THE DISCOVERIE OF A GAPING GVLF VVHEREINTO ENGLAND IS LIKE TO BE SWALLOvved by an other French mariage if the Lord forbid not the banes by letting her Maiestie see the sin and punishment thereof Saue Lord let the King here vs in the day that vve call Psal. 20. verse 9. Mense Augusti Anno. 1579. IN all delibrations of moste priuate actions the very heathen are wont first to consider honesty and then profit Some of thē also many times not without some blind regard to a certain diuine nature which they vvorshipped before the altar of the vnknovven god Oh the strange Christianity of some men in our age vvho in their state consultations haue not so much respecte to Pietie as those first men had to honesty nor so much regarde to honestie as they had to profit are therfore iustly giuen vp of the Lord our God to seeke profit vvhere in deed it is not and deceiued by theyr lusts to embrace a shewing false Good in stead of that vvhich is the good End of a vvise man Yea vvho neglecting the holy and sure vvisedome of God in his vvord vvherein are the onely honorable enstructions for polytyques and honestest rules of gouering our houses and ovvne person do beate their braines in other bookes of vvicked vile Atheistes and sette before them the example of Turkish and Italian practises wherby the Lorde many times thrustes theyr hands into the neste of vvaspes and hornets vvhile they seek the hony of the svvete bee Thys sicknes of mynd haue the french dravven from those Easteern partes of the vvorld as they did that other horrible disease of the body and hauing alreadie too far VVestvvard communicated the one contagion doe novv seeke notably to infecte our minds vvith the other And because this infection spreeds it selfe after an other maner from the first they haue sent vs hither not Satan in body of a serpent but the old serpent in shape of a mā vvhos sting is in his mouth and vvho doth his endeuour to seduce our Eue that shee and vve may lose this Englishe Paradise VVho because she is also our Adam soueraigne Lord or lordly Lady of this Land it is so much the more daungerous therfore he so much the more busily bestirres him Novv although the truth be that vppon further ripping vp of this serpentine attempt vve shall find the Church notably vnder mined by the Pope the verye foundations of our common vveall dangerously digged at by the french our deere Queene Elizabeth I shake to speake ledd blyndfold as a poore Lambe to the slaughter yet should not my feare be so great knovving her Maiesties vvisedome sufficient to teach her in such a matter as this neither to trovv a Frenche man nor once here speake a dayly hearer of masse for she may knovv him by his hissing and lisping but that some English mouthes professing Christ are also persvvaders of the same And though this ship fraughte vvyth Englands bane vvere already vndercrossed saile vvith the freshest gale of winde in her sterne that can blovv in the skye for our best port yet had vve counter puffes and counterbuffes ynough to keepe him aloofe and to send him backe againe into the deepes if he had none but onely french maryners and onely french tackle But alas this ship of vnhappy loade hath emong vs of our selues I vvould not in Princes Court those vvho with all theyr might and maine helpe to hale it in and as though the blustring vvindes of our enemies malice and the broade sayles of our sins were not sufficient to giue it a speedy passage hither our ovvne men vvalke on thys shoare and lay to theyr shoulders with fastened lynes and cables to draw it in This is our mischiefe thys is the swallowing Gulfe of our bottomles destruction els myght vve thinke our selues impregnable It is not the feeble assault of this carpet squire that vvold make vs come to the vvalles or once shut the gates against him Therefore albeit I wote vvell you vnderstand already in generall what is that great calamitie thus imminent ouer our heades whereof I speake and albeit the bare consideration of some fevv apparant circūstances of thys strange sought mariage by Fraunce vvith England do suffyciently moue and affecte euerye Christian hart in respect of the hurt to the Church of Christ euery English hart in respect of the detriment to England and euery honest affectionate hart of anye her maiesties louing true seruant in regard of the greate daunger thereby comming to her royall Person yet to th ende our mindes may be the more earnestlye stirred vp by more particularly vveighing the euills of this matter vve vvill enter into the partes of thys practise and gage the verye bellye of this great horse of hidden mischiefes falshoode meant to vs And according as those not halfe taughte Christians and halfe harted Englishmen vvhiche persvvade and sollicite thys french mariage haue in theyr mouthes nothing but the churche and common weale pretending hereby eyther against their own conscience or of some other humor that blindeth them to bring greate aduauncement to religion and aduauntage to the