by their true worth and value and will not take them upon the credit whereon others present them unto him He conceives they will be most loving to the branch which were most loyall to the root and most honour'd his father We reade how Henry the fifth as yet Prince of Wales intending to bear out one of his servants for a misdemeanour reviled S r William Gascoine Lord chief Justice of the Kings Bench to his face in open court The aged Judge considered how this his action would beget an immortall example and the echo of his words if unpunished would be resounded for ever to the disgrace of Majesty which is never more on its throne then when either in person or in his substitutes sitting on the bench of Justice and thereupon commanded the Prince to the prison till he had given satisfaction to his father for the affront offered Instantly down fell the heart of great Prince Henry which though as hard as rock the breath of Justice did easily shake being first undermin'd with an apprehension of his own guiltinesse And King Henry the fourth his father is reported greatly to rejoyce that he had a Judge who knew how to command by and a Sonne who knew how to submit to his Laws And afterward this Prince when King first conquering himself and afterwards the French reduced his Court from being a forrest of wild trees to be an orchard of sweet fruit banishing away his bad companions and appointing and countenancing those to keep the key of his honour who had lock'd up his fathers most faithfully He shews himself to the people on fit occasions It is hard to say whether he sees or is seen with more love and delight Every one that brings an eye to gaze on him brings also an heart to pray for him But his subjects in reversion most rejoyce to see him in his military exercises wishing him as much skill to know them as little need to use them seeing peace is as farre to be preferred before victory it self as the end is better then the means He values his future sovereignty not by impunity in doing evil but by power to do good What now his desire is then his ability shall be and he more joyes that he is a member of the true Church then the second in the land Onely he fears to have a Crown too quickly and therefore lengthens out his fathers dayes with his prayers for him and obedience to him And thus we leave Solomon to delight in David David in Solomon their people in both EDWARD Prince of Wales commonly called the black Prince He dyed at Canturbury june the 8 th 1326. Aged 46 yeares W Marshall sâ—ulp CHAP. 20. The life of EDVVARD the Black Prince EDward the Black Prince so called from his dreaded acts and not from his complexion was the eldest sonne to Edward the third by Philippa his Queen He was born Anno 1329 on the fifteenth of June being friday at Woodstock in Oxfordshire His Parents perceiving in him more then ordinary naturall perfections were carefull to bestow on him such education in Piety and Learning agreeable to his high birth The Prince met their care with his towardlinesse being apt to take fire and blaze at the least spark of instruction put into him We find him to be the first Prince of Wales whose Charter at this day is extant with the particular rites of investiture which were the Crownet and Ring of gold with a rod of silver worthily bestowed upon him who may passe for a miroir of Princes whether we behold him in Peace or in Warre He in the whole course of his life manifested a singular observance to his Parents to comply with their will and desire nor lesse was the tendernesse of his affection to his Brothers and Sisters whereof he had many But as for the Martiall performances of this Prince they are so many and so great that they would fill whole volumes we will onely insist on three of his most memorable atchievements remitting the Reader for the rest to our English Historians The first shall be his behaviour in the battel of Cressy against the French wherein Prince Edward not fully eighteen years old led the sore front of the English There was a causlesse report the beginning of a rumour is sometimes all the ground thereof spread through the French army that the English were fled whereupon the French posted after them not so much to overcome this they counted done but to overtake them preparing themselves rather to pursue then to fight But coming to the town of Cressy they found the English fortified in a wooddy place and attending in good array to give battel Whereat the French falling from their hopes were extremely vext a fools paradise is a wisemans hell finding their enemies faces to stand where they look'd for their backs And now both armies prepared to fight whilest behold flocks of ravens and vulturs in the aire flew thither bold guests to come without an invitation But these smell-feast birds when they saw the cloth laid the tents of two armies pitch'd knew there would be good cheere and came to feed on their carcases The English divided themselves into three parts The formost consisting most