haue a king by election nor by lot as the zealous and not men of Ierusalem that chose for their prieft a countrie man named Phanias contrary to the good manners and contrarie to the ancient lawes of Iudea In a word Plaine dealing â—â—est wee would that Monsieur the Lieutenant should know that wee acknowledge for our true King and lawfull naturall and soueraigne Lord Henry of Bourbon heretofore King of Nauarre This is he alone who for a thousand good reasons The person 〈◊〉 power of the King commended we doe acknowledge to bee capable of and able to vphold the state of France and the greatnes of the reputation of Frenchmen he alone that can relieue and lift vs vp from our fall that is able to put the crowne in her first beautie and honor and to giue vs peace It is he alone and no other that can as a natural Hercules borne in France discomfite these hideous monsters that make all France horrible and fearfull to her owne children It is he alone and no other that will roote out these pettie halfe Kings of Bretaigne of Languedoc of Prouence of Lyonnois of Bourgongne and of Champagne that will scatter these Dukes of Normandie of Berrie and Solongne of Reims and of Soissons all these vaine visions shall vanish away at the glorie of his presence when hee shall be set in the throne of his auncestors and in his bed of iustice which waiteth for him in his kingly palace You haue nothing To wit either of trueth or of shew of truth Messieurs nor you Monsieur the Lieutenant haue nothing that ye can obiect against him The Pretext of the Vnckle before the Nephew is taken from you by the death of Monsieur the Cardinall his Vnckle I will not speake of him either by flattery or in slanderous sort A very worthy sentence the one sauoureth a flauish minde the other is proper to the seditious But I can tell you in trueth which thing also you your selues and all those that trauaile in the world will not denie that of all the Princes which France hath set before vs marked with the floure deluce and that appertaine to the crowne yea of all those that desire to come nigh it there is none deserueth so much as hee nor that hath so many royall virtues nor so many aduantages and prerogatiues aboue the common sort of men I will not speake of other mens wants A pretie preterition but if they themselues were all set out or written in the table appoynted for election and choyse he should bee found by very much the most capable and the most worthie to be chosen One thing indeede hee wanteth which I coulde tell in the care of some if I lifted I will not say it is his different religion from ours which you so much vpbraide him with for in some good measure we knowe No GOD wrought not that work but his owne corruption that God hath touched his heart and that he is willing to be taught and doth alreadie applie himselfe to instruction yea that he hath caused word to be sent to the holy father concerning his very nigh conuersion of which I make such account as if I had alreadie seene it he hath alwaies shewed himselfe to haue such regarde of his promises and to be so religious a keeper of his words Put the hardest the best will saue it self as we say But though it were so that he should continue in his opinion must we therefore put him by his lawfull right of succession to the crowne What lawes what councels what Gospell teacheth vs to dispossesse men of their goods Good reasons why Kings of erromous and corrupt religions are not to be deposed and Kings of their kingdomes for diuersitie of their religions Excommunication stretcheth not but vnto the soules and not vnto mens bodies and goods Innocent the third exalting the most proudely that possibly he could his popelike power said that as God had made two great lights in the firmament to wit the sunne for the day and the moone for the night so hath he made two in the Church the one for mens soules which is the Pope whom he compared to the sunne and the other for mens bodies which is the King Mens bodies enioye outward goods and not their soules The right ende of excommunication excommunication therefore cannot take them away for that is but a medicine for the soule to heale it and to bring it to health and not for to kill it it is not to condemne it but to make it afraide of damnation Some say that men would not feare it if it did not take from them some sensible or worldlie coÌ„moditie touching this life as for example their goods A bsurdities insuing the abuse of excommunication and conuersation or companie keeping with men but if that might haue place they must when they excommunicate a drunkard forbid him wine and strong drinke and when they excommunicate whoremongers they must take from them their wiues or women and forbid the leprous to scratch and rubbe Saint Paul to the Corinthians forbiddeth men to eate and drinke with fornicators backbiters drunkards theeues but yet hee faith not that they must take their goods from them to make them afraide and to drawe them backe from their vices I woulde willingly demaunde when they haue taken the kingdome and the crowne from a King because hee is excommunicate or an heretike whether then they must choose another and put that other in his place for it is not reasonable that the people shoulde remaine without a King as you Messieurs would worthilie indeede prouide for it A question not easie to be absolued But if it should so fall out afterwardes that this King being excommunicated and destituted of his estates should come to repentance and be conuerted to the true faith obtaine his absolution either of the same Pope or of another succeeding him as they are very much accustomed to reuoke and vndoe that A girde indeede which their predecessors haue done how could it bee that that poore King spoyled of his kingdome should enter into it againe Those that should bee seized of it and holde it by iust title as three yeares possessors thereof The Duke de Mayn may speake to this would they put themselues from it againe thinke you and yeeld him the places forts treasures armes and ordinances which they withheld These are but the reckonings and accounts of olde doting men neither is there reason nor shew of reason in all of it or in any parte thereof It is long since this axiome or sentence generall was concluded that the Popes haue not any power to iudge of or concerning temporall kingdomes Good authorities And it is long agoe also since S. Bernard saith I reade that the Apostles stoode to be iudged but that they sate and iudged others I neuer reade The Apostles appeared very humbly before iudges