state vvith many smooth wordes of I wot vvhat assurance to her maiesties person I will likewise dravv al my reasons to those chiefe heads of Religion and the Pollicie shevving prouing I hope that this is a counsaile against the Church of Christ an endeuor of no vvell aduised Englishman as vvell in regard of the commō state as of her maiesties good estate to euery of which it is pernitious and capitall In the ende I vvill aunsvvere such of they re aduerse or peruerse reasons as shall be lefte vndisproued in thys my proofe And first if a man vvould here bring in the Church to speake for her selfe standing vpon the doctrine of her Prophetes and Christ the Lord leaning vpon the piller of truth vvhose crovvne and garlond is to suffer rather then to vse any vayne helpe of mā against Gods lavve mild thoughe she be without all gale in her hart and haue no vvords in her hony swete mouth but of a most louing mother yet vvould she with sharpe reproofe take vp these goodly procurers of her vvelth as very practisers of her vvoe she vvoulde call them to account vvhy they take her holy name in their mouthes and she vvould scarce repute them for her chyldren vvho vvill nedes forsoth be her fathers for to reason vvith these Politiques in their ovvne professyon can they thinke anye counsaile holesome to the state or becomming good counsailours which can not be once deliberated of much les put in execution without both despising of the Prince and contemptuous breach of the country lavves they must needes say noe if they haue any sincerity or playne dealing left at least they wyll saye nay for feare And think they that any their vayneglorious deuise can proue to the lyfe or health of the church which is offered her with shamefull
croked by vvay to meete vvith this great inconueniences that forsooth it shal be capitulated onely lavvful for Monsieur and a fevve of his nation to haue theyr miserable mas vvithout the admission of any Englishman surely these mē neyrher measure this article at the standarde meatvvande of the Lord nor vveigh the easines of performing it in a vvise mannes ballance For I pray you doe but goe vpon the Tamis and see vvhat companies goe to the french mas enquire vvhat numbers flocked in at backfield gates to the portugale mas hovv the Spanish massers had theyr customers more then ynough and you shall easily see the loose reckoning of these men in matters of so great valeue they vvill kepe better bookes of theyr crovvnes do they see deputed Ambassadors hable to break our highest lavves of Gods honor in themselues and in so many of our nation and can they think as they speake that so great a prince the husband vvhich God forhid of our Queene and perhaps vvhich God defend honored vvith the name of our king for our Quueenes sake shall not and vvill not giue him selfe hys ovvn conditions for his ovvne religion to hym and his and so many of ours as vvill seeke it at hys hands But vvether thys be their grosse ouersight or vvhether they vvink vviles agaynst religion I vvil not novv dispute this is more then vvonderful that such as pretend outvvard profession of religion should make so irreligious accompt of Religion Oh the vvickednes of our professors and the hypocrisie of our protestantes Is not Idolatry the highest treason that can be agaynst the Lords ovvn person doth it not go directly to the poynt he stands most on for his honor do our lips say that vve are zelous of gods honour and tender ouer hys church can our harts rest in quiet and not tel her maiestie hovv great a dishonor it ys to haue one mas and vvhat a plague it menaceth to the church vve doe not loue her whatsoeuer we say vvhē flatteryng hyr perhaps in other vanytyes vve do not fall dovvn before hyr vvyth teares bevvaylyng the vvrath of God kyndled agaynst hyr yf by hyr aduised permyssion and by meanes of hyr maryāge God should be so hyghly dyshonored in thys kyngdome vvhervvyth he hath honored her Take not the vvord of God in your mouthes you that breath suche lukevvarme counsayl halt no more on both sides If God be God let hym be so honored If Baal be your god take you to hym altogether honest men serue one mayster and hym vvholly and our mayster vvyll be so serued or not at all Of all sinnes ingratytud ys odyous vvyth God and man no vnthankfulnes lyke to ours vvho hauyng bene thus long maynteyned in peace and in the begynnyng hauyng all natyons our enemyes haue novv many faythfull borderyng freendes and are rych at home through our peace and by the blessing of God wil novv svvarue from the Lord and trust to our ovvn deuises and make leage vvith them and suffer theyr Idolatry in our land that neuer lesse loued vs then novv vvhen they looke fayrest Good Lord if it be possible make vs vvyse vvythout experience of our soly Thys vvere to set vp altar agaynst altar and vvyth Antiochus to offer the foule svvine in the holy sanctuary for this sin of Idolatry committed great iudgements haue bene executed vpon the transgressors vvhereby all