vncle who had made the Pope to write vnto him thereabout did himselfe take Monsieur d'Andelot at Crecy and sent him prisoner to Melun After this imprisonment and that also of the Vidame of Chartres and of certaine counsellors of parliament fell out the violent and miraculous death of the King Whē the wicked rise vp mē hide themselues which exalted your house to the soueraigne degree of power neere about the young King Francis and on the other side did abate and almost altogether beate downe the house of Monsieur the Constable and of all those that did belong vnto him And this was then when his kindred voyde of all hope of ordinarie meanes because that all was executed vnder the fauour of your allies ioyned themselues in secrete intelligence with the Lutherans here and there scattered in diuers corners of the kingdom And though they had as yet but little credit with them as who were people vnknowne vnto them and had not partaked neither in the Supper nor in Synode or Consistorie notwithstanding by the meanes of their agents well skilled and practised in secrets they made that memorable enterprise of Amboyse and assembled from all the quarters of the world Taciturnitie a good virtue and that with meruailous silence such a great number of people that they were readie at the day named to accomplish a cruell execution vpon your side vnder this pretext to deliuer the King out of the captiuitie A Iudas amongst the twelue wherein your fathers and your vncles held him But these good people could not keep themselues from traitors whereupon followed the execution done at Amboise which discouered also the authors of the faction And thereupon insued the rigorous commaundement which they gaue to the King of Nauarre and the imprisonment of Monsieur the Prince of Conde in the estates at Orleans and sundrie other heauie accidents too long now to recite Mens malice ouerthrowne when God will which had continued and increased farre worse if the sodaine death of the young King had not altered the course and broken the blow which some went about to cause to light vpon these chiefest princes of the bloud royall and vpon the familie of Monsieur the Constable and of the Chastillons A man may easily iudge how much your house was shaken and tossed as it were by this vnlooked for death and you may beleeue Monsieur Lieutenant that Monsieur your father and Messieurs your vncles played all at one time at one kinde of game or blushing A fit comparison as you might do if a man should bring you newes of the death of your two brethren But they lost not their courage no more then you doe and had afterwards very good counsels and consolations from the King of Spayne of whom we will speake by and by who during these first dissentions was vpon the skoutes and watched to whom hee might offer his fauour and how he might blow and stirre the fire on the one side on the other to make it to increase to that power and greatnes in which we haue seene it Holy purposes for so catholike a prince and doe yet now see it burne and consume all France which is the finall but of his pretensions Vpon hope then of the support of so great a prince which would not spare to promise men money your father without being astonished with so lumpish a fall perceiuing the King of Nauarre to be placed in his ranke of the first prince of the bloud for the sauegard of young king Charles and Monsieur the Constable put in his charge or office againe knew so well rightly to play his ball that he practised them both and drew them to his lure against their owne brethren The recouerie of Nauarre some such conceits and against their owne kinsmen feeding one of them with a hope that I dare not speake of and flattering the other by submissions and honors that he bestowed vpon him And this he did so artificially and wel that entring againe into the paths and waies that he had forsaken and taking his old aduantage after that Monsieur the Prince of Conde was set at libertie who had fairely preuented him but two or three daies onely he went with a number of men of warre and in great troupes to seize the young King and the Queene his mother at Fountainebleau brought them to Melun And this was then when my sayd Lord the Prince and Messieurs of Chastillon perceiuing themselues neither by their head nor by their houses strong enough to resist so puissant enemies couered with kingly authoritie and power became Lutherans at one clap and declared themselues to be heads protectors of the new heretikes whom they called to their succour and by their meanes did in open warre seaze and take many great townes of the kingdome without making yet any mention of their religion but onely for the defence of the King and of his mother and to deliuer them out of the captiuitie bondage wherein Monsieur your father held them And you Monsieur Lieutenant know that these people alwaies boasted that what they did as in this behalfe it was at the request and commandement of the Queene Mother whose letters written and sent by her to them for that purpose they haue