of Archers led by the Black Prince the second by the Earl of Northampton the third commanded by King Edward in person The French were treble in number to the English and had in their army the three Kings of France Bohemia and Majorca Charles Duke of Alenson with John the Bohemian King led the vanguard the French King Philip the main battel whilest Amie Duke of Savoy brought up the rere The Genoan Archers in the French forefront wearied with marching were accus'd for their slothfulnesse and could neither get their wages nor good words which made many of them cast down their bows and refuse to fight the rest had their bowstrings made uselesse being wetted with a sudden showre which fell on their side But Heavens smiling offended more then her weeping the sunne suddenly shining out in the face of the French gave them so much light that they could not see However Duke Charles breaking through the Genoans furiously charged the fronts of the English and joyned at hand-strokes with the Princes battel who though fighting most couragiously was in great danger Therefore King Edward was sent unto who hitherto hovered on a hillock judiciously beholding the fight to come and rescue his sonne The King apprehending his case dangerous but not desperate and him rather in need then extremity told the messenger Is my sonne alive let him die or conquer that he may have the honour of the day The English were vext not at his deniall but their own request that they should seem to suspect their Kings fatherly affection or Martiall skill as needing a remembrancer to tell him his time To make amends they laid about them manfully the rather because they knew that the King looked on to
Spain and the Jesuites did flock about him to pervert him to their Religion All was in vain Their last argument was If you will not turn Romane Catholick then your body shall be unburied Then answered he I 'le stink and so turned his head and dyed Thus love if not to the dead to the living will make him if not a grave a hole and it was the Beggers Epitaph Nudus eram vivus mortuus ecce tegor Naked I liv'd but being dead Now behold I 'm covered A good Memory is the best Monument Others are subject to Casualty and Time and we know that the Pyramids themselves doting with age have forgotten the names of their Founders To conclude Let us be carefull to provide rest for our souls and our bodies will provide rest for themselves And let us not be herein like unto Gentlewomen which care not to keep the inside of the orenge but candy and preserve onely the outside thereof CHAP. 15. Of Deformitie DEformitie is either Naturall Voluntary or Adventitious being either caused by Gods unseen Providence by men nicknamed Chance or by mans Cruelty We will take them in order If thou beest not so handsome as thou wouldest have been thank God thou art no more unhandsome then thou art 'T is his mercie thou art not the mark for passengers fingers to point at an Heteroclite in Nature with some member defective or redundant Be glad that thy clay-cottage hath all the necessary rooms thereto belonging though the outside be not so fairly playstered as some others Yet is it lawfull and commendable by Art to correct the defects and deformities of Nature Ericthonius being a goodly man from the girdle upwards but as the Poets feigne having downwards the body of a Serpent moralize him to have had some defect in his feet first invented charets wherein he so sate that the upper parts of him might be seen and the rest of his body concealed Little heed is to be given to his lying pen who maketh Anna Bollen Mother to Queen Elizabeth the first finder out and wearer of Ruffes to cover a wen she had in her neck Yet the matter 's not much such an addition of Art being without any fraud or deceit Mock not at those who are misshapen by Nature There is the same reason of the poore and of the deformed he that despiseth them despiseth God that made them A poore man is a picture of Gods own making but set in a plain frame not guilded a deformed man is also his workmanship but not drawn with even lines and lively colours The former not for want of wealth as the latter not for want of skill but both for the pleasure of the maker As for Aristotle who would have parents expose their deformed children to the wide world without caring for them his opinion herein not onely deform'd but most monstrous deserves rather to be exposed to the scorn and contempt of all men Some people handsome by Nature have wilfully deformed themselves Such as wear Bacchus his colours in their faces arising not from having but being bad livers When the woman the first of Kings the 3. and 21. considered the child that was laid by her Behold said she it was not my sonne which I did bear Should God survey the faces of many men and women he would not own and acknowledge them for those which he created many are so altered in colour and some in sex women to men and men to women in their monstrous fashions so that they who behold