Peretti Cardinal of Montalto when he was created Pope call'd Sixtus the Fifth He who from the most miserable way of living to which he was reduc'd by the wretched meanness of his birth as being no better than a Hogherd in his Youth rais'd himself step by step by his merit and his industry to the Triple Crown which he wore more haughtily during the five years of his Pontificate than his Predecessours had done for many Ages As he had been a great Inquisitour and one of the most severe who had ever exercis'd that office those Agents of the League in conjunction with the Spaniards believ'd they shou'd easily obtain his approbation and that joyning his Spiritual Arms with their Temporal he wou'd thunder out his Anathema against the King of Navarre But they mistook the Man with whom they had to deal for as he was of an humour extremely fierce haughty imperious and inflexible and wou'd give the World to understand that he was govern'd by no reasons but his own and least of any by the Spaniards whom he hated he immediately took up an air of Majesty in his discourse with them which made them find to their cost that he suffer'd not himself to be deluded with appearances and that he was a Master as discerning as he was absolute In effect they were infinitely surpriz'd to find they had not the least power upon a Soul which they then understood to be of quite another make than what he formerly appear'd so moderate so humble so soft and so complying when he was Cardinal with his head stooping towards the earth and looking there as he own'd afterwards himself for the Popedom which finally he found In the mean while as on the other side he thought he had a fair occasion to make an ostentatious shew of the Supreme power of the Popedom which he coveted to make formidable to the whole World by some extraordinary manner of procedure he made a little time afterwards of his own mere motion and when no body importun'd him a most thundring Bull against the King of Navarre and the Prince of Conde For after he had in it exalted infinitely the Power and Authority Pontifical above all Kings and Potentates of the Earth so far as to affirm that he cou'd overturn their Thrones by pronouncing irrevocable judgment upon them whensoever they shou'd be wanting to their duty and trample them under his feet as Ministers of Satan and after having rail'd at large in the rudest and most contemptuous words he cou'd invent against those two Princes he deprives them at last of all their Estates and Demeans of which they then stood possess'd and declares them incapable both in their own persons and in their posterity for ever to succeed to any Estate or Principality whatsoever and particularly to the Kingdom of France absolves from their Oath of Fidelity all their Vassals and their Subjects whom he forbids most strictly to obey them and gives notice to the King of France to assist in the execution of his Decree As much as this Bull which was sign'd by five and twenty Cardinals and sent by the Pope into France rejoyc'd the party of the League who took care to publish it so much did it afflict those Catholiques and good Frenchmen who were opposite to that Faction They were not able to endure that the Popes who had formerly been in subjection to Kings and Emperours whom they thought themselves bound to obey as St. Gregory the Great protests to the Emperour Mâ—urice and the Popes Leo the fourth and Pelagius to our Kings Lothaire and Childebert shou'd now dare to think of deposing them and absolving their Subjects from their Oath of Allegiance against the declar'd Law of God which enjoyns Obedience in so many places of the Scripture even when Kings shou'd be wanting to their Duty God said they has so divided those two Powers the Temporal and the Spiritual amongst Kings and Princes on the one side and on the other betwixt the Pope and Bishops who are Princes of the Church that as it is not lawfull for the secular Power to interfere with that of the Spiritual nor to lay hands upon the Censer so neither is it lawfull for the Spiritual to attempt any thing against the Secular by abusing that Ghostly Authority which was bequeath'd to them by Iesus Christ onely to exercise in those affairs which are not of the World in the Government of which they have no manner of concernment to intermeddle either directly or indirectly much less have they the power of deposing Princes and of hindring by the censures and fulminations of the Church the due obedience of Subjects to their Sovereigns They added that the Doctrine opposite to this sustain'd by some Writers on the other side of the Alpes to flatter and sooth the Court of Rome had always been condemn'd by the decisions of the Gallicane Church by the decrees of Parliaments and by the protestations which our Kings have often made against this Invasion of their Prerogative unheard of in the Church of God during more than eleven Ages and never admitted in the French Nation And while I am writing this part of my History on this instant twenty third day of March I am inform'd that there is a perpetual and irrevocable Edict enregister'd in the Parlament by which Louis the Great who well knows how to maintain with so much power the rights of his Crown and with so much piety those of the Church ordains that the absolute Independence of Kings in Temporal affairs which no Authority whatsoever shall presume to shock either directly or indirectly on whatsoever pretence shall be maintain'd and taught in his Dominions by the professours of Divinity Seculars and Regulars conformably to what the general Assembly of the Clergy representing the Gallicane Church has solemnly declar'd in expounding the opinion which both it self and we are bound to receive on that Subject To pursue our History the Bull of Sixtus no sooner appear'd in France through the care of the Leaguers to divulge it but a multitude of Writers answer'd it both of the one and the other Religion who agreed in one and the same Doctrine of the independence of Kings on any other power but that of God alone in reference to their Crowns shewing the invalidity of that pretended Authority of Popes some quietly contenting themselves with the force of reason without mixing Gaul and Passion in their Writings and others in the declamatory Style abounding with furious â—nvectives The sharpest and most splenetique of the latter sort though 〈◊〉 the weakest and least knowing is the Authour of the Treatise called Bruâ—um Fulmen which some have father'd on Francis Hoffman a Civilian But that Writer whoever he were had more strongly maintain'd the rights of Sovereigns had he written with a more moderate Zeal without giving the reins to his passion against Popes towards whom even when we blame their failings in some particulars we are never permitted to be
which they built their Babel You have seen how warily the first Association in Picardy was worded nothing was to be attempted but for the King's Service and an Acknowledgement was formally made that both the Right and Power of the Government was in him but it was pretended that by occasion of the true Protestant Rebels the Crown was not any longer in condition either of maintaining it self or protecting them And that therefore in the Name of God and by the Power of the holy Ghost they joyn'd together in their own Defence and that of their Religion But all this while though they wou'd seem to act by the King's Authority and under him the Combination was kept as secret as possibly they cou'd and even without the participation of the Soveraign a sure Sign that they intended him no good at the bottom Nay they had an Evasion ready too against his Authority for 't is plain they joyn'd Humieres the Governour of the Province in Commission with him and only nam'd the King for show but engag'd themselves at the same time to his Lieutenant to be obedient to all his Commands levying Men and Money without the King's Knowledge or any Law but what they made amongst themselves So that in effect the Rebellion and Combination of the Hugonots was only a leading Card and an example to the Papists to rebel on their side And there was only this difference in the Cause that the Calvinists set up for their Reformation by the superior Power of Religion and inherent Right of the People against the King and Pope The Papists pretended the same popular Right for their Rebellion against the King and for the same end of Reformation only they fac'd it with Church and Pope Our Sectaries and Long Parliament of 41 had certainly these French Precedents in their eye They copy'd their Methods of Rebellion at first with great professions of Duty and Affection to the King all they did was in order to make him glorious all that was done against him was pretended to be under his Authority and in his Name and even the War they rais'd was pretended for the King and Parliament But those Proceedings are so notoriously known and have imploy'd so many Pens that it wou'd be a nauseous Work for me to dwell on them To draw the likeness of the French Transactions and ours were in effect to transcribe the History I have translated Every Page is full of it Every man has seen the Parallel of the Holy League and our Covenant and cannot but observe that besides the Names of the Countreys France and England and the Names of Religions Protestant and Papist there is scarcely to be found the least difference in the project of the whole and in the substance of the Articles In the mean time I cannot but take notice that our Rebels have left this eternal Brand upon their Memories that while all their pretence was for the setting up the Protestant Religion and pulling down of Popery they have borrow'd from Papists both the Model of their Design and their Arguments to defend it And not from loyal well principled Papists but from the worst the most bigotted and most violent of that Religion From some of the Iesuites an Order founded on purpose to combat Lutheranism and Calvinism The matter of Fact is so palpably true and so notorious that they cannot have the Impudence to deny it But some of the Iesâ—ites are the shame of the Roman Church as the Sectaries are of ours Their Tenets in Politicks are the same both of them hate Monarchy and love Democracy both of them are superlatively violent they are inveterate haters of each other in Religion and yet agree in the Principles of Government And if after so many Advices to a Painter I might advise a Dutch-maker of Emblems he shouâ—d draw a Presbyterian in Arms on one side a Iesuit on the other and a crownd Head betwixt them for t is perfectly a Battel-royal Each of them is endeavouring the destruction of his Adversary but the Monarch is sure to get Blows on both sides But for those Sectaries and Commonwealths-men of 41 before I leave them I must crave leave to observe of them that generally they were a sowr sort of thinking men grim and surly Hypocrites such as coud cover their Vices with an appearance of great Devotion and austerity of Manners neither Profaneness nor Luxury were encouragd by them nor practisd publickly which gave them a great opinion of Sanctity amongst the Multitude and by that opinion principally they did their business Though their Politicks were taken from the Catholick League yet their Christianity much resembled those Anabaptists who were their Original in Doctrine and these indeed were formidable Instruments of a religious Rebellion But our new Conspirators of these seven last years are men of quite another Make I speak not of their non-Conformist Preachers who pretend to Enthusiasm and are as morose in their Worship as were those first Sectaries but of their Leading men the Heads of their Faction and the principal Members of it what greater looseness of Life more atheistical Discourse more open Lewdness was ever seen than generally was and is to be observ'd in those men I am neither making a Satyr nor a Sermon here but I wou'd remark a little the ridiculousness of their Management The strictness of Religion is their pretence and the men who are to set it up have theirs to choose The Long Parliamentâ— Rebels frequented Sermons and observ'd Prayers and Fastings with all solemnity but these new Reformers who ought in prudence to have trodden in their steps because their End was the same to gull the People by an outside of Devotion never us'd the means of insinuating themselves into the opinion of the Multitude Swearing Drunkenness Blasphemies and worse sins than Adultery are the Badges of the Party nothing but Liberty in their mouths nothing but License in their practice For which reason they were never esteem'd by the Zealots of their Faction but as their Tools and had they got uppermost after the Royallists had been crush'd they wou'd have been blown off as too light for their Society For my own part when I had once observ'd this fundamental error in their Politiques I was no longer afraid of their success No Government was ever ruin'd by the open scandal of its opposers This was just a Catiline's Conspiracy of profligate debauch'd and bankrupt men The wealthy amongst them were the fools of the Party drawn in by the rest whose Fortunes were desperate and the Wits of the Cabal sought only their private advantages They had either lost their Preferments and consequently were piqu'd or were in hope to raise themselves by the general disturbance Upon which account they never cou'd be true to one another There was neither Honour nor Conscience in the Foundation of their League but every man having an eye to his own particular advancement was no longer a Friend than while his Interest
