the bodie or rather to slay and not to heale to vexe not to comfort by darkenesse to shewe light and by crueltie to teach courtesie If thou wilt not destroy thou must vse instruction to instruct thou must subuert to subuert thou must conuince and to conuince reason is necessarie Is it reason to passe to condemnation before proofe to commit the stewes to the reformation of harlots and the execution of sentence to the partie adiudged To the generall reasons of this discourse the king of Nau. and prince of Conde do adde particulat exceptions As that by decree of Charles the 6. published anno 1369. it was forbidden to excommunicate any towne communaltie bodie or colledge of this realme besides that by the priuiledges of the lilly the Pope can not excommunicate either the kâ— or his subiectes so that Clement the 5. by his bull made voide the interdiction of Boniface the 8. against Philip the faire declared this realme exeÌ„pt froÌ„ the Popes power so was accounted adiudged by Alexander the 4. Grogory the 8. 9. 10. 11. Clement the 4. Vrban the 5. Benedict the 12. Also in the yeare 1488. the kings proctor appealed as of abuse from the excommunication that the Pope had cast vpon the inhabitantes of Gaunt vassals to the crowne of France And the court of Parliament by a decree of the 27. of Iune 1526. and an other of the last of Ianuary 1552. declared the clause by the Apostolike authoritie inserted into the Popes rescriptes and sent into France to be voide and abusiue Againe when in March 1563. the Romish inquisition had cited the Queene of Nauarre personally to appeare before the Pope within 6. months vnder paine of confiscation of goods king Charles the 9. thinking that this adiournment touched his honor and the priuiledges of his realme tolde the Popes Nuntio that hee would chastise the authors of that enterprise As in the like case did Lewes the young 1143. deale with Tibault Earle of Champagne who had procured Raoul Earle of Vermandois to be censured Hereunto do I adde with Du Du Tillet cap. of the Peere Tillet bishop of Meaux that wee ought not to suffer a peere to be excommunicate because we are to be conuersant with him about the kinges counsels who in case hee had not whereof to liue ought to finde him Vpon such reasons examples and priuiledges do the king of Nauar prince of Conde depende and as true Frenchmen make a shield against the enimies of France who for preparing the way to their ambition with the price of the poore people do studie to corrupt those goodly priuiledges vsing the priest of Rome as the minister of their furie who being filled with rashnosse haue hatched The Guizians second pretence all the tragedies at this day played in France yea euen so farre as to seeke to make the king to nominate a successor to the Crowne In olde time the Dictator Fabius Buteo endeuouring to bring into order that which time and necessitie had disordered sayde that he would not depose out of the Senate anie of those whome the Censors C. Flaminius Liuius li. 3. dec 3. and L. Aemilius had established Who can then beleeue that the king woulde depriue from the right of the realme those that are called not by the Censors but by the lawe which is the â—â—le of Censure I meane that grounded lawe of France by vertue whereof the successor is seised in a manner during his predecessors life and without other inuestiture is halfe possessioner wherof groweth this prouerbe In France the king neuer dieth Besides to corrupt those lawes whereby hee reigneth after his predecessors euen since the beginning of this Monarchie were as much as to hate himselfe for although we liue vnder a soueraigne whose handes can not be bound yet must we say with L. Valerius against the Oppian law There be lawes that Liuius li. 4. dec 4. be inuiolable in respect of the perpetuall profite of the common wealth and there be others necessarie for a time only those do neuer die but these are mortall according to the diuersitie of occurrences So that these thinges thus by nature distinguished we place first the laws Royall and such as concerne the state of the realm because they be annexed and vnited to the crowne as is this lawe of succession to the preiudice wherof the king can not elect any other successor then whom the same doth appoint him and in this case we may say that which Pacatius saide to the Emperour Theodosius That onely is lawfull for thee to doo Bartol in li. prohibere Plane f. quod fiant clam that the lawes do permit and no otherwise for diuerse considerations First that that is obserued in part must take place in all But the kings do holde it for a generall rule that the publike demaynes are by nature holy sacred and inalienable For that cause was the towne of Zikeleg that Achis gaue to Dauid neuer alienated And the kinges of Englande