Princes are as you see many their Designs as you have heard too viz. to conserve and to increase their own and the means to effeâ—t and accomplish their Desires as you shall understand many in number and divers in nature Of the Princes their Designs and their Means I will deliver unto you my opinion in General and in Particular Generally You see and I consider that by the Competencies Pretensions Titles Quarrels and Debates of all these Princes the general Estate of Christendom is greatly weakned and the strength of the common Adversary daily increased That all their Realms and Dominions are either molested by continual Wars within the very Bowels and poor inward parts of the same or grieved with intollerable charges in sending out Men and Munition with other things necessary unto the said Wars That their Subjects are greatly impoverished by reason of these Charges and their hearts sorely oppressed with grief and anguish because of these troubles Lastly That some of these Princes fain would and cannot others can and will not redress those Enormities Now seeing all this you cry out with the time against the time with the time you accompany their just complaints with your sorrows who lament the iniquity of the time and against the time both you and they say that it is more wicked dangerous and troublesome then ever it was You think it impossible to find a Magistrate so just as Aristides An Emperor so good as Trajan A King so fortunate as Augustus A Prince so valiant as Alexander A Captain so chaste as Scipie A Councellor so faithful as Hephestion A General so expert as Hannibal A Conqueror so merciful as the Romans You see no Princes in this our corrupt Age surnamed Gods as was Demetrius amongst the Athenians The delight and love of the people as was Titus amongst the Romans The wonder of the world as was Otho the third amongst the Germans The Founder of their Cities as was Caius Marius amongst the Romans The Father of the common people as was Cyrus amongst the Persians The Son of fortune as was Charles the Great amongst the Bohemians The Buckler of the Common-wealth as was Fabius Maximus Or the Sword of the Country as was Marcus Marcellus You rather find that some Princes may be called Tyrants as was Dionysius The Scourge of God as was Attila Epicures and God Bacchus as was Antonius Lords and cruel Governors as was Cambises Covetous and Merchants as was Darius Lecherous and Effeminate as was Sardanapalus You see no Honours done unto Princes of our time as was done in times past If they be in Adversity their Subjects put not on mourning weeds as the Romans did when Manlius was in trouble If they be in Prison the Clergy giveth not their Treasure and the Commonalty the fourth part of their goods for their Liberty as the Clergy and Commonalty of England did for the Ransome of R. 1. If God calleth them to his mercy neither do the women bewail their deaths ten Moneths together as the Roman Dames did the death of Coriolanus nor the men poll their Heads their Horses and their Mules or fill the Air with cries the Rivers with tears or the Fields with continual lamentations as the Persians did for Masistias But contrary wise some of them are wrongfully driven from their Kingdoms as in Don Antonio of Portugal others continually molested with Domestical Wars as is Henry King of France some untimely done to death by their unnatural Subjects as was the late French King others unjustly persecuted by their unmerciful enemies as is the merciful Queen of England you see the Godly called ungodly as the Princes of France and England are commonly termed Heretiques and those which are far from the Catholique faith called Catholiques as the present King of Spain and a few of his Predecessors You see Subjects licensed to rebel against their Soveraigns as in France and England You see Fathers bear Arms against their children and Brethren war against the seed of their Mothers Womb as they do in France and Flanders You see Fields that were wont to be fruitful to lye now barren and unfertile Cities that were rich and populous to be poor and desolate Merchants that lived in wealth and prosperity to languish in need and penury Gentlemen that neither wanted ease or pleasure to lack all manner of rest and contentment And lastly Men Women and Children that knew not what murther and massacres meant cruelly murthered and daily massacred You see Germany pestered with divers Religions Poland infected with sundry Heresies France divided into many opinions Flanders distressed by plurality of Religions and England troubled with Genevian Puritans and obstinate Barrowists You see in all or some of these Regions Monasteries subverted Religious Houses destroyed Ecclesiastical living abused and Benefices unworthily collated You see Justice corruptly administred Laws dissolutely executed good counsel negligently followed and dissembling flattery more then diligently embraced You see new charges daily invented unaccustomed Subsidies yearly imposed extraordinary grievances hourly practised and unknown Offices unadvisedly established You see secret wars under the name of peace hidden enemies under the colour of amity privy seditions under the pretence of ancient confederacies You see Nobility to degenerate in vertue from their Ancestors Sons to vary in opinion from their Fathers Neighbours to dissent in Religion with their next Inhabitants and Judges not to agree in matters of Justice with their fellows in Office You see the Puritan ready in outward appearance to dye for his Religion the Anabaptist for his the Papist for his the Lutheran for his the Barrowist for his and other Sectaries for their several Sects and Heresies Briefly you see Offices dearly sold which were wont to be freely given Women impudently bold which were accustomed to be honestly minded Men transformed into mis-guised Atires and children brought up and misled in unknown vices and impersections Now seeing all this you fear that variety of Religions may subvert the Countries wherein it is suffered as it did in Bohemia and Hungary That new exactions may chance to cause a Rebellion in the Regions wherein they are levyed as it did in France and Flanders That Princes degenerating from their Antecessors may be driven from their Imperial Crowns as they have been in Spain and Germany That Towns not inhabited may cause penury amongst the Nobility want amongst the Merchants and extream poverty amongst the other Inhabitants as they do in France and Flanders And lastly That all and every one of these Mischiefs and Miseries may breed further inconveniencies as they have done in other Countries in which they have been either in old time or within our memory practised This sight therefore and this fear ingendreth in your heart a just and worthy dislike of the present time and a great desire and delight in the Age of your fore-Fathers You condemned
Forces tended to no other purpose then to chuse him But the king of Spains device was not in all respects so cleanly as you shall hear by the sequel But you must first understand how many Competetors there were for this one Crown and what right every one of them had thereunto Emanuel king of Portugal married first Isabel Daughter to Ferdinando king of Castile by whom he had but one male child which died in his infancy Then he took to Wife Mary the second Daughter of the said Ferdinand by whom he had nine children Iohn who had issue Iohn the third and he Sebastian which was lately slain not leaving any issue behind him Lodowick who was lately secretly married and had issue this Don Antonio who now liveth in England The third child was Ferdinando who married a daughter of the Earl of Marialva by whom he had two Sons who dyed before their Father The fourth was Alphonsus who was made Cardinal and departed the world not having any child The fifth was Henry who was likewise a Cardinal and king after Don Sebastian and died also without issue The sixth was Edward who married Theodosia Dutchess of Burgantia by whom he had three children that is to say Mary who married Alexander Prince of Parma Katharine who took to husband the Duke of Burgantia and Edward who died unmarried The seventh was Anthony who died in his infancy The eighth childe was Isabel who was married to Charles the Emperour and had issue by him the present king of Spain The last was Beatrice wife to the Duke of Savoy These were the issue now follow the Competitors they were five Don Antonio lawful son as he proved unto Lodowick the second heir male of