caused to be published and imprinted You are not ignorant of that which passed in this warre and how afterwards the King of Spayne sent your father succour but yet the same such Fit fellowes to fight a field as I am ashamed to speake of it al labourers and handicrafts men gathered together who would neuer fight at the battaile of Dreux but couered themselues with the wagons and carriages appoynted for the baggage Notwithstanding this was a baite to inkindle the courage of the partakers and to cause them to hope that they should indeed some other time doe some aduantageable thing if they would yet once again come to fight together But afterwards the diuers changings and alterations of our affayres did indeed offer vnto the Spanyard another sport For your father being dead and peace being made knowing notwithstanding these mightie families animated and stifly set one of them against another and that without hope of reconciliation When a bad cannot preuaile a worse will be prouided he practised Monsieur the Cardinall your vncle which on his behalfe did not sleepe to maintaine the troubles and diuisions in this realme vnder the beautifull name of religion of which in former time mē made little or no account Monsieur your vncle Cardinall of Lorraine commended being as he was indeed wittie and pleasing whom he would had skill in such sort to gaine the heart of the Queene Mother and the Queene Mother the heart of the King her sonne that he perswaded them specially the Queene mother that Messieurs the Princes of Bourbon ayded by them of Montmorency and Chastillon sought nothing but her ruine and would neuer bee quiet
nor prognosticate vnto you A plaine and true speech that 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 harmed 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 Hugue not 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 estate 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 Ianin 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 shuld 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 newe 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 grosse 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 but the establishment of your councell of fourtie persons and of sixteene If this be his commendation praise him for tyrannie 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
answer of the letter which he had written and sent in poste to Madame Saint Geneviefue a very good Frenchwoman if euer there were any In the sixt was painted out the miracle of Arques where fiue or sixe hundred discomforted weake men readie to passe the sea and to swimme nodded their heads at them mocked them and put to flight by the inchantments of this Biarnois He meaneth the Duke du Maynes forces who bragged as much as euer did he twelue or fifteene thousand Rodomonts renders of small ships and eaters of yron chariots And which was the goodliest thing that could be to be seene the Ladies of Paris were in the windowes and others which had kept place tenne daies before in the shops and working houses of S. Anthonies streete to see this Biarnois brought prisoner in triumph bound wheras he came decked with iewels as he gaue it thē beautifull also because he came in another habit or kind of apparell by the suburbs of S. Iaques and S. Germaine The seuenth contained the batta le of Ivry la Chaussee where a man might haue seene the Spanyards Lorrains and other Romish Catholikes in mockerie or otherwise to shew their bare breech or taile to the Maheustres Those that tooke part with the king and the Biarnois altogether heate who with his bridle abated carried the vnion behind him on horsebacke There a man might well haue seene Monsieur the Lieutenāt cursing the hindermost leauing the Countie d'Aiguemōt for pledges being deceiued with more then the moitie of the iust prise to run away vpō a Turkie horse to get Mante by a wicket or posterne gate and to say to the inhabitants in a very lowe note or voyce My friends saue me and my people all is lost but the Biarnois is dead Aboue all it was a wonderfull pleasure there to see them wisely to make an Inuentorie of his coffers and chests and to see them also religiously to reach out of his coffer and to spread abroad the standard of the faith wherein was painted a Crucifix vpon blacke taffeta with this inscription Christ being guide such a one as a man may see hanging in the Church of Mante This good Christian people is that standard which should haue serued for a golden flanke for the Kings successors in time to come if the cord had not broken At the corner of the sayd tapistrie there was a daunce of shepheards and peasants and behinde or neere vnto them as it were a table in which was written this song following Let vs begin the daunce Let vs goe it s very well Spring time begins in France The Kings are passed we can tell Let vs take a little truce For we are full wearie By Kings chosen by beane Still vext and tired are we One King alone remaines The sots are chast away Fortune euen at this time With broken pots