stubborn and churlish people very impatient of a rigorous yoak and such as inherit a full measure of the Beiseains liberty and spirit from whom they are descended Le Droit de fonage the priviledge of levying of a certain peice of money upon every Chimney in an house that smoaked was in times not long since one of the Jura Regalia of the French Lords and the people paid it without grumbling yet when Edward the black Prince returned from his unhappy journey into Spain and for the paying of his Souldiers to whoÌ„ he was indebted laid this fonage upon the people being then English they all presently revolted to the French and brought great prejudice to our affairs in those quarters Next unto the Gabel of Salt we may place the Taille and the Taillon which are much of a nature with the Subsidies in England being granted by the people and the sum of that certain shall please to impose them Anciently the Tailles were onely levied by way of extraordinary subsidie and that upon four occasions which were the Knighting of the Kings Son the Marriage of his Daughters a Voyage of the Kings beyond Sea and his Ransome in case he were taken Prisoner Les Tailles ne sont point deves de devoyer ordicmer saith Rayneau ains ont este accorded durant la necessite des Affaires Semblement Afterward they were continually levied in times of warr and at length Charles the first made them ordinary neither is it extended equally all of it would amount to a very fair revenue For supposing this that the Kingdom of France contained two hundred millions of acres as it doth and that from every one there were raised to the King two Sols yeerly which is little in respect of the taxes imposed on them that income alone besides that which levied on goods personal would amount to two millions of pounds in a year But this payment also lyeth all on the Paisant The greater Towns the Officers of the Kings House the Officers of Warrs the Presidents Counsellors and Officers of the Court of Parliament the Nobility the Clergy and the Schollars of the Vniversity being freed from it That which they call the Taillon was intended for the ease of the Country though now it prove one of the greatest burdens unto it In former times the Kings Souldiers lay all upon the charge of the Villages the poor people being fain to find them diet lodging and all necessaries for themselves their horses and their harlots which they brought with them If they were not well pleased with their entertainment they used commonly to beat their Host abuse his family and rob him of that small provision which he had laid up for his Children and all this Cum privilegio Thus did they move from one Village to another and at the last returned unto them from whence they came Ita ut non sit ibi villula una expers calamitatis istius quae non semel aut bis in anno hac nefandâ pressurâ depiletur as Sir John Fâ—rtescue observed in his time To redress this mischeif King Henry the second Anno 1549. raised his Imposition called the Taillon issuing out of the lands and goods of the poor Country man whereby he was at the first somewhat eased but now all is again out of order the miserable Paisant being oppressed by the Souldier as much as ever and yet he still payeth both taxes the Taille and the Taillon The Pancarte comprehendeth in it divers particular imposts but especially the Sol upon the Liure that is the twentieth penny of all things bought or sold corn sallets and the like onely excepted Upon wine besides the Sol upon the Liure he hath his several customs at the entrance of it into any of his Cities passages by Land Sea or River To these Charles the ninth Anno 1561. added a tax of five Sols upon every Maid which is the third part of a Tun and yet when all this is done the poor Vintner payeth unto the King the eighth penny he takes for that wine which he selleth In this Pancart is also contained the bant passage which are the tols paid unto the King for passage of men and cattel over his bridges and his City gates as also for all such Commodities which they bring with them A good and round sum considering the largeness of the Kingdom the thorough-fare of Lyons being farmed yearly of the King for 100000. Crowns Hereunto belong also the Aides which are a taxe also of the Sol on the Liure upon all sorts of fruits provision wares and Merchandize granted first unto Charles Duke of Normandy when John his Father was prisoner in England and since made perpetual For such is the lamentable fate of that Country that their kindnesses are made duties and those moneys which they once grant out of love are alwayes after exacted of them and paid out of necessity The bedrolle of all these impositions and taxes is called the Paneart because it was hanged up in a frame like as the Officers Fees are in our Bishops Diocesan Courts the word Pan signifying a frame or pane of wainscot These impositions time and custom hath now made tolerable though at first day they seemed very burdensome and moved many Cities to murmuring some to rebellion Amongst others the City of Paris proud of her ancient liberties and immunities refused to admit of it This indignity so incensed Charles the sixth their King then young and in hot bloud that he seized into his hands all their priviledges took from their Provost des Merchants and the Eschevins as also the key of their gates and the chains of their streets and making through the whole Town such a face of mourning that one might justly have said Haec facies Troiae cum caperetur erat This happened in the year 1383. and was for five years together continued which time being expired and other Cities warned by that example the imposition was established and the priviledges restored For the better regulating of the profits arising from these imposts the French King erected a Court Le Cour des Aides It consisted at the first of the general of the Aides and of any four of the Lords of the Councel whom they would call to their assistance Afterwards Charles the fifth Anno 1380. or thereabouts settled it in Paris and caused it to be numbred as one of the Soveraign Courts Lewis the eleventh dissolved it and committed the managing of his Aids to his Household servants as loath to have any publike Officers take notice how he fleeced his people Anno 1464. it was restored again And finally Henry the second Anno 1551. added to it a second Chamber composed of two Presidens and eight Counsellors One of which Presidents Mr. Cavilayer is said to be the best moneyed man of all France There are also others of these Courts in the Country as one at Roven one at Montferrant in Averyne one at Bourdeaux and another at Montpellier
the earth its Mother or that it purposed by making it self away into the ground to save the Plow-man his next years labour Thick it groweth and so perfectly void of weeds that no garden can be imagined to be kept cleaner by art than these fields are by nature Pasture ground it hath little and less meadow yet sufficient to nourish those few Cattel they have in it In all the way between Diepe and Pontois I saw but two flocks of Sheep and then not above forty in a flock Kine they have in some measure but not fat nor large without these there were no living for them The Noblest eat the flesh whiles the Farmer feeds on Butter and Cheese and that but sparingly But the miserable states of the Norman paissant we wiil deferre till another opportunity Swine also they have in pretty number and some Pullen in their backsides but of neither an excess The principal Rivers of it is Seine of which more hereafter and besides this I saw two rivulets Robee and Renelâ—e In matter of civil Government this Country is directed by the Court of Parliament established at Roven for matters Military it hath an Officer like the Lieutenants of our Shires in England the Governour they call him The present Governour Mounsieur Duc de Longueville to whom the charge of this province was committed by the present King Lewis the thirteenth Anno 1629. The Laws by which they are governed are the Civil or Imperial augmented by some customes of the French and others more particular which are the Norman One of the principallest is in matters of inheritance the French custom giving to all the Sons an equality in their estate which we in England call Gavel-kind The Norman