Emanuel The Prince of Parma as Tutor unto his son begotten upon the eldest daughter of Edward the sixth heir male The Duke of Bergantia begotten on the body of Katharine the second daughter of the said Edward King Philip begotten of the body of Isabel eldest daughter unto Emanuel And the Duke of Savoy the lawful heir of the youngest daughter of the said Emanuel Now of all these competitors to deliver you first my opinion I take it alwaies salvo meliori judicio that none of them all could lawfully claim the Crown of Portugal For as many as hold the marriage of Henry the eighth king of England with the Lady Katharine unlawful because she was married unto his eldest brother Arthur must needs hold the marriage of Emanuel king of Portugal far more unlawful because both king Henry and he married unlawfully For if two brethren cannot successively marry one woman truly two sisters cannot be married unto one man And the reason which some use to justifie king Henry his marriage cannot serve for the justification of king Emanuel's matrimony for all that was said in the defence of the Lady Katharine was that her husband never knew her carnally which cannot be truly said for king Emanuel because he had a son by his first wife wherefore if all these nine children being begotten in unlawful wedlock cannot possibly be reputed legitimate and therefore are not lawful heirs to their reputed fathers much less can any of they who descend from any of these nine children be esteemed lawful heirs to the Crown of Portugal But grant them to be lawful and then to each of their Titles in order Don Antonio hath sufficiently justified his Title in his Apologie by many reasons which I reduce to these three principally First he proveth his Fathers marriage though it were with his far inferiour to be lawful notwithstanding the disparagement in regard of which it was concealed Then he fortifieth his Title by the custome of the people of Portugal who by ancient priviledge challenge a right in case of controversie for the Crown to make choice of such an one of the competitors as they shall have a special liking and love unto Lastly he either sheweth or might shew that Bastards have succeeded in the Kingdom of Portugal and that therefore although Bastardy had been fully proved against him yet being chosen by the common consent of the people it was no sufficient bar or lawful exception to say that he was a Bastard especially being made by such an one as came from a Bastard himself and holdeth his own Kingdom by right derived from a Bastard as doth the present king of Spain For the Chronicles of Spain report that Henry bastard brother unto Peter king of Spain taking advantage of the evil opinion which was conceived of his brother by reason of his loose and dissolute life by the help of the French King notwithstanding that Edward the third aided the said Peter and once restored him to his Crown drave him the second time from the same and having slain him in the Field usurped his Royal dignity and transferred it unto his heirs of which king Philip is lineally descended For there was a time when as Iohn Prince of Castile and son to Henry of Castile challenged the Kingdom of Portugal because he had married Beatrice the only daughter and heir of Ferdinando late king of Portugal but the people would not accept him for their king because they naturally hated the Castilians and therefore they chose a bastard for their king named Denis saying That it was as lawful for them to chuse the said bastard for their king as it was for the Castilians to admit Henry the bastard for their king who had as is above said deprived most unlawfully and unnaturally the lawful king of his life and Scepter Now from Don Antonio unto the rest in general who because they all claim by right of their mothers are all excluded by an inviolable law of Portugal alledged against the aforesaid Iohn Prince of Castile in the behalf of the aforementioned bastard Denis whereby it is provided That no woman shall enjoy the Crown of Portugal For whereas there is a Law that no woman shall succeed the same Law as it appeareth by the Law Salique alledged against us in the time of King Edward the third excludeth also the males descending from the woman And so these four Competitors claim is utterly void and of none effect And in case where women may succeed the Females descending from an heir male are to be preferred before such as come only and directly from the female And so the Prince of Parma and the Duke of Bergantia descending from the daughters of Prince Edw. and they in law succeeding their Father as the same person and his undoubted heirs are not only to be preferred before the King of Spain and the Duke of Savoy who came of the daughters of the before-named Emanuel but also before their Aunts the said King Philips and Duke of Savoy's mothers because in matter of Succession the elder brothers children are always preferred before the Uncles or Aunts Those Titles and the means how the Kings of Spain prevailed before the rest of his Competitors are largely set
they commanded all Italy they might justly stand in fear of such an Enemy in Italy as the King of France may be thereunto And so consequently that the present King of Spain whose power is by very many degrees inferiour and not equal to the Romans hath very great and just occasion to doubt and fear the French King for it is written that Hannibal who was the greatest enemy that ever the Romans had who in my simple conceit was the most wise politique and valiant Captain that ever lived who knew the strength of the Romans and how they might well and conveniently be annoyed by any Prince that would undertake Wars against them better then any General of former Age or of our time doth or can know being driven after the ruin and destruction of Carthage to fly for succour and for his last refuge unto King Antiochus delivered unto him for his sound and setled opinion that Italy was a Country that was able to yeild unto any forrain Enemy both Souldiers and Victuals against it self and yet whosoever would attempt any enterprise either secretly or openly against Italy must take the advantage of some Conspiracy Tumult or Commotion to be moved within the very bowels and entralls of Italy for that if the Romans might wholly enjoy and imploy the only forces and strength thereof there was never any King or any Nation that might justly and truly compare with the Romans Then if Italy be such a Country as undoubtedly it appeareth to be by Hannibals Testimony If it be able to yeild releif to Forrainers if the next way to win it be to have a partie and partakers in it who can be thought wise that shall be of opinion the Spaniard is of so great power and Authority in Italy that he should not need to fear the French Kings might or puissance Shall he not be feared because some men perhaps think him not able to set forth an Army sufficient to encounter with the Spanish Forces Why it is written that Alexander the Great who conquered mightier Princes then the present King of Spain is never had in amy Army above 30000. Foot-men and 4000. Horse-men It is writen that the very Romans whose power was such as you have heard it to be never used greater Forces against any forrain enemy then an Army of 40. or 50m. at the most Lastly it is Recorded that the Spanish Kings Father held an opinion for many reasons him thereunto moving that an Army of the same number and quality which Alexander used was without all doubt and controversie sufficient for any Prince whatsoever against any enemy was he never so mighty Again shall he not be feared because his Treasure is not equal unto the Spaniards Golden Mines Why it is true that money and Gold are the very sinews of War it is an infallible Maxime we hold it for a most ancient and over-ruled Rule but if riches had been the best and only means to subdue Nations never had the poor Romans at their first beginning nor the needy Swizzers in their Wars against the rich Duke of Burgundy nor the beggarly Normans in the Infantry of their Chivalry obtained such Victories and Conquests as they did But grant that the Spaniard needeth not fear any Enemy in Italy unless he be as mighty as the Romans both in money and in men If the French King shall be found to be such an enemy will the Spaniards favourers confess that he is worthy to be feared If they should not you would hold them to be senceless And if in this Point concerning the annoying of the Spaniard in Italy I prove him not in some manner