estating the Crown in his own posterity but principally to endeer himself to the common people ordained this Court of Parliament anno 720. It consisted in the beginning of 12 Peers the Prelates and noble men of the best fashion together with some of the principallest of the Kings houshold Other Courts have been called the Parliaments with an addition of place as of Paris at Roven c. this only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Parliament It handled as well causes of estate as those of private persons For hither did the Ambassadors of neighbour Princes repaire to have their audience and dispatch and hither were the Articles agreed on in the nationall Synods of France sent to be confirmed and verified here did the subjects tender in their homages and Oaths of fidelity to the King and here were the appeals heard of all such as had complained against the Comites at that time the Governours and Judges in their severall Counties Being furnished thus with the prime and choycest Nobles of the Land it grew into great estimation abroad in the world insomuch that the Kings of Sicilie Cyprus Scotland Bohemia Portugall and Navarre have thought it no disparagement unto them to sit in it and which is more when Frederick II. had spent so much time in quarrels with Pope Innocent IV. he submitted himself and the rightnesse of his cause to be examined by this Noble Court of Parliament At the first institution of this Court it had no setled place of residence being sometimes kept at Tholoza sometimes at Aix la Chappelle sometimes in other places according as the Kings pleasure and ease of the people did require During its time of peregrination it was called Ambulatoire following for the most part the Kings Court as the lower sphaeres do the motion of the primum mobile but Philip le bel he began his reign anno 1286 being to take a journey into Flanders and to stay there a long space of time for the setling of his affaires in that Countrey took order that this Court of Parliament should stay behind at Paris where ever since it hath continued Now began it to be called Sedentaire or setled and also peua peu by little and little to lose much of its lustre For the chief Princes and Nobles of the Kings retinue not able to live out of the aire of the Court withdrew themselves from the troubles of it by which means at last it came to be appropriated to them of the Long robe as they term them both Bishops and Lawyers In the year 1463. the Prelates also were removed by the command of Lewis XI an utter enemy to the great ones of his Kingdome only the Bishop of Paris and Abbot of St. Denis being permitted their place in it since which time the Professors of the civill law have had all the sway in it Et cedunt arma togae as Tully The place in which this Sedentarie Court of Parliament is now kept is called the Palace being built by Philip le bel and intended to be his mansion or dwelling house He began it in the first year of his reign anno 1286. and afterwards assigned a part of it to his Judges of the Parliament it being not totally and absolutely quitted unto them till the dayes of King Lewis XII In this
also those of other places Moreover when â—idings came to Paris of the Duke of Mayens death slain before Montauban the rascall French according to their hot headed dispositions breathed out nothing but ruine to the Hugonots The Duke of Monbazon governour of the City commanded their houses and the streets to be safely guarded After when this rabble had burne down their Temple at Charenton the Court of Parliament on the day following ordained that it should be built up again in a more beautifull manner and that at the Kings charge Add to this that since the ending of the wars and the reduction of almost all their Towns we have not seen the least alteration of Religion Besides that they have been permitted to hold a Nationall Synod at Charenton for establishing the truth of their Doctrine against the errours of Arminius professour of Leidâ—n in Holland All things thus considered in their true being I connot see for what cause our late Soveraign should suffer so much censure as he then did for not giving them assistance I cannot but say that my self have too often condemned his remissenesse in that cause which upon better consideration I cannot tell how he should have dealt in Had he been a medler in it further then he was he had not so much preserved Religion as supported Rebellion besides the consequence of the example He had Subjects of his own more then enough which were subject to discontent and prone to an apostasie from their alleagiance To have assisted the disobedient French under the colour of the liberty of conscience had been only to have taught that King a way into England upon the same pretence and to have trod the path of his own hazard He had not long before denied succour to his own children when he might have given them on a better ground and for a fairer purpose and could not now in honour countenance the like action in another For that other deniall of his helping hand I much doubt how far posterity will acquit him though certainly he was a good Prince and had been an happy instrument of the peace of Christendome had not the latter part of his reign hapned in a time so full of troubles So that betwixt the quietnesse of his nature and the turbulency of his latter dayes he sell into that miserable exigent mentioned in the Historian Miserrimum est eum alicui aut natura sua excedenda est aut minuenda dignitas Add to this that the French had been first abandoned at home by their own friends of seven Generals which they had appointed for the seven circles into which they divided all France four of them never giving them incouragement The three which accepted of those unordinate Governments were the Duke of Rohan his brother M. Soubise and the Marquesse of Lafforce the four others being the Duke of Tremoville the Earl of Chastillon the Duke of Lesdisguier and the Duke of Bovillon who should have commanded in chief So that the French Protestants cannot say that he was first wanting for them but they to themselves If we demand what should move the French Protestants to this Rebellious contradiction of his Majesties commandements We must answer that it was too much happinesse Gausa hujus belli eadem quae omnium nimia foelicitas as Florus of the Civill wars between Caesar and Pompey Before the year 1620 when they fell first into the Kings disfavour they were possessed of almost 100 good Towns well fortified for their safety besides beautifull houses and ample possessions in the Villages they slept every man under his own Vine and his own Fig-tree neither fearing nor needing to fear the least disturbance with those of the Catholick party they were grown so intimate and entire by reason of their inter-marriages that a very few years would have them incorporated if not into one faith yet into one family For their better satisfaction in matters of Justice it pleased King Henry the fourth to erect a Chamber in the Court of the Parliament of Paris purposely for them It consisteth of one President and 16 Counsellours their office to take knowledge of all the Causes and Suits of them of the reformed Religion as well within the jurisdiction of the Parliament of Paris as also in Normandy and Britain till there should be a Chamber erected in either of them There were appointed also two Chambers in the Parliaments of Burdeaux and Grenoble and one at the Chastres for the Parliament of Tholoza These Chambers were called Les Chambre de l' Edict because they were established by especiall Edict at the Towns of Nantes in Britain Aprill the 8. anno 1598. In a word they lived so secure and happy that one would have thought their felicities had been immortall O faciles dare summa deos eademque tueri Difficiles And yet they are not brought so low but that they may live happily if they can be content to live obediently that which is taken from them being matter of strength only and not priviledge Let us now look upon them in their Churches which we shall finde as empty of magnificence as ceremony To talke amongst them of Common-prayers were to fright them with the second coming of the Masse and to mention Prayers at the buriall of the dead were to perswade them of a Purgatory Painted glasse in a Church window is accounted for the flag and ensigne of Antichrist and for Organs no question but they are deemed to be the Devils bagpipes Shew them a Surplice and they cry out a rag of the Whore of Babylon yet a sheet on a woman when she is in child-bed is a greater abomination then the other A strange people that could never think the Masse-book sufficiently reformed till they had taken away Prayers nor that their Churches could ever be handsome untill they were ragged This foolish opposition of their first Reformers hath drawn the Protestants of these parts into a world of dislike and envie and been no small disadvantage to the fide Whereas the Church of England though it dissent as much from the Papists in point of Doctrine is yet not uncharitably thought on by the Modern Catholicks by reason it retained such an excellency of Discipline When the Liâ—urgie of our Church was translated into Latine by Dr. Morket once Warden of All-Souls Colledge in Oxford it was with great approofe and applause received here in France by those whom they call the Catholicks royall as marvelling to see such order and regular devotion in them whom they were taught to condemn for Hereticall An allowance which with some little help might have been raised higher from the practice of our Church to some points of our judgement and it is very worthy of our observation that which the Marquesse of Rhosny spake of Canterbury when he came as extraordinary Ambassadour from King Henry IV. to welcome King James into England For upon the view of our solemn Service and ceremonies he openly said unto
we have found an head and a body this body again divided into two parts the Catholick and the Protestant the head is in his own opinion and the minds of many others of a power unlimited yet the Catholick party hath strongly curbed it And of the two parts of the body we see the Papists flourishing and in triumph whilest that of the Protestant is in misery and affliction Thus is it also in the body Politick The King in his own conceit boundlesse and omnipotent is yet affronted by his Nobles which Nobles enjoy all the freedome of riches and happinesse the poor Paisants in the mean time living in drudgery and bondage For the government of the King is meerly indeed regal or to give it the true name despoticall though the Countrey be his wife and all the people are his children yet doth he neither govern as an husband or a father he accounteth of them all as of his servants and therefore commandeth them as a Master In his Edicts which he over frequenly sendeth about he never mentioneth the good will of his Subjects nor the approbation of his Councell but concludeth all of them in this forme Car tell est nostre plaisir Sic volo sic jubeo A forme of government very prone to degenerate into a tyranny if the Princes had not oftentimes strength and will to make resistance But this is not the vice of the entire and Soveraign Monarchy alone which the Greek call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the other two good formes of regiment being subject also to the same frailty Thus in the reading of Histories have we observed an Aristocracie to have been frequently corrupted into an Oligarchie and a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Common-wealth properly so called into a Democratie For as in the body naturall the purest complexions are lesse lasting but easily broken and subject to alteration so is it in the body Civill the pure and unmixt formes of Government though perfect and absolute in their kinds are yet of little continuance and very subject to change into its opposite They therefore which have written of Republicks do most applaud and commend the mixt manner of rule which is equally compounded of the Kingdome and the Politeia because in these the Kings have all the power belonging to their title without prejudice to the populacie In these there is referred to the King absolute Majesty to the Nobles convenient authority to the People an incorrupted liberty all in a just and equall proportion Every one of these is like the Empire of Rome as it was moderated by Nerva Qui res olâ—m dissociabiles miscuerat principatum libertatem wherein the Soveraignty of one endamaged not the freedome of all A rare mixture of Government and such at this time is the Kingdome of England a Kingdome of a perfect and happy composition wherein the King hath his full Prerogative the Nobles all due respects and the People amongst other blessings perfect in this that they are masters of their own purposes and have