by turning stones into bread Conquest and good husbandry both inlarge the Kings Dominions The one by the sword making the acres more in number the other by the plough making the same acres more in value Solomon saith The King himself is maintained by husbandry Pythis a King having discovered rich mines in his kingdome employed all his people in digging of them whence tilling was wholly neglected insomuch as a great famine ensued His Queen sensible of the calamities of the countrey invited the King her husband to dinner as he came home hungry from overseeing his workmen in the mines She so contrived it that the bread and meat were most artificially made of gold and the King was much delighted with the conceit thereof till at last he called for reall meat to satisfie his hunger Nay said the Queen if you employ all your subjects in your mines you must expect to feed upon gold for nothing else can your kingdome afford In time of famine he is the Ioseph of the countrey and keeps the poore from sterving Then he tameth his stacks of corn which not his covetousnesse but providence hath reserv'd for time of need and to his poore neighbours abateth somewhat of the high price of the market The neighbour gentry court him for his acquaintance which he either modestly waveth or thankfully accepteth but no way greedily desireth He insults not on the ruines of a decayed Gentleman but pities and relieves him and as he is called Goodman he desires to answer to the name and to be so indeed In warre though he serveth on foot he is ever mounted on an high spirit as being a slave to none and a subject onely to his own Prince Innocence and independance make a brave spirit Whereas otherwise one must ask his leave to be valiant on whom he depends Therefore if a State run up all to Noblemen and Gentlemen so that the husbandmen be onely mere labourers or cottagers which one calls but hous'd beggers it may have good Cavalry but never good bands of foot so that their armies will be like those birds call'd Apodes without feet alwayes onely flying on their wings of horse Wherefore to make good Infantry it requireth men bred not in a servile or indigent fashion but in some free and plentifull manner Wisely therefore did that knowing Prince King Henry the seventh provide laws for the increase of his Yeomanry that his kingdome should not be like to Coppice-woods where the staddles being left too thick all runs to bushes and briers and there 's little clean underwood For enacting that houses used to husbandry should be kept up with a competent proportion of land he did secretly sow Hydra's teeth whereupon according to the Poets fiction should rise up armed men for the service of this kingdome Chap. 19. The Handicrafts-man HE is a necessary member in a Common-wealth For though Nature which hath armed most other creatures sent man naked into the world yet in giving him hands and wit to use them in effect she gave him Shells Scales Paws Claws Horns Tusks with all offensive and defensive weapons of Beasts Fish and Fowl which by the help of his hands in imitation he may provide for himself and herein the skill of our Artisan doth consist His trade is such whereby he provides things necessary for mankind What S. Paul saith of the naturall is also true of the politick body those members of the body are much more necessary which seem most feeble Mean trades for profit are most necessary in the State and a house may better want a gallery then a kitchin The Philistins knew this when they massacred all the smiths in Israel who might worse be spared then all the userers therein and whose hammers nail the Commonwealth together being necessary both in peace and warre Or else his trade contributeth to mans lawfull pleasure God is not so hard a master but that he alloweth his servants sauce besides hunger to eat with their meat But in no case will he be of such a trade which is a mere Pander to mans lust and onely serves their wantonnesse which is pleasure runne stark mad and foolish curiosity Yet are there too many extant of such professions which one would think should stand in dayly fear lest the world should turn wise and so all their trades be cashierd but that be it spoken to their shame 't is as safe a tenure to hold a livelyhood by mens ryot as by their necessity The wares he makes shew good to the eye but prove better in the use For he knows if he sets his mark the Tower-stamp of his credit on any bad wares he sets a deeper brand on his own conscience Nothing hath more debased the credit of our English cloth beyond the seas then the deceitfulnesse in making them since the Fox hath crept under the fliece of the Sheep By his ingenuousnesse he leaves his art better then he found it Herein the Hollanders are excellent where children get their living when but newly they have gotten their life by their industrie Indeed Nature may seem to have made those Netherlanders the younger brethren of mankind allowing them little land and that also standing in dayly fear of a double deluge of the sea and the Spaniard but such is their painfulnesse and ingenuity hating lazinesse as much as they love liberty that what commodities grow not on their Countrey by nature they graft on it by art and have wonderfully improved all making of Manufactures Stuffes Clocks Watches these latter at first were made so great and heavy it was rather a burden then an ornament to wear them though since watches have been made as light and little as many that were them make of their time He is wiling to communicate his skill to posterity An invention though found is lost if not imparted But as it is reported of some old toads that before their death they suck up the gelly in their own heads which otherwise would be hardned into a pretious stone out of spight that men should receive no benifit thereby so some envious Artisans will have their cunning die with them that none may be the better for it and had rather all mankind should lose then any man gain by them He seldome attaineth to any very great estate except his trade hath some outlets and excursions into wholesale and merchandize otherwise mere Artificers cannot heap up much wealth It is difficult for gleaners without stealing whole sheaves to fill a barn His chief wealth consisteth in enough and that he can live comfortably and leave his children the inheritance of their education Yet he is a grand Benefactour to the Commonwealth England in former ages like a dainty dame partly out of state but more out of lazinesse would not suckle the fruit of her own body to make the best to battle and improve her own commodities but put them out to nurse to
