sister as neere to him as this brother is to the novv king These tymes haue nevv falshodes vvhich vve must encounter by nevv foreseeing vvysedomes nevv diseases haue taught phisitians to find nevv medicines and sith false frenchmen vvyll doe that which theyr forefathers vvould neuer do let honest English men suspect that which theyr auncesters could neeuer misdeeme Especially in those matters wher popery comes betwene as the motif and the french ben the instruments For to do that Roman sinagogue seruice the french doe accompt as fayre vertues all foule lyes treasons poysonings massacres and turning of realms vpside down And for recompence of theyr braue nighte xploit at Paris they were brought immediately as it vvere in a carte of tryumphe in at Rome gates where the world is vvitnes of the panegyricall prayses and solemne orations pronounced in theyr perpetuall fame with many ioyfull fyres in honor of that barbarous vnmanlike and treasonable victory vpon the noble Admiral that slept in the oth of hys king But though the hope of lyke commendation may make these men attempt the lyke fact yet are these wicked praysings of the pope but a shadow of praysings and make as much to the true honor of the french as theyr paper excommunication and burning by image at Rome doe hurt the good Christian in body or soule Now the Spanish genet wil soone champ thys cakebread snaffle a sunder for thys great feate that should be don in bringing K. Phillip to some reasonable conditions of peace vvith his subiects and hyr maiestie to haue some maritime part to hir own behofe hovv shall it be wrought by french forces onely They vvyll not doe it they can not doe it ▪ and if they would or could why is it not don already if by french and English forces ioyned vvhy then doth he not ioyne and conferr with vs all thys whyle rather then vnder hand seeke to trump both them of the religion there and the malcontent If it should be don by English forces onelye as it must be indeede for he hath none to command oneles they saye that hys brother vvyll both man him and money hym and then they forgette that vvhyche they sayde of being a brydle to Fraunce If I saye Englyshe money and Englyshmen must do thys enterpryse it may be much better achiued now while we haue the lavv in our own hands and may command then when vve shall be couert baron and haue put our sword into an other hand vve haue not so much neede of hym for a captayne as he hath of our strength to serue hym Neyther doe I thinke more truth in any of these theyr reasons then that vve should serue to vvorke theyr vvill in those lovv countryes and if any thing vvere gotten that should vvholy goe to Fraunce but our butin in England should be euen as good in these vvars to be taken for france agaynst Spayn as it vvas vnder Queene Mary in the vvarres for Spayn agaynst Fraunce at vvhat tyme the vvhole losse euen a greeuous losse to any Englishman that shall looke from Douer castle ouer to the other side fell on our part But in deede if it please hyr maiestye to ayde those lovv countryes as it vvyll be most for our honor in the enterpryse and for our gayne in atchieuing to doe it of our selues vvhyle uve are at lybertye and not vnder straunge restraint so is it novve high time for the neede they haue vvho by these delayes shal be soone past helpe and so the king of Spayne haue hys vvyll And in truth the best vvelcome force and of most profit to those countryes must be the English vvithout french for the popish party of Arthois and Henault neuer loued the french and novv dare not trust thē and those of Gaunt hate them tvvyse Fyrst for religion and then for the cause common to them vvyth the VVallon vvhich is theyr ouermuch intelligence vvith the cōmon enemy the Spaynard vvhatsoeuer perill therefore out of those countries from king Phillip by reason of hys pease there is spoken of by these perswaders thereby alluring vs vnto thys match vvyth Fraunce is easely mett vvythall by our ovvn forces in tyme vvhych vvyll be much more vvyllyngly receiued of them then the French for all the late foolish and levvd pamflettes there spred by the french in theyr ovvne fauoer and our disgrace And it is more absurd that Fraunce vvoulde consent to send hither a brydle for himself those that are of this mind presuppose a ielousie betweene the French king and Monsieur vvhych vve must first graunt them or els they fayle to proue thys in the begynning Now