them cannot by the evidence of their apparell give up their verdict of what sex they are It is most safe to call the users of these hermaphroditicall fashions Francisses and Philips names agreeing to both sexes Confessours which wear the badges of truth are thereby made the more beautifull though deformed in time of Persecution for Christs sake through mens malice This made Constantine the Great to kisse the hole in the face of Paphnutius out of which the Tyrant Maximinus had bored his eye for the profession of the faith the good Emperour making much of the socket even when the candle was put out Next these wounds in warre are most honourable Halting is the stateliest march of a Souldier and 't is a brave sight to see the flesh of an Ancient as torn as his Colours He that mocks at the marks of valour in a Souldiers face is likely to live to have the brands of justice on his own shoulders Nature oftentimes recompenceth deform'd bodies with excellent wits Witnesse Aesop then whose Fables children cannot reade an easier nor men a wiser book for all latter Morallists do but write comments upon them Many jeering wits who have thought to have rid at their ease on the bowed backs of some Cripples have by their unhappy answers been unhors'd and thrown flat on their own backs A jeering Gentleman commended a Begger who was deformed and little better then blind for having an excellent eye True said the Begger for I can discern an honest man from such a knave as you are Their souls have been the Chappell 's of sanctity whose bodies have been the Spitolls of deformity An Emperour of Germany coming by chance on a Sunday into a Church found there a most misshapen Priest pene portentum Naturae insomuch as the Emperour scorn'd and contemn'd him But when he heard him reade those words in the Service For it is he that made us and not we our selves the Emperour check'd his own proud thoughts and made inquiry into the quality and condition of the man and finding him on examination to be most learned and devout he made him Archbishop of Colen which place he did excellently discharge CHAP. 16. Of Plantations PLantations make mankind broader as Generation makes it thicker To advance an happy Plantation the Undertakers Planters and Place it self must contribute their endeavours Let the prime Vndertakers be men of no shallow heads nor narrow fortunes Such as have a reall Estate so that if defeated in their adventure abroad they may have a retreating place at home and such as will be contented with their present losse to be benefactours to posterity But if the Prince himself be pleased not onely to wink at them with his permission but also to smile on them with his encouragement there is great hope of successe for then he will grant them some immunities and priviledges Otherwise Infants must be swathed not laced young Plantations will never grow if straitned with as hard Laws as settled Common-wealths Let the Planters be honest skilfull and painfull people For if they be such as leap thither from the gallows can any hope for cream out of scumme when men send as I may say Christian Savages to Heathen Savages It was rather bitterly then falsely spoken concerning one of our Western Plantations consisting most of dissolute people That it was very like unto England as being spit out
teach them justice Excellently Luther Nisi superesset spolium Aegypti quod rapuimus Papae omnibus Ministris Verbi fame pereundum esset quod si sustentandi essent de contributione populi misere profecto ac duriter viverent Alimur ergo de spoliis Aegypti collectis sub Papatu hoc ipsum tamen quod reliquum est diripitur à Magistratu spoliantur Parochiae Scholae non aliter ac si fame necare nos velint Ob. But in the pure Primitive times the Means were least and Ministers the best And nowadayes does not wealth make them lazy and poverty keep them painfull like Hawks they flie best when sharp The best way to keep the stream of the Clergie sweet and clear is to fence out the tide of wealth from coming unto them Answ. Is this our thankfulnesse to the God of heaven for turning persecution into peace in pinching his poore Ministers When the Commonwealth now makes a feast shall neither Zadok the Priest nor Nathan the Prophet be invited to it that so the footsteps of Primitive persecution may still remain in these peaceable times amongst the Papists in their needlesse burning of candles and amongst the Protestants in the poore means of their Ministers And what if some turn the spurres unto Virtue into the stirrups of Pride grow idle and insolent let them soundly suffer for it themselves on Gods blessing but let not the bees be sterved that the drones may be punished Ministers Maintenance ought to be certain lest some of them meet with Labans for their Patrons and parishioners changing their wages ten times and at last if the fear of God doth not fright thē send them away empty It is unequall that there should be an equality betwixt all Ministers Maintenance Except that