doth play You must yeeld all againe I say ye hindered Kings That would take what you can And yet possesse no things A captaine great and stout Hath brought you downe I say Let vs goe Ieane du Mayne The Kings are past away The eight was a representation of the Paradise or rather Paradises in the plurall number of Paris within which and ouer the holie Pixe were the images of three Saints newly printed since Pope Gregorie his calender bringing with them double fasts Iames Clemēt One of them was cloathed with blacke and with white hauing a pricking or sharpe foote and a little knife in his hand Fit resemblances as it were a cut purse farre different from that of S. Bartholomew The second was cloathed with a red gowne The Popes Legate and a curate or breast-plate vpon it and a hat of the same colour with long cords or strings to it hauing in his hand also a cup full of bloud whereof he made semblance as though he would drinke and out of his mouth came forth a writing in these tearmes Stand with your head-peeces polish your speares and put on your coates of maile The third was a Saint on horseback as it had been S. George The Cardinall Pelue hauing at his feete a great many Ladies and Damosels to whom he reached out his hand and shewed them a crowne in the aire towards which in sighing he aspired with this deuise or saying The things that are faire are hard The people brought them store of candles and sayd new Suffrages and Letanies seeing that they did miracles but the winde carried away and blew out all The borders of the sayd peece were of white processions and of sermons and Te Deums strengthened againe where men might see in a small volume the faces of Boucher Lincestre the little Fuillant frier exhorting the people to peace by a figure named Antiphrasis That is contrary meaning The ninth set out to bee seene as it were naturally a great giantesse lying vpon the ground which brought forth an infinite number of vipers and monsters of diuers sorts some called Gualtiers other some Catillōnois Lipans Leaguers zealous Catholikes and Chasteauverds and vpon the forehead of the sayd giantesse there was written This is that goodly Lutetia or Paris who that she might commit whoredome with her minions and darlings hath caused her father and his wife to be slaine Madame of Spayne serued her in stead of a Midwife and a nurse to receiue and to nourish her fruite or to giue it sucke In the tenth there was very well described the historie of the taking of the towne of S. Denis by that worthie Knight d'Aumale and there appeared the Lord of Viq and the holie Apostle of France who did strengthen his leg or thigh of wood and S. Anthonie of the fields who put fire to the powder to make the Parisiens afrayd Aboue vpon the same peece was a writing contayning these words Saint Anthony being robbed by a head of the leaguers conioynd Went as to one more strong to S. Denis to lay open his mind Who to reuenge this wrong hath giuen him sure promise Some little while after this great robber did assay To take S. Denis but S. Denis tooke him by the way And reuenged vpon him both the one and the other enterprise That needeth not for it is here mentioned And below was the epitaph of the sayd Knight d'Aumale euen as it followeth sauing that it maketh no mention that he was eaten with rats and mice He that lieth here a taker was Right bold and hardie sure Against S. Denis who a fine Enterprise did procure But yet S. Denis more subtill Then this taker of renowne Did take him and both slay him eeke Within his taken towne In the eleuenth there was to be seene and that nigh at hand the piteous countenance of poore president Brisson as also of his Deacon Subdeacon when one spake vnto them of confession in giuing them the order of the vnion also their eleuation and lifting vp in charge And
heart courage continually preferred mine owne particular interest before the cause of God who knoweth wel inough to keepe himselfe and it without mee and to reuenge him of all his enemies Yea I can say further and that in trueth that the death of my brethren hath not so farre caused my passions to breake forth whatsoeuer goodly shew I made thereof as the desire I haue to walke in the waies and paths that my father and my good vncle the Cardinall had traced out before me and which my brother the Balafre was happily entred You knowe that vpon my returne from my expeditiō of Guyenne which the politikes call vp and downe vp and downe I did not effect in this citie that which I thought by reason of the traytors The Duke de Maynne was none who aduertised the tyrant their master and I receiued no other fruite by my voyage but the taking of the inheritresse of Caumont whom I did appoynt for wife vnto my sonne but the chaunging of my affayres haue made me at this presēt to dispose otherwise therof Moreouer you are not ignorant that I would not ingage mine armie to any great exployte or hard siege wherein notwithstanding Castillon deceiued mee which I thought to take and carrie away in three daies to the end that I might