a strong hand in the making of their own Laws On the otherside in the Regall government of France the Subject frameth his life meerly as the Kings variable Edicts shall please to enjoyn him is ravished of his money as the Kings taske-masters think fit and suffereth many other oppressions which in their proper place shall be specified This Aristole in the third book of his Politicks calleth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the command of a Master and defineth it to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Such an Empire by which a Prince may command and do whatsoever shall seem good in his own eyes One of the Prerogatives Royall of the French Kings For though the Court of Parliament doth seem to challenge a perusall of his Edicts before they passe for Laws yet is that but a meer formality It is the cartelâ—â—est nostre plaifir which maketh them currant which it seemeth these Princes learned of the Roman Emperors Justinian in the book of Institutions maketh five grounds of the Civill Laws viz. Lex he meaneth the law of the 12 Tables Plebiscita Senatusconsulta Predentum Responsa Principum placita to this last he addeth this generall strength Quod principi plaeuerit legis â—abet valorem the very foundation of the French Kings powerfulnesse True it is that the Courts of Parliament do use to demur sometimes upon his Patents and Decrees and to petition him for a reversall of them but their answer commonly is Stat pro ratione voluntas He knoweth his own power and granteth his Letters patents for new Offices and Monopolies abundantly If a monied man can make a friend in Court he may have an office found for him of six pence upon every Sword made in France a Livre upon the selling of every head of Cattell a brace of Sols for every paire of boots and the like It is the only study of some men to finde out such devices of enriching themselves and undoing the people The Patent for Innes granted to St. Giles Moâ—â—pesson was just one of the French offices As for Monopolies they are here so common that the Subject taketh no notice of it not a scurvey petty book being Printed but it hath its priviledge affixed Ad imprimendum solum These being granted by the King are carryed to the Parliament by them formally perused and finally verified after which they are in force and virtue against all opposition It is said in France that Mr. Luynes had obtained a Patent of the King for a quart d' escu to be paid unto him upon the Christning of every child thoughout all the Kingdome A very unjust and unconscionable extortion Had he lived to have presented it to the Court I much doubt of their deniall though the only cause of bringing before them such Patents is onely intended that they should discusse the justice and convenience of them As the Parliament hath a formality of power left in them of verifying the Kings Edicts his grants of Offices and Monopolics So hath the Chamber of Accounts a superficiall survey also of his gifts and expences For his expences they are thought to be as great now as ever by reason of the severall retinues of himself his Mother his Queen and the Monseiur neither are his gifts lessened The late Wars which he managed against the Protestants cost him deer he being fain to bind unto him most of his Princes by money and pensions As the expenses of the King are brought unto this Court to be examined so are also the Gifts and Pensions by him granted to be ratified The titulary power given unto this Chamber is to cut off all those of the Kings grants which have no good ground and foundation the officers being solemnly at the least formally sworn not to suffer any thing to passe them to the detriment of the Kingdome whatsoever Letters of command thay have to the contrary But this Oath they oftentimes dispense with To this Court also belongeth
of the French to bestow honours and immunities upon those Qui as the Historian noteth ea suo arbitrio aut reposituri aut retenturi videantur quique modum habent in sua voluntate For upon a knowledge of this strength in themselves the Princes have been always prone to Civill wars as having sufficient means for safety and resistance On this ground also they slight the Kings authority and disobey his Justice In so much that the greater sort of Nobles in this Kingdome can seldome be arraigned or executed in person and therefore the Lawes condemn them in their images and hang them in their pictures A pretty device to mock Justice If by chance or some handsome sleight any of them are apprehended they are put under a sure guard and not done to death without great fear of tumult and unquietnesse Neither is it unus alter only some two or three that thus stand upon their distance with the King but even all the Nobility of the Realm a rout so disordered unconfined and numberlesse that even Fabius himself would be out of breath in making the reckoning I speak not here of those that are styled La Noblesse but of Titulados men only of titular Nobility of the degree of Baron and above Of these there is in this Countrey a number almost innumerable Quot Coelum Stellas take quantity for quantity and I dare be of the opinion that heaven hath not more Stars then France Nobles You shall meet with them so thick in the Kings Court especially that you would think it almost impossible the Countrey should bear any other fruit This I think I may safely affirme and without Hyperbole that they have there as many Princes as we in England have Dukes as many Dukes as we Earls as many Earls as we Barons and as many Barons as we have Knights a jolly company and such as know their own strength too I cannot therefore but much marvell that these Kings should be so prodigall in conferring honours considering this that every Noble man he createth is so great a weakning to his power On the other side I cannot but as much wonder at some of our Nation who have murmured against our late Soveraign and accused him of an unpardonable unthriftiness in bestowing the dignities of his Realm with so full and liberall a hand Certainly could there any danger have arisen by it unto the State I could have been as impatient of it as another But with us titles and ennoblings in this kind are only either the Kings favour or the parties merit and maketh whomsoever he be that receiveth them rather reverenced then powerfull Raro eorum honoribus invidetur quorum vis non timetur was a good Aphorisme in the dayes of Paterculus and may for ought I know be as good still Why should I envie any man that honour which taketh not from my safety or repine at my Soveraign for raising any of his Servants into an higher degree of eminency when that favour cannot make them exorbitant Besides it concerneth the improvement of the Exchequer at the occasions of Subsidies and the glory of the Kingdome when the Prince is not attended by men meerly of the vulgar Add to this the few Noble men of any title which he found at his happy coming in amongst us and the additions of power which his comming brought unto us and we shall finde it proportionable that he should enlarge our Nobility with our Empire neither yet have we indeed a number to be talked of comparing us with our neighbour Nations We may see all of the three first ranks in the books of Milles Brooke and Vincent and we are promised also a Catalogue of the Creations and successions of all our Barons Then we should see that as yet we have not surfeited Were this care taken by the Heralde in France perhaps the Nobility there would not seem so numberlesse sure I am not so confused But this is the main vice of that profession of â—ix Heralds which they have amongst them viz. Montjoy Normandy Guyenne Valâ—ys Bretagne and Burgogne not one of them is reported to be a Genealogist neither were their Predecessors better affected to this study Paradine the only man that ever was amongst them hath drawn down the Genealogies of 24 of the chief families all ancient and of the bloud in which he hath excellently well discharged himself But what a small pittance is that compared to the present multitude The Nobles being so populous it cannot be but the Noblesse as they call them that is the Gentry must needs be thick set and only not innumerable Of these Nobles there are some which hold their estates immediately of the Crown and they have the like immunities with the Princes Some hold their Feifes or feuda of some other of the Lords and he hath only Basse Justice permitted to him as to mulct and amerce his Tenants to imprison them or give them any other correction under death All of them have power to raise and inhance up their Rents to Tax his Subjects on occasion and to prohibit them such pleasures as they think fit to be reserved for themselves By Brettaul in Picardy I saw a post fastned in the ground like a race post with us and therein an inscription I presently made to it as hoping to have heard of some memorable battell there foughten but when I came at it I found it to be nothing but a Declaration of the Prince of Condes pleasure that no man should hunt in those quarters afterwards I observed them to be very frequent But not to wander through all particulars I will in some few of them only give instance of their power here The first is Proict de bailli age power to keep Assize or to have under him a Bailli and a Superiour seat of Justice for the decision of such causes as fall under the compasse of ordinary jurisdiction In this Court there is notice taken of Treasons Robberies Murders Protections Pardons Faires Markets and other matters of priviledge Next they have a Court of ordinary jurisdiction and therein a Judge whom they call Le guarde de Justice for the decision of smaller businesse as Debts Trespasses breach of the Kings peace and the like In this the purse is only emptied the other extendeth to the taking of life also for which cause every one which hath Haute Justice annexed to his Feise hath also his peculiar Gibbet nay which is wonderfully methodicall by the criticisme of the Gibbet you may judge at the quality of him that owneth it For the Gibbet of one of the Nobles hath but two pillars that of the Chastellan three the Barons four the Earls six the Dukes eight and yet this difference is rather precise then generall The last of their jura regalia which I will here speak of is the command they have upon their people to follow them unto the wars a command not so advantagious to the Lord as dangerous to
honour and glory of God and of his pure and holy word You shall administer true and equall Justice as well to the poor as to the rich without respect of persons according to our Lawes Usages and Customes confirmed unto us by our priviledges maintaining them together with our Liberties and Franchises and opposing your selfe against such as labour to infringe them You shall also punish and chastise all Traitours Murderers Felons Blasphemers of Gods holy name Drunkards and other scandalous livers every one according to his desert opposing your self against all seditious persons in the defence of the Kings Authority and of his Justice You shall be frequently assistant in the Court and as often as you shall be desired having no lawfull excuse to the contrary in which case you shall give your proxie to some other Justice giving your advise counsell and opinion according to the sincerity of your conscience You shall give reverence and due respect unto the Court. And shall defend or cause to be defended the rights of Widowes Orphans Strangers and all other persons unable to help themselves Finally in your verdict or the giving your opinion you shall regulate and conforme your self to the better and more wholesome counsell of the Bailiffe and Justices All which you promise to make good upon your conscience A way more compendious then ours in England where the Justices are sain to take three Oaths and those founded upon three severall Statutes as viz. that concerning the discharge of their office which seemeth to be founded on the 13. of Richard II. Cap. 7. That of the Kings Supremacy grounded on the first of Queen Elazabeth Cap. 1. And lastly that of AVegiance in force by virtue of the Stature 3 Jac. Cap. 4. Of these Justices there are twelve in all in each Island of whose names and titles in the next Chapter The other members of the Bailiffes Court are the Advocates or Pleaders whereof there be six onely in each Island this people conceiving rightly that multitudes of Lawyers occasion multitudes of businesse or according to that merry saying of old Haywood The more Spaniels in the field the more game Of these advocate two of them which are as we call them here in England the Kings Attorney or Sollicitour are called Advocati stipulantes the others Advocati postulantes Yet have they not by any order confined themselves to this number but may enlarge them according to occasion though it had not been a