France Spaine and Polande do sweare neuer to dismember their demaynes yea the king of Englande in his treatie with the Pope and Potentates of Italy added this clause That they should giue no part of the demaynes of Fraunce for the deliuerie of king Frances The reason is because the demaines of the Crowne is a publike valuation in respect of the prosperitie thereof the profite whereof is made priuate and particular to the king that reigneth only so long as he liueth This caused the Emperour Pertinax to raze his name that was grauen in demainiall inheritances that Antonine the pitifull would not dwell but vpon his owne inheritance and that Lewes the 8. chose rather to sell his owne moueables iewels for the satisfying of his legacies then to touch the demains which considering the other rights of the common wealth can be tearmed but a part thereof so that if the king can not alienate much lesse may he passe away his kingdome and subiectes from one stocke to an other The second consideration shall be taken of the example of tutors who as witnesseth Aulus Gellius lib. 5. cap. 9. could not passe away their pupils into other mens power neither kinges their subiectes considering that they are onely tutors to the people to whose generall benefite their eyes ought to be more open then to their owne particular commodities and by the saying of an auncient man Euen as tutorshippe so the charge of Cicer. lib. 1 Offic. the common wealth hath more regarde to the profite of the Gouernors then of the gouerned So that if the king being ledde by euill counsell transferreth his realme the fittest to succeed may frustrate whatsoeuer hath beene done to his preiudice which was put in practise by Charles the 7. against Henry the 5 king of France and England who in respect of his marriage with Lady Katherin of France daughter to Charles the 6. was inuested in this realme as appeareth by the
a great Army to ground and cast the burden of the warres vppon the Duchie of Luxembourg had for his chiefe Counsellors the Lords of Iametz and Guise Thus may wee see this Lorraine crept very high for a gentleman of base golde but such was the kinges pleasure whose power appeareth in exalting the base enriching the poore and increasing the small such was his fauour yea such that although there still rested in him some sinister impression of this straungers humours yet would he not neuerthelesse depriue him of any of his offices or dignities so that he prosecuting his good hap obtained so ready entry into the fauours of king Henry the 2. that his children being honorably appointed he procured Aumale to be erected into a Duchie in the yeare 1547. so to be briefe being growne rich in goodes alliance and honour as beeing Duke of Guyse and Aumale Peer of Fraunce and gouernor of Burgundy hee deceased the 18. of Aprill 1550. in this like to M. Perpenna who as witnesseth Valerius was Consull before hee was Citizen but vnlike in that that as saith the same author The life of Perpenna was triumphant but his death ignominious through the lawe Papia in his fathers person who being naturally a straunger was banished Rome for vsurping the priuileges of Romane Citizens whereas contrariwise this mans children continued their fathers triumphes yea as it was said of Perpenna They haue with a mischiefe rooted themselues in a forraine land This was the straunger O ye Frenchmen to Plut. in his notable sayings of the Lacedemonians Plut. in the life of Silla Plut. of brotherly loue whom you might haue said as the Lacedemonians said to Philip king of Macedon that they would not he should come into their land either as a freend or as a foe this is that wretch of whome yee may say as of Sillaes father that he could scarse bee honest seeing hee grew so soone rich this is that vagabond on whom we should practise the saying of Theophrastus importing that we must not loue strangers to proue them but proue them to loue them this is that great hunter that faulconer that hath brought vp his children after the manner of rauenous fowles who with their ambition as with a crooked beake doo rent poore Fraunce in pieces with sharpe tallants do seeke to seaze vpon this estate O wise and valiant king Frauncis how neere a true prophet came you when you foretold that if euer this wretches ospring tooke footing or sure root in Fraunce it would strip the kings into their doublets and the people into their shirtes for wee may gesse at that which is to come by that which is eyther present or past considering that nothing is done without cause neither can any thing bee foreseene without some reason preceding This Oracle might haue made vs to hauestood vpon our gard but who can auoyd destinie The children of this Claude of Lorraine beeing fatally destinate to the subuersion of this