by the Memoires of Du Plessis Mornay yet the King to make it evident that it was onely through necessity that he enter'd into this Union with the Huguenots against the League was consenting that before the publication of it there shou'd be made a last attempt on the inclinations of the Duke of Mayenne to induce him to a reconcilement To this effect he gave in writing to the Legat the same Articles which he had already propos'd to the Duke of Lorrain and which were as advantageous to his Family as he cou'd reasonably desire For there was offer'd to the Duke of Mayenne his Government of Burgundy with full power of placing such Governours in the Towns as he himself shou'd chuse of disposing all vacant Offices and levying on the Province forty thousand Crowns yearly To the young Duke of Guise his Nephew the Government of Champaigne with two Cities at his choice therein to keep what Garrisons he pleas'd twenty thousand Crowns of Pension and thirty thousand Livres of Income in Benifices for his Brother To the Duke of Nemours the Government of Lyons with a Pension of ten thousand Crowns to the Duke of Aumale the Government of Picardy and two Cities in that Province to the Duke of Elbeuf a Government and five and twenty thousand Livres of Pension and what was of greatest importance for that Family to the Marquis du Pont eldest Son of the Duke of Lorrain the Government of Toul Metz and Verdun with assurance that if his Majesty had no Issue Male those three Bishopricks shou'd remain to the Duke of Lorrain To all which the King caus'd this addition to be made that to remove all difficulties which might arise in the execution of this Treaty he wou'd remit himself to the Arbitration of his Holiness who might please to joyn in the Umpirage with him the Senate of Venice the great Duke of Thuscany the Duke of Ferrara and the Duke of Lorrain himself who had so great an interest in those Articles With these conditions the Legat went from Tours on the tenth of April towards the Duke of Mayenne who was already advanc'd with his Army as far as Chasteaudun He was receiv'd with all manner of respect and dureing the two days conference he had with the Duke employ'd the most powerfull considerations he cou'd propose to win his consent to a Peace so advantageous for all his House and so necessary to Religion and the publique welfare or at least to gain thus far upon him that if any thing were yet wanting to his entire satisfaction he wou'd remit his interests and those of his Party into the hands of the Pope as the King on his side was already dispos'd to refer his own But after all his endeavours he cou'd not work him to any condescension And whatever arguments he us'd he always answer'd with great respect as to the Pope and the person of the Legat but with extreme contempt for the King whom he perpetually call'd that Wretch that he and his wou'd ever be obedient to the Pope but that he was very well assur'd that his Holiness wou'd never lay his Commands upon him to make any agreement to the prejudice of Religion with a man who had none at all and who was united with the Huguenots against the Catholiques That he cou'd not bear the mention of a reconcilement with a perjur'd man who had neither Faith nor Honour and that he cou'd never trust his word who had Murther'd his Brothers so inhumanely and violated so perâ—idiously not onely the publique Faith but also the Oath which he had taken on the Evangelists at the most holy Sacrament of the Altar After this the Cardinal farther observing what he cou'd not otherways have believ'd that even more opprobrious terms than these were us'd of the King through all the Army and in every City which own'd the League where no man durst presume to give him the name of King wrote him word that he cou'd do him no Service with the Duke and himself not daring to be near his person while the King of Navarre continued with him went to Bourbonnois where he waited the Orders which he receiv'd from the Pope not long after to return to Rome and there to give an account of his Legation Thus after all hope was utterly lost of concluding any peace with the Leaguers the Treaty with the King of Navarre took place He was put into possession of Saumur the Government of which he gave to the Sieur du Plessis-Mornay who had so well succeeded in his Negotiation And it was from that very place that he publish'd his Declaration concerning his intended passage over the Loyre for the Service of his Majesty where he protests amongst other things that being first Prince of the Bloud whom his Birth oblig'd before all others to defend his King he holds none for Enemies but such as are Rebels forbidding most strictly all his Souldiers to commit any manner of offence against those Catholiques who were faithfull Subjects to his Majesty and particularly against the Clergy whom he takes into his protection The King also made his own at large wherein he declares the reasons that oblig'd him to joyn with the King of Navarre for the preservation of his person and the Estate without any prejudice which cou'd thence ensue to the Catholique Religion which he wou'd always maintain in his Kingdom even with the hazard of his Life But that which at length completed the Happiness of this Union betwixt the two Kings was their Enterview which was made in the Park of Plessis on the thirtieth day of April amidst the acclamations of a multitude of people there assembled and with all the signs of an entire confidence on both sides Though the old Huguenot Captains who had not yet forgot St. Bartholomew us'd their best endeavours that their Master shou'd not have put himself in the King's Power as he did with all frankness and generosity He did yet more for being gone back with his Guards and the Gentlemen who attended him to the Fauxbourgs of St. Simphorian beyond the Bridges on the next Morning which was the first of May he repaâ—s'd the River follow'd onely by one Page and return'd to Tours to be present at the King 's Levè who was infinitely pleas'd with this generous procedure and clearly saw by it that he had no occasion to suspect him and that he had reason to hope all things from a Prince who reli'd so fully on his word though he had broken it more than once to him by revoking the Edicts which he had made in favour of him onely to content the League In this manner they pass'd two days together and held a Council where the King of Navarre caus'd a resolution to be taken that for the speedy ending of the War they shou'd assemble their whole Forces with all possible diligence and March directly on to Paris which was the Head of the League and on which the body of it
whom he had commanded to stand at a distance that he might hear what the Traytour had to say to him in private it follows necessarily that either the one or the other of these two committed this detestable action if it were not Iaques Clement and the former of these two suppositions is what can never enter into the imagination of any reasonable man For which reason without losing my time either to destroy or leave doubtfull a truth so known and so generally agreed on by all the Writers of those times and confirm'd besides by so many authentique Witnesses I believe it safer to rest satisfi'd with the universal opinion of Mankind without the least daubing of the matter in regard of his profession which can reflect no manner of dishonour on the Iacobins For there is no dispute but all crimes are personal and there is no man of good sense who can think it reasonable to upbraid a whole Order with the guilt of one particular person in it and principally that of Saint Dominic which is always stor'd with excellent men renown'd for their Vertue their Learning and their Pious conversation Now though the wound was great and had pierc'd very deep yet the Chirurgeons at the first dressing were of opinion that the Knife had slipp'd betwixt the Bowels without entring into them and that therefore the King was not hurt to death of this they all assur'd him and thereupon he sent advice to the Princes his Allies that in ten days he shou'd be able to get on horseback But whether it were that the wound was not search'd to the bottom or that the knife was empoyson'd it was known not long after that the hurt was mortal Never Prince was less surpris'd than he at the certainty of death nor receiv'd it more calmly more Christianly or more devoutly He confess'd himself three several times to the Sieur de Boulogne the Chaplain of his Closet and being advertis'd by him that there was a Monitory out against him and exhorted to satisfie the Church in what was demanded of him before he cou'd have absolution given him I am answer'd he without the least hesitation the Eldest Son of the Roman Catholick Church and will die such I promise in the presence of God and before you all that I have no other desire than to content his Holiness in all he can require from me Upon which the Confessour being fully satisfi'd gave him Absolution All the remainder of the day he pass'd in his Devotions and in Contemplation of Holy things till the King of Navarre being arriv'd from his Quarters at Meudon it being now well onward in the night and throwing himself on his knees before him with his eyes full of tears and without being able to pronounce one word he rais'd himself up a little and leaning gently on his head declar'd him his lawfull Successour commanding all the Nobility who fill'd the Chamber to acknowledge and obey him as their King at the same time telling him that if he wou'd Reign peaceably it was necessary for him to return into the Church and to profess the Religion of all the most Christian Kings his Predecessours When he felt the approaches of death about two of the Clock in the Morning he confess'd himself once more after which he call'd for the holy Sacrament which Viaticum he receiv'd with incredible devotion After which he continu'd in all the most fervent actions of Faith Hope and Charity relying wholly on the infinite merits of the Passion of our Saviour Iesus Christ pardoning all his Enemies from the bottom of his heart and particularly those who had procur'd his death and thereupon he desir'd for the third time to receive Absolution beseeching God to forgive him all his Sins even as he forgave all the injuries which had been done him After this he began to say the Miserere which he was not able to finish having lost his Speech at these words And restore to me the joy of thy Salvation and having twice sign'd himself with the sign of the Cross he quietly gave up his breath about four of the clock in the morning on the second day of August and in the thirty ninth year of his Age. Thus died Henry the third King of France and Poland making it appear at his death that during his Life he had in his Soul a true foundation of Piety and that those extraordinary and odd actions which he did from time to time though they were not altogether regular nor becoming his Quality yet proceeded not from that unworthy principle of Hypocrisie with which the Leaguers have so ignominiously branded him As to the rest he was a Prince who being endu'd with all the Noble Qualities which I have describ'd in his Character in the beginning of this History had been one of the most excellent Kings who ever Reign'd if he cou'd have shewn them to the World after his assumption to the Crown with the same lustre in which they appear'd before it The Huguenots and Leaguers who agree'd in nothing but their common hatred to this Prince rejoyc'd equally at his Death and spoke of it as a kind of Miracle and as a stroke proceeding from the hand of God The Protestants have written that he was wounded and died afterwards in the same Chamber where he had procur'd the Massacre of St. Bartholomew to be resolv'd Notwithstanding which it is most certain that the House wherein the King was hurt to Death was not Built by the Sieur Ierome de Gondy till the year 1577 which was five years after the forefaid Massacre For which reason that imposture being manifest the Parliament upon the complaint which the Attorney General made concerning it ordain'd that this passage shou'd be rac'd out from the addition which was made by Monliard to the Inventaire of the History of France But the Zealots of Geneva have not been wanting to restore it entirely as it was before in the Impression which they made of that Book As for the Leaguers they proclaim'd their Joy so loudly and in so scandalous a manner that their Books cannot be read without an extreme abhorrence to the Writers They publish'd in their Narratives Printed at Paris and at Lyons that an Angel had declar'd to Iaques Clement that a Crown of Martyrdom was prepar'd for him when he had deliver'd France from Henry de Valois and that having communicated his Vision to a knowing man in Orders he had approv'd it assuring him that by giving this Stroke he shou'd make himself as well pleasing to God as Iudith was by killing Holophernes And because his Prior who was called Father Edm. Bourgoing was accus'd to be the man amongst all the Preachers of the League who was the most transported in the praises of this abominable Parricide his Subject Apostrophising to him in the Pulpit and calling him the blessed Child of his Patriarch and the Holy Martyr of Iesus Christ and also comparing him to Iudith It was not doubted but that