they that beleue the story of the scripture and are not stark Atheistes must confes that thys feare vvhych vve feare is no vayne feare The old vvorld vvas drovvned the people of God often giuen vp into theyr enemies handes and in the end the tvvelue tribes of Salomons kingdome rent a sunder and a perpetual translatiō often tvveluethes out of Salomons posterity for euer Ieroboam vvhen he set vp alters in the land of Israel contrary to Gods law he would haue bene loath that any man should haue sayd he cōmitted Idolatry or made the people Idolatrous yet that sin follovved and he throvven out of Gods fauour noted with a foule blot for a ringleader in sin often reputed in the scripture his kingdom cam to naught the vvhole people suffered a transmigration irretornable in Affiria The onely feare of thys sin hath made the heares of many good mens heads stand right vp Dauid durst not take the Idoles name in his mouth he would then haue shaken to haue set vp an Idole to be worshipped The memory of Asa is with a holy prayse for that his mother Maacha hauing set vp a woden Image in a groue he would not suffer her to haue her vvicked religion to the dishonour of God but vvithout reuerence of her superstitious request deposed her from her dignity vtterly and brake downe her Idole stamped it and burnt it at the brooke Kidron In which story I pray you obserue these two circumstances king Asa the son to his own mother and the maner hovv he did it euen with despight to Idolatry and zeale to god The Lord send Queene Elizabeth the euerlasting commendation of Asa for many such notable actes Elizeus protesteth by othe that he woulde not once talke with Ioram King of Israel had it not bene in the presence of Iosaphat Priuate men are bidden to flye from Idolatry Princes beare the Lords sword to make it flee and to chace it far away If therefore they vvill have his hand to hold vp theyr svvord they muste let ther svvord serue him chieflie But most notably the feare of thys sin euen before it was committed and hovve ielous therefore they should be that are in authority appeares in the ende of Iosue where the children of Israell feared least the Lord vvould impute to them as all one faulte to commit Idolatrye in them selues and not to remoue it in their brethren VVhich made them vvhē the the tribes of Ruben Gad and the halfe of Manasseh after the cōquest of Canaan at theyr departure home ouer Iordan had sette vp but one Alter of a good meaning in deede and for a monument of theyr vnity in Religion vvith theyr brethren but supposed of the reste of the trybes to be set vp to the dishonour of the Lord and contrary to his lavv vvhych commaunded but one alter throughout the land they the other ix trybes a halfe whose lotts vvere fallen vvithin Iordane assembled themselues and had not theyr rulers and princes that went Ambassadors ouer to Gilead broughte a reasonable and a religious satisfaction by the Reubenites answere vvere ready to fal out vvith theyr brethren vvhome othervvise they loued rather then to vvincke at the dishonor of theyr heauenly father The reason of vvhich theyr doing I beseech all gouernours to marke vvhich vvas they feared least thorough that one Altar the anger of God should also haue consumed them Novv if one Altar set vp in the vttermost corner of that land threatned destruction to the whole and the offence of tvvo trybes and a halfe made all the rest
hys French kingdome being there but slendrly beloued for his famelie and for his person and where other greate houses for valure in theyr persons and perhapes title of theyr auncesters would be iudged by the vvise and by the multitud more worthy to reign ouer them and so perhaps we might keepe a gage that they would not care to redeeme The hazardes to himselfe and his state muste needes tell vs that it is a commoditie by our extreeme incommoditye vvhich he seekes especially to Gods Church agaynste whych all the kynd of them haue sworne enimitie For the Lords name sake therefore Oh christian Queene ELIZABETH take heede to your selfe and to the churche of Iesus Christ for vvhich he shedde his blood and vvhich he hath shielded vnder your royall defence shevv your selfe a zealous Prince for Gods gospell to the end forefee in a tender loue to this people committed to your gouernment the continuance of the truth emong them and theyr posterity And for so much as in any great plague that can come to thys chutch your maiestie must haue your part being a chiefe member therein as by being in the bosome thereof you receiue of the graces bestowed emong vs haue a care euen of your selfe and for your selfe also we instantly beseeche you to keepe thys sin far from you by admitting no counsail that may bring it neere you and in that cōmon confession of sins vvith the shaking of thys rod driues vs all to deny some of your delites also enter with the whole church into iudgement of our selues that we be not iudged of the lord And sith the Lord hath vsed you as a meane to spred