keepe my selfe more whole and sound and the better able to execute my Catholike purposes Concerning mine armie in Daulphin I caused it alwaies to stop and stay and I kept me on my skoutes to attend and waite whether in the Estates of Blois ye should haue neede of me But the matters there hauing taken the left foote and falling out crosse to our wishes and attempts you sawe with what great diligence I came to finde you in this citie and with what dexteritie my cousin the Constable d'Aumale here present So holy a man could not but giue so holie a thing caused likewise the holie spirit in haste to come downe vpon a great part or companie of my Masters of Sorbonne For as soone as it was said it was as soone done And frō thence haue proceeded all our goodly exployts of warre from that haue taken their first originall these hundred thousands of holie French Martyrs which are dead by the sword by famine by fire by rage by desperation and other violēce for the cause of the holie vnion from thence hath come the correction of so many braggers and boasters which would play the galants and compare themselues with Princes from thence hath proceeded the ruine and ouerthrow of so many Churches Monasteries which hurt the safetie of our good townes from this hath flowen such great sacke and pillage as our good souldiers free archers and nouices haue committed in many cities townes and villages who also haue serued in stead of a Curat for the faith to the deuout children of the Masse at midnight yea from hence hath it been that so many faire daughters and women without marriage and against their wils haue been filled with that which in marriage they loue best of all And God knoweth whether these young Monkes and Friers A great doubt their chastitie considered newly turned out of their frocks or gownes these disordered priests haue therein deuoutly turned the leaues of their portuise and gotten plenarie pardons To be short Ful cups make men of sharpe iudgement this is the onely cause of the prompt and zealous decree of my Masters of our mother Sorbonne after that they haue drunke wel which hath caused in the end many stroakes from heauen to clatter and sound And through our good diligence wee haue brought to passe that this kingdome which was nothing els but a pleasurefull garden of all pleasure and aboundance A very good change is now become a great and large vniuersall buriall place full of all violences faire painted crosses coffins gallowses and gibbets As soone then as I was arriued in this towne after that I had sent to heale the citie of Orleans of too much ease and to forbid the trade and traffique of the Loire The name of a ruine passing by it which maintained their delights I ment to doe as much in this towne also And it fell out well in which Madame my mother my sister my wife and cousin d'Aumale who are here to giue mee the lye for it if I doe not speake true did very catholikely assist me For they and I had no more great paine and care then to lay a ground worke for the warre and in so doing to comfort and discharge all the deuout habitants good Catholikes of the weight of their purses and to giue them leaue curiously to roue vp and downe with their feete and their hands to seeke and to seaze for vs the rich iewels of the Crowne belonging vnto vs in the collaterall line and by the forfeiture of Lord of the fee. We found much vnprofitable treasure we discouered with a little expence by the reuelation of a catholike mason and the holie innocencie of Monsieur Machaut whom I name here for honours sake the goodly and large muguot of Molan Because he serued your turne notwithstanding his diuels and familiar spirits that kept it whom the sayd Machaut knew powerfullie and skilfully to coniure secretly filling the bottome or soules of his host with crownes of the summe And without this diuine succour Messieurs you know that we knew not yet of what wood to make arrowes for which the holie vnion is greatly indebted to the painfull labour and great good husbandrie of the sayd Molan who did so honestly refuse his master and all his friends to aide them with money and to preserue it for vs A right recompense of treason namely idolatrous seruices Adde drunkēnes vnto thirst and glorie in your owne shame so fitly for our purpose And forget him not to cause to be sung to him a salue or good morrow whatsoeuer it be forget not to promise him a Masse to be sung with holding vp of hands when he shall bee constrained to make his will quite and cleane contrarie I will not forget the costly moueables of gold siluer tapistrie and other riches which wee made to bee taken sold yea to make port sale of them appertaining to these wicked politikes fauouring the King wherein my cousin d'Aumale did her dutie very well foyling her selfe in the coffers and caskets yea stouping so low that she went to the ditches and holes where she knewe that there was vessell of siluer hidden In so much that afterwards our dearly beloued cousin her husband she her selfe and her chiefe page did greatly performe their businesses and were healed of their catholike iaundise wherewith they were made yellow from the time of the warres that they had for their Countie of Boulongne catholikely lawfully deuolued vnto them by the merite of their Pater-nosters and deuout processions and not by vsurpation or domestical the euerie as these relapsed heretikes say This being done