equal to the Romans I can be content that my slender Reputation shall suffer any manner of indignity Titus Livius and many other Authors of the like Authority and Credit make true and large mention of the harms of the indignities and of the damages which the Romans sustained by Hannibal They report how he passed the Alpes with great difficulty brought in forces into Italy with great danger ruled his Souldiers with great dexterity provided things necessary for them with singular wisdom and providence won divers Princes of Italy to join with him and them with great Wit and Policy Lastly proceeded on his journey with so great courage and magnanimity prevailed in his enterprises with so good success and fortune terrified and daunted the invincible hearts and stomachs of the Romans with so many unexpected and notable Victories that they had no other way to be rid of him but to send Scipio to War in Affrica and by besieging Carthage to call him home to the releif of Carthage Now for the better proof of my purpose give me leave I pray you to compare the Spaniard and the Romans the French King and Hannibal together a Molehil indeed with a Mountain an Eagle in truth with a fly but such a Molehil and such a fly as will declare the greatness of the Mountain as will illustrate the might and vertues of the Eagle The Romans commanded all Italy The Spaniard ruleth most part of Italy they had no man in Hannibals time that durst oppose himself openly against him he hath few or none in our Age that dareth shew himself an open enemy against him they were generally feared he is undoubtedly redoubted they were assisted by their friends against Hannibal he would likewise find friends against the French King Briefly they stood upon their guard and he is not without his Garrisons But an Hannibal annoyed them when they were almost in the highest period of their pride and prosperity And why may not a French King work him annoyance when he standeth most assuredly upon his defence Shall he not be able to hurt him because the Alpes divide France and Italy and maketh the passage hard and difficult But Hannibal passed them when they were not so passable as they are now And how many times have the Frenchmen passed them since Hannibals time Shall he not find means to work him dispight and hindrance because he is not so well experienced in Wars as Hannibal was But may he not find many Captains who in these days have little less experience then Hannibal had Shall he not be sufficient to war against him in Italy because the Country is far better fortified then in Hannibals time but late experience hath taught us that those Fortifications Holds and Citadels could not stay the course of Charls the eighth King of France who passed through all Italy as a Conquerour until he came to the Kingdom of Naples which he also subdued Briefly shall he not prevail against him in Italy because the Spaniard is in League with most of the Princes hereof But Histories afford us many examples that the Italian Princes have oftentimes broken their League with the Emperour and other his Predecessors whose greatness they either feared or enveighed as they do the overgrowing power of the Spaniard at this present And why may not
himself Monarch of all the world all the Princes of Christendom fearing his over growing greatness began to consult and take advice how they might bridle his ambition and hinder the proud and insolent projects of his aspiring and imperious minde But the Princes of Germany who had greatest occasion to fear him most were the fiâ—st that bended all their thoughts and all their cogitations to move the rest of the Princes and Potentates of Europe to joyn with them in League and Amity against him Then were there sent Ambassadors unto the King of England France and Denmark Then were there Letters written unto the Swiâ—zers Then were Letters dispatched to the Duke and Seigniory of Venice to desire help against the Emperor and to distract the Venetians from the League of Amity which they had with him and to intreat both the Venetians and the Switzers not to suffer any Forces to pass by their Dominions which should be sent out of Italy unto Caesar. Then did as many Princes as were not in League with the Emperor shew themselves forward in this honourable Action and those who for their Leagues sake could not openly assist the Confederates against Caesar exhorted others to joyn with them against him and to make them more able and willing to enter into the action they lent or paid them great sums of mony which they owed unto them Then since it behoveth Princes in wisdom and policy to keep their next neighbours as weak as they may since the Spaniard before the king of France changed his Religion pretended to war against him for no other causeâ— but to inforce him thereunto and now continueth his Wars and aiâ—ing his Rebels although the French king is of himself become a Catholick which proveth manifestly that it was not Religion but ambition that moved him to aid and assist those Rebels since it is apparent to the World that he onely disturbeth as I have said the peace and quietness of all the world and causeth the Turk to insult as he doth upon Christian Princes since both Othon the Third and Conrad the Emperors Laws injoyn all Princes as it hath been shewed upon other occasion to bend their Forces and to bandy themselves with main might against such a Prince and such a disturber of common peace as the Spaniard is I see no reason why the Princes of Christendom as well Friends as Foes unto him should not all joyntly and with one consent inforce him to contain himself within his bounds and limits and to succour and assist him against the common Adversary of Christian Religion who of late hath given the Christians no small overthrow The Popes of Rome were wont when Christendom stood in no greater danger of the Turk then it doth at this present to send their Ambassadors from Prince to Prince to reconcile them if they were at variance and to exhort them to imploy the uttermost of their powers against the professed Enemy of Christendom It is written that Paulus Tertius a Poâ—e that was ninety years old when he departed this world not long before he diâ—d considering the great danger and peril that was likely to fall upon Christendom by reason of the pride and ambition of the great Turk and the unnatural discord and dissention that was betwixt â—rancis the first and Charles the fifth sent his own Nephew the Cardinal Fernese unto them to make a friendly composition and agreement betwixt them The like Atonement might the present Pope make betwixt the French king and the Spaniard who hath now no other pretence to fight against France but that the king thereof although he is become a Catholick yet he remains Excommunicate a pretence both vain and frivolous because the kings of France and the Peer thereof and also all his Officers cannot be lawfully excommunicated by the Pope as it may appear by the priviledges granted unto divers kings of France by many Popes as namely by Martin the third and fourth Gregory the eighth ninth tenâ—h and eleventh Alexander the fourth Clement the fourth and fifth Nicholas the third Urban the fifth and Boniface the twelfth The which Priviledges are to be seen in the Treasury where the kings Charters are usually kept And when the Pope shall interpose his Authority many other Princes shall likewise labour to make them friends as of late years the King of Denmark was a Mediator of peace betwixt him and our gracious Sovereign And if when this motion shall be made unto him he will neither regard the Authority of the Intercessors nor respect the manifest eminent danger of Christendom but still continue and follow his ambitious nature and unchristian course then will it be a sit and convenient time to implore and imploy the aid and assistance of his near and dearest friends against him then because â—insmen forsake even the next of their own blood when they will not yeeld unto reason and friends many times fall unto variance when they are put in mind of old quarrels and antient injuries it will not be amiss to revive the memory of old and new wrongs and indignities offered by the house of Austria unto their Neighbors their Allies their Kinsmen their Friends and other Princes that now either fear or favour them Then would it be shewed that all the Emperors and Princes of that Family have neither regarded consanguinity of blood or alliance of Friendship nor the wealth of their Subjects nor the bonds