dividing the estate into three parts and thereof allotting two unto the eldest brother and a third to be divided among the others A Law which the French account not just the younger brothers of England would think the contrary To conclude this general discourse of the Normans I dare say it is as happy a Country as most in Europe were it subject to the same Kings and governed by the same Laws which it gave unto England CHAP. II. Diepeâ— the Town strength and importance of it The policy of Henry the fourth not seconded by his Son The custom of the English Kings in placing Governours in their Forts The breaden God there and strength of their Religion Our passage from Diepe to Roven The Norman Inns Women and Manners The importunity of Servants in hosteries The saucy familiarity of the attendants Ad pileum vocare What it was amongst the Romans and jus pilearum in the Universities of England IVne the 30th at six of the clock in the morning we landed at Diepe one of the Haven Towns of Normandy seated on an arm of the Sea between two hils which imbrace it in the nature of a bag this secureth the Haven from the violence of the weather and is a great strength to the Town against the attempts of any forces which should assault it by Sea the Town lying within these Mountains a quarter of a mile up the channel The Town it self is not uncomely the streets large and well paved the houses of an indifferent height and built upright without any juttings out of one part over the other The Fortifications as they say for we were not permitted to see them are very good and modern without stones within earth On the top of the hill a Castle finely seated both to defend the Town and on occasions to command it The Garrison consisteth of sixty men in pay no more but when need requireth the Captain hath authority to arm the Inhabitants The present Governour is the Duke of Longueville who also is the Governour of the Province intrusted with both those charges by Lewis the thirteenth 1619. An action wherein he swarved somewhat from the ensample of his Father who never committed the military command of a Country which is the Office of a Governour and the custody of a Town of war or a Fortress unto one man The Duke of Biron might have as great a courtesie from that King as the most deserving of his subjects he had stuck close to him in all his adversities received many an honourable fear in his service and indeed was Fabius and Scipio both the sword and buckler of the French Empire In a word he might have said to this Henry what Silius in Tacitus did to Tiberius Suum militem in obsequio mansâ—sse cum alii ad sedetiones prolaberentur neque daraturum Tiberii imperium si iis quoque Legionibus cupido novandi fuisset yet when he became petitioner to the King for the Cittadel of Bourg seated on the confines of his Government of Burgogne the King denied it The reason was because Governours of Provinces which commanded in chief ought not to have the command of places and fortresses within their Government there was also another reason and more enforcing which was that the petitioner was suspected to hold intelligence with the Duke of Savoy whose Town it was The same Henry though he loved the Duke Espernon even to the envy of the Court yet even to him also used he the same caution Therefore when he had made him Governour of Xanictoigne and Angoulmois he put also into his hands the Towns of Mets and Boullogne places so remote from his seat of Government and so distant one from the other that they did rather distract his power than encrease it The Kings of England have been well and for a long time versed in this Maxime of State Let Kent be one of our ensamples and Hampshire the other In Kent at this time the Lieutenant or as the French would call him the Governour is the Earl of Montgomery yet is Dover Castle in the hands of the Duke of Buckingham and yet Quinborough in the custody of Sir Edward Hobby Of which the one commandeth the Sea and the other the Thames and the Medway In Hampshire the Lieutenant is the Earl of Southampton but the Government of the Town and Garrison of Portsmouth is intrusted to the Earl of Pembroke Neither is there any of the best Sconces or Block-houses on the shore side of the Country which is commanded by the Lieutenant But King Lewis now raigning in France minded not his Fathers actions when at the same time also he made his Confident M. Luines Governour of Picardy and of the Town and Cittadel of Amiens The time ensuing gave him an insight of that state-breach for when the Dukes of Espernon Vendosme Longueville Magenne and Nemours the Count of Soisons and others sided with the Queen Mother against the King the Duke of Longueville strengthened this Dieppe and had not peace suddenly followed would have made good maugre the Kings forces A town it is of great importance King Henry the fourth using it as his Asylum or City of Refuge when that League was hottest against him For had he been further distressed
man as he informed me able to discharge the trust reposed in him by his Master and one that very well affecteth the English Nation He hath the fairest Eglise and keepeth the largest retinue of any ordinary Embassadour in the Realm and maketh good his Masters supremacy by his own precedency To honour him against he was to take this charge his Holiness created him Bishop of Damiata in Egypt A place which I am certain never any of them saw but in a Map and for the profits he receiveth thence they will never be able to pay for his Crosier But this is one of his Holiness usual policies to satisfie his followers with empty titles So he made Bishop whom he sent to govern for him in England Bishop of Chalcedon in Asia and Smith also who is come over about the same business with the Queen Bishop of Archidala a City of Thrace An old English Doctor used it as an especial argument to prove the Universality of power in the Pope because he could ordain Bishops over all Cities in Christendom If he could as easily also give them the revenue this reason I confess would much sway me till then I am sorry that men should still be boyes and play with bubbles By the same authority he might do well to make all his Courtiers Kings and he were sure to have a most Royal and beggerly Court of it To proceed a little further in the Allegory so it is that when Jacob saw Esau to have incurred his Fathers and Mothers anger for his heathenish marriage he set himself to bereave his elder brother of his blessing prayers and the sweet smell of his Venison the sweet smelling of his sacrifices obtained of his Lord and Father a blessing for him for indeed the Lord hath given unto this his French Jacob as it is in the Text The dew of heaven and the fatness of the earth and plenty of corn and Wine Gen. 27. 5 28. It followeth in the 41. ver of the chapter And Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing wherewith his Father had blessed him and Esau said in his heart the dayes of mourning for my Father are at hand then will I slay my brother Jacob The event of which his bloudy resolution was that Jacob was fain to relinquish all that he had and fly unto his Vncle This last story expresseth very much of the estate of the French Church The Papists hated the Protestants to see them thrive and encrease so much amongst them this hatred moved them to a war by which they hoped to root them out all together and this war compelled the Protestants to abandon their good Towns and strong Holds and all their possessions and to fly unto their friends wheresoever they could find them And indeed the present estate of the Protestants is not much better than that of Jacob in Mesopotamia nor much different the blessing which they expect lyeth more in the seed than in the harvest and well may they hope to be restored to the love and bosome of their brethren of which as yet they have no assurance For their strength it consisteth principally in their prayers to God and secondly in their obedience to their King Within these two Fortresses if they can keep themselves they need fear none ill because they shall deserve none The onely outward strengths they have left them are the two Towns of Moutabon and Rochell the one deemed invincible the other threatned a speedy destruction The Duke of Espernon at my being there lay round