But I know that ye shal do a most gratefull and gracious thing to our Lord the Pope and to the holy Apostolike sea and also to my most christian benefactor and most Catholike King of Spayne and of so many other kingdomes if you conserue the Dutchie of Britannia Armorica to his most famous daughter the infant and bestow the kingdome vpon some Prince of his familie whom she will choose for her husband and will vouchsafe worthie of the dowrie Crowne of France whollie to either of the competitors But of this poynt that most reuerend Cardinall of Pelue Elegantly spoken shall dispute vnto you and for the residue shall supplie it for he knoweth better then me my selfe your businesses which for twentie yeares space as well Lotharingically as Spanishly he hath handled at Rome and that so subtilly and faithfully that he hath brought your matters to that poynt into which you see them now reduced Aske my fellow and I be a theefe Wherefore when this godly Prelate and citizen did beleeue that his mother France was in the agonie of death and did draw the last breath he came lately to visite her as a good and a deuout confessor and the best cōpatriot to helpe you in the funerall or rather vulnerall pompe and exequies thereof But if you would choose some one seeking out of his benefactors of Lotharingie and Guisie surely you should do to him according to his heart and he would cheerefully annoynt and consecrate him with the oyle of the holie pot crewse or crewet which he hath at Reims expressely reserued and very wel kept vnder the custodie of S. Paule Duke of Campania and Rotelia looke you to it I by the expresse mandate of our Lord if you shall doe any thing in this matter against the lawes manners of this kingdome or against the Councels of the Church And not or against the Gospell and Decalogue specially according to the impression of heretikes doe promise you full absolution and indulgence and that freely for euer and euer Amen Alas for mee I did not remember to cause you to vnderstand a much and merueilous good newes which I haue receiued in haste from Rome by meanes of Zametto that is that his holines doth excommunicate charge accurse all Cardinals Archbishops Bishops Abbots Priests Friers which are politikes royall or fauouring the King how much Catholike soeuer they be And for to take away all differences and iealousnes betwixt the Spanyards and French the most holy father shall make But yet the Spaniards had it first that the French shall haue the kings euill aswell as the Spanyards shall become also as great brauaders or bragging fellowes bouggerers as they Moreouer he giueth full indulgence and pardon to all how great good Catholikes soeuer they be be they Lorraines or Spanyards or French men the which shall murther their fathers brethren cousins neighbours superiours royall Princes politike heretikes in this most christian warre during three hundred thousand yeares of true pardon A very good reason And doubt ye not that the holie spirit shall be wanting vnto you for the holie Consistorie will cause it to come downe from the armes of God the father at their pleasure or commaundement as ye knowe that hee hath denied these many yeares to create any Pope that hath not been an Italian or a Spanyard In fine I pray you for my sake make a King and I doe not care whosoeuer hee bee although hee were the diuell so that he bee a seruant and a feudatarie of his holines and of the Catholique King by whose meanes I stand and haue been made a Cardinall thankes to the good Duke of Parma for it This I will tell you that my voyce of choise shall willingly bee for the infant or daughter of Spayne More it is said thē she should for she is a valiant and worthie Ladie and much beloued of her father Neuertheles doe you that which shall please the Lord the Duke of Feria and Monsieur the Lieutenant But take you heed in the meane time how you opē your mouth to speake or reason of peace or of truce otherwise the holie Colledge will denie Christ himselfe I commend my selfe heartilie vnto you Againe I say vnto you farewell These words being finished little Launay heretofore made minister in the vniuersitie of Geneue and at this present the basest person of Sorbonne after that he had eaten vp the great breuiaries and heures of the late king to make banquets to Monsieur the Lieutenant fell vpon his knees with Garinus the Franciscan Frier and apostle apostata and assisted with Cuilly the Curat of S. Germain Lauxerrois and with Aubry the Curat of S. Andrew des Arts comming backe from shriuing Peter Barriere thundered out with a lowd voyce before Monsieur the Legats crosse O crosse all haile our onely hope in this time of the passion Some of the