of Equity and Reason but have always preferred their private gain before the Commonweal their own interest before their â—â—insmens and Friends commodity and advantage their own will and pleasure before all Law and Justice briefly their subtil devices and deceits before plain dealing and sincerity Then to begin with the infancy of their Family it would be made known that when they were but poor Counts of Hapsparge they encroâ—ched upon their Neighbours they wronged and oppressed the simple and well-meaning Switzers over whom they tyrannized so long that at length by common consent and by a general Revolt against them both they and their Officers were violently driven out of the Country Then would it be declared that Rodulph the first Emperor of their House obtained the Empire by plain deceit and cunning and so carried himself therein that he sought his own commodity more then the wealth of the Empire and shewed many evident signs and arguments of loathsom and detestable ingratitude For whenas the Empire had been void almost Twenty years and divers Compeitors affected the same as Henry of Thyringia and VVilliam Earl of Holland Alphons King of Castile and Richard Brother unto the King of England and all those Corrivals had almost wasted themselves and their friends in seeking for the place and in maintaining themselves therein The Electors being over-wearied with the length and troubles of this tedioâ—s Competency sent Conrade Archbishop of Coruge unto Othagarius King of Bâ—hemia to pray him to accept the Empire but he thinking himself not sufficient
what occasion they began to encanton themselves how base men they were that were the first Authors thereof how Stansfather Gualter first and Arnold Melthdiall detesting the unsupportable Tyranny of the Governor Greisleir drew first divers Gentlemen and then the inhabitants of a few Towns to conspire the death of their Governour and the banishment of all the Officers set over them by the house of Austria how they beat down to the ground all their Castles how they perswaded the Towns of Sinty Ury and Underwald to free and emancipate themselves from the Thraldom and Bondage wherein they lived under the house of Austria How after this association others entred into League with them and briefly how after their general confederacy they lived many years contented with their own and scant knew what wealth meant Was it not wonderous that after the notable victory which they had at Grason against Charles Duke of Burgondy they knew not the worth or value of the goods that came to their hands Will any man beleeve that they should tear into a Thousand pieces the fairest pavilion that ever was seen in the world May it be credited that they sold great dishes and platters of clean Silver thinking that they had been of Tin for six pence a piece Will it not seem incredible that the fairest Diamond that was in those dayes in the world and had a very great and rich pearl hanging thereat was sold unto a Priest for a Florin and that he sent it unto their chief Governor who gave him but three Franks which is a French Crown for the same And to what reputation are these people now grown Are they not held the best Pikemen of the world Do not the greatest Princes of Europe seek their Amity and alliance Strive they not who shall first entertain them and continue longest in league with them Have they not more liberty in Italy then any nation whatsoever Are not the Grisons their Confederates free from the Inquisition a freedom not granted unto any Nation but unto them Was there not a time when a King of France for calling them base people was forsaken by them and made a prey unto his Enemies Did they not in revenge of that disdainfull word make a Road into his Country and had they not come unto the walls of Paris if they had not been intreated and hired for great Rewards to return into their Country Who can desire a more notable and worthy example of valour and fortitude then they shewed in Navar in Italy where they being in a strong Citty and not needing to make any sally out they came forth upon the French that lay before the Town went proudly and without fear upon the fearfull and terrible mouthes of their greatest Artillery took the same and bended it upon their Enemies whom with the onely help thereof they put to a most shamefull flight and to the edges of their unmercifull swords When we remember these men and enter into cogitation of the premisses we must justly fear that the Hollanders and their Adherents may one day have the like mindes and the like fortune And if they should chance to grow to the like greatness be it of minde or of fortune let us consider what advantage they shall have of Princes Even the same advantage which Titus Livius mentioneth in the comparison which he maketh betwixt Alexander the Great and the Romans For they have many Alexanders whereas a Kingdom should have but one and with this ones death his whole State should be endangered whereas the losse of some of their Alexanders shall not endanger their State and Kingdoms Enterprises shall perish with their King and their Attempts shall be performed by their surviving Alexanders Briefly the Kings posterity shall not resemble him and their Successors shâ—ll rather excel then not imitate them Thus to have all the Low-Countries governed by a few States or by one Prince wholly depending upon the King of Spain were in one and the same measure dangerous and therefore it were convenient for us in wisdom and policy to erect and establish such a Prince as should neither aâ—together depend upon France nor be wholy devoted unto Spain or else to divide the seventeen Provinces into divers several Cantons and to nourish continually a diversity of opinions and Religions amongst them whereby some of them being led to affect us and others to favour Princes of their Religion they shall be neither holpen nor hurt by them more then we nor we more then they Besides Experience yeeldeth us this comfort that as long as we shall entertain a free and loving 〈◊〉 entercourse of Trade and Traffique with them whereby their people may be inriched their Cities frequented and their several Artificers maintained and nourished so long may we be assured of their fast Friendship and Amity For if when as that notable contention and competency for the Crown of France was between Edward the third and Philip de Valâ—ys although Lewis the Earl of Flanders favoured the French King because he was his Vassal yet the Common people affected and furthered our Kings claim and quarrel and would not be drawn from us by any manner of whatsoever perswasion why may we not hope to fined the like affection in them even against their Soveraign if we should have the like occasion to use their furtherance For as then many of their Towns standing wholy upon the Trade of wooll with which their Diers Fullers and other such Artificers were maintained they would not leave us to lean to their Prince because if our King should not have sent thither our woolls they knew not how to live and for that France was not able to hurt them so much as England could do both by Sea and by Land so now if they should want such Commodities any long time as we send over unto them although they be now far stronger by Sea then they were then yet either the regard of profit or the fear of discommodity and hurt that might arise unto them by the discord betwixt us and them would cause them to stand fast and assâ—â—ed unto us rather then unto our Enemies especially if we shall entertain some such faithfull friends unto us amongst the common people as were the before mentioned Artevild Boscanus Agricola and others Thus Spain being weakned and the Low-Countries either all or the most part thereof well-affected unto us we shall stand in less danger and fear of France whose troubles and divisions although they begin now somewhat to cease yet I fear me that when they are once utterly extinguished they will be quickly revived again For as fire being but covered over with ashes and not throughly put out is soon kindled again so reconciled friends the causes of their former contentions not being wholly removed upon very light occasions fall again to strife and variance The experience thereof was seen in the Reign of Henry the third of England and in the time of Lewis Menervensis