estate haue enioyed the most part of the fauours of Court vnder Henry the 2. at whose coronation they so cunningly exalted their ambitiō that they got the chiefe point of honour and presidence before the Duke of Montpensier a prince of the bloud as by the acte reserued by du Thier Secretary of commaundements the 25. of Iuly 1547. which also in the yeare 1559. they put in practise at the annointing of king Frauncis the 2. in respect saide they of the antiquitie of their Peeryes wherein must bee more regard of the represented then of the representing notwithstanding Du Tillet in his collection of the great men of France it had beene otherwise adiudged by a decree of the parliament of Paris betweene the Dukes of Montpensier and Neuers in Iune 1541. Hauing wonne this barre and title of greatnes ouer France they began vpon the earnest peny of their credit more more to display the wings of their ambition and in truth as the defect of vessels cannot be seen so long as they stand emptie but when licour is powred into them euen so rotten and corrupt minds can no longer conceale themselues when they haue once attained to authoritie and power but must needes burst foorth and display themselues in their couetous affections and insolencies as may bee noted in these vntimely births of fortune For about the yeare 1548 when a certaine aduocate of the parliament in his plea for the Duke of Guyse had giuen him the qualitie of a Prince which by a present decree was razed it so set them out of ioint and filled them with bitternes that the Cardinall Charles of Lorraine neuer left remouing euery stone for the displacing of President Liset vntill hee had compassed the same in the yeare 1550 though vnder an other pretence Afterward for the further aduauncing of their ambitious drifts and the nearer to resemble the Cantharides who as Plutarch saith doo still creepe into the purest wheat and freshest roses they entered listes with the Lord Anne of Montmorency vppon whome after sundry crossings and vnder fauour of his imprisonment which fell in the yeare 1557 at the battell of Sainct Laurence they so encroched that the king gaue to Francis of Lorraine a commission of Lieutenant general wherat the Constable as a wary person and one practised in seruing the time could very well winke and so set a faire countenance vpon a fowle game But in tract of time the king grew to bee so glutted with the faire speeches of these Lorraines and their importunate baying at the chiefe offices of the crowne that as one not troubled with any lethargie of mind but euen to the quicke feeling some drifts of their ambition he resolued vtterly to rid his hands of such so subtil husbands and to driue them from about his person yea euen out of his dominions wherein they had through their crafty conueiances fattened them selues euen to the great cōtempt of the Queene now the kings mother who through their perswasions was at the point to haue beene shamefully reiected and to the desolation of the French nation among whom they haue serued onely for bellowes to kindle the fire of ciuil dissentiōs so that since they came to be our guests we may exclaime of Fraunce as did Agesilaus Plut. in his notable sayings of the Lacedemonians of Greece when hee heard of a cruell conflict neere to Corinth betweene the mutinous Graecians one against another Oh vnhappy Greece who with their owne handes haue made away men ynow in one day of battaile to haue ouercome all the Barbarians togither But the kings purpose was preuented by Gods prouidence who not willing to take that scourge from vs made France a widow of this good king in Iuly 1559 so gaue vs ouer for a pray to the intollerable ambition insatiable auarice and raging cruelty of these strangers who raigning ouer vs vnder the shadow of king Francis the 2. and vnder the fauour of his minoritie plaied open play against
of their seruice were reuoked and made voide who but those furies made the edict that forbad all bearing of armes yea euen the nobilitie and reuoked all particular prouisions to whomsoeuer the same was granted And yet as if the crow had ingendered the swanne these men will build vp that which their father destroyed Yeeld then ye Guysards your affected gouernements of Burgondie Champagne and Britaine to the domesticall seruants not to strangers referre the offices of great master and chamberlaine that you stole from the houses of Montmorencie and Longueuille Giue ouer your titles of Earles and Dukes wherewith within these 25. or thirtie yeares ye haue shadowed your meanenesse and walke in that estate wherin your grandfather came into France weake of goods poore of honor and naked of dignitie But what yet by their saying is the king in their debt and by their discontentment they do sufficiently shew that they