albeit I thinke that the best fayth can not be meant but betvvene the best men yet may we be assured that hovve soeuer they stande betvvene themselues for Fraunce they vvyll styll agree to anoy England and hold togither lyke brethren the change of that ayre for thys and hys comming ouer sea vvyll not change that mind and styll shall he be hys brother and son of his mother vvho seeing that both of them doe follow this mariage no doubt they wyll prouide agaynst theyr ovvne brydeling And it is lyke ynough though Monsieur knowes a peice of theyr purpose yet knowes he not the depth of thys mischieuous practise For they doe not vse to impart more to him then falles to hys part to play The king remembers that he hymselfe when he vvas Monsieur being made priuie to the thē purposed horrible massacre had like to haue marred al by lauishing out a word here of to one of hys deerelyngs had not Lignerolls mouth ben stopped with papp and the hatchet as they say Besides that Monsieur vvas neuer admitted so farr in connsail as the present king nor esteemed so stanche And if a man may guesse sometime what a thing is by reckoning vp vvhat it is not we shall not find in the king nor his bro ther nor mother any louing cause to bring this nevve loue in theyr mind They neuer bare fauour to hir maiesties person they neuer shewed themselues louers to the quiet of thys state they account not themseldes any vvay beholden to prince or state Euery vvord or deed of ours shewing neuer so litle compassiō tovvards their murthered or mislike of the murderers is depely layd vp of them for so many vvrongs Much lesse vvyll any man think she sends hir son hyther to schoole for our religion It is farr from probabilitie to thinke that the king sends him hither because he vvould be rid of hym as though he stoode in fearefull doubte of hys greatnes vvhyle he vvere in fraunce It is sufficiently proued othervvhere that he is not followed nor esteemed generally in Fraunce by papist or protestant And if there vvere any such ielousie in the kings head thys vvere no vvisedome by aduauncing his brother to so puissant a kingdom to make him more dread And in Monsieur vvhat doe we find
detected trecheries against Gods church haue bene seuerally sealed with his visible markes of vengeaunce vvritten not vpon the vvall but successiuely on theyr carcasses vvith a heauēly fingar not by torch light but at noone day in the eyes and eares of the vvorld in so much as Baltazar the father had hys Maneh grauen in the apple of hys eye and that in the eysight of Anne du Bourg vvhose death for professing Christ he had voued to see His first son had his Tekel told in his eare vvhych rotted hym vvhyle he was yet aliue And his next sonn had his Phares marked in euery vent of hys body that as he had shed Christian blood vvith Iulianus so he mighte take of hys owne blood in his hand and saye with Iulianus Vicisti Galiaeè VVho vvould not tremble to come nere this kindred so vvrathfully marked of God vvho vvould become one vvith thys generation so hatefull to men let vs bost in this Galilean and defie Iulian. let vs vvith confidence glory in the crosse of Christ and not vouchsafe to ioine vvith these apostate princes This present king besides the sinnes of his auncesters haue giuen the Lorde cause enowgh of personall actious by hys owne excesses VVhich though the Lord doe not yet bring in vppon hym thorough hys long suffering yet assuredly there is a measure of hys wickednes measured out and a tyme for his iudgements vvhensoeuer the Saintes of God haue filled his bottle vvith teares The plague common to the house he hath That is he vvants one of his loins to sit vpon his seate So that vve see by proofe in three brothers that the Lord wyll not leaue one of Ahabs house An ill disposed body he hath a suspitious and fearefull mynde euen of hys friendes Touching thys prynce novv offered to thys church in mariage if he be behynd in mischiefes remember he is younger in yeeres and neuer came to that hability by myght of a kingdome to performe his inborne malice to the church and the discredit of hys brethern haue notably hindred hym that vvay Neuerthelesse so farre as his place vvould suffer he hath bene vsed to doe that seruice to Rome and damage to the church that he vvas fit for At the mas sacring mariage he vvas not old ynough to execute any thing but vvas set by hys mother to cry and vveepe at the cruelties that so