and enlarge Christes kingdome in other churches and to harbarough the persecuted Christians in your owne kingdome stop your maiesties eares against these forcerers theyr enchanting counsails which seeke to stay thys happy course of yours and to prouoke Gods anger agaynst you pray agaynst these dangerous tempters and temptations and know assuredly to your comfort that all the faythful of God pray for you and whē you are in your secrete most separate closet of prayer they ioyne with you in spirite The Lorde endue you with wisedome accordinge to that you haue neede of at this speciall tyme and considering the state of princes is in this one point more vnhappy then the poore mans degree that they haue none ennemies that dare tell truth and commonly such as bene theyr chiefe fauorites yea too manye churchmen vvhich haue particular priuileges to speake truth a cruell and impious betraying of a sacred prince studie rather for smooth delicate wordes then for playn rough truth so much the more I beseech the Lord of hys mercy to supplye theyr vvant of dutie vvith such extraordinarye store of counsail in your ovvne breast and graunt you such a principall spirite to discerne spirites and to sift counsayles that you may smell a flatterer from a loyall counseller proue all and approue the best And seeing the very place of a prince doth bring him some disaduantage through our old Adam vvho when he is lift vp will hardly yelde to the good poore aduice of them that speake truth in a bare simplicitie the same Lord fill your royall hart vvith such a tractable and easie swetenes of a yelding nature that you readely and humblye may hearken to all good counsayles sent you from God and such as feare God and loue your Maiestie Yea that you may know that it makes most for your safety to encourage and make muche of playne honest speakers and to put out of hart all flatterers For true playne men are the best spyes of a prince they watch when you sleepe and wyll ryng a timely a larum in your eare before the danger approche flatterers neuer watch but when you wake and that they may be seene they vvill lull you in securitye til the sin and punishment therof be heard at the doores The Lord de liuer you from them euen as from Rauens and Dogs And whosoeuer dooth moste hottlye follovve thys sute ot french mariage with your Maiestie seeke to satisfie your selfe moste gracious Queene vvith what fayth and loue he can doe it let thys be one fyre to trye him in that vvhereas mariage is the moste important matter euen to the priuatest person that hee can doe all his life long as that which makes most to an happy or vnhappy life here and therefore euen the meanest body will not enter thys weighty consultation of mariage vvithout speciall prayers to God for hys direction if these men vvhyle they deale in this high mariage so neerely concerning your owne person and so muche importing the vvhole church in these partes of the worlde and the state of England haue perswaded not onely your priuate praiers but according to your publike place haue also proclaimed or wished to be proclaymed publik solemne prayer to God through the land that he might send the best issue to thys counsayl then haue they not neglected a great helpe in thys thyng and haue cōsidered of thys matter as the consequence thereof requires Againe let this be a second tryall for it vvere well done to trye them seuen times if heretofore through out all your younger yeeres they haue continually bene thus earnest and taken euerye good occasion to persvvade you to mariage hanging vpon your skyrtes as it vvere and lying at your feete for to vvin you to mariage alleaging reasons for churh and common weale as they novv prrtend then may you thinke they novve haue also a good meaning at least and are but deceined but if hertofore they haue bene eyther domme or slovv speakers in this cause whē all good men vvished it and vvhole parliaments humbly besought it whā they that be most religious prayed for it of God and prayed it at your hands aboue others no appointing you to one as though there had bene but one husband in the vvorld but leauing it to your godlie considerate choyce any vvhere if in that meane vvhile these present perswaders rather tended they re owne enriching and aduauncement making no greate reckoning of thys matter or if they haue not very vehemently and continually thorowe out your reigne enforced it vvith the same heate they novv doe I can not see vvhat good thing can thus sodenly bring them about to thys earnest thought of mariage and that vvyth this man pressing you vvith him as the onely fit man after so many yeeres of your raygne and at these yeeres of your life but that they be very Balaams perhaps not of malice but blynd not seing vvhat harme they seeke euen to themselues and are abused by some Balac and that Romish archbaalam vvho by Gods mercy hauing in vayne assayed all other engins to ouerthrovve this church of God by excommunication interdiction absoluing our neyghbour kinges of any auncient leage or late oth of societie and dissoluing the fealty and loyalty of subiects and hauing don hys vvorst by all