of the League was at that time too strong to think of submitting to him even though he had declar'd himself a Catholick and the People not being yet made sensible of the Extremities of War and their sufferings by reason of it were obstinately resolv'd to maintain it against him and consequently he cou'd not then compass what he so ardently desir'd which was to restore the Quiet of his Kingdom and to settle it in peace by embracing the Religion of his Predecessors But somewhat before the beginning of the Conference at Surenne after making a sober Reflection on the present estate of his Affairs he plainly saw that all things at that time concurr'd to oblige him not to defer his Conversion any longer For on the one side he was assur'd of the Leading men amongst the Hâ—gonots who had the power of raising new Disturbances many of whom and such as were men of the greatest Interest made no scruple to acknowledge that in good policy he ought to go to Mass and that the peaceable possession of a Great Kingdom was worth the pains it wou'd cost him in going Add to this that the Heads of the Union were so much weakned and so little united amongst themselves that they were in no condition of making any long resistance to his Arms though they shou'd refuse to acknowledge him And for the common people of the League they were so overburden'd by the War which wasted them that they desir'd nothing so much as Peace On the other side he observ'd the Spaniards us'd all imaginable means and did their utmost to perswade the States to create a Catholique King That there was great danger lest the Third Party which not long before had laid a Plot to have surpris'd him in Mante and carried him away now joyning with the Catholique Leaguers who were against the Spaniards shou'd elect a King on their side which wou'd be to embroyl France in worse confusions And to conclude that even they who were not of that Party and who had always serv'd him with inviolable faith now besought him to defer no longer his conversion and besought him in such a manner that they gave him easily to understand they wou'd forsake him in case he forsook not his false Religion All these Considerations put together by the Grace of God who makes use of second causes put an end to his delays and brought him to resolve on accomplishing what he had so long design'd by making a publick profession of the Catholique Faith Insomuch that when the Sieur Francis D O who of all the Court-Lords spoke to him with the greatest freedom went to press him somewhat bluntly on behalf of the Catholiques of his Party that he wou'd make good his promise to them He with great calmness gave him those three Reasons which I have already set down why he had till that time deferr'd his Conversion and afterwards gave him his positive word that within three months at the farthest when he had seen what the Conference of Surenne would produce he wou'd make an abjuration of Heresie after he had receiv'd the instruction of the Bishops and Doctors which according to the forms of the Church ought to precede so great an action farther ordering him to assure the Archbishop of Bourges of those his intentions before he went to that Conference being then on his departure And on that account it was that the Archbishop after having receiv'd the Answer which he well knew wou'd be sent from Mante where the Court then was spoke as he did at Surenne and believing that he had now brought the business to a conclusion on the seventeenth of May and at the seventh Session gave the Deputies of the League a full assurance of the Kings Conversion His Majesty also on his part having firmly resolv'd on that holy action fail'd not to write a Letter on the sixteenth of the same Month to many Prelates and Doctors both of his own side and of the League in which he invited them to be with him on the fifteenth of Iuly to the end he might receive those good instructions which he expected from them Assuring them in these very words That they shou'd find him most inclinable to be inform'd of all that belongs to a Most Christian King to know having nothing so lively engraven in his heart as the Zeal for Gods Service and the maintenance of his true Church In the mean time the Ministers and the old rigid Huguenots those false Zealots of their Sect fearing this blow wou'd be fatal to their pretended Religion made frequent Assemblies in private to invent some means of diverting him from this pious resolution And there were some of them who had the impudence to tell him publickly of it in their Sermons and to threaten him with a judgment from Heaven if he forsook the Gospel for it has pleas'd them to honour their Errors with that venerable Name This occasion'd him to assemble all the principal Lords of that new Religion together with their Preachers who were at that time in great numbers at the Court and who to the great grief of the Catholiques perpetually besieg'd him and to tell them plainly that he might free himself once for all from that troublesome persecution That after he had in the presence of Almighty God made all necessary reflections on an affair of that importance he had in conclusion resolv'd to return into the Catholique Church from which he ought never to have been separated And when La Faye the Minister had adjur'd him in the name of all his Brethren Not to suffer they are his very words that so great a scandal shou'd come to them If said he I shou'd follow your advice in a little time there wou'd be neither King nor Kingdom left in France I desire to give peace to all my Subjects and quiet to my own Soul and you shall have also from me all the provisions which you can reasonably desire Thus being without comparison the strongest and in much better condition than he had ever been formerly immediately after he had taken the Town of Dreux which the League though it was of great consequence to them yet durst never attempt to relieve he assign'd the place where he wou'd receive the Instruction which ought to precede the act of Abjuration to be at St. Denis on the twenty second of Iuly The Cardinal of Piacenza caus'd a Declaration to be publish'd in which taking upon him as Legat from the Holy See to pronounce that whatsoever shou'd be done in relation to that Conversion was to be accounted void and null he exhorted all Catholiques both of the one and the other Party not to suffer themselves to be deluded in an Affair of that consequence Prohibiting all men and especially the Ecclesiasticks on pain of Excommunication and privation of their Benefices from going to St. Denis and assisting at that Action But notwithstanding all these prohibitions which were thought to be made by the sollicitation of
shall be remov'd he shall go and present himself before His Holiness submitting in all humility to what he shall reasonably ordain Now 't is most manifest they say that there are three sorts of Canonical Hindrances which dispence the King from going and consequently from sending to Rome to desire Absolution from the Pope The first is the manifest danger wherein he is continually of losing his Life in so many Battels and Sieges where he is forc'd to expose it daily for the preservation of the Crown which is devolv'd to him by the invioable Right of Succssion according to the fundamental Law of the Kingdom and which one half of his Subjects who are in Rebellion against him do their utmost to take away A Danger of this nature and many of the same which are included under it as that of Conspiracies Enmities Robbers a long Voyage by Sea are esteem'd according to right Reason and by the Doctors to be of that number which is comprehended in what we call the Article of Death which is not to be understood alone of that fatal moment when we give up our Breath but also of any another time when we are visibly expos'd to Death And it is on these occasions as in the Article of Death that not only the Bishops but also all Priests can give Absolution from all Sins and Ecclesiastick Censures with this Proviso that he shall afterwards present himself before the Pope if there be not some other Hindrance as for example that which follows And that is the greatness and dignity of the Persons excommunicated and particularly of Soveraign Princes who cannot leave the People whom they govern to go to Rome without manifest prejudice to their Crown For if a Father of a Family or suppose an ordinary Servant may be dispenc'd with from going thither in case his absence would inconvenience his Family much more strongly may it be concluded in the Person of a great King whose presence is always necessary or at least wise very advantagious to his Kingdom Therefore it ought to be presum'd that Persons of that eminent Dignity are perpetually hindred from leaving their Countrey and taking such a Journey In conclusion the third Hindrance which the Doctors call Periculum in morâ the danger of delay is the great hazard which the Nation might run For by deferring that Absolution so long till it were given at Rome a thousand ill Accidents might intervene and the happy opportunity be lost of preserving in France our Religion the State and the fundamental Laws of the Kingdom by the conversion of the King For all these Reasons it was concluded in that Assembly that they not only might but ought also to absolve him and afterwards send a solemn Embassy to Rome to desire the fatherly Benediction of the Pope and the Approbation of what had been so justly done in France in relation to his Conversion It being resolv'd in this manner the publick and solemn Act of this Conversion which was so much the wish of all good men was perform'd on the Sunday following being the 25th of Iuly with Magnificence worthy of so great an Action and of the Majesty of him who made it The King cloath'd all in white excepting only his Cloak and Hat which were black came forth from his Lodgings betwixt the hours of 8 and 9 in the morning preceded by the Swiss the French and the Scottish Guards and the Officers of his House with beat of Drum accompanied by the Princes the Crown Officers and those of the Soveraign Courts the Bishops and Prelats and all those who had assisted at his Instruction twelve Trumpets going before him and five â—r six hundred Gentlemen following him all magnificently cloath'd the Streets were hung with Tapissery and the Pavements strow'd with Flowers and Greens there were present an infinite multitude of People and principally of Parisians who notwithstanding all the Prohibitions of the Legat and the Duke of Mayenne were come in Crowds to St. Denis and joyn'd heartily with the rest in the loud Cries of Vive le Roy while his Majesty walk'd through the midst of them to the Church Porch of St. Denis There he found the Archbishop of Bourges who was to perform the Ceremony sitting on a great Chair in his pontifical Habit. Immediately he ask'd the King according to the form Who he was and what he wou'd have To which Questions the King having answer'd I am the King who desire to be receiv'd into the bosom of the Catholick Apostolick and Roman Church He fell upon his Knees and presented the Confession of his Faith sign'd with his Hand to the Archbishop saying these words I swear and protest before the Face of Almighty God that I will live and die in the Catholick Apostolick and Roman Church that I will protect and defend it with the hazard of my Blood and Life renouncing all Heresies which are contrary to it After which he receiv'd from that Prelat an Absolution from the Censures which he had incurr'd immediately the whole Church resounded with the often repeated Cryes of Vive le Roy and he was conducted by the Bishops before the great Altar where he renew'd his Oath upon the holy Evangelists and after having confess'd himself to the Archbishop behind the Altar while they were singing the Te Deum he heard High Mass which was celebrated by the Bishop of Nantes and then the Musick sang Vive le Roy with several repetitions of it At which the Parisians who were present in great numbers at that triumphal Ceremony breaking out into tears drown'd the voices of the Musicians with their Cryes of Vive le Roy which makes it evident that the People of Paris excepting only the Rabble of the Faction were only Leaguers by reason of that invincible Aversion which they have always had for Hugonotism For so soon as they saw the King converted they no longer call'd him the Bearnois or the King of Navarre but plainly the King whom already they desir'd to see in Paris as appear'd not long afterwards by the peaceable reduction of that capital City of the Kingdom Truly after this day which by the Effects it produc'd may properly be call'd the last day of the League when the Piety of the King was observ'd at Mass at Vespers at the Archbishop's Sermon and after it in the Visit which he made to the Tombs of the Martyrs at Montmartre all which Actions were well known to proceed from the Sincerity of a Soul which was too great to be capable of Hypocrisie the People did but laugh at what the Spaniards the remainders of the Sixteen their Preachers and above all others the fiery Doctor Boucher publish'd in their Libels and in their Sermons which were but Libels against this Conversion which they labour'd in vain to decry by many impudent and forg'd Defamations 'T was almost every mans business as secretly as he cou'd to make Peace with the King and deliver up the Towns without noise
to be Head of a League General of the Catholics 17 18 19 c. Treats with Don John d'Austria at Joinville ib. The occasion that caus'd him to begin the League Pag. ib. His Pourtrait 25 c. Takes Arms after the death of Monsieur 85 c. Makes use of the old Cardinal de Bouâ—bon as a Ghost whom he puts at the Head of the League 92 Treats at Joinville with the Agents of Spain and the Cardinal de Bourbon and the Conditions of the said Treaty 10â— 102 c. He begins the War with the sâ—â—prizing of divers places by himself and his Friends 104 c. Makes the Treaty at Nâ—mours very advantageous to the League 121 Goes and finds the King at Meaux and complains unjustly of divers matters 188 Undertakes with a very few Troops to defeat the Army of the Reyters 234 235 c. His honourable Retreat at Pont St. Vincent 246 247 c. He continually harrasses the Army of the Reyters 262 He attaques them and defeats one Party of them at Vimory 267 c. He forms a design to attaque them at Auneau and the execution of that Enterpriâ—e 277 278 c. He pursues the rest of the Reyters as far as Savoy 301 c. He let them plunder the County of Montbeliard Pag. ib. He receives from the Pope a consecrated Sword and from the Duke of Parma his Arms which they sent him as to the greatest Captain of his time 311 The refusing him the Admiralty for Brissac the which was given to Espernon his Enemy puts him on to determine it 312 c. He assembles the Princes of the House of Lorrain at Nancy and there resolves to present to the King a Request containing Articles against the Royal Authority 322 323 He resolves to relieve Paris 334 335 He goes to Paris notwithstanding the King's Orders which were sent him by M. de Bellievre ib. A description of his Entry into Paris where he was received with extraordinary transports of joy ib. c. His Interview with the King at the Louvre 343 In the Queens Garden 344 What he did at the Battel of the Barricades 356 He disarms the King's Soldiers and causes them to be reconducted to the Louvre 357 His real design at the Battel of the Barricades 358 c. His excessive demands 360 c. Makes himself Master of Paris and makes a Manifesto to justifie the Barricades 365 366 c. He dextrously draws the Queen Mother into his Interests Pag. 371 Causes a Request to be presented to the King containing Articles most prejudicial to his Authority 371 372 c. Has given him all the Authority of a Constable under another name 377 378 His Prosperity blinds him and is the cause that