which may fall out vnto you for this fact But Gods word must needes be false and ful of lying which it is not nor cānot be if you do not very quickly receiue the wages hire that God promiseth to manquellers and murtherers as your brother did for hauing slaine the late Admirall But I will leaue this matter to the diuines to treate hereof that so I may come to put you in minde of a great and stale faulte which you committed at the very same time For sith you feared not in so many places to declare that your speciall marke was to raigne and be a King you had then and by reason of the blow a good occasion offered you to cause your selfe to be chosen King and you might better then haue attayned thereto than you can at this present when you sue Many deuises are in mans heart but the Lords purposes shall stand for euer ride runne corrupt and all to get it The Cardinall of Bourbon to whom vnaduisedly you gaue the title of the King was a prisoner Your nephew vpon whome they did bestowe all the commendations and glorie of his father was so likewise and neither the one nor the other could hurte you therein or hinder you as your nephew doth at this day you had yet the people hartned earnest and running after noueltie and change who had a great opinion of your valour from which you are much fallen since and I make no doubt but that you had caried it away thorow the hatred of the lawfull successor who was notoriouslie knowne to be a Huguenot And besides you had diuers preachers who had laide out a thousand reasons to perswade the people that the Crowne did belong rather to you than to him Nay foule and false The occasion for it was faire namely the changing of it from one line to another And although it bee all but one familie and of the same stalke as we may say notwithstāding the distāce of more than ten degrees in which the doctors say there ceaseth all the bond and right of consanguinitie made a goodly shew although that Doctor Baldus hath written that this rule faileth in the familie of the Bourbonians Wherunto adde that you had the force and the fauour of the time in your hand wherewith you could not serue your owne turne or helpe your selfe but rather thorough a certaine fainthartednes and very foule and grosse cowardise you would obserue forsooth some little modestie and forme of the ciuill lawe giuing the title of the King to a poore priest that was a prisoner The Cardinall of Bourbon although that in all other things you did shameleslie violate all the lawes of the realme and all lawe besides of God and of man whether it were naturall or ciuill You forgot all the maximaes and rules of our great masters touching the matter of enterprise vpon the estates of an other man euen that of Iulius Caesar which oftentimes for his excuse and defence spake these verses out of a certaine Greeke Poet. If that thou must needes wicked be be so a kingdome to obtaine But yet in other things be iust and eke the lawes maintaine You were afraide to take the title of a King Stumble at a straw and leap ouer a blocke and yet you were not afraide to vsurpe the power of it which you disguised and masked with a qualitie or esstate altogether new such a one as was neuer heard spoken of in Fraunce And I knowe not who was the author thereof yet some attribute it to the president Brisson or to Ianiu But whosoeuer inuented this expedient fayled in the termes of Grammer and of Estate also A fitte and good reason They might haue giuen you the name of Regent or of Lieutenant generall of the King as they haue done sometimes heretofore when the Kings were prisoners or absent off their kingdome and realme But Lieutenant of the estate and Crowne is a title vnheard of very strange which also hath too lōg a taile as it were a chimer or mōster against nature that maketh little children afraid Whosoeuer is a Lieutenant is Lieutenant to another whose place he holdeth who is not able to do his functiō or office by reason of his absence or some other hinderance or let and a Lieutenant is the Lieutenant of some other mā but to say that a man should be the Lieutenāt of a thing without life as the estate or crowne of a King is a very absurd thing such a one as cannot be mainteined And it had bin more tolerable to say Lieutenant in the estate and crowne of France than Lieutenāt of the estate But this is but a smal matter to faile in speech or words A true assertion in cōparison of failing in deeds When you were clothed and cloaked with this goodly qualitie you did so rudely roughly empty our purses that you had the meane to raise vp a great armie with the which you promised to pursue besiege take and bring prisoner He that reckoneth without his host must count againe this nowe successor to the crowne who did not call himself Lieutenant but in plaine termes King You had made vs then to gard and keep our places to hire shops in S. Anthonies street that we might see him passe in chaines whē ye brought him prisoner from Diepe what did yee withal this great armie very groffe indeed by al your strāge succours of Italie of Spaine of Germanie The horse and man are prepared against the day of battell but victorie is from the Lord. but to lay opē and cause to be knowne your own reachles weaknes vnorderly gouernment not so much as once daring with thirtie thousand mē to set vpon fiue or sixe thousand which gaue you the head at Arques and in the end constrained you shamefully to turne your backs you your selues to seeke surety safety in the riuer of Somme We were greatly deceiued when in steede of seeing this new King in the Bastile wee beheld him in our suburbs with his armie as a certaine lightning or clap of warre that preuented our thoughts yours also But you came and succoured vs A needlesse worke then when we were assured that he would do vs no hurt And we must confesse that without the resistance that one who is at this day his seruant made against him at the gate of Bussy he had taken vs before you arriued From that time hitherto you haue done nothing in your Lieutenancy worthy the remembrance If this be his commendation praise him for tyrannic but the establishment of your councell of fourtie persons and of sixteene which you haue since reuoked and scattered as much as you could And whilest that you laboured the aduancement and estate of your owne house and that you suffered your imagined King to wast weare away in prison without succouring him either with mony or with meanes to maintaine