thys matter For vvhat if some of these perswaders can talke a litle French and peraduenture haue none other Englishe cōmendation vvherein they excel theyr poore countrymen nor wherby to clymbe one step to that height they loke at yea what if they cold speak french naturally think they for a little french in they re tongues ende to be so much set by alas poore men how vainely they gape at french promises with losse of theyr Englishe possessions If they should haue theyr desire it vvold not be long before theyr tongues would make theyr harts ake It might be honiemoone awhile with them but aftervvard french would be no deinty dish and these seely interpreters vvere happye if they might quietly stand without the dore vvhatsoeuer therfore their estate is now it can not be so ill as that must needes be vnder them they shall know hovv sweete the onely freedome in a mans naturall common wealth is by experience of that irksome contrary to serue so waivvard a master as is he that by slight or force conquers vvho though he wyll loue well the dominion so gottē yet wil he neuer trust but esteeme vvith a vile estimation al those that helped him to it and scarce deeme them vvorthye to lyue in that land which they haue deliuered hym But the graund reason and mother argument of these perswaders is the gaynefull honorable and strong alliance which muste of necessity come by matching vvith the house of France wheron hangs an other dwainling daughter reason that great partye forsooth that Monsieur can make vs in that kingdome Touching eyther of whych reasons though I suppose they can say nothing for maintenance of theyr conceipt but that is alreadye in theyr seuerall places eyther expresly remoued or more then by the way ansvvered yet for theyr pleasures who think themselues neuer answered onles theyr reason haue an expresse reproofe I vvill be bould with the reader and a little passe order to obiect it against me selfe agayne and handle it a part First I demaunde of these aduenturous commonwealminglers vvhether they vveene thys strength and honor to be had in the lyfe of this king and if so then vvhither by hys ayde and friendly alliance if they say yea yt is contrary to that they say in an other odd reason of brideling the king who surely will neuer strengthen that vvhich must curbe him and it is proued also that if he and his brother ioyne in any thyng they vvyll doe it smally for englands good If they thynke thys great match of honorable strength in the present kings lyfe to be by reason of the great party onely that Monsieur can make in Fraunce without the king they are vvyde and litle think of tvvo other houses which according to the two chiefe factions in Fraunce haue most deuoute fauourers and addicted follovvers as men bene respectiuely mynded towardes them and theyr professions vvherof the one house can haue more exequutioners of any hys cruell determination to offer violence and the other more faythfull ayders and companions of lyfe and death in defence of theyr consciences liues and goods then euer Monsieur could bring into the field vvhen he ioyned hymselfe with the Malcontents eyther in Fraunce or the lovve conntryes or then euer he coulde haue either to rescue hym out of hys feyned restraint or to fall to hym for hys gard when he semed to ruun in some feare from the court Yea of these two partialities in Fraunce as vve haue no neede of hys helpe for vvinning vs the one part who be already in the feare of God christian loue so vnited to vs and in all leeful thinges so affectionate to the Queenes maiesty as there homeloyalty saued they vvysh her al prosperytie and long life to the glory of God and aduancement of the truth So is not Monsieur in such credit vvith the other factiō as he can gain vs ther harts For albeit that be his best side indeed yet is he of so smal reckoning among the papists that vnles the king will he shall not haue one great on so much as hys companion or counsaylor For looke into the gouernment of hys pryuate affayres and though he be a great prince the kinges brother yet hath he not one man of mark or of great credit that followes hym but a crew of vnruly youthes Yea when he takes any publike enterpryse in hand as that of Flaunders whych stode hym so much vpon in honor and whych vvas vvyth secrete intel ligence betvveen the king and hym and by collusion yet because the king could not for bewraying that counsail declare his vvyll ouertly and lyking to that voyage not one Lorde of name accōpanyed him And let vs beleue our eyes in this his woeng of England No doubt very good manners which he can not but knovv required as vvell in regard of hyr Maiestie as of hys own highnes some proportion to haue ben kept in the quality of his messenger sent to her Maiestie It is therfore vvant of hauing at his deuotion such as had ben meet for such an