considerable advantage 98 XXIX That there was just occasion given for the intercepting the Spanish money sent into Flanders 105 XXX That the Spaniard is generally supposed to be more powerful then really he is 110 XXXI The nature and condition of the Spanish people 115 XXXII The false commendations given by divers Authors unto Spain 117 XXXIII That the King of Spain 's wars with the Low-Countries have depriv'd him of that benefit which he might have reaped if they had not been so much impoverished 123 XXXIV That it was no point of Policy in the Spanish King not to grant liberty of Conscience to his subjects in Flanders 128 XXXV That it redounded not so much to the Spanish Kings honour as he imagined to enter into a League with the Princes of Italy the Duke of Lorrain and the House of Guise against the Lutheran Princes 136 XXXVI That many Princes have been less to blame for entring into a League with the Turk then the King of Spain for his League with the Guisards 139 XXXVII That Princes oversights are never forgotten after their deaths however their vertues may 142 XXXVIII The likelyhood of the downfal of the Duke of Guise his faction 145 XXXIX That it is but uncertain trusting to the friendship of Rebels 148 XL. The French King vindicated from divers things laid to his charge 151 XLI The King of France his killing of the Duke of Guise justified 160 XLII How the Kings of France have from time to time raised the revenues of that Crown 166 XLIII The commendations of Henry the third of France from divers eminent Authors XLIV To what a vast power and authority the Popes of Rome are advanced from a small beginning with their deceits and cruelties 172 XLV VVhat losses and injuries Princes have sustained by submitting to the Pope's authority 179 XLVI Queen Elizabeth unjustly accused by the English fugitives to the King of Spain for overcharging her subjects with unaccustomed subsidies and taxes 183 XLVII The Spanish King blamed for giving too easie credit to the reports of the English fugitives 189 XLVIII Certain objections against the Queen of Englands putting the Scottish Queen to death answered 191 XLIX VVhether it be allowable for Subjects to take up Arms against or put their Princes to death 202 L Of the proceedings of divers Princes toward those that have fled unto them for succour 208 LI. That Embassadors violating the Laws of Nations or of Arms have oft-times been rigorously dealt with 210 LII That neither the death of the Scottish Queen nor any other occasion could warrant the King of Spain's invading of England 215 LIII That it is no easie matter for the King of Spain to conquer England 218 LIV. The Popes and Emperours machinations against the Lutherans make them so much the stronger 224 LV. The cruelty of Princes to their subjects proveth most commonly prejudicial to themselves 229 LVI Many motives of Rebellion and Discontent among the K. of Spain 's subjects threatning inconveniences to him the like whereof have fallen upon Princes in former ages 238 LVII That many famous and learned men have favoured wrong causes for reward or preferments sake 241 LVIII That the K. of Spain 's best friends may be easily won to for sake him or at least to stand Neutral 243 LIX Several Emperours of the House of Austria set forth according to their true qualities and conditions 249 LX. That there is as just cause to fear France if that Kingdom grow too powerful as Spain it self 257 LXI That the Low-Countries joyned together under one Form of Government would grow very formidable 258 LXII How powerful the Switzers are grown since they have Incanton'd themselves 260 LXIII How expedient a Confederacy with the Low-Countries is in reference to a falling out either with France or Spain 261 In the Supplement I. IOhn de Soto Secretary to Don John de Austria removed and John de Escovedo put into his room p. 2 II. Antonio Perez commanded by the K. of Spain to poison Escovedo 3 III. Several questions discussed concerning Escovedo 's murther and first whether the K. commanding Escovedo to be murthered may not worthily be accounted a murtherer 4 IV. The second question whether Antonio Perez obeying the Kings command be not guilty of Escovedo 's death as well as the King 10 V. The third question whether the King being found a murtherer deserveth not to be deposed or excommunicated better then the K. of France deserved to be deprived of his life for murthering the Duke of Guise 13 VI. The fourth question whither this excommunication and deposition may be warranted by the example of other Prince 14 VII VVhether wilful perjury and breaking of Laws be punishable with deprivation in a Prince and whether subjects may lawfully resist such a Prince 17 VIII That the Nobility of Aragon have from the beginning bound their Kings strictly to the maintaining of their priviledges 22 IX That Subjects may seek remedies against such Princes as will not do them Right and Iustice. 26 X. The K. of Spain 's actions much aggravated in respect of those which the K. of France hath been charged with 27 The Table A ADrianus the Emperour's vast Armies and strength in war p. 74 Albertin Coraza made lord of Padua p. 53 Alexander the Great the pattern of a valiant Prince p. 5 Not superiour to divers of-the Roman Captains p. 232 233 Alexander King of Epirus his opinion concerning Alexander the Great 's victories p. 74 Pope Alexander the third's prastises against Frederick Barbarossa p. 177 Alonzo King of Aragon adopted by Joan Queen of Naples p. 55 Alphinus King of the Scots and Picts openly beheaded p. 214 other examples of the like nature p. 215 Cardinal Allen compared with Richard Shaw and John Petit p. 189 The ambition of the Earl of Anjou 's wife set him on to get the Kingdom of Naples p. 258 Amulius his cruelty to his Brother Numitor and his children p. 89 Anjou quitted by the King of England p. 45 Don Antonio justifieth his Title to Portugal by several arguments p. 60 Anthony Montefeltro made Duke of Urbin by the Emperour Lewis 53 Appius his severity hurtful to the Commonwealth 233 The Arch-bishop of Toledo rebelleth against the King of Aragon p. 16 and is aided by Alonzo K. of Portugal ib. Aristides the pattern of a just Magistrate 5 Armies going far from home meet with many occasions of destruction p. 70 71 Artevild Agricola and Besconius the chief Ring-leaders of the Gantois Rebels 230 231 Astyages seeketh the destruction of his Grand-child Cyrus 87 88 89 Attila the Scourge of God 5 Augustus the pattern of a fortunate King 5 The Duke of Aumale chosen head of the faction of the Guises 159 The House of Austria their Original from Hapsburgh p. 17 Their Greatness Tyrannie and Oppression p. 17 18 The continuance of their Greatness 50 The Author a voluntary Exile in the time of Queen Elizabeth p. 1 His Credit with Great men
the one because it is as you think very troublesome and vitious and you commend the other because it was as you suppose very peaceable and vertuous But if it may like you to confer the one with the other you shall find them both in like manner reprehensible and with equal measure laudable For first you are to remember that all Kingdoms and Common-wealths represent in outward shew and appearance the figure of a humane body and have as our bodies have their times of health and their times of sickness their seasons of prosperity and their seasons of adversity sometimes they flourish with wealth and plenty other times they languish in want and penury And as in all Ages as well as in ours mens bodies have been disquieted altered distempered yea and destroyed with burning Agues Pestilent Fevers contagious Plagues and other mortal Diseases so in other times as well as at this present Common-wealths and Kingdoms resembling therein as I have said our natural bodies have suffered distemperatures alterations changes and subversions by intolerable exactions domestical dissentions forrain wars and other such like inconveniencies as trouble the present Estate of Christendome Cast your Eye upon all the same Regions which are now under the general name Christendom and see whether in the very Age or immediately after the Age of those vertuous and good Princes of whose glorious Titles Histories make mention they felt not in like manner as we do the heavy hand of Gods Indignation Who either to plague and punish the sins of the Fathers in their Children or to make us know and remember that our Princes although they are constituted and appointed in higher degree then we yet they are subject both to his Will and Pleasure and to our imperfections and vices as well as we sendeth us most commonly a wicked or foolish Son to rule over us after a good and wise Father So he sent as we may read in holy