Solecisme or a novelty were the number limited For it appeareth in the Parliament Records that Edward the first restrained the number both of Counsellers and Atturneys unto 140 for all England though he also left authority in the Lord Chief Justice to enlarge it as appeareth in the said Records Anno 20. Rotul 5. in dorso de apprenticiis attornatis in these words following D. Rex injunxit Joh. de Metingham he was made chief Justice of the Common Pleas in the 18 of this King â—oci is suis quod ipsi per eorum disâ—retionem provideant ordinent certum numerum in quolibet Comitatu de melioribus legalioribus libentius addiscentibus sec quod intellexeâ—int quod curiae suae populo de regno melius valere poterit c. Et videtur regi ejus concilio quod septies viginti sufficere poterint Apponant tamen praefati justiciarii plures si viderint esse faciendum vel numerum anticipent c. Thus he wisely and happily foreseeing those many inconveniences which arise upon the multitudes of such as apply themselves unto the Lawes and carefully providing for the remedy But of this as also of these Islands and of their manner of Govenment I have now said sufficient yet no more then what may fairly bring your Lordship on to the main of my discourse and Argument viz. the Estate and condition of their Churches I shall here only adde a Catalogue of the Governours and Bailiffs of the Isle of Jarsey for of those of Guernzey notwithstanding all my paines and diligence I could finde no such certain constat which is this that followeth A Catalogue of the Governours and Bailiffs of Jarsey  Bailiffs Governours 1301 Pierre Vigâ—ure Edw. II. O 〈…〉 o de Grandison Sr. des Isles 1389 Geofr la Hague Edw. III. Edm. de Cheynie Gard des Isles 1345 Guill Hastings Thom. de Ferrer Capt. des Isles 1352 Rog. Powderham  1363 Raoul L. Empriere  1367 Rich de St. Martyn  1368 Iean de St. Martyn   Rich le Peâ—iâ— Â 1370 Jean de St. Martyn   Jean Cokerill  1382 Tho Brasdefer Hen. IV. Edw. D. of York 1396 Geofr Brasdefer V. Jean D. of Bedford 1414. 1405 Guill de Laick  1408 Tho. Daniel VI. Hum. D. of Glocester 1439. 1414 Jean Poingt dexter  1433 Jean Bernard Kt.  1436 Jean l' Empriere  1444 Jean Payne  1446 Regin de Carteret  1453 Jean Poingt dexter Edw IV. Sir Rich. Harliston 1462 Nicol. Mourin  1485 Guill de Harvy Angl. Hen. VII Mathew Baker Esq 1488 Clem. le Hardy Tho. Overcy Esq 1494 Jean Nicols David Philips Esq 1496 Jean l' Empriere  1515 Hel de Carteret Hen. VIII Sir Hugh Vaughaâ— 1524 Helier de la Recq Sir Antony Urterell 1526 Rich Mabon  1528 Jasper Penn. Angl.  1562 Hostes Nicolle Edw. VI Edw. D of Somers L Protect  Jean du Maresque Cornish  Geo. Pawlet Angl. Ma. R. Sir Hugh Pawlet 1516 Jean Herault Kt. Eliza. R. Sir Aimer Paulet 1622 Guill Parkâ—urst Sir Anthâ— Pawlett 16 Philip de Carteret Kt. Sir Walt. Raleigh  now living ann 1644. Jac. Sir Joh. Peiton S. a Cross ingrailed O.   Car. Sir Tho. Jermin now living Further then this I shall not trouble your Lordship with the Estate of these Islands in reference either unto Naturall or Civill Concernments This being enough to serve for a foundation to that superstructure which I am now to raise upon it CHAP. II. 1 The City and Diocese of Constance 2 The condition of these Islands under that Government 3 Churches appropriated what they were 4 The Black Book of Constance 5 That called Domes day 6 The suppression of Priours Aliens 7 Priours Dative how they differed from the Conventualls 8 The condition of these Churches after the suppression 9 A Diagram of the Revenue then allotted to each severall Parish together with the Ministers and Justices now being 10 What is meant by Champarte desarts and French querrui 11 The alteration of Religion in these Islands 12 Persecution here in the days of Queen Mary The Authors indignation at it expressed in a Poeticall rapture 13 The Islands annexed for ever to the Diocese of Winton and for what reasons BUt before we enter on that Argument The estate and condition of their Churches a little must be said of their Mother-City to whom they once did owe Canonicall obedience A City in the opinion of some
crest-faln and at once lost both their spirits and their liberty The present Norman then is but the corruption of the Antient the heir of his name and perhaps his possessions but neither of his strength nor his manhood Bondage and a fruitfull soil hath so emasculated them that it is a lost labour to look for Normans even in Normandy There remaineth nothing almost in them of their progenitours but the remainders of two qualities and those also degenerated if not bastards a penurious pride and an ungoverned doggednesse Neither of them become their fortune or their habite yet to these they are constant Finally view him in his rags and dejected countenance and you would swear it impossible that these snakes should be the descendents of those brave Heroes which so often triumphed over both Religions foiling the Saracens and vanquishing the Christians But perchance their courage is evaporated into wit and then the change is made for the better Ortelius would seem to perswade us to this conceit of them and well might he do it if his words were Oracles Le gens saith he speaking of this Nation sont des plus accorts subtils d' esprit de la Gaule A character for which the French will little thank him who if he speak truth must in matter of discretion give precedency to their Vassals But as Imbalt a French leader said of the Florentines in the fifth book of Guicciardine Non sapeva dove consistesse lingegne tanto celebrate de Fiorentini so may I of the Normans For my part I could never yet find where that great wit of theirs lay Certain it is that as the French in generall are termed the Kings Asses so may these men peculiarly be called the Asses of the French or the veriest Asses of the rest For what with the unproportionable rents they pay to their Lords on the one side and the immeasurable taxes laid upon them by the King on the other they are kept in such a perpetuated course of drudgery that there is no place for wit or wisdome left amongst them Liberty is the Mother and the Nurse of those two qualities and therefore the Romans not unhappily expressed both the conditions of a Freeman and a discreet and modest personage by this own word Ingenuus Why the French King should lay a greater burden on the backs of this Nation then their fellowes I cannot determine Perhaps it is because they have been twice conquered by them once from King John and again from Henry VI. and therefore undergo a double servitude It may be to abate their naturall pride and stubbornnesse Likely also it is that being a revolting people and apt to an apostasie from their allegiance they may by this meanes be kept impoverished and by consequence disabled from such practises This a French Gentleman of good understanding told me that it was generally conceited in France that the Normans would suddenly and unanimously betray their Countrey to the English were the King a Catholick But there is yet a further cause of their beggerlinesse and poverty which is their litigiousnesse and frequent going to law as we call it Ortelius however he failed in the first part of their character in the conclusion of it hath done them justice Mais en generall saith he ils sont scavans au possible en proces plaideries They are prety well versed in the quirks of the Law and have wit more then enough to wrangle In this they agree exactly well with the Inhabitants of our Country of Norfolk ex infima plebe non pauci reperiuntur saith Mr. Camden quin si nihil litium sit lites tamen ex ipsis juris apicibus serere calleant They are prety fellowes to finde out quirks in Law and to it they will whatsoever it cost them Mr. Camden spake not this at randome or by the guesse For besides what my self observed in them at my being once amongst them in a Colledge progresse I have heard that there have been no lesse then 340 Nisi prius tryed there at one Assizes The reason of this likenesse between the two Nations I conjecture to be the resemblance of the site and soil both lie upon the Sea with a long and a spacious Coast both enjoy a Countrey Champain little swelled with hils and for the most part of a light and sandy mould To proceed to no more particulars if there be any difference between the two Provinces it is only this that the Countrey of Normandy and the people of Norfolk are somewhat the richer For indeed the Countrey of Normandie is enriched with a fat and liking soil such an one Quae demum votis avari agricolae respondet which may satisfie the expectation of the Husbandman were it never so exorbitant In my life I never saw Corn-fields more large and lovely extended in an equall levell almost as far as eye can reach The Wheat for I saw little Barley of a fair length in the stalke and so heavy in the ear that it is even bended double You would think the grain had a desire to kisse the earth its mother or that it purposed by making it self away into the ground to save the Plough-man his next years labour Thick it groweth and so perfectly void of weeds that no garden can be imagined to be kept cleaner by Art then these fields are by Nature Pasture ground it hath little and lesse Meddow yet sufficient to nourish those few Cattel they have in it In all the way between Dieppe and Pontoyse I saw but two flocks of Sheep and them not above 40 in a flock Kine they have in some measure but not fat nor large without these there were no living for them The Nobles eat the flesh whilst the Farmer seeds on Butter and Cheese and that but sparingly But the miserable estates of the Norman paisant we will defer till another opportunity Swine also they have in prety number and some Pullen in their back sides but of neither an excesse The principall River of it is Seine of which more hereafter and besides this I saw two rivulets Robee and Renelle In matter of Civill Government this Countrey is directed by the court of Parliament established at Roven For matters Military it hath an Officer like the Lieutenant of our shires in England the Governor they call him The present Governor is Mr. Le duc de Longueville to whom the charge of this Province was committed by the present King Lewis XIII anno 1619. The Lawes by which they are governed are the Civill or Imperiall augmented by some Customes of the French and others more particular which are the Norman One of the principal'st is in matters of inheritance the French custome giving to all the Sons an equality in the estate which we in England call Gavelkind the Norman dividing the estate into three parts and thereof allotting two unto the eldest brother and a third to be divided among the others A law which the French count not just
a handsome ruffe about her neck a vail of fine lawne hanging down her back and to shew that she was the Queen of heaven a crown upon her head in her left arme she holds her son in his side-coat a black hat and a golden hatband A jolly plump Ladie she seemeth to be of a flaxen hair a ruddy lip and a chearefull complexion T were well the Painters would agree about limming of her otherwise we are likely to have almost as many Ladies as Churches At Nostre dame in Paris she is taught us to be browne and seemeth somewhat inclining to melancholie I speak not of her different habit for I envie not her changes of apparell Only I could not but observe how those of St. Sepulchres Church en la Fue St. Dennis have placed her on the top of their Skreen in a Coape as if she had taken upon her the zeal of Abraham and were going to make a bloudy sacrifice of her Son They of Nostre dame in Amiens have erected her Statua all in gold with her Son also of the same mettle in her armes casting beams of gold round about her as the Sun is painted in its full glory strange Idolatries On the contrary in the Parish Church of Tury in La Beausse she is to be seen in a plain petticoat of red and her other garments correspondent In my minde this holdeth most proportion to her estate and will best serve to free their irreligion from absurdity If they will worship her as a nurse with her childe in her arme or at her brest let them array her in such apparell as might beseem a Carpenters wife such as she may be supposed to have worn before the world had taken notice that she was the mother of her Saviour If they needs must have her in her estate of glory as at Amiens or of honour being now publickly acknowledged to be the blessedest among women as at Paris let them disburden her of her child To clap them thus together is a folly equally worthy of scorne and laughter Certainly had she but so much liberty as to make choice of her own clothes I doubt not but she would observe a greater decorum And therefore I commend the Capuchins of Boulogne who in a little side-chappell consecrated unto her have placed only a handsome fair looking-glasse upon her Altar the