to bee iudged by thē but they neuer sate in the chayre to iudge others wee knowe also very well He reasoneth from the greater that many Arrian Emperors comming to the empire by succession or by adoption and choyse were not reiected or repelled by their right beleeuing people and subiects but were receiued and admitted into the imperiall authoritie and gouernment without tumult or sedition And the christians alwaies had this maxime or rule as a perpetuall marke or cognisance of their religion that they did obey such Kings and Emperors as it pleased God to giue or set ouer them whether they were Arrians or Pagans Sufficient proofes conforming themselues therein to the example of Iesus Christ that did obey the lawes of Tiberius the Emperour imitating likewise Saint Paul and Saint Peter that obeyed Nero and haue in their epistles expressely commaunded to obeye Kings and Princes because all soueraigne power is of God Application of that that was deliuered and representeth the image of God himselfe This differeth much from the mindes of our mutinous men that driue them away and murther them And it is contrarie to you Monsieur the Legate that would haue the whole race to bee destroyed In deede if wee had no more of the blood of this noble kingly familie stocke or that we were in a kingdome that goeth by election And yet his deuise of destruction full of blood as in Polonia or in Hungarie I would not much sticke to say that men should hearken vnto you But hauing had time out of minde this worthie lawe which also is the first and the most auncient law of nature that the sonne should succeede the father and the nearest kinsmen in degree of consanguinitie to them that are nearest of the fame line stocke and familie and hauing one so braue and noble a prince in that degree or respect without controuersie or disputation that hee is the true naturall and lawfull heire and most able and fitte to succeede to the crowne there is now no more place for election and we ought to receiue with ioy and gladnes Men must not fight as it were giants against God this great king that God sendeth vs who hath no neede of our aide to make him to bee but is alreadie without vs and will bee still in despite of vs though wee would what we coulde hinder him in it But I haue straied from my purpose that so I might say something concerning that which men obiect against him touching religion but this is not it that I meant when I said that he wanted somewhat and which much hindreth the aduancement of his affaires neither is this it that the preachers and praters doe vpbraide him with touching the loue of women And why not the Clergie men also then and there present A prophane speech and therefore to be read with iudgement I am sure of this that the greatest parte of this companie and specially you Monsieur the Lieutenant cannot giue him that reproach without blushing For indeede this is not the imperfection that can hinder valiant acts but contrariewise there was neuer braue warriour that loued not Ladies and women and did not delite to get honor that so hee might bee the better beloued of them This is the reason why Plato wished to haue an armie or hoast wholly compounded and consisting of amorous people for they would be inuincible Groundes good enough for so badde a speech and would performe a thousand goodly exploytes of armes and deedes of cheualrie to please their mistresses Likewise the poets good naturalists and great masters in the knoweledge of dispositions and maners alwaies haue made Mars the God of battle The more the worse the friend of Venus Consider if you will all the great captaines and monarchs of the world there shall very few of them be found sober and stayed in this matter or busines Titus the Emperor who is set forth vnto vs for the most vertuous most wise gentle prince that euer bare scepter did not hee desperately loue the Queene Berenice yet so notwithstanding as that his loue neuer preiudiced himselfe nor brought any hinderance or backwardnes to his affaires True but that is not in fleshly filthines Princes must haue yeelded vnto them some refreshings or recreations of their spirits after that they haue trauailed in such serious affaires as bring with them our quietnes and after that they haue ceased from their great actions of besiegings of foughten battles of pitching their tents of dispersing and lodging their armies c. It is not possible that the spirite should be alwaies as if it were a bow continually bent occupied in these graue and waightie administrations without some refreshing and turning aside to other thoughts A iolly proofe more pleasant and comfortable This is the cause why the wise man himselfe hath saide Bonum est pauxillum amare sanè insanè non est bonum To loue a little and wisely also is a very good thing But foolishly to loue ouermuch too no goodnes doth bring It hath euer bin too rife that the people haue giuē vniust iudgements concerning their princes actions A bad collection and haue alwaies medled wrongfully to interpret their manners and complexions neuer thinking vpon this that there is not so much as one amongst them that iudgeth thereof but hee doth worse and hath greater imperfections Kings though they be Kings cease not for all that to be men subiect to the same passions that their subiects are and yet we must needs confesse that this man hath fewer faults in him then any of those that haue gone before him And though he haue an inclination to loue faire and goodly things he loueth none but such as are perfect and excellent It is a foule fault to mitigate great sins euen as he himselfe is excellent in iudgement and to know the price and the valour of all things And yet this little withdrawing play or pastime in pleasure is to him as it were an exercise of vertue insteed of hunting hauking without leauing euen in the midst of his recreations to know the matters that fall out in his army These things are good but yet cannot make vice to be virtue or to obserue marke the situation of cities places thorow which he passeth the nature of mē with whō he meeteth of places and countries which he trauerseth and he curiously learneth the passages and watches of riuers and keepeth in memory the distances of cities and townes marketh in what quarters it shal be fit and commodious to campe his armie when it shal passe that way and alwaies he enquireth and learneth some thing touching his enemies actes neuer hauing as yet vndertaken such voyages but that he had in hād one or two enterprises against certaine rebellious places But though it be a goodly thing to be continent wise temperate austere And who wil deny it but Atheists