Ambassage Els had vve had an other manner of man and not thys I wot not vvhat who hath no credit in Fraunce but as a minion of Monsieurs whatsoeuer place he presently hath it is much increased euen since he came hether to vs and by the credit hereof In so much as I think scorne in hyr Maiesties behalfe and the whole land takes it as an old french frump that no worthyer or nobler person is emploied in so worthy and noble a message to our Queen But letting goe the poore party of Monsieur to be hoped for in Fraunce we wyll in sinuate the small valew therof by shewing in a word or two hovv little worth the accepting in alliance the house of Fraunce is eyther in thys present king as our brother or in Monsieur though he were reigning french king and which the Lord forbid out husband It is alteady proued that Fraunce is our auncient foe and that theyr very frendships haue proued enemityes to vs Here then we seeke to make a nevv frend of an old enemy such an one as vve may not trust as well for the non tryall of hys loue as for the often tryal of hys hatred I remember that Hector and Achilles are supposed to haue found the verye gifts of enemies to be deadly dangerous yea such gyfts as vvhen they had them made for theyr defence vvhereupon the Grecians had in prouerbe that enemies gyfts were no gyfts And if there be such a malicious influence of an enemy into his gyftes that they seeme as it were poysoned and can not be saufely taken out of hys hand especially by a prince Hovv can we without desperate daunger receiue into our bosom the old enemy hymselfe certainly we may take vp thys prouerb the truth therof is as authentike as that other of the Grecians by a much more stronge reason
to thyrd and fourth generation as I vvould my poore lyfe might redeeme the ioyning of Queene ELIZABETH to such one in that neer knot vvhich must needes make hir halfe in the punishments of those his sinnes Hir Maiesties father had a law passed by parliament in his tyme that whoso had vnlawfully knovven that vvoman with vvhom the king was to mary and did not before mariage come in and bevvray it shold vpon the matter aftervvard detected be holden litle better then a traytor Hys care to haue a good woman vvas Christian and royall he vvyst vvell as the preambles of those statutes purport beside the pryuate contentation to him selfe that as vvel the sinnes of father mother as the plague of theyr sins descends to the children and considering hys chyldren were to be left gouernours of the land which mightso also haue part in these punishments his care vvas so much more to be approued because it vvas also for the common vveale The same reason is to moue in vs all a harty desire thas hir Maiesty should mary vvith such a house and such a person as had not prouoked the great vengeance of the lord And surely considering the haynousnes of the sin in euery person with the concurrant circuÌ„stances in this case of a prince the law was a iust law vve can haue no such law against strangers therfore in hir Maiesties name I require at the hands of al English Ambassadors other trauayling EnglishmeÌ„ abrod of all vvise men at home that they vvilbe hir diligent espialls herein geuing faithful aduertisement not of such seldome or small fautes as men corruptly call tryckes and pranks of a young gentilman but vvhither hys lyfe hath ben so monstrously wicked as is reported for it is no small matter for a Queene the head of the lande to ioyne in any maner with that person ouer vvhom the ineuitable plages of the most true Lord do hang. This is to approch to the plague when it commeth and not as Salomons wise man doth to withdrawe hymselfe when he seeth it His youth of yeeres is an apparant inequalitie of this match a secret discouery of his mynd not singlie affected vvith true and simple loue to that he should chiefely seeke for emong vs of the meaner sort not one in a thousand of those younger men that seke ther elder matches but doth it in side respects and hovv can vve thinke other wise in a young prince heire apparant of france It is quite contrary to his young appeties which vvyll otherwise haue theyr desire It is therefore eyther for want of liuing and mayntenance to hys mynd and then is he not fit for this realme or els is it certenly for some other notable practise vvhich muste needes be dangerous because so great a man must be the instrument and because it is not disclosed He is differing from hir Maiestie in religion thagreement wher in as it worketh by Gods blessing a most neer knot of good vvill and perfect liking in all things euen emong straungers so by the vvords of Christ a disagrement in this kind brings the svvord betvvene father and children brethern and sisters betvvene a man and hys vvife Yea vve haue seene in our dayes parentes and husbands being papistes thorough the vnnaturall cruelty of that Italian heresie vpon the least occasion and vvithall gredinesse to haue deliuered vp to death their children vvife And if al bands be