shevving some misliking of them hys credit might be saued for such another desperate match all the rest of the credites of the king then and hys mother brother and sister being lyttle enough to colour that mischiefe since that tyme he hath bene set a vvorke in Fraunce and Flaunders diuers counterfeit fallings out betvveene hym and his brother and suddein appeasings VVhen he fled from the Court to Dreux declaring hymselfe protector of common liberty he quickly made first a truce and then a peace vvhereby to frustrate the gathering and keeping together of that great armie of protestants If hys meaning had bene but indifferent to religion he vvould not haue bene at that stately assembly and signed with them the abolishing of religion in Fraunce He vvas content to be vsed to pull townes out of the protestantes hands and in warres agaynst them namely La charite Issoire where after hys reuolt he committed such abominable cruelties and beastly disorders as if he novv meant neuer so good fayth had neuer so honest a mynd in these matters yet is it not lyke that this mans foule hands should lay one stone of Gods church Yea so farre is the Lord from blessing such a disloyall hand in his publicke seruice to the saluation of others that he curseth hym in publick and priuate in towne and field euen in hys ovvn soule and body to euerlasting death vnlesse he make open acknovvledgement of so open and shamefull outrages and perseuer in vvell doing After thys he leapes ouer Paris vvalles as fleeing frō the Court and tooke on hym the voyage into Flaunders vvyth shew of some tollerable mind to religion or at least to helpe the oppressed professors vouing vvith diuers solemne othes and making others to sweare that they vvould neuer come at the court againe and yet presently vpon his retorne he left his poore court all amased at Alencon and vvith tvvo or three gentilmen onely posted to yeeld himselfe into the kings hands vvith these words Syr I yeeld my selfe to you to dye at your feete in your seruice assuring you that neuer vvill I be estranged from you vvith moe lyke vvords such as detect greatly the French lightnes and french falshood in hym generall to all papistes of that nation The king vvith many embrasings and caresses gaue hym the best vvelcome in the vvorlde On vvhich day also came to the Court the Duke Guise the great ennemy to the church of God vvith fiue or sixe hundred horses vvith vvhom vvhatsoeuer vnkindnesses he had seemed before to haue he novv entered into a present familiariaritie and open kindnes VVhen vve speake therefore of Fraunce and of the practises there against the church of their some time mitigated nature tovvards Religion or of dissentions in apparance and bruites of ielousie vvhich the Queene mother puts as visarde vpon her practises vve must cast our eye wholly to her as the very soule whereby the bodies of the king of Mousieur of theyr sister Marguerit and of al the great ones in Fraunce do moue as a hundred hands to effect hyr purposes And vvhen we speake of Queene mother vve muste straightvvayes present before vs but a body or tronk vvherein the Pope moueth as hyr soule to deuise and haue executed vvhatsoeuer for the appetit of that sea euen as Necromancers are sayde to cary about a dead body by the motion of some vncleane spirit And thys soule of Fraunce as it hath bene moste eager and obstinately bent against Christes church in all thinges vvherein she entermedled so aboue the rest hath she bene a dāgerous practiser in mariages For to begin vvith the mariage of her other daughter into Spayne in the lyfe of her husband vvhat tyme a sister of hys vvas maryed into Piemont so three greate princes linked in a threefold cord as it vvere by that alliaunce all the world knoweth that the capital capitulation and article of inprimis as I may say in that threefold mariage was against God and his annoynted which strong cord though the Lorde vvhich is in heauen laughed to scorne and turned to the strangling of the tvvisters thereof insomuch as the father dyed presently and the daughter liued but a shorte tyme after and with small ioy yet hath not thys spyder left to twist once more And albeit in the mariage of the first daughter she spedde not so well by reason there was no sin of the church in it for they yoked themselues asses to asses yet in ioyning thys latter sister vvith the king of Nauarre she had better luck