Scripture Roboam after Solomon Manasses after Hezekias Iehohaz after Iosias Iehoram after Iehosaphat Ahaz after Iotham So sent he as we read in prosane Histories Nero after Augustus Dionisian after Vespasian and Commodus after Marcus Aurelius All bad and wicked children to Rule and Govern after their good and vertuous Fathers So sent he as we find in our English Chronicles King Iohn Edward the Second Richard the Second and Third and Henry the Sixth That their Jurisdiction Wickedness Folly and Cruelty might not only succeed but also illustrate the Wisdom Goodness Prudence and Lenity of their Predecessors for as white appeareth more clear and bright being placed nigh unto black so vertue is more commendable when it is conferred with vice and the profits arising thereby are more esteemed when the incommodities which always accompany vice and wickedness do immediately or not long after succeed them And surely as God herein sheweth his Might and Omnipotency so he maketh us also see hereby his Divine Wisdom and heavenly Providence For since he hath distinguished Region from Region some by Rivers others by Seas some by Mountains and others by Desarts And in these Regions he hath made the people of divers natures and of sundry humors some inclined to Peace others given to War some to be ruled by gentleness and others not to be governed but by rigor and cruelty For the conservation of this distinction and for the preservation of these people he hath found it good and expedient to set over them Princes of divers Qualities and sundry Natures that agreeing with the Subjects in exterior dispositions the inward affection may not always be perverted by outward inequalities And because in his unspeakable Wisdom he knoweth that if he should give unto every Kingdom a continual Race of conquering and vertuous Princes neither the Rivers nor the Seas the Mountains nor the Desarts should contain or restrain their unbridled Ambition from molesting and invading the Regions which are nigh or far from them whereby the distinction which he hath set amongst them might be utterly subverted It hath seldom pleased him to bless any one Kingdom with two Princes of like minds or of like vertues Hence it cometh that as in Rome they had their Pompey in Macedon their Alexander in Persia their Cyrus in Egypt their Antiochus and in France their Charles which for their continual and happy Conquests were surnamed the GREAT So in the same Kingdomes aswell as in others they have had their Princes who for their Pusillanimity Losses and ill Fortune might worthily be baptized by the Surnames of Weaklings and Unfortunate Hence it cometh that the Empire of the whole world passed from the Chaldeans to the Medes from the Medes to the Persians from them to the Graecians from the Graecians to the Romans from the Romans to the French-men and from the Frenchmen to the Germans Hence it cometh that Italy hath triumphed over France France over Italy England over Scotland and Scotland sometimes although very seldom over England Hence it cometh to be short that what the Fathers have got the children have lost what the Conquerors added to their ancient Kingdoms their Successors either cowardly or negligently voluntarily or forcibly suffered to be distracted and dissevered from their Kingdomes And as the Empire passed from Nation to Nation so their calamities and the happiness accompanying the Empire and the Emperours also went from people to people for there was never Conquerour that commanded not the conquered to be obedient unto his will and pleasure nor Nation subdued which did not accomodate himself and his nature unto the disposition and commandment of the Subduer Then if the Conqueror was weak and gentle the conquered lived in ease and pleasure if severe and cruel they wanted no manner of rigor or cruelty if poor and needy they supplyed his wants and penury if wanton and leacherous they satisfied his lusts and appetite If covetous and an Extortioner they were subject to Taxes and Subsidies if unjust and unrighteous they suffer wrongs and injuries briefly if any way ill given or ill disposed they seldom gave themselves to vertue and goodness Such therefore as was the Conqueror such were the conquered and whatsoever it pleased him to prescribe that they were inforced to perform His manner of attire was their fashion in apparel his Will served them for Lawes his new Ordinances altered their old Consututions his meanest Subjects commanded the best of their Nobility and his strange and forraign Language became their natural and Mother tongue It they had Lands his Courtiers enjoyed them if Daughters his Favorites married them if Wives his followers deflowred them if riches his Souldiers shared them if Servants his Slaves commanded them Since then many Nations have been subdued and men of divers natures have subdued them Since conquests have been from the beginning of the world and conquerors have always commanded in the world Since Force hath ever been an enemy unto Justice and Equity never bore sway where Arms swayed all
faithful friends and Counsellors went far beyond all the Princes that lived either before or after him neither by his vertue nor valour nor by his fortune and good hap nor by his friends and Counsellors could escape the fatal poison that ended his days before he attained unto those years which be the forerunners of Age So as in others so in this Point her Majesty far exceedeth Caesar Pompey and Alexander the three greatest Princes that ever lived For their death was so soon performed as purposed Her life hath been often sought but God be thanked therefore not shortned they escaped not the malicious Treasons of one or two she hath been preserved from the wicked treacheries of very many they could not prevent the Conspiracies of their friends she hath withstood the open and secret attempts of their enemies Briefly they dyed before they became old she hath attained unto sixty years of her Age and the rare fortune which she hath hitherto had to escape so many and marvelous dangers putteth me and all her loving Subjects in good hope that it will please the Almighty to add many more years of bliss and haappiness to her days neither do I think only that she shall live beyond the ordinary and usual years and age of other Princes but I am fully perswaded that her Grace is preserved and reserved to great fortune to some marvelous purpose her qualities exceeding other Princes conditions her fortune being more then ordinary and her dangers escaped not prudently but providently not by humane policy but by divine prevention give me good occasion to presume that he that disposeth of Kings and all Kings Actions lengthneth her days and hath dedicated her years to some notable accident For what he hath intended man cannot prevent what he purposeth humane wit cannot change or alter his resolutions are in Heaven ours on earth his eternal ours changeable his immutable ours subject to alteration We purpose he disposeth we intend he changeth we desire he ruleth yea so ruleth that he directeth our thoughts leadeth our counsels inclineth our dispositions to his will and pleasure he knows our necessities before we ask our infirmities when we conceal them our desires albeit we keep them most close and secret He giveth us what is expedient for us granteth us more then we dare desire provideth better for us then we can deserve and to be short is so resolute to do us good that all our wits capacities and policies are not able to prevent the meanest of his determinations so the same tend to our benefit For although his mercy exceeding our merits and his clemency yeilding to our contrition do sometimes divert the evil that we have deserved and mitigate the punishments which are due to our many offences yet if our humility be not dissembled or his pleasure fully bent to work us any good whatsoever so good is he that our good cannot be attended nor his intention changed An Example or two will prove this to be manifest and therefore I will afford you these Examples Astiages dreamed that his Daughter Mandana made so much water at one time as filled his whole City and was likely to drown his whole Country with which dream being greatly terrified he propoundeth the same to be expounded by his best Interpreters of Dreams They report that of the said Daughter should come such an Issue as should drive him from his Kingly Seat He taketh counsel what to do to prevent this intention of the Almighty It is resolved that the best means is to