assemblie thought not well of it notwithstanding euery one followed them singing the same song and the stirre being ended the lot fell to Monsieur the Cardinall of Pelue to speake who lifting himselfe vp vpon his two feete like a goose after that he had made very deepe reuerence before Monsieur the Lieutenants seate he hauing put off his red had into his hood behind and afterwards making such another before Monsieur the Legate Great preparation to heare a goose hisse and last of all one most low of all the rest before the Dames or Ladies did in fine sit himselfe downe againe hauing coughed or sneezed three good times together and that not without auoyding of some phlegmatike matter which also prouoked euery one to do the like he began to speake after this manner directing his words to Monsieur the Lieutenant who three times sayd vnto him Couer a thousand or put on my master The Oration of Monsieur the Cardinall of Pelue MOnsieur Lieutenant you shall excuse me if to content this learned assemblie and to keepe decorum and the dignitie of the ranke or place that I holde in the Church by the prouidence of you yours Man setteth vp such mates I make some discourse in the Latin tongue in which you know that I haue a long time studied and knowe almost as much thereof as my grandfather A learned race who was a good souldier and a good farmor and that vnder Charles the eight But when I shall haue spoken three words I will then come to you and your affayres Wherefore I will now direct my selfe to you famous men Neuer word of this kind more true and the most picked out of all the filth and stinking dirt of France that I may make you to vnderstand many things which cannot sufficiētly enough bee expressed in the French language For it is most fit that wee chiefly that haue studied in the most famous vniuersitie of Paris and are more wittie then the tagge ragge of the people High poynts doubtles should haue
beasts as hee hath done the shippe of Paris I will say that he hath skill to doe more than Master Mousche or flie These beastes forget some times their gouernours speciallie if they change their habite or attire hee shall not bee ill parted with if hee come to his pretentions whereto you Monsieur the Lieutenant and Monsieur of Lyons will doe him I beleeue very good offices The whole summe Messieurs you are too many dogges to gnawe one boane you are iealous and enuious one of another and you can neuer tell how to agree or liue without warre that would put vs into worse estate than before But I will tell you let vs doe Deepe counsell as they haue done in the consistorie for the election or choyse of a holy father when two Cardinals sued and laboured for the popedome the other Cardinals for feare they should incurre the hatred of the one or of the other chose one amongst themselues the weakest backed of them all and made him Pope Let vs doe so you are foure or fiue robbers in the realme all great Princes and such as haue no want of appetite and stomacke I am of aduise that not one of you should be king wherefore I giue my voyce to Guillot Fagotin the keeper of Gentilly a good vine dresser and an honest man who singeth well at the deske and knoweth all his office or seruice booke by heart A worthie example This will not be found without example in such times as this is witnesse the Harelle of Roane where they made king one named le Grasse or the fatte one as wee would say who was much worse aduised than Guillot And thus you see whereupon I founde and grounde mine aduise I haue read sometimes the great and diuine Philosopher Plato who saith that those realmes are happie where Philosophers are kings and where kings are Philosophers Now I know that it is little more than three yeares since that this good gardian of Gentilly and his familie together with his kine meditated day and night Philosophie in a hall of our colledge in which there is more than two hundred good yeares that men haue read and treated and disputed publikely philosophie and all Aristotle The place sanctifieth the person with these men in all matters and all sortes of good morall bookes It is not possible that this good man hauing raued slumbred and slept so many dayes and nights within these philosophicall walles where there haue been made so many skillfull lessons and disputes and so many goodly wordes vttered that there should not something thereof abide that hath entred pierced and penetrated into his braine as it did to the poet Hesiodus when hee had slept vpon mount Parnassus And this is the cause why I persist and meane that he may as well be king as another Now as Monsieur Roze ended these wordes there sprong out a great murmuring amongst the deputies some approuing other some reprouing his opinion and the princes and the princesses were seene to whisper in the eare one of another yea it was hard that Monsieur the Lieutenant saide very basely to the Legate this foole here will marre all our misterie A prophesie and no lie Notwithstanding the foresaid Roze would haue continued his speech but when hee