he sees not an hundred things to which he ought to give defiance 385 c. He is shock'd at the Speech the King made to the second Estates at Blois 386 387 He disposes of the Estates at his pleasure ib. c. Would have himself declar'd by the Estates Lieutenant General of the whole Realm independent from the King 391 392 Is advertis'd of the design form'd against him and consults thereupon with his Confidents ib. c. Is resolv'd to stay contrary to the Advice of the most part 396 c. The History of his Tragical Death 399 400 c. His Encomium 411 Lewis de Lorrain Cardinal de Guise presides for the Clergy at the Estates of Blois 388 The History of his Tragical Death 410 411 N. de Lorrain Duke de Guise escaping out of Prison comes to Paris where he 's receiv'd of the Leaguers with open Arms 835. he kills Colonel St. Paul 872 873 M. THE Marshal of Matignon Governor of Guyenne hinders the Leaguers from surprizing Bourdeaux Pag. 113 Breaks the Measures of the Duke of Mayenne dextrously 243 244 Gives good Advice to the Duke of Joyeuse which he follows not 203 Reduces Bourdeaux to Obedience 820 Father Claude Mathiu grand Leaguer solicits the Excommunication of the King of Navarre 182 Father Bernard de Montgaillard Surnam'd The Petit Feuillant a Seditious Preacher 428 His Extravagance in a Sermon 442 443 He retires into Flanders with the Spaniards after the reduction of Paris 943 Francis de Monthelon a famous Advocate is made Lord Keeper by Henry III. 384 Henry de Montmorency Marshal de Damville Head of the Politics or Malecontents for to maintain himself in the Government of Languedoc 9 Draws his Brothers and Friends to him ib. Ioins with the King of Navarre and Prince of Conde against the League 124 Protects the Catholic Religion and receives acknowledgments from the Pope 125 126 His Fidelity in the Service of the King 126 127 Is at last made Constable of France by Henry IV. Pag. ib. William de Montmorancy Sieur de Thore joins with the Malecontent Politics 9 Is defeated in conducting a Party of Duke Casimir's Reyters 25 26 Re-takes Chantilly from the League 483 The Sieur de Montausier fights most valiantly and insults agreeably over the Gascoins which were at the Battel of Courtras 217 The Sieur de Montigny enters and breaks the Squadron of the Gascoins at the Battel of Courtras 215 216 The Sieur de Morennes Curate of St. Merry labours to make the People return to the Obedience of their King 836 Cardinal Morosini Legat in France could not obtain Audience the day of the Duke of Guise's Massacre 406 407 His Conference with the King to whom he declares he had incurr'd the Censures because of the Murther of the Cardinal de Guise 414 415 He incurs the Pope's indignation for not having publish'd the Censures 417 His Conference with the Duke of Mayenne 474 4755 c. John de Morvillier Bishop of Orleans his Encomium and Pourtrait 68 69 c. He counsels the King to declare himself Head of the League ib. N. ANne d'Este Duchess de Nemours Mother of the Guises is arrested Prisoner at Blois Pag. 403 She treats by Letters with the Dukes of Nemours and Mayenne to reduce them to their Duty 441 442 The King sends her to Paris to appease the Troubles ib. The young Duke of Nemours is arrested Prisoner at Blois 403 Makes his Escape out of Prison 441 The Orders he gave for the Defence of Paris where he maintains the Siege with all the Conduct and Vigor of an old General 798 He offers the King to surrender Paris provided he will be made Catholick 809 810 He abandons his Brother and endeavours to make himself declar'd Head of the League in his place 485 486 c. Francis de Noailles Bishop of Acqs his Encomium his Ambassage and the part he had in the Conversion of Henry IV. 309 310 c. O. THE Order of the Holy Ghost and its true Origine 74 75 76 c. Lewis d' Orleans a famous Advocate a grand Leaguer 96 Author of the Seditious Libel Intituled The English Catholick Pag. 738. Is Advocate General for the League ib. The Colonel Alphonso d'Ornano
In the third Article the Associates assume to themselves to be Masters of the State while under pretence of reforming it they ridiculously take upon them to abrogate the Laws observ'd by our Ancestours in the second and third race of our Kings and wou'd establish the customes and uâ—ances which were practis'd in the time of Clovis which is just the same thing that certain Enthusiasts sometimes have attempted in the Church who under the specious names of the Reform'd and Primitive Church endeavoured to revive some ancient Canons which now for many ages have not been observ'd and gave themselves the liberty to condemn the practices and customes authoriz'd by the Church of remisness and abuse since it belongs onely to the Church according to the diversity of times and of occasions to make new regulations in its Government and Discipline without touching the capital points that relate to the Essentials of Religion To conclude from the fourth Article to the twelfth there are visible all the marks and the foulest characters of a Rebellion form'd and undertaken against their Prince particularly where there is promis'd an exact obedience in all things to the Head whom they shall elect and that they will employ their lives and fortunes in his service that in all Provinces they will levy Souldiers and raise money for the support of the common cause and that all those who shall declare themselves against the League shall be vigorously prosecuted by the Associates who shall revenge themselves without exception of person which in the true meaning is no other thing than the setting up a second King in France in opposition to the first against whom they engag'd themselves to take Arms in these terrible words without exception of person in case he should go about to hinder so criminal an usurpation of his Royal Authority Such was the Copy of the League in those twelve Articles which were Printed and dispers'd through all Christendom as we are inform'd by an Authour who was contemporary to it and has given it at large in his History of the War under Henry the Fourth But being conceiv'd in certain terms which are too bold and which manifestly shock the Royal Majesty Monsieur d' Humieres a prudent man reduc'd them into a form incomparably less odious in which preserving the Essentials of the League of which he was Head in Picardy he appears notwithstanding to do nothing but by the authority and for the service of the King Now as it is extremely important to understand throughly this Treaty of Peronne from which the League had its beginning which is not to be found in any of our Authours and the Original of which I have as it was sign'd by almost two hundred Gentlemen and after them by the Magistrates and Officers of Peronne I thought I shou'd gratifie my Readers by communicating to them a piece so rare and so Authentique which has luckily fallen into my hands They will be glad to see in it the Genius the reach and the policy of that dextrous Governour and Lieutenant to the King who in declaring himself Head of the League in his Province and procuring it to be sign'd by so great a number of Gentlemen took so much care to make it manifest at least in appearance that he intended always to give to Caesar what belong'd to Caesar and that the Imperial rights should be inviolably preserv'd in that Treaty For they protest in all their Articles and that with all manner of respect in the most formal terms that nothing shall be done but with his good liking and by his Orders though in pursuance of this all things were manag'd to a quite contrary end But it frequently happens that men engage themselves with an honest meaning and are led by motives of true zeal in some aâ—fairs whereof they foresee not the dangerous consequences which produce such pernicious effects as never enter'd into their first imagination Behold then this Treaty in eighteen Articles together with the subscriptions of the Gentlemen and Officers whereof some are written in such awkward Characters and so little legible that I could never have unriddled them without the assistence of a person very skilfull in that difficult art of deciphering all sorts of ancient writing I mean Don Iohn Hericart an ancient man in Holy Orders of the Abbey of St. Nicholas aux Bois in Picardy who having labour'd to place in their due order and to copy out the Titles and Authentique piâ—câ—s of many ancient Monasteries applies himself at present by permission from my Lord Bishop of Laon his superiour to a work so necessary in the Treasury of Chartres and in the famous Library of the Abbey Royal of St. Victor of Paris where he has found wherewithall to exercise the talent of the most knowing on a great number of Titles of more than six hundred years standing and above three thousand Manuscripts of the rarest and most Ancient sort which compose the most pretious part of that excellent and renowned Library 'T is then to this man's industry that I am owing for this piece and to deal sincerely so as not to pass my conjectures on the Reader for solid truths I have left Blanks for two of their names because the letters which compos'd them cou'd never be certainly distinguish'd The Association made betwixt the Princes Lords Gentlemen and others as well of the State Ecclesiastique as of the Noblesse and third Estate Subjects and Inhabitants of the Countrey of Picardy IN the Name of the Holy Trinity and of the Communication of the pretious body of Jesus Christ. We have promis'd and sworn upon the Holy Gospels and upon our Lives Honours and Estates to pursue and keep inviolably the things herein agreed and by us subscribed on pain of being for ever declared forsworn and infamous and held to be men unworthy of all Gentility and Honour First of all it being known that the great practices and Conspiracies made against the honour of God the Holy Catholick Church and against tâ—e Estate and Monarchy of this Realm of France as well by some Subjects of the same as by Foreigners and the long and continual wars and Civil divisions have so much weakened our Kings and reduc'd them to such necessity that it is no longer possible for them of themselves to sustain the expence convenient and expedient for the preservation of our Religion nor hereafter to maintain us under their protection in surety of our persons families and fortunes in which we have heretofore received so much loss and damage We have judged it to be most necessary and seasonable to render in the first place the honour which we owe to God to the manutention of our Catholique Religion and even to shew our selves more affectionate for the preservation of it than such as are strayed from the good Religion are for the advancement of a new and false opinion And to this effect we swear and promise to employ our selves with all our
to restore the Princes of Lorrain to their rights who are as that Advocate pretends and as the people were made to believe the true Posterity of Charlemain After this he makes a fulsome panegyrique of them extolling them infinitely above the Princes of the Bloud against whom he most satyrically declaims Farther he proposes the means which ought to be employ'd to animate the people against them and to oppress them in the States as well as the Huguenots advising that the King shou'd be oblig'd to declare War against them and to give the command of his Arms to the Duke of Guise Then adds that when the Duke who will quickly have suppress'd and rooted out the Huguenots shall have made himself Master of the principal Towns of the Kingdom and that all things shall bend under the power of the League he shall cause the process of Monsieur the King's Brother to be made as a manifest abetter of the Huguenots and after having shav'd the King and confin'd him to a Covent he shall receive the Crown with the benediction of the Pope shall make the Council of Trent to be receiv'd shall subject the French without any restriction to the obedience of the Holy See and abolish all the pretended liberties of the Gallicane Church It must be acknowledg'd with all ingenuity that it is not credible as some have vainly imagin'd that the Huguenots forg'd those horrible Memoires and caus'd them to be printed to blacken and make odious the name of the League amongst all good Catholiques For 't is most certain that this Advocate who hated mortally the Huguenots by whom he had been ill us'd and upon that account had entirely devoted himself to the League undertook of his own head a Voyage to Rome to carry thither those Memoires and to present them to the Pope in hopes to ingage him in that party and that having been kill'd by some accident in his Journey those papers were found in his Portmantue Besides that the Lord Iohn de Vivonne the King's Ambassadour in Spain sent him a copy of them assuring him that they had been shewn to King Philip. But in plain truth there is great probability that those Memoires were onely the product of the foolish crack'd brain'd Advocate who being discompos'd by his passion discharg'd upon the paper all his furious imaginations and chimerique dreams in forming this ridiculous project which no man can reade without discovering at the same time all the signs of a distracted mind The Duke though full of ambition was not so weak to fall into the Snare of those extravagances and if he were so haughty as to soare in his imagination to the possession of a Crown it was not till of a long time afterwards and when he saw that Monsieur being dead and the King without appearance of having any Children the succession was of course to fall on the King of Navarre whom the Duke under pretence that the said King was a relaps'd Heretique believ'd that he might easily cause to be excluded from the Crown and that in his place he might himself obtain it What I may lay down for a certain truth is that there was never any piece so black so malicious and so gross as was that of a certain Protestant Writer who has compil'd the Memoires of the League and who wou'd have it that those Articles which are contain'd in the miserable Writings of David the Advocate were onely the extract of a secret Council held at Rome in the Consistory by Pope Gregory the thirteenth to exterminate the Royal race and to set the Princes of Lorrain upon the Throne For it is so false that this Pope who