hatte had a head like the Poet Aeschilus in so much as their common speech was that in the said Estates there was none but three scuruie or scalled persons and one that was pilled or balde and if the Inquisition of Spayne had been in good time brought in A holie house I sawe more than fiue hundred of them what say I fiue hundred yea fiue thousand which by their blasphemies deserued nothing lesse then the colling and imbracing of the president Brisson But the lot fell not vpon any of them but vpon a certaine poore miserable man an Asse leader who to hasten forward his miserable dullard altogether wearied and tyred with blowes and burthens spake with a very high and vnderstandible voyce these offensiue and blasphemous words Let vs go grosse Iohn to the Estates which wordes being taken at the pond head He meaneth the fauourits of Spayne as wee say and ere euer they were fully fallen by one or two of the number of the foure squared Cuba and brought to two Inquisitors or Promoters of the faith namely Machault and de Here this blasphemer was holilie and Catholikelie condemned to bee beaten and scourged naked with rods at his Asse tayle thorowe all the foure corners or quarters of Paris which was an infallible prognostication and a very famous and plaine prelude to testifie to all the people that were assembled for that solemne action that the proceedings of all the orders and States should be full of iustice and equitie A scabbed horse good enough for a scalde squire as the sayd iudgement it selfe which was the scantling of the great peece of the iustice of the Estates that were to come But whilest men were making preparations and scaffolds in the Louvre the ancient temple and dwelling place of the Kings of France while they were looking for the Deputies of all quarters Pomp enough for so paltrie a meeting who from moneth to moneth should come thether with small noyse and without pompe or shew of traine as men were wont to doe in old time before the pride and corruption of our fathers had brought in ryot vicious superfluitie The French word signifieth such as play legier de maine and vse sleights to deceiue mens sights and bringing drugs cut of farre countreys would perswade mē the excellencie of them by receiuing them themselues there were in the Court of the sayd Louvre two craftie Iugglers or Apothecaries the one a Spanyard and the other a Lorrain which it would haue done a man meruailous much good to see them vaunt their drugges and to play their iuggling trickes all the liue long day before all thē that would go to see them and that without paying any thing The Spanish Iugler or Apothecarie was very pleasant and mounted vpon a little scaffold playing rex as we say or shewing his knacks and rugling tricks and keeping the bancke or seate much like to many of those that a man may see at Venice in the place of S. Marke Vpon his scaffold there was tyed or set vp a great skinne of parchment written in diuers languages and sealed with fiue or sixe seales of golde of lead and of waxe He meaneth the Cardmall of Plaisance power Legantine from the Pope with certaine titles in letters of gold hauing therein these wordes Letters touching the power of a certaine Spanyard and of the meruailous effects of his drugge called Higuiero of Hell or a Catholicon compounded The summe of all this whole writing was that this treacle maker the young sonne of a certaine Spanyard of Grenado banished into Africke for Mahometisme the Phisitian of Ceriffa who made himselfe King of Marroco A fit instrument for the Pope and the Spanyard by a certaine kind or sort of Higuiero his father being dead came into Spayne caused himselfe to bee baptized and put himselfe to serue at Tolledo in the Colledge of the Iesuites there who hauing learned that the simple Catholicon of Rome had no other effects but to build vp soules and to cause saluation and blessednes in the other world only being wearie of so long a terme or time tooke counsell and was aduised by the counsell of his fathers will or testament A word much vsed amongst Phisitians Apothecaries and Distillers to sophisticate this Catholicon so well that by meanes of handling of it of remouing and stirring of it drawing it thorow a Limbecke or Stillatorie and bringing it into powder he made thereof within that Colledge That is a soueraigne and choyse thing such a soueraigne electuarie as surpassed all the Philosophers stones of what sort soeuer the proofes and triall whereof also were diducted and layd out by fiftie articles such as insue hereafter I. That which that poore vnhappie Emperour Charles the fift could not doe with all the vnited forces and all the cannons of Europe The principall of Dame Venus Knights his braue sonne Dom Philip by the meane of this drugge hath been able to performe it seruing himselfe therein but with a simple Lieutenant ouer twelue or fifteene thousand men at the most II. That if this Lieutenant haue of this Catholicō in his Ensignes Cornets And into what towne will not an Asse laden with golde pearce he wil enter without giuing blow into a kingdome that is enemie vnto him the people there will meere him and will goe before him with crosses banners Legats and Primats And though he destroy rauine Witnesse the West Indies and the Low Countreys vsurpe murther and sacke all yea though he carrie away rauish burne and make all a wildernesse yet the people of the countrie will say These are our people these are good Catholikes they doe this for peacesake and for our mother holie Church The name of his place or house at Madrill Let a King who is a sluggard and keepeth at home but assay and endeuour to affine or trie this drugge in his Escuriall write but one word to father Ignatius the ingrosser and close keeper of this Catholicon he will finde him out a man who his conscience kept safe or as wee say with a safe conscience will murther his enemie whom hee was not able by force of armes to vanquish in twentie yeares III. If this King purpose to assure his Estates and territories to his children after his death and to inuade another mans kingdome with small expenses let him write but one word thereof to Mendoza his Ambassador It is against the order of the Alphabet to set a lier before a lesuite or to father Commolet and that beneath in his letter he write with Higuiero of hell I the King they will furnish him with some one religious Apostata or other who will goe vnder some godly shew as a Iudas to murther and that in colde bloud a great King of France He meaneth Henrie the 3. his brother in law in the middest of his Campe without any feare of God or man