about it and it was said that the Town was in very bad terms all the neighbouring Townes to whose opposition they most trusted having yeilded at the first sight of the Canon Rochell its thought cannot be forced by assaults nor compelled by a famine some Protestants are glad of it and hope to see the French Church restored to its former powerableness by the resistance of that Town meerly I rather think that the perverse and stubborn condition of it will at last drive the young King into a fury and incite him to revenge their contradiction on their innocent Friends now disarmed and disabled Then will they see at last the issue of their own peremptory resolutions and begin to beleive that the Heathen Historian was of the two the better Christian when he gave us this note Non turpe est ab eo vinci quem vincere esset nefas neque illi in honeste etiam summitti quem fortuna super omnes extulisset This weakness and misery which hath now befallen the Protestants was an effect I confess of the ill will which the other party bare them but that they bare them ill will was a fruit of their own grafting In this circumstance they were nothing like Jacob who in the hatred which his brother Esau had to him was meerly passive They being active also in the birth of it And indeed the lamentable and bloudy war which fell upon them they not onely endeavoured not to avoid but invited During the raign of Henry the fourth who would not see it and the troublesome minority of Lewis the thirteenth who could not molest them they had made themselves masters of ninety nine Towns well fortified and enabled for a siege A strength too great for any one faction to keep tother under a King which desires to be himself and so rule his people In the opinion of their potency they call Assemblies Parliaments as it were when and as often as they pleased There they consulted of the common affairs of Religion made new Laws of government removed and exchanged their general Officers the Kings leave all this while never so much as formally asked Had they onely been guilty of too much power that crime alone had been sufficient to have raised a war against them it not standing with the safety and honour of a King not to be the absolute commander of his own subjects But in this their licentious calling of Assemblies they abused their power into a neglect and in not dissolving them at his Majesties commandement they increased their neglect into a disobedience The Assembly which principally the war and their ruine was that of Rochell called by the Protestants presently upon the Kings journey into Bearne This general meeting the King prohibited by his especial Edicts declaring all them to be guilty of treason which notwithstanding they would not hearken to but very undutifully went on in their purposes It was said by a Gentleman of that party and one that had been employed in many of their affairs that the very zeal of some who had the guiding of their consciences had thrusted them into those desperate courses and I beleive him Tantum Religio potuit suadere malorum Being assembled they sent the King a Remonstrance of their greivances to which the Duke Lesdiguiers in a letter to them written gives them a â—e y fair and plausible answer wherein also he entreateth them to obey the Kings Edict and
granted to Sir Giles Mompesson was just one of the French Offices As for Monopolies they are here so common that the Subject taketh no notice of it not a scurvy petty book being printed but it hath its priviledge affixed ad imprimendum solum These being granted by the King are carried to the Parliament by them formally perused and finally verified after which they are in force and vertue against all opposition It is said in France that Mr. Luines had obtained a Patent of the King for a quart d' Escu to be paid unto him for the Christning of every Child throughout the Kingdom A very unjust and unconscionable extortion Had he lived to have presented it to the Court I much doubt of their denial though the onely cause of bringing before them such Patents is onely intended that they should discuss the justice and convenience of them As the Parliament hath a formality of power left in them of verifying the Kings Edicts his grants of Offices and Monopolies so hath the Chamber of Accompts a superficial survey of his gifts and expences For his expences they are thought to be as great now as ever by reason of the several retinues of Himself his Mother his Queen and the Monsieur Neither are his gifts lessened The late warrs which he mannaged against the Protestants cost him dear he being fain to bind unto him most of his Princes by money and Pensions As the expences of the King are brought unto this Court to be examined so are also the gifts and pensions by him granted to be ratified The titulary power given to this Chamber is to cut off all those of the Kings grants which have no good ground and foundation the Officers being solemnly at the least formally sworn not to suffer any thing to pass them to the detriment of the Kingdom whatsoever Letters of Command they have to the contrary But with this Oath they do oftentimes dispense To this Court also belongeth the Enfranchisement or Naturalization of Aliens Anciently certain Lords Officers of the Crown and of the Privie Council were appointed to look into the Accompts now it is made an ordinary and soveraign Court consisting of two Presidents and divers Auditors and after under Officers The Chamber wherein it is kept is called La Chambre des Comptes it is the beautifullest piece of the whole Palace the great Chamber it self not being worthy to be named in the same day with it It was built by Charles the eighth Anno 1485. afterwards adorned and beautified by Lewis the twelfth whose Statua is there standing in his Royal Robes and the Scepter in his hand he is accompanied by the four Cardinal-Virtues expressed by way of Hieroglychick very properly and cunning each of them have in them its particular Motto to declare its being The Kings Portraicture also as if he were the fifth Virtue had its word under-written and contained in a couple of verses which let all that love the Muses skip them in the reading are these Quatuor has comites fowro caelestia dona Innocuae pacis prospera sceptra gerens From the King descend we to the Subjects ab equis quod aiunt ad asinos and the phrase is not much improper the French Commonalty being called the Kings Asses These are divided into three ranks or Classes the Clergy the Nobless the Paisants out of which certain Delegates or Committees chosen upon an occasion and sent to the King did anciently concurre to the making of the supreme Court for justice in France it was called the Assembly of the three Estates or Conventus Ordinum and was just like the Parliament of England but these meetings are now forgotten or out of use neither indeed as this time goeth can they any way advantage the State For whereas there are three principal if not sole causes of these Conventions which are the disposing of the Regency during the non-age or sickness of a King the granting aids or subsidies and the redressing of grievances there is now another course taken in them The Parliament of Paris which speaketh as it is prompted by power and greatness appointeth the Regent the Kings themselves with their Officers determine of the taxes and as concerning their grievances the Kings ear is open to private Petitions Thus is that title of a Common-wealth which went to the making up of this Monarchy escheated or rather devoured by the King that name alone containing in it both Clergy Princes and People so that some of the French Counsellors may say with Tully in his Oration for Marcellus unto Caesar Doleoque cum Respublica immortalis esse debeat eam unius mortalis anima consistere yet I cannot but withal affirm that the Princes and Nobles of France do for as much as concerneth themselves upon all advantages fly off from the Kings obedience but all this while the poor Paisant is ruined Let the poor Tennant starve or eat the bread of carefulness it matters not so they may have their pleasure and be accompted firm Zealots of the Common liberty and certainly this is the issue of it the Farmer liveth the life of a slave to maintain his Lord in pride and laziness the Lord leadeth