first there were made an equality betwixt all their Parts Pains and Piety Parity in means will quickly bring a levell and flat in Learning and few will strive to be such spirituall Musicians to whom David directeth many Psalms To him that excelleth but will even content themselves with a Canonicall sufficiency and desiring no more then what the Law requires More learning would be of more pains and the same profit seeing the mediocriter goeth abreast with optime Ob. But neither the best nor the most painfull and learned get the best preferment Sometimes men of the least get Livings of the best worth yea such as are not worthy to be the curates to their curates and crassa Ingenia go away with opima Sacerdotia Answ. Thus it ever was and will be But is this dust onely to be found in Churches and not in Civill Courts Is merit everywhere else made the exact square of preferment or did ever any urge that all Offices should be made champian for their profits none higher then other such corruption will ever be in the Church except there were a Law ridiculous to be made and impossible to be kept that men should be no men but that all Patrons or people in their Election or Presentations of Ministers should wholly devest themselves of by-respects of kinred friendship profit affection and merely chuse for desert and then should we have all things so well ordered such Pastours and such people the Church in a manner would be Triumphant whilest Militant Till then though the best livings light not alwayes on the ablest men yet as long as there be such preferments in the Church there are still encouragements for men to endeavour to excell all hoping and some hapning on advancement Ob. But Ministers ought to serve God merely for love of himself and pity but his eyes were out that squints at his own ends in doing Gods work Answ. Then should Gods best Saints be blind for Moses himself had an eye to the recompence of reward Yea Ministers may look not onely on their eternall but on their temporall reward as motives to quicken their endeavours And though it be true that grave and pious men do study for learning sake and embrace virtue for it self yet it is as true that youth which is the season when learning is gotten is not without ambition nor will ever take pains to excell in any thing when there is not some hope of excelling others in reward and dignity And what reason is it that whilest Law and Physick bring great portions to such as marry them Divinity their elder sister should onely be put off with her own beauty In after-ages men will rather bind their sonnes to one gainfull then to seven liberall Sciences onely the lowest of the people would be made Ministers which cannot otherwise subsist and it will be bad when Gods Church is made a Sanctuary onely for men of desperate estates to take refuge in it However let every Minister take up this resolution To preach the word to be instant in season out of season reprove rebuke exhort with all long-suffering and doctrine If thou hast competent means comfortably to subsist on be the more thankfull to God the fountain to man the channell painfull in thy place pitifull to the poore cheerfull in spending some carefull in keeping the rest If not yet tire not for want of a spurre do something for love and not all for money for love of God of goodnesse of the godly of a good conscience Know 't is better to want means then to detain them the one onely suffers the other deeply sinnes and it is as dangerous a persecution to religion to draw the fewell from it as to cast water on it Comfort thy self that another world will pay this worlds debts and great is thy reward with God in heaven A reward in respect of his promise a gift in respect of thy worthlesnesse And yet the lesse thou lookest at it the surer thou shalt find it if labouring with thy self to serve God for himself in respect of whom even heaven it self is but a sinister end To the Reader THese Generall Rules we have placed in the middle that the Books on both sides may equally reach to them because all Persons therein are indifferently concerned The Holy State THE FOURTH BOOK CHAP. 1. The Favourite A Favourite is a Court-diall whereon all look whilest the King shines on him and none when it is night with him A Minion differs from a Favourite for He acts things by his own will and appetite as a Favourite by the judgement and pleasure of his Prince These again are twofold either such as relie wholly on their Kings favour or such as the King partly relies on their wisdome loving them rather for use then affection The former are like pretty wands in a Princes hand for him to play with at pleasure the latter like staves whereon he leans and supports himself in State-affairs God is the originall Patron of all preferment all dignities being in his disposall Promotion saith David comes neither from the East nor from the West nor yet from the South The word here translated South in