best ornament of a female closet why they placed it there I cannot say only I conceive it was that she might there see how to dresse her self This Church is said to have been built I should rather think repaired by Raoul or Rollo the first Duke of Normandy since it hath been much beautifyed by the English when they were Lords of this Province It is the seat of an Archbishop a Dean and fifty Canons The Archbishop was instituted by the authority of Constantine the Great during the sitting of the Councell of Arles Anidian who was there present being consecrated the first Archbishop The Bishops of Sees Aurenches Constance Bayeux Lysieux and Eureux were appointed for his Diocesans The now Archbishop is said to be an able Scholar and a sound Statesman his name I enquired not The revenues of his Chair are said to be 10000 crowns more they would amount to were the Countrey any way fruitfull of Vines out of which the other Prelates of France draw no small part of their intrada The Parliament of this Countrey was established here by Lewis XII who also built that fair Palace wherein Justice is administred anno 1501. At that time he divided Normandy into seven Lathes Rapes or Bailiwicks viz. Roven Caux Constentin Caen Eureux Gisors and Alençon This Court hath Supreme power to enquire into and give sentence of all causes within the limits of Normandy It receiveth appeals from the inferior Courts of the Dutchie unto it but admitteth none from it Here is also Cour des Eslâ—ux a Court of the generall Commissioners also for Taxes and La Chambre des Aides instituted by Charles VII for the receiving of his Subsidies Gabels Imposts c. The house of Parliament is in form quadrangular a very greatefull and delectable building that of Paris is but a Chaos or a Babell to it In the great hall into which you ascend by some 30 steppes or upwards are the seats and desks of the Procurators every ones name written in Capital letters over his head These Procurators are like our Atturnies to prepare causes and make them ready for the Advocates In this Hall do suitors use either to attend on or to walke up and down and confer with their pleaders Within this hall is the great Chamber the tribunall and seat of justice both in causes Criminall and Civill At domus interior regali splendida luxu Instruitur As Virgill of Queen Didoes dining roome A Camber so gallantly and richly built that I must needs confesse it far surpasseth all the rooms that ever I saw in my life The Palace of the Louure hath nothing in it comparable The seeling all inlaid with gold and yet did the workmanship exceed the matter This Court consisteth of two Presidents twenty Counsellors or Assistants and as many Advocates as the Court will admit of The prime President is termed Ner de Riz by birth a Norman upon the Bench and in all places of his Court he taketh the prcedencie of the Duke of Longueville when there is a convention of the three Estates summoned the Duke hath the priority We said even now that from the sentence of this Court there lay no appeal but this must be recanted and it is no shame to do it St. Austin hath written his Retractations so also hath Bellarmine Once in the year there is an appeal admitted but that for one man only and on this occasion There was a poysonous Dragon not far from Roven which had done much harme to the Countrey and City Many wayes had been tryed to destroy him but none prospered at last Romain afterwards made a Saint then Archbishop of the Town accompanied with a theef and a murderer whose lives had been forfeited to a sentence undertaketh the enterprise upon sight of the Dragon the theef stole away the murderer goeth on and seeth that holy man vanquish the Serpent armed only with a Stole it is a neck habit sanctifyed by his Holinesse of Rome and made much after the manner of a tippet with this Stole tied about the neck of the Dragon doth the murderer lead him prisoner to Roven To make short work the name of God is praised the Bishop magnifyed the murderer pardoned and the Dragon burned This accident if the story be not Apocrypha is said to have hapned on holy Thursday Audoin or Owen successor unto St. Romain in memory of this marvellous act obtained of King Dagobert the first he began his reign anno 632 that from that time forwards the Chapitre of the Cathedrall Church should every Ascension day have the faculty of delivering any malefactor whom the
the French Subjects are beholding to the English by whose good example they got the ease of a Sedentarie Court our Law courts also removing with the King till the year 1224. when by a Statute in the Magna Charta it was appointed to be fixt and a part of the Kings Palace in Westminster allotted for that purpose Within the verge of this Palais are contained the seven Chambers of the Parliament that called La grande Chambre five Chambers of Inquisition Des Enquestes and one other called La Tournelle There are moreover the Chambers des aides des accomptes de l' edict des monnoyes and one called La Chambre Royall of all which we shall have occasion to speak in their proper places these not concerning the common government of the people but only of the Kings revenues Of these seven Chambers of Parliament La grande Chambre is most famous and at the building of this house by Philip le bel was intended for the Kings bed It is no such beautifull piece as the French make it that of Roven being far beyond it although indeed it much excell the fairest room of Justice in all Westminster so that it standeth in a middle rank between them and almost in the same proportions as Virgil betwixt Homer and Ovid. Quantum Virgilius magno concessit Homero Tantum ego Virgilio Naso poeta meo It consisteth of seven Presidents 22 Counsellours the Kings Atturney and as many Advocates and Proctours as the Court will please to give admission to The Advocates have no setled studies within the Palais but at the Barre but the Procureurs or Attorneys have their severall pews in the great Hall which is without this Grande Chambre in such manner as I have before described at Roven a large building it is fair and high roofed not long since ruined by a casualty of fire and not yet fully finished The names of the Presidents are Mr. Verdun the first President or by way of excellencie Le President the second man of the Long robe in France 2. Mr. Sequer lately dead and likely to have his son succeed him as well in his Office as in his Lands 3. Mr. Leiger 4. Mr. Dosambe 5. Mr. Sevin 6. Mr. Baillure And 7. Mr. Meisme None of these neither Presidents nor Counsellors can go out of Paris when the Lawes are open without leave of the Court it was ordained so by Lewis XII anno 1499. and that with good judgement Sentences being given with greater awe and businesses managed with greater majesty when the Bench is full and it seemeth indeed that they carry with them great terror for the Duke of Biron a man of as uncontrouled spirit as any in France being called to answer for himself in this Court protested that those scarlet roabs did more amaze him then all the red cassocks of Spain At the left hand of this Grande Chambre or Golden Chambre as they call it is a Throne or seat Royall reserved for the King when he shall please to come and see the administration of Justice amongst his people at common times it is naked and plain but when the King is expected it is clothed with blew-purple Velvet femied with flowers de lys on each side of it are two formes or benches where the Peers of both habits both Ecclesiasticall and Secular use to sit and accompany the King But this is little to the ease or benefit of the Subject and as little availeable to try the integrity of the Judges his presence being alwayes foreknown and so accordingly they prepared Far better then is it in the Grande Signeur where the Divano or Councell of the Turkish affairs holden by the Bassas is hard by his bed-chamber which looketh into it the window which giveth him this entervenue is perpetually hidden with a curtain on the side of the partition which is towards the Divano so that the Bassas and other Judges cannot at any time assure themselves that the Emperor is not listning to their sentences an action in which nothing is Turkish or Mahometan The authority of this Court extendeth it self unto all causes within the jurisdiction of it not being meerly ecclesiasticall It is a law unto it self following no rule written in their sentences but judging according to equity and conscience In matters criminall of greater consequence the processe is here immediately examined without any preparation of it by the inferior Courts as at the arraignment of the Duke of Biron and divers times also in matters personall But their power is most eminent in disposing the affaires of State and of the Kingdome For such prerogatives have the French Kings given hereunto that they can neither denounce War nor conclude Peace without the consent a formall one at the least of this Chamber An alienation of the Lands of the Crown is not any whit valid unlesse confirmed by this Court neither are his Edicts in force till they are here verified nor his Letters Patents for the creating of a Peer till they are here allowed of Most of these I confesse are little more then matters of form the Kings power and pleasure being become boundlesse yet sufficient to shew the body of authority which they once had and the shadow of it which they still keep yet of late they have got into their disposing one priviledge belonging formerly to the Conventus ordinum or the Assembly of three Estates which is the conferring of the regency or protection of their King during his minority That the Assembly of the three Estates formerly had this priviledge is evident by their stories Thus we finde them to have made Queen Blanche Regent of the Realm during the nonage of her son St. Lewis 1227. That they declared Philip de Valois successor to the Crown in case that the widow of Charles le bel was not delivered of a son 1357. As also Philip of Burgogne during the Lunacy of Charles VI. 1394. with divers other On the other side we have a late example of the power of the Parliament of Paris in this very case For the same day that Henry IV. was slain by Ravilliao the Parliament met and after a short consultation declared Mary de Medices Mother to the King Regent in France for the government of the State during the minority of her son with all power and authority Such are the words of the Instrument Dated the 14 of May 1610. It cannot be said but that this Court deserveth not only this but also any other indulgence whereof any one member of the Common-wealth is capable So watchfull are they over the health of the State and so tenderly do they take the least danger threatned to the liberty of that Kingdom that they may not unjustly be called patres patriae In the year 1614. they seized upon a discourse written by Suarez a Jesuite Entituled Adversus Anglicanae sectae errores wherein the Popes temporall power over Kings and Princes is averred which they sentenced to be burnt in the Palace-yard by