was always very prudent and moderate shou'd doe any thing of that nature that he constantly persisted in refusing to approve the League whatever instance was made to him though it was promis'd him to ingage him by his interest that they wou'd begin the execution of this great project by chasing the Huguenots out of the County of Avignon and Dauphine to take from them all means of troubling the possessions of the Church and of passing into Italy Nay farther he repli'd to those who were plying him incessantly and proposing the welfare and security of Religion thereby to make him countenance the League that it was in his opinion but a pretext and that those who made it had other secret designs which they had no mind to publish in the Articles of their Association In the mean time those pernicious Memoires with those impudent propositions of the Associators induc'd the King to a strong apprehension that the League was not form'd more against the Huguenots than it was for the subversion of his Authority And as he wanted magnanimity of to take up a bold and generous resolution of oppressing so dangerous a Faction in its infancy which he might have perform'd so to deliver himself from that formidable danger he took indirect courses and much unworthy of a King following the timorous Counsels of the Sieur de Morvillier That famous Iohn de Morvillier who was Bishop of Orleans and afterwards Garde de Sceaux of France after the disgrace and retirement of the Chancellour de l' Hospital was undoubtedly one of the greatest men of those times and he who had the greatest credit and Authority in Council generally valued and belov'd for his excellent qualities and above all for the mildness of his temper and his rare moderation joyn'd with an exact prudence and large capacity not onely in the management of affairs but also in all sorts of Sciences proper for a man of his profession and even in the studies of Humanity Poetry and Eloquence This he frequently made appear in those excellent Speeches which he drew up for our Kings and principally that which Henry the third pronounc'd with so much applause in the first Estates at Blois For this reason he was extremely importun'd to write the History of his times because it was the general belief that no man cou'd acquit himself of so noble an employment with so much eloquence judgment and politeness as himself But as that Subject was not very favourable to the two last Kings Charles the Ninth and Henry under whom he liv'd that on the one side he was too generous and too gratefull to write any thing which might dishonour and blast the memory of those two Princes his Benefactours and that on the other side he was too sincere and too honest to betray and suppress the truth with any shamefull baseness or to alter and corrupt it with mean flatteries altogether unworthy of the majesty and noble freedom of History he said pleasantly to his friends in excusing himself from their solicitations that he was too much a Servant of the Kings his good Masters to undertake the writing of their Lives A notable saying the sense of which examin'd to the bottom ought to oblige great Princes to doe great things thereby to furnish a sincere Historian with materials
Prelates of the Kingdom that he shou'd restore the Exercise of the Catholique Religion in all places from whence it had been banish'd and remit the Ecclesiastiques into the full and entire Possession of all their Goods that he shou'd bestow no Governments on Hugonots and that this Assembly might have leave to depute some persons to the Pope to render him an account of their Proceedings This Accommodation was sign'd by all the Lords excepting only the Duke of Espernon and the Sieur de Vitry who absolutely refus'd their Consent to it Vitry went immediately into Paris and there put himself into the Service of the League which he believ'd at that time to be the cause of Religion As for the Duke of Espernon he had no inclination to go over to the League which had so often solicited his Banishment from Court But whether it were that being no longer supported since his Masters Death he fear'd the Hatred and Resentment of the greatest Persons about the King and even of the King himself whom he had very much offended during the time of his Favour in which it was his only business to enrich himself or were it that he was afraid he shou'd be requir'd to lend some part of that great Wealth which he had scrap'd together he very unseasonably and more unhandsomly began to raise Scruples and seem'd to be troubled with Pangs of Conscience which never had been thought any great grievance to him formerly so that he took his leave of the King and retir'd to his Government with 2 or 3000 Foot and 500 Horse which he had brought to the Service of his late Master This pernicious Example was follow'd by many others who under pretence of ordering their Domestick Affairs ask'd leave to be gone which the King dar'd not to refuse them or suffer'd themselves to be seduc'd by the Proffers and Solicitations of the League so that the King not being in a condition any longer to besiege Paris was forc'd to divide his remaining Troops comprehending in that number those which Sancy still preserv'd for his Use and Service Of the whole he form'd three little Bodies one for Picardy under the Command of the Duke of Longuevillâ— another for Champaigne under the Marshal d' Aumont and himself led the third into Normandy where he was to receive Supplies from England and where with that small Remainder of his Forces he gave the first Shock to the Army of the League which at that time was become more powerful than ever it had been formerly or than ever it was afterwards In effect those who after the Barricades had their eyes so far open'd as to discover that the League in which they were ingag'd was no other than a manifest Rebellion against their King seeing him now dead believ'd there was no other Interest remaining on their side but that of Religion and therefore reunited themselves with the rest to keep out a Heretick Prince from the Possession of the Crown And truly this pretence became at that time so very plausible that an infinite number of Catholiques of all Ranks and Qualities dazled with so specious an appearance made no doubt but that it was better for them to perish than to endure that he whom they believ'd obstinate in his Heresie shou'd ascend the Throne of St. Lewis and were desirous that some other King might be elected Nay farther there were some of them who took this occasion once more to press the Duke of Mayenne that he wou'd assume that Regal Office which it wou'd be easie for him to maintain with all the Forces of the united Catholiques of which he already was the Head but that Prince who was a prudent man fearing the dangerous consequences of so bold an Undertaking lik'd better at the first to retain for himself all the Essentials of Kingship and to leave the Title of it to the old Cardinal of Bourbon who was a Prisoner and whom he declar'd King under the Name of Charles the Tenth by the Council of the Union At this time it was that there were scatter'd through all the Kingdom a vast number of scandalous Pamphlets and other Writings in which the Authors of them pretended to prove that Henry of Bourbon stood lawfully excluded from the Crown those who were the most eminent of them were the two Advocates general for the League in the Parliament of Paris Lewis d'Orlâ—ans and Anthony Hotman The first was Author of that very seditious Libel call'd The English Catholique And the second wrote a Treatise call'd The Right of the Vncle against the Nephew in the Succession of the Crown But there happen'd a pleasant Accident concerning this Francis Hotman a Civilian and Brother to the Advocate seeing this Book which pass'd from hand to hand in Germany where he then was maintain'd with solid Arguments and great Learning The Right of the Nephew against the Vncle and made manifest in an excellent Book which he publish'd on this Subject the Weakness and false Reasoning of his Adversaries Treatise without knowing that it was written by his Brother who had not put his Name to it The League having a King to whom the Crown of right belong'd after Henry the Fourth his Nephew in case he had surviv'd him by this Pretence increas'd in Power because the King of Spain and the Duke of Lorrain and Savoy who during the Life of the late King their Ally durst not declare openly against him for his Rebellious Subjects now after his Death acknowledging this Charles the Tenth for King made no difficulty to send Supplies to the Duke of Mayenne insomuch that he after having publish'd through all France a Declaration made in August by which he exhorts all French Catholicks to reunite themselves with those who would not suffer an Heretique to be King had rais'd at the beginning of September an Army of 25000 Foot and 8000 Horse With these Forces he pass'd the Seine at Vernon marching directly towards the King who after he had been receiv'd into Pont del ' Arch and Diepe which Captain Rolâ—t and the Commander de Chates had surrendred to him made a show of besieging Rouen not having about him above 7 or 8000 Men. This so potent an Army of the Leaguers compos'd of French and Gâ—rmans Lorrainers and Walloons which he had not imagin'd cou'd have been so soon assembled and which was now coming on to overwhelm him constrain'd him to retire speedily towards Diepe where he was in danger to have been incompass'd round without any possibility of Escape but only by Sea into England if the Duke of Mayenne had taken up the resolution as he ought to have done from the first moment when he took the Field to pursue him eagerly and without the least delay But while he proceeding with his natural slowness which was his way of being wise trifled out his time in long deliberations when he shou'd have come to Action he gave leisure to the King to fortifie his Camp at Arques a League
Predecessor or be with him because he was satisfied that this Great Man would be able to do him greater Service by staying with the Duke of Mayenne where by his wise Remonstrations and the credit which he had acquir'd with that Prince he might break the measures of the Spaniards and their Adherents He continued this politique management to the end and principally on that occasion whereon depended either the felicity or the unhappiness of this Kingdom according to the resolution which shou'd be taken For the Duke of Mayenne having ask'd him his opinion in relation to what the Legat and Mendoza had propos'd he gave him easily to understand that all those plausible Propositions which were made by the Legat by Mendoza and the Sixteen were intended only to deprive him of his Authority and to subject him and the whole Party of the Vnion under the domination of the Spaniards who wou'd not fail to usurp upon the French and to perpetuate the War thereby to maintain their own greatness That in his present condition without suffering an Head to be constituted above him he had War and Peace at his disposing together with the glory of having sustain'd himself alone both Religion and the State but by acknowledging the King of Spain for Protector of the Kingdom he shou'd only debase himself under the proud Title of a powerful Master who wou'd serve his own interests too well to leave him the means of either continuing the War or of concluding a Peace to the advantage of his Country There needed no more to perswade a man so knowing and so prudent as was the Duke of Mayenne 'T is to be confess'd that he was a Self lover which is natural to all men but he was also a Lover of the Common Good which is the distinguishing character of an Honest Man Since he cou'd not himself pretend to the Crown which he clearly saw it was impossible for him to obtain for many reasons he was resolv'd no Foreigner should have it nor even any other but that only Person to whom it belong'd rightfully Religion being first secur'd He thereupon firmly purpos'd from that time both in regard of his particular interest and that of the State to oppose whatsoever attempts should be made by the Spaniards or by his own nearest Relations under any pretence or colour which was undoubtedly one great cause of the preservation of the State For which reason that he might for ever cut off the Spaniards from all hope of procuring their Master to be made Protector of the Realm of France and consequently of having in his hands the Government of the Kingdom and the concernments of the League under this new Title as the Sixteen who were already at his Devotion had design'd he politickly told them in a full Assembly that since the cause of Religion was the only thing for which the Vnion was ingage'd in this War which they had undertaken it wou'd be injurious to the Pope to put themselves under any other protection than that of his Holiness Which Proposition was so gladly receiv'd by all excepting only the Faction of Sixteen that the Spaniards were constrain'd to desist and to let their pretensions wholly fall And to obviate the design of causing any other King to be Elected besides the Old Cardinal of Bourbon under whose Name he govern'd all things he procur'd the Parliament to verifie the Ordinance of the Council General of the Vnion by which that Cardinal was declar'd King and caus'd him so to be Proclaim'd in all the Towns and Places of their party retaining for himself by the same Ordinance the Quality and Power of Lieutenant General of the Crown till the King shou'd be deliver'd from Imprisonment And at the same time to ruin the Faction of Sixteen which was wholly Spaniardiz'd he broke the Council of the Vnion Saying That since there was a King Proclaim'd whose Lieutenant he also was there ought to be no other Council but his which in duty was to follow him wheresoever he shou'd be Thus the Duke of Mayenne having possess'd himself of all Royal Authority under the imaginary Title of another and having overcome all the designs of the Spaniards took the Field and after having taken in the Castle of Bois de Vincennes by composition which had been invested for a year together he retook Pontoise and some other places which hindred the freedom of commerce and being afterwards willing to regain all the passages of the Seine