preach and the Laity to live according to the ancient Canons Object not that it is unfitting he should lie Perdue who is to walk the round and that Governing as an higher employment is to silence his Preaching For Preaching is a principall part of Governing and Christ himself ruleth his Church by his Word Hereby Bishops shall govern hearts and make men yield unto them a true and willing obedience reverencing God in them Many in consumptions have recover'd their healths by returning to their native aire wherein they were born If Episcopacy be in any declination or diminution of honour the going back to the painfulnesse of the primitive Fathers in Preaching is the onely way to repair it Painfull pious and peaceable Ministers are his principall Favourites If he meets them in his way yea he will make it his way to meet them he bestoweth all grace and lustre upon them He is carefull that Church-censures be justly and solemnly inflicted namely 1 Admonition when the Church onely chideth but with the rod in her hand 2 Excommunication the Mittimus whereby the Malefactour is sent to the gaolour of hell and delivered to Satan 3 Aggravation whereby for his greater contempt he is removed out of the gaole into the dungeon 4 Penance which is or should be inward repentance made visible by open confession whereby the Congregation is satisfied for the publick offense given her 5 Absolution which fetcheth the penitent out of hell and opens the doore of heaven for him which Excommunication had formerly lock'd and Aggravation bolted against him As much as lies in his power he either prevents or corrects those too frequent abuses whereby offenders are not prick'd to the heart but let bloud in the purse and when the Court hath her costs the Church hath no damage given her nor any reparation for the open scandall she received by the parties offence Let the memory of Worthy Bishop Lake ever survive whose hand had the true seasoning of a Sermon with Law and Gospel and who was most fatherly grave in inflicting Church-censures Such offenders as were unhappy in deserving were happy in doing penance in his presence He is carefull and happy in suppressing of Heresies and Schismes He distinguisheth of Schismaticks as Phisicians do of Leprous people Some are infectious others not Some are active to seduce others others quietly enjoy their opinions in their own consciences The latter by his mildnesse he easily reduceth to the truth whereas the Chirurgeons rigourously handling it often breaks that bone quite off which formerly was but out of joynt Towards the former he useth more severity yet endeavouring first to inform him aright before he punisheth him To use force first before people are fairly taught the truth is to knock a nail into a board without wimbling a hole for it which then either not enters or turns crooked or splits the wood it pierceth He is very mercifull in punishing offenders both in matters of life and livelyhood seing in S. Johns Language the same word Bâ—os signifies both He had rather draw tears then bloud It was the honour of the Romane State as yet being Pagan In hoc gloriari licet nulli Gentium mitiores placuisse poenas Yea for the first seventy years till the reigne of Ancus Martius they were without a prison Clemency therefore in a Christian Bishop is most proper O let not the Starres of our Church be herein turn'd to Comets whose appearing in place of judicature presageth to some death or destruction I confesse that even Justice it self is a kind of mercy But God grant that my portion of mercy be not paid me in that coin And though the highest detestation of sinne best agreeth with Clergy-men yet ought they to cast a severe eye on the vice and example and a mercifull eye on the person None more forward to forgive a wrong done to himself Worthy Archbishop Whitgift interceded to Queen Elizabeth for remitting of heavie fines laid on some of his Adversaries learning from Christ his Master to be a mediatour for them till his importunity had angred the Queen yea and till his importunity had pleas'd her again and gave not over till he got them to be forgiven He is very carefull on whom he layeth hands in Ordination lest afterwards he hath just cause to beshrew his fingers and with Martianus a Bishop of Constantinople who made Sabbatius a Jew and a turbulent man Priest wish he had then rather laid his hand on the briers then such a mans head For the sufficiency of Scholarship he goeth by his own eye but for their honest life he is guided by other mens hands which would not so oft deceive him were Testimonialls a matter of lesse courtesie and more conscience For whosoever subscribes them enters into bond to God and the Church under an heavy forfeiture to avouch the honestie of the party commended and as Judah for Benjamin they become sureties for the young man unto his father Nor let them think to void the band and make it but a blank with that clause so farre forth as we know or words to the like effect For what saith the Apostle God is not mocked He meddleth as