Nay they will doe more they will canonize that murtherer and place that Iudas aboue S. Peter Worthie fruits of a right religion and wil baptise this prodigious and horrible misdoing or offence with the name of a blow or a stroake from heauen and the gossips at this baptisme shall be Cardinals Legates and Primates IIII. Let a great and a mightie armie of pitiful and yet feared and renowmed Frenchmen be prepared and made readie to aduenture honorablie or to do well for the defence of the Crowne and countrey and to reuenge so fearefull an assault and murther A strange metamorphosis but yet no vntrue tale let them cast in the midst of this armie but halfe a dramme of this drugge it will benumme all the armie and strength of these braue and noble warriors V. Serue for a Spye in the Campe in the trenches at the cannon in the Kings chamber and in his councels yea though men knowe you for such a one yet if you haue taken in the morning but one graine of Higuiero whosoeuer shall taxe reproue or accuse you for it A sound iudgment shall be taken for an Huguenot or a fauourer of an Heretike VI. Fight and play on both sides as we say be vnfaithfull and traiterous yea so farre that you touch and take the kings coyne to make warre euen against himselfe also be not grieued any whit at all for so vngracious a deede practise with the enemie c. yet if you glew your sword within your scabberd with this Catholicon you shall be taken to be a very good man VII Will you be an honorable scoffer and newter cause your house in euery part to be painted not with the late S. Anthonie but with the crosse of Higuiero and behold you shall be exempted from armour proclamation proscription c. VIII Haue about you but halfe an ounce weight of this Catholicon you neede no more strong or auaileable passeport to procure you as good entertainment and to be as well welcome to Tours These are leaguer townes as to Mante to Orleans as to Chartres to Compaigne as to Paris IX Be acknowledged and taken for the pensionarie or feed man of Spayne seeke priuate profite betray change sell barter disioyne and set Princes at iarre so you haue one graine of Catholicon in your mouth Strange effects they will imbrace you and will enter into as great distrust against very faithful and ancient seruitors as against Infidels and Huguenots how free and faithful Catholikes soeuer they haue alwaies been before X. Though al goe from euill to worse though the enemie aduance his purposes and practises and departeth not from peace but the better to bring in againe assault it considering the goodly shewes that men make him though the Catholike Church it selfe runne at randon as we say A small matter to moue such stirres though there be peruerting of all order ecclesiasticall or secular through default of speaking good French doe but closely and cunningly sowe a little of Higuiero thorowe the world no man will regarde what you say or doe nay no man dare speake of it fearing least he should be accounted a Huguenot XI Make your selues Cantons and install your selues tyrannously in the Kings townes euen from Newhauen to Meziers and from Nantes euen vnto Cambray be a villaine a runnagate or traytor obey neither God nor the King nor the law haue notwithstanding thereupō in thy hand a little of this Catholicon and cause it to bee preached or commended in your canton or towne you shall be a great and catholike man XII Haue a dishonest and shameles face For euill example as we say and a blistered forehead as haue the vnfaithful Iailors of Pontheau de mer and Vienne rubbe your eyes but a little with this diuine or heauenly electuarie you shall be taken and reported to be a very honest and rich man XIII If a Pope as for example Xistus the fift doe any thing against you you shall bee permitted Papists against the Pope and that without hurting the conscience to execrate curse thunder out against him yea to blaspheme him so that there be in your incke neuer so little of this Higuiero XIIII Haue no religion mocke in sport and as much as you will the priests and sacraments of the Church and all law both Gods and mans eate flesh in Lent in despight of the Church you neede no other absolution nor better pardon then halfe a dramme of this Catholicon XV. Would you very quickly become a Cardinall An easie stepping stone to promotion rubbe one of the hornes of your cap with Higuiero it will become red and you shall be made a Cardinall though you were the most incestuous and ambitious Primate of the world XVI Be thou for any thing as guiltie of death as Mothe Serrant be conuicted for coyning and counterfeiting money as Mandreuille be a Sodomite as Senault A meruailous chaunge yea contrarie to all reason and religion a wicked person as Bussie an Atheist and vngratefull as the Poet of the Admiraltie wash thy selfe with the water of Higuiero behold thou art become an vnspotted lambe and a piller of the faith XVII Let any sage Prelate or Counsellor of the estate being a true Catholike Frenchman thrust in and oppose himselfe against the woluish or foxish enterprises of the enemies of the state so you haue a graine of this Catholicon vpon your tongue God make it to prosper euerie where as there there and elsewhere better as he shall see good They are good by excellencie or in the superlatiue degree you shall be permitted to accuse them yea to haue a will and desire so long as God will let you alone to let religion perish and decay as it doth in England XVIII Though some good preachers not able to teach children doe goe out of the rebellious townes to ayde the simple people elsewhere to arme themselues if he haue but a corne of Higuiero in his cowle or hood he may very well and safely returne backe againe XIX Let Spayne set his foote vpon the throate of the honour of France let the Lorraines striue to take or robbe rather the lawfull inheritance from the Princes of the bloud royall let them debate and discourse vpon their owne no lesse furiously then subtilly and affirme that the Crowne is their owne vse but thereupon a little of this Catholicon and you shall perceiue that men will more meruaile to see some question out of season moued concerning a Bishops cope or about Plessis monument then to trauaile with oares and sailes as they say to make fortish and foolish tyrants that tremble for feare to forgoe or let loose their pray This is almost the halfe of the articles which the whole writing of the Iugler or Apothecarie of Spayne did containe time shall cause you see the residue XX. As concerning the Iugler or Apothecarie of Lorraine hee had but a small or little