sawe the noyse to begin againe with a certaine generall clacking of hands he rose vp in choler and cried with a very loude and outstretched voyce How now Messieurs Is it permitted here to speake what one thinketh Haue not I libertie to speake and conclude my arguments as Monsieur of Lyon hath done I know well that if I had been a courtier as he I should not haue named a person for he hath charge from the clergie to name Countie du Bouchage Frier Angell for the hope that this Prince louing change would change also our miseries into stroakes or blowes from heauen But I pray you keepe him to beare the golden torch in the battailes for it ought to be enough for him that he hath quite forsaken the bagge and the wallet At these wordes euery one began againe to crie to whistle to hisse and though the heraulds the vshers porters and all cried aloude Hush and be still the word peace is a bull-begger let euery man holde his tongue not dating to speake the worde peace there and that Monsieur the Lieutenant sundrie times commaunded them to make silence yet it was not possible to appease the bruite and noise in so much that the sayd Lord Rector sweate fret fomed and stroke with his foote and seeing that there was no more meane to take his theame againe cryed as loude as hee could Messieurs Messieurs I see well that you are in the Court of King Petault where eueryone is master I leaue it to you and you to your selues let another speake I haue spoken And thereupon he set himselfe downe againe mumbling very much and wiping the sweate from his forehead and there scaped from him as some say certaine odoriferant belchings of the stomacke that smelled of the perfume of his choller with certain words in a low note complaining that they had defrauded the assignation sent out of Spayne for my masters the Doctors Good stuffe but there can come nothing els from thēce and that others had made their profite of it but that this was the gold of Tholouze which should cost them very dearely At the last the rumour beginning a little to bee reappeased Monsieur du Rieu the younger Countie and gardien or keeper of Pierre-font deputie for the Nobilitie of France apparrelled with a little cape after the Spanish fashion and a certaine high coppin tancked hat lifted vp himselfe to speake and hauing twise or thrise put his hand to his throate which did itch he began in forme following Or Roration rather as you shall perceiue by the things contained herein and the manner of the handling thereof The Oration of the Lord of Rieu Lord of Perrierefont for the nobilitie of the vnion MEssieurs I knowe no cause why they haue deputed me to beare the word in so good a companie for all the Nobilitie on our side I must needes say that there is some diuine thing or matter in the holy vnion seeing that by the meanes thereof of a commissarie of the artillerie poore miserable enough I am become a gentleman and the gouernour of a very faire fortresse yea that I may equall my selfe to the greatest and am one day to mount very high either backward or otherwise I haue good occasion to followe you Monsieur the Lieutenant and to doe seruice to this noble assemblie by black or by white He dwelleth by euill neighbours by wrong or by right seeing that all the poure Priests Friers and good people deuout Catholikes I assure you doe bring mee candles and adore mee as a S. Maccabee of times passed This is the cause wherefore I giue my selfe to the liueliest and quickest of the diuels that
of Aubray which had in charge to speake for the third estate and contested that it did belong to none but to him to speake that day of the barricades and that they were neuer accustomed in Fraunce to make more than three estates and so hee let that the deputie of the new nobilitie was heard as being but a dependence and a member of the saide third estate The said Lord of Angouleuent disputed long time on his part saying that euery one was there for his money and began againe sundry times these three wordes Monsieur the twelfth and at euery time he was interrupted At the last as the rumor increased and this factions for the one and the other were alreadie heate so farre as to come for it to the blowes of the fist the aduocate of Orleans remonstrated that it was no more time now to rest vpon the auncient formes which were but for shoe makers and coblers nor yet vpon the ceremonies of times past saue onely in the fact of faith and religion A strong exception or else that will down also and that the assembly of the said estates should be vnprofitable if they did not all things therein after the new manner And as for him that hee had seene the remembrances and instructions of the new nobility which deserued very well to bee considered of Notwithstanding considering now that it was somewhat late and that Monsieur the Lieutenant was fresh and fasting and the houre of Monsieur the Legates dinner was past hee required Well added for it is not easilie done that the said Lord of Angouleuent should put his speech in writing and deliuer it vp and should