understand the language of her behaviour She counts her house a prison and is never well till gadding abroad sure 't is true of women what is observed of elm if lying within doores dry no timber will last sound longer but if without doores expos'd to weather no wood sooner rots and corrupts Yet some Harlots continue a kind of strange coynesse even to the very last which coynesse differs from modesty as much as hemlock from parsely They will deny common favours because they are too small to be granted They will part with all or none refuse to be courteous and reserve themselves to be dishonest whereas women truly modest will willingly go to the bounds of free and harmlesse mirth but will not be dragg'd any farther She is commonly known by her whorish attire As crisping and curling making her hair as winding and intricate as her heart painting wearing naked breasts The face indeed ought to be bare and the haft should lie out of the sheath but where the back and edge of the knife are shown 't is to be feared they mean to cut the fingers of others I must confesse some honest women may go thus but no whit the honester for going thus The ship may have Castor and Pollux for the badge and notwithstanding have S. Paul for the lading yet the modesty and discretion of honest Matrons were more to be commended if they kept greater distance from the attire of Harlots Sometimes she ties her self in marriage to one that she may the more freely stray to many and cares not though her husband comes not within her bed so be it he goeth not out beyond the Foure-seas She useth her husband as an hood whom she casts off in the fair weather of prosperity but puts him on for a cover in adversity if it chance she prove with child Yet commonly she is as barren as lustfull Yea who can expect that malt should grow to bring new increase Besides by many wicked devices she seeks on purpose to make her self barren a retrograde act to set Nature back making many issues that she may have no issue and an hundred more damnable devices Which wicked projects first from hell did flow And thither let the same in silence go Best known of them who did them never know And yet for all her cunning God sometimes meets with her who varieth his wayes of dealing with wantons that they may be at a losse in tracing him and sometimes against her will she proves with child which though unable to speak yet tells at the birth a plain story to the mothers shame At last when her deeds grow most shamefull she grows most shamelesse So impudent that she her self sometimes proves both the poyson and the antidote the temptation and the preservative young men distasting and abhorring her boldnesse And those wantons who perchance would willingly have gathered the fruit fruit from the tree will not feed on such fallings Generally she dies very poore The wealth she gets is like the houses some build in Gothland made of snow no lasting fabrick the rather because she who took money of those who tasted the top of her wantonnesse is fain to give it to such who will drink out the dregs of her lust She dieth commonly of a lothsome disease I mean that disease unknown to Antiquity created within some hundreds of years which took the name from Naples When hell invented new degrees in sinnes it was time for heaven to invent new punishments Yet is this new disease now grown so common and ordinary as if they meant to put divine Justice to a second task to find out a newer And now it is high time for our Harlot being grown lothsome to her self to runne out of her self by repentance Some conceive that when King Henry the eighth destroyed the publick Stews in this Land which till his time stood on the banks side on Southwark next the Bear-garden beasts and beastly women being very fit neighbours he rather scattered then quenched the fire of lust in this kingdome and by turning the flame out of the chimney where it had a vent more endangered the burning of the Commonwealth But they are deceived for whilest the Laws of the Land tolerated open uncleannesse God might justly have made the whole State do penance for whoredome whereas now that sinne though committed yet not permitted and though God knows it be too generall it is still but personall JOAN the first of that Name Queen of Naples which for her Incontinency and other wicked Practises was put to Death Anno 1381. Page 360. WM sculp CHAP. 2. The life of JOAN Queen of Naples JOan grandchild to Robert King of Naples by Charles his sonne succeeded her grandfather in the Kingdome of Naples and Sicily Anno 1343. a woman of a beautifull body and rare endowments of nature had not the heat of her lust soured all the rest of her perfections whose wicked life and wofull death we now come to relate And I hope none can justly lay it to my charge if the foulnesse of her actions stain through the cleanest language I can wrap them in She was first married unto her cosen Andrew a Prince of royall extraction and of a sweet and loving disposition But he being not able to satisfie her wantonnesse she kept company with lewd persons at first privately but afterwards she presented her badnesse visible to every eye so that none need look through the chinks where the doores were open Now Elizabeth Queen of Hungary her husband Andrews mother was much offended at the badnesse of her daughter-in-law whose deeds were so foul she could not look on them and so common she could not look besides them wherefore in a matronly way she fairly advised her to reform her courses For the lives of Princes are more read then their Laws and generally more practised Yea their example passeth as current as their coin and what they do they seem to command to be done Cracks in glasse though past mending are no great matter but the least flaw in a diamond is considerable Yea her personall fault was a nationall injury which might derive and put the Sceptre into a wrong hand These her mild instructions she sharpned with severe threatnings But no razor will cut a stony heart Queen Joan imputed it to ages envy old people perswading youth to leave those pleasures which have left themselves Besides a Mother-in-laws Sermon seldome takes well with an audience of Daughter-in-laws Wherefore the old Queen finding the other past grace that is never likely to come to it resolved no longer to punish anothers sinne on her self and vex her own righteous soul but leaving Naples return'd into Hungary After her departure Queen Joan grew weary of her husband Andrew complaining of his insufficiency though those who have caninum appetitum are not competent judges what is sufficient food And she caused her husband in the city of Aversa to be hung