hauing the left hand tied to the crosse and the right hand free or vnbound holding in it a naked sword about which was written this saying Vpon thee and vpon thy bloud Without the three coasts or sides and before there were the falles of Icarus and of Phaeton very well wrought and it made a goodly shew to see the sisters of this young fellow by metamorphosis to be turned into popular trees one of which who had broken her hippe in running to succour her brother did naturally liuely resemble the Dowager of Montpensier all her haire hanging about her eares The first peece of tapistrie nigh to the cloath or chaire of estate was the historie of the golden calfe as it is described in the 32. chap. of Exodus where Moses and Aaron were there represented by King Henry the 3. lately dead and Monsieur late Cardinall of Bourbon Some fitnes in these representations or expositions but the golden calfe was the figure of the late Duke of Guise lifted vp on high and adored by the people and the two tables signified the fundamentall law of the Estates of Blois and the Edict of Iulie made in the yeare 1587. and in the lower part of the peece these wordes are written In the day of vengeance I will visite euen this their sinne The second peece was a great countrie as it were of diuers histories both old of this age distincted and separated one of them from another and notwithstanding very wittily referring themselues to the same perspectiue In the vpper part of it there was to bee seene that goodly entrance by night which Iohn Duke of Burgundie made into Paris and when the Parisiens cryed Christmas from the feast of all Saints At one of the corners was Harelle of Roan where a Merchant called le Gras A good choise and a meet mā for that place that is grosse or fatte was chosen King by the common people At the other corner were the Iacke men of Beuoisin with their Captaine Guillaume Caillet at the corner below were the pretie pigges or hogges of the league of Lions and at the other corner were the noble acts of the ancient Maillotins vnder these Captaines Simonnet Caboche and Iacques Aubriot the Kings of Buchers and Pillers and the whole in men cut short and seruing for nothing but for the countrey But at the bottome and in the midst of the peece there were expressed by figure and liuely set out the barricados of Paris where men might behold a King who was simple plaine and a good Catholike and who had done so many good turnes and giuen so many priuiledges to the Parisiens to be driuen out of his owne house and beset on all sides with tunnes and barrels to take him There were represented also diuers braue stratagems or warlike deuises Meet men to manage such matters of the Sirs or Knights who did leade Tremont Chastigneray Flauacourt and other rammers of the pauement we call them pauiers to the place of honour and in the lowest part of the sayd peece were written these foure verses Iupiter with his tunnes or fats Doth bring vs good and ill also But by these new vpstarts he doth The whole cast downe and ouerthrowe The third peece contained the historie of Absalom that with barricados distressed his father and draue him out of the citie of Ierusalem hauing by vnworthie entertaining and making much of gained and corrupted the most base and beggerly porters of the common people Afterwards there was shewed the punishment that he receiued therefore and how Achitophel his wicked counsellor did accursedly finish his daies all the faces and countenances approched nigh vnto or were like to some of the sayd Estates and there were easily knowne the President Ianin Marteau Ribault others to whom the late Duke of Guise made so many goodly shewes in the assemblie of the Estates at Blois Faire words make fooles faine also there were seene Choulier la Rue Pocart Senault and other butchers and horse coursers euon as base and low as dike-clensers and kennell rakers all people and persons of honour in their occupations which the foresayd dead martyr did kisse on their mouthes for zeale of religion The fourth represented in grosse the feates of armes of the murthers done in old time and in our age also otherwise called Bedouins and Arsacides who feared not to goe and kill euen in the chamber and in the bed those whom their imagined Prince Aloadin It seemeth to me he meaneth the Pope or some that hold that part surnamed the olde of sixe or seuen mountaines should commaund them Amongst others there were two very apparant figures the one of a certaine Countie of Tripoli murthered by a Sarazin zealous of his religion whilest he kissed his hands the other of a King of France and Poland trayterously striken with a knife by a wicked Monke or Frier yet pretending zeale vpon his knees presenting vnto him a letter sent him and vpon the forehead of the sayd Monke or Frier there was written in great letters the transposition of the letters of his name Frier Iames Clement IT IS HEL THAT HATH CREATED ME. In the fift men might behold the battaile of Senlis where Monsieur d'Aumale was made Constable and had giuen him for his labour the winged and hot spurres by Monsieur de Longueville a politike Prince and an arme of yron by la Nouë and Givry his suffragan About the same were written these verses by soures as we say or one foure after another Nature giueth to euery one Feete to succour them from fall Feete saue the man and he Needes but to runne well with all This valiant Prince d'Aumale Though he runne full well in breath And though that he did lose his maile Yet could he not ouerrunne death They that were of his traine Did not sleepe in any place Sauing by their happie flight Of their doublets the fine case When the barricade is ope For feare of blame to come Tarrie not I say behind It needes but well to runne To runne is worth a crowne Runners men honest are Tremont Balagny and Congis The same can well declare To runne well is no vice Men runne to get that is aught It is an honest exercise A good runner was neuer caught He that runnes well is able man And hath God for his stay But Chamois and Meneville Did not runne enough away Oft he that doth abide Is cause of his owne paine But he that flieth in good tide Perhaps may fight againe It s better to fight with feete To riue the aire and winde Then to be killed and beaten For comming slow behind He that in life hath honour Should therefore death sure shunne When out of life he goeth There needes but well to runne And at the corner of the sayd peece there was to bee seene Pigenat in his bed sicke inraged mad and furious with this fortune and waiting for an answer of the letter which he