the life of a King to oppress his Tennant by fines and exactions An equality little answerable to the old platforms of Republicks Aristotle genius ille naturae as a learned man calleth him in his fourth book of Politicks hath an excellent discourse concerning this disproportion In that chapter his project is to have a correspondency so far between Subjects under the King or people of the same City that neither the one might be over rich nor the other too miserably poor They saith he which are too happy strong or rich or greatly favoured and the like cannot nor will not obey with which evil they are infected from their infancy The other through want of these things are too abjectly minded and base for that the one cannot but command and the other but serve and this he calleth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a City inhabited onely by slaves and tyrants That questionless is the most perfect and compleat form of Government Vbi veneratur potentem humilis non timet antecedit non contemnit humiliorem potens as Velleius But this is an happiness whereof France is not capable their Lords being Kings and their Commons Villains And to say no less of them than in truth they are the Princes of this Country are little inferior in matters of Royalty to any King abroad and by consequence little respective in matter of obedience to their own King at home Upon the least discontent they will draw themselves from the Court or put themselves into Arms and of all other comforts are ever sure of this that they shall never want partizans neither do they use to stand off from him fearfully and at distance but justifie their revolt by publike declaration and think the King much indebted to them if upon fair terms and an
had obtained to be made free Denizens of Lacedaemon in sign of their now gotten liberty would never go into the battel nisi pileati but with their hats on Amongst the Africans as it is written of Alexander ab Alexandro the placing of an hat on the top of a spear was used as a token to incite the people to their liberty which had been oppressed by Tyrants Per pileum in bast â propositum ad libertatem proclamari But among the Romans we have more variety The taking off the hat of Targuinius Priscus by an Eagle and the putting of it on again occasioned the Augures to prophesie unto him the Kingdom which fell out accordingly In their Sword-playes when one of their Gladiators had with credit slain his adversary they would sometimes honour him with a Palm sometimes with a Hat of these the last was the worthier the Palm onely honouring the Victor this also enfranchising the receiver therefore conferred commonly on him which killed most men in the Theaters Hence the complaint of Tertuslian lib. de Spectaculis cap. 21. Qui insigniore cuiquam homicide leonem poscit idem gladiatori atroci Rudem petat Redis was another token of enfranchizement pileum proemium conferat In their common Forum or Guild-Hall when they purposed to manumit any of their servants their custom also was after the Lictor or Sergeant had registred the name of the party manumitted to shave his head and give him a cap whence according to Rosinus ad pileum Vocare is to set one at liberty Erasmus in his Chiliades maketh the hat to be the sign of some eminent worth iu him that weareth it Pileus saith he insigne spectatae virtutis On this he conjectureth that the putting on of caps on the heads of such as are created Doctors or Masters had its original In the Universities of England this custom is still in force the putting on of the Cap being never performed but on the solemn Comitia and in the presence of all such as are either auditors or spectators of that dayes exercise When I was Regent the whole house of Congregation joyned together in a petition to the Earl of Pembroke to restore unto us the jus pileorum the licence of putting on our caps at our publike meetings which priviledge time and the tyranny of our Vice-Chancellors had taken from us Amongst other motives we used the solemn form of creating a Mr. in the Arts by putting on his cap and that that sign of liberty might distinguish us that were the Regents from those boyes which we were to govern which request he graciously granted But this French sauciness had drawn me out of my way An impudent familiarity which I must confess did much offend me and to which I will still profess my self an open enemy Though Jack speach French I cannot endure that Jack should be a Gentleman CHAP. III. Roven a neat City how seated and built The strength of it St. Katheâ—ines Mount. The Church of Nostre-dame c. The Indecorum of the Papists in the several and unsutable pictures of the Virgin The little Chappel of the Capuchins in Boulogne The House of Parliament The precedency of the President and Governour The Legend of St. Romain and the priviledge thence arising The Language and Religion of the Rhothomagenses IVly the first we set out for Roven in ten hours our Cart dragged us thither the whole journey being in all six miles French admirable speed About three of the clock in the afternoon we had a sight of the Town daintily seated in a valley on the River Seine I know not any Town better scituated Oxford excepted which indeed it much resembleth I mean not in bigness but in scituation It standeth on all sides environed with Mountains the North excepted and hath a large and pleasant walk of meadow by the river side to the South-Eastward as Oxford hath towards Iffley It is seated on the principal River of France distant from the Metropolis of that Countrey fifty miles English or thereabouts as Oxford on the Thames and from London watered also it is with two small Rillets Rosee and Renelle as the other with Charwell and Evenlode The difference is that Oxford is seated somewhat higher on the swelling of an hill and a little more removed from those mountains which environ it and that the Rivers which run through some part of Roven do onely wash the precincts of the other The buildings are in some places wood in some stone in others both The houses without juttings or overlets four stories high and in the front not very beautiful The most promising house which mine eyes met with was that of Mr. Boniface who being of obscure parents and having raised himself a fortune in the wars against the League here built a receptacle for his age It is fashioned after the manner of new buildings in London composed all of dainty white stone square and polished On the partition betwixt the first story and the second it hath these words engraven Vt Virtute Martisopus Tentanda via amore armis A Motto sutable to his rising The other buildings of note are the Bridge for I as yet omit the House of Parliament and the Churches and the Town wall by it The Bridge whilst it was all standing was thought to have been the fairest and strongest piece of that kind in all France it consisted of twelve arches large and high there now remain but seven of them the rest being broken down by the English in the falling of their affairs in France the better to make good the Town against the French The River is here about the breadth of the Thames at Fullham Between the River and the Town wall is the Exchange or meeting place of the Merchants paved with broad and even pebble-stones in breadth up to the wallwards thirty yeards in length a hundred A fine walk in fair weather All along the bankside lay the Ships which by reason of the broken bridge come up hither and on occasion higher a good turn for Paris The wall for the length of an hundred yeards is as streight as one may lay a line of a just height and composed of square and excellent stone so cunningly laid that I never saw the side of a Noble mans house built more handsomly But it is not onely the beauty of the wall which Roven delighteth in there must somewhat also be expected of it for strength To which purpose it might seem indifferently well were there some addition of earth within it It is well helped on the outside by the breadth and depth of the ditches but more by St. Katharines Fort seated on an hill at the East side of it A Fort which were it strengthned according to the modern art of fortifying would much assure the Town and make it at once both a slave and a Commander The Marshal D'c Anere when he was Lieutenant here for the Queen-Mother began to fortifie this Mountain