marry his Daughter to a mean man The counsel is followed and she married not to a Median worthy of such a Wife and Princess as she was but unto a mean Persian by name called Cambises born of indifferent good Parentage but not likely to carry such a mind as to deprive his Father in Law of his Kingdom The same year that his Daughter was married he dreamed again That out of her Privities sprang such a Vine as overspread all Asia This Dream he likewise communicated with the Soothsayers They delivered That out of the Womb of Mandana should proceed such a Child as should be Lord of all Asia and so desirous thereof that he should hardly and very unwillingly attend his Grand-Fathers death According to the Prophesie the Child is born his Nativity cast and the disposition of his body and other outward signs foretel that the Prognostication made before his birth was likely to prove true The Grand-father minding to prevent a future mischief giveth him unto one of his faithful Counsellors commanding him to put him to death The Counsellor moved with pitty commendeth the child to the custody of his Shepherd yet charging him to murther the Infant The Shepherds Wife having a child of her own dead the very self same day not finding in her heart to consent to the death of so pretty and Princely a Child beseeched her Husband to expose her own dead Child instead of Cyrus for so Astiages his Grand-father was called The Shepherd followed his Wives counsel and yeilded his consent that she should bring up Cyrus as her own He groweth to years and within a few years is chosen King by other children of all sorts poor and rich Noble and ignoble and being elected King commanded as a King and inflicteth punishments upon his far betters for disobeying his Authority They disdaining to be commanded much less to be punished as they were by their far inferiour complain to their Parents and they to Astiages of the injury offered by poor Cyrus The Shepherd is injoyned to bring forth Cyrus he maketh appearance at the day appointed carryeth himself not Shepherd like but Princelike before the King And being demanded by the King how he durst presume to command his betters to be chastised answered boldly and with a spirit far exceeding his years and not becoming his supposed Estate That since it had pleased the rest of the youth to chuse him for their King and to subject themselves in general unto him it was not lawful for any particular were he never so good to disobey him And in case any one did so far forget himself as to contemn his Authority that then it was as lawful for him as for King Astiages to punish his or their disobedience At which Answer the King being astonied looking upon the audacity of the Child considering his wisdom calling to mind the exposing of Cyrus and conferring his Daughters childs Age and his years together suspected him to be Cyrus Sent presently for Harpagus for so was the Counsellors name unto whom he had given him to be destroyed compelleth him to tell the truth The Shepherd is likewise sent for who declareth the means and manner how Cyrus was saved The King highly offended with Harpagus and fully resolved to depress Cyrus dissembleth his anger with the one and taketh present order for the base education of the other Cyrus is sent from Media into Persia and Astiages not
exactions as Slaomire King of Abredites and others for corruption as Adolph the Emperor But if all these Depositions were examined and tried by the Touchstone of Law I think the most part of them will be found scant lawful For all these crimes in private men are not capital and therefore why should they be so severely punished in Princes How many judges take Bribes and are not deposed How many Magistrates are negligent and are not punished How many Officers execute not their Offices and are not removed How many rich men offend in Adultery and are not censured briefly How many Noble men commit Adultery and Murther and are not condemned In Poland the Gentleman that killeth a Yeoman payeth but a certain Fine in money in France he that killeth another manfully and in the field is seldom executed In Italy many are vilely murthered and the Murtherers are not always punished And in all Countries grievous Crimes are either tolerated or pardoned sometimes because the Malefactors are descended of notable parents whom Princes are loth to offend and discontent You have heard how Dunorix was spared although he were a Traytor for Diviaticus his Brothers sake and our Chronicles report that Henry the Third having taken in the Barons Wars many Schollars of Oxford in Northampton who did him more harm then all the rest of his Enemies would have hanged them all had not his Council perswaded him to save them because in executing them he might displease their friends who were Gentlemen and Noblemen of great Houses Shall mean personages vile murtherers private men escape unpunished and must the Law be executed with all severity upon Princes They are in higher places their actions are beheld of all men and most men are lead by their example True but David was not punished as soon as he had killed Uriah Solomon was not deposed although he kept many Concubines Herod was not streightways deprived for murthering of Iohn Baptist and it was long before Saul was removed by David But how then May Princes offend as often as they will and never be punished No Must their Subjects endure all their Cruelties and Tyrannies No May they be troublesom unto their Neighbours untrue unto their Confederates Enemies unto the common peace and never to be reprehended No What course is then to be taken to bridle their Appetites and restrain their Insolency Truly I finde two notable Laws for the punishment of such Princes the one made by Conrad the Emperor and the other by Otho the Third Conrad his Law commanded all Princes to embrace Peace to maintain Law and Equity and not to disturb the quiet and peaceable Estate of the Empire and that whosoever transgressed in any of these three points should suffer death Othon his Law was much to the same effect but he added That the Prince offending in any of these three points should besides the loss of life lose all his States and Dominions and be held for a common enemy and that all the Princes of Christendom should rise in arms against him as a perturber of Christian peace and tranquillity But in these days Princes neither are nor will be nor can be ready to help every one that complaineth and why should Subjects seek for releif abroad that may be releived and succoured at home The course is ordinary the remedy easie if men will not deceive themselves in taking their course Every Country hath its Parliament every Kingdom the Assembly of their Estates there may their Griefs be heard their Wrongs red ressed and their Princes repressed And in this course the common people loseth not a jot of their Authority for they which attribute most unto the people take not every confused rude and tumultuous multitude for the people but a choice company of the wisest Nobility and of the most grave honest discreet and wise men amongst the Commonalty It must not be such base and busie companions as was Iack Straw in England Nicholas Rency in Rome Iaques Artevilla in Flanders George Zechius in Bohemia Anthony Bavadella in Spain and William Siler in Switzerland that must presume to controll mighty Kings or to alter well governed States For such petty Companions are better able to mislead a number of simple people with their venemous tongues then to consider with discretion that many things are done in every Kingdom which Princes know not of and that divers abuses are committed which the Officers that commit them keep as long as they can possible from their Princes knowledge which abuses should be quickly redressed if the king might be made acquainted with them These Companions consider not that there is an High Court of Parliament unto which Princes either can be contented or be constrained to submit themselves and wherein Subjects may speak unto their King freely so they speak reverently any thing that may benefit their Country I said reverently because methinks it is not tolerable that any Subject be he never so great and mighty should use unreverent speeches unto his King secretly much less in an open Parliament as did Richard Earl Marshal of England unto King Henry the third who when the King called him in choler and perhaps not without occasion Traytor gave him the lye in the Parliament House and told him to his face he cared