little enough to hold loue and to worke a comfortable lyfe here in earth against the many miseryes of this noysome pilgrimage let vs not dispise that vvhich is the chiefest and strongest And which I may not forget who so marieth with any popevvorshipper can not tell vvhen to be sure of him for they haue one knife to vnloose all alliances vvith kingdoms and fayth giueÌ„ to princes that is the popes dispensation vvhich is so iust in it self as vvhither it bynd or loose it may not be examined if therefore after our mariage vvhich God first let the changeable decree of a pope vvill pronounce the mariage no mariage eyther vpon some nevv aduantage to the church of Rome either els because Monsieur could haue no children by our Queen for that there must of necessity sit vpon that throne some of the blessed seed of Medices vvhich vvas sent into Fraunce from a pope no doubt this son of the pope in Fraunce is as much bound by popish obedience to leaue against Gods lavv his vvife as his son of Spayne vvas to take against Gods forbodd his own sisters dauâ—â—ter And as much conscience vvill the holy father make to breake a lavvfull mariage for his aduauntage as to licence a lavvles vvhat a feare of dishonor vvorse then the dishonor vvere this to depend vpon the incertain pope vvhither vve shall at any time hereafter be decreed to haue liued in vnlavvfull mariage yea or no. If any man anusvver hereto that this doubte is too farre fetched and hath no reason to be conceiued let him at once take this replye for maintenance of thys and diuers other like reasons that are may be made That vvhosoeuer is carefull of the life and honour of a prince casts more doubts then for a common person In theyr palaces they must haue more gards for night and day more porters more hus shirs and more doers to come to them euen in time of peace then common persons haue But vvhen the enemy of a prince comes to be considered of then princes will vse theyr longest hands of strength theyr tendred nosed couÌ„sailors most percing sight of theyr vvise and faythfull seruants and who wold not suspecte any trechery from that Roman ennemy of enemyes vvhich like a iugling Aegiptian playes fast and loose with all the vvorld and is singularly a deuowed enemy to our Queene as he vvas lately to hir Maiesties father because he refused and reiected one of his like godlesse dispensations for a lyke lawles mariage An other reason might be made a gainst thys mariage that if thorough his ambitious mind not so blamevvorthy in such a prince as hurtfull to such as should chuse him during the life of his brother he should be chosen king elsvvhere it might cause his absence litle to hir maiesties comfort But this reason I bring not for the force of it or for vvant of other for I suppose the late honorable leauing of Poleland vvilbe a lesson to any kingdome or state of free election how they shall chuse this brother If therefore as Qu. Maries counsailors had that respect to hir high honor that they did not mary hir to K. Phillip till he â–ª was a king in the lyfe of his father so likewise these men vvould not talke of Monsieur til he were hir maiesties peere by being chosen king by the franke election of any â–ª state I vvould not feare thys matter The onely cause therefore vvhy I thought this reason worth any meÌ„tion is by that
honorable Counsailors â—udges and other Maiestrates mai not hold their honors authorities For if the mother being a forraigner to Fraunce vvhere al maner gouernmeÌ„t is denyed hir by their lavves can depose natural Maiestrates and help hir couÌ„trimeÌ„ to the richest offices promote an Italian to be high Chanler there make hir halfe Italians to be marshals of fraunce you may be sure a french husband will easely aduaunce his Italianate french meÌ„ to our English preferments Our lavvyers shall be fain to learn some other occupation For nevv maisters new men and new Lords new laws No doubt the lavvs of fraunce vvil preuaile against the lavves of Normandy yea the forrein lavv called ciuil wâ—l eate vp our free customs natural lavves Our soldiars of necessiâ—y must be sent out vnder some Ioab for some more desperate seruice then S. Quintin one vvay or other to be dispatched and cut in pieces For of all English people they vvill be worse loued of these french Our Lord bishops may think it ther greatest honor to take such part as other poore men doe sure they are all to loose theyr dignities and riches and so many of them as euer vvere votarie priests must part froÌ„ wiues and children Our Merchants and poore richmen they may quickly without any counters cast vp theyr bookes of reckonings by that time such factors and malefactors as these men haue ransaked their coffers Touching the meanest sort of men euen in france it selfe this ve ry day al be contemptible pesants and Lackeys And if ther own natural poore labouring men find no better condition of life vnder these vncourteyus kings it vvere madnes for vs to looke for so good vve must doubtles