Dionysius first King of Sicily turn'd afterwards a Schoolmaster in his old age Behold here Dionysius inverted one that was a Schoolmaster in his youth become a King of Arms in his riper years which place none ever did or shall discharge with more integrity He was a most exact Antiquary witnesse his worthy work which is a comment on three kingdomes and never was so large a text more briefly so dark a text more plainly expounded Yea what a fair garment hath been made out of the very shreds and Remains of that greater Work It is most worthy observation with what diligence he inquired after ancient places making Hue and Crie after many a City which was run away and by certain marks and tokens pursuing to find it as by the situation on the Romane high-wayes by just distance from other ancient cities by some affinity of name by tradition of the inhabitants by Romane coyns digged up and by some appearance of ruines A broken urn is a whole evidence or an old gate still surviving out of which the city is run out Besides commonly some new spruce town not farre off is grown out of the ashes thereof which yet hath so much naturall affection as dutifully to own those reverend ruines for her Mother By these and other means he arrived at admirable knowledge and restored Britain to her self And let none tax him for presumption in conjectures where the matter was doubtfull for many probable conjectures have stricken the fire out of which Truths candle hath been lighted afterwards Besides conjectures like parcells of unknown ore are sold but at low rates If they prove some rich metall the buyer is a great gainer iâ— base no looser for he payes for it accordingly His candour and sweet temper was highly to be commended gratefully acknowledging those by whom he was assisted in the work in such a case confession puts the difference betwixt stealing and borrowing and surely so heavy a log needed more levers then one He honourably mentioneth such as differ from him in opinion not like those Antiquaries who are so snarling one had as good dissent a mile as an hairs breadth from them Most of the English ancient Nobility and Gentry he hath unpartially observed Some indeed object that he claws and flatters the Grandees of his own age extolling some families rather great then ancient making them to flow from a farre fountain because they had a great channell especially if his private friends But this cavil hath more of malice then truth indeed 't is pitty he should have a tongue that hath not a word for a friend on just occasion and justly might the stream of his commendations run broader where meeting with a confluence of desert and friendship in the same party For the main his pen is sincere and unpartiall and they who complain that Grantham steeple stands awry will not set a straiter by it Some say that in silencing many gentile families he makes baulks of as good ground as any he ploweth up But these again acquit him when they consider that it is not onely difficult but impossible to anatomize the English Gentry so exactly as to shew where every smallest vein thereof runs Besides many Houses conceived to be by him omitted are rather rightly placed by him not where they live but whence they came Lastly we may perceive that he prepared another work on purpose for the English Gentry I say nothing of his learned Annalls of Queen Elizabeth industriously performed His very enemies if any cannot but commend him Sure he was as farre from loving Popery as from hating Learning though that aspersion be generall on Antiquaries as if they could not honour hoary hairs but presently themselves must doat His liberality to Learning is sufficiently witnessed in his Founding of an History-Professour in Oxford to which he gave the mannour of Bexley in Kent worth in present a hundred and fourty pounds but some years expired foure hundred pounds per Annum so that he merited that distich Est tibi pro Tumulo Cambdene Britannia tota Oxonium vivens est Epigramma tibi The Military part of his office he had no need to imploy passing it most under a peaceable Prince But now having lived many years in honour and esteem death at last even contrarie to Ius Gentium kill'd this worthy Herald so that it seems Mortality the Law of Nature is above the Law of Arms. He died Anno 1623. the ninth of November in the seventie fourth yeare of his age CHAP. 24. The true Gentleman WE will consider him in his Birth Breeding and Behaviour He is extracted from ancient and worshipfull parentage When a Pepin is planted on a Pepin-stock the fruit growing thence is called a Renate a most delicious apple as both by Sire and Damme well descended Thus his bloud must needs be well purified who is gentilely born on both sides If his birth be not at leastwise his qualities are generous What if he cannot with the Hevenninghams of Suffolk count five and twenty Knights of his familie or tell sixteen Knights successively with the Tilneys of Norfolk or with the Nauntons shew where their Ancestours had seven hundred pound a yeare before or at the conquest yet he hath endeavoured by his own deserts to ennoble himself Thus Valour makes him sonne to Caesar Learning entitles him kinsman to Tully Piety reports him nephew to godly Constantine It graceth a Gentleman of low descent high desert when he will own the meannesse of his parentage How ridiculous is it when many men brag that their families are more ancient then the Moon which all know are later then the starre which some seventy years since shined in Cassiopea But if he be generously born see how his parents breed him He is not in his youth possest with the great hopes of his possession No flatterer reads constantly in his ears a survey of the lands he is to inherit This hath made many boyes thoughts swell so great they could never be kept in compasse afterwards Onely his Parents acquaint him that he is the next undoubted Heir to correction if misbehaving himself and he finds no more favour from his Schoolmaster then his Schoolmaster finds diligence in him whose rod respects persons no more then bullets are partiall in a battel At the Vniversity he is so studious as if he intended Learning for his profession He knowes well that cunning is no burthen to carry as paying neither portage by land nor poundage by sea Yea though to have land be a good First yet to have learning is the surest Second which may stand to it when the other may chance to be taken away At the Innes of Court he applyes himself to learn the Laws of the kingdome Object not Why should a Gentleman learn law who if he needeth it may have it for his money and if he hath never so much of his own he must