wil not suffer the nobilitie so much as to tast of those honors wherwith it ought to be satisfied gleane where they haue reaped or gather any grapes where they haue made their vintage do they then terme this the restoring of the nobilitie What aduancement may any French Gētleman look for when 24. Lorraines must haue dined before he sit downe when they must beglutted with honors before hee may taste of any Or rather why doo we not rather abandon all hope considering that their appetite is vnsatiable that they are men yea men that are starued after honors thirstie of goods hot with ambition Moreouer sith they wil dazle our eyes with the false shew of their seruices know we not that they haue anointed our lippes with honie but made vs swallow gall know we not since the raigne of Francis the seconde they neuer permitted any young peace to waxe old in France Or who hath not seene them more willing to hafard this realme for a pray then to giue ouer anie iot of their particular passions At all aduentures was there euer such impudencie as to seeke to bring the King to such passe that hee shall bee forced to rewarde their pretended merits and to let them choose their recompence Wee reade of a braue Romaine souldier that refused a chaine of golde at Labienus Cesars Lieutenants hand saying that he would not haue the wages of the couetous but of the vertuous and that Pittacus being by his citizēs forced to take so much of the land that hee had conquered of the enimies as he listed would take no more then he could cast his Iaueling wee finde that Sicinius was 65. times hurt in the stomake and had beene in 120. battels that Manlius preserued the Capitoll that Camillus expelled the Gaules out of Rome and that diuers others haue abandoned their liues to the hazard of warres for the seruice of their countrie we reade that almost al the Princes of the noble race of Bourbon or rather of that Orchard of Alexanders sacrifising their liues in the seruice of our kings haue had no other hearse but the field of battel Peter of Bourbō was slaine the 19. of September 1356. at the battell of Poictiers Iames and his sonne Peter at the battell of Brunay neere Lyons Lewes at Agincourt fielde 1415. Francis at the battell of S. Brigit vpon holy roode day in Septēber 1515. Iohn at saint Lawrence field 1557. Antony at the siege of Roan 1562. We find that many french knights haue prodigally spent their blood in the seruice of our kings but that any haue sought violentlie to wrest the reward of their merits we find not Only we read that one Sigibert gouernor of Coloine euery where shewing his wounds cōplaining of his small recompence was by Clouis the first depriued of al his dignities and yet these good childrē shal force the K. to part his estate with them And what king ye vnsatiable glotons what estate can satisfie your hunger What sea ye dropsicke persons what waters can quench your thirst Or who can fill the perced vessels of the Danaides Of strangers they haue beene made housholde seruants of Gentlemen Dukes Earles to aduance them we haue made a breach in the authoritie of the princes of the bloud to preferre them a thousande braue gentlemen haue bin put backe so as Sir they want no more but the crowne which God the grounded law and custome of the realme haue set vpon your head and yet do they gape after goods greatnesse and glorie or rather they vnfolde all meanes to winne the heartes of the nobilitie and to bring vpon you the hatred of the same For with what impudency can they deny that to be their intent You O most christian king are the father of this great family and Pilote of this The 6. pretence of the Guizians French ship If the Offices of the house be euill deuided or the ship misgouerned is not the father in the fault and the Pilote to blame It is in manner the same argument that they haue begunne wherewith to bring the commons to reuolt against his Maiestie For they set before vs one that is naked of fatte flesh and bloud they figure vs an anatomie of mans body hauing no more but skinne and bones which they say the Frenchmen do by a woonderfull simpathie resemble that we must restore and make vp againe this poore bodie that we must cure it of this wound that themselues will be the Chirurgions and their weapons the plaisters but who is so blinde as for sundry considerations not to iudge this proposition to haue a very bad sauour First because it toucheth the kings honor whom by this meanes with hue and crie they proclayme a Tyrant and withall do endeuour to entangle him in the same mishappe as Acheus king of the Lidians whom his subiectes slew for the tributes which hee went about to exact Or as Henrie king of Sueden Theodorick king of France and many other Princes who for like cause haue beene depriued of their estates