be one degree at least beneath vile pesants â–ª Lackeis And if these nevv surueiers come into this land we may bid farevvel to thold English liberall measure of syxtene foote and a halfe to the pole our Ortyards must be measured by the foote our houses by the stories vvindowes chimnies and accordingly nevv rents raysed vpon them our children shall not come freely into the world without some vnnaturall excise for euery birth as the earnest penny of a trybu tary lyfe our maydens vvho in some coÌ„mon vveals are vvont to be bestowed wyth the publike purse must vnder thys vyle stranger yeld a share of their own mariage portions vvhich Impositions I neyther dravv from old Tyrans nor Imagin here of myne own head but they are such as the french king very lately demanded and such as hys subiectes euen novv denye vvherevpon the former trobles are lyke to reuiue notvvithstanding his mothers late ryding about france vvith fayre promises for the release of such brutishe exactions Much might be sayd in these particulars by thys lyttle the noble gentle and others vvhat soeuer may learn to hate strange coÌ„maunders and to esteeme our naturall regiment to detest the Turkish tyrany of Valoys to thank God for the kind gouernment of Queen Elizabeth which the Lord grant hir happely to hold on and finally to end as she began But I had rather we shold feele our griefe in the ache of our head the Queen theÌ„ to esteme our gteuances apart Farre from vs then is this great assurance imagined to hyr Maiesties selfe by thus matching euen as farr as certein peril is from safety vvhere is the preseruation of Religion vvher is the streÌ„gth and gayn to the land vvhere is thys honor to our kingdom euen as farr from thys mariage as preseruatife is from poyson gayn froÌ„ spoyle and beggery and honor from danger of perperual slauery I should haue bene afrayd to haue spoken thus much had not the streight of this necessitie driuen me and my words ben the words not of a busie body speaking at all aduentures but of a true Englishman a sworne liegeman to hir Maiestie gathering these necessary consequences by theyr reasonable causes And sith the faith of a man is broken sometime asvvel in not doing or not saying as in doing or saying I humbly besech that vvhatsoeuer offence any thing here sayd may breed it be vvith fauor construed by the affection of my hart vvhich must loue my country and Queene though it shold cost me my lyfe yea rather let them of this land vvho excel seuerally in all good professions hauing wisedom disposition vvords at vvil that hearing so publickly famously notoriously a mariage to be practised by the pope vvhich is against al lavves of God and man vnvvritten and vvritten of nature and nations of the land and of policie of armes peace tending to the losse of our religion to the subuersion of our state and freedome to the captiuity of our Queene and hir people vnder our hateful foe the french can not yet be stirred vp to any pietye tovvards theyr God theyr country or theyr prince to handle this matter in theyr seuerall skils as it requires You Noble men and high counsailors ioyne to your vvisedoms courage and adding to them both the feare of God remember you be born chosen for fathers of aduise to the prince and in a secondary degree assisting Tutors to the common vvee le render to the Queene that faythfull counsaile vvhich she may vvel chalenge for aduauncing you to thys honor and pay to vs again that duety of carefull loue vvhîch our reuerence of honor most vvyllingly acknowledged to you doth deserue You bishops and others who sometime speak in the eares of our prince let not your study be to leern french for the entertayning of thys stranger as though then you should be ioly gentilmen vvith the rest but learn to speak the word of God and speak it boldly for keeping out this stranger You vvhosoeuer in Court honored by hir Maiestie vvith any speciall fauoure and grace alas that none of you vvill doe hyr that right as to tell hyr hovv farr more precious hir royall person is and vvith hovv farr greater daunger thereto it is then that this odd fellow by birth a french man by profession a papist an Atheist by conuersation an instrument in Fraunce of vncleannes a fly worker in England for Rome and Fraunce in this present affayre a sorcerer by common voyce fame shold haue such free and gracious accesse to hyr chayre of estate great presence vvho is not fir to looke in at hir great chamber doore All England in a tenderiealous loue to hyr person besecheth God to preserue hir prayeth hir to take heed of popish french men You of the meaner sort throughout the land all priuate ones knovv your place to be in all subiection peaceable patience vvith your prayers to sollicite the Lorde for his church for this common vveale and for the Queen that of his great mercy he vvill turne away this plague of a stranger in Christian Israel and forreigne frenchmen in England The onely noise of whose making hither toward gaue al these causes