Quilleboeuse and other places of importance but upon his death they were all razed What were his projects in it they know best which were acquainted with his ambition Certainly the jarrs which he had sown among the Princes one with the other and between them and the King shew that they were not intended for nothing There are in Roven thirty two Parish Churches besides those which belong to Abbeys and Religious Houses of which the most beautiful is that of St. Audom or Owen once Arch-bishop of this City The seat and Church of the Arch-bishop is that of Nostre-dame a building far more gorgeous in the outside than within It presents it self to you with a very gracious and majestical front decked with most curious imagery and adorned with three stately Towers The first called La tour St. Romain the second La tour de beaurre because it was built with that money which was raised by Cardinal D' Amboyse for granting a dispensation to eat butter in the Lent and a third built over the Porch or great Door wherein is the great Bell so much talked of Within it is but plain and ordinary such as common Cathedral Churches usually are so big so fashioned Behind the high Altar at a pillar on the left hand is the remainder of the Duke of Bedford's Tomb which for ought I could discern was nothing but an Epitaph some three yeards high in the Pillar I saw nothing in it which might move the envy of any Courtier to have it defaced unless it were the title of Regent du Rojaume de France which is the least he merited Somewhat Eastward beyond this is our Ladies Chappel a pretty neat piece and daintily set out There standeth on the top of the Screen the Image of the Virgin her self between two Angels They have attired her in a red Mantle laced with two gold laces a handsom ruffe about her neck a vail of fine lawn hanging down her back and to shew that she was the Queen of Heaven a Crown upon her head In her left arm she holds her Son in his side coat a black hat and a golden hat-band A jolly plump Lady she seemeth to be of a flaxen hair a ruddy lip and a chearful complexion 'T were well the Painters would agree about the limming of her otherwise we are like to have as many Ladies as Churches At Nostre dame in Paris she is taught us to be brown and seemeth somewhat inclin'd to melancholy I speak not of her different habit for I envy her not her changes of apparel Onely I could not but observe how those of St. Sepulchres Church en la rue St. Denis hath placed her on the top of their Screen in a Coape as if she had taken on her the zeal of Abraham and were going to make a bloudy sacrifice of her Son They of Nostre-dame in Amiens have erected her Statue all in gold with her Son also of the same mettal in her arms casting beams of gold round about her as the Sun is painted in its full glory Strange Idolatries On the contrary in the parish Church of Tury in la Beause she is to be seen in a plain petticoat of red and her other garments correspondent In my mind this holdeth most proportion to her estate and will but serve to free their irreligion from an absurdity If they will worship her as a Nurse with her Child in her arms or at her breast let them array her in such apparel as might beseem a Carpenters Wife such as she might be supposed to have worn before the world had taken notice that she was the Mother of her Saviour If they must needs have her in her estate of glory as at Amiens or of honour being now publikely acknowledged to be the blessedness among Women as at Paris let them disburden her of her Child To clap them thus both together is a folly equally worthy of scorn laughter Certainly had she but so much liberty as to make choice of her own clothes I doubt not but she would observe a greater decorum And therefore I commend the Capouchins of Boulogne who in a little side Chappel consecrated unto her have placed onely an handsom fair looking-glass upon her Altar the best ornament of a Female Closet Why they placed it there I cannot say onely I conceive it was that she might there see how to dress her self This Church is said to have been built I should rather think repaired by Raoul or Rollo the first Duke of Normandy Since it hath been much beautified by the English when they were Lords of this Province It is the seat of an Arch-bishop a Dean and fifty Canons The Arch-bishoprick was instituted by the authority of Constantine the Great during the sitting of the Council of Arles Anidian who was there present being consecrated the first Arch-bishop The Bishops of Seas Aurenches Constances Beaux Lysieaux and Eureux were appointed for his Diocesans The now Arch-bishop is said to be an able Schollar and a sound States-man his name I enquired not The Revenues of his Chair are said to be ten thousand Crowns More they would amount to were the Country any way fruitful of Vines out of which the other Prelates of France draw no small part of their Intrado The Parliament of this Country was established here by Lewis the twelfth who also built that fair Palace wherein Justice is administred Anno 1501. At that time he divided Normandy into seven Cathes Rapes or Baliwicks viz. Roven Caux Constentin Caen Eureux Gisors and Alenzon This Court hath supreme power to enquire into and give sentence of all causes within the limits of Normandy It receiveth appeals from the inferiour Courts of the Dutchy unto it but admitteth none from it Here is also Cour des Esleuz a Court of the general Commissioners for taxes and la Chambre des aides instituted by Charles the seventh for the receiving of his subsidies Gabels Imposts c. The house of Parliament is in form quadrangular a very graceful and delectable building That of Paris is but a Chaos or a Babel to it In the great Hall into which you ascend by some thirty steps or upwards are the seats and desks of the Procurators every ones name being written in Capital letters over his head These Procurators are like our Attourneys to prepare causes and make them ready for the Advocates In this Hall do suitors use either to attend or walk up and down and confer with their pleaders Within this Hall is the great Chamber the Tribunal or Seat of Justice both in Causes Criminal and Civil At domus interior regali splendida luxu Instruitur As Virgil of Queen Dido's dining room A Chamber so gallantly and richly built that I must confess it far supasseth all the rooms that ever I saw in my life The Palace of the Lou're hath nothing in it comparable The seiling all inlaid with gold and yet did the workmanship exceed the matter This Court
scarcity The place of their meeting is called l' hostelle de ville or the Guild Hall The present Provost Mr de Griâ—ux his habit as also that of the Eschevins and Counsellers half red half sky coloured the Citie Leveries with an Hood of the same This Provost is as much above the other in power as men which are loved commonly are above those which are feared This Provost the people willingly yea sometimes factiously obey as the Conservator of their Liberties the other they only dread as the Judges of their lives and the Tyrants of their estates To shew the power of this Provost both for and with the people against their Princes you may please to take notice of two instances for the people against Philip devalois Anno 1349. when the said King desiring an impost of one liure in five Crownes upon all wares sold in Paris for his better managing his warres against the English could obtain it but for one year onely and that not without especial Letters reservall that it should no way incommodate their priviledges which the people Anno 1357. when King John was prisoner in England and Charles the Daulphine afterwards the fifth of that name laboured his ransome among the Parisiens for then Steven Marcell attended by the vulgar Citizens not onely brake open the Daulphinâ—s Chamber but slew John de Confluns and Robert of Chermont two Marshalls of France before his face Nay to adde yet further insolencies to this he took his parti-coloured hood off his head putting it on the Daulphins and all that day wore the Daulphines hat being a brown black pour signal de sa Dictateur as the token of his Dictatorship And which is more than all this he sent the Daulphin cloath to make him a Cloak and Hood of the Cities Liverie