corps to scale a city by it then a bridge of him whilest alive for his punies to give him the Goe-by and passe over him to preferment For this reason chiefly beside some others a great and valiant English Generall in the daies of Queen Elizabeth was hated of his souldiers because he disposed Offices by his own absolute will without respect of orderly advancing such as deserved it which made a Great man once salute him with this letter S r if you will be pleased to bestow a Captains place on the bearer hereof being a worthy Gentleman he shall do that for you which never as yet any souldier did namely pray to God for your health and happinesse He is fortunate in what he undertakes Such a one was Julius Cesar who in Brittain a countrey undiscovered peopled with a valiant Nation began a warre in Autumne without apparent advantage not having any intelligence there being to passe over the sea into a colder climate an enterprise saith one well worthy the invincible courage of Cesar but not of his accustomed prudence and yet returned victorious Indeed God is the sole disposer of successe Other gifts he also scattereth amongst men yet so that they themselves scramble to gather them up whereas successe God gives immediately into their hands on whom he pleaseth to bestow it He tryeth the forces of a new enemy before he encounters him Sampson is half conquered when it is known where his strength lies and skirmishes are scouts for the discovery of the strength of an army before battel be given He makes his flying enemy a bridge of gold and disarms them of their best weapon which is necessity to fight whether they will or no. Men forced to a battel against their intention often conquer beyond their expectation stop a flying coward and he will turn his legges into arms and lay about him manfully whereas open him a passage to escape and he will quickly shut up his courage But I dare dwell no longer on this subject When the Pope earnestly wrote to King Richard the first not to detain in prison his dear sonne the Martiall Bishop of Beavois the King sent the Pope back the armour wherein the Bishop was taken with the words of Jacobs sonnes to their-Father See whether or no this be the coat of thy sonne Surely a corslet is no canonicall coat for me nor suits it with my Clergy-profession to proceed any further in this warlike description onely we come to give an example thereof GUSTAVUS Adolphus the pious and Valiant King of Sweden He was Slaine in the Battell at Lutzen the 16 of November 1632. Aged 38 yeares W.M. sculp CHAP. 18. The life of GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS King of Sweden GUstavus Adolphus King of Sweden born Anno Domini 1594 had princely education both for Arts and Armes In Italie he learnt the Mathematicks and in other places abroad the French Italian and Germane tongues and after he was King he travelled under the name of M r G. A. R. S. being the foure initiall letters of his name and title He was but seventeen years old at his Fathers death being left not onely a young King but also in a young kingdome for his title to the Crown of Sweden was but five years old to wit since the beginning of his Fathers reigne All his bordering Princes on the North nothing but the North bounded on him were his enemies the Duke-Emperour of Muscovy on the East the King of Denmark on the West and of Poland on the South The former two laid claim to parcels the latter to all his kingdome Yet was he too great for them in his minority both defending his own and gaining on them Wo be to the kingdome whose King is a child yet blessed is that kingdome whose King though a child in age is a man in worth These his first actions had much of glory and yet somewhat of possibility and credit in them But Chronicle and belief must strain hard to make his Germane Conquest probable with posterity coming in with eleven thousand men having no certain confederates but some of his alliance whom the Emperour had outed of all their estates And yet in two years and foure moneths he left the Emperour in as bad a case almost as he found those Princes in Gods Providence herein is chiefly to be admired who to open him a free entrance into Germany diverted the Imperiall and Spanish forces into Italy there to scramble against the French for the Dukedome of Mantua For heaven onely knows how much Protestant flesh the Imperialists had devoured if that bone had not stuck in their teeth If we look on second causes we may ascribe his victories to this Kings piety wisedome valour and other virtues His piety to God was exemplary being more addicted to prayer then to fight as if he would rather conquer Heaven then Earth He was himself exceeding temperate save onely too much given to anger but afterwards he would correct himself and be cholerick with his choler shewing himself a man in the one and a Saint in the other He was a strict observer of Martiall discipline the life of Warre without which an Army is but a crowd not to say herd of people He would march all day in complete armour which was by custome no more burthen to him then his armes and to carry his helmet no more trouble then his head whilest his example made the same easie to all his souldiers He was a strict punisher of misdemeanours and wanton intemperance in his camp And yet let me relate this story from one present therein When first he entred Germany he perceived how that many women followed his souldiers some being their wives and some wanting nothing to make them so but marriage yet most passing for their landresses though commonly defiling more then they wash The King coming to a great river after his men and the wagons were passed over caused the bridge to be broken down hoping so to be rid of these feminine impediments but they one a sudden lift up a panick schrick which pierced the skies and the souldiers hearts on the other side of the river who instantly vowed not to stirre a foot farther except with baggage and that the women might be fetch'd over which was done accordingly For the King finding this ill humour so generally dispers'd in his men that it was dangerous to purge it all at once smiled out his anger for the present and permitted what he could not amend yet this abuse was afterwards reformed by degrees He was very mercifull to any that would submit And as the iron gate miraculously opened to S. Peter of its own accord so his mercy wrought miracles making many city-gates open to him of themselves before he ever knock'd at them to demand entrance the inhabitants desiring to shroud themselves under his protection Yea he was mercifull to those places which he took by assault ever detesting the bloudinesse of Tilly