vp downe at large and greene grasse grow there where men had hardly roome or space to stirre themselues the shops of our streetes had been garnished with artisans and handicrafts men whereas now they are emptie and shut vp We should haue had presse and multitude of carres chariots and coches vpon our bridges whereas now in eight daies space we saw but one onely passe and that was the Popes Legates Mischiefs foreseene and not remedied increase griefe Our storehouses market places should haue been couered with beasts full of corne of wine of hay and of wood Our places appoynted for selling of victuals and our markets had been thronged with the prease and multitude of merchants and of victuals where now they are all voyd and emptie and we haue nothing but at the mercie of the souldiers of S. Denis of the fōrt de Gournay Chevreuse and Corbeil Ha Monsieur the Lieutenant suffer mee as in this regard to vse one exclamation by the way of some short digression besides the course I confesse and order of my oration that I may bewaile the pitiful estate of this citie the Queene of cities of this little world and the abridgment of the world it selfe Ha ye my masters the deputies of Lions Happie is he who is warned by other mens harmes Tholouze Roā Amiens Troies Orleans look vpon vs take example by vs. Let our miseries make you wise by our losses You all know well enough what we haue been now ye see what we are All of you know in what a gulfe bottomles pit of desolation we haue been thorow this long and miserable siege if you do not know it reade the historie of Iosephus touching the wars of the Iewes Former examples and ours alike in many things the besieging of Ierusalē by Titus which doth naturally liuely expresse this of our citie There is nothing in the world that may be so well compared one with another as Ierusalem and Paris excepting the issue and end of the siege Ierusalem was the greatest the richest and the best peopled citie of the world so was Paris Which did her head lift vp as farre aboue all other townes As the firre tree aboue the furze or briers that vse doe clownes Ierusalem could not indure the holy Prophets All that haue grace may profite by this comparison as well as Paris that laid before them their errors and idolatries Paris could not suffer her Pastors Curats that blamed accused her superstitious foolish vanities and the ambition of her princes We made warre against the Curats of S. Eustachius and of S. Mederic because they told vs our faults did foretell the miseries and mischiefe that should come vpon vs therefore Ierusalem put to death her King her annoynted one of the race and stock of Dauid caused him to be betraied by one of his disciples of his owne nation Paris hath chased driuen away her prince her king her natural annointed one afterwards caused him to be betraied murthered by one of her Friers God will cut out destroy lying tongues but they regard not that The doctors of Ierusalē gaue the people to vnderstand that their king had a diuel within him in whose name he wrought his miracles Our preachers and doctors haue they not preached this vnto vs that our late king was a sorcerer that he worshipped the diuel in whose name he did al his deuotions Yea some haue bin so impudent shameles to shewe in the pulpit publikely to their hearers certaine shapes or images made according to their own pleasure fantasie which they did sweare was the idoll of the diuel that that tyrant did worship so lewdly did they speak of their master and of their king These same doctors of Ierusalem proued by the scriptures that Iesus Christ deserued to dye and cryed with alowd voyce Wee haue a lawe and according to the lawe he ought to dye The diuel will alleadge scripture but yet not rightly And haue not our preachers and Sorbonists proued and approued by their texts applied according to their owne fantasie that it was permitted yea praise worthie and meritorious to kill the King and haue they not yet preached it after his death Which in Ierusalem there were three factions which caused themselues to be called by diuerse names but the most wicked of them called themselues zealous and were assisted with the Idumeans that were strangers Paris hath been tossed and vexed altogether in the selfe same sorte with three factions that is of Lorraine Spayne and the sixteene participating of both the other two vnder the same name of zealous who haue their Eleazars A pretie allusion and yet no illusion and their Zacharies Acaries and more Iohns than there were in Ierusalem Ierusalem was besieged by Titus a Prince of diuers religiō from the Iewes he going at that time to the hazards and dangers of the assault as a simple souldier and yet so gentle and gracious was he that he procured himselfe thereby to be called the delights of mankinde Paris was besieged by a Prince of a differing religion but yet more courteous and gentle more bolde also and readie to goe to the blowes Would to God he had neuer strēgthned your hope or heart that way than euer was Titus Besides Titus would not innouate or change any thing in the religion of the Iewes no more doth this prince in ours but contrariwise giueth vs hope that one daye hee will imbrace it and that very shortly Ierusalem suffered all extremitie before it would acknowledge a fault and acknowledging it had no more power to redresse it and was hindred from it by the heads of the faction How much haue we suffered before we would know our selues And since our sufferings how often haue we desired that wee might yeelde if wee had not beene hindred therefrom by them that holde vs vnder the yoke Ierusalem had the sort of Anthonia the temple and the fort of Sion that bridled the people and let them that they could not stirrre nor complaine We haue the forte of S. Anthouie the temple the Louvre as it were the forte of Sion Comparisons fitte enough that serue vs for snaffles and for bittes to holde vs in and to bring vs to the appetite of the gouernours Iosephus of the same nation and religion that the Iewes were exhorted them to preuent the wrath of God and made them vnderstand that they themselues destroyed their temples their sacrifices and their religion for which they sayd they fought and yet for it would doe nothing Good counsell not regarded bringeth sundrie mischiess We haue had in the middest of vs many good French citizens and catholikes euen as our selues that haue giuen vs the like exhortations and declared by good reasons that our selfe-willednes and our ciuill warres would ouerthrow the Catholike religion the Church