little as may be with Temporall matters having little skill in them and lesse will to them Not that he is unworthy to manage them but they unworthy to be managed by him Yea generally the most dexterous in spirituall matters are left-handed in temporall businesse and go but untowardly about them Wherefore our Bishop with reverend Andrews meddleth little in civill affairs being out of his profession and element Heaven is his vocation and therefore he counts earthly employments avocations except in such cases which lie as I may say in the Marches of Divinity and have connexion with his calling or else when temporall matters meddle with him so that he must rid them out of his way Yet he rather admireth then condemneth such of his brethren who are strengthned with that which would distract him making the concurrence of spirituall and temporall power in them support one another and using worldly businesse as their recreation to heavenly employment If call'd to the Court he there doth all good offices betwixt Prince and people striving to remove all misprisions disaffections advancing unity and concord They that think the Church may flourish when the Common-wealth doth wither may as well conceive that the brains may be sound when pia mater is perished When in the way of a Confessour he privately tells his Prince of his faults he knows by Nathans parable to go the nearest way home by going farre about He improves his power with his Prince for the Churches good in maintaining both true religion and the maintenance thereof lest some pretending with pious Ezechiah to beat down the brazen serpent the occasion of Idolatry do indeed with sacrilegious Ahaz take away the brazen bulls from
of S. Katharin in Fierebois in Tourain Her first service was in twice victualling of Orleance whilest the English made no resistance as if they had eyes onely to gaze and no arms to fight Hence she sent a menacing letter to the Earl of Suffolk the English Generall commanding him in Gods and her own name to yield up the keyes of all good cities to her the Virgin sent by God to restore them to the French The letter was received with scorn and the trumpeter that brought it commanded to be burnt against the Law of Nations saith a French Author but erroneously for his coming was not warranted by the authority of any lawfull Prince but from a private maid how highly soever self-pretended who had neither estate to keep nor commission to send a trumpeter Now the minds of the French were all afloat with this the conceit of their new Generall which miraculously raised their Spirits Phancie is the castle commanding the city and if once mens heads be possest with strange imaginations the whole body will follow and be infinitely transported therewithall Under her conduct they first drive away the English from Orleance nor was she a whit daunted when shot through her arm with an arrow but taking the arrow in one hand and her sword in another This is a favour said she let us go on they cannot escape the hand of God and she never left off till she had beaten the English from the city And hence this virago call her now John or Joan marched on into other countreys which instantly revolted to the French crown The example of the first place was the reason of all the rest to submit The English in many skirmishes were worsted and defeated with few numbers But what shall we say when God intends a Nation shall be beaten he ties their hands behind them The French followed their blow losing no time lest the height of their Spirits should be remitted mens Imaginations when once on foot must ever be kept going like those that go on stilts in fenny countreys lest standing still they be in danger of falling and so keeping the conceit of their souldiers at the height in one twelvemoneth they recovered the greatest part of that the English did possesse But successe did afterwards fail this She-Generall for seeking to surprise S. Honories ditch near the city of S. Denis she was not onely wounded her self but also lost a Troup of her best and most resolute souldiers and not long after nigh the city of Compeigne being too farre engaged in fight was taken prisoner by the bastard of Vendosme who sold her to the Duke of Bedford and by him she was kept a prisoner a twelvemoneth in Rohan It was much disputed amongst the Statists what should be done with her Some held that no punishment was to be inflicted on her because Nullum memorabile nomen Foeminea in poena Cruelty to a woman Brings honour unto no man Besides putting her to death would render all English men guilty which should hereafter be taken prisoners by the French Her former valour deserved praise her present misery deserved pity captivity being no ill action but ill successe let them rather allow her an honourable pension and so make her valiant deeds their own by rewarding them However she ought not to be put to death for if the English would punish her they could not more disgrace her then with life to let her