the publick hangman The year before they inflicted the same punishment upon a vain and blasphemous discourse penned by Gasper Scioppius a fellow of a most desperate brain and a very incendiary Neither hath Bellarmine himself that great Atlas of the Roman Church escaped much better for writing a book concerning the temporall power of his Holinesse it had the ill luck to come into Paris where the Parliament finding it to thwart the liberty and royalty of the King and Countrey gave it over to the Hangman and he to the fire Thus it is evident that the titles which the French writers give it as the true Temple of French Justice the buâ—tresse of equity and the gardian of the rights of France and the like are abundantly deserved of it The next Chamber in esteem is the Tournelle which handleth all matters criminall It is so called from tourner which signifieth to change or alter because the Judges of the other severall chambers give sentence in this according to their severall turns the reason of which institution is said to be lest a continuall custome of condemning should make the Judges lesse mercifull and more prodigall of bloud an order full of health and providence It was instituted by the above named Philip de bel at the same time when he made the Parliament sedentarie at Paris and besides its peculiar and originall imployments it receiveth appeals from and redresseth the errors of the Provost of Paris The other five Chambers are called Des Enquestes or Camerae inquisitionum the first and antientest of them was erected also by Philip le bel and afterwards divided into two by Charles VII Afterwards the multitude of Processes being greater then could be dispatched in these Courts there was added a third Francis the first established the fourth for the better raising of a sum of money which then he wanted every one of the new Counsellors paying right deerly for his place The fifth and last was founded in the year 1568. In each of these severall Chambers there are two Presidents and 20 Counsellors besides Advocates and Proctours ad placitum In the Tournelle which is an aggregation of all the other Courts there are supposed to be no sewer then 200 officers of all sorts which is no great number considering the many causes there handled In the Tournelle the Judges fit on life and death in the Chamber of Enquests they examine only civill affaires of estate title debts or the like The pleaders in these Courts are called Advocates and must be at the least Licentiates in the study of the Law At the Parliaments of Theloza and Bourdeaux they admit of none but Doctors Now the forme of admitting them is this In an open and frequent Court one of the aged'st of the Long roab presenteth the party which defireth admission to the Kings Attorney generall saying with a loud voice Paise a cour recevoir N. N. licencie or Docteur en droict civil a la office d' Advocate This said the Kings Attorney biddeth him hold up his hand and saith to him in Latine Tu jurabis observare omnes regias consuetudines he answereth Juro and departeth At the Chamber door of the Court whereof he is now sworn an Advocate he payeth two crowns which is forth with put into the common treasury appointed for the relief of the distressed widows of ruined Advocates and Proctoms Hanc veniam perimusque damusque it may be their own cases and therefore it is paid willingly The highest preferment of which these Advocates are capable is that of Chancellor an office of great power and profit the present Chancellor is named Mr. d' Allegre by birth of Chartres He hath no settled Court wherein to exercise his authority but hath in all the Courts of France the Supream place whensoever he will vouchsafe to visite them He is also President of the Councell of Estate by his place and on him dependeth the making of good and sacred laws the administration of Justice the reformation of superstuous and abrogation of unprofitable Edicts c. He hath the keeping of the Kings great seal and by virtue of that either passeth or putteth back such Letters patents and Writs as are exhibited to him He hath under him immediately for the better dispatch of his affaires four Masters of the Requests and their Courts Their office and manner of proceeding is the same which they also use in England in the persons there is thus much difference for that in France two of them must be perpetually of the Clergy One of their Courts is very antient and hath in it two Presidents which are two of the Masters and 14 Counsellors The other is of a later erection as being founded anno 1580. and in that the two other of the Masters and eight Counsellors give sentence Thus have I taken a view of the severall Chambers of the Parliament of Paris and of their particular jurisdictions as far as my information could conduct me One thing I noted further and in my mind the fairest ornament of the Palace which is the neatnesse and decency of the Lawyers in their apparell for besides the fashion of their habit which is I allure you exceeding pleasing and comely themselves by their own care and love to handsomenesse add great lustre to their garments and more to their persons Richly drest they are and well may be so as being the ablest and most powerfull men under the Princes and la Noblesse in all the Countrey an happinesse as I conjecture rather of the calling then the men It hath been the fate and destinie of the Law to strengthen and inable its professors beyond any other Art or Science the pleaders in all Common-wealths both for sway amongst the people and vogue amongst the military men having alwayes had the preheminence Of this rank were Pericles Phocion Alcibiades and Demosthenes amongst the Athenians Antonius Cato Caesar and Tully at Rome men equally famous for Oratory and the Sword yet this I can confidently say that the severall states above mentioned were more indebted to Tully and Demosthenes being both meer gown-men then to the best of their Captains the one freeing Athens from the armies of Macedon tâ—h other delivering Rome from the conspiracy of Catiline O fortunatam natam te Consule Romam It is not then the fate of France only nor of England to see so much power in the hands of the Lawyers and the case being generall me thinks the envie should be the lesse and lesse it is indeed with them then with us The English Clergy though otherwise the most accomplisht in the world in this folly deserveth no Apologie being so strongly ill affected to the pleaders of their Nation that I fear it may be said of some of them Quod invidiam non ad causam sed personam ad voluntatem dirigunt a weaknesse not more unworthy of them then prejudiciall to them For by fostering between both gowns such an unnecessary emulation they
Corne and other grain with which it abundantly furnisheth Paris and hath in it more store of pasture and medow grounds then I else saw in any part of France In Vines only it is defective and that as it is thought more by the want of industry in the people then any inhability in the soil For indeed they are a people that will not labour more then they needs must standing much upon their state and distance and in the carriage of their bodies favouring a little of the Spaniard whence Picardâ—er to play the Picard is usually said of those who are lofty in their looks or gluttonous at their tables this last being also one of the symptomes of a Picard The Governor of this Province is the Duke of Les Diguieres into which office he succeeded Mr. Luynes as also he did into that of the Constable Two preferments which he purchased at a deer rate having sold or abandoned that religion to-compasse them which he had prosessed more then 60 years together an apostasie most unworthy of the man who having for so many years supported the cause of religion hath now forsaken it and thereby made himself gilty of the cowardise of M. Antonius Qui cum in desertores saevire debuerat desertor sui exertilus factus est But I fear an heavier censure waiteth upon him the crown of immortality not being promised to all those which run but to those only which hold out till the end For the present indeed he hath augmented his honours by this office which is the principall of all France He hath place and command before and over all the Peers and Princes of the bloud and at the Coronation of the French Kings ministreth the oath when he entreth a City in state or upon the â—redition of it he goeth before with the Sword naked and when the King sitteth in an assembly of the three estates he is placed at the Kings right hand He hath command over all his Majesties forces and he that killeth him is guilty of high treason He sitteth also as chief Judge at the Table of marble upon all suits actions persons and complaints whatsoever concerning the wars This Table de Marbre was wont to be continually in the great hall of the Palais at Paris from whence upon the burnning of that hall it was removed to the Louure At this table doth the Admirall of France hold his Sessions to judge of trafick prizes letters of marts piracy and businesse of the like nature At this table judgeth also Le grand Maistre des eaues et forrests we may call him the Justice in Eire of all his Majesties Forrests and waters The actions here handled are Thefts and abuses committed in the Kings Forrests Rivers Parks Fish-ponds and the like In the absence of the grand Maistre the power of sentence resteth in the Les grand Maistres Enquesteurs et generaux reformateurs who have under their command no fewer then 300 subordinate officers Here also sit the Marshals of France which are ten in number sometimes in their own power and sometimes as Assistants to the Constable under whose direction they are With us in England the Marshalship is more entire as that which besides its own jurisdiction hath now incorporated into it self most of the authority antiently belonging to the Constables which office ended in the death of Edward Lord Duke of Buckingham the last hereditary and proprietary Constable of England This office of Constable to note unto you by the way so much was first instituted by Lewis the grosse who began his reign anno 1110. and conferred on Mr. Les Diguieres on the 24 of July 1622. in the Cathedrall Church of Grenoble where he first heard Masse and where he was installed Knight of both Orders And so I leave the Constable to take a view of his Province a man at this time beloved of neither parties hated by the Protestants as an Apostata and suspected by the Papists not to be entire To proceed July the 28. we came unto Clermont the first Town of any note that we met with in Picardie a prety neat Town and finely seated on the rising of an hill For the defence of it it hath on the upper side of it an indifferent large Castle and such which were the situation of it somewhat helped by the strength of Art might be brought to do good service Towards the Town it is of an easie accesse to the fieldwards more difficult as being built on the perpendicular fall of a rock In the year 1615 it was made good by Mr. Harancourt with a Regiment of eight Companies who kept it in the name of the Prince of Conde and the rest of that confederacy but it held not long for at the Marshall D' Ancres coming before it with his Army and Artillery it was presently yeelded This war which was the second civill war which had happened in the reign of King Lewis was undertaken by the Princes chiefly to thwart the designes of the Queen mother and crush the powerfulnesse of her grand favourite the Marshall The pretence as in such cases it commonly is was the good of the Common-wealth the occasion the crosse marriages then consummated by the Marshall between the Kings of France and Spain for by those marriages they seemed to fear the augmentation of the Spaniards greatnesse the alienation of the affections of their antient allies and by consequence the ruine of the French Empire But it was not the fate of D' Anire as yet to persh Two years more of command and insolencies his destinies allow'd him and then he tumbled This opportunity of his death ending the third civill war each of which his faulty greatnesse had occasioned What the ambition of his designes did tend to I dare not absolutely determine though like enough it is that they aimed further then at a private or a personall potencie for having under the favour and countenance of the Queen mother made himself master of the Kings ear and of his Councell he made a shift to get into his own hands an authority almost as unlimited as that of the old Mayre of the Palace For he had suppressed the liberty of the generall estates and of the soveraign Courts removed all the officers and Counsellors of the last King ravished one of the Presidents of the great Chamber by name Mr. le Jay out of the Parliament into the prison and planted Garrisons of his own in most of the good Towns of Normandy of which Province he was Governour Add to this that he had caused the Prince of Conde being acknowledged the first Prince of the bloud to be imprisoned in the Bastile and had searched into the continuance of the lives of the King and his brother by the help of Sorcery and Witchcraft Besides he was suspected to have had secret intelligence with some forain Princes ill willers to the State and had disgraced some and neglected others of the Kings old confederates Certainly