the morrovv after our mariage and Monsieur repare home as we may be svre he would into hys natiue country a larger and better kingdom then by all likelihode eyther must our Elizabeth goe vvith him out of her ovvne natiue country and svvete soyle of England vvhere she is Queene as possessor and inheritor of thys imperial crovvne vvithall regall rights dignities perogatiues pre heminences priuileges autorities and iuredictions of thys kingly office and hauing the kingrike in her owne person into a forrain kingdome vvhere her vvritt doth not runn shal be but in a borovved Maiestie as the moone to the sonn shining by night as other kings vvyues and so she that hath ruled all this vvhile heere shal be there ouer ruled in a straung land by some belledame not vvithout avve perhapps of a sister in lavv and vve hyr poore subiects that haue bene gouerned hetherto by a naturall mother shal be ouerlooked at home by some cruel and proud gouernour or els must she tary here vvithout comfort of her husband seing her selfe despised or not vvifelike esteemed and as an eclipsed son diminished in souereinty hauing such perhappes appoynted to serue hyr and be at her commaundement after the french phrase vvhich in playn English vvill gouerne her and her state In thys great matter vvhat an illuding ansvver is it agayn by the particular example of the king of Spayne to put avvay thys reason grounded vpon these tvvo generall rules The first is that a straunger mighty king brought into a realme to ayde them as vvas the Turke and his sarasins or vpon any lighter occasion vvill hardly be gotten out againe The second a straunger king dravven in by our sins and sent by Gods iustice for our punishment is not ridd vvithout Gods extraordinary help Novv syr because vve vvere once happily dispatched of Spayne therefore vve shall once againe commit thys gross follye and contemne that generall rule of policie And because the Lord in mercy dyd once deliuer vs from Spayn therfore vve vvill tempt him agayn by deliuering our selues into the hands of Fraunce Alas for these men if king Phillip had neuer maryed Queene Mary and if thys matter had ben to dispute xxvij yeeres agoe then had they had no one reason for theyr side nor no ansvver to escape any of our arguments and thys absurd manner of reasoning is very Macciauelian logick by particular examples thus to gouern kingdoms and to set dovvn general rules for his prince vvhereas particulars should be vvarranted by generals But there mayster vvrested hys vngratious vvit euer to the mayntenance of a present state and these foolish schoolers put forth theyr gross conceipts to the ouerthrovv of thys present in hope of I vvot not vvhat futur common vvealth of their ovvn head Some subtilty ther is also in this aunsvver that vvhen vve are to deliberate of Fraunce vvhych is the more nere and more auncient therfore more daungerous enemy to anoy vs vvith his forces and to hold vs if he once haue vs they bryng vs in example Spayn a more remote potentate an auncient friend one that vvas at that tyme of one religion vvith thys kingdom and therfore not so pricked to hasten some chaung in our state as thys man vvho being ledd by Antichrist must not endure vvith any patience that state vvher Christ is Moreouer our dispofitiō more ready to vvarr with Fraunce then vvith Spayn is holpē by more continual occasions giuē of both sides by more cōueniencie of means to perform sodenly vvhich vvill make them let no opportunity slyp that may bring so com bersome a neighbour vnder thē as vve are And better may they do it novv then might the king of Spayn then for thē was Spain at vvars with Fraunce neyther vvas it lyke that Fraunce would haue bene holden by any frendship while he should haue suffered a more pnissant neighbour set hys foote heere vvhom he might so easely let by helping vs But now is there no enemity betvvene Fraunce and Spayne to let thys practise they are of kin by the flesh and by theyr religion and the holy leage ties them togither in that respect as it vvere faggotstiks And in truth Spayn being so far and Fraunce so nere Fraunce hath great aduantage in thys cōparison and cannot be so letted of Spayne as Spayn may be by him These daungers vvherein this daungerous pactise of mariage vvrappeth Queen Elisabeth in hyrlyfe time and hyr England together alike vvill I doubt not moue those in authority to auoyd them and others that are priuate to pray against them most seruently