live though in a poore mean way and then she would be the best confutation of her own glorious prophesies let them make her the Laundresse to the English who was the Leader to the French army Against these arguments necessity of State was urged a reason above all reason it being in vain to dispute whether that may be done which must be done For the French superstition of her could not be reformed except the idole was destroyed and it would spoil the French puppet-playes in this nature for ever after by making her an example Besides she was no prisoner of warre but a prisoner of Justice deserving death for her witchcraft and whoredomes whereupon she was burnt at Rohan the sixth of July 1461 not without the aspersion of cruelty on our Nation Learned men are in a great doubt what to think of her Some make her a Saint and inspired by Gods Spirit whereby she discovered strange secrets and foretold things to come She had ever an old woman which went with her and tutoured her and 't is suspicious seeing this clock could not go without that rusty wheel that these things might be done by confederacie though some more uncharitable conceive them to be done by Satan himself Two customes she had which can by no way be defended One was her constant going in mans clothes flatly against Scripture yea mark all the miracles in Gods Word wherein though mens estates be often chang'd poore to rich bond to free sick to sound yea dead to living yet we reade of no old Aeson made young no woman Iphis turn'd to a man or man Tiresias to a woman but as for their age or sex where nature places them there they stand and miracle it self will not remove them Utterly unlawfull therefore was this Joans behaviour as an occasion to lust and our English Writers say that when she was to be condemned she confess'd her self to be with child to prolong her life but being reprived seven moneths for the triall thereof it was found false But grant her honest though she did not burn herself yet she might kindle others and provoke them to wantonnesse Besides she shaved her hair in the fashion of a Frier against God expresse word it being also a Solecisme in nature all women being born votaries and the veil of their long hair minds them of their obedience they naturally owe to man yea without this comely ornament of hair their most glorious beauty appears as deformed as the sunne would be prodigious without beams Herein she had a smack of Monkery which makes all the rest the more suspicious as being sent to maintain as well the Friers as the French Crown And if we survey all the pretended miracles of that age we shall find what tune soever they sung still they had something in the close in the favour of Friers though brought in as by the by yet perchance chiefly intended so that the whole sentence was made for the parenthesis We will close the different opinions which severall Authours have of her with this Epitaph Here lies Ioan of Arc the which Some count saint and some count witch Some count man and something more Some count maid and some a whore Her life 's in question wrong or right Her death 's in doubt by laws or might Oh innocence take heed of it How thou too near to guilt dost sit Mean time France a wonder saw A woman rule 'gainst Salique Law But Reader be content to stay Thy censure till the
were never asunder Fifty were privy to this plot each had his office assigned him Baptista Monteseccius was to kill Laurence Francis Pazzius and Bernardus Bandinius were to set on Julian whilest the Archbishop of Pisa one of their allies was with a band of men to seise on the Senate-house Cardinall Raphaels company rather then assistance was required being neither to hunt nor kill but onely to start the game and by his presence to bring the two brothers to the dinner All appointed the next morning to meet at Masse in the chief Church of S. Reparata Here meeting together all the designe was dash'd for here they remembred that Julian de Medices never used to dine This they knew before but considered not till now as if formerly the vapours arising out of their ambitious hearts had clouded their understanding Some advised to referre it to another time which others thought dangerous conceiving they had sprung so many leaks of suspition it was impossible to stop them and feared there being so many privie to the plot that if they suffered them to consult with their pillows their pillows would advise them to make much of their heads wherefore not daring to stay the seasonable ripening of their designe they were forced in heat of passion to parch it up presently and they resolved to take the matter at the first bound and to commit the murther they intended at dinner here in the Church taking it for granted the two Mediceans would come to Masse according to their dayly custome But changing their stage they were fain also to alter their Actours Monteseccius would not be employed in the businesse to stain a sacred place with bloud and the breaking of this string