thereby to establish the communication of Paris with Rouen and to have the Sea open he went to besiege the Fort of Meulan where he lost much time to little purpose while the Legat against whom the Kings Parliament at Tours had made a terrible Decree was labouring at Paris with all his might that no accommodation shou'd be made with the King not even though he shou'd be converted To this effect seeing that the Faction of Sixteen and the Spaniards were extremely weaken'd after what the Duke of Mayenne had done against them and that the Royalists who were generally call'd Politiques had resum'd courage and began to say openly that it was the common duty of all good Subjects to unite themselves with the Catholicks who follow'd the King he oppos'd them with a Declaration lately made against them by the factious Doctors of the Sorboâ—ne on the tenth of February in the same year 1590. For by that Decree it was ordain'd That all Doctors and Batchelors shou'd have in abhorrence and strongly combat the pestilential and damnable Opinions which the Workers of Iniquity endeavour'd with all their force to insinuate daily into the Minds of Ignorant and Simple Men principally these Propositions That Henry de Bourbon might and ought to be honour'd with the Title of King That it Conscience men might hold his Party and Pay him Taxes and acknowledge him for King on condition he turn'd Catholick c. And then they added That in case any one shall refuse to obey this Decree the Faculty declares him an Enemy to the Church of God Perjur'd and Disobedient to his Mother and in conclusion cuts him off from her Body as a gangreen'd Member which corrupts the rest A Decree of this force was of great service to the Bigots of the League because it depriv'd the wiser sort of the License they had taken to perswade the people to make peace And the Legat that he might hinder any from taking it for the time to come bethought himself that a new Oath should be impos'd on the Holy Evangelists betwixt his hands in the Church of the Augustines to be taken by all the Officers of the Town and the Captains of the several Wards which was That they shou'd always persevere in the Holy Union that they shou'd never make Peace or Truce with the King of Navarre and that they shou'd employ their Lives and Fortunes in deliverance of their King Charles the Tenth Which was also enjoyn'd to be taken by all the Officers of
questionless they had many Inducements which contributed otheir obstinate Resolution of suffering so long and so contentedly The Examples of the Princesses and great Ladies who satisfy'd Nature with a very small Pittance of Oat Bread taught them to bear those Miseries with constancy of Mind which their Superiours of a more delicate and tender Sex supported with so much chearfulness of Spirit Add to this the great Care and Vigilance of their Heads to hinder Tumults and Seditions and the immediate Execution of Mutineers Then the Awe and Terrour which was struck into them by the Sixteen who had resum'd their first Authority in the Town and who commonly threw into the Seine without judicial Process or form of Law all such as were suspected to hold Intelligence with the King or to make the least mention of a Treaty But the most comfortable consideration was the great Alms which were daily distributed amongst the Poor by the Order and at the Charges of the Legat Cajetan the Archbishop of Lions the Spanish Embassador the Wealthiest of the City Companies and the Cardinal Gondy Bishop of Paris who voluntarily inclos'd himself within those Walls for the Relief and Ease of his poor Flock Besides they had no small Encouragement from the false Reports which the Dutchess of Montpensier who was very skilful in coining News caus'd dayly to be spread about Paris and the Assurances by Letters whether true or forg'd which she said she had receiv'd from her Brother the Duke of Mayenne from time to time of speedy Succours All which Considerations serv'd not a little to encourage the People and to inure them to that wonderful sufferance of their Miseries But after all it must be ingenuously acknowledg'd that the Cause which principally produc'd this great Effect was the Zeal of Religion which was easily inspirâ—d into the People of Paris and the great care which they took to perswade them as really they did that it was no less than to betray it and expose it to the inevitable danger of being utterly destroy'd as had happen'd in England if they shou'd submit themselves to a King who made an open Profession of Calvinism For in fine they omitted no manner of Arts and of Perswasions to make this Opinion be swallow'd by the Multitude and consequently to harden them against the fear of Death it self rather than endure the Dominion of a Prince who was an Heretique In the first place they made use of the Sorbonnists which as their Liberty was then oppress'd immediately made a new Decree on the seventh of May in which it is declar'd That Henry de Bourbon being a relaps'd Heretick and excommunicated personally by our Holy Father there was manifest danger that he wou'd deceive the Church and ruine the Catholique Religion though he shou'd obtain an exteriour Absolution and that therefore the French are oblig'd in Conscience to hinder him with all their Power from coming to the Crown in case King Charles the Tenth shou'd dye or even if he shou'd release his Right to him and that as all such who favour his Party are actually Deserters of Religion and continue in mortal Sin which makes them liable to eternal Damnation so also by the same reason all such as shall persevere to the Death in resistance of him as Champions of the Faith shall be rewarded with the Crown of Martyrdom On the occasion of this new Decree a General Assembly was held at the Town-House where all the Assistants were sworn to dye rather than to receive an Heretick King This Oath was renew'd yet more solemnly on the Holy Evangelists betwixt the Hands of the Legat at the foot of the great Altar of the Church of Nostredame after a general Procession at which besides the Clergy were present all the Princes and Princesses and all the Companies the Bishops and Abbots the Colonels and Officers and the Persons of Quality follow'd by vast Multitudes of People where the Reliques of all the Churches in Paris were carryed This Oath reduc'd into Writing was sent to every House by the Overseers of the several Wards who oblig'd all persons to take it After which the Parliament made an Ordinance prohibiting on pain of Death that any one shou'd speak of making a Composition with the King of Navarre and above all the rest the Preachers of the League and the famous Cordelier Panigarole Bishop of Ast with Bellarmine the Learned Jesuit who both acted in Conjunction with them the Divines of the Legat Cajetan who preach'd like the rest during the Siege encourag'd their Auditors to suffer all Miseries rather than subject themselves to an Heretick assuring them according to the Decree of the Sorbonne that if they shou'd loose their Lives for such a Cause they dy'd undoubtedly for the Faith and were to be esteem'd no less than Martyrs There also happen'd an Accident which as fantastical and ridiculous as it appear'd was yet of use to animate the People and to fortifie them in their Belief that it was their Duty to make opposition even to Death against the setting up an Heretick King For above twelve hundred Ecclesiasticks as well Seculars as Regulars amongst whom were the most reform'd and most austere of every Order such as were the Carthusians Minimes Capuchins and Feuillants made a kind of Muster marching in Rank and File through the Streets wearing over their ordinary Habits the Arms of Foot Soldiers having William Roze the Bishop of Senlis at their Head and the Figures of the Crucifix and the Blessed Virgin flanting in their Standard to make it appear that since Religion was the Matter in dispute their Profession as peaceable as it was gave them no Dispensation in that Case from hazarding their Lives in War like other Men and that they were all resolv'd to dye with their Brethren in the Defence of Faith All Paris ran to this Spiritual Show which was like to have prov'd fatal to the Legat for making a Stop with his Coach at the end of Pont Nostredame to behold this noble Spectacle of the Church Militant while they were giving a Salve in honour of him one of those good Fathers who had borrow'd his Musket from a Citisen and knew not that it was charg'd with Bullets let fly with no worse Intention than to show his Manhood and fairly kill'd one of his men who sate in the Boot which caus'd the Prelate who lik'd not that unchristian Proceeding very well to make haste away for his own Security But this made no other Impression in the Parisians than to confirm them in their Resolution For when they beheld their Confessours and Guides of their Consciences in that Warlike Posture they believ'd such men wou'd never have appear'd in Arms unless they were satisfy'd that it was for the Cause of God in which it was their common Duty both to live and dye But what most confirm'd them in this Belief was that the King whose hour of Conversion was not yet come wou'd never hear speak of
it in any Overtures which were made to no purpose for a Peace And though the Duke of Nemours whom he had invited by a kind Letter to Submission since he had already satisfy'd his Honour to the full had protested that he wou'd be the first to throw himself at his Feet and that he wou'd make it his Busines too that Paris shou'd acknowledge him provided he return'd into the Church he always rejected that Proposition On which account whatsoever solemn Promises he made that he wou'd maintain the Catholique Religion the Parisians to whom their Preachers who had an absolute Dominion over their Consciences still represented the Example of England cou'd never resolve to confide in him Thus being perswaded that it was impossible for them to surrender without giving up their Religion by the same Act they had the Courage in the midst of their Sufferings to expect the great Succours which the Duke of Parma brought to their Relief at the end of August And that excellent Commander without giving Battel to which the King who was constrain'd to retire with all his Forces from before Paris cou'd never force him so well he was retrench'd at Clay had the Glory to execute his own design and after his own manner by taking Lagny in the sight of the King and freeing Paris which was the end of his Undertaking It belongs to the general History of France to describe all the particular Passages of that famous Expedition I shall only say that I may omit nothing which precisely concerns my Subject that before the King had licens'd the Nobility and Gentry which attended him to depart and divided his Forces into several small Bodies as he afterwards did he wou'd needs make a last Attempt upon the Town To which effect on Saturday night the eighth of September he convey'd secretly three or four thousand chosen Soldiers into the Fauxbourgs St. Iacques and St. Marceau under the Leading of the Count de Chastillon to scale the Walls betwixt those two Gates after Midnight while the Town was buried as it were in the depth of Sleep For he believ'd not that the Parisians who knew that his Army was drawn up in Battalia on the Plain of Bondy all Saturday wou'd keep themselves upon their Guard on that side which he purpos'd to attaque But as some notice had been given of his Design and that besides his Troops cou'd not possibly enter those Fauxbourgs without noise the Allarm was immediately taken the Bells were rung and the Citizens in Crouds mounted the Ramparts especially where he meant to have planted his Ladders But at last when after a long Expectation no Enemy appear'd and that no more noise was heard because the Kings Soldiers who were cover'd by the Fauxbourgs made not the least motion and also kept a profound Silence it was taken only for a false Alarm The Bells ceas'd ringing and every man retir'd to his own Lodging excepting only ten Jesuites who being more vigilant than the rest continu'd all the remainder of that Night on the same Post which was not far distant from their Colledge In the mean time the Soldiers of Chastillon who were softly crept down into the Ditch began about four of the Clock in the Morning to set up their Ladders being favour'd by a thick Mist which hindred them from being discern'd The Design was well enough lay'd for there needed not above ten or twelve men to have got over into the Town who might have open'd the Gate of St. Marceau to their Fellows by means of a Correspondence which was held with a Captain belonging to that Quarter after which it had been easie to have possest themselves of the University and consequently both the Town and the City wou'd have submitted themselves to the King rather than have expos'd Paris as a Prey to two great Armies by admitting that of the Duke of Parma at the Gate of St. Martin But the Vigilance of the ten Jesuites broke all these Measures which were so justly taken for having heard a Noise in the Ditch which was made by thosâ— who were setting up their Ladders against the Walls they cry'd out as loud as they cou'd stretch their Voices to Arms to Arms. Notwithstanding which the Soldiers were still getting up and the first of them who was ready to leap upon the Rampart happen'd to show his Head just where one of those honest Fathers was plac'd who gave him such a lusty knock with an old Halbard which he had in his hand as he stood Centry that he broke it in two upon his Head and tumbled him down with the Blow into the Ditch The Companions of this valiant Jesuite did as muâ—h to two other Soldiers and a fourth who was already got up and held his Ladder with one Hand to descend into the Town and with the other a broad Curtle-axe to cleave the Head of the first who shou'd oppose him was stopp'd short by two of these Fathers who each of them with a Partizan so vigorously push'd him that notwithstanding all the Blows which he made in vain at too great a distance for fear of their long Weapons they forc'd him at the last to quit his Ladder and having hurt him in the Throat overturn'd him backward into the Ditch after his Fellows The two first Citizens who ran to their Relief were the Advocate William Balden and the famous Bookseller Nicholas Nivelle these two finding one of those Jesuites grappling with a Soldier who was getting up in spight of the poor Fathers weak resistance came into the rescue and lent him their helping Hands to kill him And the Advocate immediately turning himself to another who had already got upon the Ramparts discharg'd so terrible a Reverse upon his right hand with his Fauchion that he cut it sheer off and sent him headlong to the Bottom in the mean time the Alarm being once more warmly taken in the Town the Citizens and Soldiers made haste to Man the Walls especially on that side and heaps of kindled Straw were thrown down to light the Ditch and make discovery what was doing below whereupon the Kings Soldiers being easily discern'd left both their Ladders and their Attempt which now cou'd not possibly succeed and retir'd to the Body of their Army So little was there wanting to bring about so great an Enterprise For 't is most certain that if these ten Jesuits had done like the Townsmen and had gone back to take their rest in their College after the first Alarm which was held for false the King had that day entred Paris But the Divine Providence had reserv'd that happiness for a time more favourable to Religion and to that City into which the King being Victorious over the League was ordain'd to make a peaceable entrance after he had solemnly profess'd the Catholique Faith In the mean time the affairs of the League far from being advanc'd after this expedition which was so glorious to the Duke of Parma were soon