the Enfranchisement or Naturalization of Aliens anciently certain Lords officers of the Crown and of the prime counsell were appointed to look unto the accounts Now it is made an ordinary and soveraigne Court consisting of two Presidents and divers Auditors and other under Officers The Chamber wherein it is kept called La Chambre des comptes is the beautifullest peece of the whole Palais the great Chamber it self not being worthy to be named in the same day with it It was built by Charles VIII anno 1485. afterwards adorned and beautified by Lewis XII whose Statua is there standing in his royall robes and the Scepter in his hand He is accompâ—aned by the four Cardinall vertues expressed by way of Hieroglyphicks very properly and cunningly each of them having its particular Motto to declare its being The Kings portraiture also as if he were the fifth virtue had its word under written and contained in a couple of Verses which let all that love the Muses skip them in the reading and are these Quatuor has comites foveo Coelestia dona Innccuae pacis prospera scepâ—â—a gerenâ— From the King descend we to the Subjects ab equis quod aiunt ad asinos and the phrase is not much improper the French commonalty being called the Kings asses These are divided into three ranks or Classes the Clergy the Nobles the Paisants out of which certain delegates or Committees chosen upon occasion and sent to the King did antiently concur to the making of the Supreme Court for Justice in France It was called the Assembly of the three Estates or the Conventus ordinum and was just like the Parliament of England But these meetings are now forgotten or out of use neither indeed as this time goeth can they any way advantage the State for whereas there are three principall if not sole causes of these conventions which are the desposing of the Regency during the nonage or sicknesse of a King the granting Aides and Subsidies and the redressing of Grievances there is now another course taken in them The Parliament of Paris which speaketh as it is prompted by power and greatnesse appointeth the Regent the Kings themselves with their officers determine of the Taxes and as concerning their Grievances the Kings care is open to private Petitions Thus is that little of a Common-wealth which went to the making up of this Monarchie escheated or rather devoured by the King that name alone containing in it both Clergy Princes and People So that some of the French Counsellors may say with Tully in his Oration for Marcellus unto Caesar Doleoque cum respub immortalis esse debeat eam unius mortalis anima consistere Yet I cannot withall but affirme that the Princes and Nobles of France do for as much as concerneth themselves upon all advantages flie off from the Kings obedience but all this while the poor Paisant is ruined let the poor Tenant starve or eat the bread of carefulnesse it matters not so they may have their pleasure and be counted firme zelots of the common liberty And certainly this is the issue of it the former liveth the life of a slave to maintain his Lord in pride and lazinesse the Lord liveth the life of a King to oppresse his Tenant by fines and exactions An equality little answering to the old plat-formes of Republicks Aristotle Genius ille naturae as a learned man calleth him in his fourth book of Politicks hath an excellent discourse concerning this disproportion In that Chapter his project is to have a correspondency so far between Subjects under the King or people of the same City that neither the one might be over rich nor the other too miserably poor They saith he which are too happy strong or rich or greatly favoured and the like can not nor will not obey with which evill they are infected from their infancy The other through want of these things are too abjectly minded and base so that the one cannot but command nor the other but serve And this he calleth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a City inhabited onely by Slaves and Tyrants That questionlesse is the most perfect and compleat forme of Government Ubi veneratur protentem humilis non timet antecedit non contemnit humiliorem potens as Velleius But this is an unhappinesse of which France is not capable their Lords being Kings and their Commons Villains And not to say lesse of them then indeed they are the Princes of this Countrey are but little inferiour in matter of Royalty to any King abroad and by consequence little respective in matter of obedience to their own King at home Upon the least discontent they withdraw themselves from the Court or put themselves into armes and of all other comforts are ever sure of this that they shall never want partizans Neither do they use to stand off from him fearfully and at distance but justifie their revolt by publick Declaration and think the King much indebted to them if upon fair terms and an honourable reconcilement they will please to put themselves again into his obedience Henry IV. was a Prince of as undaunted and uncontroulable a spirit as ever any of his predecessors and one that loved to be obeyed yet was he also very frequently baffled by these Roytelets and at the last dyed in an affront The Prince of Conde perceiving the Kings affection to his new Lady began to grow jealous of him for which reason he retired unto Bruxells the King offended at his retreat sent after him and commanded him home The Prince returned answer that he was the Kings most humble Subject and servant but into France he would not come unlesse he might have a Town for his assurance withall he protested in publick writing a nullity of any thing that should be done to his prejudice in his absence A stomachfull resolution and misbecoming a Subject yet in this opposition he persisted his humor of disobedience out-living the King whom he had thus affronted But these tricks are ordinary here otherwise a man might have construed this action by the term of Rebellion The chief means whereby these Princes become so head strong are an immunity given them by their Kings and a liberty which they have taken to themselves By their Kings they have been absolutely exempted from all Tributes Tolles Taxes Customes Impositions and Subsidies By them also they have been estated in whole entire Provinces with a power of haute and main Justice as the Lawyers term it passed over to them the Kings having scarce an homage or acknowledgment of them To this they have added much for their strength and security by the insconcing and fortifying of their houses which both often moveth and afterwards inableth them to contemn his Majesty An example we have of this in the Castle of Rochfort belonging to the Duke of Tremoville which in the long Civill wars endured a siege of 5000 shot and yet was not taken A very impolitick course in my conceit
to Priories and Abbies within this Realm whereby the treasures of the Realm were transported and the counsels of the King and the secrets of the Realm disclosed unto the Kings enemies to the great damage of the King and of the Realm that therefore all Priors Aliens and other French men beneficed should avoid the Realm except only Priors Conventuals such as have institution and induction and this also with a Proviso that they be Catholick and give sufficient surety that they shall not disclose the counsels of the King or of the Realm so the Statute 1 Hen 5. cap. 7. This also noted to us by Pol. Virgil ad Reip. commodum sancâ—tum est ut post haec ejusmodi externis hominibus nullius Anglicani sacerdotii possessio traderetur Upon which point of statute the Britons belonging to the Queen Dowager the widow once of John de Montfort Duke of Bretagne were also expelled the Land by Act of Parliament 3 Hen. 5. cap. 3. By this means the Priors Aliens being banished their possessions fell into the Kings hands as in England so also in these Islands and their houses being all suppressed they became an accession to the patrimony Royall the demaine as our Lawyers call it of the Crown These Priors Aliens thus exiled were properly called Priors Dative and removeable but never such Aliens never so removeable as they were now made by this Statute What the condition of these Priors was and wherein they differed from those which are called above by the name of Priors Conventuals I cannot better tell then in the words of an other of our Statutes that namely of the 27 of Hen. 8. cap. The Parliament had given unto the King all Abbies Priories and Religious houses whatsoever not being above the value 200 l. in the old rent Provided alwayes saith the letter of the Law that this Act c. shall not extend nor be prejudiciall to any Abbots or Priors of any Monastery or Priory c. for or concerning such Cels of Religious houses appertaining or belonging to their Monasteries or Priories in which Cels the Priors or other chief Governours thereof be under the obedience of the Abbots or Priors to whom such Cels belong As the Monke or Canons of the Covent of their Monasteries or Priories and cannot be sued by the Lawes of this Realm or by their own proper names for the possessions or other things appertaining to such Cels whereof they be Priors and Governors but must sue and be sued in and by the names of the Abbots and Priors to whom they be now obedient and to whom such Cels belong and be also Priors or Governours dative or removeable from time to time and accomptez of the profits of such Cels at the only will and pleasure of such of the Abbots and Priors to whom such Cels belong c. This once the difference between them but now the criticisme may be thought unnecessary To proceed upon this suppression of the Priors and others the Religious houses in these Islands and their Revenue falling unto the Crown there grew a composition between the Curates and the Governours about their tithes which hath continued hitherto unaltered except in the addition of the Deserts of which more hereafter Which composition in the proportion of tithe unto which it doth amount I here present unto your Lordship in a brief Diagramme together with the the names of their Ministers and Justices now beng JARSEY Parishes Ministers Revenues Justices St. Martins Mr. Bandinell sen the Dean The 3 of the kings tithe Josuah de Carteret Seign de Trinite St. Hilaries Mr. Oliver the Sub-dean or Commissary The 10 of the kings tithe Dan du Maresque seign de Sammarez St. Saviours Mr. Effart The Deserts and 22 acres of Gleb Ph. L' Empriere Sr. de Delament St. Clements Mr. Paris The 8 and 9 of the kings tithe Ph. de Carletet Sr. de Vinchiles de haut St. Grovilles Mr. de la Place The 8 and 9 c. Eli. du Maresque Sr. de Vinchiles abas St. Trinities Mr. Molles The Deserts and the 10 of the kings tithe Eli. de Carteret Sr. de la Hagne St. Johns Mr. Brevin The Deserts c. Joh. L' Empriere Sr. des au grace S. Lawrences Mr. Prinde The Deserts c. Aron Messervie St. Maries Mr. Blandivell jun. The 3 sheaf of the Kings tithe Ben. la cloche Sr. de Longueville St. Owens Mr. La cloche The Deserts c. Jo. Harde St. Burlads  The 8 and 9 c. Abr. Herod St. Peters Mr. Grueby The Deserts c. Ph. Marret Note that the taking of the 8 and 9 sheafe is called French querrui as also that an acre of their measure is 40 Perches long and one in breadth every Perche being 21 foot GUERNZEY Parishes Ministers Revenues Justices St. Peters on the Sea M. de la March The 7 of tithe and champarte Tho. Andrewes Sr. de Sammarez St. Martins Mr. de la Place The like Pet. Carey sen La Forest Mr. Picote The 9 of tithe and champarte John Fautrat Sr. â—de Coq Tortevall Mr. Fautrat The 3 of tithe and champarte Joh. Bonamy S. Andrews The 4 of c. Joh. Ketville St. Peters in the Wood. Mr. Perchard The 3 of the tithe only James Guile Sr. des Rohais St. Saviours  The Desert and the tenths in all 600 sheafes Tho. Blundell Chastell Mr. Panisee The 9 of the tithe only Pet. de Beauvoyre Sr. des Granges St. Mich. St. Michael in the vale Mr. Millet The 4 of the Kings tithe only Pet. Gosselin St. Sampson The like Josias Merchant Serke Mr. Brevin 20 l. stipend and 20 quarters of corn Pet. Carey jun. Alderney Mr. Mason 20 l. stipend  Note that the Parish called in this Diagram La Forest is dedicated as some say to the holy Trinity as other to St. Margaret that which is here called Tortevall as some suppose unto St. Philip others will have it to St. Martha but that of Chastell to the hand of the blessed Virgin which is therefore called in the Records our Ladies Castle Note also that the Justices or Jurates are here placed as near as I could learn according to their Seniority not as particularly appertaining to those Parishes against which they are disposed For the better understanding of this Diagram there are three words which need a commentary as being meerly Aliens to the English tongue and hardly Denizens in French Of these that in the Diagrams called the Deserts is the first A word which properly signifieth a Wildernesse or any wast ground from which ariseth little profit As it is taken at this present and on this occasion it signifieth a field which formerly was laid to waste and is now made arable The case this At the suppression of the Priors Aliens and the composition made betwixt the Curates and the Governours there was in either Island much ground of small advantage to the Church or to the