English calendar but the capacity of Princes goes as many years before private mens of the same age Antevenit sortem meritis virtutibus annos His worth above his wealth appears And virtues go beyond his years He is neither kept too long from the knowledge nor brought too soon to the acquaintance with his own Greatnesse To be kept too long in distance from himself would breed in him a soul too narrow for his place On the other side he needs not to be taught his Greatnesse too soon who will meet with it everywhere The best of all is when his Governours open him to himself by degrees that his soul may spread according to his age He playeth himself into Learning before he is aware of it Herein much is to be ascribed to the wisdome of his Teachers who alwayes present Learning unto him as Angels are painted smiling and candy over his sourest studies with pleasure and delight observing seasonable time and fit method Not like many countrey Schoolmasters who in their instructions spill more then they fill by their overhasty pouring of it in He sympathizeth with him that by a Proxie is corrected for his offense yea sometimes goeth further and above his age considereth that it is but an Embleme how hereafter his people may be punished for his own fault He hath read how the Israelites the second of Sam. 24.17 were plagued for Davids numbring of them And yet withall he remembreth how in the first verse of the same chapter The wrath of the Lord was kindled against Israel and he by permitting of Satan the instrument 1. Chron. 21.1 moved David to number them And as the stomach and vitall parts of a man are often corroded with a rheume falling from the head yet so that the disaffection of the stomach first caused the breeding of the same offensive distillation so our young Prince takes notice of a reciprocation of faults and punishments betwixt King and Kingdome both making up the same body yea that sometimes the King is corrected for the peoples offenses and so è contra Indeed in Relatives neither can be well if both be not He is most carefull in reading and attentive in hearing Gods word King Edward the sixth who though a Sovereigne might still in age passe for a Prince accurately noted the dayes Texts and names of Ministers that preached before him Next to Gods word our Prince studies Basilicon Doron that Royall gift which onely King James was able to give and onely King James his sonne worthy to receive He is carefull in chusing and using his recreations refusing such which in their very posture and situation are too low for a Prince In all his exercises he affects comlinesse or rather a kind of carelesnesse in shew to make his activities seem the more naturall avoids a toyling and laborious industry especially seeing each drop of a Princes sweat is a pearl and not to be thrown away for no cause And Princes are not to reach but to trample on recreations making them their footstool to heighten their souls for seriousnesse taking them in passage thereunto His clothes are such as may beseem his Greatnesse especially when he solemnly appears or presents himself to forrein Embassadours Yet he disdains not to be plain at ordinary times The late Henrie Prince of Wales being tax'd by some for his too long wearing of a plain sute of Welch frize Would said he my countrey cloth would last for ever He begins to study his own countrey and the people therein what places are what may be fortified which can withstand a long siege and which onely can make head against a present insurrection If his land accosteth the sea he considereth what Havens therein are barr'd whose dangerous chanells fence themselves and their rocks are their blockhouses what Keys are rusty with sands and shelves and what are scoured with a free and open tide with what serviceable ships belong thereunto He takes notice also of the men in the land and disdains his soul should be blurred with unjust prejudices but fairly therein writes every one in order as they are ranked by their own deserts Hence he looks abroad to see how his countrey stands in relation to forrein Kingdomes how it is friended with Confederates how oppos'd with Enemies His little eyes can cast a soure glance on the suspicious greatnesse of any near borderer for he conceives others weakned by their own distance He considers forrein Kingdomes and States whether they stand on their own strength or lean on the favour of friends or onely hang by a Politicall Geometry equally poysing themselves betwixt their neighbours like Lucca and Geneva the multitude of enemies mouthes keeping them from being swallowed up He quickly perceives that Kings how nearly soever allied are most of kinne to their own interest and though the same Religion be the best bond of forrein affection yet even this breaks too often and States when wonded will cure themselves with a plaister made of the heart-blood of their best friends He tunes his soul in consort to the disposition of his King-father Whatsoever his desire be the least word countenance or signe given of his fathers disallowance makes him instantly desist from further pursuit thereof with satisfaction in regard he understands it disagreeing to his Majesties pleasure and with a resolution not to have the least semblance of being discontented He hath read how such Princes which were undutifull to their Parents either had no children or children worse then none which repai'd their disobedience He is also kind to his Brothers and Sisters whose love and affection he counteth the bulwarks and redouts for his own safety and security When grown to keep a Court by himself he is carefull in well ordering it The foresaid Prince Henries Court consisted of few lesse then five hundred persons and yet his grave and Princely aspect gave temper to them all so that in so numerous a familie not so much as any blows were given With a frowning countenance he brusheth off from his soul all Court-mothes of flattery especially he is deaf to such as would advise him without any or any just grounds when he comes to the Crown to runne counter to the practice of his Father and who knowing that muddy water makes the strongest beere may conceive the troubling and embroyling of the State will be most advantagious for their active spirits Indeed seldome two successive Kings tread in the same path if the former be Martiall though the warre be just honourable and profitable yet some will quarrell with the time present not because it is bad but because it is and put a Prince forward to an alteration If the former King were peaceable yet happinesse it self is unhappy in being too common and many will desire warre conceited sweet to every palate which never tasted it and urge a Prince thereunto But our Prince knows to estimate things