our King Pope Gregory the 13th commanded his Nuncio himself to thank the Ambassador from him at his passage from Venice on his return to France and to desire him that he wou'd use his Interest with his Brother the Abbot of L' Isle who had succeeded him in many of his Negotiations and in that Embassy as he also did in the Bishoprick of Acq's that he wou'd follow the worthy Examples which he had given him 'T is true that Pope Pius the 5th Predecessor to Gregory thought it very strange at first that a Bishop shou'd be Ambassador for the most Christian King at the Ottoman Port. But besides that the Bishop of Agria a most prudent and vertuous Prelat had exercis'd that Charge during five years for the Emperor Maximilian the 2d without the least fault found with it he very much chang'd his opinion after the Bishop of Acq's by his credit with the Grand Signior had obtain'd from him that an express Prohibition shou'd be made to Piali Bassa General of his Navy of making any descent on the Territories of the Church in consideration of which Benefit his Holiness made him a promise to promote him to the highest Dignities with which a Pope can recompence the greatest Services that are render'd to the Church These were the Employments of that Bishop whose Deserts were not less eminent than those of his elder Brother Anthony de Noailles Head of that illustrious Family which is one of the most ancient and remarkable in Limousin who was Ambassador in England Governour of Bourdeaux and Lieutenant for the King in Guyenne where he serv'd the State and Religion with the same Zeal which appears at this day with so much Success and Glory in his Posterity It was then by the Motives of the same Zeal for Religion that Francis de Noailles after he had reduc'd 100 Hugonot Families which he found in Acq's at his coming to that Bishoprick to the number of 12 was not wanting to make use of so fair an opportunity as he had to work upon the King of Navarre's Inclinations which good advice in God's due time had the desir'd effect For having conferr'd with him at Nerac by the King's Orders twice or thrice with endeavours to procure from him the re-establishment of the Catholick Religion in Bearn when he found that new Difficulties were still started he laid aside that particular Point and coming to the Spring-head whereon all the rest depended he told him in the presence of Segur with all the sincerity of a faithful Minister That his Majesty cou'd not reasonably hope to support himself by that Party which how powerful soever it appear'd wou'd always be too weak to bear him up in spight of the Catholicks who were infinitely more strong to that pitch of heighth to which his Birth and Fortune might one day carry him that whatsoever Wonders his Valour might perform yet they wou'd never be of any advantage to him till he reconcil'd himself sincerely to the Catholick Church and that it was impossible they were his very words that he cou'd ever raise any thing that was durable for the establishment of his Fortune either within the Realm or without it unless he built on this Foundation This was what he said when he took his leave of the King of Navarre And some few days after this writing from Agen to the Sieur de Segur he protested to him That his Master cou'd never arrive to the possession of that Crown to which he might lawfully pretend if he made not his entrance by the Gate of the Catholick Religion and pray'd him therefore that he wou'd think seriously of that Matter for if he follow'd not his Counsel he shou'd one day speak to him in Petrarch 's Verse When Error goes before Repentance comes behind This Discourse startled Segur who had much power over his Masters Inclinations and it was principally on this account that he gave him the Counsel above-mention'd which consequently caus'd the King of Navarre to consider of the means of reuniting himself to the Catholicks But it happening that in the midst of these Agitations the Leaguers began openly to rebel and afterwards capitulating with Arms in their hands obtain'd an Edict by which the King oblig'd himself to make War with all his Power against the Hugonots Segur whom the King of Navarre had lately sent into Germany to desire assistance writ to him after he had obtain'd it that this was not a time to think of turning Catholick though he himself had formerly advis'd it and that since his Enemies wou'd make him change his Religion by force almost in the same manner as they had us'd him at the Massacre of St. Barthol'mew he ought to stand bent against them and defend his Liberty by Arms that it might not be said he was basely plyant to their will and that he might change freely with safeguard to his Honour at some other time which now he cou'd not without shame as being by constraint He follow'd this Advice which was also seconded by his Counsel He made the War and always appear'd at the Head of the Hugonots with the success which has already been related But being a man of a sprightly and piercing Wit he was not wanting in the mean time to instruct himself and that by a very artificial way Sometimes by proposing difficult Points to his Ministers or to speak more properly his own Doubts and Scruples in matters of Religion to understand on what Foundations their Opinions were built sometimes by conferring with knowing Catholicks and maintaining against them with the strongest Reasons he cou'd urge the Principles which had been infus'd into him by his Ministers on purpose to discover by their Answers which he compar'd with what had been told him on the other side what was real and solid truth betwixt them And he always continued in this manner of Instruction clearing and fathoming the principal Points of the Controversie and causing them to give in writing what they had to argue pro or con which produc'd this effect that the Hugonots never believ'd him to be sound at bottom and settled in their Religion but repos'd much greater confidence in the late Prince of Conde who was in reality a better Protestant than he And truly it appears exceeding credible that when at his coming to the Crown he made a promise to the Catholick Princes and Lords that he wou'd cause himself to be instructed within six months he was already resolv'd on his Conversion there remaining but very few things which he then scrupled and for which he demanded some longer time in order to his fuller satisfaction But as he afterwards acknowledg'd he thought himself oblig'd to defer that good action to some more convenient opportunity because the Hugâ—nots wou'd certainly have cantoniz'd themselves and set up under the protection of some powerful Foreigner whom they wou'd have chosen for their Head which must have occasion'd new Troubles in the Kingdom Besides which the Head
is all the 〈◊〉 I will ever take on you for all the 〈◊〉 you have done me when you were 〈◊〉 of the League Thus the Duke being charm'd with so much Generosity and Goodness which won upon his Nature devoted himself wholly to his service and serv'd him afterwards to his great advantage especially against the Spaniards in the retaking of La Fere and Amiens Now after this Agreement there remain'd no more towards the total extinguishment of that great Fire which had spread it self through all the Kingdom than the reduction of the Dukes of Mercaeur and of Ioyeuse who yet held for the League the one in Bretagne and the other in Languedoc For as to the Town of Marseilles which the Duke of Guise to whom the King had given that Government of Provence had retaken from the Rebels it being then under the dominion of two petty Tyrants who acknowledg'd neither the King nor the Duke of Mayenne and who wou'd have given it up to the Spaniards the History of its Deliverance belongs not to that of the League for the Duke of Ioyeuse three years were already past when after the death of his Brother who was drown'd in the Tarn when he had been forc'd in his Retrenchments at the Siege of Villemur he was return'd from Father Aâ—ge the Capuchin to be Duke of Ioyeuse and General of the League in Languedoc This change of his was made at the earnest Solicitations of the Faculty of Divines in Tholouse the Doctors who were consulted on this Case of Conscience and especially his Brother the Cardinal who after the death of the late King was enter'd into the Party of the League having declar'd to him that he was oblig'd under pain of mortal Sin to accept of that Employment for the good of Religion Yet he wou'd not take it without a Dispensation from the Pope who transferr'd him from the Order of St. Francis to that of St. Iohn of Ierusalem He had maintain'd till that time the Party of the Vnion in that Province as well as he was able but when he saw that the greatest part of the Towns made their voluntary submission after the Conversion of the King and that those few Officers of Parliament who were remaining at Tholouse were resolv'd in case he wou'd not accommodate himself to them that they wou'd joyn with the Members of their Company who during the Troubles were retir'd to Castle Sarazin and Besiers He made his Treaty and in Ianuary obtain'd from the â—inâ— in the same manner as the Duke of 〈◊〉 had done an Edict in favour of him by which he was made Marshal of France and Lieutenant of the King in Languedoc and Tholoâ—se and the other Towns of that Province which yet held for the League He liv'd for three years afterwards in the midst of the Pomps Pleasures and Vanities of the World But it caus'd a wonderful Surprize when after he had solemniz'd with great Magnificence the Marriage of his only Daughter Hâ—nrieâ—â—e Charâ—otte only Heir of that rich and illustrious House of Ioyeusâ— with Henry Duke of Montpâ—nsiâ—r it was told on the second Tuesday of Lent by the Capuchin who preach'd at St. Germain de l' Auxerrois that having for the second time renounc'd the World he was return'd the last night into the Cloister from whence he had departed eight or nine years before for the service of Religion as he believ'd but at the last his Mind having been enlighten'd by God's holy Spirit and being strongly wrought upon by the Impuâ—ses of his Grace he had resolv'd to do Justice on himself considering in the presence of God that the Motive on which the Pope had given him the Dispensation no longer subsisting it was his duty dealing sincerely with God who is not to be deceiv'd no longer to make use of it when the Causes which supported it were no more in being For which Reasons he piously resolv'd to resume his ancient Habit of Penitence in which after he had edified all Paris by his rare Vertues and his fervent Sermons he dy'd in our days a most religious Death All that now remain'd was to reduce the Duke of Mâ—rcaeur which was indeed to give the fatal Blow to the League and to cut off the last Head of that monstrous Hydra That Prince who was Son to the Count of Vaâ—demont and Brother of Queen Louise Wife to the late King being carried away with the furious Torrent of the League after the death of the Guises following the example of the other Princes of his Family had caus'd almost a general Revolt in his Government of Bretagne where he made War for almost ten years with Fortune not unlike that of the Duke of Mayenne but with much greater Obstinacy For not withstanding that in the declination of the League he had lost the greatest part of his Towns which were either taken from him or of their own accord forsook his Party yet he still fed his Imagination with flattering Hopes that this fair Dutchy to which he had some Pretensions in right of his Wife might at last remain in his possession by some favourable revolution of Fortune in case the War continued But when he saw the King approaching Bretagne with such Forces as there was no appearance of resisting he made his Applications to the Dutchess of Beaufort to whom he offer'd the Princess his only Daughter for the young Duke of Vandome her Son And it was in consideration of that Marriage that she obtain'd from the King an Edict yet more honourable and at least as advantagious as that which she had obtain'd for the Duke of Mayenne whom she desir'd to have in her Interests designing to make her self powerful Friends by whose assistance she might compass her high Pretensions which all vanish'd by her sudden Death in the year ensuing Thus ended the League by the reduction of the Duke of Mercaeur who had this advantage above all the Princes of that Party that his Accommodation was follow'd by an Employment wherein he obtain'd all the Glory that a Christian Hero cou'd desire and which has recommended his Name to late Posterity For the Emperor Rodolphus dissatisfy'd with his German Generals who had serv'd him ill against the Turks and being inform'd of the rare Merit of this Prince having entertain'd him with leave from the King and given him the Command of his Forces in Hungary he extended his Reputation through all Christendom by his wonderful Exploits in War particularly in the famous Retreat of Canisia with 1500 men before an Army of 60000 Turks at the taking of Alba Regalis and at the Battel wherein he defeated the Infidels who came to the relief of their men besiegâ—d in that City And being upon his return to France after so many heroick Actions it pleas'd God to reward him with another Crown of Glory infinitely surpassing that on Earth and to receive him into Heaven by means of a contagious Disease which took him from the World at