Secondly because as sayth Plutarch it is not his part that falleth to lift vp that knoweth nothing to teach that is disordered to order that is vnruly to rule or that can not obey to cōmand but as sayde Licurgus a man must shew a thing in himselfe that he wisheth to be in others This was the reason wherefore they mocked Philip k. of Macedon who liuing at variance with his wife Olympiades and his sonne Alexander was inquisitiue of the Grecian life among thēselues If therefore the Guisards do mislike the kings loanes let not themselues borrow If they will needs discharge the people let thē leaue the heauie burden of debtes that hangeth vpō their own armes stop their creditors mouths that dayly doo cry after them But wherein will not Plut. in Silla they resemble Sulpitius a man confect in all mischief who hauing by the voice of the people passed a decree that no Senator should borrow aboue 200 crownes at his death owed 3. hundred thousand The
of a Christian who as saith Socrates the Scholast lib. 7. cap. 15. speaking of the murder of Hipatie ought to haue his handes cleane from bloud And according to an olde saying We must rather debate our right with reasō then with armes Which was the cause that the Athenians and Mitelenians those Periander for an arbitrator in their controuersies for a certaine territory that the Acheans remitted their quarrell with the Argiues to the iudgement of the Mantineans that the Romains before they tooke armes against Hanniball sollicited him to rayse his siege before Sagunt Yea in olde time when necessitie forced them to the taking of armes it was not doone without southsaying and for the most part they asked the counsaile of Oracles so that P. Claudius and L. Iunius being Consuls they were by the decree of the people condemned for sayling away without southsaying as was also Gabinius for leading an army into Aegypt contrary to the tenour of the Sibils bookes and shall the murderers of the commonwealth robbing euen before the magistrates face be accounted the pillers of the Church men that haue not put on armour but to the end to increase their meanesse to fish in troubled water to tryumph vpon the Frenchmens reproch shall they be named the protectors of Saint Peter What benefite my maisters ye Bishops do you looke for of so many mischiefes committed in your fauour you lende your hande to the seditious Is Eccles 7. that the way to retire from the wicked least his sinne fall vpon you Is that your practising of Tertullians counsayle that it is better to be killed then to kill to bee betrayed then to betray and to serue for a marke to the wicked rather then to doo euill What may the Romaines say vnto you Liuy lib. 9. dec 1. they that deliuered the Consull Posthumius vnto the heralds and so returned him bound and fettered vnto the Samnites for making a necessary peace with them of you I say who through passion rather then reason doo fauour an vniust warre For whereof doo you complayne If you say that sundry gentlemen doo holde Abbyes and Bishoprickes in commandement or otherwise wee may aunswere that aforetime they were giuen in portions as we finde that Adolph the second sonne vnto Bald wine the second Earle of Flaunders and Lady Estrilde daughter vnto Elfrede King of England had for his portion the Countie of Saint Pol and Abbey of Saint Berthine Also Robert Earle of Angiers before the decease of his brother of Eude helde the Abbyes of S. Germaine in the medowes S. Crosse and S. Owen Yea and our kings seeing that Abbyes were growne most wealthy and were reduced in manner to the forme of their warlike fauors conferred them to their soldiours who by discretion placed in them a head whom they tearmed Deane which appeareth to haue bene vsed since the raigne of Charles the balde vnto the time of K. Robert If your argument consist vppon the vnfit promotions vnto ecclesiasticall dignities dooth not the imposition of hands and consecration rest in your selues why doo you then giue them to vnwoorthy persons Besides there is no apparance to cut off the kings from their right of presentations because they In the olde historie of S. Denis be the patrons of the churches Yea Pope Adrian held a councell wherein it was decreed that thence forth Charlemaine should haue the inuestiture of Archbishops and Bishops in their prelacies besides that as saith Duarene The installing of Bishops by the authority of our kings is one of the corner stones of this Realme For saith hee who knoweth not the Duaren de sac sanct eccles min. lib. 1. cap. 6 sleights of the Court of Rome how much French blood that horsleach sucketh vp And the exchange of his lead with our gold is growne to a Prouerbe as that in Homer of Glaucus and Diomedes And S. Bernard Bernard lib. 4. de consider ad Eug. euen in his time complaineth