But these calamities alas end not vvith thys age For wher as these persvvaders lay for a chiefe ground theyr certain expecting issue of hyr Maiesties body vpon thys match and the commodities therof ensuing therby perswading thys strange conceipt I vvill at once dispatch that reason that might be obiected agaynst me make it a chiefe argument for I esteeme it my second politique reason to diswade the French mariage especially If it may please her Maiestie to cal her faythfullest vvyse phisitians and to adiure them by their conscience tovvards God theyr loyalty to hyr and fayth to the whole land to say theyr knovvledg simply without respect of pleasing or displeasing any and that they consider it also as the cause of a realm and of a Prince how excedingly dangerous they find it by theyr learning for her maiestie at these yeeres to haue hyr first chyld yea hovv fearfull the expectation of death is to mother and chyld I feare to say vvhat wyll be theyr aunswer and I humbly besech hyr Maiesty to enforme hyrselfe throughly euen in hyr loue to the vvhole land whych holds deere hyr life and peace and vvhich as it hath hetherto deutifully sought hyr mariage whyle hope of issue vvas desiring it as the chiefest common wealth good and vvithall that feare God English or straunger vvould haue reioyced to see that the reigne of Queen Elizabeth might haue ben dravven foorth as I may say in hyr faythfull ligne yet dare we not novv otherwyse craue it but so as it might be by such afather as had a sound body and holy soule and yet not thē neither onles she may first find it to stand with her lyfe and safety And vvhen I think more earnestly of thys matter me thinkes it must needes come first of a verye French loue to our Queene and land to seeke thys mariage euen now so eagerly at the vttermost tyme of hope to haue issue and at the very poynt of most daunger to her Maiestie for childbearing whereby they think if her Maiestie haue issue to see eyther the mother die in childbedd vvhich the Lord forbid and the land left again as theyrs hath bene to an infant or els to see both mother and childe put in a graue and so the land left a spoyle to forrein inuasion and as a stack of vvood to ciuill vvars All is one to
credit emong the protestants in Fraunce as they vvould trust him for a leader and not hold him stil for a suspect could hys goodly aydes offered to the states in the low countryes vvith personall taking vpon him their defence preuaile so farr that he could come any farther vvithin them then that they could by their own forces vvel auoyde hym No no the hurtfull helpe of thys shiuering reede hath appeared by the euent in both countryes and that it is no staffe of trust Most vnhappy therefore are they that may take heede by others whose hands it hath hurt and vvill not But let vs against our con science admit Monsieur to be in this matter simply seely or simply bonest yet is he set a work and ruled by his brother and mother and this sute follovved for him vvith the manifest goodwyll of hys mother the motherpractiser of France VVith the winking of the pope vvho though against the mariage of the king of Nauarre to their sister and against Monsieurs voyage in to Flanders he sent his legat yet here he sits quiet vvhich is a token that hee lookes through his fingers This sute is pursued vvith the good alovvāce of the french king For Monsieurs messenger hath continuall conuersation at home and abroade and one table vvyth the kings Ambassador a thing playnely arguing the kings good liking and continuall intelligence vvith Monsieur for the proceedings herein The strange papistes and our rebelles are in deepe silence not one opens his mouth against this mariage Thys prince can not but eythe◠for loue or feare be great with the Guysian duke and in deede of very late more theu euer euen vvhen ît vvas sayd he should come ouer hither he vvas neerely in vvard and in deepe conferences vvith that duke vvho is to vs an enemy by kind and for neer consanguinity a fast friend to the late scottish Queen vvho is the most hidden and pestilent aduersary creature that liues to our Prince state The fayrest daugh ter of the pope and shotanchor of all papistes for as the holye league hath tyed all these great on s togither by oth and their duty to the pope vvhom they wyll not displease to hate to the death all religious princes so haue they voued it in the fourth degree agaynst our prince as