testifie their valour who also had the best cards in his own hand though he kept them for a revie The victory began to incline to the English when rather to settle then get the conquest the King hitherto a spectatour came in to act the Epilogue Many English with short knifes for the nonce stabb'd the bellies of their enemies cut the throats of more letting out their souls wheresoever they could come at their bodies and to all such as lay languishing they gave a short acquittance that they had paid their debt to nature This makes French Writers complain of the English cruelty and that it had been more honour to the Generall and profit to the souldiers to have drawn lesse bloud and more money in ransoming captives especially seeing many French Noblemen who fought like lions were kill'd like calves Others plead that in Warre all wayes and weapons are lawfull where it is the greatest mistake not to take all advantages Night came on and the King commanded no pursuit should be made for preventing of confusion for souldiers scarce follow any order when they follow their flying enemy and it was so late that it might have proved too soon to make a pursuit The night proved exceeding dark as mourning for the bloud shed nor was the next morning comforted with the rising of the sun but remained sad and gloomy so that in the mist many French men lost their way and then their lives falling into the hands of the English so that next dayes gleanings for the number though not for the quality of the persons slain exceeded the harvest of the day before And thus this victory next to Gods Providence was justly ascribed to the Black Princes valour who there wonne and wore away the Estridge feathers then the Arms of John King of Bohemia there conquer'd and kill'd and therefore since made the hereditary Emblemes of honour to the Princes of Wales The battel of Poictiers followed ten years after which was fought betwixt the foresaid Black Prince and John King of France Before the battel began the English were reduced to great straits their enemies being six to one The French conceived the victory though not in hand yet within reach and their arm must be put out not to get but take it All articles with the English they accounted alms it being great charity but no policy to compound with them But what shall we say warre is a game wherein very often that side loseth which layeth the oddes In probability they might have famished the English without fighting with them had not they counted it a lean conquest so to bring their enemies to misery without any honour to themselves The conclusion was that the French would have the English lose their honour to save their lives tendring them unworthy conditions which being refused the battel was begun The French King made choice of three hundred prime horsmen to make the first assault on the English the election of which three hundred made more then a thousand heartburnings in his army every one counted his loyalty or manhood suspected who was not chosen into this number and this took off the edge of their spirits against their enemies and turned it into envy and disdain against their friends The French horse charged them very furiously whom the English entertain'd with a feast of arrows first second third course all alike Their horses were galled with the bearded piles being unused to feel spurres in their breasts and buttocks The best horses were worst wounded for their mettall made one wound many and that arrow which at first did but pierce by their struggling did tear and rend Then would they know no riders and the riders could know no ranks and in such a confusion an army fights against it self One rank fell foul with another and the rere was ready to meet with the front and the valiant Lord Audley charging them before they could repair themselves overcame all the Horse Qua parte belli saith my Authour invicti Galli habebantur The Horse being put to flight the Infantry consisting most of poore people whereof many came into the field with conquered hearts grinded with oppression of their Gentry counted it neither wit nor manners for them to stay when their betters did flie and made post hast after them Six thousand common souldiers were slain fifty two Lords and seventeen hundred Knights and Esquires one hundred Ensignes taken with John the French King and two thousand prisoners of note The French had a great advantage of an after-game if they had returned again and made head but they had more mind to make heels and run away Prince Edward whose prowesse herein was conspicuous overcame his own valour both in his piety devoutly giving to God the whole glory of the conquest and in his courtesie with stately humility entertaining the French Prisoner-King whom he bountifully feasted that night though the other could not be merry albeit he was supped with great cheere and knew himself to be very welcome The third performance of this valiant Prince wherein we will instance was acted in Spain on this occasion Peter King of Castile was driven out of his kingdome by Henry his base Brother and the assistance of some French forces Prince Edward on this Peters petition and by his own Fathers permission went with an army into Spain to re-estate him in his kingdome For though this Peter was a notorious Tyrant if Authours in painting his deeds do not overshadow them to make them blacker then they were yet our Prince not looking into his vices but his right thought he was bound to assist him For all Sovereignes are like the strings of a Basevioll equally tuned to the same height so that by sympathy he that toucheth the one moves the other Besides he thought it just enough to restore him because the French helpt to cast him out and though Spain was farre off yet our Prince never counted himself out of his own countrey whilest in any part of the world valour naturalizing a brave spirit through the Universe With much adoe he effected the businesse through many difficulties occasioned partly by the treachery of King Peter who performed none of the conditions promised and partly through the barrennesse of the countrey so that the Prince was forced to sell all his own plate Spain more needing meat then dishes to make provision for his souldiers but especially through the distemper of the climate the aire or fire shall I say thereof being extreme hot so that it is conceived to have caused this Princes death which happened soon after his return What English heart can hold from inveighing against Spanish aire which deprived us of such a jewell were it not that it may seem since to have made us some amends when lately the breath of our nostrills breathed in that climate and yet by Gods providence was kept there and returned thence in health and safety Well may this Prince be taken