seruing you as fencers to vphold your pride with killing our selues to shew you pleasure Let vs goe Messieurs of Lorraine with your great companie of princes wee hold you but for shadowes of protection defence the horseleaches of the bloud of the Princes of France hapelourdes little ships or foists without wares reliques of saints that haue neither force nor virtue They are but feare-bugges in such mens mouthes And let not Monsieur the Lieutenant thinke either to hinder vs or to backward vs by his threats we tell him aloude and plainly yea wee declare it to all you Messieurs his cousins and allies that we are Frenchmen and that wee will goe with the Frenchmen to hazard our life and that little that is yet left vnto vs to assist there with our King our good King our rightfull King who will also very quickly bring you vnto the same confession either by force or by some good counsell A necessarie addition which God will inspire into you if you be worthie of it I know very well that before I depart from this place you will either giue me some little pretie pill or it may be you will send me from hence to the Bastille where you will cause me to bee murthered as ye did Sacre-More S. Maigrin the Marques of Menelay and diuers others But I shall account it for a good peece of fauour if ye will cause me to dye quickly Feare cannot put out fidelitie to prince c. rather then to let me languish a long while in these anguishing and grieuous miseries And yet before I dye I will shut vp and finish my verie long oration with a poeticall epilogue or conclusion such as I haue made long agoe Messieurs the princes Lorraines You are full weake in your reines For the crowne thus to quarrell You cause your selues to be beate well You are valiant and strong amaine Yet your indeuours are all but vaine No force can be like in any thing To the puissance of a King And reason this is not indeede That on the children which succeede The seruants base should make warre Out of their land to driue them farre Great folly he doth performe and make That from his master ought doth take God against rebels and their maine Kings and their good causes will sustaine To the Nauarrias then leaue and lay downe Of our mightie Kings the noble crowne Wrongfully by your selues pretended So well haue you it molten and ended If any right you had had thereto You should not haue molten it as you doe Or els you must haue for name of renowne The title of Kings without a crowne Our Kings from God set vp renownd Are alwaies borne to vs well crownd The Frenchman true neuer doth range To King or prince that is but strange All the villaines or the greatest part Haue made you their head with all their hart They of the nobilitie that doe your part take Are such as with haste their owne wounds doe make But the very King of Frenchmen hard In steed of his poore and Scottish gard Is now assisted with none but great Princes Or els with Barons and Lords of Prouinces Wherefore then my friends let vs rise and goe Our blessed S. Denis all vnto There deuoutly to acknowledge and confesse This great King our master he is no lesse Let vs all goe together as thicke as the raine Of him to craue peace and the same to obtaine Vnto his table without feare we will goe A prince so familiar he is and gentle also All the princes of the Bourbon race Haue euer had in them this rare and good grace Very meeke for to be and gentle also And yet couragious in all whereabout they goe But ô you princes that to vs are strangers And daily vs thrust into thousands of dangers And with nothing but smoake still doe vs feede Keeping warre kindled and vpholding it indeede Get you soone packing into your owne land Very hatefull to vs here doe you stand And reckon your race from Charlemaigne pardie Vpon the bounds and borders of vpper Germanie Proue thee by your Romans or men of Rome That from Charles the great you descend and come That good people after the depth of their drinke Of that mysticall matter somewhat may thinke I haue sayd This oration being finished which indeede was beard with great silence and attention many people remained very flat nosed and much astonied Plain speeches hath good effects and a good while after there were no coughing hemming spitting nor any noise made as if the hearers had bin striken with a blow from heauen or brought into some deep dreame or drowsines of their spirite vntill a certaine Spaniard one of the mutinous crewe first rose vp and sayd with a very loud voice Let all of vs kill these villachoes Take a Spaniard without pride and mutinie and the diuel without a lye or villaines which when hee had sayd hee departed out of his place without shewing any reuerence to any man Where upon euery one was willing to arise to depart But the Admirall de Villaris the present newe King of Iuetot did beseech the estates in the name of the catholik cantons of the leaguers of Catillonnois Lipans The firebrand of contention Gualtiers other zealous communalties not to make peace with the heretikes vnlesse hemight remaine admirall of the East and of the West part and were paide his costs with the detaining of such benefites and fauours as hee thought belonged vnto him also that they would not chuse a King but such a one as shuld be a good cōpanion and a friende of the Cantons After wards there rose vp Ribault and Roland and besought the assembly Two honest men I warrāt you to frustrate and abrogate the law de Repetundis that is a lawe made against such as were accused of extortion or money vniustly taken in time of their office because this law as they tooke it was neither catholike nor fundamētall This being done euery one rose vp with a certaine marueilous stilnes in going out the herauld aduertised them at the gate as they went out to returne to the councell againe at two of the clocke in the after noone At which houre I that now speake ment not to faile Goodly things to be seene heard at Paris garden for the great desire that I had to see rare and singular things and the ceremonies that should bee kept there to the ende I might the better aduertise there of my master and the Princes of Italie which with an earnest desire waite for the proceeding and issue of these famous estates held against all order maner vsed and accustomed in France Wherefore I came againe to the Louvre after dinner and that in good time also You might do so for your fare was but short and offering my selfe to enter into the vppermost hall as I had done before in the morning the