and compelled him to avow the Massacre of his Servants above named as done by his command Horrible insolencies Quam miserum est eum haec impunè pacere potuisse as Tullie of Marc. Antonius The Arms of the Town as also of the Corporation of the Provost and Eschevins are Gules a Ship Argent a Cheife poudred with Flower de Luces Or. The seat or place of their Assemblies is called as we said Hostel de Ville or the Guild-hall It was built or rather finisht by Francis the first Anno 1533. and since beautified and repaired by Francis Miron once Provost des Merchands and afterwards privy Counsellor to the King It standeth on one side of the Greue which is the publike place of the Execution and is built quadrangular-wise all of free and polished stone evenly and orderly laid-together You ascend by thirty or forty steps fair and large before you come to the quadrate and thence by several stairs into the several rooms and chambers of it which are very neatly contrived and richly furnished The grand Chastelet is said to have been built by Julian the Apostata at such time as he was Governour of Gaul It was afterwards new built by Philip Augustus and since repaired by Lewis the twelfth In which time of repaitation the Provost of Paris kept his Court in the Palace of the Louure To sight it is not very graceful what it may be within I know not Certain it is that it looketh far more like a Prison for which use it also serveth than a Town Hall or seat of judgement In this part of Paris called la Ville or the Town is the Kings Arcenal or Magazin of War It carrieth not any great face of majesty on the outside neither indeed is it necessary Such places are most beautiful without when they are most terrible within It was begun by Henry the second finished by Charles the ninth and since augmented by Mr. Rhosme great Master of the Artillery It is said to contain an hundred field peices and their Carriage and also armour sufficient for ten thousand Horses and fifty thousand Foot In this part also of Paris is that excellent pile of building called the Place Royal built partly at the charges and partly at the encouragement of Henry the fourth It is built after the form of a Quadrangle every side of the square being in length seventy two fathoms the materials brick of divers colours which make it very pleasant though less durable It is cloystered round just after the fashion of the Royall Exchange in London the walks being paved under foot The houses of it are very fair and large every one having its garden and other out-lets In all they are thirty six nine on a side and seemed to be sufficiently capable of a great retinue The Ambassadour for the State of Venice lying in one of them It is scituate in that place whereas formerly the solemn tiltings were performed A place famous and fatal for the death of Henry the second who was here slain with the splinter of a Launce as he was running with the Earl of Mountgomery a Scottish man A sad and heavy accident To conclude this discourse of the Ville or Town of Paris I must wander a little out of it because the power and command of the provost saith that it must be so For his authority is not confined within the Town he hath seven Daughters on which he may exercise it Les sept filles de la Propaste de Paris as the French call them These seven Daughters are seven Bayliwicks comprehended within the Vicointe of Paris Viz. 1. Poissy 2. St. Germanenlay 3. Tornon 4. Teroiene Brie 5. Corbeil 6. Moutherrie and the 7. Gennesseen France Over these his jurisdiction is extended though not as Provost of Paris Here he commandeth and giveth judgement as Leiutenant Civil to the Duke of Mont-bâzon or the supreme Governour of Paris and the Isle of France for the time being yet this Leiutenancy being an Office perpetually annexed to the Provostship is the occasion that the Bayliwicks above named are called Les sept filles de la Provaste CHAP. VI. The Universitie of Paris and Founders of it Of the Colledges in general Marriage when permitted to the Rectors of them The small maintenance allowed to Schollars in the Universities of France The great Colledge at Tholoza Of the Colledge of the Sorbone in particular That and the House of Parliament the cheif bulwarks of the French liberty Of the policy nnd government of the Universtty The Rector and his precedency The disordered life of the Schollars there being An Apology for Oxford and Cambridge The priviledges of the Scholars Theer Degrees c. THis part of Paris which lieth beyond the furthermost branch of the Seine is called the University It is little inferior to the Town for bigness and less superior to it in sweetness or opulency whatsoever was said of the whole in general was intended to this part also as well as the others All the learning in it being not able to free it from those inconveniencies wherewith it is distressed It containeth in it onely six parish Churches the paucity whereof is
the Purple Robe the Sponge a peice of his Shrowd the Napkin wherewith he was girt when he washed his Disciples feet the Rod of Moses the head of St. Blase St. Clement and St. Simeon and part of the head of John Baptist Immediately under this recital of these Reliques and venerable ones I durst say they were could I be perswaded there were no imposture in them there are set down a Prayer and an Antheme both in the same Table as followeth ORATIO Quaesumus Omnipotens Deus ut qui sacra sanctissimae redemptionis nostrae insignia temporaliter veneramur per haec indesinenter munite aeternitatis gloriam consequamur dominum nostrum c. De sacrosanctis Reliquiis Antiphonae Christo plebs debita tot Christi donis praedita Jucunderis hodie Tota sis devota Erumpens in Jubilum depone mentes nubilum Tempus est Laetitiae Cura sit summota Ecce Crux Lancea Ferrum Corona spine◠Arma Regis gloriae tibi offerantur Omnes terrae populi laudent actorem seculi Per quem tantis gratiae signis offererantur Amen Pretty divinity if one had time to examine it These Reliques as the Table enformeth us were given unto St. Lewis Anno 1247. By Baldwin the second the last King of the Latines in Constantinople to which place the Christians of Palaestine had brought them during the time that those parts were harrowed by the Turks and Saracens Certainly were they the same which they are said to be I see no harm in it if we should honour them The very reverence due to antiquity and a silver head could not but extort some acknowledgement of respect even from a heathen It was therefore commendably done by Pope Leo having received a parcel of the Cross from the Bishop of Hierusalem that he entertained it with respect Particulam Dominicae Crucis saith he in his 72. Epislte cum eulogiis dilectionis tuae Veneranter accepi To adore and worship that or any other Relique whatsoever with prayers and Anthems as the Papists you see do never came within the minds of the Ancients and therefore St. Ambrose calleth it Gentilis error vanitas impiorum This was also Hierom's religion as himself testifieth in his Epistle to Ruparius Nos faith he non dico martyrum reliquias sed ne Solem quidem Lunam non Angelos c. colimus adoramus Thus were those two Fathers minded towards such Reliques as were known to be no others than what they seemed Before too many Centuries of years had consumed the true ones and the imposture of the Priests had brought in the false Had they lived in our times and seen the supposed Reliques of the Saints not honoured onely but adored and worshipped by the blind and infatuated people what would they have said or rather what would they not have said Questionless the least they could do were to take up the complaint of Vigilantius the Papists reckon him for an Heretick saying Quid necesse est tanto honore non solum honorare sed etiam ador are illud nescio quid quod in vasculo transferendo colis Presently without the Chappel is the Burse la Gallerie des Merchands a rank of shops in shew but not in substance like to those in the Exchange at London It reacheth from the Chappel unto the great Hall of Parliament and is the common through-fare between them On the bottom of the stairs and round about the several houses consecrated to the execution of justice are sundry shops of the same nature meanly furnished if compared with ours yet I perswade my self the richest