chiefe support of religion and in vvhose life or death as they thinke dependes the exercise or not exercise of the Gospell in England and elsvvhere Againe besides theyr afectiō in many other respects to this late Scottish Queen they haue set her down as the onely loadestone that should drawe traytors together and rent our kingdome that should set vp I dolatrous altars from S. Michils mount to Barvvick and make al the Israel of England and Scotland to sinne Hyr iniurious challenges in Fraunce hir great and disloyall attempts in england hir confederacies vvith the Spanish Generalls or regents in Flaunders vvyl easely tell a wise man vvhat deuotion she hath to the Queene vvhat impatient greedines to snatch the crowne from hir heade by oportunity or importunity vvhich so euer come first There open and violent attemptes of this purpose haue bene by Gods grace frustrate as enemyes they can doe no thing agaynst hyr Maiestie Now must some great meane be vsed and that vndercloke of loue vvhich is euer the last popish practise From no place more fitly then out of Fraunce can they fetche thys instrument of our vvoe Fraunce is a neighbour therefore conuenient by the place It is a land ful of a vvell trayned soldiar hath all ready great numbers mustered that abyde but theyr vvatch vvord it is now at peace vvithall and therefore at leasure onles they vvyll make vvarrs to themselues for cruelty they are approued to execute any thing For treason they are so embrewed in blood as they are like to assent vnto what soeuer plat neuer so barbarous And thys is also a deuice fit ynough for such a soliciter as is that false Scot prelate Rosse mortall enemy hether vvho is presently in Fraunce and like ynoug hyr agēt to procure this deuise Yea onlesse vve our selues close our owne eyes vvee may see that it is a very french popish vvoeng to sende hyther smooth tongued Simiers to glose and glauer hold talk of mariage and yet in the meane while Iaques Fitzmaurice who hath bene in France and conuersant vvith Rosse and euen novv came immediatly thence into Ireland to inuade our Queenes dominion there and assemble the trayterous papistes in nomine domini domini papae Is it possible for the breath of mariage vvell meant to England and vvarr performed in Ireland to come out of one mouth She hath already cost vs ynough of our Englishe blood and she cares not though she make hauock of nobilitye people she seekes hyr own turne by hooke or crooke Aboue all the dangers to hir Maiestie I wold she had one that might eueryday cry vvith a loud voyce TAKE HEEDE OH ELIZABETH OF ENGLAND AND BEVVARE OF SCOTTISH MARY The Lord hyr God defend hyr from all hyr popish enemies Let other mens squaymish iudgements keepe them in vvhat temper of suspecting it lykes them I can not be so blockish but to thinke that it is more then lykely he comes for thys Mary to the end that vvhereas yf there be any rebellious papists at home which can do nought for want of a leader those fugitiue rebels abrode can doe nothing onlesse there be first some hurliburly in the land this man may be he vvhere they shall firste make head and so grovv into a body of rebelliō which aftervvard they meane to ayde vvith theyr forrein forces to the destruction of those foolish rebelles as vvell as of vs And though in truth with out flattery she be inferior to our Queene in all the best gyftes yet may I vvell ynough thinke that Monsieur vvyll stoope to hir as vvell as king Phillip theyr old example vvhome yet againe they vse euen here did stoop in Flaunders and other vvhere most lowly in that respecte and beyonde all curtesie euen in Queene Maryes lyfe yea I doe not see vvhy I should not make these gyfts and excellencies of our Queene so many arguments to proue great likelihood of impossibilitye to knit fast to hyr the mind of Monsieur so contrarily qualified For loue is a knitting of lyke myndes togyther first then of bodyes by accident And though foule bodyes be oft in loue vvith the outvvard beauty of others yet vvas there neuer foule vicious and Irreligious mind in loue vvith a vertuous and religious soule If any man yet againe thinks it an vnvvorthy suspition of so hygh a prince let hym heare once agayne that one of that brotherhood dyd compasse as vnvvorthy a purpose and all by laying to gage that vvorthines vvhych hys maiesty myght chalenge and by hys personall action vvhych he iudged no man vvould once suspect in a mariage of hys