put their plot quite out of tune And though Anthony Volateran and Stephen a Priest were substituted in his room yet these two made not one fit person so great is the difference betwixt a choice and a shift When the Host was elevated they were to assault them and the Sacrament was a signe to them not of Christs death past but of a murther they were to commit But here again they were at a losse Treason like Pope Adrian may be choak'd with a flie and marr'd with the least unexpected casualtie Though Laurence was at Church Julian was absent And yet by beating about they recover'd this again for Francis Pazzius and Bernard Bandinius going home to his house with complements and courteous discourse brought him to the Church Then Bandinius with a dagger stabb'd him to the heart so that he fell down dead and Francis Pazzius insulting over his corps now no object of valour but cruelty gave it many wounds till blinded with revenge he strook a deep gash into his own thigh But what was over-measure in them in over-acting their parts was wanting in Anthony and Stephen who were to kill Laurence in the Quire You Traitour said Anthony and with that Laurence starting back avoided the strength of the blow and was wounded onely to honour not danger and so recovered a strong chapell Thus Malice which vents it self in threatning warns men to shun it and like hollow singing bullets flies but halfway to the mark With as bad successe did the Archbishop of Pisa seise on the Senate-house being conquered by the Lords therein assembled and with many of his Complices hung out of a window The Pazzians now betake themselves to their last refuge which their desperate courses had left them James the chief of their family with one hundred more repair to the market-place and there crie Liberty Liberty A few followed them at first but the snow-ball by rolling did rather melt then gather and those who before had seen the foul face of their treason naked would not be allured to love it now masked with the pretences of the publick good and at last the whole strength of the State subdued them Every tree about the city bare the fruit of mens heads and limbes many were put to death with torment more with shame and onely one Renatus Pazzius with pity who loved his conscience better then his kinred that he would not be active in the conspiracy and yet his kinred better then his conscience that he would not reveal it Treason being like some kind of strong poyson which though never taken inwardly by cordiall consenting unto it yet kill 's by being held in ones hand and concealing it Chap. 17. The Tyrant A Tyrant is one whose list is his law making his subjects his slaves Yet that is but a tottering Kingdome which is founded on trembling people which fear and hate their Sovereigne He gets all places of advantage into his own hands yea he would disarm his subjects of all sythes and pruning hooks but for fear of a generall rebellion of weeds and thistles in the land He takes the Laws at the first rather by undermining then assault And therefore to do unjustly with the more justice he counterfeits a legalitie in all his proceedings and will not butcher a man without a Statute for it Afterwards he rageth freely in innocent bloud Is any man vertuous then he is a Traytour and let him die for it who durst presume to be good when his Prince is bad Is he beloved he is a rebell hath proclaimed himself King and reignes already in peoples affections it must cost him his life Is he of kinne to the Crown though so farre off that his alliance is scarce to be derived all the veins of his body must be dreined and emptyed to find there and fetch thence that dangerous drop of royall bloud And thus having taken the prime men away the rest are easily subdued In all these particulars Machiavell is his onely Confessour who in his Prince seems to him to resolve all these cases of conscience to be very lawfull Worst men are his greatest favourites He keeps a constant kennel of bloud-hounds to accuse whom he pleaseth These will depose more then any can suppose not sticking to swear that they heard fishes speak and saw through a mil-stone at mid-night these fear not to forswear but fear they shall not forswear enough to cleave the pinne and do the deed The lesse credit they have the more they are believed and their very accusation is held a proof He leaves nothing that his poore subjects can call their own but their miseries And as in the West-Indies thousands of kine are killed for their tallow alone and their flesh cast away so many men are murdered merely for their wealth that other men may make mummey of the fat of their estates He counts men in miserie the most melodious instruments Especially if they be well tuned and play'd upon by cunning Musicians who are artificiall in tormenting them the more the merrier and if he hath a set and full consort of such tortur'd miserable souls he danceth most cheerfully at the pleasant dittie of their dying grones He loves not to be