of this kind in Paris I should now go and take a view of the Parliament House but I will step a little out of the way to see the place Daulphin and the little Chastelet This last serveth now onely as the Gaole or common prison belonging to the Court of the Provost of the Merchants and it deserveth no other employment It is seated at the end of the bridge called Petit pont and was built by Hugh Aubriot once Provost of the Town to repress the fury and insolencies of the Scholars whose rudeness and misdemeanours can no way be better bridled Omnes eos qui nomen ipsum Academiae vel serio vel ioco nominassent haereticos pronunciavit saith Platina of Pope Paul the second I will say it of this wilderness that whosoever will account it as an Academy is an Heretick to Learning and Civility The place Daulphin is a beautiful heap of building scituate nigh unto the new bridge It was built at the encouragement of Henry the fourth and entituled according to the title of his Son The houses are all of brick high built uniform and indeed such as deserve and would exact a longer description were not the Parliament now ready to sit and my self summoned to make my appearance CHAP. VIII The Parliament of France when began Of whom it consisted The Dignity and esteem of it abroad made sedentary at Paris appropriated to the long Robe The Palais by whom built and converted to seats of Justice The seven Chambers of Parliament the great Chamber the number and dignity of the Presidents The Duke of Biron afraid of them The Kings seat in it The sitting of the Grandsigneur in the Divano The authority of the Court in causes of all kinds and over the affairs of the King This Court the main pillar of the liberty of France La Tournelle and the Judges of it The five Chambers of Enquests severally instituted and by whom In what causes it is decisive The form of admitting Advocates into the Court of Parliament The Chancellor of France and his authority The two Courts of Requests and Masters of them The vain envy of the English Clergy against the Lawyers THe Court of Parliament was at the first instituted by Charles Marcell Grandfather to Charlemaine at such time as he was Maior of the Palace unto the lazy and retchless Kings of France In the beginning of the French Empire their King did justice to the people in person Afterwards banishing themselves from all the affairs of State that burden was cast upon the shoulders of their Maires An Office much of the nature with the Praefesti Praetorio in the Roman Empire When this Office was bestowed upon the said Charles Marcell he partly weary of the trouble partly intent about a business of a higher nature which was the estating of the Crown in his own Posterity but principally to indear himself to the Common people ordained the Court of Parliament Anno 720. It consisted in the beginning of twelve Peers the Prelates and Noblemen of the best fashion together with some of the principallest of the Kings Houshold Other Courts are called the Parliament with the addition of place as of Paris at Roven c. This onely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Parliament It handled as well causes of State as those of private persons For hither did the Embassadours of mighty Princes
repair to have their audience and dispatch and hither were the Articles agreed upon in the National Synods of France sent to be confirmed and verified Here did the Subjects tender in their homages and oaths of fidelity to the King And here were the Appeals heard of all such as had complained against Comtes at that time the Governors and Judges in their several Counties Being furnished thus with the prime and choisest Nobles of the Land it grew into great estimation abroad in the world insomuch that the Kings of Sicily Cyprus Scotland Bohemia Portugal and Navarre have thought it no disparagement unto them to sit in it And which is more when Frederick the second had spent so much time in quarrels with Pope Innocent the fourth he submitted himself and the rightness of his cause to be examined by this Noble Court of Parliament At the first institution of this Court it had no settled place of residence being sometimes kept at Tholoza sometimes at Aix la Chapelle sometimes in other places according as the Kings pleasure and the case of the people did require During the time of its peregrination it was called Ambulatorie following for the most part the Kings Court as the lower Sphears do the motin of the Primum Mobile But Philip le Belle he began his raign An. 1280. being to take a journey into Flanders and to stay there a long space of time for the settling of his affairs in that Countrey took order that his Court of Parliament should stay behind him at Paris where ever since it hath continued Now began it to be called Sedentary or settled and also peu a pen by little and little to loose much of its lustre For the Cheif Princes and Nobles of the Kings retinue not able to live out of the air of the Court withdrew themselves from the troubles of it by which means it came at last to be appropriated to those of the long Robe as they term them both Bishops and Lawyers In the year 1463. the Prelates also were removed by the Command of Lewis the eleventh an utter enemy to the great ones of his Kingdom onely the Bishop of Paris and the Abbot of St. Denis being permitted their place in it Since which time the Professors of the Civil Law have had all the swaying in it cedeunt arma togae as Tully The place in which this Sedentary Court of Parliament is now kept is called the Palaâ—e being built by Philip le Belle and intended to be his Mansion or dwelling house He began it in the first year of his reign Viz. Anno 1286. and afterwards assigned a part of it to his Judges of the Parliament it being not totally and absolutely quitted unto them till the dayes of King Luwis the tenth In this the French Subjects are beholding to the English by whose good example they got the ease of a Sedentary Court Our Law Courts also removing with the King till the year 1224. when by a Statute in the Magna Charta it was appointed to be fixt and a part of the Kings Pallace in Westminster allotted for that purpose Within the Virge of this Pallace are contained the seven Chambers the Parliament That called le grand Chambre five Chambers of Inquisition or des Enquests and one other called la Tournelle There are moreover the Chambers des aides des accompts de l'ediect des Monnoyes and one called la Chambre Royal of all which we shall have occasion to speak in their proper places these not concerning the common Government of the People but onely the Kings Revenues Of these seven Chambers of Parliaments le grand Chambre is most famous and at the building of this House by Philip le belle was intended for the Kings bed It is no such beautiful place as the French make it that at Roven being farre beyond it although indeed it much excells the fairest room of Justice in Westminster So that it standeth in a middle rank between them and almost in the same proportion as Virgil between Homer and Ovid. Quantum Virgilius magno concessit Homero Tantum ego Virgilio Naso Poeta mâ—o It consisteth of seven Presidents Councellers the Kings Atturney and as many Advocates and Proctors as the Court will please to give admission to The Advocates have no settled studies within the Pallace but at the Barre but the Procureurs or Atturneys have their several Pewes in a great Hall which is without this Grand Chambre in such manner as I have before described at Roven A large building it is faire and high roofed not long since ruined by casualty of fire and not yet fully finished The names of the Presidents are 1. Mr. Verdun the first President or by way of excellencie le President being the secâ—nd man of the long Robe in France 2. Mr. Sequer lately dead and likely to have his Son succeed him as well in his Office as his Lands 3. Mr. Leiger 4. Mr. Dosammoi 5. Mr. Sevin 6. Mr. Baillure and 7. Mr. Maisme None of these neither Presidents nor Councellers can goe out of Paris when the Lawes are open without leave of the Court It was ordained so by Lewis the twelfth Anno 1499. and that with good judgement Sentences being given with greater awe and business managed with greater Majesty when the Bench is full and it seemeth indeed that they carry