heaven Or was it onely the true body of Samuel no the pretious ashes of the Saints the pawn for the return of their souls are lock'd up safe in the cabinet of their graves and the devil hath no key unto it Or lastly was it his seeming body he that could not counterfeit the least and worst of worms could he dissemble the shape of one of the best and greatest of men Yet this is most probable seeing Satan could change himself into an Angel of light and God gives him more power at some times then at other However we will not be too peremptory herein and build standing structures of bold assertions on so uncertain a foundation rather with the Rechabites we will live in tents of conjectures which on better reason we may easily alter and remove The devils speech looks backward and forward relates and foretells the Historicall part thereof is easie recounting Gods speciall favours to Saul and his ingratitude to God and the matter thereof very pious Not every one that saith Lord Lord whether to him or of him shall enter into the kingdome of heaven for Satan here useth the Lords name six times in foure verses The Propheticall part of his speech is harder how he could foretell to morrow shalt thou and thy sonnes be with me what with me true Samuel in heaven that was too good a place will some say for Saul or with me true Satan in hell that was too bad a place for Jonathan What then with me pretended Samuel in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the state of the dead But how came the Witch or Satan by this knowledge surely that uggly monster never look'd his face in that beautifull glasse of the Trinity which as some will have it represents things to the blessed Angels No doubt then he gathered it by experimentall collection who having kept an exact Ephemerides of all actions for more then five thousand years together can thereby make a more then probable guesse of future contingents the rather because accidents in this world are not so much new as renewed Besides he saw it in the naturall causes in the strength of the Philistines and weaknesse of the Israelitish army and in Davids ripenesse to succeed Saul in the Throne Perchance as vulturs are said to smell the earthlinesse of a dying corps so this bird of prey resented a worse then earthly savour in the soul of Saul an evidence of his death at hand Or else we may say the devil knew it by particular revelation for God to use the devil for his own turn might impart it unto him to advance wicked mens repute of Satans power that they who would be deceived should be deceived to believe that Satan knows more then he does The dismall news so frighted Saul that he fell along on the earth and yet at last is perswaded to arise and eat meat she killing and dressing a fat calf for him Witches generally are so poore they can scarce feed themselves see here one able to feast a King That which goeth into the mouth defileth not better eat meat of her dressing then take counsell of her giving and her hands might be clean whose soul meddled with unclean spirits Saul must eat somewhat that he might be strengthned to live to be kill'd as afterwards it came to passe And here the mention of this Witch in Scripture vanisheth away we will follow her no farther If afterward she escaped the justice of man Gods judgement without her repentance hath long since overtaken her CHAP. 5. The life of JOAN of Arc. IOan of Arc was born in a village called Domrenny upon the Marches of Bar near to Vaucoleurs Her parents James of Arc and Isabell were very poore people and brought her up to keep sheep where for a while we will leave her and come to behold the miserable estate of the kingdome of France wherein she lived In her time Charles the seventh was the distressed French King having onely two entire Provinces left him Gascoigne and Languedoc and his enemies were about them and in all the rest which were possessed by the English under their young King Henrie the sixth and his aged Generalls the Duke of Bedford and the Earls of Salisbury and Suffolk Besides they had besieged the city of Orleance and brought it to that passe that the highest hopes of those therein was to yield on good terms Matters standing in this wofull case three French Noblemen projected with themselves to make a cordiall for the consumption of the spirits of their King and Countreymen but this seemed a great difficulty to perform the French people being so much dejected and when mens hearts are once down it is hard to fasten any pullies to them to draw them up However they resolved to pitch upon some project out of the ordinary road of accidents to elevate the peoples phancies thereby knowing that mens phancies easily slip off from smooth and common things but are quickly catch'd longest kept in such plots as have odde angles and strange unusuall corners in them JOAN of Arc the Victorious Leader of the French Armyes She was condemned by the English for a Witch burnt at Rohan julij the 6 th 1461. being about 22 yeares of Age. Pag◠373. W. Marshall sculp By the mediation of a Lord she is brought to the presence of King Charles whom she instantly knew though never seen before and at that time of set purpose much disguised This very thing some heighten to a miracle though others make it fall much beneath a wonder as being no more then a Scholars ready saying of that lesson which he hath formerly learned without book To the King she boldly delivers her message how that this was the time wherein the sinnes of the English and the sufferings of the French were come to the height and she appointed by the God of heaven to be the French leader to conquer the English If this opportunity were let slip let them thank heavens bounty for the tender and their own folly for the refusall and who would pity their eternall slavery who thrust their own liberty from themselves He must be deaf indeed who heares not that spoken which he desires Charles triumphs at this news Both his armes were to few too embrace the motion The Fame of her flies through France and all talk of her whom the Divines esteem as Deborah the Souldiers as Semiramis People found out a nest of miracles in her education that so lyon-like a spirit should be bred amongst sheep like David Ever after she went in mans clothes being armed cap-a-pe and mounted on a brave Steed and which was a wonder when she was on horseback none was more bold and daring when alighted none more tame and meek so that one could scarce see her for her self she was so chang'd and alter'd as if her spirits dismounted with her body No sword would please her but one taken out of the Church