that from al parts of the world the ambitious Simonists whoremaisters and incestuous persons ran to Rome to get the honors of the church If you complaine because of some leuie of coine vpon the clergie we may tell you that necessitie hath no law that men are gouerned according to the time not the time according to the men and the occurrences are as it were guides to our actions Wherevpon in the yeare 1171. Lewis the yoong had an aide of the clergie wherewith to send the Earle of Sancerre to the conquest of the holy land Againe in March 1188. king Philip August by the decree of the councell holden at Paris obtained the tenthes of the church for one whole yeare which were tearmed Saladins tenths with part of the like in the time of Theodorike the secōd Charles Martell rewarded such gentlemen as had borne the brunt of the warre against the Saracens Also in the time of Charles the 6. the Earle of Aniou by permission of Clement the Antipope leuyed diuers vpon the clergie Againe in the yeare 1532. king Francis being molested with forraine war had the helpe of the prelats of his realme Besides all which the clergie cannot exempt themselues from tribute because Christ paide it and Ambrose saith Ambrose de Basill trad Theod. lib. 4. cap. 8. If the Emperour requireth it we must not refuse it Valentinian likewise writing to the Bishops of Asia and Phrigia saith that good Bishops are not slacke in contributions yea in such a case the Emperour Constantine threatneth them with grieuous paines And in the time of the Macedonian warres the Romane Senate seeing the people oppressed raised a tax vpon the Priests notwithstanding their oppositions framed vppon such freedomes as Numa Pompilius had graunted them from the which they appealed to the Tribunes who saith Liuy declared the Priestes appeale to come out of season so as they exacted of them the taxes of all the yeares that they had not payed and yet you my maisters doo practise enterprises against your king because that he forced by necessitie doth exact of you some tribute and tickleth you when he might claw you vnto the very bones by a iust reformation grounded vppon the estate of the primitiue church Wake not therefore him that sleepeth neither thinke my maisters that those that do serue their owne turnes by the warres as by a spoonge wherwith to sucke vp the substance of the Church and haue no other goodes but the wealth of the crucifixe will prouide any remedy for your pretended sicknesse and to say that now they will root out the Protestants is but badly to weigh their actions and well worse their power for are they become Briarees since they began to fight vnder our kings authoritie vndoubtedly there is nothing increased in them but folly and desire of dominion At all aduentures if they be led by the feare of God and pietie of Catholike religion why doo they not turne their weapons against Iewes who do scatter the
third reason is ciuill for by the lawes it lyeth not in the meaner magistrate to cōmād the greater neither may he resist the iudgement of his superior as sayth the Emperour Iustinian or correct his acts either take notice of appeales from him as Vlpian saith yea if he chance to admitte any accusations against his superiour he may be taken for a partie and called into an action of iniurie as Caesar when he being but Praetor was accused before a Quaestor to be a partie in the conspiracie of Cateline he caused the iudge to be cōdemned in great fines because Suetonius in Iulio sayth Suetonius he suffered a greater magistrate to be accused before him Also by decree of the Parliament the 7. of Ianuarie 1547. all inferiour iudges were forbidden to vse any defences against the royall iudges because by an auncient saying The lesser may not commande the greater Doth it then beseeme the Guisardes to receiue the peoples complaintes to take notice of the kinges actions or to limitte the kinges will Besides sith that vnder the benefite of peace tilled by his Maiesties wisedome the people were freed from sundrie impositions what need we now counterfeit Hercules Dyon Timoleon or Aratus who were intituled correctors of tirāts must we vse such corrosiue medicines where there was scarce any sore where passed calamities were buried vnder the law Amnestia wold right that we should preuent the way of Iustice by the way of deede were it reason the seruant should prescribe a law to his master Is it not the custome in case of excessiue exactions to haue recourse to the estates as we had in the yeare 1338. in the time of Philip of Valois Otherwise to proceede to fire and sworde before wee lay any playsters is to fester not to close vppe the wounde to empaire not to amende the condition of the people which had neuer good successe against their king vnder Philip the faire