with them a great terrour For the Duke of Biron a man of as uncontrolled a spirit as any in France being called to answer for himself in this Court protested that those scarlet Robes did more amaze him than all the red Cassocks of Spain At the left hand of this Grand Chambre or golden Chamber as they call it is a Throne or Seate Royall reserved for the King when he shall please to come and see the administration of Justice amongst his people At common times it is naked and plain but when the King is expected it is clothed with blew purple Velvet semied with Flowers de lys On each side of it are two forms or benches where the Peers of both habits both Ecclesiastcal and Secular use to fit and accompany the King but this is little to the ease or benefit of the Subject and as little available to try the integrity of the Judges his presence being alwayes fore-known and so they accordingly prâ—pared Farre better then is it in the Court of the Grand Signeur where the Divano or Counsell of the Turkish Affaires holden by the Bassa's is hard by his bed Chamber which looketh into it The window which giveth him this enterveiwe is perpetually hidden with a curtaine on that side of the partition which is towards the Divano so that the Bassa's and other Judges cannot at any time tell that the Emperour is not listening to their Sentences An action in which nothing is Turkish or Mahometan The authority of this Court extendeth it self to all Causes within the Jurisdiction of it not being meerly Ecclesiastical It is a Law
October Anno 1603. They not onely gave audience to Ambassadours and received Letters from forrain Princes but also importuned his Majesty to have a general liberty of going into any other Countreys and assigning at their Counsel a matter of especial importance And therefore the King upon a foresight of the dangers wisely prohibited them to go to any Assemblies without a particular licence upon pain to be declared Traytors Since that time growing into greater strength whensoever they had occasion of business with King Lewis they would never treat with him but by their Embassadors and upon especial Articles An ambition above the quality of those that profess themselves Sorbonets and the onely way as Du Seirres noteth to make an estate in the State but the answers made unto the King by those of Alerack and Montanbon are pregnant proofs of their intent and meaning in this kind The first being summoned by the King and his Army the 22. of July Anno 1621. returned thus that the King should suffer them to enjoy their liberties and leave their fortifications as they were for them of their lives and so they would declare themselves to be his subjects They of Montanbon made a fuller expression of the general design Disobedience which was that they were resolved to live and die in the Vnion of the Churches had they said for the Service of the King it had been spoken bravely but now rebelliously This union and confederacy of theirs King Lewis used to call the Common-wealth of Rochell for the overthrow of which he alwayes protested that he had onely taken Arms and if we compare circumstances we shall find it to be no other In the second of April before he had as yet advanced into the Feild he published a Declaration in favour of all those of the Religion which would contain themselves within duty and obedience And whereas some of Tours at the beginning of the warrs had tumultuously molested the Protestants at the burial of one of their dead five of them by the Kings especial commandement were openly executed When the warr was hottest abroad those of the Gospel at Paris lived as securely as ever and had their accustomed meetings at Charentan So had those also of other places Moreover when tidings came to Paris of the Duke of Mayens death slain before Montanbon the Rascal French according to their hot headed dispositions breathed out nothing but ruine to the Hugonots the Duke of Montbazon Governour of the City commanded their houses and the streets to be safely guarded After when this Rabble had burnt down their Temple at Charentan the Court of Parliament on the day following ordained that it should be built up again in a more beautiful manner and that at the Kings charge Add to this that since the ending of the warrs and the reduction of almost all their Towns we have not seen the least alteration of Religion Besides that they have been permitted to hold a National Synod at Clarenton for establishing the truth of their doctrine against the errors of Arminius Professor of Leiden in Holland All things thus considered in their true being I cannot see for what cause our late Soveraign should suffer so much envy as he did for not giving them assistance I cannot but say that my self hath too often condemned his remissness in that cause which upon better consideration I cannot tell how he should have dealt in Had he been a meddler in it further than he was he had not so much preserved Religion as supported rebellion besides the consequence of the example To have assisted the disobedient French under the colour of the liberty of Conscience had been onely to have taught that King a way into England upon the same pretence and to have troad the path of his own hazard Further he had not long before denyed succor to his own children when he might have given upon a better ground and for a fairer purpose and could not now in honour countenance the like action in another For that other denial of his helping hand I much doubt how farre posterity will acquit him though certainly he was a good Prince and had been an happy instrument of the peace of Christendom had not the later part of his raign happened in a time so full of troubles So that betwixt the quietness of his nature and the turbulencies of his later dayes he fell into that miserable exigent mentioned in the Historian Miserrimum est cum alicui aut natura sua excedenda est aut minuenda dignitas Add to this that the French had first been abandoned at home by their own friends of seven Generals whom they had appointed for the seven circles into which they divided all France four of them never giving them incouragement The three which accepted of those inordinate Governments were the Duke of Rohan his Brother Mr. Sonbise and the Marquess la Force the four others being the Duke of Tremoville the Earl of Chastillon the Duke of Lesdiguier and the Duke of Bovillon who should have commanded in cheif So that the French Protestants cannot say that he was first wanting unto them but they to themselves If we demand what should move the French Protestants to this rebellious contradiction of his Majesties commandements we must answer that it was too much happiness Causa hujus belli eadem quae omnium nimid faelicitas as Florus of the Civil warrs between Caesar and Pompey Before the year 1620. when they fell first into the Kings dis-favour they were possessed of almost an hundred good Towns well fortified for their safety besides beautiful houses and ample possessions in the Villages They slept every man under his own Vine and his own Fig-tree neither fearing nor needing to fear the least disturbance with those of the Catholike party they were grown so intimate and entire by reason of their inter-marriages that a very few years would have made them incorporated if not into one faith yet into one family For their better satisfaction in matters of Justice it pleased King Henry the fourth to erect a chamber in the Court of Parliament of Paris purposely for them It consisted of one President and sixteen Counsellors their office to take knowledge of all the Causes and Suits of them of the Reformed Religion as well within the jurisdiction of the Parliament of Paris as also in Normandy and Brittain till there should be a Chamber erected in either of them There were appointed also two Chambers in the Parliament of Bourdeaux and Grenoble and one at Chasters for the Parliament at Tholoza These Chambers were called Les Chambres de l' Edict because they were established by a special Edict at the Town of Nantes in Brittain April the eighth Anno 1598. In a word they lived so secure and happy that one would have thought their felicities had been immortal O faciles dare summa Deos eademque tuerâ— Difficiles And yet they are not brought so low but that they may