holde his tongue if he could otherwise and for defaulte thereof he should be sent to the Countie de Choysie which thing Monsieur the Lieutenant approued with his head And the rumor being by 〈◊〉 and little ceased and the foresaide d' Angouleuent hardly set downe againe the saide Lorde d' Aubray deputie of the third estate hauing laid aside his sword spake his oration very nigh after this manner The oration of Monsieur d' Aubray for the third Estate BY our Ladie Messieurs A patheticall exordium you haue giuen vs a goodly speech There is no neede now that our Curats should preach vnto vs that we ought to drawe our selues out of the mudde and to make our selues cleane As touching that which I see by your discourse It is a maruaile if euer they can come out the poore Parisiens haue enough of it already within their bootes and it will bee very hard to pull them out of the mudde and mire From henceforth it is time for vs to perceiue that the false Catholicon of Spayne is a drugge that taketh men by the nose and that it is not without cause that other nations call vs little quailes because that as poore quailes that are hooded and very credulous the preachers and Sorbonists No vnfit resemblance by their inchaunting quaile pipes haue caused vs euen to giue our selues into the nettes of tyrants who haue afterwards put vs into a cage and shut vs vp within our walles to teach vs to sing wee cannot but confesse that wee are at this time taken and made greater seruants and slaues than the Christians in Turkie or the Iewes in Auignon We haue no more either will or voyce in the chapiter or assembly We haue no more any thing proper or that wee may well say this is mine You Messieurs that set your foote vpon our throate and fill our houses with garnisons haue and possesse all Our priuiledges franchises freedomes and auncient liberties are ouerthrowne and taken away Our towne house which I haue seene to bee the sure refuge of the succors of our kings in their vrgent and weightie affaires A sore change is become a butcherie our court of Parliament is none at all our Sorbonne is a brothell house and the vniuersitie become sauage or wilde And yet the extremitie of our miseries is this that in the middest of so many mischiefes and needes it is not permitted vs to complaine nor to demaunde succor and hauing death as it were betweene our teeth we must of necessitie say that we are in good health A pittifull and iust complaint and that we are very happie to be so wretched for so good a cause O Paris that art no more Paris but a denne of outragious beasts and a citadell of Spaniards Wallons and Neapolitanes a sanctuarie and sure retrait of robbers murtherers and killers Wilt thou neuer thinke againe of thy dignities and remember thy selfe what thou hast been in comparison of that thou art Wilt thou neuer cure thy selfe of this frensie that for a lawfull and gracious king hast begotten vnto thy selfe fiftie little kings or wrens rather and yet fiftie tyrants Beholde thou art in irons The spanish Inquisition beholde thou art in the inquisition of Spayne more intollerable a thousand folde and more hard to bee borne and indured of spirits that are borne liberall and free as French men are than the most cruell deaths that Spaniards can deuise Thou wast not able to beare a small augmentation and increase of taxes and offices or some new edicts The fruites of senseles treason that did not much import thee and yet now thou indurest men to poll thy houses to pill and to sacke thee euen vnto blood to imprison the Senators to driue away and banish thy good citizens and counsellors yea to hang and to murther thy principall magistrates Thou seest this thou indurest this yea thou doest not onely indure it but thou doest approue it and praise it and thou darest not neither canst thou tell how to doe otherwise Thou couldest not support and beare with thy king so gracious so gentle so easie so familiar that made himselfe a fellow citizen with thee and burgesse of thy towne that hee inriched thee that he hath garnished thee with glorious and sumptuous buildings increased thy forts and stately ramperts and adorned thee with honorable priuiledges and immunities What say I couldest not support and beare with It is much worse Kindenes rendred for good Thou hast chased him out of his owne towne out of his owne house out of his owne bed What say I chased him thou hast pursued him what pursued thou hast murthered him and canonized the murtherer for a saint and made bonfires for his death And now thou seest how much that death of his hath profited thee For that is the cause why another is ascended into his place much more watchfull much more laborious and a far better warriour that knoweth better to keepe thee in somewhat more straitely as to thy damage and hurt thou hast alreadie proued I pray you Messieurs if it were permitted to cast yet these last abois in libertie let vs a little consider what good or what profit hath come vnto vs by this detestable death which our preachers did make vs beleeue was the