convenient time to the widow of the deceased to provide her of an house and shall dispose the residue unto the next Incumbent for which the Sequestrator shall be accomptant VI. 6. In the same case of vacancy if within six months the Governour do not present a Clerk unto the Reverend father in God the Bishop of Winton or if that See be void to the most Reverend father in God the Archbishop of Canterbury to be admitted and instituted to the said Benefice then shall the Dean give notice of the time of the vacancy unto the said Lords the Bishop and Archbishop whereby it is in the lapse that so it may be by them collated And then if any one be offered to them the Dean shall give a testimony of the Demeanure and sufficiency of the party to be approved by them before he put him into actuall possession of the said Benefice VII 7. The Dean shall have the Registring and Probate of Testaments which be approved by the seal of his office and afterwards enregistred He shall also have the registring of the Inventories of the moveable goods of Orphanes which he shall carefully record to give copies of them at all times and as often as he is required Also he shall give letters of administration of the goods of Intestates dying without heirs of their body to the next of kindred VIII 8. They which have the keeping of the Will whether he be Heir Executor or any other shall transcribe and bring it unto the Dean within one moneth in default whereof he shall be brought by processe into the Court and be constrained to pay double charges And the said Dean for the said Testaments Inventories and Letters of administration shall have such fees as are specified in a Table for this purpose IX 9. All legaoies moveable made unto the Church the Ministers Schools or to the poor shall be of the cognisance of the Dean but upon any opposition made concerning the validity of the Will the Civill Courts shall determine of it between parties X. 10. It shall appertain unto the Dean to take cognisance of all detention of tithes consecrated to the Church of what kinde so ever they be which have been payed unto the Ministers and which they have enjoyed or had in possession for the space of forty years and every person convicted of withholding or fraudulently detaining the said tithes shall be adjudged to make restitution and shall pay the cost and charges of the party And for the preservation of all rights tithes rents lands and possessions belonging to the Church there shall be a Terrice made by the Bailiffe and Justices assisted by the Dean and the Kings Atturney XI 11. The Dean shall have also power to make a Deputy or Commissary which shall supply the place and office of the Dean as far as his Commission shall extend whereof there shall be an authentick copy in the rails of the said Court CHAP. VIII Of the Overseers or Church wardens Article I. 1. THe next week after Easter the Minister and people of every parish shall make choice of two to be Church-wardens discreet men of good life and understanding able to read and write if such may be had But if the people cannot agree on such a choice then shall the Minister name one and the Parishioners another by the major part of their voices which two shall be after sworn in the next Court and there advertised of their duties II. 2. Their duty shall be to see that the Churches and Church-yards be not abused by any profane and unlawfull actions as also not to suffer any excommunicated person to come into the Church after the sentence hath been published in that Parish they shall also carefully present from time to time those which neglect the publick exercises of Divine service and the administration of the Sacraments and genenerally all crimes of Ecclesiasticall cognisance which said presentations they shall exhibite under their hands nor shall they be constrained to present above twice a year III. 3. They shall have care particularly that the Churches be well repaired and the Church-yard well fenced and shall see that all things appertaining to the Church the administration of the word and Sacraments from time to time may be provided As viz. a Bible of the best translation and the largest letter the book of Common-prayers both for the Minister as also for the Clerk or Sexton of the Parish one Parchment book to Register the Christnings Marriages and Burials a decent Communion table with a Carpet to cover it during Divine service the Fonts for Baptism cups and vessels dedicated to that use together with a fair linnen cloth and a coffer wherein to put the said utensils also a trunk or chest for the peoples alms a cloth and cushion for the pulpit They shall also provide bread and wine for the the Communion and shall see that the seats and benches be well fitted for the conveniency of the Minister and of the people with the advice and counsell of the Ministers and shall look to the â—ents and revenues of the Churches treasure IV. 4. The said Church-wardens shall be enjoyned to keep a good and true accompt both of their disbursments or receipts and of the employment which they have made of the money issuing out of the Church treasury which shall from time to time be published according to the custome and of that also which is remaining in the hands of them or of the Overseers of the poor They shall employ the said treasure in things necessary and fitting for the Church and the common good guiding themselves by the direction of their Minister and the principall of the parish in such extraordinary matters as concern the Parish In case of publick businesse the assembly of the Estates shall prescribe them what they think expedient for the common profit and before they quit their charge they shall give notice to the Parishioners in the Easter week to hear thier accounts which shall passe under the hands of the Minister and the chief of the Parish if any of the said Parishioners or others shall refuse to pay the moneys which they owe to the said treasury the said Church-wardens and Overseers or any of them shall prosecute the law against them In case of any controversie about the said accounts or abuse to be reformed the Dean and Minister of the Parish where the said controversie or abuse shall be together with the Bailiffe and Justices shall determine of it as is most convenient V. 5. The said Church-wardens on the Sunday during Divine service shall search in places suspected for games or riot and having the Constables for their assistants shall search also into Alehouses and houses of misdemeanor VI. 6. They shall be carefull that there be no detention or concealment of any thing appertaining to the Church and shall also seise into their hands all goods and legacies moveable given unto the Church or to the poor according
the affaires of the King This Court the main pillar of the Liberty of France La Tournelle and the Judges of it The five Chambers of Enquestes severally instituted and by whom In what cause it is decisive The forme of admitting Advocates into the Courts of Parliament The Chancellour of France and his Authority The two Courts of Requests and Masters of them The vain envy of the English Clergy against the Lawyers p. 104. CHAP. IX The Kings Palace of the Louure by whom built The unsutablenesse of it The fine Gallery of the Queen Mother The long Gallery of Henry IV. His magnanimous intent to have built it into a quadrangle Henry IV. a great builder His infinite project upon the Mediterranean and the Ocean La Salle des Antiques The French not studious of Antiquities Burbon house The Tuilleries c. p. 113. La BEAUSE OR THE THIRD BOOK CHAP. I. Our Journey towards Orleans the Town Castle and Battail of Mont l'hierrie Many things imputed to the English which they never did Lewis the 11. brought not the French Kings out of wardship The town of Chartroy and the mourning Church there The Countrey of La Beause and people of it Estampes The dancing there The new art of begging in the Innes of this Countrey Angerville Tury The sawciness of the French Fidlers Three kindes of Musick amongst the Antient. The French Musick p. 121. CHAP. II. The Country and site of Orleans like that of Worcester The Wine of Orleans Praesidial Towns in France what they are The sale of Offices in France The fine walk and pastime of the Palle Malle The Church of St. Croix founded by Superstition and a miracle Defaced by the Hugonots Some things hated only for their name The Bishop of Orleans and his priviledge The Chappell and Pilgrims of St. Jacques The form of Masse in St Croix Câ—nâ—ing an Heathenish custome The great siege of Orleans raised by Joan the Virgin The valour of that woman that she was no witch An Elogie on her p. 131. CHAP. III. The study of the Civill Law revived in Europe The dead time of learning The Schools of Law in Orleans The oeconomie of them The Chancellour of Oxford antiently appointed by the Diocesan Their methode here and prodigality in bestowing degrees Orleans a great conflux of strangers The language there The Corporation of Germans there Their house and priviledges Dutch and Latine The difference between an Academie and an University p. 145. CHAP. IV. Orleans not an University till the comming of the Jesuites Their Colledge there by whom built The Jesuites no singers Their laudable and exact method of teaching Their policies in it Received not without great difficulty into Paris Their houses in that university Their strictnesse unto the rules of their order Much maliced by the other Priests and Fryers Why not sent into England with the Queen and of what order they were that came with her Our return to Paris p. 152. PICARDIE OR THE FOURTH BOOK CHAP. I. Our return towards England More of the Hugonots hate unto Crosses The town of Luzarch and St. Loupae The Country of Picardie and people Tho Picts of Britain not of this Countrey Mr. Lee Dignicoes Governour of Picardie The office of Constable what it is in France By whom the place supplyed in England The marble table in France and causes there handled Clermount and the Castle there The war raised up by the Princes against D' Ancre What his designes might tend to c. p. 162. CHAP. II. The fair City of Amiens and greatnesse of it The English feasted within it and the error of that action the Town how built-seated and fortified The Citadell of it thought to be impregnable Not permitted to be viewed The overmuch opennesse of the English in discovering their strength The watch and form of Government in the Town Amiens a Visdamate to whom it pertaineth What that honour is in France And how many there enjoy it c. p. 169. CHAP. III. The Church of Nostre Dame in Amiens The principall Churches in most Cities called by her name More honour performed to her then to her Saviour The surpassing beauty of this Church on the outside The front of it King Henry the sevenths Chappel at Westminster The curiousnesse of this Church within By what means it became to be so The sumptuous masking closets in it The excellency of perspective works Indulgences by whom first founded The estate of the Bishoprick p. 175. CHAP. IV. Our Journey down the Some and Company The Town and Castle of Piquigni for what famous Comines censure of the English in matter of Prophecies A farewell to the Church of Amiens The Town and Castle of Pont D' Armie Abbeville how seated and the Garrison there No Governour in it but the Major or Provost The Authors imprudent curiosity and the curtesie of the Provost to him The French Post-horses how base and tyred My preferment to the Trunk-horse The horse of Philip de Comines The Town and strength of Monstreuille The importance of these three Towns to the French border c. p. 183. CHAP. V. The County of Boulonnois and Town of Boulogne by whom Enfranchized The present of Salt butter Boulogne divided into two Towns Procession in the lower Town to divert the Plague The forme of it Procession and the Letany by whom brought into the Church The high Town Garrisoned The old man of Boulogne and the desperate visit which the Author bestowed upon him The neglect of the English in leaving open the Havens The fraternity De la Charite and inconveniency of it The costly Journey of Henry VIII to Boulogne Sir Walt. Raleghs censure of that Prince condemned The discourtesie of Charles V. towards our Edward VI. The defence of the house of Burgundy how chargeable to the Kings of England Boulogne yeilded back to the French and on what conditions The curtesie and cunning of my Host of Bovillow p. 192. FRANCE GENERAL OR THE FIFTH BOOK Describing the Government of the Kingdom generally in reference to the Court the Church and the Civill State CHAP. I. A transition to the Government of France in generall The person age and marriage of King Lewis XIII Conjecturall reasons of his being issuelesse Iaqueline Countesse of Holland kept from issue by the house of Burgundy The Kings Sisters all marryed and his alliances by them His naturall Brethren and their preferments His lawfull Brother The title of Monsieur in France Monsieur as yet unmarried not like to marry Montpensiers daughter That Lady a fit wife for the Earl of Soissons The difference between him and the Prince of Conde for the Crown in case the line of Navarre fail How the Lords stand affected in the cause Whether a child may be born in the 11 month King Henry IV. a great lover of fair Ladies Monsieur Barradas the Kings favorite his birth and offices The omniregency of the Queen Mother and the Cardinall of Richileiu The Queen Mother a wise