anno 1312. vnder Charles the sixt about the yeare 1382. and vnder Henry the second the people oppressed with extraordinarie taxes sought by force to shake off that yoke but the whole storme light vppon themselues Not that I meane herein to imitate Anaxarchus who to the ende to comfort Alexander who was oppressed with sorrowe for the murder of Clitus tolde him that Dice Themis that is iustice and equitie are Iupiters assistors thereby to shew that whatsoeuer the princes actions can be no other but iust and right but contrariwise I say that it is euill done to wast treasures prodigally and to oppresse the subiectes as Tiberius Caesar saide It is the part of a good shepheard to sheare his sheepe not to slea them I say with Seneca the more lawfull that all thinges are to the king the lesse lawfull they are And that the father is not more bounde to the bringing vp of his children or the nurse to giue them her breast then is the Prince to the protection of his subiectes But withall I say that resisting the power by God established we resist his ordinance also that it would proue a dangerous gappe of great consequence if conspirators might by force and violence proceed to reformation as do these factious persons that manifestly do aspire to the crowne which is the thing that hath armed them neyther must these hypocrites alter the occasion for at whom are they greeued Not at the third estate for as they say they purpose to discharge the same of the burden of subsidies neither at the nobilitie for it they will restore to the auncient dignitie neither at the Clergie for they go about to reestablish the Church in hi◠ancient liberties neyther at the Protestantes for they shew all fauour to sundry of them besides that heretofore they haue sought to giue them a desire to come vnder the couert of their protection therein resembling but with this glose if the Protestantes Plut. de defect orat be heretikes the God of the Planetiades who expelling the wicked by one gate let them in againe at an other It is then the king that they shoot at the Princes of the bloud Iustice yea it is all good Frenchmen that they are offended withall and yet do they liue yea they liue in greatnesse and glorie and are esteemed faithfull in their disobedience loyall in their disloyaltie true in their falseshoode peace masters in their bloudie warres zealous to the common-wealth in their priuate commoditie fathers of the people in exactions and pillers of the Church in their sacrileges This is the cause O eternall God that hast so long fauoured the French Monarchie that we do present to thee our teares our sighes and sobbes for what else may a torne people rent in peeces with a thousande mischiefes and choked with forren tyranny present vnto thee O Lord in their anguish they visite thee and thy discipline causeth them in complayntes to crie vnto thee Sith therefore thou art pitifull take from vs the torch of thy indignation couer our faultes with thy grace and display thy prouidence vpon this miserable estate Let thy issue be prepared as the break of the day and come vnto vs as the slow raine and seasonable vppon the earth Wherefore O almightie God who art the Iusticer sith thy fury traceth like the fire that the rockes do cleaue before thy face plead O Lord with plague bloud with these infamous monsters who delight only in murder and crueltie Come vpon thē in a storme and let thy pathes be in a tempest giue them to be a slander and curse in all places Send vpon them famine and sword and make them O God to reape the whirle winde because they sowe the winde And you O most christian king weene not in reading this to heare the voice of a mutinouspeople and such as desire domesticall troubles but rather Sir the mournings and as it were the last sobs of your poore subiects Hearken O mercifull king to the complaints of your France which is deuided into factions spoyled by the stranger and couered with sores Is it not enough sayth she that man is borne in teares growe vp in sighes liue in payne and finish his life in griefes but he must be made vtterly miserable Is it not enough that beeing bauled at of my enemies I haue groned vnder the burden of so many forraine warres but that my owne children must pearce my flankes plucke out my guttes and bath themselues in my bloud Is it not enough that the plague consume mee but I must bee wasted with famine Is it not enough that I perish with hunger but that warres must hasten my death Is it not enough that I become a fable to strangers but they must drinke my bloud gnawe my bones and sucke vp the marrowe of my children And if as the wise man sayth the multitude of people bee the Crowne of the King and that the principall lawe that God and nature hath giuen vnto Princes is the preseruation of their subiectes