not for him because he was well assured that as long as he lived in obedience unto the Laws of the the Realm he could not hurt him And when the king answered he could intercept his victuals and suffer no man to bring him any manner of Provision he replyed that if he sent any to intercept his victuals he would send them home shorter by the heads then they came Such an audacious and unreverent speech coming to the ears of such busie Companions as Iack Straw and Iack Cade were in England would make them take the Speaker for a Demy God for a Patron of his Country for a Protector of their Liberty and being carried from them unto others may draw them like a company of mad-men to adventure life and limbs for such a desperate Cataline and without ever considering whereabout they go to undertake for his sake the utter subversion of Town and Country But it may be said that I am like the Physitian that prescribeth a remedy unto his Patient but telleth him not how he shall come by it so I talk much of a Parliament but I conceal how difficult it will be to have a Parliament especially when a Prince without whose consent and commandment the same cannot be called knoweth or mistrusteth that any thing shall be debated and determined therein to his prejudice I cannot but acknowledge this difficulty and therefore if the wrongs that are offered be not too great it is better to suffer them with patience thâ—n to seek to reform them by violence But if the outrages grow once to be so extream that they are no longer to be endured I hold the same for a most unfortunate unhappy and
useth his wit imployeth his strength bendeth his power armeth his people directeth his Council and dedicateth all that he possesseth to the lawful or unlawful inlarging of his Territories It is he that taketh of his Father to be Ambitious that hath learned of his Ancestors to be troublesome that thinketh it a work beseeming a Prince and becoming a King to vex and molest all Kings It is he that dreameth by night studieth by day practiseth at all times how to let no time pass without a line as it was anciently said without a Stratagem a late invented policy an unknown practise and a rare and marvelous enterprise It is he that increaseth in ambition as well as in years in covetousness as well as in pride in rigour as well as in morosity Briefly it is he and I would to God that it were not he that troubleth the peaceable estate of Christendom that only vexeth the Realm of France that disquieteth Flanders and setteth friends at jarrs allies at variance and confederates at dissention insomuch that it may well be said of him Phi malus lippus totus malus ergo Philippus Now if a woman hath presumed to encounter with this man if a Queen of one Island hath undertaken to bridle a Prince of so many Nations if her sole Forces have tamed his invincible power her only counsel prevented his subtile practises her good will withstood his ill-will his mischievous practises and his ambitious desires if she alone hath hindred him to be Lord of France Ruler of Italy and Commander of all the rest of the world shall he not err that compareth Hercules with her Or can any man deem him wise that taketh her in any respect inferiour to Iulius Caesar mighty Pompey or Alexander the Great For two of these with the invincible power of the invincible Romans conquered some part of the rude and unwarlike people of the world and the third and fourth are famous not in true Histories but in old Fables for doing such exploits as are more pleasant then credible more praised then possible and much more admired then allowed for true and not miraculous But if any man shall deny her to be wise her peaceable Government giveth him the lie if her might and power shall be called in question her actions in Flanders and France testifie the fulness of her strength if her justice be not worthily commended her motherly care over the present King of Scotland while he was an infant her pitiful charity extended to as many as have had need of her help and her upright and just proceedings in as many matters forraign and domestical as have been referred to her discretion shall convince him of falshood or of malice that shall derogate ought from her innumerable multitudes of her everlasting praises I wonder when I hear the Romans boast of their Pompey the Grecians brag of their Constantine the French report wonders of their Charlemaigne and the Syrians set forth the praises of their Antiochus whom every one of these Nations baptized with the sirname of Great because their actions were somwhat extraordinary exceeding the common success of other Princes and the usual fortune of many and divers Kings for if a woman hath gone far beyond them all and that without the aid of any Allies without the help of Forrain powers and without the strength of such as should have employed their whole strength to the furtherance of her endeavours are not their praises eclipsed their honours blemished and their renown obscured They lived in an age of ignorance in a time of simplicity in a season of cowardly pusillanimity she ruleth in a world full of Machiavelists pestered with deceitful Hanibals plentiful of warlike Captains and rather over-burthened then not throughly furnished with sufficient Counsellors and yet neither the policy of the wisest nor the deceit of the craftiest not the labour of most warlike nor the wisdom of the best and most sufficient Counsellors hath ever drawn her into any small inconvenience but hitherto either wisely or happily providently or fortunately warily or worthily she hath not only prevented but escaped foreseen but overgone forecast but overcome the most secret the most subtile the most divelish and the most unnatural and inevitable practises devises attempts treasons and trecheries of her adversaries For many men and women learned and unlearned spiritual and temporal noble and ignoble courtiers and counsellors have sought her death and committed treasons against her Witness the late Queen of Scots Mrs Arding and her daughter witness Dr Storey Dr. Parrey and Dr Saunders Witness Campion Sherwin and their complices Witness the Earls of Northumberland Westmerland and Arundel Witness Babington Throgmorton Tilney and their confederates Witness the late Duke of Norfolk and Perrott both Privie Counsellors of great account wealth credit and honour both greatly loved trusted and honoured by her Majesty both bound unto her Highness for many favours dignities and advancements both briefly counselled animated encouraged and directed in their treasons by the wise Counsellors of the mightiest Prince and the greatest enemy that her Grace had in the world Their treason was plotted abroad and intended at home invented in Spain and should have been executed in England there it received a beginning here an approbation here were executioners and there counsellors here practisers and there patrons here the traytors were blinded with ambition there the abettors were transported with envie here reigned pride and there revenge briefly here the treasons ended but their malice continueth and sendeth forth daylie new Conspirators new devises and new practises Since therefore her Majesties death hath been so often intended the subversion of her State so many times purposed and the performance of both so desperately undertaken her Highness for her self and we for her Highness are greatly bound to pray to the Almighty who hath so many ways so many times and so miraculously preserved her Iulius Caesar was so fortunate that being in great danger of drowning and presuming that it was not his Creators pleasure that he should perish in the Sea when the Pilot durst not adventure to carry him for fear of the apparent and great danger which threatned his present death he boldly said to the Master of the ship Go thy ways thou carriest Caesar and Caesars Fortune and yet notwithstanding it was his fortune to be killed with Bodkins and that by his dearest friends yea in the Senate House where he thought himself as safe as in his own Palace as sure as in a Castle and as free from danger as a Prince invironed with a strong Guard Pompeius had many commendable qualities great store of friends infinite followers strange fortunes many signs of Gods blessings sundry tokens of more then ordinary and humane felicity and yet he was poysoned or done to death by his professed friends Alexander who for his Prowess was surnamed the Great for his fortune was one of the Wonders of the world and for his rare