for above 70 years been troubled with a blindnesse in the eyes of his soul Thou fool said our Saviour almost in the like case first cast out the beam out of thine own eye and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brothers eye The next morning July 3 I left my pilgrims to try their fortunes and went on in our journey to Paris which that day we were to visite My eyes not permitting me to read and my eares altogether strangers to the French chat drave my thoughts back to Roven and there nothing so much possessed me as the small honour done to Bedford in his monument I had leasure enough to provide him a longer Epitaph and a shorter apologie against the envie of that Courtier which perswaded Charles the VIII to deface the ruines of his Sepulchre Thus. Sa did the Fox the coward'st of the heard Kick the dead Lyon and profane his beard So did the Greeks about their vanquisht host Drag Hectors reliques and torment his ghost So did the Parthian slaves deride the head Of the great Crassus now betrayed and dead To whose victorious sword not lâ—ng before They would have sacrific'd their lives or more So do the French assault dead Bedfords spright And trample on his ashes in despight But foolish Curio cease and do not blame So small an honor done unto his name Why grievest thou him a Sepulchre to have Who when he liv'd could make all France a grave His sword triumph'd through all those Towns which lie In th' Isle Maine Anjoy Guyen Normandie Thy father 's felt it Oh! thou worst of men If man thou art do not endevour then This Conquerour from his last hold to thrust Whom all brave minds should honour in his dust But be not troubled Bedford thou shalt stand Above the reach of malice though the hand Of a French basenesse may deface thy name And tear it from thy marble yet shall fame Speak loudly of thee and thy acts Thy praise A Pyramis unto it self shall raise Thy brave atchievements in the times to come Shall be a monument above a Tombe Thy name shall be thy Epitaph and he Which once reads Bedford shall imagin thee Beyond the power of Verses and shall say None could expresse thy worthes a fuller way Rest thou then quiet in the shades of night Nor vex thy self with Curio's weaker spite Whilest France remains and Histories are writ Bedford shall live and France shall Chronicl ' it Having offered this unworthy yet gratefull sacrifice to the Manes of that brave Heros I had the more leasure to behold Mante and the Vines about it being the first that ever I saw They are planted like our Hop-gardens and grow up by the helpe of poles but not so high They are kept with little câ—st and yeeld profit to an husbandman sufficient to make him rich had he neither King nor Landlord The Wine which is pressed out of them is harsh and not pleasing as much differing in sweetnesse from the Wines of Paris or Orleans as their language doth in elegancy The rest of the Norman wines which are not very frequent as growing only on the frontiers towards France are of the same quality As for the Town of Maâ—â—e it seemeth to have been of good strength before the use of great Ordinances having a wall a competent ditch and at every gate a draw-bridge They are still sufficient to guard their Pullen from the Fox and in the night times to secure their houses from any forain burglary Once indeed they were able to make resistance to a King of France but the English were then within it At last on honorable termes it yeelded and was entred by Charles VII the second of August anno 1449. The Town is for building and bignesse somewhat above the better sort of Market Towns here in England The last Town of Normandy toward Paris is Pontoyse a Town well fortifyed as being a borderer and one of the strongest bulwarks against France It hath in it two fair Abbies of Maubuissen and St. Martin and six Churches Parochiall whereof that of Nostre dame in the Suburbs is the most beautifull The name it derives from a bridge built over the river of Oyse on which it is situate and by which on that side it is well defended the bridge being strengthned with a strong gate and two draw-bridges It is commodiously situate on the rising of an hill and is famous for the siege laid before it bâ— Charles VII anno 1442. but more fortunate unto him in the taking of it For having raised his Army upon the Duke of Yorks coming to give him battail with 6000 only the French Army consisting of double the number he retired or fled rather unto St. Denis but there hearing how scandalous his retreat was to the Parisians even ready to mutiny and that the Duke of Orleans and others of the Princes stirred with the ignominiousnesse of his flight began to practise against him he speedily returned to Pontoyse and maketh himself master of it by assault Certainly to that fright he owed the getting of this Town and all Normandy the French by that door making their entrie unto this Province out of which at last they thrust the English anno 1450. So desperate a thing is a frighted coward This Countrey had once before been in pâ—ssession of the English and that by a firmer title then the sword William the Conqueror had conveiâ—d it over the Sâ—â—s into England and it continued an Appendix of that Crown from the year 1067 unto that of 1204. At that time John called Sans terre third son unto King Henry II. having usurped the estates of England and the English possessions in France upâ—n Aâ—thur heir of Bretagne and son unto Geofry his elder brother was warred on by Philip Augustus King of France who sided with the said Arthur In the end Arthur was taken and not long after was found dead in the ditches of the Castle of Roven Whether this violent death happened unto him by the practise of his Uncle as the French say or that the young Prince came to that unfortunate end in an attempt to escape as the English report is not yet determined For my part considering the other carriages and virulencies of that King I dare be of that opinion that the death of Arthur was not without his contrivement Certainly he that rebelled against his Father and practised the eternall imprisonment and ruine of his Brother would not much stick this being so speedy a way to settle his affaires at the murder of a Nephew Upon the first bruit of this murder Constance mother to the young Prince complaineth unto the King and Parliament of France not the Court which now is in force consisting of men only of the long robe but the Court of the Pâ—iâ—rie or 12 Peeres whereof King John himself was one as Duke of Normandy I see not how in justice Philip could do lesse then summon him an
homager being slain and a homager being accused To this summons John refused to yeeld himself a Counsell rather magnanimous then wise and such as had more in it of a English King then a French Subject Edward III a Prince of finer metall then this John obeyed the like warrant and performed a personall homage to Philip of Valoys and it is not reckoned amongst his disparagements He committed yet a further errour or solecisme in State not so much as sending any of his people to supply his place or plead his cause Upon this non-appearance the Peers proceed to sentence Ilfut par Arrestdela dite cour saith Du Chesne condamnè pour atteint convaincu da crime de parricide de felonie Parric de for killing his own Nephew and Felony for committing an act so execrable on the person of a French Vassall and in France John du Serres addeth a third cause which was contempt in disobeying the Kings commandment Upon this â—â—rdict the Court awarded Que toutes les terres qu' il aveit parde la demoureroient aquâ—ses confisquces a la Couronne c. A proceeding so fair and orderly that I should sooner accuse King John of indiscretion then the French of injustice When my life or estate is in danger let me have no more finister a tryall The Erglish thus outed of Normandy by the weaknesse of John recovered it again by the puissance of Henry but being held only by the swoÌ„rd it was after 30 years recovered again as I have told you And now being passed over the Oyse I have at once freed the English and my self of Normandy here ending this Book but not that dayes journey The End of the First Book A SURVEY OF THE STATE of FRANCE FRANCE specially so called OR THE SECOND BOOK CHAP. I. France in what sense so called The bounds of it All old Gallia not possessed by the French Countries follow the name of the most predominant Nation The condition of the present French not different from that of the old Gaules That the heavens have a constant power upon the same Climate though the Inhabitants are changed The quality of the French in private at the Church and at the table Their language complements discourse c. July the third which was the day we set out of St. Claire having passed through Pontoyse and crossed the river we were entred into France France as it is understood in its limited sense and as a part only of the whole for when Meroveus the Grandchild of Pharamond first King of the Franci or Frenchmen had taken an opportunity to passe the Rhine having also during the wars between the Romans and the Gothes taken Paris he resolved there to set up his rest and to make that the head City of his Empire The Country round about it which was of no large extent he commanded to be called Francia or Terra Francorum after the name of his Frankes whom he governed In this bounded and restrained sense we now take it being confined with Normandy on the North Champagne on the East and on the West and South with the Province of La Beausse It is incircled in a manner with the Oyse on the Northwards the Eure on the West the Velle on the East and a veine riveret of the Seine towards the South but the principall environings are made by the Seine and the Marne a river of Campagne which constitute that part hereof which commonly and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is called by the name of the Isle of France and within the main Island makes divers little petty Isles the waters winding up and down as desirous to recreate the earth with the pleasures of its lovely and delicious embraces This Isle this portion of Gaul properly and limitedly sty led France was the seat of the Francs at their first coming hither and hath still continued so The rest of Gallia is in effect rather subdued by the French then inhabited their valour in time having taken in those Countries which they never planted so that if we look apprehensively into Gaule we shall finde the other Nations of it to have just cause to take up that complaint of the King of Portugall against Ferdinand of Castile for assuming to himself the title of Catholick King of Spain Ejus tam non exigua parte penes reges alios as Mariana relateth it Certain it it that the least part of all Gallia is in the hands of the French the Normans Britons Biscaines or Gascons the Gothes of Languedoc and Provence Burgundians and the ancient Gaules of Poictou retaining in it such fair and ample Provinces But it is the custome shall I say or fate of lesser and weaker Nations to lose their names unto the stronger as wives do to their husbands and the smaller rivers to the greater Thus we see the little Province of Poland to have mastered and given name to the Pruteni Mazovii and other Nations of Sarmatia Europaea as that of Mosco hath unto all the Provinces of Asiatica Thus hath Sweden conquered and denominated almost all the great Peninsula of Scandia whereof it is but a little parcell and thus did the English Saxons being the most prevailing of the rest impose the name of English on all the people of the Heptarchie Et dedit imposito nomina prisca jugo And good reason the vanquished should submit themselves as well unto the appellation as the laws of the victor The French then are possessors of some parts of old Gallia and masters of the rest possessors not of their Cities only but their conditions A double victory it seemeth they enjoyed over that people and took from them at once both their qualities and their Countries Certainly whosoever will please to peruse the Commentaries of Julius Caesar de bello Gallico he will equally guesse him an Historian and a Prophet yea he will rather make himself believe that he hath prophecied the character of the present French then delivered one of the antient Gaule And indeed it is a matter worthy both of wonder and observation that the old Gaules being in a manner all worne out should yet have most of their conditions surviving in those men which now inhabit that region being of so many severall Countries and originals If we dive into naturall causes we have a speedy recourse unto the powerfull influence of the heavens for as those celestiall bodies considered in the generall do work upon all sublunary bodies in the generall by light influence and motion so have they a particular operation on particulars An operation there is wrought by them in a man as borne at such and such a minute and again as borne under such and such a Climate The one derived from the setting of the Houses and the Lord of the Horoscope at the time of his Nativity the other from that constellation which governeth as it were the Province of his birth and is the genius or deus tutelaris loci Hinc illa