in Winchester castle counterfeited herself to be dead and so was carried out in a coffin whereby she escaped Another time being besieged at Oxford in a cold winter with wearing white apparell she got away in the snow undiscovered Thus some Hypocrites by dissembling mortification that they are dead to the world and by professing a snow-like purity in their conversations escape all their life time undiscerned by mortall eyes By long dissembling piety he deceives himself at last Yea he may grow so infatuated as to conceive himself no dissembler but a sincere Saint A scholar was so possessed with his lively personating of King Richard the third in a Colledge-Comedy that ever after he was transported with a royall humour in his large expences which brought him to beggery though he had great preferment Thus the Hypocrite by long acting the part of piety at last believes himself really to be such an one whom at first he did but counterfeit God here knows and hereafter will make Hypocrites known to the whole world Ottocar King of Bohemia refused to do homage to Rodulphus the first Emperour till at last chastised with warre he was content to do him homage privately in a tent which tent was so contrived by the Emperours servants that by drawing one cord it was all taken away and so Ottocar presented on his knees doing his homage to the view of three Armies in presence Thus God at last shall uncase the closest dissembler to the sight of men angels and devils having removed all veils and pretences of piety no goat in a sheepskin shall steal on his right hand at the last day of judgement CHAP. 9. The life of Iehu IEhu the sonne of Jehosaphat the sonne of Nimshi was one of an active spirit and therefore employed to confound the house of Ahab for God when he means to shave clear chooses a razour with a sharp edge and never sendeth a slug on a message that requireth haste A sonne of the Prophets sent by Elisha privately anointed him King at Ramoth Gilead whereupon he was proclaimed King by the consent of the army Surely God sent also an invisible messenger to the souls of his fellow-captains and anointed their hearts with the oyl of Subjection as he did Jehu's head with the oyl of Sovereignty Secrecie and celerity are the two wheels of great actions Jehu had both he marched to Jezreel faster then Fame could flie whose wings he had clipt by stopping all intelligence that so at once he might be seen and felt of his enemies In the way meeting with Jehoram and Ahaziah he conjoyned them in their deaths who consorted together in idolatrie The corps of Jehoram he orders to be cast into Nabaoths vineyard a garden of herbs royally dung'd and watered with bloud Next he revengeth Gods Prophets on cruell Jezabell whose wicked carcase was devoured by dogs to a small reversion as if a head that plotted hands that practis'd so much mischief feet so swift to shed bloud were not meat good enough for dogs to eat Then by a letter he commands the heads of Ahabs seventy sonnes their Guardians turning their executioners whose heads being laid on two heaps at the gate of Jezreel served for two soft pillows for Jehu to sleep sweetly upon having all those corrivalls to the Crown taken away The Priests of Baal follow after With a prettywile he fetches them all into the temple of their Idole where having ended their sacrifice they themselves were sacrificed However I dare not acquit Jehu herein In Holy Fraud I like the Christian but not the sirname thereof and wonder how any can marry these two together in the same action seeing surely the parties were never agreed This I dare say Be it unjust in Jehu it was just with God that the worshippers of a false God should be deceived with a feigned worship Hitherto I like Jehu as well as Josiah his zeal blazed as much But having now got the Crown he discovers himself a dissembling Hypocrite It was an ill signe when he said to Jonadab the sonne of Rechab Come with me and see my zeal for the Lord. Bad inviting guests to feed their eyes on our goodnesse But Hypocrites rather then they will lose a drop of praise will lick it up with their own tongue Before he had dissembled with Baal now he counterfeits with God He took no heed to walk in the way of the Lord God of Israel with all his heart formerly his sword had two edges one cut for Gods glory the other for his own preferment He that before drove so furiously whilest his private ends whipt on his horses now will not go a footpace in Gods commandments He departed not from the golden calves in Dan and Bethel I know what Flesh will object that this State-sinne Jehu must commit to maintain his kingdome for the lions of gold did support the throne of Solomon but the calves of gold the throne of Jeroboam and his Successours Should he suffer his Subjects to go up to Jerusalem thrice a yeare as the Law of Moses commanded this would un-King him in effect as leaving him no able Subjects to command And as one in the heathen Poet complains Tres sumus imbelles numero sine viribus uxor Laertesque senex Telemachusque puer Three weaklings we a wife for warre too mild Laertes old Telemachus a child So thrice a yeare should Jehu onely be King over such an impotent company of old men women and children Besides it was to be feared that the ten Tribes going to Jerusalem to worship where they fetch'd their God would also have their King But Faith will answer that God that built Jehu's throne without hands could support it without buttresses or being beholden to idolatry And therefore herein Jehu who would needs piece out Gods providence with his own carnall policie was like a foolish greedy gamester who having all the game in his own hand steals a needlesse card to assure himself of winning the stake and thereby loses all For this deep diver was drown'd in his own policie and Hazael King of Syria was raised up by God to trouble and molest them Yet God rewarded him with a lease of the Kingdome of foure successive lives who had he been sincere would have assured him of a Crown here and hereafter Chap. 10. The Heretick IT is very difficult accurately to define him Amongst the Heathen Atheist was and amongst Christians Heretick is the disgracefull word of course alwayes cast upon those who dissent from the predominant current of the time Thus those who in matters of opinion varied from the Popes copie the least hair-stroke are condemned for Hereticks Yea Virgilius Bishop of Saltzburg was branded with that censure for maintaining that there were Antipodes opposite to the then known world It may be as Alexander hearing the Philosophers dispute of more worlds wept that he had conquered no part of them so it grieved