misled But in the end when by these specious pretences they had gather'd strength they who had before concluded that Christ was the only King on Earth and at the same time assum'd to themselves that Christ was theirs inferr'd by good consequence that they were to maintain their King and not only so but to propagate that belief in others for what God wills man must obey And for that reason they entred into a League of Association amongst themselves to deliver their Israel out of Egypt to seize Canaan and to turn the Idolaters out of possession Thus you see by what degrees of Saintship they grew up into Rebellion under their Successive Heads Muncer Phifer Iohn of Leyden and Knipperdolling where what Violences Impieties and Sacriledges they committed those who are not satisfied may read in Sleydan The general Tradition is that after they had been besieg'd in Munster and were forc'd by assault their Ringleaders being punish'd and they dispers'd two Ships-lading of these precious Saints was disembogu'd in Scotland where they set up again and broach'd anew their pernicious Principles If this be true we may easily perceive on what a Noble stock Presbytery was grafted From Scotland they had a blessed passage into England or at least arriving here from other parts they soon came to a considerable increase Calvin to do him right writ to King Edward the Sixth a sharp Letter against these People but our Presbyterians after him have been content to make use of them in the late Civil Wars where they and all the rest of the Sectaries were joyn'd in the Good Old Cause of Rebellion against His Late Majesty though they cou'd not agree about dividing the Spoyls when they had obtain'd the Victory And 't is impossible they ever shou'd for all claiming to the Spirit no Party will suffer another to be uppermost nor indeed will they tolerate each other because the Scriptures interpreted by each to their own purpose is always the best weapon in the strongest hand Observe them all along and Providence is still the prevailing Argument They who happen to be in power will ever urge it against those who are undermost as they who are depress'd will never fail to call it Persecution They are never united but in Adversity for cold gathers together Bodies of contrary Natures and warmth divides them How Presbytery was transplanted into England I have formerly related out of good Authors The Persecution arising in Queen Mary's Reign forc'd many Protestants out of their Native Country into Foreign parts where Calvinism having already taken root as at Francfort Strasburg and Geneva those Exiles grew tainted with that new Discipline and returning in the beginning of Queen Elizabeth's Reign spread the contagion of it both amongst the Clergy and Laity of this Nation Any man who will look into the Tenets of the first Sectaries will find these to be more or less embued with them Here they were supported underhand by Great Men for private interests What trouble they gave that Queen and how she curb'd them is notoriously known to all who are conversant in the Historiâ—s of those times How King Iames was plagu'd with them is known as well to any man who has read the Reverend and Sincere Spotswood And how they were baffled by the Church of England in a Disputation which he allowed them at Hampton-Court even to the Conversion of Dr. Sparks who was one of the two Disputants of their Party and afterwards writ against them any one who pleases may be satisfied The Agreement of their Principles with the fiercest Jesuits is as easie to be demonstrated and has already been done by several hands I will only mention some few of them to show how well prepar'd they came to that solemn Covenant of theirs which they borrow'd first from the Holy League of France and have lately copied out again in their intended Association against his present Majesty Bellarmine as the Author of this History has told you was himself a Preacher for the League in Paris during the Rebellion there in the Reign of King Henry the Fourth Some of his Principles are these following In the Kingdoms of Men the Power of the King is from the People because the People make the King Observing that he says In the Kingdoms of Men there is no doubt but he restrains this Principle to the subordination of the Pope For his Holiness in that Rebellion as you have read was declar'd Protector of the League So that the Pope first Excommunicates which is the Outlawry of the Church and by virtue of this Excommunication the People are left to their own natural liberty and may without farther Process from Rome depose him Accordingly you see it practis'd in the same Instance Pope Sixtus first thunderstruck King Henry the Third and the King of Navarre then the Sorbonne make Decrees that they have successively forfeited the Crown the Parliament verifies these Decrees and the Pope is petition'd to confirm the sence of the Nation that is of the Rebels But I have related this too favourably for Bellarmine for we hear him in another place positively affirming it as matter of Faith If any Christian Prince shall depart from the Catholick Religion and shall withdraw others from it he immediately forfeits all Power and Dignity even before the Pope has pronounc'd Sentence on him and his Subjects in case they have power to do it may and ought to cast out such an Heretick from his Soveraignty over Christians Now consonant to this is Buchanan 's Principle That the People may confer the Government on whom they please And the Maxim of Knox That if Princes be Tyrants against God and his Truth their Subjects are releas'd from their Oath of Obedience And Goodman 's That when Magistrates cease to do their Duties God gives the Sword into the Peoples hands evil Princes ought to be depos'd by inferior Magistrates and a private man having an inward Call may kill a Tyrant 'T is the work of a Scavenger to rake together and carry off all these Dunghills they are easie to be found at the Doors of all our Sects and all our Atheistical Commonwealths men And besides 't is a needless labour they are so far from disowning such Positions that they glory in them and wear them like Marks of Honour as an Indian does a Ring in his Nose or a Souldanian a Belt of Garbidge In the mean time I appeal to any impartial man whether men of such Principles can reasonably expect any Favour from the Government in which they live and which Viper-like they wou'd devour What I have remark'd of them is no more than necessary to show how aptly their Principles are suited to their Practices The History it self has sufficiently discover'd to the unbiass'd Reader that both the last Rebellion and this present Conspiracy which is the mystery of Iniquity still working in the three Nations were originally founded on the French League that was their Model according to
the contrary for when they saw by this Decree and by the taking of Dreux which the King had besieg'd and after carried by force during these Agitations that if they made not haste in their election of a King 't was very probable that it wou'd be out of their power to elect one afterwards they us'd their utmost Endeavours to have one chosen in the same manner as they had first propos'd it To put by this Blow the Duke of Mayennâ— who believ'd the Spaniards had been impowr'd only with general Instructions and not to name him whom they judg'd most proper for their Interests told them that of necessity they were to expect a more particular Order from their Master wherein he shou'd declare the individual Person whom he chose for his Son in law But he was much surpriz'd when they who in all appearance had many Blanks which were ready sign'd and which they cou'd fill up with any Name to serve their occasions show'd him before the Cardinal Legat and the principal Members of the Assembly at a meeting in his House that they were impowr'd in due form to name the Duke of Guise yet he strove in the best manner he cou'd to conceal his inward Trouble and Anxiety for this Nomination which his Wiâ—e the Dutchess was not able to endure but counseâ—l'd him rather to make a Peace with the King than to be so mean-spirited as to acknowledge that raw young Creature for so by way of contempt she call'd her Nephew for his King and Master But the Duke of Mayennâ— who at that time cou'd not bear any Master whomsoever took another course and requir'd eight days time to give in writing his Demands for his own indemnifying which the Spaniards allow'd him as fully as he cou'd desire And in the mean time he knew so well to manage the Minds of the greatest part of the Deputies the Lords and Princes and even of the Duke of Guise himself by making them comprehend how unseasonable it was to create a King before they had Forces sufficient to support him against a powerful and victorious Prince that in spight of all those who were of the Spanish Interest the Ministers of Spain were answer'd that the Estates were resolv'd to proceed no farther in their Election till they had receiv'd those great Supplies which had been promis'd them by the King their Master In this manner the Election was deferr'd by the Address of the Duke of Mayenne which Dr. Mauclere a great Leaguer most bitterly bewail'd in a Letter which he wrote from Paris to Dr. de Creil another stiff Leaguer then residing at Rome to manage the Interests of that Party and therein discov'rd the whole Secret which in effect overthrew all the Cabals of the Spaniards and the League and utterly destroy'd their whole Fabrick For many things afterwards happen'd which broke off all speech of an Election of which the first and most principal was the Conversion of the King which is next in order to be related Above 9 years were already past since he though Head of the Hugonots had been endeavouring the means of reuniting himself together with his whole Party to the Catholick Church For in the year 1584. a little before the Associated Princes of the League had taken Arms the late King having sent Monsieur de Bellievre to Pamiers to declare to him that he wou'd have the Mass re establish'd in the County of Foix and in all the other Countreys which he held under the Soveraignty of the Crown of France he caus'd one of the Ministers of his Family who was already well inclin'd to sound the Dispositions of the other Ministers of that Countrey and to try if there were any hope that they would use their Endeavours uprightly and sincerely to find the means of making a general Reunion with the Catholick Church They gave up without any great difficulty all the Points in Controversie excepting one which they laid to heart namely their Interest demanding such vast proportions of Maintenance as he was not then in a condition to give them saying with great simplicity these very words That they wou'd not go a begging for their Living or live upon charity like so many poor Scholars Many of his Counsel and amongst others the Sieur de Segur one of those in whom he most confided were of opinion nevertheless that he shou'd not give over that Undertaking and that he shou'd endeavour to bring it about quietly and without any bustle by gaining the leading men of his Party And he was so well inclin'd to do it that he cou'd not curb himself from protesting frequently after his coming to the Crown and particularly after the Battel of Ivry that he wish'd with all his heart they were reunited with that Church from which they had separated and that he shou'd believe that he had done more than any of his Predecessors if God wou'd one day enable him to make that Reunion which was so necessary that he might live to see all Frenchmen united under the same Faith as well as under the same King But there is great probability for us to hope that God had reserv'd that Glory for King Louis the Great his Grandson whose unbloody Victories which he daily obtains in full Peace over Heresie by his prudent management and his Zeal which have found the means of reducing the Protestants in crowds and without violence into the Church may under his Reign show us the final accomplishment of that great Work which his Grandfather so ardently desir'd It is also known that this Prince being then only King of Navarre at the time when he projected that Re-union of which I have spoken said one day in private to one of the Ministers That he cou'd see no manner of devotion in his Religion which all consisted in hearing a Sermon deliver'd in good French and that he had always an opinion that the Body of our Lord is in the holy Sacrament for otherwise the Communion was but an exterior Ceremony which had nothing real and essential in it 'T is in this place that I cannot hinder my self from rendring Justice to the merit of one of the greatest Men whom any of our Kings have imploy'd in their most important Negotiations and who most contributed to the infusing these good Inclinations into the King of Navarre namely Francis de Noailles Bishop of Acq's who has gain'd an immortal Reputation by those great Services which he perform'd for France during 35 years under four of our Kings in fifteen Voyages out of the Kingdom and four solemn Embassies into England Venice Rome and Constantinople In which last Employment he did so much for the interest of our Religion with Selim the Grand Signior the 2d of that Name and by travelling into Syria Palestine and Aegypt where he procur'd great Advantages and Comfort to the poor Christians that the greatest Princes of Christendom thought themselves oblig'd to make their thankful Acknowledgements of his labour to